The Letter to Heraclius
Muiz Bukhary – Sahih Al Bukhaari #8
AI: Summary ©
The conversation covers the importance of affirming gratitude and mindful blessings in life, particularly in the face of negatives. The Herist movement led to a truce with the Prophet sallavi, which had been instructed by the Herist movement to protect Muslims, and led to falsehood. The Herist movement claims to be true ambassadors of the Prophet sallavi, but it is unclear if they will be able to find a suitable candidate for a job or a proposal. The segment ends with a brief advertisement for a upcoming class on the Sahil Bagan series.
AI: Summary ©
salaam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato Bismillah Ar Rahman AR Rahim al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen wa sallahu wa Sallim wa ala sherlockian Mb evil mousseline. nebby in our Habibi, now our karate unit Mohammed Abdullah Abdullah Holla Holla Allah He was happy he of la sala de la Adam to sleep a moment.
We begin today's class by praising Allah Subhana Allah we asked him for his help, we asked him to open those of beneficial knowledge for us. And we asked him to send his choices of blessings and salutations upon the final messenger, our beloved prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, his family members, his companions and all those who tread upon his path without most sincerity until the day of karma. So for today's class, and Firstly, I welcome you to the Sahil Buhari series. And for today's class, we're going to be dealing with a long but interesting narration in shallow data. So in the previous episode, we did a recap of what we discussed during the month of Ramadan and if
you were not able to check out that episode, I'll have it linked above now so you can check it out later on inshallah and From today onwards, the episodes will basically be dealing with fresh content in sha Allah that so this particular narration is Hadith number seven recorded in the book of mammal Bukhari. It deals with this interesting encounter. This meeting that took place during the time of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam with pious with Huracan reckless, the Byzantine ruler didn't have the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, so I'm going to be reading the narration. It's obviously too long to cover in this particular class. So we're going to cover as much as possible
and then continue from there onwards in the next class inshallah Dinah so I'll start off by reading the Arabic text and then we'll go on to translate and discuss the Hadith inshallah and even if she had been I know obey the law, even Abdullah hibben algebra and Abdullah he is no de la one Houma under who Bara who Anna Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam ketubah Isla please sir, you do in Islam. So, I believe it is or the other one whom I you know, it said the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam katha in our case, he wrote to poison to Caesar.
Now, interestingly, Caesar is pronounced as Heiser in the Arabic language. And, you know, when, when looking at the, the etymology of
this name sees
and like I said, even in the Arabic language, it's quite
some historians, the theory is and have this opinion that Caesar's name came from an ancestor, who was born was born by a Sicilian section.
Men even in the Arabic language, this is area and section is known as close area. So there are some historians who have the opinion that Caesar was the first child. So basically what happened as per certain reports, but again, it's debated. He, his mother, basically passed away,
either during childbirth or before that. And he was in the sense, the doctors at that time, they figured that the baby was alive in the womb with the stomach of the mother, despite the mother having passed away. So they went on to cut open the basically Assyrian section, and the child was, you know, brought out and the child was alive. So from that day onwards, he was known as Heiser. And he was known as the one who split open his mother's insides and came out basically as his area and section. So once again, like I said earlier, it's debated, but this is a story that's connected to the name when you look at the etymology of the name Caesar, and even in the Arabic language, you
know, scholars like Eben hajer Alas, Kalani or Himalayan others go on to say they obviously don't talk about the Sicilian side of things, but they do mention that As per reports of history that he was the first child to actually Shaka buttoned up on me. In other words, he split open the the stomach of his mother and he came out and therefore he was known as such, that was just an interesting fact there about the term or the name Heiser so the prophets that along really well he was lm now he writes to Kaiser he writes a letter basically yeah there Oh, who lol Islam
calling him and inviting him to Islam. And he sends this letter with or through a Sahabi a competitive the prophets that along while he really was known as the hetal Kelby or the LA one. Now, a little bit of context this incident takes place
After the soul of who they be, yeah, so after the Treaty of who they BIA was agreed upon between the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam and Quraysh so there was ceasefire there was no fighting taking place. The Quraysh were focused on tiara tiara, they were focused on trade they were focused on you know, getting the caravans back on Route and you know in trade and commerce and all that stuff. The profits that a lot while you were you were selling was now focusing on
dour and basically spreading the teachings of Deen of Islam. So it was at this juncture that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam now writes to Peiser, he writes to the Byzantine ruler.
So from this we see that the prophets that along while he really was it was very strategy ik in his methodology of
spreading the teachings of the deen spreading the message of Islam. So he writes to Keiser now at this juncture. And he sends the letter through a companion and this that's captured in this narration.
And this companion, his name was the here to Kelby or the last one. Now, if you look at the Hazel Kelby or the last one, he was a companion of the prophets that along really really B'Tselem, who you know, who would easily fit the role of an ambassador, he was an individual was was very eloquent with his words, he had a very pleasant appearance, good stature, good standing, he was able to hold his ground. So the professor Allison chooses, they hated Kelby and entrust him with this mission. And that was generally the man of the prophets that along really well, he was a lamb. He was this intelligent leader, who,
you know, in terms of his methodology of inviting people, in terms of how he, you know, attracted people and called people towards Islam is a very intelligent way the prophets of Allah Islam did things and you would you would see this across the Sierra, across the life of the Prophet Elias elimine. You would see him obviously embracing the teachings of the Quran in this regard as well do Elizabeth Arabic I will Hekmati one more way that it has center that you're supposed to call towards the way of your Lord with wisdom. And along with that you see the instructions that Allah subhanho wa Taala gives to mu salistre Islam and sending him to Pharaoh and sending him to around him and him
and his brother Harun Allah Hema Salaam.
Now we all know who fit our own walls, he was not a miracle, you know, I mean, when when reading about miracle, you hirako you see directly as you see, you see a lot of good things being said about him, you know, a lot wylam Allah knows best, but there's a lot of good things that are being said about heraclius that he was a
you know, just ruler. When you go through the books of history you see a lot of and even even scholars like Mr. matahari and others when you go through the books FFC, remember, kathira himolla, they talk very highly about rocker, they talk very highly about Heraclitus in terms of how just an individual he was how fair and individually he was, he was not someone who, you know, stoop to,
you know, lower levels in terms of how he conducted themselves, how he conducted himself, he basically was a
very good leader, you know, when you look at it from all ends, so, so now coming back to what we were mentioning earlier, and I fell down was a tyrant, he was known to be an unjust
and oppressive ruler. And yet the instructions that were given to Moses led to Islam in terms of approaching him for hula hoop Poland, Lady now, the two of you go to him and say a gentle word llegan is translated, it's translated as a soft and gentle word. So in terms of inviting him towards the truth, do so yeah, he's behaving harsh, and he's behaving in an unjust fashion. But in terms of your invitation unto him, it needs to be done in a in an intelligent, gentle and wise way. These were the instructions given to Moses that was run by Allah subhanho wa Taala. And you and I, my dear brothers and sisters in Islam, at this juncture, the lesson
that can be deduced, is in terms of how we interact with others, in terms of how we act as ambassadors of the deen because, at the end of the day, when when people look at us, they see us as being Muslims. They see us as being the standard bearers of Islam, right. So we're supposed to try and earn here as much as possible to the teachings of the Quran and Sunnah and we need to strive really hard to do our level best in terms of progress.
detecting the pristine image of Islam and not distorting it by our
actions may Allah subhanho wa Taala protect us and May Allah help us to be true and beautiful ambassadors of the deen. So here you see the prophets of Allah Islam choosing a very appropriate individual and sending him with this message. And the professor is them goes on to tell him to go to a lousy Musab, he tells him to go to Basra and handover this letter. So, to a leader of Basra, the governor of Missouri for it to be conveyed for it to be given to Keiser.
So, the narration goes on to now mentioned that Heiser was after, you know,
after dealing with the Persian army, and after doing so, he had actually Musha min. hems, so he basically from hymns to aelia to Jerusalem, he he walked with his troops, he went to encounter the Persian army and after succeeding with that encounter, now he walks from hims illa aelia aelia is basically Jerusalem shukran, Lima, Allahu Allah, in gratitude because they were Christians. So in a gratitude to what Allah subhanho wa Taala had bestowed upon him in terms of victory, in gratitude unto Allah, he walks from hymns to aelia to
Jerusalem. So like I said, a lot of the history that a lot of scholars talk very highly about, about
hirako they talk highly about him that he was a very God conscious individual, a very just and fair individual. And here too, at this juncture, you can see after his victory with the Persians, he walks from hymns Illa, Italia to aelia to Jerusalem, rendering gratitude unto Allah subhanho wa Taala for the victory that was bestowed upon him by Elijah, he was not an individual who you know, thought, you know, what I was, I did all of this, it was through my talent, it is through my abilities, no berada he was an individual who acknowledged that it is from Allah. And he went ahead
at this juncture to render gratitude under Allah subhanho wa Taala. So a lesson
that can be gleaned for us too, is that it's very important to acknowledge and render gratitude unto Allah subhanho wa Taala in terms of our achievements, in terms of our accomplishments, you see, Siobhan tries his level best to come in and contaminate
this, this rendering of gratitude, this concept of sugar,
he would try to he would come in and whisper thoughts, you have these voices in your
head telling you that you know what it was through your talent. It was through what you did that you've achieved all of this and you're a master of this, look around you know, all the success that you see, it's all because of you. He makes you feel full of yourself and forget Allah subhanho wa Taala. Now this is not appropriate for a believer for a servant of Allah subhanho wa Taala. Because we know what our maker tells us in the novel, unlike in Chicago, Tom has it and if you are, if you render gratitude, then I will give you many fold lots of hands on with Allah, He says that with layers of emphasis in that ilsc then nachum will definitely give you multiplied and many fold. So
in terms of the blessings, the bounties and the boons that we have, we have bellowing in so many bounties, blessings and boons. Subhana Allah and that's why it's very, very important to affirm, to positively affirm these blessings, to acknowledge them, to acknowledge them, okay? to focus on them, you know,
and to thank Allah subhanho wa Taala for these blessings, you see modern day cameras, when you focus on something, everything else just gets blurred out like right now look at the comp look at this composition. You see me being in focus, okay. And if you were to look at these little planters at the back, the outer focus, you see this creamy blur going on, because obviously it's the lens and a number of factors that are in place to achieve the look. But then again, come back to the point that was initially made when the focus is on the right thing the rest of it just you know fades away into a
About Blair basically, you know, so when you focus on the positives and the negatives fade away,
and you're understand that they fade away, we're not saying that they are completely eliminated, no, this this worldly life, you're going to have to deal with negatives, you're going to have to deal with the downs is all about ups and downs, you're going to have trials and challenges. But if you choose to focus, okay, on the neg negatives, it's almost like me, you know, choosing to, you know, focus Look, I'll just be out of focus now. And you can see perhaps, the plants in focus, maybe now I'm out of focus. But on the other hand, if I were to choose to focus on myself, and I think I need to look at this to ensure that I'm crispy and infocus I think I'm in focus. Now, am I in focus?
Yeah, I think that should do the trick. Yeah. So if I choose to focus on myself, now I'm in focus and everything else has bled out. So
it's important to focus on the right things, it's important to focus on the positives in our lives. And that way, it will be so much more easier to navigate through this life inshallah. And that's what the Quran teaches us gratitude. Today, you have, you have life coaches, you have speakers, you have, you know, celebrities, you have, you know, important people, you know, coming out and talking about the importance of gratitude, practicing gratitude, the importance of journaling, the importance of, you know, acknowledging your blessings and all these beautiful strategies. But interestingly, the Quran and the teachings of the Prophet sallallahu Sallam way back, they've
mentioned all of it. They've mentioned, they've spoken about the concept of shook, they've spoken about rendering gratitude, being thankful unto Allah subhanho wa Taala, acknowledging your blessings, and being patient, through
the negativity through the trials, difficulties and challenges that you know, come your way. So May Allah subhanho wa Taala help us all to become thankful servants of his mean. So moving on now. So we see that Hi, sir, we see Rachael, directly as you know, doing this in gratitude and to Allah subhanho wa Taala over his victory with the Persians, because you see, at that time, the Persians they were one of the superpowers, the Romans and the Persians. So, here he's being tactful on the loss of Hannah modela because it's a pretty big deal obviously, right. So now what happens is the minis in Italia, Falun mucha, Peiser. Kita, boo Rasul, Rasulullah, sallAllahu, alayhi wasallam. So
basically, now the letter of the Prophet sallallahu Sallam comes to place. And after having read it, he now obviously, we're going to be, you know, coming to the contents of the letter, but now he reads the letter. And then what he does is, he says that
he basically issues a command, they'll tell me slowly, he issues a command that
someone from their nation from their tribe,
get hold of someone. So his command was get hold of someone from their tribe from their nation, and bring them to me, so that I may question them.
So that was the command that was issued by hirako. And a few more things in terms of getting some context now, just before this incident,
hierarchal sees a dream. And
now he was an individual who relied a lot upon
fortune telling and astrology and all that stuff. So
he would have people that he would consult in terms of reading the stars and trying to glean information about the future. Now, we know that obviously, this is not something that is permitted within the framework of our Deen within the framework of Islam, because we firmly believe that it is Allah Subhana Allah Who knows what tomorrow holds,
and no human being I mean, as in these fortune tellers, the suit says, they don't know what the future holds, nor are they, you know, going to be able to tell us anything about the future. And they generally rely on the help of the jinn to be able to convey such information and most of the time, the information that they convey, it's fused with so much of lies and fabrication. So if there are like 100 pieces of information that they would share, one of it might come true, and the rest of
Have it then the rest of it in terms of that those 100 pieces of information, the 99 of it are all false. But what happens is generally people who can't do that one piece of information, and the minute that materializes, they think, Oh my god, you know what, what this person said was true. So me to believe in me to keep going to him zpanel lamella protect us. So now he was an individual who you know, used to rely a lot on it. And there was this one time when he sees a dream, he sees a dream and he wakes up disturbed, because in the dream, he sees that a kingdom of circumcised people, or the ruler of a circumcised nation,
takes over his kingdom. So he wakes up all disturbed, again, a kingdom of circumcised people, or a ruler, because the the books of history you can either read it as Malik or molk. So the king Kingdom of circumcised individuals would take over his kingdom or a ruler of circumcised people will take over his kingdom. So he wakes up, now he gathers his visitors and his intellectuals, and he wants the dream interpreted. And they try to interpret it, and they come to a conclusion that you know what, none of us are circumcised. And right now, in our lands, the only people who are circumcised are the Jews. So they, you know, tell the ruler, you know, if you feel threatened, why not eliminate
the Jews, why not get rid of the Jews, and, and, you know, you'll be able to sleep at ease.
But now, what happens is eventually hirako, he makes the connection that is actually not the Jews, in terms of the interpretation of his dream.
The Kingdom of circumcised people are actually the Arabs, and the ruler of the circumcised people is none other than Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi wasallam. So he was very, you know, very paranoid about that. And generally speaking, whenever messengers would come to him, there's this one incident there where there was a bear, there was a bit of an Arab that was brought to him, and he actually had his forces, you know, check the man literally as to whether he circumcised or not, to be able to determine as to whether the Arabs are really the ones who are circumcised and are part of the interpretation of his dream. So now, what he does is the minute this letter comes, he, you know,
kind of thinks about the dream because the letter is a strong letter, written from Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam on a my mother, my father, myself be ransomed and sacrifice for the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So, this is a powerful letter that is coming from the messenger to hirako to reckless, so what he does is he obviously he reads it, and he relates to his dream, and he immediately issues a command saying is Tommy Sue Lee, who now you know, I want In other words, grab get hold of an individual from their comb, I mean, call me from his comb from the comb or the nation or the tribe of the person who sent this letter, so that I can you know, interrogate or the I
can question them. So now, when I burst out of the Allahumma, he says, but any Abu sufian min fee, interfere, so he says that Abu sufian now, Abu sufian, at the time of this incident,
he was from
the pagans of the Quraysh, basically, okay, at the time of this incident, he hadn't embraced Islam. So he narrates to even Ambassador the loved one, how this incident took place. So he says that under hierarchal that directly is what he did was
he sent
a messenger
to this caravan fee. Rossby min crash, there was this caravan of the Quraysh. This caravan that Abu sufian was a part of as well, that had set out on a trade journey. Okay. And the messenger of heraclius now comes to this caravan, and they are summoned. They're basically asked to
so so basically, we have Abu sufian accompanying a caravan from Quraysh. And they were merchants, they were doing business and they were basically in in Sham, you know. So when you look at Sham, the demographic of Sham, it includes philosophy and it includes Lebanon, it includes Jordan, it includes Syria, so all these places come under it. And it was again during the time when the prophets lie Selim had a truce with Abu sufian, who was part of the Croatian part of the pagans at that time.
With the pagans and the Messenger of Allah, Allah Islam there was a truce that was going on. So now Abu sufian and his companions that that caravan they were summoned by heraclius. So Abu sufian and his companions now they go to heraclius. And this was at aelia at Jerusalem, now reckless, had them all called into the court. And now he was seated with, you know, all the pomp and grandness. He had his dignitaries around him, he had his visitors around him, he had his advisors around him. And now these people are brought for but Abu sufian and his companions are brought forward because he had initially given out he had issued a verdict to command that he wanted people from the tribe of the
prophets, Allah Islam from the nation of the prophets, Allah is going abroad so that he can question them. So now that Abu sufian and his companions were brought now heraclius what he does is he calls for his translator.
He calls for his translator, who now translates between heraclius and Abu sufian and his companions now once the
translator had come, now heraclius now goes on to question a you come up or Abu inessa when we had the Roger Alavi is omo unknown Abby, he asks about Sofia and his companions, which of you, okay, is closest in terms of lineage, in terms of lineage to the man who is claiming to be a prophet, ie Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So Abu sufian now at that juncture, he says, a call to Anna uporabo, whom NASA he responded saying that I am the closest in terms of NASA in terms of lineage and to
the man who claims to be a prophet.
So which is the truth because when you look at Abu sufian,
not directly as in not, perhaps through the immediate Ascendant of the Prophet sallallahu sallam, he wasn't the closest, but if you look at perhaps his
great grandfather, I mean, if you go up the line, the tree you see somewhere by abdomen F in the lineage of the Prophet sallallahu Sallam Abu sufian connects as well. And at that point, the people who are with double Sophia and Sophia, amidst Abu sufian and his companions, it was Abu Sufyan was the closest in terms of relationship with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So he responds. Anna, Anna acaba, whom nessa I am the nearest the closest relative to him from amongst the group. So then directly is says for call. He says, Bring him close to me with curry boo as habit who bring him close, bring Abu sufian close to me, and make his companions stand behind him. So bring about Sophia
and forward bring him close to me and now have his companions stand behind him his companions who had accompanied him on this trade journey.
And then,
directly us now says
Kula home. In Nisa, you don't have that I have a Roger.
And he tells the translator, tell this man's companions that I'm going to ask him some questions in regards to the man who sent the letter in regards to the man who's claiming to be a prophet. So in other words, I'm going to ask Abu sufian some questions about Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi wa sallam, and if Abu sufian lies, if he if he were to lie, as in if I were to ask him something, and if he were to lie to me, I want you all to
tell me that he is lying basically, you should contradict him. If he is lying, then tell me that he is lying. So at this point, Abu sufian he says for one lie, low level higher or min and yet cry, Lee Kevin like them, too. I know. He says, By Allah, had I not been afraid of my companions labeling me a liar, I would not have spoken the truth about the Prophet, because heraclius was going on to
and this is Abu sufian telling him an ambassador, the Allah who kind of hamam this later on, but at this juncture, he had not embraced Islam. All right. So he says, had I not been afraid or had I not been ashamed of the fact that my companions would go on to label me Elia later on? I would, I would not have answered truthfully to heraclius about Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
So from this, what do we understand many brothers and sisters in Islam? Think about it. He had not embraced Islam yet.
Despite
The pagans at that time you know indulging in all kinds of lewd and in and inappropriate things. They looked at lying as something very, very lowly. But today, you and I, if we were to take a fleeting glance around us,
you see that Muslims Unfortunately, despite the teachings of the Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet Sal Haile Selim,
emphasizing and clearly educating, that we are not supposed to indulge in falsehood that we're not supposed to indulge in lying. A lot of us indulge in falsehood and lying, when it comes to our trade when it comes to, you know, basically marma lead and martial arts when it comes to our personal relationships when it comes to dealing with one another when it comes to buying and selling when it comes to trade, when it comes to the contracts when it comes to agreements. Subhan Allah May Allah protect us, may Allah protect our tongues, I mean, so much of fall, so so much of lies, deceit, treachery, cheating, all of these things. These are things that we need to be very, very far away
from. And like I said, at the beginning, we need to strive to become true ambassadors of the dean, and not be
you know, individuals who lie at every time because think about it, when you lie, you have to constantly keep lying, lie after lie to cover up the lies you've said, and it ends up becoming one humongous and colossal mountain of lies, may Allah protect us. And Allah protect us from falsehood. I mean, so many brothers and sisters in Islam, it is of importance or most important that we stay away from these bad qualities. Now, coming back to the narration. So he says this, and then
so directly as from this, you see, you understand that he was a very intelligent and wise, individual, wise, ruler, wise leader. The first thing he asks for someone who is closely related to the Prophet slicin. Why? Because if you really want, you know, clear and true picture, you need to be talking to someone who is closely related to that individual. Think about it when it comes to marriage proposals. And when you're looking for a suitable candidate for a suitable you know, candidate for a job but suitable proposal for marriage. What do you do, when when you know, when you want to find out about an individual, you would ask around in terms of their close circles, the
closer you know, people are connected to them, that's how you basically get access to there's no point in asking someone who is very distantly connected, they're not going to know much about the individual you are inquiring about. So directly as he asks for someone who is closely connected to the prophets of Allah Islam because he wants to know accurate information about the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam. And on top of that, the way he positioned the companions of Abu sufian to ensure that he gets the truth out of Abu sufian and not lies and false sword, so he keeps the companions and he also tells them that I want you to verify what he is saying. Very intelligent. And
now there's this amazing dialogue this interesting conversation that takes place between heraclius and abou Sophia. So here actually is now goes on to ask certain questions, and we will discuss the conversation in the next class inshallah Allah. I didn't really want to leave you at that cliffhanger, but then again, it's just to build in some suspense and you know, so that we look forward to the next class in sha Allah Allah in terms of studying these beautiful incidents and narrations of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So I look forward to talking to you all soon.
In regards to the Sahil Bihari series, The coming Saturday in sha Allah Allah so do share the video around and do subscribe if you have not subscribed and hit the little bell you know next to the subscribe button so that you get a notification no sooner a video is uploaded and share the content so that we can all shine on the rewards inshallah Allah does that come Allahu wa Salaam Alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh