Omar Suleiman – The Firsts – Adi Ibn Hatim Al-Tai – Ra From Christian King To Companion
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The segment discusses the importance of the Prophet's actions during the pandemic, including his actions to protect the
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Welcome back to the first.
Alhamdulillah, it's a good way to start off
tonight.
And we're actually talking about the conversion of
a famous Christian King to Islam tonight.
So it's befitting that we start with two
people embracing Islam.
Alhamdulillah, we ask Allah SWT to guide us
and to guide through us always.
Allahumma ameen.
So we've been speaking quite a bit about
people whose lives intersect with the battle of
Yamama.
And we're going to move on from that
and go to Aam al-Wafud specifically, the
year of the delegations.
Those that were embracing Islam towards the very
end of the life of the Prophet ﷺ.
And tonight's biography is one of the most
fascinating of all of the companions as it
relates to those who came from outside to
embrace Islam and probably one of the lesser
known stories.
It's a rich story where the Prophet ﷺ
is doing da'wah to a man who
was well-known and who was deeply entrenched
in his religion prior to meeting the Prophet
ﷺ.
His name is Adi ibn Hatim ibn Abdillah
ibn Sa'd.
He is known as Adi ibn Hatim al
-Ta'i.
His father is one of the most famous
men in the history of the Arabs.
His father is literally one of the most
famous men in the history of the Arabs.
As Imam al-Zahabi ﷺ introduces him, his
kunya, according to ibn Hibban and others, is
Abu Tarif, meaning that's his nickname.
But as al-Zahabi calls him, ولد حاتم
الجود.
He is the son of Hatim, the generous
one.
And so this is his nickname and you
really cannot understand him without doing somewhat of
a deep dive on who his father was.
As they say, الذي يضرب المثل بجود أبيه.
The one with whom his father analogies are
drawn or examples are made about generosity.
In fact, if you read in Arabic poetry,
one of the phrases that you'll come across
is أكرم من حاتم.
That he was even more generous than Hatim,
which refers to the maximum generosity that a
person can have.
So الذي يضرب المثل بجود أبيه.
The one for whom analogies are drawn or
examples are made about the generosity of his
father.
Now let's talk a little bit about his
father insha'Allah ta'ala, so we can
sort of understand what exactly he was born
into.
So just like Thumamah radhiAllahu ta'ala anhu,
usually Thumamah and Adi actually come together when
you're covering the stories of the companions.
His father and what he inherited was the
leadership of a tribe and the kingdom of
sorts of a region.
Okay, so his father is the chief of
Attai as far as the tribe is concerned.
So Attai literally refers to the tribe.
The area that they rule is known as
Ha'il.
Ha'il, an area called Ha'il, which
is northwest of Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah.
And basically Adi grows up watching his father
author poetry and spend of his wealth and
gain the reputation and respect of his people.
And he grows up inheriting the love of
his people.
And subhanAllah, this is one of the things
that we learn, you know, in the story
of Musa Alayhi Salaam Al-Khadr, right?
That sometimes the generosity of a father, the
generosity of a mother, the generosity of a
parent can transfer into all sorts of rizq,
all sorts of sustenance for those that come
afterwards.
And his father was so loved for his
generosity that Adi would have had to do
a lot to lose the love of his
people, right?
All he has to do is follow in
the example of his father and he will
find that there are plenty of people that
love his father.
And so there's a lot that physically surrounds
the location of the house that he grew
up in.
And there's actually subhanAllah, they've preserved still the
home in Ha'il.
This is actually the remains of the home
of Hatim Atai.
It was a very famous house where charity
was frequent out of that house northwest of
Medina.
His father used to do a few things
and there are all sorts of legends and
stories about him.
Some of them not even found in the
Books of Seal, they're actually found in the
history of the Arabs, right?
So there's secular stories of just generosity and
charity from this man.
For one, it's said that in front of
his home, he used to always light a
fire at night and signal to the travelers
that at any point, and they were along
a trade route, that at any point of
the night that they could always come to
that house and they would find that their
sustenance, their provisions would be there for them.
So he would serve the travelers as they
were on their way.
So he was generous to the travelers at
any hour and he would bring them into
his home and he would take care of
them.
So Adi is growing up watching that.
On another instance, his own people were struck
by a famine that hit the region around
the 550s and 560s.
And Hatem had basically given everything from his
home to his people so that they could
survive that famine until he sacrificed every single
one of his animals, including his riding camels,
for his own people.
And his people saw in their leader a
man that was willing to starve while they
were actually able to survive on his sustenance.
In another instance, there was a traveler that
came to his house unexpectedly and that wanted
some food.
He needed something to survive the journey.
And Hatem Appai asked his servant, he said,
what do we have in the home?
He said, nothing.
He said, what type of animals do we
have?
He said, the only thing that we have
right now is your noble steed.
So he had a particular horse that he
used to ride.
He said, sacrifice the horse.
He said, are you sure?
This is your most famous horse.
I mean, imagine your horse for battle, your
horse for journeys.
He says, sacrifice it and give it to
this group of travelers.
And so they did so.
So that's one of the stories as well
about him.
Another one where a poor woman came to
his home asking for help and Hatem had
absolutely nothing except for his armor.
So he gave away his armor, sold it,
and then he gave her the proceeds to
take care of her.
Another time where his own daughter was unable
to dress in a way that was dignified,
right, for someone of her status.
And she said the famous words that the
generosity of my father left us in need.
