Zia Sheikh – Black History Month & Story of Hazrat Bilal RA Jumuah Khutbah
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss Bilal's treatment of Muslims and the importance of black history. Bilal's mother had a dream of becoming a Prophet a.s. and eventually found out he was the right person to be met with. Bilal's actions included using a pious man to claim victory and a man named Jesus to obtain the throne, as well as respecting people based on skin color and language. The segment concludes with a recap of Bilal's title.
AI: Summary ©
Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar,
I bear witness that there is no god
but Allah, I bear witness that there is
no god but Allah, I
bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of
Allah, I bear witness that Muhammad
is the Messenger of Allah, Come
to prayer, Come to prayer, Come
to success, Come to success,
Allah, there
is no god but Allah, I
bear witness that
there is no god but Allah, My
dear respected elders, brothers and sisters, As you
may be aware, February is the black history
month in the American calendar, in which the
efforts and the achievements and the struggles of
the African Americans are highlighted and focused upon
and commemorated.
As Muslims, we believe that really there is
no difference in color between one and the
other.
As the Prophet, peace be upon him, mentioned
in his last sermon, that there
is no priority and status for an Arab
over a non-Arab or vice versa, except
through the Taqwa of Allah.
So, the features that a person has, the
skin color that he has, it is irrelevant
in the eyes of Allah.
The Prophet, peace be upon him, mentioned in
a hadith, Allah does not look at
your features and your wealth, but He looks
at your hearts and your deeds.
So, in addition to that, we have the
verse in the Qur'an which talks about
the fact that Allah created us into tribes
and nations so that we could get to
know each other.
O people, we created you from one male
and one female, and we created you into
tribes and nations so that you could get
to know each other.
The most beloved in the eyes of Allah
is the one who has the most Taqwa.
So, Taqwa is the focus and not the
skin color, not the financial status, not the
language that we speak.
In the days of old, in the days
of even the Sahaba, there was also this
concept of racism that used to take place.
And the Arabs used to think of themselves
as more noble and more better than others.
And the skin color did used to come
into play.
The issue of where a person was from,
it was relevant in the eyes of the
non-believers and the disbelievers at that time.
Islam came and got rid of those things.
And the prime example of that is the
treatment of one of the most prominent and
most respected Sahaba in the history of Islam.
And that was, as we all know, we
probably learned about him since childhood, the very
wonderful Sahabi whose name was Bilal ibn Rabah.
So, being Black History Month, I thought it
would be relevant to talk about him and
the treatment of him by Islam and the
Muslims and the Prophet ﷺ and what lessons
we can learn as Muslims in the treatment
of people who are different than us.
Whether they are different color, different language, different
status, it should be nothing, it should not
be the things through which we judge each
other.
Rather, the Taqwa is the thing that Allah
ﷻ judges us by and we have no
clue as to the level of Taqwa of
each other, so basically we should not be
judgmental.
This is the lesson, inshallah, that we should
be learning from this very important principle.
And unfortunately, unfortunately, we have this attitude even
amongst today's Arabs that if a person, he
is dark-skinned, the people refer to him
as Abd or Abid, meaning a person who
is, na'udhu billah, a slave.
This is what Abd or Abid stands for.
But this is, again, contrary to the teachings
of Islam and what Islam teaches us.
So, inshallah, we're going to listen to the
story of Bilal ﷺ, how he became a
Muslim.
Many people are not aware of the actual
events that led to him becoming a Muslim.
So, it's mentioned that Bilal ﷺ, he was
at the time the slave of a person
called Abdullah ibn Jada'an.
And he used to tend his sheep.
He used to look after his sheep.
And he used to take them into the
mountains.
And it so happened that one day when
Bilal ﷺ took his sheep into the mountains,
the Prophet ﷺ was hiding there, and he
was basically taking refuge from the Quraysh in
those days.
Bilal ﷺ, he brought the sheep, and he
passed by there.
And on one occasion, the Prophet ﷺ stuck
his head out from the cave, and he
said, يَا رَعِي هَلْ مِن لَبَن؟
O shepherd, do you have any milk?
So, he responded by saying, مَالِي إِلَّا شَاتْ
مِنْهَا قُوتِ I have one sheep, and from
that I take my sustenance.
Meaning, I'm authorized by my owner to take
the milk of one sheep.
Other than that, I have no authorization to
take the milk of any of them.
فَإِنْ شِئْتُمَا آثَرْتُكُمَا بِلَبَنِهَا الْيَوْمِ If you want,
I'll sacrifice the milk that I could have
been drinking, and you can take it instead
of me.
So, I'm willing to make that sacrifice.
The Prophet ﷺ, he said, اِيْتِ بِهَا Bring
that sheep to me.
So, Bilal ﷺ who brought the sheep, and
the Prophet ﷺ, he had him bring also
a bowl in which he could milk the
sheep.
فَعَتَقَ لَهَا Rasulullah ﷺ, he tied up the
sheep.
فَحَلَبَ فِي الْقَعَبِ حَتَّى مَلَأَهُ And he milked
the sheep until this bowl that was there,
it became full.
فَشَرِبَ حَتَّى رَوَاء And then the Prophet ﷺ,
he drank from it until he became full.
فَسَقَى أَبَابَكَر And he also gave the milk
to Abu Bakr ﷺ, and he also drank
from it until he was full.
ثُمَّ احْتَلَبَ حَتَّى مَلَأَهُ And then he milked
the sheep again.
فَسَقَى بِلَالًا حَتَّى رَوَاء And then Bilal ﷺ
drank from it, he gave it to Bilal
ﷺ to drink, until he also became full.
ثُمَّ أَرْسَلَهَا وَهِيَ أَحْفَلُ مَا كَانَتْ And then
he let go of the sheep, and the
sheep had as much milk as it had,
or even more than before in its udders.
So, this is an amazing miracle that took
place right in front of Bilal ﷺ.
Then the Prophet ﷺ said, يَا غُلَامَ هَلَّكَ
فِي الْإِسْلَامِ O Ghulam, O servant, or Ghulam
can also mean boy, young boy, do you
have any interest in Islam?
فَإِنِّي رَسُولُ اللَّهِ Because I am the Prophet
of Allah.
وَقَالُ أُكْتُمْ إِسْلَامَكَ He became a Muslim, and
he told him that you should hide your
Islam, do not expose it to anybody.
So that's what Bilal ﷺ did, and he
left with his sheep, and he went back,
and the milk of all of the sheep
had actually doubled than usual.
More milk were in the sheep than ever
before.
And the family that he was living with,
or his masters, they said that we've never
seen the sheep so full of milk, make
sure that you take the sheep back to
the same place that you took it for
grazing yesterday or today, and because we're seeing
that the milk has become more because of
the place that you've taken it from.
لَقَدْ رَعَيْتَ مَرَعًا طَيِّبًا فَعَلَيْكَ بِهِ Hold fast
to that mar'a, that pasture that you
are taking the sheep to.
So he went back for three continuous days,
and he tended to the sheep in that
location, and at the same time, he used
to meet the Prophet ﷺ, and he used
to learn Islam from him for three continuous
days.
Now, during the course of that, Abu Jahl
passed by, and he looked at the sheep
that Bilal r.a. had been taking care
of, and he noticed that the milk had
increased, and he'd never seen anything like that
before.
And he asked, he said, إِنِّي أَرَى غَنَمَكَ
قَدْ نَمَتْ وَكَثُرَ لَبَنُهَا I see that your
sheep are increasing, and the milk has also
increased in these sheep.
So they said, قَدْ كَثُرَ لَبُنُهَا مُنذُ ثَلَاثَةِ
أَيَّامِ This has been happening for three days
continuously, وَمَا نَعْرِفُ ذَلِكَ مِنْهَا And we have
no clue what is going on, why the
milk has increased.
And look at what Abu Jahl said, and
this is the most amazing thing, that he
knew immediately that Bilal r.a. who was
taking the sheep in the vicinity of where
the Prophet a.s. was, knowing full well
that the barakah of the Prophet a.s.
is doing this, but still he rejected the
message of the Prophet a.s. He said,
عَبْدُكُمْ وَرَبِّ الْكَعْبَةِ يَعْرِفُ مَكَانَ إِبْنَ أَبِي كَبْشَةٍ
Your slave, I swear by the Lord of
Ka'bah, he knows the place of Ibn
Abi Kabsha.
Ibn Abi Kabsha was a nickname that they
had given, the kuffar of the Quraysh had
given to the Prophet a.s. And there
was a reason behind it.
And the reason, the history behind it was
there was a person called Abu Kabsha who
started worshipping a particular type of star which
was contrary to the worship of the Quraysh
at that time.
And because the Prophet a.s. was also
telling the Quraysh to worship something else, then
what they were worshipping, they basically compared the
Prophet a.s. to Abu Kabsha and used
to refer to the Prophet a.s. as
Ibn Abi Kabsha.
فَمْنَعُوهُ أَن يَرَعَ الْمَرَعَى So Abu Jahl said
that you need to prevent him from going
back to where he's grazing.
