Mustafa Umar – Islamic History 101 Lecture#5 Life of the Prophet
AI: Summary ©
The Quraysh culture is a place where people gather and exchange information, where they are competing with each other to see who comes on top. The culture is a place where people are gathering and selling merchandise, where they are gathering and selling items, and where they are competing with each other to see who comes on top. The speaker discusses the importance of lineage and family history in the culture of the time, and the importance of understanding the truth behind the reputation of the prophet before he was a prophet. The speaker also discusses the history of the conflict between the US and Iran, the importance of understanding the truth behind the reputation of the prophet before he was a prophet, and the importance of understanding the truth of the people.
AI: Summary ©
So this is week 3
of the life of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam. And we're gonna be covering,
about we're gonna be covering a few topics.
We're gonna talk about the Quraysh. We're gonna
talk about how the prophet was an orphan,
how he was a shepherd, how he participated
in a coalition to protect the weak,
the type of reputation that he had throughout
Makkah
before he was a prophet,
his marriage and family life before he was
a prophet,
the incident
regarding rebuilding of the Kaaba, and the seclusion
that he went into before he received revelation.
K.
So
the Quraysh.
K? We're talking about the 5th century
CE.
So in the 5th century CE, a man
by the name of Husay
recaptured
Mecca. So we were talking before about how
the tribe of Khuzaa
had kicked out the descendants of prophet Ismail,
and they were kicked out. And what ended
up happening in the 5th century,
Husay,
who's one of the descendants
of prophet Ismail,
manages to recapture
Makkah,
and he the the the the descendants of
prophet Ismael are in control of the city
once again. So that's important to understand that
the tribe of Quresh that not not there's
a new tribe now that's known as the
Quresh.
Now remember, there are tribes and there are
clans.
A tribe is a giant family unit and
it's made up of certain clans, which are
smaller smaller families.
So the big tribe of Quraysh manages to
take over
control of the city of Mecca
and their lineage is from prophet Ismail. And
this is very important because the prophet is
going to be coming from this tribe, and
the tribe has a very important status in
this area.
Now what do the Quraysh do?
The Quraysh
have a very special honor,
not only in Makkah, but throughout the entire
cont or throughout the entire country of Arabia,
the entire land of Arabia.
What do they do? They are the caretakers
of the Kaaba.
They are the caretakers of the Kaaba. Now
why is that so important?
It's so important because we have to understand
what we were talking about before that the
Kaaba became a place
where all the Arabs were coming from different
parts of Arabia and even other lands, and
they were coming to visit this area from
the
Arabia and even other lands, and they were
coming to visit this area from the time
of prophet Ibrahim and passing on the generations.
Even though idolatry has kept crept in, the
Kaaba still serves as a very important,
place
where most Arabs are still going during pilgrimage
season.
So what's happening over here? The Quraysh, now
that they're in control of Makkah, they have
the special status of being the caretakers of
the Kaaba inside the city of Makkah because
they control that area. So what do they
do? Okay. What do they do? They for
example, they feed the pilgrims who come.
They're giving shelter to the pilgrims who are
coming. They are holding separate festivals,
what you can call, like,
poetry festivals, trading festivals, you know,
you know, bazaars,
you know, selling merchandise and selling goods.
You know, the pilgrimage now is not only
a religious ritual, that's a very important part
of it now, even though it's corrupted by
idolatry,
but at the same time,
this is if everyone is gathering here, and
Mecca is like a magnet which is attracting
all different people, what do you get in
this city? You get a very vibrant city
at this point in time. So you have
trade, you have commerce, you have arts are
flourishing, poetry, and, you know, different things that
people are publishing and all of that. It's
a place of gathering for people.
So it's not a major city
like New York or LA where a lot
of people are coming, but they're not always
there throughout the year. They only come and
they gather there at one particular time in
the year. So Makkah becomes very prominent in
the hearts of
people, not always physically, but in the hearts
of people it's a very very important thing.
So what ends up happening is if Quraysh
are in control of Makkah
and everyone
is going to Makkah at least once a
year, they hold Makkah with a special dignity,
with a special status, and that's always existed
because who's that whoever is in control of
the Kaaba also gets the status. If they're
serving the pilgrims, they get the status. So,
like, today, for example, the modern day, you
find that, you know, the kings and the
princes, they always want to be the khadim
ul haramain.
They they wanna be the servant of, you
know, the the the holy sanctuary or these
special places. Why? Because in the sight of
people, they're also gonna have a special status
because of the status, you know, because of
the help and support that they're giving to
the people who are coming over here. So
the Quraysh hold a very special place, a
place of honor,
in the hearts and the minds of all
the people throughout Arabia. So it's a very
important clan. Now keep in mind, it does
not mean that the Quraysh
are militarily
superior or politically superior to the other tribes
throughout Arabia.
But religiously,
despite their corruption in the religion, religiously,
they are they they are these superiors in
the entire,
Arabians, you know, subcontinent, in the entire Arabian
Peninsula.
Okay?
Now
within the tribe of Quresh,
you have one clan which is the most
prominent.
Now how does this work, the most prominent
clan? Well, there's many clans within a tribe,
and they're always trying to compete with one
another to see who comes on top. Imagine
it's like it's like the democrats and the
republicans
trying to compete who controls the house one
day and who controls this other part another
day. They're switching back and forth sometimes. And
sometimes there's victories on this front, victories on
that front. By this time this time, we're
not talking about 5th century anymore. Now we're
moving to the time where the prophet was
born. So which century are we talking about?
6th century. Right? So 6th century, the tribe
of, the clan of Hashim has become the
most prominent clan, one of the most prominent
clans
in Amman Quraish
by a narrow margin, but it's still one
of the most prominent.
And the leader of that clan is a
man by the name of Abdul Muttalib.
K? Abdul Muttalib is the leader of that
clan, and since he's the leader of that
clan and they're the most prominent tribe, he's
become the leader of the Quraysh.
So he's the leader of the entire tribe
of Quraysh, and now you understand the position
that Quraysh has within Arabia, so you understand
how important this man is in the entire
Arabian Peninsula.
Right? Abdul Mutaleb. And this is the grandfather
of the prophet.
This is the grandfather of the prophet. So
he's the leader of Quraysh.
Now he has several children.
He has several children and there's a lot
of, you know, history about his children and
how many children he had and how he
got them and all of that. But the
important thing is one of his children,
one of the younger ones, is named Abdullah,
one of his sons, He's named Abdullah.
And in fact, he was one of the
most beloved sons,
to his father. So his father used to
give him used to, you know, care a
lot for him. He was one of the
favorite children of Abdul Muttalib. His name was
Abdullah. So Abdullah marries a woman by the
name of Aminah.
Okay? So both of them get married,
and
what ends up happening is after they're married,
they're very recently married. They have not been
married for a very long time.
While
the father is on a journey, he's traveling
somewhere, and in fact, he it's the sources
say historical sources say he was traveling to
the city of Yathrib,
which is now known as the city of
Madinah. So he was traveling in that area,
and he died on the way. He died
on the way, and he left his wife
pregnant. So Amina is pregnant.
And these are this is the father and
the mother of the prophet, Muhammad sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam. So we understand who his grandfather
is. It's not just about knowing his name.
It's about knowing his position. It's about knowing
his status. It's about knowing the status of
his father. It's about knowing the situation, what
happened, why he died early, all of these
things.
So it's important to understand. So his wife
is pregnant. Okay?
And then we're gonna see how the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam is born. Any questions
on this slide so far? Okay. How did
the descendants of prophet Ismail come back to
retake recapture?
Yeah. They were gone. They were gone. Yeah.
So they were they were not too far.
They were still in Arabia. So it's just
a matter of conquering one city and taking
over and all of these things. So they
were they did not, like, leave the entire,
you know, peninsula.
They were still in the area. Yeah. No.
No. No. Sorry. Khosay is the name of
the man who recaptured,
and the tribe of Quresh
is sometimes attributed to him.
He's he's a man from the tribe of
Quresh. Yeah. An important figure in the tribe
of Quresh.
Okay? Different theories of who started the Quraysh
and all of that, that's not too important.
So who is Khosay? Khosay is a man
who
managed to re control
recapture,
Makkah for for the tribe of Quresh, which
he belongs to. So the question is, if
the Arabs used to follow
the religion of their
ancestors,
then why didn't they do the same thing
when it came to prophet Ismail? K. So
a very good question. So the thing is
that because of the long gap,
they had lost the concept of what the
real religion of prophet Ishmael was.
So they didn't realize that you know, see,
when idolatry crept in over time, they forgot
they they kept the ritual, but they forgot
the meaning behind the ritual like we talked
about last time. So if you keep the
ritual and you forget the meaning, you think
that's probably what prophet Ishmael was doing. And
then if you if you introduce an idol
and you say, well,
prophet Ishmael, he didn't use an idol. That's
true. But his intention was to get close
to God, and we're only using these idols
to get close to Allah. Therefore, he wouldn't
have a problem with it. It's just like
something that you just kind of add over
time. It's like it's like, you know, modern
technology. You know? The idol just kind of
helps us get through it faster or something
like that. So they didn't realize
actually what the original teachings were. And if
someone came and told them,
they would say they would try and reason
it out and say, no. No. No. You
know, that's probably not what he was really
doing. You know? He probably was doing the
same thing. So they they never forsook
the religion of their of their ancestors going
back. They just misunderstood it. It it was
confused in their mind. So moving forward. So
now
on Monday,
on a Monday, in the month of Araby
Al Awwal, which is a month in the
lunar calendar that they used to use at
that time, in the year 5 70 CE,
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam was born.
And as I mentioned in your text, sometimes
you will find that it's 571
CE.
So why is there a discrepancy between 5
70 CE and 571 CE? Well, there's a
number of reasons. One of the main reasons
is we're talking about the Christian calendar here.
And the Christian calendar or the western calendar
has undergone several
changes.
It's been replaced with Gregorian calendar and Julian
calendar, and days have been added from 1
church taking over, and some days have been
removed. So there's been the corruption within the
calendar. So converting causes a problem, number 1.
Number 2,
Arabs used to keep track
of dates by certain important events that took
place,
and they were not that concerned with exact
numbers and days, and this is exactly what
happened and all of that. They would remember
the day. They would remember the month,
and in terms of the year, they didn't
even have a yearly calculation system. Right? But
the main issue is if we understand that
by the time they calculated the number of
years to which they started a calculation system,
when you convert from an Islamic calendar to
a Christian calendar, you're gonna be off because
the people within the Christian calendar who who
have a solar calendar, they themselves don't have
a specific criteria of exactly how to date
events
going back because there's been so much discrepancy
on how the calendar has changed over time.
If you look at the history of calendars,
history of the Gregorian calendar, history of the
Julian calendar, you'll find all the discrepancies taking
place because every time another religious group took
control
or another political group took control, they thought
that they wanna modify everything however they feel
like. So that that was a major problem
with calendars and with dateings. So he was
born,
we know on a Monday. We know on
a Monday for sure and in the month
of Rabi Rabi al Awal, which is very
probable.
And his name was Muhammad. So this child's
name was Muhammad, which actually was a very
rare name that was used at that time,
but this was the name that was given
to him. Sources suggest, you know, different,
reasons why he was given the name, but
the name is the praised one. So Muhammad
actually means
the praised one.
And it's important to understand
that
in Arabian culture,
in Arabian society at that time, lineage and
family history was something very, very important. People
used to memorize their, you know, lineage going
all the way back to so many different,
you know, descendants and everything. So he came
from a very, very noble family because prophet
Ishmael had a very noble position
in the sight of Allah as well as
in the sight of the Arabs, number 1.
Number 2, he's coming from the tribe of
Quraish,
as noble as you can get. Right? One
of the important tribes in Arabia. Number 3,
he's coming from the clan of Hashim, the
most prominent clan that's there.
Right? And his his ancestry goes all the
way back to prophet Ismail. Like I said,
he's a his 21st
ancestor
is named Adnan,
and Adnan is one of the most one
of the very prominent descendants of prophet Ismael
somewhere down the line.
Tracing from Adnan back to prophet Ismael is
there's a lot of conjecture involved.
You can't really trust 100%
how the lineage goes back, so we don't
exactly know. But going from the prophet,
21 people or 20 people up to Adnan,
it's very clear.
It's very clear. It's very well documented, and
everyone knows, how his lineage goes. K. You
don't need to memorize the the guy's name
Adnan, by the way. You're not gonna be
tested on that. But just so you understand
how important lineage is in that society and
that he's coming from the lineage of prophet
Ismail. This is going to be very, you
know, important
because
from the time of prophet Ishmael going all
the way down, he did not have any
descendants that were prophets.
But his brother Ishaq, you know, Ibrahim's other
son, actually had several prophets going through. Prophet
Musa, prophet Moses, prophet Jesus, prophet Isa, all
of them going through. He had several. Bani
Israel and all of that line. So you'll
find a a difference here. So just know
that important family. Now the prophet, salaam, he
was raised in the desert. Now why was
he raised in the desert?
Because children who are from noble families,
not all children,
children who are from noble families
were able to go and send their children
into the desert to be raised. Okay? So
he was taken into the desert, and he
was raised
by a foster mother who we're gonna talk
about. Now why would children be raised in
the desert? There's a number of reasons. Number
of reasons. Number 1, there's less disease.
There was actually more there's other illnesses outside
in the desert as well, but in the
city, there are more disease because there's more
people,
and that that can constitute a lot of
disease. So there was less disease, number 1.
Number 2, the language is more pure.
The language is pure outside in the desert,
which is kind of, you know, some it
depends. You know, like, if you look in
the inner city,
language has been changed. Right? In a major
city, in the inner city, language changes into
Ebonics and different, you know, colloquial type of
things and all of that. So it's very
different. The pure language, the the the most
eloquent language has been maintained in the desert
because Arabs prided themselves on their language and
on their poetry, and people who are in
the desert, they used to, you know, compose
a lot of poetry.
Number 3, to make them tougher.
You see, they actually wanted their children to
become a little bit tough because they grew
up to be stronger. If you grew up
in the palace,
right, and you're spoiled by all the, you
know, maid servants and all of that, you're
gonna end up growing to be, you know,
I mean, not necessarily, but it's more likely
that you're gonna kinda grow up as a
a whip. You know? So this actually this
actually continued. This tradition continued
after the demise of the prophet, sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam. And many of the khulafa, many
of the leaders of the Muslim ummah, they
used to be raised up in the desert.
Even their children were raised up. It's a
funny story in one of the books that
I came across. They said, you know, the
first,
the first, Khalifa, the first ruler of the
Muslim world, who actually their parents decided not
to put them in the desert, He happened
to be the biggest wimp out of all
the harifas that actually ended up. So you
can see that in some books of Sira
they talk about that.
There's less vices.
There are less vices out in the desert
than there are in the city. Now if
you think about that, that's the way cities
still are today. More vices, more immorality, more
things going on because more people,
more, you know, self interest, more economics, more
greed, more all of these things. So more
vices end up being in the city. Right?
Like, having, like, clubs and drinking and all
of these things. Outside in the desert, it's
just kind of, you know, you may do
some bad stuff, but it's not that organized.
So the prophet,
he grew up in the desert, and Halima
was his foster mother. And she's the one
who came him and took him out into
the desert, and he he was over he
was raised over there. Now when it says
that he was raised over there, does it
mean that he was separated from his family?
No. That would be a misconception.
It means that he used to be taken
back to visit his mother on a regular
basis.
Right? But he would generally be living outside
in the desert. It was not far. We're
not talking about all the way in the
other side of the desert. We're just talking
about a little bit outside the city in
the desert with the nomads who would be
traveling around, you know, from different place, from
place to place.
And
later on, after a few years, we don't
know exactly how many years, maybe 3, 4
years, something like that, he was returned to
his mother. Because it it's only during a
certain period of infancy and early childhood that
they're raised in the desert. So he was
returned back to his mother,
and the prophet was,
you know, the prophet
actually, we already talked about that. So so
he he he later returned to his mother.
Now mother and child are reunited once again.
Okay? Any questions on this? Good question. So
were the Arabs aware
that there were they they had vices in
their own community by drinking and gambling and
prostitution, all of that? Yes. They did. And
when we talk about the rebuilding of the
Kaaba, we're gonna find their conception. They had
a conception of what is right and wrong
to to some extent.
We're gonna we're gonna find that in that
incident. Another good question. So how would a
vice how would these vices within the city
affect a young child,
when they're only spending the 1st few years
of their life in the desert?
The thing is when people grow up,
you know, even kids who are 3 4
years old, they observe things around them, and
the things around them affects them as well.
So if they're raised, for example, imagine your
father goes and constantly
decides, you know what? Instead of taking you
out to show you how he goes hunting
or to show you how he goes and
collects water, he takes you to the nightclub
or he takes you to the casino.
It has an effect on a young child.
The stuff that he's watching and the stuff
that he's seeing and all of these things.
So it has an effect to an extent.
Maybe devices is not the old maybe it
was not the reason why they were sending
their kids out.
We're just saying that that's one of the
benefits
that he gets. That not necessarily that they
did it for that particular reason.
Right? So there's a difference between their intention
and some of the wisdom that we can
see in the way that he was brought
up.
So the prophet, salaam,
at the age of 6 he already lost
his father. Now at the age of 6,
his mother was traveling on a journey
with him, and she passed away. And she
died and he you know, during the journey,
and one of, her, you know, workers or
servants took him back to Makkah safely. But
now he's lost mother and he's lost father.
He's a full orphan now. Before he was
a half is he still considered to be
an orphan when you lose your father? Because
that's your main source of, you know, support,
financial support, lively support, and all of that.
Now he's lost his mother as well. So
it's it's a very difficult thing,
to encounter these type of things, and you're
gonna understand how this affects the type of
person he is when he's when he's dealing
with orphans in the future or when he's
doing certain things.
But his grandfather.
Right? Who is his grandfather?
Abdul Muttalib, we just talked about. His grandfather
takes charge of him and says, I will
take care of him like one of my
own children.
K? So now
in whose custody
is the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam growing
up right now?
One of the most
important people
in the entire peninsula of Arabia.
So we're not talking about some small family
here. We're talking about a very, very important
personality
in the entire area.
Right? Now he used to take such good
care of him that he had his own
kids sitting around when they used to meet.
They used to meet in front of the
Kaaba because he's the chief. Right? He's the
chief of the tribe.
So they used to meet in front of
the Kaaba, and they used to sit down
and they used to sit down in, like,
a circle or a semicircle or whatever it
may be. And his kids used to sit
around as well during some of these gatherings.
But there was a special seat which he
would sit on because that's his special chair
because he's the chief.
And he would only let
young Mohammed
sit on the same chair along with him
next to him, which shows you the kind
of respect and the kind of, you know,
treatment that he was getting. Now what why
is that important?
Why are these details important? These details are
important because people try to make accusations
against the prophet
when they go back to his early life.
And they say, well, since his mother and
father died, he must have had so much
bad trauma that he has been abused all
of his life, and therefore, he ended up
like this. Okay? Now to debunk that theory,
you simply look at how did his grandfather
take care of him? Better than his own
children. So you have one of the most
important people in Arabia giving you the special
seat next to you that your own kids
wouldn't even have.
Special treatment. And then if you go and
you make another theory and you say, well,
he was raised spoiled and he had this
and he had that. You say, yes. Okay.
You zoomed in on a few years of
his life. He had a great thing, but
he did lose his mother and father. He
was raised in the desert on top of
that. That theory is also thrown out of
the water. Because remember what I mentioned to
you in the introduction is that this is
what people are doing. When they try to
attack the life of the prophet, they go
and they look at these certain details, and
they zoom in on one event, and they
make a giant story out of it.
He lost his father, so he was traumatized,
and he needed social, you know, care, and,
therefore, he came up with this message of
the Quran somehow. Or they say, no. No.
He was raised as a king, and he
just wanted to reclaim leadership, and therefore, he
came with the Quran in order to reclaim
leadership. You're gonna find this stuff
in so many books because today,
you know, writing a book about the prophet
is one of the most or or about
Islam or about the prophet is one of
the most lucrative,
professions that you can get into.
Because you just put a bunch of propaganda
on it, and you sell it, and it
sells. And it it becomes like a New
York Times bestseller. You sell a 1000000 copies,
and you're a millionaire now. So this is
happening. We have even taking small, small aspects
of the facts about his life
can be used to understand what his his
upbringing was really like. So these are important
things. These are not just kinda random things,
but don't just focus on names and places.
Focus on how you can utilize this information
to understand what his upbringing was really like.
Okay?
So at the age of 8,
his his uncle his grandfather, Abdul Muttalib, also
passes away.
So
he lost another person. So he's he's lost
another caretaker.
Now his uncle Abu Talib
takes care of him. So his uncle Abu
Talib, who's one of the
one of the prominent people
in, in in in the Quraysh tribe of
Quraysh as well. He's one of the very
prominent people, but he's not the most prominent.
So after Abdul Muttalib passes away,
there is kind of like since he had
a lot of children,
there's kind of like a struggle for power,
you know, unspoken struggle for power. Who's gonna
take the position of Abdul Muttalib? Because some
leaders have that strength.
Right? They have that,
you know, they have that aura about them.
When they pass away and there's you kind
of think, oh, the eldest one might take
charge or this one might take charge. Sometimes
none of the children
have the same leadership characteristics as the
father. So they say, which one is gonna
take over? They're not exactly sure. So there's
kind of like a little rivalry here kind
of going on back and forth, but the
tribe is still okay. So Abu his uncle
Abu Talib was one of them, not the
most prominent, but he was one of the,
you know, important chieftains as well. He takes
charge and he takes the prophet into his
household and he says, I will adopt you
and you're gonna be like my son. So
he was very, very close.
Now Abu Talib loved him very, very much.
Just like his grandfather did, Abu Talib loved
him and he treated him like his own
own child. In fact, when he would travel,
sometimes he would take the prophet on his
journeys
when he goes on business or something
even when he didn't take some of his
own children. So he he he kept him
very close and very near, and he was
very dear to him. So he he had
a very it's not even though he lost
his mother and father, he still had a
very loving upbringing. So it's not that he
didn't have love in his life and it's
not that he had trauma or something like
that. If you're this cared for, there's there's
a different background story. Now the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam,
keep in mind that Abu Talib was
not that wealthy. His uncle was not that
wealthy like the other brothers were and like
Abdul Muttalib was because he was the chief.
So he was he was
maybe
not doing so well in his business, and
there was a famine. He lost a lot
of property and everything. So So the prophet,
what did he do? He had to go
and earn his own living.
So he had to earn his own living.
So he did not have everything on a
golden platter as they say, you know, just
given to him because he's from the nobility.
He had to go and work. And when
he was working, he took shepherding as a
profession.
So he became a shepherd, meaning you have
to take care of sheep and you take
care of goats and you have to guide
them and, you know, you're kind of on
the outskirts of the city, and it's a
it's a profession.
Now,
he's taking care of these sheeps. Now what
are the benefits
of being a shepherd?
Understanding that, you know, your profession
kind of has an impact on the way
that you think, your upbringing, the way that
you behave, and all of that.
What are some of the benefits of being
a shepherd? Well, number 1, you learn
how to guide
animals,
which will actually teach you how to guide
people. It teaches you a very important skill
because when the sheep are going this way,
you have to kind of, you know, guide
them and kind of keep them all together.
If they start running this way, you have
to figure out a way to kind of
bring them back. So it teaches you a
very important quality in life, very skill in
life is how to guide.
And this can be applied to different people.
It can be applied to different animals. It
can be applied to children. It can be
applied to a lot of things. Number 2,
you learn to protect and care for them.
Right? Because your job is to make sure
that not a single one of these sheep
or not a single one of these goats
gets injured
or gets harmed in any way, so you're
taking care of them. So his sense of
his awareness of caution, his awareness of care
for other pea for other animals here can
will apply to other people as well. So
this is a very important lessons that are
there. What other lessons are there? You learn
patience.
You learn patience. Right? So when you go
outside and you have a bunch of sheep
and they, you know, they need to eat
and they need to feed, you can't just
say, you know what? Look. I got another
appointment. You know? I need to go. I
don't have time for you. So hurry up
and eat the food, and I need to
go and make my other appointment. No. They're
gonna eat whenever they wanna eat. Right? They're
gonna take their time. And if one of
them is going slow, you have to wait
for them. You can't just say, look. I
don't have time for you. You know? Just
wait there and I'll be back. And you
can't take a vacation. Now you can't just
tell your sheep, you know, and say, you
know what? You know, it's Saturday, and it's
my day off now. So I'm just gonna
leave you, and, you know, don't don't move,
and I'll be back tomorrow when I'm working
again. You can't do that. So it's very
important to understand the profession that he's getting
into,
and it gives you a sense time to
reflect.
Very, very important.
It gives you time to reflect because you're
spending time outside the city,
outside of people. You know, when people are
so much around people all the time and
they're just talking, talking, talking, socializing, socializing, socializing,
they don't get time to reflect in their
life. If they're just entertaining themselves with something
to death, they don't have time. So he's
outside. He's just with the animals. He's with
nature. He's outside by himself. He gets time
to reflect, and he gets time to think
about life and about all of these other
things. So these are some of the things.
And why it's so so important the profession
of shepherding
is because most
most prophets
were shepherds
throughout history,
and that's very interesting. And the prophet, he
he himself said that later on in life.
He said that most or he said all,
meaning most, prophets were shepherds throughout their life.
Now why would all the prophets have to
go through this kind of
training?
It's a training for their prophethood. So it's
very important to understand, you know, how certain
someone's occupation will affect their life and affect
certain skills. Like, if you're a butcher and
you're just slaughtering all the time and you're
seeing blood all the time, it has an
effect on your psyche to an extent. It
doesn't mean that you're disadvantaged,
but it has a different effect. Alright? If
you're dealing with people who are, you know,
emergency victims who are being traumatized,
it has an effect on your psyche as
well. You know? If you're a soldier, it
has an effect. So all of these things
have an effect. So being a shepherd is
something which teaches you a lot of responsibility,
a lot of care, and these type of
things.
Any questions on this?
What's the closest profession to being a shepherd
in today's society? First of all, it doesn't
mean
that we have to go and become shepherds.
Right?
It just means
that you have to understand
how your profession
affects you. And if there's negative effects,
you need to be careful of them. And
if there are positive effects,
you need to utilize those positive benefits
for the sake of something good rather than
just wasting it. That that's really what it
is. So today's shepherding,
maybe taking care of maybe being
in charge of a nursery or something like
that, you know. Taking care of children or
something. I don't know.
I don't know. A what? A taxi driver?
Driving a taxi?
No. No. I I know. I I wouldn't
think so.
No. No. That's more like, if he was
in charge of a caravan, like, giving people
rides across, you know, something like that. No.
I don't think so. But, yeah. Anyway, so
it it doesn't mean that you have to
become a shepherd or something. Understand how your
profession
affects you and understand how the profession of
the prophets affected them. It's important to understand
that. Okay? Any other questions?
Yeah. So the the story about the, you
know, splitting of the heart when he was
with Halim and all of that, there's an
authentic narration regarding that. Yeah. So that that
is there. The reason why I didn't mention
it is because
it's it's a long story, but the reason
why I didn't mention it is because scholars
differ whether it actually took place at this
time or whether it took place at another
time in history, which was during the Isra.
Right? So it's very difficult to pinpoint exactly
which one happened or it happened twice. So
there's actually 3 different opinions on the matter.
And because there's difference of opinion, I decided
to just leave it out for the sake
of for the sake of consensus.
That's the reason.
The next important event that took place,
in the life of was
a coalition to protect the weak. Okay? This
is known as.
K. K? It's a very important event. Now
understand the context of it. We're talking about
a tribal society. Tribalism is rampant, which means
that many crimes
will either go unpunished
or they will just be, you know, they'll
just be sidelined. Because when you live in
a tribal society, what happens?
Your tribe
is right.
The other tribe is wrong.
Even if you're wrong,
you still support your tribe no matter what.
That's the way it works. Right? It's like
an extreme form of nationalism.
My country right or wrong. Whatever my country
does, that's the way it's gonna be. We
always support my country no matter what. It's
the same form of old old style tribalism.
So the same thing's happening. This in Arabia,
this is a system that existed at that
time. Unfortunately,
some, you know, countries are trying to, you
know, bring that back. You know, may Allah
protect us from that. But
this is what used to happen.
So even in Arabia so
in Mecca, one incident took place where a
Yemeni merchant
we saw where Yemen was. Right? Where was
Yemen? Northeast,
west?
South. Good.
Alright. So you'll see some curve balls coming.
Right? So a Yemeni merchant from the south
of Arabia,
he went up and he visited Mecca.
Now why would he be visiting Mecca? Because
everybody visits Mecca. Right? It's the place of
pilgrimage. So he's probably visiting Mecca at one
time, and he brings some merchandise
from Southern Arabia because there's good merchandise there.
The good merchandise is in the south. Good
merchandise is in the north in the area
of Syria. This is where the main caravan
trades were going back and forth. So this
Yemeni merchant brought some stuff to Makkah, and
he's trying to sell it. And one man
by the name of Al Asib Bin Wa'in,
he goes and he buys his merchandise.
And he gets all the merchandise and everything,
and he forgets to do one thing. He
forgets to pay. And he says, you're not
getting any money. And he says, you took
my merchandise. Say, well, that's too bad.
That's too bad. Sorry. There's nothing we can
do about it. Now why can now understand
this. Why can a man like Al Asib
Bin Wael get away with this?
Number 1. Yes. What was No centralized government.
One, no centralized government.
Number 2,
he was of a higher status. He's from
a important
family. He's from a top family.
Number 3,
that yeah. Okay. So he's from a tribe
high family, so the tribe is supporting him.
That's right. And number 3?
Go ahead.
Yeah. He's like an outsider. He's an outsider.
Exactly. He's an outsider. So if you're an
outsider,
where's your you may have the tribe back
home, but you don't got the tribe in
Mecca. So who's gonna back you up? It's
like a gang. It's like 1 guy from
a gang went into another gang's territory. Now
what are you gonna do? You're by yourself.
You know, you can't stop me. I got
my entire clan to back me up. So
there's nothing you can do. So he's been
wronged. Okay? Now what ends up happening? This
is one incident that kind of changed things.
Right? So what is happening? Some of the
people
this this man goes and he starts reciting
poetry.
I've been wronged and, you know, what kind
of people are you and, you know, you
people of Quraysh, you're supposed to be the
religious people, you know, giving them the guilt
trip, you know. You people and, you know,
I come to Makkah. This is the holy
place, and you guys rip me off and
you no one does anything and you just
stand by, but he put it with eloquence.
Right? It shows you the effect
of the arts,
right, upon a a population.
Very important. If he just said, you know,
who's gonna help me? No one's gonna help
me. If you articulate it
in a very, you know, intelligent way, more
people are likely to respond. Important lesson to
learn. But at the same time so some
people he got the he got the sympathy
of some people, some important people, and they
started feeling bad.
So they gathered together, and they said, you
know what? We shouldn't allow this to take
place. We should do something about this because
this is this is we know it's not
right,
but our reputation on top of that is
gonna be hurt. This is something is wrong.
We should do something about it. So
another thing so what did they do? They
made a pact.
Okay? Now there's two reasons why they got
together. 1 is because they felt sorry for
the guy, number 1. Number 2, they had
just come out of a major war.
Very important part. They had come out of
a major war and that's,
it's somewhere here, I believe.
It's in your book. So they had recently
come out of a major war.
Now what happens when you come out of
war?
You
remember
what all that war was about. You remember
people dying. You remember people being hurt. You
remember, you know, you think, was this all
worth it for nothing?
And this this is something important because when
you look at history, for example, you look
at,
for the most part,
Europe's stance
to war today.
Why do you find that it's very different
from America's stance on war?
It's because they witnessed
World War 2 right there on their soil.
They witnessed and they remember the bombs falling.
The people who are still alive over there,
they remember the chaos and the destruction and
everything. Whereas, America has not been attacked since
when?
Pearl Harbor was not mainland.
The mainland, American soil.
Outside of 911. Outside of 911. A real
attack from from from a real, you know,
organized group.
The American No.
A foreign a foreign power. I'm an Israeli.
Of course, he did.
It's the last one.
Raise your hand if you if you really
think you know.
Yeah.
Yeah. War of 18/12.
Okay? Last time that they were attacked was
the war of 18/12.
Okay. So it's a very different it's a
very different scenario when you have war in
your land and you just come out of
war.
Their follows
generally a good time of peace because people
keep it in their mind. This is exactly
what happened to the Arabs here. Exactly what
happened. They just came from a major war,
and they know this war was for nothing.
It was just over foolishness.
So they are more inclined to say, you
know what? We don't want to have more
wars. We this is unjust. So their sense
of justice is a little bit heightened at
this time, and they get together and they
go and they meet in one of the
leader's house his houses. His name is Abdullah
ibn Jut'an, not important.
But each leader, each leader comes together, and
they say, we will stand for justice. This
is the only way it's gonna work. Because
if you have the leaders willing to commit
and saying, we're not gonna allow this man
to oppress.
We're not gonna allow this man to continue.
We're gonna stand up for what's right, and
we're gonna sign this document, and we all
agree that we collectively go to him and
say, it doesn't matter if your tribe backs
you up. We're gonna go against your whole
tribe. When you got 5 clans going and
saying, you're 1 clan. Yes. We'll back you
up. But we got 5 clans putting pressure
on you. That clan backs down. That's the
way the politics used to work over here.
It's important to understand politics, how it works,
especially here because you understand the reaction to
the message and the mission.
So they make this pact called the pact
of excellence,
the Haylf al Fudul,
And,
they forced Al Asibin Wale to return the
merchandise because he still didn't wanna pay for
it. So they forced him to return the
merchandise to the man, and this was a
very successful thing. Now what is the most
important thing about this for our class? The
most important thing about this is that the
prophet,
before he was a prophet, Muhammad was there,
salallahu alaihi wa sallam, and he took part.
He was in the house, and he took
part in the pact.
What does that tell you?
How many people do you think were in
the house of the leader? His house is
not that big.
Right?
That he was respected. That he was respected,
That he was considered a major like, not
a major, but he was considered somewhat important
enough to invite
here because he's a person who stands up
for justice, and he had a little bit
of status because of his uncle.
Very important. So it shows you his reputation,
and he used to say later on in
life, even after he became a prophet, he
used to praise this pact all the time.
And he says, you know, if if someone
asked me to participate in this kind of
pact, even with Islam now, I would participate.
I wouldn't sacrifice anything. I would participate in
that. What does that tell you?
It tells you that even if after he's
a prophet, he's remembering this pact, and he's
praising it and saying how great it was,
and he would love to participate in it.
How many Muslims were in this group?
0.
Right? Outside of the prophet because he didn't
worship idols, 0.
Which means that participating in a pact or
participating in an agreement or participating in a
movement
with a group of people who you completely
disagree with on the most fundamental levels
is still praiseworthy in and of itself as
long as
the actual actions that you're doing is praiseworthy.
As long as the the the status and
the substance of what you're trying to achieve
has some benefit behind it.
So in very important life and it shows
you his reputation.
It shows you the type of reputation that
he had at that time, and more important,
it shows you his sense of justice even
before he was a prophet.
Okay? So his reputation. So the reputation of
the prophet before he was a prophet is
very important.
Number 1, he used to refuse to worship
idols.
Okay? So he was one of the few
people in Arabia or few people in Mecca
in particular who refused.
There's a difference between not worshiping idols
and refusing to worship idols. And I hope
we understand the difference. Right? So there's those
people who just weren't exposed to it. So
they say, oh, they just didn't do it.
He was averse since he was young to
worshiping idols because that's something that Allah had
prepared him for. And one of the ways
in which he used to do, when he
was people were performing the,
you know, circumambulation
of the Kaaba, we said, you know, you
go around the Kaaba and then we talked
about the meaning behind that. He used to
go around and everyone at that time had
a it was a certain idol which they
would touch while they were going around.
And he used to be one of the
people who skipped that idol. So even while
doing that, even though he didn't worship, he
didn't even touch the idol, which means that
even outwardly, he didn't wanna show any signs
of idol worship.
Although he was not telling anybody else to
stop.
He did not tell anyone else you shouldn't
touch the idol. It was just something he
himself used to do.
K?
He didn't eat meat
that was dedicated to the idols.
Even this is before he was a prophet.
He did not used to eat meat that
used to be dedicated to certain idols. So
what used to end up happening was they
used to slaughter an animal in the name
of the idol. And then they would distribute
the meat and it's supposed to be like
holy meat or something like that. And this
is like one of their sacrifices that they
give to the idol idols and all of
that. He used to not participate and not
eat that meat and he says, I don't
like this. I don't like this meat. You
give me some other meat, I'll eat it.
But this one, I'm not gonna eat it.
He never protested openly though. This is a
very, very important point to understand
is that these are things that he used
to do, people observed in him, but he
did not start a mission. He did not
start going and telling other people you shouldn't
do this because he was not a prophet
at that time. He was not a prophet
at that time.
And there are other reasons why,
it's important. We'll talk about that.
So what ended up happening a little bit
later after he was a shepherd, he collected
some money. He's been helping his uncle out.
It's time to move up in the world
in the world of business. So he becomes
a businessman.
So he didn't just stay stagnant in being
a shepherd. He moved up. He became a
businessman, which is generally considered in that society
to be a little bit better profession.
So he's a businessman, but he didn't have
that much capital.
So what did he used to do? He
used to trade for other people. It's called
Mudaraba.
You don't need to know the term. It's
where somebody else invests,
gives you the investment, and you take their
money, and you trade it for them, and
you give them you keep a percentage, and
you give them back, you know, their investment
plus a percentage. So this is the type
of trading he used to do. It doesn't
mean that he owned a large inventory,
you know, and he had, like, a lot
of stuff, and he's going and selling that.
No. It doesn't mean that. So
he used to trade on behalf of other
people, and he was very, very honest at
this time. So when he became, he was
already known to be honest. But now that
he's a businessman, he's a trader, he's going
and he's earning himself a reputation within society
without even, you know, intentionally doing it because
he was so honest when it came to
business.
Now
there's a difference between
being in a society which is extremely corrupt
and you being one of the, you know,
people, you know, oddballs out. And there's a
difference between being in a society where there
are corrupt people, there are good people,
but you're the exceptional
person.
That's what Arabian society was at that time.
These were not people who are just ripping
off everyone because they would have the worst
reputation.
They had a reputation as the religious people
in Mecca. So they were not going and
ripping off people on a regular basis. So
there were some people probably rip rip others
off. There are those who were doing their
job,
making money,
and then he stood out from all of
them with something above and beyond that people
had never seen before. And they saw that
this man, he's so honest to such an
extent that people used to come and take
their valuables and they used to deposit with
him. He's like a living bank now. We
a living bank which does not charge any
interest, right, or does not collect any interest.
Right? So they go and they say, we
want you to keep this for us or
we want you to take care of this
for us, and he would go ahead and
keep it. Why? Because they know for sure
this is the only guy I I we've
ever met where we have so much 100%
confidence in him. He'd never do anything. He
would never take our money. He would never
do anything. Shows you even before prophethood how
he was. Important status in society.
Now he had very high morals as well.
When I say high morals, I don't just
mean from Arabian perspective, from, you know, a
more universal perspective. His morals were he was
never known
ever to drink wine.
Everyone in the society was drinking wine, getting
drunk, getting intoxicated,
doing other kind of things, whatever they do.
Even a social casual drinking, he was not
doing any of that. He was not doing
any of that. Number 2,
he was never known to commit adultery.
So he he did not have any relationships
with any woman outside
during this time.
Very, very important to understand because there was
this was a society where we talked about
how prostitution worked. He was never visiting a
prostitute. He was never committing adultery. He was
never with anybody else. Very important to understand.
He was not committing. He was not gambling.
He was not doing any of these things.
K? So these were the high morals and
and the status that he had at this
time. And then we're gonna see what his
status
leads to and how it helps him to
get married.
Okay? Any questions on this slide?
So good question. So how is it that
he started, you know, how is it that
he refused to worship idols at a young
age when he's in a society where everyone
else is doing it? It could be either
one
of 2 things or a combination of both.
Either Allah
came and, you know, sent an angel or
revealed something to him. There are some reports
to that effect, but they're not that strong.
That kind of told him to stay away
from these things. That's 1. Number 2, because
he was gonna be a prophet and Allah
knew that he was gonna be a prophet.
Number 2, he he had an intelligence,
and he realized while even while he was
young, like prophet Ibrahim, if you know the
story, he realized while he was young that
something is wrong with with with this idol
worship. So most likely, it's probably more of
the second reason that he figured out on
his own that this idol can't do anything
for me. So he used to refuse, but
at the same time, he was not
in the habit or he was not thinking
about going and telling other people. This was
just something that he would just kind of
doing on his own. And this is something
that, for example, a lot of,
a lot of people who grow up
among idolatry or among different religions
that teach different things, there are always a
few few kids who grow up and they're
they know something is wrong with this. And
they don't talk to anybody about it, but
they know what they're they know what the
other people are doing is wrong. There are
many people like that. So he's definitely, most
probably, that's how he did it. It's one
of the, you know, that's how one of
the ways he got to it. Good question.
Yeah. So the question is, is there a
story where he was going to go to,
like, one of these nightclub kind of type
of it was actually,
he was going to a wedding.
Right? And they're gonna have, like, drinking and
dancing and partying and all of that, and
he fell asleep and everything. There is a
report to that effect, but the report is,
slightly weak
slightly weak. Yeah. So the thing is, remember,
the methodology that we're using is that,
that report says that he was divinely inspired
to fall asleep.
And then he woke he he went there,
he fell asleep, and then he woke up
and the party was over. So he didn't
engage in the party at all. Now the
thing is because he was divinely inspired,
if we're talking about something that's connected to
the religion,
we want to use
more rigorously authenticated sources. That's why it's not
mentioned in this book.
Before he became a prophet, what was his
religion?
Hanif. Yeah. We're we're gonna explain what that
means.
Okay. Was his family Hanif as well? Not
not likely.
Not likely.
Okay? Where will they be judged? That's another
that's another issue. But were they were they
were they practicing,
the oneness of god, you know, not worshiping
idols? Not likely.
K. Not likely.
Any other questions?
K.
So should we take a break or we're
gonna skip the break completely? Should take a
break now? Okay.
So 10 minute break. It's, 852.
We'll resume at 952.