Mustafa Abu Rayyan – S02 E05 Seerah The Islam Of Umar And Hamza
AI: Summary ©
The history and character of Islam in the United States, including its impact on society and the way it is seen, are discussed. They stress the importance of enrolling in a Islam class and the need for individuals to practice their religion and receive information from the prophet. The speakers also mention the importance of justice and history in society, as well as the need for individuals to practice their religion and receive information from the prophet.
AI: Summary ©
As usual, Friday night we are continuing the
seerah of our beloved messenger Muhammad sallallahu alayhi
wasallam.
And where we left off was the fifth
year of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam's bi
'athah, meaning the timeline.
It's been five years now since that first
night where the Quran was revealed upon the
Prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam.
And I mentioned that the first three years
the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam spent calling to
Islam in secret.
And then he started to make the call
to Islam public after the third year.
And then this is when things started to
become much more difficult for those that chose
to follow him salallahu alayhi wasallam and accept
ashadu an la ilaha illallah wa ashadu anna
Muhammadur Rasulullah and reject idolatry.
For those people their lives became difficult and
some had it worse than others.
And last week we spoke about those that
had it the most difficult.
Before I continue I'm going to start with
some questions just to ensure we are all
refreshed and know where we are and what
we've learned.
Let me start by asking the question.
As the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam started to
preach in the beginning, who were the first
four people to embrace and accept Islam?
And I want someone that is able to
tell me all four.
Are you sure you can?
What's your name?
Ayman.
Ayman said he's going to tell us the
first four people to have embraced Islam.
Go on Ayman tell me.
First was Khadija bint Khuwaylid.
Yes, correct.
Another one was Ali ibn Abi Talib, the
cousin of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam.
Correct.
Another one was Zaid ibn Haritha, the Prophet
salallahu alayhi wasallam's son he adopted and raised.
Yes.
And the last one or the fourth one
of these was Abu Bakr as-Siddiq.
Very good.
Very good Ayman.
Another question I have and I would like
the adults to join in as well, not
just the youngsters.
Which uncle of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam
was the one most against his mission and
his Dawah?
Yes brother.
Abu Lahab.
Very good.
Abu Lahab.
Another question, where did the Prophet announce his
call to Islam publicly?
Which area?
Yes?
Mount Safa.
Very good.
What's your name?
Muhammad.
MashaAllah.
You have a very blessed name.
Okay, who can tell me who is considered
the first martyr in Islam?
You jumped up, MashaAllah.
Sumeyya, very good.
And who can tell me, she had a
son who was very very special and a
great companion of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam.
You know the name of his son?
Her son?
Ammar ibn Yasir.
Allah Akbar.
Very good.
JazakAllah khair.
What was the name of the companion who
was a blacksmith, who was also heavily, heavily
harmed for believing in the Prophet salallahu alayhi
wasallam?
I know that you're raising your hand so
I cannot ignore you.
Go ahead.
Milad ibn Rabah.
Milad ibn Rabah, no he was not the
blacksmith.
But he was, you're right, among those that
were, we mentioned him last week and he
was among those that were harmed heavily.
JazakAllah khair.
But the one who was a blacksmith was?
Khabbab ibn Arad.
Khabbab ibn Arad.
Write that down.
Khabbab.
Okay, you have a question?
You wanted to know who the son of
Sumeyya was?
Ammar ibn Yasir.
Ammar ibn Yasir.
So it's been five years that the Prophet
salallahu alayhi wasallam was preaching.
Of course we have three years in secret,
two years now in public.
Things are getting difficult for the Muslims and
things are getting difficult for the Prophet salallahu
alayhi wasallam.
The Prophet and some of the companions that
were from clans, from tribes that had some
level of protection had it a little bit
easier than those that did not have that
type of protection.
And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam then advised
some of his companions in the fifth year
of hijrah.
He said to them, Inna bilhabashati malikan la
yudhlamu ahadan indahu O my beloved companions, in
Habasha, in Abyssinia, and that would be where
modern day Ethiopia is, there is a king
there.
And near that king, no one is oppressed.
No one is oppressed.
And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam is advising
them, So go to his land.
Go to this land of this Abyssinian king
who no one is harmed or oppressed when
you're there until we find a further or
another solution.
So when the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam advised
this to his companions, the first people that
took that step and that decided that Mecca
was too difficult, Mecca was too much.
All we want is a place where we
can worship Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in
comfort and freely were 15 of them.
11 men and 4 women.
And the first couple that was ready to
make that trip was Uthman ibn Affan.
Uthman ibn Affan who became Muslim by whose
hand again?
Does anyone remember?
Abu Bakr, very good.
Uthman ibn Affan who is considered amongst the
10 that were promised Jannah.
Uthman ibn Affan who is the third Khalifa
and who is the son-in-law of
the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam.
And his wife Ruqiya bint Rasulullah.
Ruqiya, the daughter of the Prophet salallahu alayhi
wasallam.
So the Prophet's daughter and Uthman were one
of the first to get ready to go
to this foreign, far away land so that
they can have a place where they can
worship Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala freely.
And then of course they were not the
only one.
You had the great companion Zubayr ibn Awam.
You had Abu Salama and Umm Salama who
were early Muslims.
Umm Salama who later on becomes the wife
of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam.
You had Mus'ab ibn Umair.
I briefly spoke about him I believe a
week or two weeks ago.
That young man that was tortured.
And that was really affluent and rich but
his mother put him in a dungeon for
saying la ilaha illallah.
A few of them and others, they make
their way.
They leave Mecca.
They go to a place called Jeddah.
Because that was near the shore.
And there was a port there.
And as they arrive at the port, there
were trade ships there or boats that were
on their way to Abyssinia.
And they managed to get their way on
these and flee and go to this land
where they know nothing about.
Quraish and the chiefs, they find out that
a very small group among the Muhammad's followers
have left Mecca.
And do you think they're going to leave
them alone?
No.
They immediately send people after them.
How dare they leave?
How dare they leave?
And they sent after them but alhamdulillah by
the time they got to the port, the
ships have already left.
So they came back.
And when these small set of companions arrived
in Abyssinia, they were met with no hostility
whatsoever.
This king does not know much about them.
He knows that these foreigners have came to
his land and they just are refugees.
They want somewhere to live and worship.
And what does he do?
What did the Prophet say about him?
No one is oppressed.
So they start to live there and all
of a sudden praying is not something you
have to hide anymore.
There's no one harming you or looking at
you wrong just because you're a Muslim.
This is the type of freedom these Sahaba
felt.
Finally they could breathe.
Finally they could read Quran.
Finally they could pray.
And things were really good for them.
However, something happened while they were gone.
Of course, no one likes to live far
away from his family, far away from his
tribe, far away from what they know.
Something happened while they were gone.
And that was that the Prophet ﷺ, he
read Surah Al-Najm in the Haram, in
the Kaaba.
And everyone was listening to him.
And the Prophet ﷺ, when he read the
Quran, the words of Allah, they were extremely
captivating.
Not just for the Muslims, but also for
the non-Muslims.
Why do you think they called him a
soothsayer, a magician, a sorcerer?
Put your fingers in your ears when Muhammad
reads Quran.
Because when you hear the Quran, even as
a non-Muslim, and I remember, they weren't
like us.
They understood the Arabic language.
So when they heard the Quran, every single
word they understand immediately.
So when the Prophet ﷺ read one day,
وَالنَّجْمِ إِذَا هَوَىٰ مَا ضَلَّ صَاحِبُكُمْ وَمَا غَوَىٰ
وَمَا يَنطِقُ عَنِ الْهَوَىٰ إِنْ هُوَ إِلَّا وَحْيٌ
يُوحَىٰ He read that Surah, and the Muslims
were listening, the Sahaba were listening, and then
the chiefs of Quraysh, they're listening, they're captivated
by it, and it moved them.
It moved them.
They're not Muslims, they're idol worshippers, but the
Quran affected them.
And the last ayah in that Surah is
what?
فَسْجُدُوا لِلَّهِ وَعَبُدُوا فَسْجُدُوا لِلَّهِ فَسْجُدُوا لِلَّهِ Make
sujood for Allah.
وَعَبُدُوا وَعَبُدُوا And only worship Him.
And when the Prophet read that, he made
sujood.
And what did the Sahaba do?
They made sujood.
And what did the non-Muslim idol worshippers
do?
They made sujood.
All of them made sujood.
There is one of them that said, يَكْفِينِي
هَكَذَا He grabbed some dirt from the ground
and put it on his head.
He said, that's enough for me, right?
And that was Umayyad Khalaf.
We're talking about the enemies of the Prophet.
They were so moved by his recitation that
they made sujood.
Now a rumor started to spread.
A rumor started to spread.
The Meccans have accepted Islam.
They are the followers of Muhammad.
This ended up reaching, this ended up reaching
the Sahaba that made the hijrah and the
migration to Abyssinia.
And when they heard Mecca, everyone made sujood.
Everyone, everyone.
And you know how something that isn't true,
you know, like Donald Trump likes to say,
fake news, right?
It was fake news.
It was fake news.
They didn't accept Islam.
However, it looked like it.
So some of them came back.
Some of them, they came back.
And when they came back, they realized Mecca
didn't change.
In fact, it got worse.
In fact, it got worse.
So some of them, when they came back,
they thought they immediately left.
And others chose to stay behind, like Musa
al-Umayr.
He chose to stay behind.
He didn't want to make that trip again
and go to this foreign land.
And they stayed in secret.
Others tried to make deals with people in
the city that could provide them for protection.
And, but that being said, this, around this
time, the second hijrah happened.
So there are two hijrahs to Abyssinia.
The first one only had 15, 16 Muslims.
The second one has a much greater number.
And that number was 83 men and 18
women.
83 men of the Sahaba and 18 of
the Sahabiyat, the female companions, they made the
trip to Abyssinia.
And this time among them was the Prophet
ﷺ's cousin, Ja'far ibn Abi Talib.
You heard about Ali.
Ali was among the first Muslims.
Ja'far.
Ja'far ibn Abi Talib.
The Prophet ﷺ said about him one time,
أَشْبَهَتَ خَلْقِ وَخُلُوقِ He said, oh Ja'far,
you are like me in your look, meaning
Ja'far looked a lot like the Prophet,
خَلْقِ وَخُلُوقِ as well as my character.
Ja'far ibn Abi Talib, great companion of
the Prophet ﷺ and the cousin of the
Prophet and his wife Asma ibn Umais as
well as Umm Habiba who will become the
wife of the Prophet ﷺ at some point
and I'll tell you later how she gets
married to the Prophet.
A very amazing story.
Khalid ibn Sa'id and many other companions,
they left.
And when they left, this time Quraysh were
like, we can't have this.
We can't have the Muslims.
Look at how evil they were.
Let me worship freely?
No.
Let me leave?
No.
And this is when the Shaytan gets a
hold of you and when you become someone
that rejects the truth and hates the truth
and hates Islam, you'll become an evil person.
So, they make the migration and when they
get to Abyssinia again, they are, again they
have safety and security there.
Amn wa aman.
They have safety and security there.
Roughly about a hundred companions are in this
land now.
Quraysh decides to send two of their brightest
men to convince the Abyssinian king, King Najashi,
to send all of these hundred back to
Mecca to not give them protection.
So, they send Abdullah ibn Abi Rabi'a
and Amr ibn al-'As.
Amr al-'As.
They send these two.
The reason they chose them was because they
also had a relationship with this Abyssinian king,
trade deals and they used to know each
other.
So, there's some familiarity there.
So, they travel and what is their purpose
of traveling?
To convince, send all these people back with
us.
Before I tell you what transpires in Abyssinia,
with King Najashi, and Amr ibn al-'As, and
the other companions that were there, let me
give you an image of what was happening
in Mecca with someone who's very special and
important in the seerah who we haven't come
across yet.
And that's Umar ibn al-Khattab.
Radhe Allahu anhu.
Umar ibn al-Khattab has not embraced Islam
yet as all of this is happening.
In fact, he has a level of anger
and enmity towards Islam and the Muslims and
the Prophet.
But what was his reasoning?
He felt that the Prophet's message was splitting
Mecca apart.
Father against his son, son against the father,
wife against the husband, splitting everyone apart.
And he didn't like that.
At the same time, it was very traditional,
but Umar ibn al-Khattab, radhe Allahu anhu,
of course, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala decreed
that the imam would enter his heart.
One day, Umar sees Amr ibn al-Rabi
'a and his wife, Layla, who were from
his tribe, preparing themselves to go to Abyssinia.
So they're getting ready, they're putting their stuff,
and he sees them.
And this is narrated by Layla.
She says, Leave it, leave it, leave it,
leave it.
Jazakallahu khair.
What's your name?
Yusuf?
Yusuf, you're very smart, mashallah.
Barakallah fika.
So, Umar ibn al-Khattab sees them.
She said, When we were preparing to travel
to Abyssinia, Ja'a Umar ibn al-Khattab.
Umar ibn al-Khattab, he approached me.
Right, and she's tying everything and getting ready.
Wa kaana ala shirki, and he was upon
idolatry.
Fa ra'a ma nahnu alayhi.
He saw the affair that we were upon.
So Umar ibn al-Khattab is observing this
woman and this man, who lived their whole
lives in Mecca, whose tribe is in Mecca,
this should be their home, their safety, their
security, choosing to leave and go to a
foreign land.
And then he says, Ila ayna ya ummi
abdillah?
Ya ummi abdillah, where are you going?
And then she says, Adhaytumuna fi deenina.
You guys have harmed us, and oppressed us
regarding our religion.
Fana dhabu fi ardillah.
We'll go to the lands of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
Hatta yaj'al lala mahraja, until we find
relief.
She said, then Umar looked at her, and
Umar was known for his harshness.
But surprisingly, he responded with kindness.
He says to her, Sahibakumullah, may Allah be
with you.
And she said, Ra'aytuhu min Umar riqah.
I saw from Umar a softness.
Wa adhunuhu sayuslim.
And I think he will accept Islam.
She tells her husband, her husband wasn't there
during the exchange, she tells her husband, you
know, Umar came, and this happened, and then
her husband said, La yuslim Umar, hatta yuslimu
himara abih.
Umar will not accept Islam until the donkey
of his father accepts Islam first.
Meaning, it's a far-fetched idea.
He said, Umar, I cannot imagine Umar becoming
Muslim.
But we know, my brothers and sisters, that
Allah is the best of planners, and Allah
wanted goodness for Umar ibn al-Khattab.
We'll see if we can get to how
he became Muslim tonight.
If not, inshallah ta'ala, we will discuss
that tomorrow night.
We are a little bit behind on the
topics we should cover, but I'm sure you
guys don't mind as long as we are
going along the story.
So, as you can see, they are making
their way to Habesha.
And it's important that you also gain an
appreciation to this king.
So far, we know that the Prophet of
Allah, Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he
tells his companions, this is a king that
doesn't allow oppression.
Right?
So he's a just king.
He's a just king.
His name was As-Hama.
Najashi was a title, just like Caesar.
You know, there was the Caesar of Rome,
was a title.
Najashi was also a title.
His name was As-Hama.
And he became a king.
And there's actually a very interesting story of
how he becomes king.
This is not the time to really expand
upon that, but just how he becomes king
is very, if I just touch a little
bit upon it, his father used to be
the previous Najashi, and he was an only
son.
And the word As-Hama means gift.
He was father, he was the only son.
And he had an uncle who had 12
sons.
And his uncle wished that he would become
king, he would become the Najashi.
And he didn't like the fact that he
would be passed off.
So they had a coup and they killed
Najashi's father, As-Hama, the Najashi that will
be receiving the Muslim's father.
And then Najashi was raised in the household
of his uncle with his other 12 cousins.
And his uncle took over.
And after a while, they realized if Najashi
grows up here in Abyssinia, at some point
he may realize what was done.
So then they chose to get rid of
him, and he was sold into slavery.
He was gone for a very long time,
until finally the other 12 sons, they took
over, made a mess of the rule and
the kingdom, until the people decided we need
As-Hama back, we need the official line
of succession back.
They found him, sold into slavery, they purchased
him back, brought him back, and then he
became the Najashi of Abyssinia.
And when he became the Najashi of Abyssinia,
this, after a while, this is when the
Muslims arrive at the shores and he gives
them protection.
I really summarize that.
It's a very fascinating story.
Now, when the Muslims came, he didn't really
question what their faith was, why they believe
what they believe, why not upon Christianity, none
of that.
He just let them be.
He let them be, he ensured that they
were safe.
Then, this is when the two men that
were sent after them, they arrived, Amr ibn
Aas and the other one, Abdullah ibn Rabi
'a, and they approached, they came with so
many gifts.
They came with so many gifts.
Leathers, and whatever else they could find, and
skins, and gifts, and thing, all the chiefs
of Quraish, they said we need to really
mesmerize and we really need to give him
and show him our appreciation.
Then, after they brought all these gifts, they
said, all we want from you, there are
some people, foolish people, that have left the
religion of our forefathers, caused chaos in our
community, in our city.
They fled, they're criminals, and they fled Mecca,
and they came to your land, and they
have not taken up your religion, and they
have not taken up our religion, and they
are renegades, and they are people that are
problems, and all we're asking from you, oh
gentle and amazing king, we have great relationships,
we have trade relationships from before, send these
foolish people back with us, and take all
of these gifts.
And among the things that they've done, was
they bribed his generals and ministers.
So, the people that are going to advise
the king, they are already bought.
But, what did the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa
sallam, say about him?
He is a king, no one is oppressed.
So, he doesn't immediately take their word for
it.
He doesn't tell them, thank you for the
gifts.
Now, he says, I need to hear what
they have to say.
I need to hear, guys, the rule is,
if you're going to talk, you go at
the back, right?
He tells them, I am not going to
listen to them, and this is justice, by
the way, and if you're ever in a
situation, my brothers, where someone comes to you,
and it happens all the time, someone comes
to you, Wallahi, brother, you don't know about
this person, he done this and that and
that, and then all of a sudden, you
just start disliking someone, based on what someone
told you.
And then you already, you gather all of
this enmity, you're like, Wallahi, you're right, man.
Sister, divorce this guy.
Brother, Wallahi, end this business with him.
He's a horrible person.
And you're busy, and you're basing it on
one side of the story.
Look at what King Najashi did.
And this is why he's a just king.
He said, I've heard your side, now I
need to hear my visitors.
I need to hear what they have to
say for themselves.
So he calls them.
And remember, they have no gifts to give.
They have nothing.
And they can't bribe anyone, not that they
would.
So they arrive, and their spokesperson is the
cousin of the Prophet ﷺ, Ja'far.
And there they are, at the court of
the king.
And Ja'far is asked the question, What
is it that made you leave the religion
of your forefathers?
And cause all of this problem.
What's going on?
Say your speech.
And then Ja'far said some statements.
Wallahi, these statements, they should be written in
gold.
Amazing way of presenting Islam.
Amazing way of presenting Islam.
And he says to King Najashi, كنا قوما
اهل جاهلية We were a people that were
upon ignorance.
جاءنا رسولا A messenger came to us.
منا From amongst us, not a stranger, someone
that we know.
نعرف نسبه وصدقه We know his truthfulness, we
know his clan, his tribe, his character.
This is not someone that we didn't know.
He was a trustworthy, truthful person.
And what was his message?
And he called us from, and then he
mentioned the contrast of what they were upon
before and what Prophet Muhammad came with.
First he started to describe O King Najashi
We were a people that committed idolatry, venerated
rocks and stones.
We were a people that would cut the
ties of kinship, that would eat the weak
and oppress the poor.
We were people that did not know the
rights of king and the rights of neighbors.
We did not know right from wrong.
We had the laws of the jungle.
القوي يأكل الضعيف The strong will eat the
weak.
We were people that were lawless, shameless.
We were a people that would commit fahisha
and all types of sin.
People that would commit obscenities and haram.
He mentioned the situation that they were in.
Until Allah sent us this man whom we
recognize, whose truthfulness we know, who called us
towards what?
He called us towards the worship of the
one worthy of worship, Allah alone.
He called us away from venerating idols and
rocks and stones.
He called us for respecting your fellow man,
taking care of your parents, being good to
the neighbor, being truthful and trustworthy.
He called us the best of character, lofty
character.
He changed the way we view ourselves and
the way we view others.
He changed our lives.
That's why.
And then when we did that, these people,
they oppressed us.
They killed us.
They maimed us.
They tortured us.
Just because we say la ilaha illallah Muhammadur
Rasulullah.
All of this.
And Najashi is listening, listening and listening.
Then what happened?
Then King Najashi says this revelation that you
say, that this Prophet has, this Quran recite
some of it.
Recite some of it to us.
And Jafar decides and look how clever he
was to recite Surah Maryam.
You wanted to say that?
We all know that you knew it.
You're very smart.
He decides to recite Surah Maryam.
And this was from his intelligence.
Because Surah Maryam these are a people that
look up to Maryam, that look up to
Prophet Isa.
They're Christians.
They were Nasara.
So he started the Surah and read He
read about Isa's birth.
And all of this and the king is
listening.
And then Jafar brought them to tears.
The words of Allah brought them to tears.
Right?
Allah mentioned the Quran speaking about them.
When they hear the Quran, you see their
eyes tearing up.
My brothers, I want to just pass something
in, my brothers and my sisters.
Earlier I mentioned how even the evil, idle
worshipping, horrible Quraysh were so moved by the
Quran, they did what?
They made sujood.
Here you have Abyssinians so moved by the
Quran they cry.
Some of the Ramayans mention until his beard
became wet.
And then he said Indeed, what
Jesus, Isa came with and what you have
come with is coming from the same source.
Same place.
And he says to them you guys will
not be touched.
And you will not be harmed.
And you are free to worship.
And Najashi then leaves them.
Says you are all free.
Amr al-Naas was very bothered by this.
Abdullah ibn Rabee' said we lost, let's just
go.
He said no we can't go.
And he was insisting he was insisting we
can't go.
We need to get these people back.
What's amazing is, Amr al-Naas here, what
is his mission?
What is he trying to do?
He's trying to get what?
He's trying to get, yes?
He's trying to get the king back the
Muslims.
What's amazing is Amr al-Naas many years
later will be convinced to become a Muslim
by Najashi himself.
And I'll tell you that story inshallah as
we go along.
Amr al-Naas will become a Muslim he'll
become a great companion.
His son will become a great companion as
well.
This is the beauty of Islam.
Now in fact, if you don't mind me
sharing with you Amr al-Naas is here
trying to drag these 100 Muslims back to
Mecca so they can be tortured and harmed.
Correct?
That's what he wants.
That's his mission.
Years later years later, when he accepts Islam
he goes to the Prophet ﷺ and he
asks the Prophet after he becomes Muslim O
Messenger of Allah, will Allah forgive me for
everything that I have done?
Will Allah forgive me?
And what do you think he's remembering?
He's remembering things like this.
Will Allah forgive me for the things that
I have done?
And then the Prophet says, Islam Islam it
erases that which came before.
Allahu Akbar When you convert, it erases what
came before.
Right now he's the villain but in the
end he'll be a hero.
So Amr al-Naas then he decides one
last attempt to convince Najashi.
One last attempt.
He says ask them about what they say
about Isa.
They say something horrendous about Isa.
What is he trying to make King Najashi
feel?
We as believers, as Muslims, we say that
Isa is Abdullah He is a servant of
Allah and he thought if they hear that,
they're going to be thinking that's blasphemous How
dare you say that?
And this will cause issue.
And fear that it would cause some issue
and I will tell you that in a
bit.
But then Ja'afr al-Mitali was asked
He's asked What do you do?
What do you believe about Isa?
And he said, what we believe about Isa
is what our messenger taught us about him
Again Ja'afr is not making it up
there What our messenger has taught us about
him.
And what they say he is He mentioned
who Isa was He said Isa Isa the
son of Maryam He is Abdullah He's a
servant of Allah He's a servant of Allah
He is Allah's messenger He was created from
the word Allah communicated into the womb of
his mother And when he said this King
Najashi became even more convinced And he said
There is no difference between what we believe
and what you believe And then he said
to Amr and Abdullah He said to them,
take your gifts back Take your gifts back
And he said You may live in this
land for as long as you want and
worship for as long as you want And
this was the end of the situation with
Amr bin Aas and and they went back
and they couldn't do anything about the Muslims
that lived there who lived there for a
very very long time Now what's fascinating is
King Najashi accepts Islam with Jafar and him
and the prophet would send letters to each
other over the years And many of these
letters are recorded where he would send letters
And Najashi or Ashamah I should say I
keep saying Najashi's title, his name was Ashamah
Ashamah became someone that became someone that was
although never having met the prophet someone that
had a great honor with the prophet and
there were many things that were special about
him One such thing that I would probably
like to share with you guys is an
incident that is mentioned by Umm Salama And
she narrates something fascinating that happened during their
time there And that was that as the
Muslims are living peacefully in Habesha and worshipping
freely and peacefully that there was a coup
attempt against Najashi And this was as a
result of the people starting to believe Najashi
is not really a Christian And he was
forced to hide his beliefs so that he
could maintain power and ensure the safety of
the Sahaba that lived there She says So
one of the people of Najashi conspired against
him And the Muslims they knew that their
safety after Allah was dependent on Ashamah being
in power One of the things they were
like, what a beautiful and amazing man he
was When he realized that there were unrest
in his community and he could be dethroned
He prepared a full ship with sustenance ready
to go for the Muslims And he told,
he called Uthman and Jafar and he said
anything goes wrong, you guys have that ship
Look how much care he had for his
fellow Muslims and the Sahaba Then there was
a war that happened and the Muslims they
are there they are waiting Will he win?
Will the opposition win?
If they win, what will they do to
us?
Will they send us back to Quraish?
What's going on?
They don't know But there's just a small
group of refugees They can't participate So they're
just viewing the whole thing making dua for
who to be victorious Najashi And she said
Zubair bin Awam was sent to observe the
battle And she mentioned that Zubair floated across
the Nile river using water skins to watch
what was happening And they would wait for
days Zubair would go and he would view
what's happening And the Muslims are just waiting
What will happen?
And then one day he returned And he
was ecstatic, happy And he said Rejoice for
indeed Najashi is victorious And he managed to
prevent a coup And the country became stable
again And that meant more safety for the
Muslims Now what's fascinating my brothers and sisters
is that Najashi he accepts Islam And even
there was a time that he was challenged
by his people Are you still upon our
religion or not?
Do you still believe in dimensional things?