The generosity of my father left us in
need.
And perhaps, subhanAllah, one of the most fascinating
things about him is even in his death,
even in his death, he said that when
I die, I want you to take the
inheritance that I have and put two big
pots in front of my grave and keep
filling them with food and water so that
when the travelers or anyone that comes to
visit my grave passes by, they will find
their provisions.
So basically keep refilling the pots.
And so what a beautiful legacy of sadaqah.
What a beautiful legacy of charity.
Now, what's the hukum of such a man?
What's the ruling on such a man?
He's one of ahlul fatrah.
He's one of the people that died as
the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam said between
Jesus peace be upon him and Muhammad salAllahu
alayhi wa sallam, between Isa alayhi wa sallam
and Muhammad salAllahu alayhi wa sallam.
And so he was not exposed as far
as we know to a revelation that we
pass a judgment on him and we leave
people like this to Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
His fate is with Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
لا نترحم عليه We don't say rahimahullah nor
do we curse him or pass anything decisive
in his fate.
But we can praise the charitable nature of
him as the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam
would after his death, right?
So he dies about eight years after the
birth of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam.
578, right?
Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam of course would
not receive revelation until later on.
Now his son Adi takes over the position.
And Adi radhiAllahu ta'ala anhu enjoys the
status of his father.
But reading into his biography to just paraphrase
a little bit, he doesn't seem to have
the same level of generosity and goodwill to
his people that his father has.
I'm saying this gently in the reading of
his biography until he becomes Muslim.
After he becomes Muslim, there's a different story.
But prior to that, he doesn't seem to
have that same level of generosity towards his
father.
So he inherits the wealth, not necessarily the
generosity.
The presence, the looks, the prestige, all of
that is there.
But he's someone who for example, and this
comes up in his discussion with the Prophet
salAllahu alayhi wa sallam later on, he would
take one-fourth of the spoils of war
for himself.
And this was the most that was recorded
amongst the Arabs at the time of a
leader that would take from his people.
The spoils of course meaning after a battle,
he claims one-fourth of it for himself.
And he lived a life of great wealth
and not necessarily the same generosity towards his
people.
So what happens when Islam comes?
He immediately declares the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa
sallam as an enemy.
He never actually meets the Prophet salAllahu alayhi
wa sallam as his enemy, right?
But he immediately feels like the Prophet salAllahu
alayhi wa sallam is going to disrupt all
that we have in this region.
Now here's the thing.
From a tribal perspective, he's someone that the
Arabs love and he loves the Arabs and
he benefits from their tribalistic society.
From a religious perspective, he's a Christian.
And he's a devout Christian.
And we'll actually find that.
He's someone who loves his Christianity and who
deeply interrogates the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam's
call to Islam on the basis of that.
So they were Christians and they practiced a
very particular type of Christianity from the Eastern
sects.
So they were not post-Nicene Creed, post
-Constantine Christianity, right?
The Western Christianity.
He practiced one of those Eastern sects of
Christianity similar to how al-Najashi radiAllahu ta
'ala anhu would not be practicing the Christianity
of the Byzantines, right?
Though he obviously has a richer tradition in
Abyssinia at the time.
So he practices some form of Christianity.
So religiously, he doesn't match up with the
Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam.
He also hears all the slander of the
Messenger of Allah salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and
he acts upon that slander.
The narrative of Quraysh is that the Prophet
salAllahu alayhi wa sallam is destroying everything, wreaking
havoc on families, wreaking havoc on tribes, and
all of this is so that ultimately the
Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam can find his
way to power because that's how they used
to act.
So the way they were presenting this was
a fitna, was tribulation as a power grab.
So when does he actually become an enemy
of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam?
It's really interesting because it says in the
books of Siyah, 20 years, 20 years.
So even though he's geographically located closer to
Medina, he actually starts hating the Prophet salAllahu
alayhi wa sallam from the very beginning, even
though he's not meeting him.
There are some indications that perhaps he is
financing some of the expeditions or some of
the smaller skirmishes with the Prophet salAllahu alayhi
wa sallam and with the Muslims.
He's definitely acting like a hostile actor, right,
near to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam
in Medina once the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa
sallam assumes his place in Medina.
So even if he's not incredibly hostile, he
is nonetheless hostile to the message of the
Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and financing and
participating, even if very indirectly, in the battle
against Islam.
Okay, the attempt to squash this religion of
the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and the
growth of the political state of al-Medina
al-Munawwara.
So he's not even considering the Prophet, he's
not taking the religious part seriously.
That's basically what I'm trying to get at.
He's taking the political part seriously, right.
I want to limit the political influence because
I benefit from the current arrangement.
Now what happens is we're getting into the
last few years of Islam.
The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam comes back
to Mecca, there's Fath Mecca.
So now he has Mecca and Medina salAllahu
alayhi wa sallam.
And those smaller towns are starting to come
to Islam as well.
You have Ta'if, you have Al-Hawazin,
you have all of these different areas around
Mecca and Medina that are being consolidated and
coming under Islam after they once fought the
Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam.
So as this is happening, there is an
indication that a messenger would have come to
him, that the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam
gave, sent a letter to him at some
point, which is normal for the Prophet salAllahu
alayhi wa sallam to send invitations to Islam
to everyone around the area.
And he's told, you know, negotiate or embrace
the faith.
And his response is, I have no interest
in his faith and I have no interest
in negotiating with him.
Right?
I neither want to deal with the Prophet
salAllahu alayhi wa sallam from a religious perspective,
nor do I want to deal with the
Prophet Muhammad salAllahu alayhi wa sallam from a
political perspective.
Instead, he calls his mawla, he calls his
main servant.
He says, listen, I'm gathering this caravan for
myself and my family.
I want you to watch the movement around
Medina.
If you see that the Prophet salAllahu alayhi
wa sallam, because now the Prophet salAllahu alayhi
wa sallam is politically strong, if you see
that his army is coming, alayhi salatu wassalam,
then let me know.
And at that point, I'm going to take
my family and we're going to flee towards
Ash-Sham.
Why would he go to Ash-Sham?
Why would he go towards greater Syria?
Can anyone tell me?
Christianity.
He says, I'll be with my people.
Right, so if the Arabs have fallen, then
I'll be with my religious people.
I'll go and I'll be with the Christians
in Ash-Sham.
So he says, listen, just let me know
if you start to get an indication that
he's coming.
And then we're gone.
So Adi ibn Hatim is waiting with his
family to basically see what's going to happen.
He's not in a political place to actually
fight the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam right
now.
So as he's waiting, the main servant comes
and he says, Ya Mawlai, O my master,
I just saw that the scouts of the
Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam are in the
area.
So I see that your time is soon.
So if you're going to make a run
for it, now's the time to take your
most precious possessions and to run.
And indeed, Ali ibn Abi Talib radiAllahu ta
'ala anhu was leading a battalion.
SubhanAllah, by the way, I want you to
remember the name of Ali radiAllahu anhu here.
Ali radiAllahu anhu was leading a battalion to
that area.
And he was getting there right at the
time that Ali was going to flee.
So Ali ibn Hatim takes his wife, he
takes his children, he takes who he can
from his family.
And then he flees to Ash-Sham to
be with the Christians who he calls his
own people.
But he says, I forgot my sister.
I forgot my sister.
So in just the hurry of getting everyone
together and trying to rush before Ali radiAllahu
ta'ala anhu and that battalion got to
us, I left my sister behind.
What ends up happening?
He says, we got to Ash-Sham and
I was more miserable there than I would
have been amongst the Arab.
They didn't treat me like a real Christian
is basically what he's saying.
Because our Christianity was very different, plus there
was a racial component to Byzantine Christianity, to
Roman Christianity, right?
So I didn't really fit in with them.
So I didn't get the type of brotherhood
that I was looking for.
And I was a foreigner away from my
land.
And I wondered what happened to my sister.
So Ali radiAllahu ta'ala anhu captures his
tribe.
And he brings back the sister of Hatim
whose name was Safana radiAllahu ta'ala anhu.
Safana radiAllahu anha bint Hatim al-Ta'i.
And they come to Al-Madinah.
And now the story kind of goes from
her perspective rather than the story of Adi.
Adi is in Ash-Sham and he's like,
oh man, I forgot my sister.
I wonder what happened to my sister.
And he also doesn't like Ash-Sham very
much, but he doesn't really have the political
ability to go back to Al-Madinah and
to see what's going on.
And he's afraid of what would happen if
he went to the Prophet ﷺ and approached
him.
So now we hear it from the perspective
of the sister.
Safana was amongst the captives that were brought
back to Al-Madinah Munawwara.
And she was in the masjid of the
Prophet ﷺ.
And the Prophet ﷺ walks by.
Obviously they brought the whole tribe back from
Ha'il to Al-Madinah.
The Prophet ﷺ walks by and she calls
out.
And she says, يا رسول الله مات الوالد
وغاب الوافد فمن علي من الله عليك O
Messenger of Allah, my father is dead.
My guardian is absent.
So be gracious to me.
May Allah be gracious with you.
Now she calls out to the Prophet ﷺ.
The Prophet ﷺ does not know who she
is.
And she does not actually introduce herself.
She doesn't say who she is.
She just says these words really quickly.
The Prophet ﷺ keeps walking and basically going
about his business ﷺ with what is to
happen.
So he keeps conducting his affairs.
So he doesn't say anything to her ﷺ.
He walks by her again.
She says, يا رسول الله مات الوالد وغاب
الوافد فمن علي من الله عليك O Messenger
of Allah, my father is dead.
My guardian is absent.
So be gracious to me.
May God be gracious to you.
The Prophet ﷺ still second time he didn't
say anything to her.
He heard her but he didn't say anything
to her yet.
The third time she stands up.
So she makes her presence felt.
And she says it with more aggressiveness to
the Prophet ﷺ.
يا رسول الله مات الوالد وغاب الوافد فمن
علي من الله عليك The Prophet ﷺ says
to her, and who is your father?
She says, my father is Hatim Atta'i.
وإن أبي كان يحب مكاني من أخلاق And
my father used to love noble characteristics.
كان يطعم الطعام He used to feed people.
He used to be generous to people.
He used to care for the traveler.
He used to take care of his family
and he used to take care of the
guests and he was a noble man.
As for my guardian, he is Adid ibn
Hatim and he's fled to Ash-Sham.
The Prophet ﷺ says that your father indeed
was a good man.
And if your father was alive and had
he died upon Islam لَتَرَحَمْنَ عَلَيْهِ We would
have said رحمه الله We would have asked
Allah's mercy for him.
So indeed your father was a good man.
And the Prophet ﷺ said to the Sahaba,
he said, let her go.
But the Prophet ﷺ said to her, but
don't leave in a hurry.
And subhanAllah you're going to see the مكارم
الأخلاق, the good character of the Prophet ﷺ
here.
The Prophet ﷺ said, don't leave in a
hurry.
Instead, wait for a group of travelers that
you trust or some group that's going to
Ash-Sham so that we can let you
go with them so that you can ensure
or we can ensure that you will get
there safely.
So it's the good character of the Prophet
ﷺ that okay fine, you're free.
But just wait until we have a group
to send you with so that you don't
go by yourself trying to travel to Ash
-Sham.
And then something bad can happen to you
along the way.
So the Prophet ﷺ left.
She was free.
A group of people came by and they
were relatives of her.
And they were passing through to Ash-Sham.
So she said, ya Rasulullah, I trust them.
They're from our extended relatives.
Can I go with them to Ash-Sham?
The Prophet ﷺ said, yes.
Ali ibn Abi Talib radiyallahu anhu, he goes
to her and he whispers to her, ask
the Prophet ﷺ for a camel.
So she asked the Prophet ﷺ for a
camel.
So the Prophet ﷺ gave her a camel.
And then the Prophet ﷺ gave her some
of the finest clothes and he gave her
a huge sum of money to basically serve
as her provisions for the journey.
So he shows her all sorts of ikram,
salallahu alayhi wasalam, all sorts of generosity, alayhi
salatu wasalam.
And then she goes out.
The Prophet ﷺ said, who was it that
whispered to her?
It was Ali radiyallahu ta'ala anhu.
So the Prophet ﷺ did not mind what
Ali did.
Ali radiyallahu anhu knew the generosity of the
Prophet ﷺ and Ali was indicating to her,
just ask him and you'll see that the
Prophet ﷺ will always give.
So now you go back to Ali ibn
Hatim.
He's sitting in Ash-Sham, worried about his
sister.
And he hears the news that some of
the extended relatives have made it to Ash
-Sham and they have amongst him his sister.
So when Safana arrives, Hadi ibn Hatim goes
to embrace her and she does not leave
a single curse word, this is literally what
it says, except that she cursed him out
with it.
Said, you're a miserable man.
And she said, you forgot your family in
pursuit of your own wealth.
You fled like a coward.
And she went on and on and on
and on and basically berated him, right?
Like, how could you leave me, your own
sister in that situation?
And you managed to get out with your
wife and your kids.
And he's like, you know, take it easy
on me.
It was a rush.
Everything was happening very quickly.
I was just trying to get out.
And then by the time she finishes, you
know, cursing him out and telling him all
these things and then he's apologizing to her
and saying, I'm sorry.
At the end of it, it's like, wait
a minute, so the Prophet ﷺ sent you
with a camel and sent you with a
bunch of clothes and a bunch of money?
That's interesting.
So he says to her, what do you
say about, what do you think about Muhammad
ﷺ?
Like, we never met him before.
SubhanAllah, two decades of enmity and he was
only a few miles away and we never
met him before.
And listen to what she says.
She says, إلحق بهذا الرجل.
She said, go quickly to this man.
فإن كان نبيا فقد اتبعت نبيا.
If he turns out to be a Prophet,
then you would have followed a Prophet.
وإن كان ملك, And if he's just a
king like other kings, فلن تجد منه إلا
خيرا.
Then you will not find from him except
for good.
So basically, it's a win-win situation.
If you go back to him, apologize to
him because the Prophet ﷺ is forgiving everyone.
And the Prophet ﷺ is showing grace to
anyone that comes to him, even from his
most severe enemies.
It wasn't as bad between Adi and some
of the others.
Just go to him and you'll find him
to either be a Prophet or to be
a noble king at the bare minimum.
So he says, I made my way back
to the Prophet ﷺ.
And he said that as I got to
Al-Sham, and this is where you start
to see the different narrations coming.
The talk, the murmurs of Adi ibn Hatim
arriving immediately started in Al-Madinah Munawwara.
So he says, I got to Al-Madinah
and immediately everyone starts to murmur, Adi ibn
Hatim is here, Adi ibn Hatim is here.
And now I want to actually merge some
of the narrations of Adi telling the story
of his entrance into Al-Madinah with the
Prophet ﷺ because you have several conversations in
one.
Some of the narrations, by the way, just
for the sake of documenting it, some of
the scholars say that this was the seventh
year after hijrah in Sha'ban.
Some of them say it was the ninth
year after hijrah, and that seems to be
the most correct opinion in this regard.
So either seventh year or the ninth year,
either after Hudaybiyyah or after Fath Makkan.
In any case, Abu Ubaidah ibn Hudhayfah, rahimahullah,
he says, كنت أسأل الناس عن حديث عدي
بن حاتم.
He said, I used to ask people about
the story of Adi ibn Hatim.
وهو إلى جنبي, and he was right next
to me, لا أتيه, but I never really
had it in me to ask him.
So he's one of the Tabi'een.
He said, I used to ask people about
this legendary story about how Adi ibn Hatim
became Muslim, and he was right there, but
I never asked him.
So he said, one day I went up
to him, فأتيته فسألته.
I asked him, how did you become Muslim?
Can you tell me the story of your
becoming Muslim?
So he said, and Adi was an old
man at this point, قال بعث رسول الله
صلى الله عليه وسلم حيث بعث فكرهته أشد
ما كرهت شيئا قط.
He said that the Prophet ﷺ was sent
as a prophet, and I hated him more
than I hated anything else in the world,
not even any other person.
He was the most hated thing in the
world to me ﷺ.
حتى كنت في أقصى أرض مما يلي الروم.
He said, until I was in the furthest
part of the land, in the area of
the Romans, فكرهت مكاني ذلك.
And I hated where I was living.
So I didn't like where actually I'd moved
to.
Christians didn't treat me like a Christian.
I didn't like where I was.
فقلت, لو أتيت هذا الرجل, He said, I
said to myself, if only I go and
I see this man, فإن كان كاذبا لم
يخفى علي.
If he's a liar, I will immediately be
able to tell.
So Adi ibn Hatim is saying, I'm a
smart man.
I can read people pretty well.
And my sister said, it's a win-win
situation.
He's either a prophet or a good king.
So he said, I'll go see him for
myself.
If he's a liar, it will become immediately
obvious to me.
وإن كان صادقا, تبعته فأقبلت.
He said, if he turns out to be
a truthful man, then I'll follow him, then
it's going to be in my favor.
قال فلما قدمت المدينة, He said, as soon
as I got to Al-Madinah, the people
started to say, جاء عدي بن حاتم, جاء
عدي بن حاتم, عدي بن حاتم is here,
عدي بن حاتم is here.
So he said the Prophet صلى الله عليه
وسلم was sitting in the masjid.
So I looked at the Prophet صلى الله
عليه وسلم, I greeted him and he greeted
me back, and the Prophet صلى الله عليه
وسلم said, who is this man?
They said, عدي بن حاتم.
How did the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم
greet him?
He said, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم
stood up, he greeted me, he took me
by his hand, and he basically told the
people that I'm going to take him and
sit with him in my house.
And by the way, this shows up under
the hadith of the Prophet صلى الله عليه
وسلم, إذا أتاكم كريم قوم فأكرموه If a
noble man comes to you, then show him
nobility, honor him.
Right?
And so many of the scholars say that
the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم just like
how he treated Thumamah رضي الله تعالى عنه
and others, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم
knew that, look, this is a noble man
amongst his people and he should be treated
with nobility and that's the easiest way to
soften his heart.
I'm not going to try to make an
example out of him and say, oh, how
was Hisham?
How did Syria treat you?
Did your sister tell you off the way
that she said she was going to?
None of that.
The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم got up,
أهلا, welcome to Medina, grabbed him by the
hand, basically whatever he was doing صلى الله
عليه وسلم, he said, just wait.
And he walked with him holding his hand
صلى الله عليه وسلم taking him to his
house.
So this immediately already blows the mind of
Adi ibn Hatim.
Like I used to fight this man, I
was an enemy of the Prophet صلى الله
عليه وسلم and I never even met him
and look how he's treating me, right?
Like, you know, you kind of feel dumb
for waiting that long.
Like I should have treated him better before
than I would have gotten this type of
reception.
Why did I have to wait till this?
So on the one hand, you have the
Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم treating a noble
chief the way that he would treat a
noble chief.
But here's where Adi ibn Hatim says it
gets interesting.
So he's kind of reading the character of
Medina and the character of the people.
He says that while we are walking to
his house, so the Prophet صلى الله عليه
وسلم is holding me by the hand to
take me to his house in a loving
manner.
While we're walking to his house, this old
weak woman comes to him صلى الله عليه
وسلم and she had a young child with
her and she stopped the Prophet صلى الله
عليه وسلم and she started to talk to
the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم about some
of his issues.
And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم stopped
everything he was doing, even with me.
And he started to talk to that old
woman and try to help her through her
problem.
So subhanAllah, in this one episode already you're
seeing like how the Prophet صلى الله عليه
وسلم treats a noble dignitary but not at
the expense of the downtrodden of his community
like the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم.
Right?
So he's honoring Adi, but wait a minute,
this woman is important too.
Even if she does not come from a
powerful background, she's important too.
So Adi said, I'm watching this and I
said to myself, قلت في نفسي والله ما
هذا بملك I swear by Allah, this man
is not a king.
It's not how a king acts.
I've seen the way kings act.
That's not how a king acts.
So then he says, after he finished with
the woman, came back to me, he held
my hand صلى الله عليه وسلم, then he
took me to his home.
I'm expecting to see the palace of Muhammad
صلى الله عليه وسلم.
I'm expecting to see this humongous house.
Instead I see the حجرات, nine by four,
this little mud chamber.
And that's the house of the most powerful
man صلى الله عليه وسلم.
So he says, wow.
Then on top of that, when he opened
the door صلى الله عليه وسلم, what was
inside his house was even more humbling than
the outside of his house.
Because what was inside his house?
Nothing.
So he said, we walk in, and the
Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم had one cushion.
And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم takes
that cushion, and he puts it for him
and he says, فضل, sit on the cushion.
And he said, فستحق.
I was shy, I was like, no, you
sit on the cushion.
This is your house, you're Muhammad صلى الله
عليه وسلم.
I was a chief that fought you, right?
Like, I'm not in a position of power
here.
What do you mean I sit on the
cushion and you sit on the dirt?
No, you sit on the cushion.
The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم insists, you
sit on the cushion.
So he said that we went back and
forth until the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم
sat me on that cushion.
And I'm saying to myself, والله ما هذا
بملك.
There's no way this man is a king.
Like it's occurring to him the words of
his sister throughout this.
This is not a normal human being صلى
الله عليه وسلم.
Not what I expected at all.
I was expecting something else.
20 years of Islamophobia is being shattered with
this one interaction.
So then I'm going to bring in another
narration.
Adi says, I was wearing a big golden
cross.
Just common for the Christians.
And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم as
we sit down, he looks at the cross
and he says, يا عدي اترح عنك هذا
الوثن.
Remove this idol from yourself.
Then he read صلى الله عليه وسلم اتخذوا
احبارهم ورهبانهم اربابا من دون الله.
That they took their rabbis and their priests
as lords besides Allah.
And Adi holds his cross.
And he says, but we don't worship them.
We don't worship our rabbis and our priests.
And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم he
says, was it not that they made for
you things that were halal that were actually
haram and made for you things that were
haram that were actually halal.
Didn't they actually interfere in the legislation and
tell you what was halal and haram?
Meaning make the lawful prohibited and the prohibited
lawful.
So in that case the Prophet صلى الله
عليه وسلم said, you've taken them as lords
besides Allah سبحانه وتعالى these priests and these
rabbis as lords besides Allah سبحانه وتعالى.
No one gets to change the revelation.
Then he says صلى الله عليه وسلم يا
عدي اسلم تسلم.
Oh Adi, embrace Islam, you will find salam,
you'll find peace.
And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said,
ألست ركوسياً, aren't you?
ركوسياً, ركوسياً was the name of the sect
of Christianity that he followed.
If you look it up, it's one of
the Eastern sects as we said that at
this point is considered obsolete.
And it's one of the Jewish Christian sects.
Meaning it still had a lot of the
rituals of Judaism.
A lot of the practices of Judaism which
was common from Eastern Christianity because it hadn't
been subsumed yet into Western Christianity.
But at the same time, they elevated Jesus
ﷺ to a point of being divine himself
عليه السلام.
Being the son of God and being part
of the Trinity.
So I said بلى, I said yes, like
how did you even know that?
And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said,
تأكل المربع and you were consuming one-fourth
of the spoils of war.
So basically the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم
is shaming him.
You're a Christian, right?
He says, yes.
What business did you have taking one-fourth
of the spoils of your people?
فَإِنَّ ذَلِكَ لَا يِحِلُّ لَكَ فِي دِينِكَ Prophet
صلى الله عليه وسلم said, that was not
halal for you and your deen.
So he said, I was shook.
And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم kept
on asking me questions about my deen then
and he clearly knew more about my religion
than I knew about my religion.
And I was like, how does he know
so much about Christianity?
How does he know so much about my
practices?
So the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم basically
starts to interrogate him with his own beliefs
and his own practices and to show where
his practices don't fit his own beliefs.
He's saying, how does he know so much?
Then the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم says
to him, يَا عَدِي مَا يَمْنَعُكَ أَن تَقُولَ
لَا إِلَهَ لَا اللَّهِ What's stopping you from
saying, لَا إِلَهَ لَا اللَّهِ What's stopping you
from saying, اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ What's stopping you from
saying, لَا إِلَهَ لَا اللَّهِ What's stopping you
from saying, You know the truth.
You know that what I'm saying to you
is truer of your faith than what you
have professed all these years.
And عَدِي says, He said to me again,
يَا عَدِي أَسْلِمْ تَسْلِمْ Embrace Islam.
You will find Islam.
You will find peace.
قَالَ فَأَظُنُّ مِمَّا يَمْنَعُكَ أَن تُسْلِمَ خَصَاصَةٌ تَرَاهَا
بِمَنْ حَوْلِي He said, I think that what
might be stopping you from entering into Islam
is perhaps the poverty that you see around
me.
Meaning what?
Like you've witnessed now my community and this
is a community of poor people.
Community of the Prophet ﷺ was a humble
community.
I mean, he's sitting in the house of
the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and that's it.
And he says, وَأَنَّكَ تَرَى النَّاسَ عَلَيْنَا إِلْبًا
وَاحِدًا And you see that the people all
around us are united front.
Meaning at some point that poverty is going
to catch up to us and that power
that's around us is going to consume us.
Then the Prophet ﷺ says, هَلْ أَتَيْتَ الْحِيرَةِ
Have you ever been to the area of
al-Hira?
So it's a faraway area.
So he says to him, لَمْ آتِهَا وَقَدْ
عَلِمْتُ مَكَانَهَا Adi says, I said to the
Prophet ﷺ, I've never been there myself, but
I'm aware of its place.
The Prophet ﷺ said that there will come
a day that a woman will be able
to travel from that area coming all the
way to perform tawaf around the Ka'bah,
fearing no one but Allah ﷻ.
And the Prophet ﷺ said, And the treasures,
the kunuz of Kisra ibn Hurmus, the most
powerful man in Persia, the treasures of the
emperor of Persia will be in our hands.
Adi says, I said to him, Kisra ibn
Hurmus, that Kisra, like okay, now this is
getting a little out of hands.
Mecca, Medina, fine.
Kisra, the most powerful man in the world,
one day his treasures will be in your
hand.
The Prophet ﷺ said it again, and I
said it again, and he said it again,
marratayn aw thalatha, three times.
That Kisra, his treasures will be in our
hands.
And the Prophet ﷺ said, وَلَيَ فِي ضَنَّ
الْمَالُ حَتَّى يُهِمَّ الرَّجُلُ مَنْ يَقْبَلُ مِنْهُ مَالُهُ
يَنِي مَالَهُ صَدَقًا The Prophet ﷺ said, in
a time will come where a man will
have so much wealth that he will have
a hard time finding someone to give charity
to, meaning equity will be established in a
state of Islam to a point that we
will not find anyone to accept sadaqah, to
accept zakah.
Adi ibn Hatim, looking at the conviction of
the Prophet ﷺ, he says, أَشْهَدُ أَن لا
إِلَهَ إِلَى اللَّهِ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّكَ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ I
bear witness that there is only one God,
and that you are the Messenger of Allah.
And he goes on to say, subhanAllah, that
the conviction of the Prophet ﷺ, the certainty
of the Prophet ﷺ, I knew that he
knew what he was talking about.
Like it was as if the Prophet ﷺ
was seeing the future right in front of
his eyes.
And he was describing it ﷺ with such
confidence as if it was happening in the
present.
And you know what Adi says?
Because he's narrating this to a young man.
He's an old man.
By the way, I'm going to give you
an early preview.
Adi ibn Hatim lived to be how old?
120 years old.
So he's sharing this way after.
And he's saying, I lived to see two
of these three things.
Not only did I live to see the
woman traveling all the way to Mecca, fearing
no one but Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
He's saying, I was part of the army
that entered into Persia, and that had the
wealth of Kisra in our hands.
And he said, and I'm waiting for the
third.
And the third was shortly after he died.
It was the era of Umar ibn Abdulaziz
rahimahullah, where Umar ibn Abdulaziz established such equality
in the ummah that they couldn't even find
recipients in zakah in some areas.
Entire lands could not find anyone to accept
sadaqah because of the justice of Umar ibn
Abdulaziz rahimahullah.
So Adi says, Islam entered into my heart.
And subhanallah, he became like his father in
terms of his generosity.
But except now, he's a Muslim.
And the Prophet ﷺ, he says that the
Prophet ﷺ told to me, that if your
father would have died a Muslim, لَتَرَحَمْنَ عَلَيْهِ
We would have said rahimahullah, we would have
invoked Allah's mercy for him.
Like what a good man he was.
And now Adi develops that love for sadaqah
as well.
So Adi basically now takes Islam and his
people back to the area of Ha'il,
he settles them there, and he leads them
in Islam, and he becomes distinguished for his
righteousness.
Distinguished for his sadaqah, distinguished for his salah.
And by the way, Safana radiyallahu ta'ala
anha became Muslim as well.
And so she's also in the dictionary or
in the encyclopedia of narrators by Ibn Hibban
rahimahullah ta'ala.
What are some of the characteristics of Adi
ibn Hatim?
One of them is that he develops an
extreme love for salah.
So he said, مَا دَخَلَ وَقْتُ صَلَاتٍ حَتَّ
أَشْتَاقَ إِلَيْهَا He said that the prayer never
enters upon me, except that I am longing
for it.
In another narration, Adi radiyallahu ta'ala anhu
said, مَا أُقِيمَةِ الصَّلَاةُ مُنذُ أَسْلَمْتُ إِلَّا وَأَنَا
عَلَى وُضُوءِ Said that, the iqama for salah
has not come a single time since the
day I became Muslim except that I was
already in my wudu.
What does that mean?
Like I was ready for it.
So subhanAllah, all these deep practices, spiritual practices.
He was a spiritual man before Islam.
Now he's finding its true taste in religiosity
alongside the Prophet ﷺ.
Now he only got to see the Prophet
ﷺ a few times because he basically embraced
Islam right before the Prophet ﷺ died.
In the time of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq
radiyallahu ta'ala anhu, his people were fresh
on Islam.
There's a man that comes to their area
and who claims prophethood.
And he was about to take pretty much
all of his tribe from Ha'il to
join his army.
And that man was Tuleyha al-Asadi who
at that time was a false prophet.
So Adiyy ibn Hatim had a chance if
this was a power grab for him to
join Tuleyha radiyallahu ta'ala anhu who at
that time was a false prophet, had a
chance to join the army of Tuleyha and
attack Medina.
Instead he becomes one of the most loyal
chiefs of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiyallahu ta
'ala anhu, protecting the Arabian Peninsula from the
fitna of Tuleyha and from the fitna of
Musaylimah.
Holding his people in Islam and joining forces
with the forces of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq
radiyallahu ta'ala anhu to keep the people
within al-Islam.
And then there are a few narrations about
him subhanAllah afterwards.
If you go back to the story of
Khalid al-Walid radiyallahu ta'ala anhu.
Khalid radiyallahu ta'ala anhu made that difficult
trek from Iraq to Ash-Sham when Abu
Bakr radiyallahu anhu sent the news.
So they were fighting the Persians and then
Abu Bakr directed them to Ash-Sham to
fight the Romans.
And Khalid had to take this impossible trek.
Adiyy ibn Hatim was one of the men
who was with Khalid al-Walid radiyallahu ta
'ala anhu on that impossible trek.
And we find subhanAllah some of the incidents
where the Khulafa would see him.
Umar ibn al-Khattab radiyallahu ta'ala anhu
one time after Umar had not seen Adiyy
ibn Hatim for a long time.
Adiyy ibn Hatim entered upon Umar radiyallahu ta
'ala anhu and he said, أَمَا تَعْرِفُنِي؟
Do you recognize me?
Umar radiyallahu ta'ala anhu said, أَعْرِفُكَ I
remember you.
قَالَ آمَنْتَ إِذَا كَفَرُوا You believed when they
disbelieved.
وَوَفَّيْتَ إِذَا غَدَرُوا And you stayed loyal when
other people betrayed.
وَأَقْبَلْتَ إِذَا أَدْبَرُوا And you moved forward when
others moved back.
Meaning you proved yourself in Islam after the
Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam died.
There was a lot of skepticism about Adiyy
ibn Hatim radiyallahu ta'ala anhu but you
proved yourself in Islam after the death of
the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam that indeed
this had entered into your heart.
Adiyy ibn Hatim radiyallahu ta'ala anhu, there's
an incident with him in Uthman radiyallahu ta
'ala anhu as well.
Later on, that one day Adiyy ibn Hatim
came to the door of Uthman radiyallahu ta
'ala anhu while he was the khalifah.
This is narrated by Na'id who was
a freed slave of Uthman radiyallahu ta'ala
anhu.
So he said that Adiyy ibn Hatim came
to the door while I was there.
قَالَ فَمَنَعْتُهُ I didn't know who he was.
So I stopped him from entering.
فَلَمَّا خَرَجَ عُثْمَانُ إِلَى الظُّهْرِ So when Uthman
radiyallahu ta'ala anhu came out for Salatul
Dhuhr, Uthman radiyallahu anhu saw him وَرَحَّبَ بِهِ
وَنْبَصَطَ لَهُ Uthman radiyallahu anhu greeted him so
generously and was so happy to see him.
So Adiyy radiyallahu anhu said, إِنتَهَيْتُ إِلَى بَابِكِ
وَقَدْ عَمَّ إِذْنَكَ النَّاسِ He said that I
came to your door and I was forbidden
but other people were let in.
فَحَجَّبَنِي هَذَا So he pointed to me and
he said, this one stopped me from you.
So he said that Uthman radiyallahu anhu looked
at me and Uthman radiyallahu ta'ala anhu
started to scold me and he said, لَا
تَحْجُبْهُ وَجْعَلْهُ أَوَّلَ مَنْ يَدْخُلْ Don't stop this
type of a person from entering upon to
me and in fact make him the first
person to enter upon me.
So he says, فَلَعَمْرِ إِنَّا لَنَعْرِفُ حَقَّهُ وَفَضْلَهُ
وَرَأْيَ الْخَلِيفَتَيْنِ فِيهِ وَفِي قَوْمِهِ He said because
I swear by Allah, we know his right
upon us, his virtue upon us and the
way that the two khalifas that preceded me
used to see him as well as how
his qawm saw him, as well as how
his own people saw him.
وَقَدْ جَاءَنَا بِالصَّدَقَةِ يَسُوْقُهَا And he has come
to us with his charity and he is
driving it forward for the Muslims.
And he started to say رضي الله تعالى
عنه And we remember that when the people
apostated, that it was Adi ibn Hatim that
stood up and stopped the people from Ahl
al-Ridda, that stopped the people from apostasy
and held them in al-Islam.
So this is a narration of him with
Uthman رضي الله تعالى عنه And then finally
subhanAllah we find with him, it was Adi
رضي الله عنه who led the battalion that
initially sent him fleeing to Ash-Sham.
But Adi ibn Hatim basically would take the
side of Adi رضي الله تعالى عنه and
Adi رضي الله عنه would fight every single
battle next to Adi رضي الله عنه for
the rest of Adi's life.
The battle of Siffin, the battle of al
-Jamalus when the civil wars broke out.
He had a loyalty and a partisanship to
Adi رضي الله تعالى عنه and he even
lost his eye رضي الله تعالى عنه defending
and being with Adi رضي الله تعالى عنه
And after that subhanAllah, after the fitnah had
finished, he still was alive.
So what did he do?
He went to his own quiet space in
Kufa in Iraq.
He remained remembering Allah سبحانه وتعالى recounting the
Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم's life.
He didn't have any children that had survived
him at that point.
And the only narrations we have about him,
this chief, this king that existed around the
Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was a man
that was always in the masjid early on
and the last to leave.
SubhanAllah, you know, I often think to myself
like if you're 60-70 years after the
Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and you're somewhere
in the Muslim world and you walk in
and you've got someone that's praying in the
first row, who's just an old man that
seems totally insignificant and quiet to everything else,
like what the history of that old man
actually is.
And in this situation, Adi بن حاتم was
that man that was first in the masjid
that was last.
And there's a narration about him.
فلما أسنى that when he became very old,
he used to have to pray, you know,
sitting up and reclined and he used to
have to sit on something.
And he used to say, أكره أن يظن
أحدكم أني أرى أن لي عليه فضلة He
said that, I would hate for one of
you to think that I believe that I'm
better than any one of you.
ولكني قد كبرت ورق عظمي He said, but
I've gotten old and my bones have become
weak.
And he would remember that incident with the
Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم where the Prophet
صلى الله عليه وسلم who was the most
powerful man in the world, right, is with
him in his room صلى الله عليه وسلم
in his palace and the Prophet صلى الله
عليه وسلم his palace in quotation marks.
The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم had one
cushion and he would tell عدي بن حاتم
رضي الله عنه to be the only one
that would take that cushion.
فرضي الله عنه as we said, he lived
to be a hundred and twenty years.
He passed away 66 years after hijrah.
رضي الله تعالى عنه May Allah سبحانه وتعالى
be pleased with him.
We ask Allah سبحانه وتعالى to allow us
to be with our Prophet صلى الله عليه
وسلم in his noble palace and his noble
presence.
ففردوس الأعلى اللهم آمين بارك الله فيكم والسلام
عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته