Omar Suleiman – Isra Wal Miraj Surah Rum And The Year Of Grief Ep. 5 Al-Aqsa Series
AI: Summary ©
The upcoming war between the Americas and the Persians is causing chaos and chaos between religion and religion. The Prophet is being instructed to lead the worship of Islam, and the Prophet is viewed as a means of achieving Islam's promises. The Prophet is used to lead the worship of Islam, and is used to bring peace and happiness to the Muslim world.
AI: Summary ©
Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh I would
be blessed to marry you I would be
blessed to marry you Alhamdulillah Allahumma salli wa
sallim wa barak Allahumma salli wa sallim wa
barak ala abdika wa rasulika muhammadin sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa
sallim tasliman kathira Before we get started tonight,
I just wanted to acknowledge obviously that subhanallah
we received the news this morning of the
shaheed of Ghazza, Ruh al-Ruh, the grandfather
of Reem, Khalid Nabhan Abu Dhiya rahmatullahi alayhi.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala accept him
as a shaheed, may Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala elevate his rank, and may Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala allow him to be greeted
by his soul, Reem, in the realm of
souls.
And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow
him to join all those whom he loves
as well as all of the shuhada of
Ghazza with our beloved Prophet salallahu alayhi wa
sallam amongst the anbiya and the shuhada and
the siddiqun and the salihun.
Allahumma ameen.
Dear brothers and sisters, as we've been going
through this series, we have been witnessing simultaneously
the swing of present day events that seem
to parallel the events that we are covering
from a historical perspective.
And tonight, biidhnillahi ta'ala, we're going to
embark on the journey of al-israa wal
-mi'raj, but in a very different way,
because we're going to start from Jerusalem, as
opposed to Mecca.
And usually when we tell the story of
al-israa wal-mi'raj, we tell the
story of the journey of the Prophet salallahu
alayhi wa sallam from Mecca, and he goes
to Jerusalem, and obviously there's a salah that
takes place there.
But as we've been seeing, there is so
much that's happening politically, religiously, in the upcoming
journey of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam,
and the promise of Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala as it relates to al-Majlid al
-Aqsa.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala liberate it
and free it.
Allahumma ameen.
So we're going to break al-israa wal
-mi'raj up into two parts, inshaAllah ta
'ala, after the break.
In a few weeks we'll continue on with
the story, biidhnillahi ta'ala, of the journey
of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam.
But let's look at the journey from the
perspective of Mecca and Jerusalem, and the parallel
stories that are taking place of despair.
Now, keep in consideration that the year of
the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, that he
was born, was a year of multiple historical
happenings.
If you look at the Gregorian year, 570.
So when we refer to Aam al-Feem,
we refer to multiple things that are happening
around the world that represent a change that
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is bringing to
mankind.
In the year 610, when the Prophet salallahu
alayhi wa sallam receives wahi, at the age
of 40 years old, when he receives revelation,
there too is a time of multiple historical
happenings that represent a great change in the
world as the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam
comes.
Now to refresh your memory, there are two
major contexts that are happening in the background
as this messenger salallahu alayhi wa sallam rises.
You have the promise of the temple, the
promise of Jerusalem, and the promise of the
Messiah, and a Jewish community that wants to
build what they believe is theirs in the
land of al-Bayt al-Maqdis.
You have the Jewish-Christian relations.
So I want you to have this context
that we'll talk about inshaAllah ta'ala, Judeo
-Christian relations amongst each other.
And then you have the Roman and Persian
war.
Two major contexts that are in the background
of the coming of the Prophet salallahu alayhi
wa sallam in this regard.
And so as we said, 70 years, just
to refresh your memory, 70 years after Isa
alayhi salam, whatever remnants remained of structures of
worship in al-Bayt al-Maqdis were destroyed
by Titus, were destroyed by the Romans.
So this is 70 years after Isa alayhi
salam.
And this shows you how Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala punishes the murder of a wali,
the murder of a nabi in the case
of Yahya alayhi salam.
That those who came together and who martyred
Yahya alayhi salam, who killed Yahya alayhi salam,
who killed Zakariya alayhi salam, who attempted to
then kill Isa alayhi salam but failed.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala brought upon his
wrath upon them in multiple ways and political
degradation came as part of that package.
And so while they thought they had put
Isa alayhi salam on a cross in the
middle of Jerusalem, it would instead be that
those who plotted against Isa alayhi salam would
have the ground taken from beneath them.
And I sincerely believe, by the way, that
you look at the murder of one wali,
one righteous person, and sometimes it shifts the
entire global axis.
And so we pray to Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala that the murder of a man
who we believe to be a wali in
Khalid Nabhan rahimahullah ta'ala and all of
these awliya in Gaza will be a source
of the degradation of those who split, who
spilled their blood.
Allahumma ameen.
So 70 years after you have Titus, and
Titus of course is a Roman leader.
So the Romans wreak destruction upon Jerusalem and
they exile the Jewish population, the entire Jewish
population from Jerusalem and they loot and they
steal all of the treasures.
Everything that existed in Jerusalem of value, they
loot it and they take it back to
the centers of the Roman Empire.
It's very important to understand here that the
Roman Empire is still not a Christian empire.
In fact, it is decidedly anti-anything Bani
Israel, anti-the followers of Musa alayhi salam,
those who claim to be the followers of
Moses, and anti-anything that claims to be
the followers of Isa alayhi salam.
So the Roman Empire wreaks destruction upon Jerusalem
seven years after Isa alayhi salam.
They destroyed the Temple of Herod, they take
all of the treasures, and they take multiple
prisoners back to Rome.
In the year 130, as we said, they
rebuild the city of Jerusalem as Idia, a
Roman city.
And in that process, they forbid any Jewish
or Christian presence.
Of course, Christianity was not yet seen as
a separate religion from the Judaic way.
They build a temple to Jupiter and to
Venus, and they corrupt the entire place with
paganism.
251, as we said, the Roman Emperor Decius
kills Alexander.
And this was the time of Ashab al
-Kahf, the time of the people of the
cave.
Then in the 300s, Constantine, the Roman Emperor,
accepts a very specific version of Christianity, one
that is very much so in line with
Roman paganism, very different from the Christianity, or
from the way of Isa alayhi salam.
And that becomes an enforced version of Christianity
on the world through the Council of Nicaea.
So now the Roman Empire has become Christian
in that sense.
And Byzantia, which is the old name of
Istanbul, becomes the capital of that empire.
And of course, a version of Christianity, which
is called Western Christianity, is exported and is
now in line with the power that the
Roman Empire exerts upon the world.
Now in that process, something extremely important, there
was a hostility towards the Jewish populations.
And so in the year 325, the ban
on Jews within that area remains, but they
are allowed once a year to come and
to wail at the Western Wall, the Western
Wall, the wailing wall, right?
So they're allowed to wail once a year
at the Western Wall, but the ban on
the Jewish population of Jerusalem remains, enforced by
who?
This is just important historical context here, enforced
by the Roman Empire, which is now a
Christian empire.
So keep that in mind.
Now subhanAllah, that's one context which we'll touch
on as how it relates to the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
The other context is the longest spanning war
in history, the Roman and the Persian War.
It starts officially 54 years before Christ.
So it starts around the time of Zakaria
alayhi salam, Zakaria alayhi salam, Yahya alayhi salam,
Isa alayhi salam, and that blessed family.
And this war will last about seven centuries.
And the only thing that will stop the
Romans and the Persians from fighting each other
is the Muslims defeating both empires.
So the longest spanning war in the history
of mankind starts at that time.
And it's subhanAllah a gem that if you
think about that the prophets that are encompassed
by that longest war in history are the
family of Imran, Zakaria, Yahya, Isa, and Muhammad
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
These are the four prophets that are encompassed
within that Roman Persian war that is now
unfolding around the world.
So what's happening in Mecca as we come
to the time of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam?
Who do you think the Jewish community would
ally with?
The Roman Christians or the Persians or Austrians?
Which one makes more sense logically to ally
with, to attach yourself to?
Because at some point, these two empires are
so large that they have absorbed everyone into
a client kingdom or a client community.
You're not a player if you're not a
Roman or a Persian empire or allied to
one of them.
So who is the Jewish community allied to
at this point?
The Persians.
It's actually very interesting because it feels counterintuitive
because you would think that Christians and Jews
have more in common than Jews and Persian
Zoroastrians.
So how does this happen?
And this is one of the things that
Ibn Abbas comments upon.
وَقَالَتِ الْيَهُودُ لَيْسَتِ النَّصَارَ عَلَى شَيْءٍ وَقَالَتِ الْيَهُودُ
لَيْسَتِ النَّصَارَ عَلَى شَيْءٍ وَهُمْ يَتْلُونَ الْكِتَابِ That
both of them, the Jews and the Christians,
are accusing one another of being upon a
baseless religion.
They have deep suspicion for one another.
They have deep hatred for one another.
And the irony is, وَهُمْ يَتْلُونَ الْكِتَابِ They
claim to share the same scriptural foundation.
And so the hatred that exists between Roman
Christianity and a Jewish minority continues, even after
Constantine embraces Christianity and there is a claimed
extension of Judaism.
But the hatred is palatable.
And so what is the reason for this?
A few things that historians will mention.
Number one, the old bad blood that the
Jewish tribes have against the Romans because of
what has happened, the atrocities of the Roman
Empire against the Jewish communities, and that historical
memory of a hatred towards the Romans for
what they did to them.
And then a Christian mistrust of the Jews.
Because at the end of the day, they're
looking to them as those who plotted the
assassination of Jesus Christ, who is now a
God figure in Roman Christianity, is God himself,
God incarnation.
So there is a suspicion and a hatred
towards the Jewish community for that reason.
And there is a hatred in turn from
the Jewish community towards the Roman Empire.
And some historians also mentioned an affinity that
the Jews had to the Persian Emperor Cyrus
of before, who was looked at as being
the one who gave the Jewish community their
presence in Jerusalem in the past.
And so there is an affinity from the
Jews towards the Persians, a hatred from the
Christians towards the Jews that's reciprocated by Jews
against Christians.
And subhanAllah, Islam comes in in many ways,
as an arbiter between the two, as we'll
see it as it historically plays out.
There are important players to understand at this
time as well.
At the head of the Persian Empire, you
have Khosrow II.
Khosrow II was born the same year as
the Prophet ﷺ.
And he was an arrogant tyrant from the
Persian Empire.
A man who was looked at as a
military force, a man who used to construct
the largest palaces in the world for himself.
And so when you read about al-Bayt
al-Abyad, the White House in history, you're
talking about the palace of Kisra in Iraq.
Madainu Kisra is a huge palace where you
still have some of the remnants of that
palace, by the way, as the largest structure
of brick that exists in the world, according
to many historians.
So you have Khosrow II, who was born
the same year as the Prophet ﷺ, a
military genius who is going to take the
Persian Empire to an all-time high of
strength.
And who has a fear that's instilled in
the populations of anyone that would cross him.
And someone who will respond to Islam, respond
to the invitation of the Prophet ﷺ, particularly
negatively, right, from all of the leaders that
will receive a letter from the Prophet ﷺ.
He's someone who has wealth.
He's someone who has power.
He had over 3,000 concubines, over 500
palaces.
And he's someone who is enshrined in the
memory of the Persian Empire as perhaps the
greatest military leader of all time.
On the other side, you have Heraclius.
Heraclius.
And he's not Hercules.
So please don't get them mixed up, because
a lot of people think they're the same
person.
Heraclius, referred to as Caesar, referred to as
a leader of the Byzantines, in the time
of the Prophet ﷺ, about the same age
as well.
Born in the 570s.
And he assumes leadership, interestingly enough, the same
year the Prophet ﷺ receives revelation.
And this is important context when we look
at the aftermath of Asrā' al-Mi'rāj
with this man in particular.
Heraclius launched a coup against Phocas, the leader
of the Byzantines, and assumed the role of
emperor of the Byzantine Empire, the same year
the Prophet ﷺ receives revelation.
Now, Kisra recognizes that this instability in the
Roman Empire is an opportunity to penetrate deeply.
So he sees this as an opening.
Heraclius understands that this is the worst time
to fight the Persians, the worst time to
fight Kisra.
So he sends a letter to Kisra in
that year, the same year the Prophet ﷺ
receives revelation, in the year 610, with all
sorts of gifts, and the highest diplomats of
the Roman Empire, and more concubines, and more
wrapped gifts, and all sorts of overtures of
peace, to say, let's have a treaty, let's
have a ceasefire.
Because obviously on his end, he wants to
solidify the Roman Empire, and he knows it's
not the best time to fight Kisra.
So he offers him peace.
Kisra says, absolutely not.
He said, your kingdom belongs to me.
And he says that I am not going
to stop until I have your kingdom in
my hands.
So Kisra, Khosrow II, launches a major offensive
against the Byzantines, the same year that the
Prophet ﷺ receives revelation.
610 is the same year that the Jewish
community in Jerusalem revolts against Heraclius.
So there were Jews that were living under
the Byzantine Empire, and they were of course
allied to the Persians.
They took that opportunity of the instability of
the Roman Empire to launch a revolt against
Heraclius and Jerusalem.
They also allied themselves with the Persians when
it came to the inquisitions into Syria at
the time, and to Bilad al-Sham as
a whole.
So the dynamics of the Jews and the
Christians are worse than ever now, because there
is open hostility now between the two in
the territory of the Roman Empire.
Kisra immediately makes his way to the Bosphorus
right at the gates of Istanbul, which of
course back then was the heart of the
Roman Empire.
And his initial attempt fails, because it was
such a fortified city.
This is the heart of the Roman Empire,
and it's such a fortified city.
But over the next few years, the attacks
become way too overwhelming for the Romans, and
Heraclius could not solidify his power in time
to be able to fight off the Persian
inquisition into those territories.
So it's the year 613.
Three years after, the Prophet ﷺ receives revelation,
and the Prophet ﷺ has just begun his
public da'wah.
613, Damascus falls, Damascus falls to the Persians.
And this is a major hit.
Eventually, they're able to capture the vast majority
of what we know as Syria today.
And subhanAllah, we've all been looking at the
maps of Syria, probably more so over the
last few weeks than ever before.
But if you think about the way that
it is layered, you have Damascus, which is
south, Homs, which at that time, you could
argue was actually the more important city in
Syria, to even Damascus, to even Damascus, which
is right there in the center.
And then you have Halab, Aleppo, which is
towards the north.
And so they penetrate through Damascus, they penetrate
through Homs, they penetrate through Halab, they strike
into what we now know as Syria, in
Bilad al-Sham.
And it is the year 614, that Jerusalem
is captured by the Persians.
And subhanAllah, in this year of 614, what
Kisra would do, Kisra was a man who
wanted to send messages with his conquests.
He took everything holy and left nothing sacred
as they said about him.
Kisra massacred 90,000 Christians, 90,000 in
Jerusalem.
Now, in the time of modern warfare and
the weaponry that we have today, those types
of numbers are still crazy.
Imagine 90,000 people subjected to the sword.
So he filled the streets of Jerusalem with
blood.
He desecrated the Holy Sepulchre.
And he actually stole the true cross that
Christians held.
Isa alayhis salaam was crucified on.
So he actually stole the cross and returned
it back to Persia.
So this looks like the end of the
war.
This looks like the time where the Romans
are absolutely done.
Kisra was so proud of his accomplishment over
Haraqal, he actually sent a message to Haraqal,
mocking him and saying, I am your Lord,
I am your God.
And clearly, whatever you used to worship could
not protect what you used to deem sacred.
So he actually told him, I am your
God, you bow to me, you prostrate to
me, and I will accept nothing but complete
surrender.
Haraqal begs for mercy.
He says, let's draw the borders differently.
You can have this area, but we stopped
the war where it is right now.
Kisra says, not until my foot is on
your neck, and your entire kingdom is in
my hands.
The year 615, the Romans are beat into
their small strongholds.
And as far as the global commentary is
concerned, this war is over.
The Persians have defeated the Romans, as far
as the globe is concerned.
Now, subhanAllah, in Mecca, what's happening?
The same year, 615.
615, the persecution of the Muslims takes a
new turn.
Sumayyah radiyaAllahu ta'ala anha, and Yasir radiyaAllahu
ta'ala anhu are murdered.
Ammar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu was almost murdered.
So the family of Yasir, the first blood
of the Muslims is spilled in a gruesome
way.
For the Muslims to observe that there is
now a new chapter for the Muslims in
Mecca, where blood is going to be spilt.
The Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam commissions the first
hijrah to Habesha also in the year 615.
So the Muslims flee to a Christian land
and Habesha was called an island of Christianity
in a land of, I'm sorry, an island
of Christianity in a sea of polytheism.
So the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam sends them
towards Habesha.
The Muslims symbolically are allying themselves to the
Byzantines.
It is only symbolic.
There is absolutely no material to this alliance.
It is simply that they are Christians who
claim an affinity to Isa Alayhi Salaam, to
Jesus Christ, peace be upon him.
And of course, we are people who have
an affinity to Isa Alayhi Salaam and to
all of the prophets and people of Tawheed.
And so there's some affinity to them.
Quraysh was allied to the Persians.
Polytheists allied to polytheists.
Monotheists allied to those who claim to be
monotheists in some capacity.
And in that symbolism, along with the material
persecution in Mecca, Abu Jahl starts to mock
the Muslims in Mecca and makes it appear
to the Muslims that the whole globe is
shutting down this supposed movement of monotheism.
And just as you are trying to originate
this message of prophethood and monotheism in our
midst, the Byzantines are being crushed and this
global innovation is being removed from the face
of the earth.
So the Muslims are being mocked with Roman
defeat and Quraysh is boasting with Persian victory.
What's happening in Jerusalem at the time?
Because the Jews allied themselves to the Persians
rather than the Romans, they were welcomed back
into Jerusalem in larger numbers.
They started to clean up the ruins in
the area of Jerusalem in Bayt al-Maqdis.
And it's important here from a historical perspective,
especially when we're talking about Asab al-Mi
'raj, that while they were allowed to worship
in that space, they never had the time
to have any significant construction in that place.
So the idea of rebuilding a temple was
something that was certainly on the minds, but
historians say that what took place in Jerusalem
was a cleanup effort.
What remained of the holy sepulchre, because the
entire structure was not destroyed, even though it
was damaged, and for the most part open
land with the wailing wall and some simple
altars that started to come up to represent
a modestly growing Jewish presence there in Jerusalem.
So the Persians had no interest in it,
and the Jewish presence was still too small
for it to result in any major construction
at that point.
The Romans treated the place like a dump.
They didn't care for it in the first
place.
They had nothing beyond what they believed in
the holy sepulchre at the time.
Now you come close to Asab al-Mi
'raj.
SubhanAllah, in this context Allah Azawajal reveals, أَلِفْ
لَا مِمْ غُلِبَةِ الرُّومِ فِي أَدْنَى الْأَرْضِ وَهُمْ
مِنْ بَعْدِ غَلَبِهِمْ سَيَغْلِبُونَ فِي بِضْعِ سِنِينٍ لِلَّهِ
الْأَمْرُ مِنْ قَبْلٍ وَمِنْ بَعْدٍ SubhanAllah, every single
ayah is full of meaning.
Allah Azawajal swears at a time when the
global commentary is, the Persians have defeated the
Romans.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says, stating the
fact, غُلِبَةِ الرُّومِ Indeed the Romans have been
defeated.
But وَهُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ غَلَبِهِمْ سَيَغْلِبُونَ They're going
to come back and they're going to win
this war.
فِي بِضْعِ سِنِينٍ And Allah Azawajal says, between
three and nine years, because Abu Bakr radiAllahu
Anhu would ask the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam
what this word meant and it was given
between three and nine years.
فِي بِضْعِ سِنِينٍ لِلَّهِ الْأَمْرُ مِنْ قَبْلٍ وَمِنْ
بَعْدٍ This is one of the most important
ayat for the time that we are in
right now.
The affair belongs to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta
'ala before, during, and after.
Allah Azawajal is always in control because many
of us are thinking it's getting worse, now
we don't see a path to victory.
It's getting worse, now we don't see a
path to victory.
Okay, now it seems impossible.
Okay, now it's just really being solidified.
And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala makes it
a point to say لِلَّهِ الْأَمْرُ مِنْ قَبْلٍ
وَمِنْ بَعْدٍ It is all operating within what
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has decreed.
It's not like Allah Azawajal has a comeback.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is always in
control.
لِلَّهِ الْأَمْرُ مِنْ قَبْلٍ وَمِنْ بَعْدٍ وَيَوْمَ إِذَا
يَفْرَحُ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ بِنَصْرِ اللَّهِ يَنْصُرُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَهُوَ
الْعَزِيزُ الرَّحِيمُ And that day the believers will
find joy in the victory of Allah.
Allah gives victory to whom he wills, when
he wills, and Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
is Almighty and All-Merciful.
When this happens, I want you to recognize
the presence of Abu Bakr As-Siddiq radiAllahu
ta'ala anhu.
Abu Bakr proved his truthfulness to the Prophet
ﷺ in multiple ways and on multiple occasions.
But he is Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala anhu
because he affirmed the truth as soon as
it came to him at all times with
absolutely no hesitation.
It was probably easier to believe if you
were speaking to the Prophet ﷺ or to
the community at the time, not to the
Prophet ﷺ, speaking to the community of the
Prophet ﷺ, it was probably easier to swallow
the idea of something supernatural happening in the
background than something that seems so materially convincing
as the Persian * over the Romans being
overturned.
Let's take ourselves as Muslims today, it's easier
sometimes for us to think about the miracles
of the unseen than to believe in the
possibility of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala's miracles
with the scene that's right in front of
us.
I can talk about Jannah, I can talk
about the meeting of the arwah, the meeting
of the souls and everything that's happening in
the background, but maybe there is doubt about
Gaza and Palestine and whether or not victory
will come after such despair.
Sometimes it's easier to believe in the unseen
than it is in Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta
'ala changing the fortune of the scene.
And that's why this was a fitnah in
two ways.
You have a miracle that will come in
regards to the Romans and the Persians and
you have the miracle of Asr al-Mi
'raj that will come together.
Start with the Romans and the Persians.
The mockery of the Meccans comes.
Really, the Romans are going to defeat the
Persians.
You have some claim, Ya Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam.
What a claim that you're making.
You're on the run, your followers are trying
to escape and these people are on the
run and they're about to lose this battle
once and for all decisively and here you
are making this claim.
And keep in mind here that this is
one of the proofs of prophethood.
Why stake your entire religion's credibility on something
that seems so politically impossible and especially give
it a timeline of three to nine years?
Why stake the entire credibility of your prophethood
on that?
Because Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is the
one who is speaking, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam is conveying.
And so it comes from Allah Azawajal who
knows exactly what's going to happen with the
time that is to come.
So Ubayy ibn Khalaf, what does he say?
He says to Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiAllahu
anhu because Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu is known
for his nobility and his intelligence which shows
you by the way, why did they go
to Abu Bakr right when Surah Rum was
revealed and then as soon as Asr al
-Mi'raj happened they went to Abu Bakr
radiAllahu anhu to say, huh, you see what
he's claiming now?
Because Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu is known for
his intelligence and at the same time he
has this dedication to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam that they can't understand.
So Ubayy ibn Khalaf said, did you hear
what he said now?
What did he say?
I believe him.
I believe him.
Ubayy ibn Khalaf says let's place a bet
then.
What was the bet?
Ten camels if the Romans don't defeat the
Persians in three years.
Very important here by the way.
Betting is not halal.
The hukm on gambling did not come until
later.
That's number one as the ulama mentioned.
Number two, there is no risk here because
there is no uncertainty.
It is Quran that's been revealed and so
you don't make a bet and then say,
well I have as much certainty as Abu
Bakr radiAllahu anhu had when he made the
bet that something is going to happen.
Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu is betting
on something with absolutely no uncertainty.
It was to prove a point that the
Quran was speaking the truth.
Now Ubayy ibn Khalaf as he's reading the
situation, first of all the bet is extended.
Ubayy sees that things are only getting worse
because the Roman empire is collapsing even further
as his time goes on.
So he comes to Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta
'ala anhu and he says, how are things
going?
Are you still on the bet?
He said, I'm still on it exactly as
we guarantee.
He said, how about we extend it and
raise the stakes?
He said, go ahead extend it and raise
the stakes.
Raise it to a hundred camels in nine
years.
A hundred camels you're literally talking about millions
at this point.
The equivalent of millions of dollars at this
point.
Now subhanAllah in the year 618 which is
three years after Surah Rum was revealed, the
Persians conquered most of Misr, most of Egypt
from the Byzantines.
So things are getting much worse and Abu
Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu is upon what
he promised.
As the Muslims are about to make hijrah,
look at the arrogance of Ubayy ibn Khalaf.
Ubayy ibn Khalaf says to Abu Bakr radiAllahu
ta'ala anhu, who's going to guarantee my
bets because it's almost nine years and I
need my hundred camels.
Abu Bakr is a Siddiq.
He doesn't relent on the promise.
Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu says, here's
my son Abdurrahman.
He's a guarantor.
Abdurrahman was still a non-Muslim at that
point.
So he's a guarantor.
He's in Mecca.
He's a guarantor of the hundred camels if
it comes.
SubhanAllah as they go into hijrah, the same
year that the Muslims make hijrah to al
-Madinah, Heraclius launches a counter-offensive in Syria,
what is modern-day Syria.
And he beats back the Persians from the
Syrian territories in Bilad al-Sham.
The same year of Badr where Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala mentioned the joy of the
believers at victory.
Yes, the Romans take back Jerusalem, but of
course the greater meaning was that the Muslims
defeat the mushrikeen at Badr at the exact
same time.
And so now as Ubay ibn Khalaf is
making his way to Uhud, Abdurrahman says, I
need to be a guarantor for the hundred
camels you owe my father.
And it would just so happen that Ubay
ibn Khalaf would be the only person in
the history of the Seerah of the Prophet
ﷺ killed by the hand of the Messenger
of Allah ﷺ as he pursued the Messenger
of Allah ﷺ on the day of Uhud.
And he swore that he would kill the
Prophet ﷺ.
Rather the Prophet ﷺ said, rather I will
kill you.
And as he was coming to the Prophet
ﷺ, the Prophet ﷺ threw a spear towards
him that just nicked his neck.
And he said, قَتَلَنِي مُحَمَّدْ قَتَلَنِي مُحَمَّدْ And
people said, what's wrong with you?
It's not that big of a deal.
He said, no, he swore that he would
kill me.
He killed me.
And indeed he would die from that wound.
The one man killed from the hand of
the Prophet ﷺ.
And the Prophet ﷺ said, the worst of
people on the day of judgment, a person
قَتَلَ نَبِيَهُ who killed his Prophet or قَتَلَهُ
نَبِيَهُ ﷺ or who was killed by his
Prophet.
And in this case, killed by the hand
of the Prophet ﷺ.
Imagine being the one man on the day
of judgment, killed by the hand of رَحْمَةً
لِلْعَالَمِين ﷺ, a man who was sent as
a mercy to the world ﷺ.
So let's get back to the seerah now.
And let's now go to Al-Israa Al
-Mi'raj from the viewpoint of Mecca.
In the year 619, Haraqal begged for a
treaty with Kisra.
And he sent him the terms.
And Kisra responded and said that the only
terms I will accept is that you come
to me in chains and that you worship
our God being the fire, what they used
to worship of the fire.
So he rejected the terms.
The most desperate year of the Roman Empire
was the year 619.
It also is عام الحزن, the year of
grief of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
And so this is where we come to
the life of the Prophet ﷺ and Mecca
looking towards Jerusalem, as Jerusalem is solidly in
the hands of the Persian Empire.
And the Byzantines are staring down their death,
their supposed death.
The year of grief, عام الحزن, which is
so important to understand in the context of
Al-Israa Al-Mi'raj.
In fact, you cannot fully appreciate the ascent
of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in Al
-Israa Al-Mi'raj without fully appreciating the
difficulty of عام الحزن.
And Allah ﷻ says, that verily with hardship
comes ease, with hardship comes ease.
And so from that we extrapolate that after
extraordinary hardship comes extraordinary ease.
What the Prophet ﷺ was going to experience
of يسر, of ease through the journey of
Al-Israa Al-Mi'raj was extraordinary.
But what the Prophet ﷺ had suffered prior
of hardship was also extraordinary.
And this journey that's about to happen with
the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is from the
خصائص of the Prophet ﷺ, the specialties of
the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
And what this means is that there are
certain things that only happen to him ﷺ.
So for example, the splitting of the moon
by the hand of the Prophet ﷺ.
Of course, the greatest miracle was the miracle
of the Qur'an to the Messenger of
Allah ﷺ.
And the scholars mentioned that for a man
to be taken, روح and جسد, body and
soul, from Mecca to Jerusalem to the heavens
and back on the same night is something
that only belongs to the Messenger of Allah
ﷺ.
Idrees ﷺ went up and never came back.
Isa ﷺ went but he reached a limit
as we'll talk about and then he will
come back many, many years later.
And subhanAllah, the scholars talk about this desperation
in the world, the mood of the Muslims
and the heartbreak of the Prophet ﷺ as
being one that Allah ﷻ had prepared the
heart of the Prophet ﷺ for.
How?
What makes عام الحزن, what it actually is,
the year of grief, what it is more
than anything else, was that the Prophet ﷺ
would lose in a matter of days his
support in Khadijah ﷺ and his support in
Abu Talib.
Khadijah ﷺ representing the emotional support of the
Prophet ﷺ, Abu Talib representing the physical support
of the Prophet ﷺ, and Allah ﷻ did
not take those two people away from the
Prophet ﷺ in the beginning of the revelation.
Rather, as the scholars mentioned, Allah ﷻ gave
the Prophet ﷺ the gifts of Al-Qur
'an and Al-Qiyam before he took away
Khadijah and Abu Talib.
Al-Qur'an and Al-Qiyam.
As his two greatest reinforcements of comfort and
protection ﷺ before he took away these two
people that were so fundamental to his journey.
And that is so he could be better
equipped ﷺ for the difficulty that he was
going to face.
And so you can imagine, had this happened
the first year, how much more devastating it
would have been with the Messenger of Allah
ﷺ.
But the fact that he grew in attachment
ﷺ to the Qur'an, to his Qiyam,
made him equipped for the moments that he
was going to face.
What makes it عام الحزن as well is
that every single door had been shut to
the Prophet ﷺ that he could materially figure
out what to do.
If you think about it, Mecca has now
abandoned its own.
The Prophet ﷺ has no safe haven in
Mecca.
And the one place that the Prophet ﷺ
sees a viable alternative in Ta'if, to
go to, and to at the bare minimum
find safety ﷺ, even if temporarily.
SubhanAllah, what did he say to Ta'if?
He said to them, listen, first and foremost,
if you will accept my message.
And if you're not ready to accept my
message, then at least let me stay here
in safety until Allah ﷻ completes his revelation
of the Qur'an to me.
Meaning I will accept an Abyssinia-like arrangement,
a Habasha-like arrangement in Ta'if, where
I can at least just be safe.
I don't have to preach here.
But the Qur'an can continue to come
to me.
And he said the last thing, at the
bare minimum, if you're not going to take
me in and believe in me, or if
you're not going to take me in and
protect me, just don't tell the nobles in
Mecca what has happened.
And of course the people of Ta'if
instead unleashed on the Prophet ﷺ the greatest
viciousness, the greatest rejection, the worst day of
his life ﷺ.
SubhanAllah, so this incredible night was preceded by
what he called the worst day of his
life ﷺ, where he's covered in blood, rejected
ﷺ from these people, and every door of
da'wah seems to be shut.
Meaning every viable route to victory in the
spiritual sense seems to be shut.
Medina wasn't even in the picture for the
Prophet ﷺ yet.
And Allah ﷻ at this point will give
the Prophet ﷺ this great miracle.
The scholars mention here that this is also
one of the blessings of subhanalladhi asra bi
'abdihi.
All glory be to the one who took
his abd on this journey, from Masjid al
-Haram to Masjid al-Aqsa, to the greatest
of Allah ﷻ's gifts.
Allah ﷻ uses the word abd when he
speaks about performing miracles for his ibad, for
his servants, for his slaves.
Not his nabi, not his rasool, because no
one can actualize these types of miracles for
themselves.
We are ibad of Allah ﷻ, we are
slaves of Allah ﷻ.
A mention of the mercy of your Lord
to his slave Zakariya.
And here Allah ﷻ took his slave Muhammad
ﷺ from Mecca to Jerusalem through the heavens
in that single night.
Abds cannot materialize or manifest any of this
on their own.
They depend entirely upon Allah ﷻ for these
miracles.
And so the Messenger of Allah ﷺ describes
his affair in this regard.
The doom and gloom of the world, the
doom and gloom of the da'wah and
the pain of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
And he was sleeping that night, ﷺ, according
to one narration in the house of Umhani
ﷺ.
Who is Umhani?
Can anybody tell me who she is?
Does anybody know who she is?
Who is she the daughter of?
She's the daughter of Abi Talib.
So she's the sister of Ali ﷺ and
Ja'far ﷺ.
She's the sister of Ali ﷺ and Ja
'far ﷺ.
And she is the daughter of Abu Talib.
Her actual name was Fakhita, which means a
bird that spreads her wings wide.
So she is the person in whose home
the Prophet ﷺ was on that night of
al-Isra' wa al-Mi'raj.
Some of the scholars mention of Siyar that
it could be perhaps that this was the
Prophet ﷺ rotating homes at this point in
his da'wah out of a fear for
his life ﷺ.
So he is rotating family homes and he
finds himself in the home that night of
Umhani ﷺ, who happened to be very close
to the Ka'bah, very close to the
Ka'bah.
Remember this is a noble family and so
they occupy homes in a noble territory.
And this is where the Prophet ﷺ says
in an authentic hadith of Ibn Mas'ud
ﷺ that, that night Atani Jibreel ﷺ came
to me.
That he came to me and he was
dressed in green garments and from his green
garments there were pearls that were hanging.
And green is the color of fiyab al
-jannah, the clothes of the people of paradise.
It wasn't uncommon for Jibreel ﷺ to come
to the Prophet ﷺ but in this way
to descend upon the Prophet ﷺ in this
dress represented a special occasion with Jibreel ﷺ
and with the Prophet ﷺ.
And this time he would take the heart
of the Prophet ﷺ out for a second
time.
The first time he took the heart of
the Prophet ﷺ out was when the Prophet
ﷺ was a child and the Messenger of
Allah ﷺ did not know who he was.
This time he will remove the heart of
the Prophet ﷺ and the Prophet ﷺ knows
who he is and the Prophet ﷺ trusts
the wisdom of Allah ﷻ in this regard.
And the scholars mention multiple wisdoms of this
happening.
Number one, they say that this represented a
new life of sorts for the Messenger of
Allah ﷺ.
A rebirth of sorts for the Prophet ﷺ.
In his da'wah this represents a completely
new chapter that everything will change after this.
They also say that of the wisdoms of
this incident was that the heart of the
Prophet ﷺ was being fortified for the magnificent
journey that he was about to take ﷺ.
His heart was going to perceive and witness
things that it had never witnessed before and
no heart had ever witnessed before.
And so it was being prepared with the
spiritual oxygen that was necessary for that moment.
And of course there is also something that
Jibreel ﷺ took the heart of the Prophet
ﷺ.
The first time he took the heart of
the Prophet ﷺ when he was a child
he removed something from the heart of the
Prophet ﷺ.
And he said, that this is the portion
of evil within you and he cast it
aside.
This time as he washed the heart of
the Prophet ﷺ in a golden vessel of
zamzam, he poured something into that vessel.
And what did he pour?
He poured as the Prophet ﷺ said, iman
and hikmah.
Belief and wisdom.
SubhanAllah this is so beautiful.
What is the wisdom of having iman and
hikmah poured into the vessel?
Belief and wisdom poured into the vessel.
The ulama mention that these are two things
that you can never get enough of.
You can never get enough of these things.
And so when Ibrahim ﷺ asked Allah ﷻ
for a miracle, he said, do you not
believe?
Ibrahim ﷺ said, of course.
So my heart can be further at ease.
And as Ibn Abbas ﷺ said that this
is just like when Allah ﷻ mentions the
yazdadu imanan ma'imanihim.
That faith would be added onto faith.
That layers of faith can be added on.
You never reach a point where your iman
has maximized.
We don't believe in that as Muslims.
You don't reach a peak.
You keep going.
Because you will never reach the level of
Sayyidina Muhammad ﷺ.
You keep going.
And so iman, you never get enough of
it.
Hikmah, you also never get enough of it.
And that's why hikmah is the lost property
of the believer.
Right?
Zalatul mu'min.
You're always looking for hikmah.
You're always looking for wisdom.
You're always trying to seek it wherever it
is.
And if Allah ﷻ increases your hikmah, then
it settles your iman.
Because you always have perspective.
And if you think about what shakes a
person's faith is often their lack of perspective.
I can't understand why Allah is doing this
to me or doing this to someone else.
I don't understand how Allah does this or
how Allah does that.
Your lack of perspective, due to your lack
of wisdom, it's narrow.
And so the faith is shaken.
But hikmah broadens your perspective.
Wisdom broadens your perspective.
To where while other people are having a
crisis of faith, you're making connections for your
faith.
And you're saying perhaps one of the wisdoms
is this, this and that.
Alhamdulillah.
Allah ﷻ has a wisdom.
Amantu billah.
I believe in Allah ﷻ.
So Allah ﷻ caused in the heart of
the Prophet ﷺ to be poured hikmah and
iman, wisdom and belief.
And then it was put back in the
heart of the, in the chest of the
Prophet ﷺ.
Anas ibn Malik r.a then narrates that
the Prophet ﷺ said, I was brought an
animal that was larger than a donkey, smaller
than a mule, whose stride was to the
extent of where you could see.
To the extent of your eyesight.
Every step of that animal was to the
extent of your eyesight.
What is that animal called?
If you all don't answer me this time,
I'm going to just stop the dars.
What's it called?
Buraq.
What does Buraq mean?
What does Buraq come from?
Very good.
May Allah bless you.
Buraq comes from the word barq.
Barq is lightning.
Lightning speed.
It is extremely fast.
An animal that Allah ﷻ has allowed that
with every step it takes, it is to
the end of your eyesight.
SubhanAllah, think of even the fastest things that
we have today and imagine the end of
your eyesight and every step takes you to
that position.
SubhanAllah.
And as the Prophet ﷺ was about to
mount that animal, the Buraq was shy of
the Buraq and says, no one more noble
has ever ridden you than this man ﷺ.
So be still.
Which is an indication, as Al-Qadhi Iyad
ﷺ mentions, that the Anbiya, that this was
the animal that Allah ﷻ allowed multiple prophets
to ride in their journeys.
And in fact, as Ibn Kathir ﷺ narrates,
that this was the animal that Ibrahim ﷺ
mounted with Hajar and Ismail from Palestine to
Mecca and dropped off Hajar and Ismail and
then came back.
That this was the animal of transport that
Allah gave to our father Ibrahim ﷺ between
Palestine and Mecca on his journey ﷺ.
And so now the journey of his greatest
son ﷺ from Mecca back to Palestine would
be on the exact same animal.
And so the Prophet ﷺ mounted it and
he said, and Jibreel ﷺ was with me,
and we set off.
The first place where we get to a
place and Jibreel ﷺ says, dismount and pray.
ﷺ Pray.
So I got down and I prayed.
And subhanAllah, what was he praying?
What was he praying?
I want you to think for a moment
here, because this is very important, that the
five salawats had not yet been legislated.
And subhanAllah, that gives you some context to
the moment Aisha ﷺ knew that Khadijah ﷺ
died before al-Isra ul-Mi'raj.
She said because Khadijah ﷺ did not live
to see the five salawat.
Can you imagine Khadijah ﷺ never prayed Fajr,
Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, and Isha.
Our mother Khadijah ﷺ did not live to
see the legislation of the five prayers.
She didn't live to see the fasting of
the month of Ramadan.
This is all foreign to our mother Khadijah
ﷺ.
She had already assumed her rightful place before
this even happened.
The Prophet ﷺ knew al-qiyam and he
knew the general times of prayer ﷺ and
he would pray two rak'ahs at different
times.
So he got down and he prayed two
rak'ahs ﷺ.
Where did he pray?
Can anyone tell me?
This is so profound and so important.
The Prophet ﷺ asked Jabir ﷺ, where am
I?
Where did I just pray?
He said, this is Taybah.
This is the place of your hijrah, the
place of your migration.
So of the blessings and the virtues of
the night of al-Isra' al-Mi'raj
is that it's the first night the Prophet
ﷺ prayed in Medina.
Allah ﷻ showed him Taybah on that journey.
In this authentic hadith, he prayed two rak
'ahs there.
And to tell him that this is the
land of your hijrah, you thought it was
Ta'if.
But this is where you're actually meant to
be.
Where one door closed for you, a much
better door has opened for you.
This is where you will be directed to
ﷺ.
So that's the first time he prayed in
al-Medina al-Munawwara.
The second time, he said, we went to
a place and I was told to dismount
and to pray.
And I asked Jabir ﷺ, where did I
just pray?
What did he say?
He said, this is al-Tur, Sinai, where
they're trying to push our brothers and sisters
from Gaza in today.
May Allah ﷻ cause their plot to fail.
Allahumma ameen.
But what's the significance?
Jabir ﷺ tells him this is al-Tur,
this is where Allah spoke to Musa ﷺ.
And in that is a sign that on
this journey of yours, Allah is going to
speak directly to you as well.
Musa ﷺ was spoken to by Allah in
this world.
The Prophet ﷺ was spoken to in a
far more superior way in the heavens.
But this is a sign for the Messenger
of Allah ﷺ that a miraculous conversation is
about to happen for you as well.
Now in another hadith, the Prophet ﷺ said,
and I passed by the grave of Musa
ﷺ on that night.
And where was Musa ﷺ buried?
This is where I need you to start
making connections.
Taht al-Kathib al-Ahmar, under the Red
Dune, right outside al-Bayt al-Maqdis, right
outside the Holy Land, where he was prohibited
from.
The Prophet ﷺ says, marartu ala qabri, I
passed by his grave and I saw him
standing up praying inside his grave.
What a scene.
So I saw Musa ﷺ praying in his
grave.
And then we continued on al-Buraq.
The Prophet ﷺ said that I was told
to dismount and to pray.
Jibreel ﷺ said, do you know where you
have prayed?
I said, no.
He said, this is Bayt Lahm, Bethlehem, where
Isa ﷺ was born, where Jesus ﷺ was
born.
And of the wisdoms that the scholars mention
is that Isa ﷺ came into the world
in a miraculous way, in that position.
Subhanallah, Jibreel ﷺ was the one who was
there with Maryam as that delivery happened.
And now Jibreel is saying to Muhammad ﷺ,
this is where Isa ﷺ was born into
this world.
And so just as there would be a
miraculous coming into this world, the Prophet ﷺ
would have a miraculous ascent from this world.
And so some of the scholars mention that
wisdom.
Other scholars mention that this is simply the
succession of the prophecies of the Rusul before
the Prophet ﷺ, the pointing towards the Messenger
of Allah ﷺ, that he is the one
ﷺ, that he is the fulfillment of the
promise coming from the house of Ibrahim ﷺ.
And he prayed two rak'ahs there, by
the way, next to the Ka'bah.
I should have mentioned that in the beginning.
So he prayed two rak'ahs there.
And then where Musa ﷺ was, and then
where Isa ﷺ was.
So the pointing of the Rusul towards Khatm
al-Nabiyyin ﷺ, the seal of the Prophet
ﷺ.
And then afterwards, he makes his way to
al-Bayt al-Maqdis, to Jerusalem ﷺ.
Now what are the wisdoms of the Prophet
ﷺ being taken to Jerusalem first?
This is such an important thing that if
this journey was merely about everything that would
happen in the heavens, then Allah simply could
have taken the Prophet ﷺ from Mecca to
the heavens, and that's it.
Why bring him from Mecca to al-Quds,
and then have that miraculous congregation there in
Jerusalem, instead of just taking him directly towards
the heavens?
And so the scholars mention a few different
reasons.
Number one, they say, these are the first
two places that were built for the worship
of Allah ﷻ.
As in the authentic hadith, أَيُّ مَسْجِدٍ وُضِعَ
فِي الْأَرْضِ أَوَّلٍ Which masjid was constructed first?
Al-Masjid al-Haram.
ثُمَّ أَيُّ And then which one?
The Prophet ﷺ said, al-Masjid al-Aqsa.
كَمْ بَيْنَهُمَ How many years between them?
Forty years, he ﷺ said.
So the first two places of worship, whether
it is the first construction in the time
of Adam ﷺ, and then Sheikh ﷺ, or
raf' al-qawa'id, the raising of the
pillars through Ibrahim ﷺ.
Forty years between them, but the first two
constructions.
Number two, the scholars mention that Ibrahim ﷺ
settled these two places, and he built what
was for the worship of Allah ﷻ in
these two places.
In the first place in Mecca, he settled
his son Ismail ﷺ, and Allah had given
the Prophet ﷺ that virtue of leading there.
In the second place, he settled with his
son Ishaq ﷺ, and the Prophet ﷺ gave
him that as well, combining for the Prophet
ﷺ the leadership of the children of Ismail
and the children of Ishaq, of the two
qiblahs, that the Prophet ﷺ was the imam
of all of the claimants of both of
those places.
And in that also, of the three holiest
places, the Prophet ﷺ would pray in all
three of them in the same night.
Mecca, Medina, and Al-Quds.
And the Prophet ﷺ said, الرحال إلى ثلاثة
مساجد.
The Prophet ﷺ said that journeys are undertaken
to three masajid.
And in the one night of the miraculous
journey of the Prophet ﷺ, he prayed in
all three of those locations ﷺ.
And so it was the combining of the
qiblahs for the Prophet ﷺ.
And of course, according to the Judeo-Christian
tradition, this is where Ibrahim ﷺ tried to
sacrifice Ishaq ﷺ.
And of course, what we know as of
Mecca, where Ibrahim ﷺ was to sacrifice Ismail
ﷺ.
So Allah combines it for the Prophet ﷺ.
Another wisdom the scholars mention is that because
this was the qiblah of the time, this
was the direction of prayer at the time
of the journey of Al-Israa wa-l
-Mi'raj, the Prophet ﷺ was brought there
as near to the qiblah as possible.
And in that is a symbolism that Allah
would bring the Prophet ﷺ nearest to him
in this dunya and in the akhirah.
I'm sorry, nearest to him in this dunya
as well as in the heavens.
Because the Prophet ﷺ would come, would be
brought near in this dunya.
And then he would be brought nearest to
Allah ﷻ on that night where Allah ﷻ
would speak to him in a place that
even Jibreel ﷺ could not ascent.
So it was a symbolism of qurb that
some of the scholars mentioned, closeness, that you're
brought to the direction of your prayer.
And subhanAllah, all of us feel a certain
way when we go to Mecca for multiple
reasons, right?
But to know that this is the direction
that I pray and then to occupy a
ṣaf, to occupy a line right there in
front of the Ka'bah is incredibly special.
So it's qurb, qarrabahu ilayhi, as the scholars
mentioned.
The other wisdom the scholars mentioned is because
of the virtues of salah that is there
and the virtues of that place as we
mentioned the dua of Sulaiman ﷺ that no
one would come to this masjid, that of
the dua of Sulaiman ﷺ that no one
would come here to pray except that they
would leave from this place like the day
that their mother gave birth to them.
So the virtues of the salah there, the
virtues of the place of Bayt al-Maqdis
as Ibn Abbas ﷺ mentioned that this is
the place where the prophets lived.
And there is not a single inch of
Jerusalem of al-Quds except that a prophet
prayed there or an angel stood there and
worshipped Allah ﷻ.
So it is ardul anbiya wa shuhada.
Another wisdom the scholars mentions that this is
the only portal to the heavens from the
earth, the only place where the prophets have
ascended is from this place.
And so Isa ﷺ ascended to the heavens
from that place.
Idrees ﷺ ascended to the heavens from that
place.
Muhammad ﷺ would ascend to the heavens from
that place.
And so this is the place of ascent
for the anbiya, for the prophets.
The sixth wisdom that the scholars mentioned is
that all of the prophets that the Prophet
ﷺ is going to meet in the heavens
have a centrality in Palestine.
They all have a story in Palestine.
And this is very important when we come
to the part two of this lecture by
the way, that the Prophet ﷺ did not
meet every nabi in the heavens.
But everyone he had a conversation with had
a centrality in Palestine, had a centrality around
Beit al-Waqdis, around Jerusalem.
And so he would meet them ﷺ in
the heavens as well.
The scholars then mentioned the seventh wisdom that
this is the place of the end of
times where dajjal is killed and Allah ﷻ
establishes clear victory.
And this was a turning of the page
of victory for the Prophet ﷺ.
And then finally, they mentioned that this is
the place of al-mahshar, the place of
assembly, where we all rise and we go
to a sham for qiyamah, for our final
reckoning before Allah ﷻ then takes the believers
to their eventual place in paradise.
Likewise, the Prophet ﷺ was brought to the
place on earth that we all go to
before he went to the heavens, where we
hope to be the last stop for us
before we go to Allah's paradise.
May Allah ﷻ make us all from the
people of al-jannah.
Allahumma ameen.
Now what happens when we get there?
The Prophet ﷺ said, He
said in the authentic hadith ﷺ that when
we reached al-Bait al-Maqdis, Jibreel ﷺ
pointed with his finger onto a structure and
he caused a crack in the rock and
he tied al-buraq to it ﷺ.
Jibreel ﷺ, the same angel who struck the
ground in Mecca from which zamzam came forth,
washed the heart of the Prophet ﷺ with
that zamzam and now points towards the stone,
it cracks and he ties al-buraq to
it.
And by the way, and we're going to
inshaAllah ta'ala have a bonus lecture where
we'll actually go through al-Aqsa and all
of the different gates and all the different
walls and all the different doors and things
of that sort.
But subhanAllah of the gems of this by
the way is that the buraq area where
this is, can anyone tell me where it
is in the modern day construction of Jerusalem?
Towards the wailing wall, the western wall, what's
called the western wall.
And historically speaking, the only structure that was
standing at that time in that area was
the western wall because the Byzantines allowed the
Jewish community to wail at that wall once
a year, to mourn at that wall once
a year.
And so the buraq is tied in that
area.
Then the Prophet ﷺ enters into the holy
area of al-Bait al-Maqdis.
The strongest narration is that the Prophet ﷺ
prayed two rak'ahs first by himself, just
like he did in the other areas.
Then the Prophet ﷺ looked up and he
looked behind him and he saw ﷺ every
single prophet that Allah has ever sent gathered
for him and waiting for Salah.
Can you imagine the Messenger of Allah ﷺ
turning around and seeing all of the prophets
in front of him, waiting for him ﷺ
to lead them in Salah?
Hafiz ibn Kathir ﷺ says, وَجَمَعَ اللَّهُ لَهُ
هُنَاكَ جَمِيعَ الْأَنْبِيَاءَ مِنْ أَوَّلِهِمْ إِلَى آخِرِهِمْ Allah
gathered for the Prophet ﷺ every single prophet
from start to finish.
According to one narration, Muslim Imam Ahmed, that's
124,000 prophets of which he is the
last ﷺ.
What a gathering!
فَصَلَّى بِهِمْ فِي مَسْجِدِهِمْ ﷺ فَدَلَّ عَلَى أَنَّهُ
الْإِمَامُ الْأَعْظَمُ وَالرَّئِيسُ الْمُقَدَّمُ ﷺ وَعَلَيْهِ وَعَلَيْهِمْ
أَجْمَعِينَ And the Prophet ﷺ was told to
lead them in prayer and that was a
sign, a proof that he was the greatest
Imam ﷺ and the foretold and foremost leader
ﷺ.
There was a sign, a symbolism in the
Prophet ﷺ being pushed to lead them in
prayer.
As he's looking at this jama'ah, dear
brothers and sisters, and I want us to
stop with this jama'ah for tonight insha
'Allah ta'ala before we go to the
ascent of the heavens and reflect upon it.
In that jama'ah were Prophets who built
in that place, was Ibrahim ﷺ, was Sulaiman
ﷺ who made du'a for that masjid
as he built that masjid.
And also in that place were Prophets who
were forbidden from that land like Musa ﷺ
who wasn't able to enter into it in
his lifetime.
But there he was standing in Al-Aqsa
next to Sulaiman ﷺ, next to Ibrahim ﷺ,
next to Dawood ﷺ, next to Isa ﷺ
ready for that salah.
And so all of them had a different
story with that place.
But they were all there behind the man
ﷺ who was appointed to lead that day.
And he ﷺ pushed me forward until I
led them all in salah.
Imagine being in that jama'ah.
You know last week I talked about another
great jama'ah in Masjid Bani Umayyah where
one day Isa ﷺ will descend amongst the
Muslims and he will walk between the ranks
of the Muslims.
And a descendant of Muhammad ﷺ, Al-Mahdi,
will step back out of adab for Isa
ﷺ.
And Isa ﷺ will say, but it was
for you that the salah was called, the
iqamah was called for you, go forth and
lead.
Isa ﷺ is greater than Al-Mahdi but
a sign of adherence to the way of
the Prophet ﷺ, the finality of Muhammad ﷺ
as a nabi and as a rasul.
And this time Isa ﷺ is praying behind
the Prophet ﷺ alongside the other prophets.
Imagine, you know when they say being a
fly on the wall, imagine being a fly
in the ranks.
And looking to your right and your left
and seeing those anbiya of Allah in that
special place.
Bi'ithnillahi ta'ala, we will continue inshaAllah
ta'ala after a couple of weeks and
speak about the ascent of the Prophet ﷺ
into the heavens.
However the last thing that I want you
to note is that just as the people
put barriers in this earth, they could not
prevent the Prophet ﷺ in his time from
praying in that place.
Nor could they prevent the anbiya who came
of old, who were prevented before from praying
in that place.
Only Allah ﷻ could transcend the space and
the time that is imposed by man.
Allah ﷻ could transcend it in one night.
And it is easy upon Allah ﷻ as
everything is to Allah ﷻ, hayyin, without effort
from him subhanahu wa ta'ala.
That is in regards to the boundaries of
this earth.
Likewise, no one can impose upon the boundaries
of the heavens and the promises of Allah
ﷻ.
And just as we think about the Prophet
ﷺ, and if you could see a vision
right now of a man traveling through the
heavens, there are more souls that have ascended
from Jerusalem to the heavens as shuhada than
any other place because it is arda shuhada.
And there are more souls in our time
of shuhada perhaps than any other part of
the world that before you blink your eye
have already ascended from this world through the
barriers of the heavens to meet their Lord
and to receive his assurance.
And nothing is difficult upon Allah ﷻ.
And so whether we're talking about political calculations
or spiritual calculations or the possibilities for our
ummah or the possibilities for us, may Allah
ﷻ allow us to be amongst those people
that are under his favor.
And may Allah ﷻ bring us extraordinary ease
after this period of extraordinary difficulty for this
ummah.
May Allah ﷻ allow the extraordinary hardship of
Gaza to be followed by the extraordinary ease
of the complete liberation of Palestine and all
of the Muslim lands that are under occupation
and under oppression.