And it is said that he had to
use sly tactics to ensure that they think
that he's still upon their faith when he
actually wasn't Another instance that is very important
to mention as it relates to Najashi and
some of the things that happened while the
Muslims were still there There was one of
the wives of the Prophet ﷺ and our
mother Ramla bint Abi Sufyan also known as
Umm Habibah So Umm Habibah her husband passed
away He passed away and they were among
the people that migrated and he was her
source of safety and her father Abu Sufyan
was among the chiefs of Mecca and he
was someone that was a staunch hater of
Islam He would also end up becoming Muslim
very later on In one of our last
lessons we will talk about Abu Sufyan and
how he becomes a Muslim.
He was the architect of Uhud He was
a big part of Badr against the Muslims,
Uhud against the Muslims Ahzab against the Muslims
That's her father and one of the things
that happened was is that the Prophet ﷺ
when he would send letters to Abyssinia, he
would usually address them to his cousin Ja
'far or maybe to Uthman ﷺ but this
time was the first time he sent a
letter directly to the king Najashi and that
letter was the Prophet ﷺ requested from Ashamah,
from Najashi to this is after he found
out that Umm Habibah's husband has passed away
and she was in a vulnerable position, she
was in a vulnerable position and her father
anytime could go and just she started to
isolate herself more and more King Najashi received
the letter from Muhammad, the messenger of Allah
to the king requesting that he goes to
Umm Habibah and proposes to her on his
behalf so it was Najashi not only that,
was that he then went to someone is
sent to Ramallah Umm Habibah her mother, and
tells her what do you want from me,
leave me alone and he says I have
news for you, and what is the news,
and he tells her the news, she became
so happy she took off her bracelet and
gave it to him she said thank you
for this glad tidings they go into the
court of the king the wedding of the
prophet of the nikah is officiated on behalf
of the prophet of Allah in Najashi's court,
Najashi being the wakil for the prophet of
Allah and they have a feast and that
was how involved Najashi was in the life
of the prophet of Allah then Umm Habibah
stays in Abyssinia for many many years until
later she joins the prophet of Allah and
became one of his wives of course, the
marriage happened overseas and then later she joined
him so that's how closely tied King Najashi
was to the Islam and the Muslims, and
the safety that he gave them he's someone
that should be remembered is he a companion,
for all intents and purposes he's a companion
except for the fact that he's missing one
condition for someone to be considered a sahabi,
a companion, he has to have met the
prophet of Allah so the definition of a
companion is whoever met the prophet of Allah
and is a believer when he meets the
prophet of Allah and dies upon belief so
this definition would not be something that Najashi
would fit, why?
because he was not someone that met the
prophet of Allah but he was right there
and he even said to some of the
Muslims that were there with him he said,
once he accepted Islam he said, Wallahi, was
it not for my responsibilities here in Abyssinia
was it not for these responsibilities I would
go to the prophet and carry his shoes
meaning he was really hoping and understood but
his position was key for the Muslims, he
was a source of safety and sanctuary and
security for many of the Muslims that fled
in early Mecca one of the things that
is fascinating about him also is that later
on, and I know I'm getting ahead of
myself here, but we all know how the
seerah ends we all know that the prophet
ends up being victorious but we are going
on a journey, of course now, I mentioned
earlier how he gave up when King Najashi
stayed upon his point, when the Quran was
read, when he decided that he is going
to be protecting the Muslims that they left.
Now later on, when the prophet in Islam
grows even more and more and more, he
realizes Arabia is not somewhere for him to
stay anymore.
Arabia is becoming increasingly Muslim among the few
that stuck with idolatry he doesn't like Islam
Muslims he doesn't know what to do, he
feels he's an enemy of the state, enemy
to the prophet but because of his past,
that he decides you know what, I might
as well go to my old friend Najashi
so he travels to Abyssinia and he says,
listen, can I just stay here?
and Najashi, in some way, said he hit
him he said, what's wrong with you?
is it not about time that you realize
that Islam is the truth?
that what came to Muhammad is the same
namus, the same light bringer that came to
Musa and Isa and all these prophets?
So it is said that that was the
wake up call that Amr al-Ras needed
that made him go back to the Prophet
ﷺ and accept Islam one day, Angel Jibreel
comes to the Prophet ﷺ, he's in Medina
Angel Jibreel comes to the Prophet ﷺ and
I want you to think about this, I
want you to deep this Angel Jibreel comes
to the Prophet ﷺ and informs him about
the death of Ashamah and the Prophet ﷺ
comes out his companion and says مات اليوم
رجل صالح today, a truly righteous man has
passed away a truly righteous man has passed
away and the Prophet ﷺ did something that
day he had never done for anyone else
and that was pray a janazah without the
body being there pray a janazah without the
body being there he gathers companions and the
Prophet ﷺ said the four takbirat Allahu Akbar,
Allahi pray the janazah and the body is
not even there he's praying upon King Najashi
so this is who he was, someone that
we should have great admiration and respect for,
Ashamah the king Ashamah, the just king Ashamah
the man who gave so much protection and
safety for the Muslims and has that beautiful,
beautiful history so, those Sahaba, they stayed in
Abyssinia for a very long time, they will
join the Prophet ﷺ later on in Medina
so let's go back to Mecca and what's
been happening in Mecca during this time so
the Prophet ﷺ of course some Sahaba left
to flee to Abyssinia and others didn't and
among the ones that didn't they stayed and
there was still some level of problems happening
to them and there were two key individuals
two people whose Islam had a great impact
in Mecca it changed how Islam was viewed
and it changed how Muslims was viewed and
these two people are the uncle of the
Prophet, Hamza ibn Abdul Muttalib and someone I
alluded to earlier, the great companion and the
second greatest man after the Prophet ﷺ and
Abu Bakr Umar ibn Khattab so they both
become Muslim very close to each other and
Abdullah ibn Mas'ud mentioned Abdullah ibn Mas
'ud what do you know about him?
what do you know about Abdullah ibn Mas
'ud?
doesn't anyone know anything about him?
what do you remember about him?
he was a shepherd and do you know
something else about him?
he was one of the favorite reciters of
the Prophet ﷺ, very good he was that
young man that sees the Prophet ﷺ and
Abu Bakr and they approach him and they
ask for milk and that's the story of
how he became Muslim that I covered, that's
Abdullah ibn Mas'ud he said, in Mecca
the tide completely changed when Hamza and Umar
became Muslim it was such a boost for
the Muslims and the way Hamza ibn Abdul
Muttalib becomes Muslim, Hamza ibn Abdul Muttalib is
the Prophet's uncle, they were close in age,
so he was quite young compared to his
other uncles and they were also something else
to each other, raise your hand if you
know what was Hamza and the Prophet to
each other?
brothers by breastfeeding very good, milk brothers if
you will yes, that's correct so they were
breastfed by the same person a fierce warrior,
a strong man a fair and respected man
I mentioned that Abu Jahl was among the
most staunch haters of Islam and Muslims, horrible
man the Prophet actually coined him, the Firaun
of this Ummah, we all know what he'd
done to so many companions including the beloved
Sumayya radiyallahu anha so one day he Hamza
finds out Hamza finds out that Abu Jahl
hit the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam he
finds out that Abu Jahl hit the Prophet
and Hamza is not a Muslim but his
blood boils why do you think his blood
is boiling if he's not a Muslim, why
does he care why does he care, yes
they were, he was his uncle and yes,
they were related basically they were related, you're
right and he said and this was a
transgression against a fellow clansman close one at
that nephew and there was a thing within
Quraysh where you shouldn't be transgressing against each
other in that manner and that could have
it could have an impact on tribal relations
so Hamza becomes so angry he marches into
where they were and he strikes Abu Jahl
with his bow and he said you dare
to hit my nephew when I am upon
his religion and I am upon his religion,
you dare and when he said that things
started to flare up, is this going to
become a Bani Makhzum Bani Abdiwanaf type situation
where they're going to be fighting and then
when Abu Jahl sees what's going on he
says, Abu Jahl says I was in the
wrong, I was the one that hit his
nephew I was in the wrong, but now
Hamza said something in a moment of anger
what did he say I am upon his
religion, he doesn't really know much about Islam
at this point, he knows it's just something
that his nephew is doing but then he
goes, Subhanallah if Allah wants Islam to enter
into your heart right like Allah says in
the Quran if Allah wants to open your
heart to Islam that person will have a
light Subhanallah Hamza goes to the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam tells the Prophet what happened the
Prophet explains to him what Islam is right
then and then he makes his shahada Ashadu
an la ilaha illallah wa ashadu an la
muhammada rasool Allah I bear witness that none
has the right to be worshipped except Allah
and that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala these powerful words Hamza
ibn Abdul Madalib is now one of the
Muslims and this was such a boost right,
now Quraysh is starting to realise this is
not the Islam of Bilal or the Islam
of Khabab or the Islam of Somalia this
is the Islam of everyone including someone like
Hamza ibn Abdul Madalib someone that is very
well respected and feared and now all of
these people are his brothers and they are
also under his protection but subhanallah it is
almost as if Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
decreed that Islam would get a big boost
not just by Hamza but also very closely
to that this is now among they both
became Muslim in the 6th year of the
Hijrah the 6th year of the Bi'atha
the 5th year of Islam was when the
Hijrah happened the 6th year is when they
both become Muslim so Hamza becomes a Muslim
and then we also have the companion Umar
al-Khattab and Umar al-Khattab it is
very important to appreciate the number of facts
before I tell you guys the story I
don't think we have much left Umar al
-Khattab what you see among the Quraish is
that I'll give you guys an example last
week I mentioned to you remember those men
from Quraish that were laughing at the Prophet
ﷺ and after they put the dirt on
him and insulted him and they started to
laugh at him to the point this type
of insult and the Prophet ﷺ looked at
them and he cursed all of them and
he said and he cursed each one of
them that was the highest level of persecution
and inhumane harm that was being done by
some of the Quraish the people that were
like that most of them if not all
of them would never become Muslim Allah would
never open their hearts to Islam but those
that were against Islam but to a certain
degree they were not nasty about it they
were not horrible about it they later on
most of them would find Islam it was
at some level of honor even Amr al
-Naas who is traveling all the way to
Abyssinia to convince the king to bring the
Quraish the believers back to Mecca at some
point he will find Islam Amr al-Khattab
he did not have a past where he
was really engaged in the torture and the
killing he wasn't like that and there was
an element of honor with him to begin
with and in fact when you read his
reasonings for being anti-Islam it had to
do with the fact that it was splitting
up Quraish he didn't like the fact that
it was splitting people up and he ends
up being called Al-Farooq the one who
splits things apart because he would split righteousness
from falsehood right from wrong and Amr al
-Khattab becoming Muslim was such a great moment
for Islam because he became such an important
advisor and such an important figure for the
Muslims I want you to imagine this and
this is very important I'm probably going to
tell you his story next week so I
encourage you to come so next week we'll
start with the Islam of Amr al-Khattab
and then we'll discuss a few other things
inshallah but I want to give you guys
an example of who Amr al-Khattab is
and how virtuous he is six years it's
been six years think about the first Muslims
think about Khadija think about Zaid think about
Ali, early Muslims think about those that are
migrating think about Ja'far and his time
with Najashi think about Khabab al-Arad and
think about Sumayya and Amr Bilal al-Rabah
you see all the people that I'm mentioning
that are Muslim way before him Uthman ibn
Affan, Sa'd ibn Waqas whose mother said that
she's going to starve herself to death Musa
ibn Umair who was in a dungeon all
of this, all of these things are happening
Abu Salama, Umm Salama all of the, Abdullah
ibn Mas'ud all of these companions are
Muslim, are struggling are praying, are migrating are
traveling and then six years later Amr al
-Khattab becomes a Muslim are you guys with
me?
and yet Amr al-Khattab is more virtuous
more virtuous more beloved to Allah that all
of those companions imagine what kind of person
he must have been to be able to
be eclipsing all of those except for Abu
Bakr do you understand?
this teaches you a number of things just
because you're a late comer it does not
mean that you cannot do really really well
the Iman that was in Umar yes he
becomes Islam later but the Fadl the virtue,
the justice that he had it was unlike
anyone else he was the most virtuous of
all the companions except for Abu Bakr the
most virtuous of all of the companions except
Abu Bakr the Prophet said about Amr al
-Khattab if there was ever going to be
a Prophet after me there's no Prophet after
the Prophet Muhammad tell that to the Qadianis
and the Ahmadis there's no Prophet after the
Prophet Muhammad but if there was ever going
to be a Prophet after me the Prophet
would have been who?
it would have been Amr al-Khattab now
this doesn't mean that he's the most virtuous
Abu Bakr is more virtuous than him but
Amr is right up there the intellect that
he had the knowledge that he had the
bravery that he had how he understood Islam
before anything else Islam before anything else and
this is why hopefully one day we can
speak about him why am I highlighting this?
because I want you to appreciate or already
briefly you saw that great companion Layla what
did she say about Amr when she saw
him?
I saw in him what?
she said I saw in him his softness
among the things people don't know about Amr
is he had a very harsh exterior very
tall man, strong man harsh exterior but he
was very soft on the inside as he
grew older he would have marks under his
eyes of how much he cried and how
much he prayed and how much he read
he refused to eat when he was Khalifa
Khalifa if the people were hungry, he feared
Allah so much this is who Amr Khattab
was, inshallah next week the beginning of the
class I will speak about how did he
become Muslim and inshallah after that we will
talk about in the 7th and the 8th
year of the Hijrah and afterwards what happened
and the important events in that inshallah if
there are any questions feel free to ask
them if not we conclude the lesson here
there is a lot so the questioner asked
is there anything because they were a the
Muslims in Abyssinia were a religious minority living
under if you will the rule or a
land that is dominated by Christians is there
any lessons that we can learn from, are
there any parallels that we can we can
take and the answer is yes there are
many lessons that we can take from there
the first one being the the fact that
it is lawful for Muslims to live in
a land that is predominantly non-Muslim the
fact that that is lawful is the first
thing, it is allowed for Muslims as a
minority with the condition that they can freely
practice their religion and that's one of the
things that we learn is that a lot
of times what happens is some people they
think that Muslim people they are not allowed
to live in a place that is not
run or governed by Muslims, the answer is
no Abdul Habash is an example of that
however the condition is can you worship Allah
freely can you pray, can you do all
of these things, number one so that's one
thing that we learn from it we also
learn from it that you could probably benefit
from that is there a discussion around changing
the way that the country operates and is
that something that must be done and from
there you learn that it is not necessarily
always a thing that is an obligation, what
is always obligatory is dawah, what is obligatory
is preaching and however everything else will depend
on other circumstances and there are other things
that can benefit as well definitely there is
a lot that can be looked at as
it relates to what does it mean to
be a minority, the main thing is that
the best way when you're a minority you
impact is by staying true to your deen
and also that justice is not something unique
to Muslims, justice is not something that is
unique to Muslims justice is something that is
recognized by people that are Muslim and people
that aren't Muslim, it is a universal concept
before he even hears about the message of
the prophet the prophet is sending them, think
about this this is very important my brothers
and sisters they are in Mecca being prosecuted
by non-Muslims and they are going to
take safe haven from another non-Muslim and
that also shows you that we don't treat
everyone the same, not all people are the
same, people are individuals and the way they
behave are individuals and some people have intrinsically
kindness and justice while others don't but Jazakallah
khair for your question someone is asking was
new revelation being sent to the Muslims in
Abyssinia, yes information was being given to them
through letters so there will be letters that
will be sent to them from the prophet
was Hamza not the prophet's uncle, so for
those of you that are confused by this
let me clarify this Hamza is the prophet's
uncle Hamza is the prophet's uncle, he is
Hamza ibn Abdel Motalib, the prophet's paternal uncle
so where does the whole brother thing come
from when they were babies they were suckled
by the same woman and when that happens
then you become what's called milk brothers, so
although he is the uncle of the prophet
he also shares that separate bond with him,
so yes he is the uncle of the
prophet and that is not something that we
have never said, he is the uncle of
the prophet, Jazakallah khair, I'll see you all
next week next week Inshallah