Mirza Yawar Baig – Sahaba The Gold Standard Session 02
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AI: Transcript ©
In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most
Merciful.
All praise is due to Allah, Lord of
the worlds.
And peace and blessings be upon the most
honored of Prophets and Messengers, Muhammad, the Messenger
of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him,
and upon his family and companions.
And peace and blessings be upon many, many.
My brothers and sisters, in this session that
we are doing a series of lectures about
the best generation, the gold standard that Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala set for all of
humankind to follow.
The Sahaba, the companions of Rasul Allah, peace
and blessings be upon him and his family
and companions.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said about them,
and what more can anybody ask for?
What more can anybody imagine?
What more can anybody wish?
If they were in that place, what more
would you say that you wanted?
Except the proof and the evidence where Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala is your witness.
And the greatness of the Sahaba is expressed
in many ayats, but my favorite one in
the Quran is in Surah Tawbah, ayat number
100, where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said,
audhu billahi min al shaytan al rajim, Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala said in this beautiful
ayatul kareemah, as for the sabiqoon al awwaloon,
the foremost, the people who won the race,
the people who are right in the front,
as for the foremost, the first of the
emigrants and the helpers, the first of the
muhajiroon and those who helped them, the ansaab.
Now this is where the mercy of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala becomes so clear.
Because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala could have
stated this ayah without saying what He did,
Allah said, and those who follow them in
goodness.
Allah says, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is
pleased with them and they are pleased with
Him jalla jalaluhu.
And He has prepared for them gardens under
which rivers flow to stay there forever and
ever.
That is the ultimate triumph.
Final and lasting success.
Now think about this, that Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala is talking about this blessed generation
and in the same ayah Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala could have said, wassabiqoon al awwaloona
minal muhajireena wal ansaari radiyallahu anhum wa radwan
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala could have said,
as for the foremost among the muhajiroon and
the ansaar, the emigrants and the helpers, Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala, as for the foremost,
Allah is pleased with them and they are
pleased with Allah.
But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala did not
say that.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala added something else,
which is He opened a door, and that
door was opened until the Day of Judgement,
where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, wallazeena
taba'uhum bi ihsan and those who follow
them in goodness.
Now this is the reason why we need
to study the lives of the sahaba, the
lives of this blessed generation, which Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala created specifically to help His
messenger Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam in his
work of dawah.
They did that to the level of excellence
and it is thanks to them that today
I am sitting here and you are sitting
there and you are watching this and you
are listening to this and I am speaking
this and all the Muslims who are on
the face of the planet today and who
will continue to come until the last day
every single one of us without exception owes
it to that generation in the 7th century,
the blessed generation, the first generation of Muslims,
the sahaba of Rasulallah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
Think about this, that the vast majority of
Muslims today are Muslims who were born Muslim.
People like me and you for example, when
I was born a Muslim and to the
best of my knowledge my family has been
Muslim for God knows more than a thousand
years.
Right?
But the sahaba, the companions of Rasulallah sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam, every single one of them
was a convert.
Every single one of them without exception was
a convert, was a revert.
And all of us and all our ancestors
and all our successors who were Muslim and
who are Muslim and who will be Muslim
inshallah, we owe a debt of gratitude to
the sahaba of Rasulallah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will give
them the reward and give them the goodness
of all that we do until the Day
of Judgement.
That is the reason why Rasulallah sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam said that any one of his
sahaba, his level and his position and his
daraja with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is
higher than the rest of the Muslim humankind
until the last day.
Collectively all of them including me and you
cannot equal the level before Allah of one
of the sahaba.
Any one of them.
And of course even in them there are
levels that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has
given.
Now, the point to think about is this,
which is that they were this blessed generation
and they were the gold standard because of
one thing.
And that one thing was the one they
followed.
And that is Muhammad Rasulallah sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam.
So before we go into the life of
the sahaba, I want to speak to you
about the one they followed.
Because unless we know Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam, we cannot know the sahaba.
Unless we know the standard they followed, we
cannot appreciate the excellence with which they followed
that standard.
And that is why it is so critical
to learn about Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
and to study his seerah, his life, his
biography for every branch of Islam.
If you are studying the Quran, you need
the seerah of Rasulallah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
as the living tafsir, as the living exegesis,
as the living example and explanation of the
Quran.
If you are studying a hadith, obviously they
relate to him and his life themselves.
If you are studying fiqh, Islamic law, that
again emanates from his rulings and what he
gave.
And Allah said, wa ma aata kumu rasulu
faquduhu wa ma naha kumu anhu fantahu wa
taqoo Allah inna Allaha shadidu liqaab.
In Surah Al-Hashr Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala said, take from my Nabi whatever he
gives you and leave whatever he stops you
from and fear Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
whose punishment is severe.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the law
giver and he sallallahu alaihi wa sallam was
the law implementer and the law giver also
in the name of Allah wherever Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala directed him to do.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave this
blanket ruling to say whatever he tells you
to do it, whatever he stops you from,
stop.
He was the blessed messenger of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala, Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
Why was he blessed and how was he
blessed?
He was blessed because Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala called Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam and
his coming a special favour on the believers.
And Allah explained why it was his favour.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, laqad manna
Allahu alal mu'mineena idh ba'sa fihim rasulan min
anfusihim yatlu alayhim ayatihi wa yuzakkihim wa yu
'allimuhumul kitaba wal hikmah wa in kanu min
qawlu lafi dhalalim mubeen Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala said, which means in Surah Al-Alimran,
indeed Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has conferred
a great favour, has blessed, has given this
great blessing on the believers.
When He jalla jalaluhu, the Glorious and Magnificent
sent among them a messenger Muhammad sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam who was from them, from among
themselves, reciting unto them his ayat, the Quran,
purifying them, which is internal and external purification,
and instructing them in the book, teaching them
the kitab and al-hikmah, which is the
sunnah, the way of Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam, demonstrating to them, while before that they
had been in manifest error.
Please note, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala did
not say that Allah has conferred a great
favour on the believers that He sent for
them His book.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sent His book,
His kalam, His speech to Muhammad sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam.
The Quran was, the nuzul of the Quran
was on the messenger Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam.
And we got the Quran because of the
messenger sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, because he told
us what was revealed to him.
We believe that alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen, the second
ayat of suratul fatiha is an ayah, is
a verse, it's a sign, it's a line
from the Quran, because Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam told us that this is his ayah.
That this is an ayat of the Quran.
Because if you just think about that, if
I want to say, all praise and all
glory and all thanks is for Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala, the Rabb, the creator, the
sustainer, the maintainer, the protector of the entire
creation of all the worlds, how would I
say it?
Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen.
But why do we say this is an
ayat of the Quran?
Because Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam told us.
So the word of Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam is law.
The word of Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
is what tells us, what is what, which
one is the kalam of Allah and which
one is not the kalam of Allah.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala therefore called
the messenger, his special blessing.
Of course the kalam is a blessing.
Of course iman is a blessing.
Of course health is a blessing.
Wealth and power is a blessing.
Our families and children and so on.
We are surrounded completely by the blessings of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
That Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala created us
on a planet which is habitable.
That he created us in a way that
we are able to live on this planet
with these conditions.
That he created us in a way where
he gave us the intelligence to be able
to harness all the forces that Allah has
surrounded us with and use them in blessed
ways, in better ways, in useful ways to
harness the resources, the natural resources to have
control over the environment, to have control over
the forests and the animals and the birds
and so on and so forth of this
planet.
All of these are ni'mat, all of these
are blessings from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
But Allah did not mention any of those.
Allah said the blessing, he said my blessing
is that I have sent a messenger to
you from among you.
Double blessing, one that Allah sent a messenger
and secondly that the messenger is one of
us, he is a human being.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave ikram,
he honoured the human race by sending among
them his beloved messenger who was a human
being.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, Nabi sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam is blessed because Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala blessed him and ordered us also
to do that.
