Omar Suleiman – The Firsts – Abbas Ibn Abd Al-Muttalib (RA) – The Blessed Uncle Of The Prophet Muhammad
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AI: Transcript ©
So
this
will be
the last episode of the first for some
time, Insha'Allah,
as we go into Dhul Hijjah. We're going
to have a special series in Dhul Hijjah
on the duas of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi
Wasallam that relate to the changing of divine
decree. So please inshallah ta'ala pay attention to,
some of the,
promos that'll be coming out this next week
and follow us InshaAllah Ta'ala for the first
10 days of Dhul Hijjah as we go
through that new series, Bayn Nillahi Ta'ala.
But tonight we cover a person, an individual
who really brings together
almost the last 100 episodes.
He is present in almost every story. You
keep hearing, Al Abbas, Al Abbas, Al Abbas.
Right?
But rarely do you actually find an entire
biography dedicated to him. SubhanAllah, he's one of
the few people
that
is overshadowed
by his son
almost entirely when it comes to the books
of seer.
So you read about Abdullah ibn Abbas radiAllahu
ta'ala Anhuma and so much emphasis is placed
upon Abdullah ibn Abbas
that you only really hear about Al Abbas
as an introduction
in the life of Abdullah ibn Abbas.
But this man, radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu,
is a person that if you walked into
Madinah
within the 1st few decades after the death
of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam,
it is not an exaggeration to say that
he was the most honored
man in Medina.
Meaning,
if he walked into a gathering or if
he walked on a road or if he
walked into the Masjid, you would see all
of the Sahaba without exception, sit down, kiss
his hand, lower themselves to him, honor him.
Why? Because he is Amur Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam. What a beautiful title to have. That's
the uncle of the prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
Now imagine if you are a Sahabi, a
companion who misses the prophet, sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
and those of you that are familiar with
those cultures, if you think about Arabian culture
and and Bedouin culture and the way that
the 'am, the uncle, the paternal uncle is
like the father,
imagine
that this is the last piece
of that legacy of the prophet, salAllahu alaihi
wa sallam. This is like the the father
of the prophet, salAllahu alaihi wa sallam, still
amongst us even after the prophet, salAllahu alaihi
wa sallam, passes away. So there's an honoring
of him
from the greatest of the companions. And then
imagine
when the tabi'in, when those who didn't know
the prophet, salaihi wa sallam, come to Madinah,
who is the honorable
old man? That's the father of the Prophet
salallahu alaihi wa sallam. Imagine the way that
they would humble themselves to him, that they
would kiss his hand, that they would ask
for his dua.
Why? Because he has that stature radiAllahu ta'ala
anhu and we're going to go into that
after the death of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam. But we started this season
of the first with the story of the
Ansar.
And Al Abbas was the bridge from Mecca
to Madinah, handing off the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi
Wasallam to Madinah.
And now, as we've been going through the
biographies of all of those enemies that the
Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasallam
forgave, or all of those family members that
he reconciled with after Fathih Makkah, it's always
Al Abbas who's the middleman with the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. So he sent the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam off
from Mecca to Medina, and then he receives
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam back into
Mecca, and then he will go back with
the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam to Al Madinah
as a Muslim
after Fath Makkah. Now, Imam Zahaabi Rahimahullah Ta'ala
in his monumental work of seer, of biographies,
he often gives this long
title
to a person.
But to Al Abbas radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu, the
title is simple
and nothing more beautiful. He simply introduces him
as Al Abbas aamur Rasulillahi
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
The uncle of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam, and the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
said, Alamsun walwalad
that the paternal uncle is like the father
in Islam.
And that hadith actually comes in the capacity
of his describing
al Abbas radiAllahu
ta'ala Anhu.
Now when the prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam,
received the message,
4 of his uncles were alive.
And you can pair them 2 by 2.
We talked about Abu Lahab,
last week. So you have the older
2 that are alive in the life of
the Prophet as he becomes a Prophet,
and they
are Abdi Manaf and Abdul Uzzah. Who is
Abdi Manaf?
Abu Talib. Abdi Talib's name is Abdi Manaf.
Talib is his oldest son. And Abdul Uzza,
of course,
was Abu Lahab.
They are like fathers to the prophet SallAllahu
Alaihi Wasallam by virtue of their age too.
Abu Talib is about 30 years senior to
the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, Abu Lahab at
least 13 to 15 years older than the
Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, So they play a
different type of role in the life of
the Prophet
Right? And we talked about Abu Lahab last
week. So those are the elderly uncles of
the prophet that are still alive. Abu Talib
protecting him, Abu Lahab abusing him.
And then you have the 2 uncles
that are sort of hybrids of being uncles
and older brothers to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi
Wasallam. And they are the last 2 paternal
uncles,
Al Abbas
and Hamza. May Allah be pleased with them.
And they are the ones, of course, who
would embrace Islam in the life of the
Messenger, sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
Al Abbas
is older than Hamza. Hamza is almost exactly
the same age as the Prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam,
And actually their names are very beautiful. We
talked about it when we talked about Hamza,
radiAllahu Anhu. Their names are very unique. Who
knows what the name al Abbas actually means?
What does Abbas mean?
Abbas means a lion.
Hamza also means a lion,
But it's a it's a particular
posture of the lion that's being described. So
they come next to each other, and the
naming scheme is very interesting.
Abbas in the Arabic language is the name
of the lion as it circles its prey
and it starts to roar.
Okay?
Hamza
is either amsakabilahmilfariz
wa'akhada
yukatiruhah
After the lion attacks, the farissa, after the
lion attacks its prey and it starts to
eat into it, that's when it's called hamza.
So, Abbas and hamza.
Hamza is the brother right after al Abbas.
Al Abbas means the lion as it's roaring
before it attacks the prey. Hamza is the
lion after it has attacked the prey and
started to,
eat its prey. And subhanAllah,
know, when you think about the characteristic of
Hamzal radiAllahu anhu Asadullah, the lion of Allah,
Hamzal is this fearless man who dives into
the enemy. Right? It's such an appropriate name.
Abbas is a very calculated man,
right, who analyzes the situation, who takes his
time in dissecting
and does so much. And so the names
actually fit
the personalities in this regard. So Abbas radiAllahu
ta'ala Anhu
is one of the youngest sons of Abdul
Muttalib,
about 3 years older than the prophet salallahu
alaihi wa sallam, one of only 2 uncles
to embrace Islam.
The prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam's, aunts
of course, one of his aunts definitely embraced
Islam, which is Sofia bint Abdul Muttalib, the
mother of Az Zubayr, and then another 2,
Arwa and Aatika, possibly embraced Islam. So 2
or 3 of the aunts of the Prophet
SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam embraced Islam,
as well. But only 2 of his uncles,
alayhis salatu wa sallam.
And it has so much depth to it
and Al Abbas is a poetic man, radiAllahu
ta'ala Anhu, is that Al Abbas was asked
and to
Akbar,
are you older
or is the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam older?
Which one of you is older? So he
responded with the very famous words,
He is
older, Akbar. He is bigger. Right? He's greater,
but I happen to be born before him.
So just because I was born before him,
I don't have it in me to say,
ana Akbar minuasullahi
sallallahu ahi wa sallam. I can't say I'm
older or bigger or greater than the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, but, yeah, I was
born 3 years before the messenger sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam. And this is, of course, one
of the famous narrations that's used to describe
the phenomenon
of young scholars in Islam.
How would you describe,
Abdullah ibn Abbas?
Right? The 13 year old scholar of the
Ummah, or an Imam al Shafi'i who was
a scholar of this Ummah before he even
hit puberty. Right? How do you describe this
this phenomenon of youth scholarship and youth warriors
and youth leaders in Islam
and the ability
of the likes of Umar bin Khattab and
and Sa'd ibn Abi Waqas to fight under
Usama ibn Zayed at the age of 17.
I'm
older by age,
but I respect him. He's greater than me.
Right? I give myself
in following
this person. And this is, of course, more
true with the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
than anybody else. Al Abbas, radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu
also in his physical appearance
is one of the most described people.
We mentioned Abu Lahab had a stunning physical
appearance,
and this is a trait of Banu Hashim,
right, that their appearances
were remarkable.
And of course, none so more than the
Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. But Abbas, radiAllahu ta'ala,
anhu also has a unique
special appearance.
Says,
as he describes him, he says that he
was noble.
Mahiban means he had a presence. Haiba, of
course, means that people will naturally be in
awe of a person
when they are in his presence. Haibah is
a respectability,
is an honor that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
clothed some people with akhilan. He was extremely
smart,
extremely intelligent, poetic,
eloquent when he spoke, radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu. Jameelan,
beautiful.
His description after that, Abiyal, he had a
fair skin, radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu. And he had
dafiratani.
He had 2 braids that used to come
to his shoulder.
Now that sounds funny to some people like
braids. The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam used to
braid his hair into 2 often. So Abba
salAllahu anhu had beautiful hair and it was
braided.
1, you know, one braid on each side.
Right? And it came right to his shoulders
and it always perfectly,
fell to his shoulders.
And Imam Adhadi Rahim Allah says,
he was one of the tallest people,
in Mecca. And we'll talk about what that
physical stature looks like in some of the
historical incidents.
So he's extremely tall. Wa'asaniyimsuratan
wa'Abhahum,
the most perfect
in His appearance
and a person who commands the most respect
with His appearance. And he was distinguished
by something very unique to him,
which is wa'ajarihim
Sultan.
When Abbas would speak,
he could be heard from extremely far away.
So it was like something was naturally amplifying
his voice.
In fact, he had he had many servants.
He was extremely rich, and
he had many servants. And they said even
in his old age, when Al Abbas wanted
to, carry out his tasks, he didn't use
to send messengers
and servants to call other servants. He'd simply
stand on a high place
and he would say something and his voice
would reach miles away. Literally, that's the description
of him
So he sends his servants out to do
things and then he stands up and he
says something, and it reaches them from so
far away,
and that was the boom in his voice
It wasn't an arrogant voice.
Just because he had a loud voice when
he wanted to project
doesn't mean he was arrogant. When he wanted
to use that voice, he could reach far,
far away, and we'll see it later on
in battle with Al Abbas radiAllahu ta'ala. I
know this is also a description of the
Hashemites. Right? The prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam had
perfectly articulated words
alayhi salat was salam. And the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam knew how to use the tone
of his voice
for the occasion. Most of the time, the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam's voice
was soft, calm. Right?
Came from a place of of bashfulness.
But when the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
gave a khutba
and he showed anger Alaihi Salatu Wasallam or
the occasion called for seriousness, his voice would
boom Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
Right? To the point that it would shake
you when he would speak in that tone
Alayhi Salatu Wasallam. So Abbas RadiAllahu has
a distinguished
voice, a distinguished posture,
and and a very big stature,
and that, of course, would would benefit him,
in Jahiliyyah and then benefit him in Islam.
That's what the scholars mentioned about him. I
mean, you think about,
a society
that is very shallow. Right?
That adds to his leadership
before Islam. And then in Islam, he uses
that voice, he uses that hayba to convey
the message of Islam outside of Al Makkah
wal Madinah. So this is Al Abbas
in terms of his physical stature, his age,
his relationships with the Prophet
biologically just a few years older than the
Prophet
He grows up with the Prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam extremely close
to each layer of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam's family. So he's from their imam,
the uncles,
but he's also young enough to be with
the Prophet
and Abu Sufyan ibn Harith and the brothers.
Right? And that level
of the,
the the family tree
of the Prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam.
Now his wife is one of the first
people that we spoke about in the firsts.
His wife is Lubaba bint alharif
umal Fadir RadiAllahu Ta'ala Anha.
If you scroll all the way down the
playlist, about a 110 episodes ago,
This is the first woman to embrace Islam
after Khadija RadiAllahu Ta'ala Anha.
In fact, some of the writers like Ibn
Hajar even say, on the same day
as Khadija Radiallahu Ta'ala Anha, because she was
and
the
and the only dispute is,
as as is mentioned,
whether she was the next woman or Fatima
bint Al Khattab
radiAllahu Anha, the sister of Umar radiAllahu ta'ala
Anhu. So she's one of the first
Muslims
to publicly announce her Islam. And this is
the woman who last week we mentioned popped
Abu Lahab in the head and eventually killed
him. That's his wife, Lubaba
al Fadil RadiAllahu Ta'ala Anha, and she's looked
at as one of the most noble women
in Islam.
Go back and watch that episode if you
wanna sort of refresh the full story about
her. But she's related to pretty much everyone
from the companions of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi
Wasallam. Somehow,
an extremely noble woman
RadiAllahu Ta'ala Anha.
And Abdullah ibn Abba radiAllahu Anhuma says
that his mother was always in Salah and
always openly declaring her Islam.
He says, I and my mother were considered
from the downtrodden
of the women and the children in Makkah.
We were declaring our Islam openly
very early on.
As for Al Abbas, a huge dispute over
when he embraced Islam. It's it's one of
the most,
it's one of the largest gaps
in terms of determining when a person embraced
Islam that you find of any companion, if
not the largest gap. Right? As to trying
to pinpoint at what point he exactly embraces
Islam.
And Abu Ra'far,
the slave
of
al Abbas
also was practicing Islam secretly.
So Abu Rafah was a Muslim.
Lubaba was a Muslim.
Abdullah
was a Muslim, and they were public. At
least, Abdullah and his mother were public about
their Islam, while Abu Rafi' radiAllahu anhu was
also secretly practicing
with the wife and with the son.
And this is, of course, the person
who would make du'a for her husband to
become Muslim to come to Islam
and also to abandon arribah, to abandon usury
knowing its its predatory nature even before it
was prohibited in Islam. So Lubaba is that
righteous woman that is praying for her husband,
that is following the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam in any way that she possibly can.
And an Abbas
is not publicly
showing his Islam.
Now,
how did he react to the news of
the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam
announcing his Islam?
Al Abbas has a unique position in society.
Okay.
Number 1, he was the one entrusted by
his father, Abdul Muttalib, to care for Zamzam
after Abdul Muttalib passed away. So he's one
who is sort of in charge of hospitality
in many ways to the pilgrims that would
come to Mecca from the outside.
He's also one of the richest men of
Mecca,
and he's a tradesman. He goes out frequently
to Assam,
to Yemen, and he particularly used to be
famous for the spices
that he would get from different parts of
the world. So he's the spice seller. He
is someone who collects
musk. He's someone
that sells some of the delicacies.
Right? That you can only find with him
radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu.
He's also the first person,
because of his familiarity with the world due
to his trade, he worked hospitality and he
used to go and be a merchant.
He's the first person
that a pilgrim
coming from outside of Mecca or a merchant
would ask about the news of Mecca.
And that's why you find
so many narrations that we've covered so far.
Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, radiAllahu anhu, when he came
to Mecca and he wanted to inquire
about who the prophet was. He goes to
Al Abbas, or the Allahu Anhu.
Afif al Kindi, or the Allahu Anhu, has
one of the most famous narrations. He said,
I came to Mecca
and I saw and I went to Al
Abbas because I was his partner, a business
partner of his. And I said, I just
saw the strangest thing in the world. I
saw
a man,
praying in front of the Kaaba.
Next to him, a a boy, and behind
them, a woman.
But he was praying in a different way.
He was bowing and he was prostrating.
Right? And he was raising his hands and
supplicating. It looked different.
And Abba says, that's my nephew, Muhammad Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam.
That young boy, that's Ali
radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu, and behind him that's Khadija
radiAllahu Anhu.
And he says that he says he's a
messenger of Allah and that he calls to
the oneness of Allah and no one on
the face of the earth practices the religion
except for them.
So he's the one that you go and
you ask about the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
So you wanna learn the ropes of Mecca?
You go to him.
He was never hostile to the Prophet SallAllahu
Alaihi Wasallam.
He immediately says, I'll protect you. But like
Abu Talib, he takes a neutral stance towards
the religion itself.
He says, I'm not a Muslim, but you're
my nephew.
I'll protect you, but I won't profess your
religion.
Now, by the
way, some of the scholars and the writers
mentioned that it may be that he thought
he would be more effective in protecting the
Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam as a non Muslim.
I personally know,
Muslim academics who've never declared their Islam publicly
because they're like, people respect my opinion more
as a non Muslim
than they do as a Muslim. So I'll
keep the Islam part private,
and I'll just be a non Muslim writer
on Islam.
Right? And that's one way to, you know,
it's not the right way to think.
It's not the right way to think,
but it is a way that a person
could possibly see that I could be effective.
And at this point, you're trying to figure
things out. He clearly loves the prophet, salAllahu
alaihi wasalam. If anyone from the outside or
the inside asks him about the prophet, sallallahu
alaihi wasallam, he testifies to his character and
he testifies
to the profundity of his religion, but
he's not a Muslim.
Right? And you see people like that even
today. It's strange that they're not Muslim. They
defend Islam their whole lives and they die
not Muslim. And it's a very strange concept.
Right? But it could be that Al Abbas
radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu
took that approach thinking that he was being
well meaning. It could be that he felt
like I need to maintain this position because
Quraysh sees me in a certain light.
And until Quraysh embraces the religion because I'm
such an important figure, right, and sort of
holding
the ropes of Quraysh politically, the tribes together,
hospitality,
I cannot declare embracing a religion that they
are not going to embrace. It's gonna cause
it to fall apart. Allah knows best. Right?
Because Abu Talib
held off out of a loyalty to Abdul
Muttalib, right, his forefathers.
Al Abbas,
it's not clear what he's holding out for,
but
it's definitely not from a place of hostility
to the Prophet, salallahu alaihi wa sallam,
and not from a place of disbelief in
what the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam,
has come with.
So where do you start to see his
role develop?
When Abu Talib dies because Abu Talib is
the oldest uncle protecting the Prophet
When Abu Talib passes away,
al Abbas radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu sort of assumes
the protection role of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam because he's older than hamza radiAllahu
anhu. So I will protect you. I will
be your representative
to the other elders of Quraysh. I will
be your representative
to the outside.
And here is the dichotomy that you see
in the family of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi
Wasallam.
While the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam is walking
around
in the marketplace
and in the time of Hajj trying to
call people to Islam
after the boycott,
one uncle is going behind him and stoning
him and saying, don't believe him. He's a
liar. The other uncle is taking him by
the hand, protecting him and trying to introduce
him to potential sponsors.
What's the role that Al Abbas is playing?
Abu Lahab is stoning the Prophet and delegitimizing
him.
Al Abbas
is trying to find
a people to take the Prophet, SallAllahu Alaihi
Wasallam, in.
So he's meeting
other tribes with the Prophet, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam,
Right? People that are coming from afar.
And as the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasallam, introduces
Islam to them,
Al Abbas supports the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
Right? He's his uncle. He's with him,
and he knows
a lot about the tribes that are coming
in, and he's helping the prophet
analyze the groups of people that are coming
in because he knows so much about them
due to his travels.
So he's trying to find the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam an appropriate people
to sponsor him, a new host city for
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
as Mecca has become too hostile
primarily due to his own brother, right? Abu
Lahab, who's stoning the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam
and who's yelling at the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi
Wasallam and delegitimizing him at every turn.
And that's where the Ansar come in.
Right?
And when the Ansar come in
and they offer themselves to the Prophet
this
small group of young people,
Al Abbas, radiAllahu Anhu, is that uncle who's
extremely skeptical.
Who can tell me why?
Because almost none of the Ansar
were over the age of 25.
Bunch of youth.
Right? And Abbas is like, I don't know
about this.
I don't know if I can entrust you
to go with these young people. They might
be sincere,
but I don't know that they know what
they're signing up for.
Right? So Al Abbas
was very skeptical
to let the
Prophet take the bay'ah, take the pledge
from
the ansar. Now, of course, one of the
ways of gauging whether the ansar were serious
about receiving the Prophet
was whether the first group of people, the
small group of people that took the bay'ah
with the Prophet, salAllahu alaihi wasallam, after they
took Mus'ab radiAllahu anhu to Madinah, if they
come back with a larger group of people
and they'd say, all right, we set it
up. And that's exactly what they did.
They came back to the prophet
and this time as a group of over
70,
and they said, You Rasulullah, we're ready for
you. We're ready to take you to Yafirah.
And so, Uyin ibn Sa'idah,
he
says,
That that second Hajj,
we went to the Prophet,
a small group of us, and we met
him in the house of Al Abbas.
And
he says,
We gave Salaam and we said, when should
we meet You Rasoolallah to take the pledge
with you? So Arwain was part of maybe
3 or 4 that went to Al Abbas
and the prophet sallAllahu 'alaihi wa sallam. So
Al Abbas, radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu, says, listen,
you are undertaking
a serious affair
and a serious violation.
Make sure that you hide yourselves right. Like,
don't think that you're young, you got your
weapons, you can figure this out. Be very
discreet about why you are here.
Said, listen, we'll meet at this place,
and we're gonna explain to you what you
have to do so that if you enter
into Islam,
you're entering. And of course, Al Amr is
not just Islam, but all that this entails
of the political
baggage and risk of taking in the Prophet
That you will do so
knowing what you're getting into. Ala amrin bayin.
Right? Nothing is hidden from you. No strings
attached.
But let's do this right.
So the prophet
told them to meet them
on that night
in the lowest part of Aqaba.
I don't know if it's still there. It
was there recently,
but Masjid Al Aqaba is right around the
Jamarat.
K. It's it's it truly is the lowest
part there. It's kind of put aside, and,
of course, the masjid is built much later
on to,
denote that this was the place that the
prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam took the pledge
from the Ansar.
So we met them,
and
the prophet
and
salAllahu alayhi wa sallam al Abbas salAllahu alanhu
were already there.
So just imagine the perspective of the Ansar,
they walked into that place and the Prophet
SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam was there and no one
was with him except Al Abbas
Ta'ala Anhu.
So,
Awal, they say,
The first person to speak was Al Abbas
RadiAllahu Ta'ala Anhu.
And Abbas
said, Listen, O Khazraj. Hazraj being the bigger
tribe of the Ansar.
You have called Mohammed,
and I'm saying, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, Al
Abbas is not saying that yet. He's not
Muslim.
To what you have called him to.
He is of the most honored of his
family.
Those that are upon his way will protect
him, and those that don't that are not
upon his way will protect him because we
love him. He's one of us. So and
Abbas is trying to say, look. His family
has his
back. Even though we're struggling and even though
this is a difficult situation,
he is loved by his people
and we will have His back.
And Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam has refused
all other people except
for you. So if you are a people
of strength and you're a people who know
battle, you know war, you know how to
take on
a cause like this,
then know that Quraysh and all of the
Arabs are gonna come after you.
Right? You're gonna break every agreement that you
have. People will come and fight you for
having Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam. So if you
think you can handle this from a military
perspective, and I'm paraphrasing because it's a long
conversation,
then go
ahead and take him. But if not, then
it's okay. Walk away and his family will
take care of him. We can handle him.
So of course,
the Ansar started to speak. 1st was Abdullah
ibn Amr ibn Haram,
the father of Jabir, may Allah be pleased
with him and his father, and
he
says, You know, we are a people of
war and we have inherited it. Right? Remember
that one of the reasons why the Ansar
are the Ansar is because their fathers all
killed themselves each you know, killed each other
in battle. And he started to praise,
Narumi
bin Nabli hatah tafna. That, you know, we
know how to throw the arrows.
We know how to
we
know how to use the spear. Hatah takasar
until it breaks. So we know how to
use our swords. We know how to use
our arrows. We know how to use our
spears. We have
him, sallallahu
alaihi wasallam, and we will protect him.
So Abas radiAllahu anhu, he's impressed by the
military response.
So when it comes to
the,
the bay'ah part, the taking the pledge, Al
Abbas says to the 70,
He said, let one of you speak and
don't take long
because you're being watched. Right? So let's make
this quick, but someone needs to speak up.
And that's where you find the speech of
Asad ibn Zalar radiAllahu anhu. Look, if we
take the prophet sallAllahu alaihi wasallam
in, then we're going to sacrifice all of
our relationships. We're gonna get we're gonna go
through all of this trouble.
You Rasulullah, what do we get in return?
Al Jannah.
And what was the response of the Ansar?
Rabbi Hadayr, we've got it. We will pledge
to you on the basis of Al Jannah.
We want nothing else from you, You Rasulullah,
SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam.
Now
to to make it short here, to get
back to Al Abbas, radiAllahu anhu, it is
the irony of the situation.
So
they were taking their pledge to the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam, and Abba sallAllahu ta'ala Anhu,
it's like he's holding the hand of the
person that's taking the pledge with the prophet
salallahu alaihi wasalam and the prophet salallahu alaihi
wasalam's hand.
To make sure that the pledge is there.
The irony is that Al Abbas himself did
not give bay'a to the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam al Islam yet. So it's it's an
interesting affair here. Right? Like he's holding the
hands. He's there to make sure that the
bay'a takes place.
And He's the one who bids farewell to
the Prophet, salAllahu alaihi wasallam. He sends the
Prophet
off with these people,
but he does not make hijrah himself,
radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu. And as far as the
outward is concerned, he's still not a Muslim.
Now this is why I said,
it's such a discrepancy. You will not find
a bigger gap in when a person may
or may not have become Muslim than
Because there are some narrations that say
He'd already become Muslim before the hijrah even
happened,
but he hid it to himself. One narration
from Abraha
So one narration from Abu Rafah in the
books of Seer
that, you know, we both became Muslim. We
were all Muslim, and Abbas was Muslim, and
he was forced to go out into Badr,
but he was hiding his Islam the entire
time.
In in Tabakat Ibn Sa'ad, Ibn Sa'ad includes
him,
from the Muajirin and the Ansar, mimman lam
yashad Badra. It's really interesting. From those who
did not attend Badr,
even though technically we're gonna see that he
was in Badr on the other side.
But he's already a Muslim, so it's confusing.
If you consider him a Muslim at that
point, then he's really not on the other
side. He's simply someone who's not accounted for
in the equation of not as an enemy
or as a Muslim at that point, radiAllahu
ta'ala Anhu. So it's an interesting situation. But
one thing for sure,
As Zahi Rahimullah says,
We don't count Al Abbas radiAllahu Anhu from
that group called atulapa,
which are those who are granted amnesty after
the Fatih Makkah, which is the least praiseworthy
group as a group.
Right, in terms of their order in entering
into Islam
that we know that he's considered from at
the very least
the the last of the Mujahidim,
the last of the Meccans to become Muslim
before
Fath Makkah,
RadiAllahu
ta'ala Anhu. And he mentions Alaa Tarahu ajara
Abba Sufyan. And how don't you see that
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam was using
him as a Muslim to negotiate terms with
Abu Sufyan and others in terms of the
fall of Mecca
at that time RadiAllahu
ta'ala Anhu. So what happened in Badr?
The battle of Badr
comes,
and the prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, says to
the Muslims before Badr starts,
He says, from the other side, you need
to know there are people.
They were forced out of their homes. They
have no interest in fighting us. If you
see them, don't kill them. And he named
2 people, sallallahu alaihi salam albukhtari,
Abnohisham
and al Abbas ibn Abdul Muttalib.
These 2 men, he said, sallallahu alaihi salam,
that the Meccans will force them to come
out in Badr. Don't kill them.
They're not interested in fighting us
on that day. So when you see them,
simply catch them. Don't kill them because they
don't intend to hurt you.
So the day comes,
Abadir.
And
Abu Yusr
al Salami or Abu Yasser, his name is
narrated both ways.
He talks about him himself finding al Abbas
in Badr radiAllahu ta'ala.
Now, Abu Yasser
was
a very small
man in stature, physically speaking.
Right?
Physically, he wasn't very big. Al Abbas is
huge.
Right? So the idea of Abu Yusr capturing
Al Abbas was very far fetched in that.
Okay?
But Abu Yasser, subhanAllah, look what he says.
He says that,
I found
I found that Abbas on the day of
Badrin, he was standing like an idol,
hands to his side,
absolutely
no movement, and he says,
His eyes were wet like he was crying.
I mean, he's standing there. How did I
end up
in this battle
against the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam?
How did we end up
in this situation?
Fathers killing sons,
brothers killing brothers.
Where are we? Right? So you can imagine
it's an emotionally traumatic situation
for Al Abbas radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu and he's
standing
like an idol and just crying.
So Abu Yusr says, I went to
him and I said to him,
the opposite of Jazakallahu Khayrah.
May Allah reward you for what you've done
to your relatives with evil.
Are you gonna fight the son of your
brother with the enemy? And Abbas did not
respond.
So Abu Yusr walks up to him and
it's like, he's like sizing him up. Do
I fight him? Do I kill him?
What is it? Right? So Al Abbas says
to him,
What are you going to do?
He said, Al Asr. He said, I'm going
to capture you
The prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam told us not
to kill you.
So
Al Abbas radiAllahu Anhu said, laysat bi awwali
That's not the first beautiful thing he did
with his relatives,
but that's from the kindness and the magnivity
magnanimity of the prophet
that he ordered such a thing.
Saba Yussur, he says that I captured him.
I tied him up.
And then Abbas was described by the way,
one of the descriptions is physical stature, tell
Jammal that he was as big as a
camel when he would stand up. Huge
man. So the Sahaba see Abu Yasser
bringing al Abbas back all tied up legs
and arms, and they're looking at him like,
how did that happen?
Right? So the Prophet
he says to him,
How were you able to capture him?
He said, this man helped me, and I've
never seen this man before.
That it was a noble angel that supported
you in being able to capture Abbas. Like
it was the physical discrepancy between Abu Yusr
and an Abbas was so much that it
was literally impossible
for him to tie him up and to
capture him and to bring him forth
on that day. Now, SubhanAllah,
this is not an easy situation.
For 1,
as joyful of a day as it says
to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, there are
2 of his family members that deeply troubled
him. One of them is Al Abbas, the
other one is the husband of Zaynab.
Right? His son-in-law
who has
the necklace of Khadija Radiallahu Ta'ala Anha
come
to basically let,
you know, his son-in-law go and the Prophet
SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam says, you know, if you
will send back her necklace and give her
her prisoner. Right? So the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi
Wasallam allowed that ransom and he returned back
the necklace of the mother
to his daughter. May May Allah be pleased
with them all.
Al Abbas was very tough.
The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam has to
treat him the way that all the other
prisoners are treated
because the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam doesn't want
to create a culture of nepotism.
Right? No. I'm not gonna treat him differently
because he's my uncle and because I love
him. At the end of the day,
It is how it looks at the end.
I know maybe his heart is in a
certain way, and he did certain things, but
the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa sallam is is
not going to treat his uncle different than
the others. Imagine the ansa'b
in that situation. However,
clearly, the Prophet, salAllahu alaihi wa sallam, is
deeply bothered by just the fact that he's
tied up
and that he's imprisoned
in that regard. Right? That he's being held
as a hostage.
And one of the narrations is that one
of the Ansar,
Wa'aduhu
or a group of Ansar Wa'aduhu and Yaqtuluhu.
They said to Abbas, we're gonna kill you.
And it pained the Prophet sallAllahu alaihi wa
sallam. Just to even hear like young people
in the excitement and the zeal of the
battlefield and as they're sort of pushing the
prisoners after they capture them and all that,
like some of them to say that because
they don't know what Adbas is doing, so
they're disgusted by him. They see him like
the family of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam
killing the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam now.
And the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam
was so bothered by that
and he said,
Like what's happening here? How could a group
of Ansar say that they would kill him?
And Umar radiAllahu anhu said,
You Rasulullah, do you want me to bring
them to you You Rasulullah?
So the Ansar came, and when they saw
that the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam
was upset by that, they said, No, no.
In Canada, Rasulullah SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam Ribad, fakhulhu.
No. If this is what pleased you, O
Messenger of Allah, we were saying that because
we were upset on your behalf. If it
makes you happy, Rasulullah, go ahead and just
set him free.
Right?
But the Prophet
did not want to treat him differently from
the others
and then create that culture. And SubhanAllah,
that night,
Amsa
Rasoolallahu alaihi wa sallam was was was was
was was was that the Prophet that
night,
you know, he retired back to his tent
and the prisoners,
of course, who would eventually be let go,
the prophet would show them amnesty and make
a way out for all of them. But
the prisoners were in their chains, basically.
The prophet couldn't sleep at night.
Some of the Sahaba came to him and
they said,
What is it, O Masjidullah? We see that
you're restless.
And he said,
I heard my uncle
groaning
in his in his chains.
Right? Like, I I heard that, and it
bothered me. I couldn't sleep.
Now, some of the sahaba, when they heard
that, they immediately went to Al Abbas and
they loosened the chains.
When the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam heard that,
he was happy. He said, but do it
to all the other prisoners too.
Not just to Al Abbas radiAllahu anhu. If
you're gonna loosen the chains of my uncle,
loosen the chains of all of them, make
sure they're comfortable. And then the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam went to sleep.
Right? Like, he wasn't comfortable knowing that his
uncle was in this situation.
Then comes the time where the Prophet sallAllahu
alaihi wasallam now has to negotiate a release
for each one of them. So the Prophet
sallAllahu alaihi wasallam comes to Abbas. It's an
uncomfortable conversation.
Right?
You handed me off to the ansara, and
now you're in my hands as a prisoner.
It's a very uncomfortable conversation. But the prophet,
salAllahu alaihi wa sama, says,
ransom yourself
and ibn Aqeel.
Aqeel is Aqeel ibn Abi Talib.
Right? The older brother of Ali and Ja'far.
So free yourself, free Noufalib Nal Haraf, the
brother of Abu Sufyan, and free,
'Aqil,
the son of your brother, your nephew, 'Aqil.
And
as he says that,
Al Abbas
he says to the Prophet he says,
I was already a Muslim.
And the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam,
he says
that if that's the case,
Look, Allah knows your way.
And He says,
If it is indeed what you say,
Allah is gonna reward
you. But he says,
He said, but I have to treat you
just like everyone else,
according to the exterior.
So just ransom yourself.
So
the Prophet sallAllahu alaihi wa sallam knew that
al Abbas had with him 20 Uqiyas of
gold, which is a lot of money, but
that's counted from the spoils of war.
So Al Abbas
said, You Rasulullah, can you just use that
for my ransom?
And the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam says that's
not fair because that's countered from the spoils
of war. So just free yourself. I know
you have money.
You can free yourself. You can free Nofid.
You can free Aati.
So he says, You Rasool Allah, I don't
have that kind of money. The prophet SallAllahu
Alaihi Wasallam says,
Where is that money that you and Umar
Fadil hid away? And you told her if
I'm killed in the battle,
save it for al Fadil and Abdullah and
Putham,
the 3 sons of
Al Abbas and Umal Fadil.
And Al Abbas says,
subhanAllah,
Wallahi Makar Rasulullah.
Says, I swear you are the messenger of
Allah because no one knew about that money
except for me and Umul Fadir.
But he says to the prophet,
You Rasulullah,
what can I do other than that or
how much do I have to give? He
told Al Abbas to basically
give away from
another 20 of gold. Some of the narrations
say that it was a 100
of gold at the end of the day
and that was the largest.
More people were freed from the ransom of
Abbas than anybody else.
And Allah
revealed as a result of that,
Say, oh, prophet, to the captives in your
hands. If Allah knows of the good that
is in your hearts, He will give you
something better than what was taken from you,
and He will forgive you. And Allah
is oft forgiving
and most merciful.
And SubhanAllah, Al Abbas radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu,
he used to say about that situation. He
said that Allah, Subhanahu ta'ala,
gave me so much more that in place
of the 20 ukiyas, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
gave me 20 servants and each one of
them had money in their hands and they
were able to go and work
and basically increased my fortune.
And he said, and as for the forgiveness
of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
I'm waiting and hoping for the forgiveness of
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. So Allah indeed gave
me way more than what was taken from
me in Badr,
and I hope for the forgiveness of Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
So Abba salAllahu anhu holds that in his
heart
that I am a Muslim,
but he didn't make his Islam public
and
Allah
blesses him. So he goes back and he
becomes richer
than he was prior
to Badr.
After that, Al Abbas, radiAllahu anhu, avoids every
other battle against the prophet, sallAllahu alaihi wa
sallam. So he never goes out in uhud.
He doesn't go out in khandaq.
He stays away from anything.
He's unable to be forced or pushed to
go out in opposition to the Messenger of
Allah SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. And one of the
reasons for that could be and Allah knows
best that the elders of Quraysh had died
in Badr anyway. And the only people that
could exert that type of pressure and force
him out were people that were of his
of his same ranking. And now you had
sort of a second generation when Abbas was
older then, so Abbas could hold himself back
and not be forced to go out and
to fight against the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
So now where does the reunion start to
happen?
Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam loves Al Abbas radiAllahu
ta'ala Anhu
and he was his shadow in Makkah, Alaihi
Salatu Wasallam.
The first incident that we see
is that he
helps facilitate
the nikah of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
and his sister-in-law,
Maimuna Bint Al Harif radiAllahu ta'ala Anha
in Umratul Qadah, which is 7 years after
Hijra.
So if you remember the story of Maimuna
she is now
2 husbands down. She's alone. She asks Umul
Fadil, the wife of Al Abbas, do you
think the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam would marry
me? And Al Abbas is worried about her
being alone. He's worried about her age. He's
worried about her circumstances.
So Al Abbas proposes to the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam the idea
and the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam out of
his love for al Abbas and his love
to honor him
immediately accepts on the basis of al Abbas
proposing on her behalf, radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu. So
the prophet salAllahu alaihi wa sallam has this
relationship with Al Abbas radiAllahu anhu that he
doesn't like to turn down a request.
So long as it's not
unjust,
it does not exceed the boundaries,
right, of the standards that the prophet has
set for everyone else. So you have the
wedding
of Maimouna
and the prophet
in the umrah tul kaba, the umrah after
Hudaybiyyah.
And Al Abbas salAllahu Anhu was a big
part of that naka'ah, facilitating that naka'ah, celebrating
with the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasallam
and,
you know, coming closer.
He still hasn't officially embraced Islam.
Then as the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa sallam
makes his plans towards the Fatih,
towards the conquest.
There are narrations that Abbas radiAllahu ta'ala An
who tried to make hijrah to Madinah so
he could get the full reward and come
with the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam into Mecca,
and the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam stopped him
and said to him, Ami, you are to
the Mujahideen like I am to the Prophets.
I am the last of the Prophets, you're
the last of the Mujahideen. The reward is
with you. You don't have to make the
trip all the way to Madinah
and come back. Basically, we'll meet you halfway.
Right?
And indeed, SubhanAllah, you'll find that the Prophet
SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam will meet Al Abbas radiAllahu
ta'ala Anhu, and Al Abbas basically now maps
out Mecca for him.
Right? Helps coordinate
all of the terms of entering into Mecca,
the forgiveness of the enemies, the reconciliation with
the family.
But not all of the Ansar understood that.
Still,
there's this idea that this was a person
that held out with you, You Rasulullah.
So in one situation,
you had a group of people,
that, you
know, basically got into it with an Abbas
and the prophet said,
This is my uncle Al Abbas, the most
generous man of Quraish
and the most concerned with continuing the ties,
keeping the ties of kinship
amongst Quraysh.
Right? And you have to honor him. And
the Prophet mentioned
him as
He is what's left of my forefathers.
Right? So he's what's left of my father
and my father's father and beyond because,
the uncle is like the father. So this
is what's left of my father, and this
is what's left of my forefathers.
Honor him.
And you had a situation where, some of
the the people,
argued with him and the prophet said,
That what is it with some people that
are hurting me by hurting my uncle?
Don't they know that the uncle is like
the father? Whoever hurts Al Abbas has hurt
me. In another narration, the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam said,
you know, after hearing that some of the
the ansar basically,
had cut off Al Abbas radiAllahu anhu and
didn't want to talk to him and they
kind of disrespected him. Summarizing the
story, when the Prophet heard that he said,
Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said to Al
Abbas, I swear that no one will have
faith enter their heart until they love you
for the sake of Allah
and for my sake because you are my
relative.
So many different,
you know, situations where the prophet
said,
is from me and I am from him.
Do not curse the dead and hurt the
living because some of the ansad we're talking
about,
the forefathers and some of the Quraysh
from that side,
in that regard. So this is the prophet,
salAllahu alaihi wasalam, sort of establishing with the
ansad. He's not gonna be treated like an
enemy who just became Muslim.
He is my uncle from now on, and
Abbas radiAllahu Anhu is alongside me just as
it started. So when it comes to Fatiha
Makkah, he's negotiating on behalf of the Prophet
SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam with the enemies.
He's advising the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam as
to how he should enter into Mecca. And
he's the one who tells the Prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam, you know what? Give Abu Sufyan
some sort of a some sort of a
name here. Right? He's a person
who has a big ego. He needs his
name to be mentioned and he has a
position with his people. Mention his name so
that you can win his heart over as
well. He's reconciling,
right,
with all of the relatives of the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam that cut him off. So
he's the one that goes to Abu Sufyanib
al Haraf. He's the one that goes to
the children of Abu Lahab. He's the one
bringing everyone back to the Prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam and subhanAllah,
it's full circle with the Ansar.
He negotiated the hijrah
and he's negotiating the Fatiha.
Think about that. He negotiated the Hijra to
Madinah on behalf of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi
Wasallam, and now he's negotiating
to Mecca on behalf of the Prophet
salallahu alaihi wasalam, for the prophet, salallahu alaihi
wasalam, to enter and for this to be
a peaceful
transfer
and a place where the prophet, salallahu alaihi
wasalam, can take his rightful place.
As the prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam enters into
Mecca, many things will happen now.
Al Abbas
got really rich after Badr,
really, really rich
as a result of the ayah of the
Quran. Allah knew what was in his heart.
And so when you hear the Khutba of
the prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam in Mecca, in
this new Mecca,
When the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam abolishes
arribah,
he abolishes usury, he only mentions the name
of Al Abbas. Whoever owes Al Abbas money,
his Ribba,
it's gone. Consider Ribba to be abolished.
Right?
Why did he mention Abbas particularly? For 1,
just like when the prophet said, if Fatima,
radiAllahu Anha, was to steal,
then I would treat her the same way.
I'd apply the had to her. I'd apply
the punishment to her. Likewise,
this starts with my own family.
That riba is gone. We're not doing usury
anymore. We're not doing interest in Mecca anymore.
This has to go. But some of them
also say that Al Abbas had the largest
amount of debt that was owed to him.
So when the prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam says
all the riba that people owe to you,
which is basically late fees, it's all gone
now.
Al Abbas says, what about the principle?
What about the money itself?
And this is where the prophet salallahu alaihi
wa sallam encourages him to forgive the principle
too, but doesn't require it of him.
But Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala on the day
of judgment will forgive some people and enter
them into his shade on the day of
judgment just because they forgave alone.
And when Abbas is prompted with the reward
of that day,
that whoever forgives alone or is lenient with
the one that owes the money, Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala will forgive them or shade them
on the day of judgment, and Abbas radiAllahu
Anhu forgives the principle as well.
So he establishes a position,
a new position with the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam in that regard. SubhanAllah, he's a man
that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala just kept on
giving money to. Al Abbas radiAllahu Anhu will
stay wealthy
for his entire life.
When it comes to the battle of Hunayn,
Al Abbas was the one holding
the reins of the Prophet sallAllahu 'alaihi wa
sallam's animal.
So he's one of those who fabbatamah Nabi
sallAllahu 'alaihi wa sallam, who stayed the course
with the Prophet sallAllahu 'alaihi wa sallam, and
of course and and also because he was
known for his loud voice
when many people fled
from the Prophet
it was al Abbas who called the people
back with his voice.
And he said, Inna hoorasulullah,
Inna hoorasulullah,
come back. He's the messenger of Allah
sallallahu alaihi wasallam. Where are you going? Come
back to the Prophet So it was his
voice
that galvanized the army once again to surround
the Prophet and to fight and to eventually
attain victory with the Prophet
Now, here's where the story becomes
so beautiful
in the aftermath.
When the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam brings him
back to Madinah, and you can kind of
see this in these stories,
the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam is so happy
to have his family back.
Al Abbas
is a long lost father.
Imagine the father that comes back to you.
Right? A parent that comes to visit you.
This is Al Abbas coming into Medina
for the first time. So the Prophet SallAllahu
Alaihi Wasallam is gonna build a home for
him right next to his.
The prophet
is gonna hold his hand and introduce him
to other people. This is my uncle. He's
like my father. He's what's left of my
father.
I did not see any person. This is
Aisha speaking, radiAllahu Anah. The daughter of who?
Abu Bakr as Siddiq, radiAllahu Anah.
I did not see any person
who the prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, would
honor
more than Al Abbas, radiAllahu ta'ala Anha, who
would treat with more respect and more love
than an Abbas
radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu. He would keep him close
to him, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. He would
kiss his forehead, alayhi salatu wa salam. He
kept putting him on that pedestal
of being like a father to him. 1
of the duas that he made for Al
Abbas, radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, as an Abbas was
donating so generously,
right,
and giving so much of his sadaqah, he
said,
So he made dua for Allah to forgive
all of his sins,
the concealed and the public,
the small and the large
to leave absolutely nothing and for Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala to bless him and his children.
His children are over 15, by the way.
Amongst them is Abdullah ibn Abbas
who now is close to the prophet SallAllahu
Alaihi Wasallam in a way that no one
else is close to him.
Kusam
looked like the prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. There's
even shayr about Kusam, radiAllahu anhu, and Abbas
would hug him and kiss him and play
with him in Mecca because he would say,
Shabi who Muhammad, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, he
was the one who looked like my nephew
Muhammad SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam the most. So Abdullah
is now sleeping in the house of the
prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and shadowing him, the
10 year old,
who becomes a scholar of the Ummah over
the next 3 years with the Prophet SallAllahu
Alaihi Wasallam.
Abdullah
narrates to us the qiyam of the Prophet
SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam from inside his home.
When the Prophet
makes Hajj,
you know who narrates most of the Hajj
of the Prophet
Al Fadib ibn Abbas,
the oldest son of al Abbas who's behind
the Prophet
on the camel, on the donkey.
And the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam is talking
to him and instructing him and telling him
what to do. So all these narrations of
the children of Al Abbas sitting behind the
Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam on the animal because
now the family is back together.
Prophet
has his uncle, he has his cousins, he
brings them into his household
and he brings them to a certain position.
When the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
passes away,
Al Abbas was one of those who participated
in the washing and the preparation of the
prophet and he maintained his special place with,
the family and the companions of the prophet
So there's a narration
from Suhayb,
Mawl al Abbas
I saw Ali
kissing the hands and the feet of Al
Abbas
and saying, oh, my uncle be pleased with
me. Oh, my uncle be pleased with me.
So the family of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam, the younger ones now see al
Abbas as sort of the the anchor of
the family.
Right? In Al Madina
after the death of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam.
And as,
as is narrated,
And if the prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
would have left behind any inheritance,
no one would have inherited
anything from him other than his wives and
his daughters, other than al Abbas. So he
would have been the sole inheritor
of the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam other
than his wives and his daughters sallallahu alaihi
wasallam, or in that case, his daughter
being Fatima as Zahra
radiAllahu ta'ala Anha.
So now where do the story start to
come?
Umar RadiAllahu Ta'ala Anha
loves al Abbas
so much
because he knows how much the prophet salAllahu
alaihi wa sallam left him. So you have
this whole body of literature
of Umar radiAllahu anhu honoring Al Abbas radiAllahu
ta'ala Anhu. So from the spoils of war,
Umar, radiAllahu, for example, would give 5,000
to every Badri, everyone that participated in Badri.
He'd give 4,000 to all the companions that
didn't attend and then he'd give 12,000 to
Al Abbas
because he knew the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam's
honor for him. There's also a narration that
one time Umar and Uthman, may Allah be
pleased, and they saw Al Abbas radiAllahu ta'ala
Anhu
coming down the road
and they both got off of their camels
as if to attend to him radiAllahu anhu
and like clear the road for him. Can
you imagine Umar and Uthman honoring you that
way? Like getting down from their camels like
they don't even wanna be on a camel
around al Abbas radiAllahu ta'ala anhu and be
higher
than him.
And one time,
Omer radiAllahu,
being who he is, he was walking in
the streets of Madinah
and he's, Al Abbas had You know the
mizav that's on top of the Kaaba that
pours the water?
Abbas had a similar
pipe on top of his home, so the
water was pouring in the street. Umar didn't
like
that. So Umar radiAllahu
saw it and he broke it, took it
down.
Al Abbas came out, and he said
that that was put up wallahi with the
permission of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. Omar
was so shook. Omar got down and he
said, wallahi, you're gonna stand on my back
and put it back the way you want
it.
So Omar got down and insisted, Al Abbas,
stand on his shoulder, stand on his back
so he can reach the exact place and
put it exactly the way that you want
to, and he apologized to him.
Then 2 beautiful stories with him
in the khilaf of Umar.
And both of them, subhanallah, are some of
the most famous
episodes in the life of Sayidina Umar radiAllahu
ta'ala Anhu. One of them is Amr Ramada,
the year of the famine.
The year of the famine.
And in that famine,
so many people died because they didn't have
water, they didn't have food. Right? It was
one of the most difficult years
in the life of the companions. May Allah
be pleased with them.
And they kept on making dua to Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala for rain to come and
the rain was not coming.
So Umar radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu
did something very interesting.
He basically called the people for salatul istiska,
for the prayer of rain, but he brought
Umar radiAllahu he brought Al Abbas radiAllahu ta'ala
Anhu with him. Amr Rasulillahi sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
the uncle of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
There are multiple narrations,
but he prayed
with
Al Abbas radiAllahu anhu. He led the people
in prayer,
and he brought forth Al Abbas radiAllahu ta'ala
Anhu, and he said and there are multiple
narrations. He said,
He said, the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
used to see al Abbas the way that
a child sees his parent, the way a
son sees his father.
He said that the prophet salAllahu alaihi wa
sallam used to honor him. He used to
hold him in high esteem. He used to
fulfill oaths on his behalf.
So he says,
So seek
that blessing from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala with
the presence of Al Abbas, salAllahu ta'ala,
amongst us. And he said, holding you can
imagine the scene in the
When the prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam was alive
and we used to go through difficulty, we
used to say, oh, Allah, we have Muhammad
salallahu alaihi wasalam amongst us. We used to
come near to you by the presence of
the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam.
But now of course, the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi
Wasallam has passed, and he says,
And now we're seeking blessing from you, O
Allah. We have the uncle of the prophet
amongst
us. And
he said,
Oh, Allah, this is the uncle of the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. He's with us.
We're seeking that ease. We're seeking that relief.
So pour the rain upon us. And Abbas
is making du'a, Umar is making du'a. And,
subhanAllah, the rain filled Al Madinah and filled
all of the valleys around
in a way that they had never seen
prior to the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam.
And, subhanAllah, one of the amazing things here,
You hear the name?
Ibn Utba ibn Abi Lahab. Remember we talked
about Utba Abi Lahab and Utba Radiallahu Anhu
became Muslim?
He had a son that he named Al
Abbas, and he was a righteous man. He's
one of the narrators of Hadith.
Al Abbas, who's named after
his uncle Al Abbas, the grand uncle,
a grandson of Abu Lahab.
He was there at that moment
and he had a poem that's narrated in
the
He said that by my uncle, Allah, Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala, gave water to the people of
Hejaz.
And it's and,
on that evening when Umar radiAllahu anhu sought
blessing by the white hair of the uncle,
he approached Allah with al Abbas during that
drought seeking his favor, and he did not
leave until the rain came upon us. Amongst
us is the messenger of Allah, salallahu alaihi
salam, and his legacy within us. Is there
any greater honor
for one to boast about than this
than this prize, than this man amongst us?
Right? And the legacy that's amongst us. So
it was like it was a sense of
fakhr
in a way that's pleasing, in a way
that's not that's not sinful. Like we have
al Abbas amongst us
in that regard.
The other incident that I'll mention then I'll
come to his death because of, the sake
of time
is one of is something subhanAllah that's actually
extremely powerful.
The other momentous occasion you think about with
Umar
amongst the many is his entering into Jerusalem.
May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala free Jerusalem.
May He free Palestine. May He restore it
to its glory. May He allow us to
see the beauty of the Sahaba's presence once
again
in Al Aqsa, in Al Quds, in Gaza,
in Rafah specifically, subhanAllah, all these places where
this keeps coming up. Allaama ami.
So one of the narrations, by the way,
is that one of the people that was
with Umar on that day was Al Abbas.
He took Al Abbas with him
when he entered into Jerusalem.
Now, if you remember,
Umar
did something very peculiar on the way to
entering Jerusalem. He had a maulah. He had
a servant that was with him.
And
as he was getting close,
as he's getting close,
you know, he was taking turns
with that servant
upon
the animal.
Right? And so for part of the journey,
Umar holds it for him. And for part
of the journey, he holds it for Umar.
And Umar insisted that this be the way
and that as they got close
to the entrance of Jerusalem,
his,
his mawla tried to give him back
the camel and he refused. He said, Nope.
Fair is fair. Justice is justice.
And Umar radiAllahu even fell into a mud
puddle, so he got some mud on his
on his garment.
So it's like he's entering into Jerusalem as
the new conqueror, if you will, and he's
got dirt on his stove,
and he's holding the mola. Right? He's holding
a servant
on his camel and coming into
Jerusalem. Now, we all know the story after
that. Right? Abu Ubaydah radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu comes
to
Umar radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu, and he's like, come
on. Like, you could have done this a
little bit differently. This makes us look bad.
And Umar radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu says the very
famous,
sentence,
We're people that sought honor through Islam
or that Allah gave honor to through Islam.
And if we seek it through anything else,
Allah will humiliate us. We know that conversation.
But here's what we actually don't see, and
this is authentically narrated,
that Al Abbas radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu
was in front of Umar radiAllahu anhu ala
farasin Atiq. Like he had a certain presence
to him and he had a nice horse
and he was in front of Umar radiAllahu
ta'ala anhu riding into Jerusalem
that day, Wakana rajulanjanilan,
and he was a beautiful man. Abbas salAllahu
anhu was an extremely beautiful man, a a
person of stature
and presence.
So all the patriarchs actually went to Al
Abbas, and they started to give him salaam
and humble themselves to him.
And then, and then Al Abbas realized that
they thought he was the Khalifa.
That's how great his presence was, and that's
how much Omar had honored him in the
entrance
into
Jerusalem.
Al Abbas said, I'm not him, and he
pointed to Omar and said, that's him.
That's the man you're waiting for.
It's like, wait. What?
Because al Abbas clearly looked like the man,
but it was Umar
walking with the dirt on him,
which in and of itself was a form
of beauty and honor and nobility. May Allah
be pleased with them all.
To fast forward,
to the death of this man. So if
you lived in Madinah, we're talking about 2
decades plus
where
that's like, Wa'idun Nabi salAllahu alaihi sallam. That's
the father of the Prophet salAllahu alaihi sallam.
Everyone surrounds him. Everyone wants to be around
him. Everyone wants to serve him, everyone wants
to kiss his hand, everyone wants to bring
things to him, they wanna honor him, they
remember how much the prophet used to honor
him.
And he
dies in
the era of Ithman,
shortly after his wife, Lubaba
So Lubaba al Fadil passes away. May Allah
be pleased with her. And then Al Abbas
passes away soon afterwards.
And his ghusl was performed by Ali, by
Ibn Abbas,
and his
brothers, Qutam, and
Medina.
But this may have been the largest janaza.
When people heard
that Amr Rasul alaihi sallam passed away,
they flooded Madina
from every single direction.
So the valleys came, all the outskirts came.
Madinah became overwhelmed
by the people who came to pray upon
al Abbas
And it was so much, and this is
really interesting because you get to see the
human side
that,
it actually became chaos.
They were having trouble burying him. They were
having trouble getting him from the janaza
to the baqir
because so many people were trying to jump
and trying to be a part of carrying
the body, and it became so chaotic. It's
really interesting when you read this in the
books of Sira.
Like, Uzzman had to send security
to basically push the people away from Banu
Hasham. Like, let the family take the man
to his grave.
Because everyone was trying to be close to
Al Abbas radiAllahu anhu carry him,
and it was getting so hard to just
bury him. So it was a scene
just to bury him.
And it is of course, as we said,
considered one of the the largest janazah's,
in the history
of Islam, possibly the largest janazah of a
companion of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. Abdullah
ibn Abbas
he narrates the famous statement. He says
that, When my father was buried
and I was so sad. Abdullah loved his
father so much.
He said that a Bedouin man came up
to me and he said to me,
That better for you
or better for Al Abbas Sorry. Khayram Al
Abbasi Al Abbasi Al Abbasi Al Abbasi Al
Abbasi Al Abbasi Al Abbasi Al Abbasi. Better
for you than Al Abbas is the reward
that you now have for grieving your father.
So what Allah is going to give you
as you grieve your father of ajr is
better than when you had your father with
you. I know you loved your father, but
this is even better.
And
Allah is better than you for Al Abbas.
The way that Allah will be with Al
Abbas now is greater than how you will
be with Al Abbas
He was 80 6 years old when he
passed away.
And as,
as a Dhabhi says,
That he has this huge dome that is
upon his grave in Al Baqir. So if
you actually put up the picture, I just
want you to see how this looked historically
speaking.
That was what was on top of the
grave of Al Abbas
for a long time. There's another picture as
well.
So you can just imagine if you walked
into Al Baqir
back then when they started to build on
top of the graves,
that some of those that came after built
this humongous
stone over him. And, now after
the tombs are gone, can you show that?
This is Al Abbas radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu's grave
today. So if you go there in Al
Baqir,
it's distinct in that regard. Those are some
of the descendants,
that are behind him. One of the graves
is Fazain al Abidine alib Husayn,
and and may Allah be pleased with him,
and Jafar al Sadiq and others from the,
the inheritors of Banu Hashim. So he had
this distinct presence. Now,
to summarize as well,
when the prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam says that
of the sadaqajari of a person is waladun
salahiaduulahu,
a righteous son that would make dua for
him. Right? A righteous son that would make
dua for him. So you think of Abdullah
ibn Abbas,
Habruul Ummah, the scholar of the Ummah,
and a righteous son that makes dua for
you. Who's greater than Abdullah ibn Abbas radiAllahu
ta'ala Anhuma? Right? To make dua for you
and to praise you in this regard. He
had
over 15 or about 15 children. He had
al Fadil, he was the oldest one.
Abdullah al Bahr, who was the ocean of
knowledge as they mentioned him, Ubaidullah.
He had Qut'am, who looked like the prophet
He had Abdul Rahman,
who died in a sham. He had a
son named Mahbad, who was a martyr,
in Africa.
He had a daughter named Habib.
He had other,
scholars from his children. He had a son
named Kathir, Wakana Faqihan, who was a faqih.
He had a son named Tamam, Wakanam and
Ashaddi Quraish, who was considered from the strongest
of Quraish. He had a daughter named Umaimah,
May Allah be pleased with them all. So
he had an incredible legacy in terms of
his offspring.
And of course, that's why you have
what's known as the Abbasid
khilafa,
adole al abbasiyyah,
which are literally the offspring of al Abbas
who established one of the longest hilafas, the
longest dynasties
in the history
of Islam. And Ad Dahabi
says,
that kingdom
was placed in the offspring of Al Abbas
and it continued that way.
So Azahabi, as he's writing this in the
13th century, he says that 39 khulafa
from the descendants of Al Abbas, ad Dawl
Al Abbasiya have continued until today,
wadarika, sit to me atiam, and it has
been 600 years. So he's talking about how
this is all sort of from the dua
of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam that
Allah would bless the descendants of Al Abbas
radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu. And of course, just like
any dynasty in Islam, Adul Abbasiyyah has its
good and it has its bad. It has
its ups and it has its downs, its
pros and its cons, but there is no
doubt
that of the offspring of Al Abbas, radiAllahu
anhu, there are many Muslims,
many scholars,
many
warriors, many thinkers,
and Allah knows best. Some of you might
also be from the offspring of Al Abbas
in some capacity because it spread, his lineage
spread
throughout the Muslim world. RadiAllahu ta'ala and whom
may Allah join us with him and with
the family and the companions of the prophet,
salallahu alayhi wasalam, and with our beloved prophet,
salallahu alayhi wasalam.
As I said, we are going to be
taking a break from the first for some
time. InshaAllah Ta'ala, we're going to have a
series for Dhul Hijjah. And if Allah, permits,
bayidnila, I'll be leaving for Hajj a week
from today. So I ask for your du'a,
InshaAllah Ta'ala, as I depart on tuesday
and I ask Allah
to accept and to allow us to all
be gathered in the bakihr of the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam and then to be gathered
around the held of the prophet
on the day of judgment.