Allah said inna allaha wa malaikatahu yusalluna ala
nabi ya ayyuhal lazeena awanu sallu alaihi wa
sallimu taslima Allahumma salli ala Sayyidina Muhammadin wa
ala aali Muhammadin kama sallita ala Ibrahima wa
ala aali Ibrahima innaka hamidun majid Allahumma barik
ala Muhammadin wa ala aali Muhammadin kama barikta
ala Ibrahima wa ala aali Ibrahima innaka hamidun
majid Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala sends his salat, his
blessings on the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam and also his angels do the same,
they also ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
to bless him and forgive him.
O you who believe and this is a
hukum, ya ayyuhal lazeena amanu sallu alaihi O
you who believe, send your salam, send your
salat on Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallim, ask
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to bless him
and you should greet him and salute him
with the Islamic way of greeting which is
as-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
He is blessed because his message is the
only thing that has the capacity to take
a person destined for the hellfire into Jannah.
If he or she accepts it and lives
by it.
This is the meaning of being a Muslim.
He is blessed because while living by this
message, those who do so also become winners
in worldly life.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentioned and talked
about and told us about Muhammad sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam and he said, Bismillah ar-Rahman
ar-Rahim Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala took an oath.
He said, wa-d-duha, by the forenoon,
after sunrise when the sun is up, and
by the night, wa-l-layli idha saja,
by the night when it is still, or
darkens and quiet, your Rabb, O Muhammad sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam, has neither forsaken you nor
does he hate you.
And indeed, the hereafter is better for you
than the present, than this world.
And verily, your Rabb will give you so
much that you will be pleased.
Wa la sawfa yutika Rabbuka fatarda.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, I will
please you.
I will give you so much that you
will be pleased.
And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions
some incidents in the life of Muhammad sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam.
He says, did he not find you, O
Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, as an offer
and gave you refuge?
And he find you unaware, searching for the
truth and he guided you?
And he found you poor and he enriched
you, made you rich, self-sufficient and content?
Therefore, do not treat the, do not discard
or oppress the orphan.
La tanha, don't chase him away.
And do not repulse and don't refuse and
don't chase away the questioner or the one
who asks the sa'il, the one who
is asking you for something.
Whether it is material, whether it is in
terms of knowledge, whatever.
He says, don't remove him, don't discard him
and proclaim the grace of your Rabb.
Which is his prophethood and other blessings.
Subhanallah.
Wa amma sa'ila fala tanha.
Imagine, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the
one who is guiding and commanding.
His messenger sallallahu alaihi wa sallam is saying,
if someone asks you, give him.
Don't leave, don't send away the person who
is asking empty-handed.
Whatever he is asking you for, give him.
Think about this.
That this is the one, the Rabbul Alameen,
who is instructing his Nabi, don't send away
the one who is asking the sa'il
empty-handed.
What do you think Allah will do when
we ask him?
What do you think he will do?
When you make dua, make it with this
complete and total certainty that Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala can give because you are asking.
That he will give because he can give
and only he can give.
Only he can give.
And that's why the beautiful long hadith, but
I just mentioned to you the first two
parts, of Abdullah ibn Abbas, who says, I
was mounted behind Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
and Nabi sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said to
him, ya Ghulam, he said, oh little boy,
let me teach you something, which will give
you benefit in this dunya and akhira.
And he said to him, ihfad Allah wa
ihfaduk.
He said, take care of Allah, protect Allah
and Allah will protect you.
Protect Allah means, protect the deen of Allah,
protect the religion of Allah, protect the orders
of Allah, protect what Allah has prohibited, meaning
don't do those things.
And he said, Allah will protect you.
He said, protect what Allah has given you
and you will find Allah in front of
you.
He is asking you to build a connection
with Allah.
And then he says, if you have to
ask something, ask only Allah.
And he says, if you need any help,
istaeen billah, ask only help from Allah.
Do not repulse the one who is asking.
Allah is saying this.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for
his rida, for his pleasure, for him to
be pleased with us.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
grant us the ru'ya, to grant us
that we should see Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam in our dream.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for
husnul khatiba, for a good ending where we
meet Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and a
state where Allah is pleased with us.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for
a beautiful life in this dunya.
A life which is full of safety and
care and concern for others.
A life which is purposeful and useful and
beneficial for all those we come into contact
with.
Surat al-Duha was revealed in Mecca after
a prolonged period when Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam had not been receiving Wahi.
And I imagine this is, he had got
used to receiving Wahi, this was his, you
know, the big boost for him, that Jibreel
alaihi sallam would come to him and he
would tell him what Allah is saying.
And then suddenly for a period they stopped
and people started taunting him and making all
kinds of nasty remarks, his enemies in Mecca.
So he was very troubled by this and
very sad that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
had not communicated with him for so long.
And that Jibreel alaihi sallam had not visited
him.
It was almost as if Wahi had stopped.
And to add to this, as I said,
his enemies started to taunt him and mock
him.
And this is why Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala revealed this Surah, really saying, I love
the Messenger sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
This Surah is evidence that Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala is real.
That Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam is his
Messenger sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
And that to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
is our return.
When he will reward his Messenger fully for
his incredible effort by giving him until he,
the Messenger, is pleased.
Think about that.
The position of Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
We try to please Allah.
And even if Allah is a little bit
pleased with us, we say Alhamdulillah, my life
has been well lived and worthwhile.
But in this case, Allah is saying that
he, Jalla Jalaluhu, the Glorious and Magnificent, will
please Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
That is the position of Muhammad sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam.
And that is why we love our blessed
Messenger sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
Because he is blessed.
He is truly, truly, truly blessed.
Seerah means the way.
When we say the Seerah, we mean the
biography of Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
Why must we study the Seerah?
Especially today, the 21st century, when he lived
in the 7th century.
How can something so ancient be relevant to
us today in our modern world and times?
Respecting, honoring and so forth, sure, why not?
But studying the life of someone who lived
so long ago with a view to leading
our lives the same way, now that's a
stretch for most people.
I will deal with this in detail as
we go forward but you will see how
the life of Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
is the best way to negotiate the pathways
of our lives with honor in today's world.
And this is what the Sahaba did.
This is what his companions did and that
is why they got the status they got.
I remind myself and you that to love
Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam is a condition
of Iman.
It's not a discretion he left to us.
Love him if you like, ignore him if
you like.
No.
It's a condition of Iman.
We study the Seerah because you cannot love
somebody you don't know.
The beauty of the life of Rasulullah sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam is that unlike in the
case of most people about whom it is
said familiarity breeds contempt, in the case of
Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam familiarity inspires love
and devotion and loyalty, the desire to meet
him, to see him in our dreams, to
be like him and to emulate him in
our lives.
The more we study about him, the more
you want to be like him.
And that is why you have the strange
phenomenon that even a person who may not
be a very seriously practicing Muslim, what we
lovingly call Ramadan Muslims or Eid Muslims, when
anyone attacks Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam or
tries to insult him, then this Muslim will
be highly offended to put it politely.
You can say anything about anyone in the
world and the Muslim will take it calmly.
Even if they should, I mean they need
to get offended about something but they don't.
But insult Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam and
they get enraged.
There is a lovely proverb in Farsi which
goes, Ba khuda deewana ba shad, ba Muhammad
hoshiyar.
Which means you may say whatever you want
about Allah.
Khuda means Allah.
And get away with it but be careful
about Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
Ba Muhammad hoshiyar, be careful.
This is the love for Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam that we Muslims have and we
are thankful to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
We thank Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for
this and are proud of and consider it
to be a differentiator of ours from all
other human beings.
That's why we say sallallahu alaihi wa ala
alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam every time we
hear his name alaihi salatu wa salam.
Because this respect for Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam as I mentioned is something which is
a part of our identity.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentioned in Surat
At-Tawbah Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala said Qul in kana
aba'ukum, wa abna'ukum, wa ikhwanukum, wa
azwajukum, wa ashiratukum wa anwalun iqtaraqtumuha, wa tijaratun
takhshawna kasadaha, wa masakinu tardawnaha Eight things.
Ahabba ilaykum min Allahi wa Rasulihi, wa jihadin
fi sabilihi, fatarabbasu hatta ya'ti allahu bi amrih,
wallahu la yahdil qawmal fasiqeen.
In Surat At-Tawbah ayah 24 Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala said Say O Muhammad sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam, say O Prophet If your
parents and children and siblings and spouses and
extended family and the wealth you have acquired
and the trade in which you fear a
decline and the homes and the houses that
you build and look at them and you
feel nice and you cherish them if all
of these are more beloved to you than
Allah and His Messenger sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
and struggling in the path of Allah then
wait until Allah brings about His will meaning
go and wait for the punishment of Allah.
And Allah does not guide rebellious people.
Allah does not guide the fasiq people.
In a hadith narrated by Anas bin Malik
r.a Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam is
reported to have said None of you have
faith until I am more beloved to him
than his children, his father and all the
people.
Right?
His children, his parents and all the people.
None of you have faith until I am
more beloved to him than his children, his
father, his parents and all of the people.
And this is a hadith, sahih hadith in
Bukhari and Muslim which is narrated by Anas
bin Malik r.a. Another hadith narrated also
by Anas bin Malik r.a. Rasulullah sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam said None of you will
have faith till he loves me more than
he loves his father, his children and all
mankind.
Till he loves me more than he loves
his father, his children and all of mankind.
So more than he loves his father.
Again as I mentioned before all of these
things father means father and mother.
So unless none of you will have faith
until he loves me more than he loves
his father, his children and all of mankind.
And this is also a sahih hadith in
Bukhari.
So to love Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
is obligatory and necessary because emulation is the
result of love.
And this is what the sahaba did.
They emulated him.
And they emulated him because they loved him.
And they loved him more than they loved
anyone else.
The one who emulates Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam will be honest and truthful and trustworthy
and compassionate and humorous and loving and intelligent
and steadfast and brave and confident and totally
focused on quality in everything he or she
does and consistent in their effort spreading goodness
all around them.
I can go on but this suffices.
Just read this list and tell me how
such a person is likely to be viewed
in today's world.
This is not simply a random list of
so called virtues but every one of them
is confirmed and supported by incidents and actions
and decisions in the life of Muhammad sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam.
It is for us to study his life
and learn ways to become immensely successful, loved
and influential in our own lives.
Let me end this session by a quote
from somebody who is not known as a
friend of Islam because he wasn't.
Or a friend of Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam because he wasn't.
And this is Alphonse de Lamartine, the French
historian and many other things.
He wrote this in his book, The History
of Turkey.
The praise of an enemy is the most
reliable praise and that's the reason why I
am quoting this.
He says, if the grandeur of the aim,
listen carefully, if the grandeur of the aim,
the smallness of the means, the immensity of
results, so it's not just a matter of
making a claim and saying this is my
vision and then you can't achieve it.
No, he says, if the grandeur of the
aim, the smallness of the means and the
immensity of the results are the three measures
of a man's genius, who would dare humanly
compare a great man of modern history with
Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
He continues, the most famous have only moved
weapons, laws, empires.
They founded when they founded anything, only material
powers often crumbling before them.
This man not only moved armies, legislation, empires,
peoples, dynasties, millions of men over a third
of the inhabited globe.
But he also moved ideas and beliefs and
souls.
He founded upon a book of which each
letter has become a law.
A spiritual nationality embracing people of all languages
and races.
And made an indelible imprint upon this Muslim
nation for the hatred of false gods and
the passion for the one God.
One and immaterial.
Philosopher, orator, apostle, legislator, warrior, conqueror of ideas,
restorer of a rational dogma for a cult
without imagery, founder of 20 earthly empires and
of one spiritual empire.
This is Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
Of all the scales by which one measures
human grandeur, which man has been greater?
This is Alfonso de la Marta, History of
Turkey, which was published in 1854 in Paris.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
help us to understand and appreciate the beauty
of what he gave us.
And that's the reason why we are studying
the lives of the Sahaba, because the Sahaba
appreciated it and they lived their lives according
to the life of Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam.
And that's the reason why they got the
status that they got.