So in any case, that's what happened.
And finally, the word got around that he
had been seeing the Prophet a.s. and
people came and inquired from Abdullah ibn Jada
'an who was the master of Bilal and
asked him, Have you become a Saabi?
Meaning, have you left your deen?
i.e., have you become a Muslim?
Have you accepted the message of the Prophet
a.s.? So he said, وَمِثْلِي يُقَالُ لَهُ
هَذَا These kinds of words are being said
to somebody like me.
Meaning, he was very very adamant that I
am strong in my faith, I am strong
in my shirk, I am strong in my
conviction and belief that I am worshipping the
idols that you worship.
And to prove this point, he said, فَعَلَيَّ
نَحْرُ مِئَةِ نَاقَةٍ لِلْآتِ وَالْعُزَّ I have actually
committed to sacrifice 100 camels for Lāt and
Uzzah.
These were the two famous statues that the
people used to worship.
So he says that, I have committed to
100 camels to be sacrificed for these statues
and you are questioning me that I have
become a Muslim and followed Muhammad?
It's not possible.
So then, they said to him, فَإِنَّ أَسْوَدَكَ
صَنَعَ كَذَا وَكَذَا They said that you are
a black man.
See how they talked in derogatory terms?
They said you are a black man, you
are a slave.
He has been doing such and such things.
So at that point, the punishment of Bilal
radiyallahu ta'ala and who started and we
all know how he was punished.
People like Umay ibn Khalaf used to take
turns and his own master, Abdullah ibn Jada
'an used to take turns in whipping him
and punishing him and putting him in the
desert sun naked without anything.
They used to put him down in the
desert in the heat and put a slab
on top of his chest so he couldn't
move.
And all this time, he used to continue
saying the words Allah is one, Allah is
one.
I will never commit shirk with him again.
There are so many incidents and so many
stories related to him.
It's said that one day, Waraq ibn Nawfal
radiyallahu ta'ala was passing by while he
was in this punishment.
And he said to him that ya Bilal,
Oh Bilal, you keep saying By Allah, if
you die in this situation, I will take
your grave as a source of barakah.
If you die in this situation, I will
take your grave as a source of barakah.
Meaning, that I will visit your grave and
get barakah from the fact that this is
the grave of a pious person who died
proclaiming Tawheed.
Moving on, about the freedom of Bilal radiyallahu
ta'ala and how it took place.
Once Abu Bakr radiyallahu ta'ala was passing
by while he was being tortured.
And he said to them, Are you killing
a person who simply says, My Lord is
Allah subhana wa ta'ala?
That's the only reason that you are torturing
him and punishing him and putting him on
the verge of death?
And then he said, Take more than his
price and leave him free.
That take more than his price.
I will give you more than his value.
Just leave him and let him be free.
So Abu Bakr radiyallahu ta'ala bought him
and set him free.
And from that point on, he was a
free man.
And then he did hijrah.
And at the time of Ghazwat Badr, he
played an active part.
I'm going to skip all of these things
because we don't have time.
We are running out of time.
But one of the prominent things that happened
was at the time of Fath, on the
day of the conquest of Mecca, the Prophet
ﷺ, he ordered Bilal radiyallahu ta'ala to
make adhan at the Ka'bah.
He was the first person after the conquest
of Mecca to come back and make adhan
at the Ka'bah.
He was given this honor.
There are some hadith that I'd like to
mention how the Prophet ﷺ, what he used
to say about him.
It is mentioned that the Prophet ﷺ, he
said, The Prophet ﷺ said that I entered
paradise and I heard some shuffling behind me.
And I said, Oh, Jibreel, what is this
sound?
So, Jibreel ﷺ responded, saying, Bilal is walking
in front of you.
And the Prophet ﷺ asked Bilal, He said
that, he came back and asked Bilal radiyallahu
ta'ala that what is the deed that
you do that is most hopeful for you
in Islam?
He said, That whenever I make wudhu, I
pray with that purification that I've just done
as much as I can.
What we call Tahiyyatul Wudhu.
And because of that, he was mentioned that
he was entered into paradise.
According to another hadith, the Prophet ﷺ, he
said, All the Prophets that came
before me, they were given seven companions that
were loyal and they were good companions and
they were competent and they had a status.
And I have been given the following.
I have been given fourteen.
He said, I've been given fourteen.
And amongst them, Bilal radiyallahu ta'ala is
mentioned.
And there are so many more hadiths that
mention Bilal radiyallahu ta'ala was once compared
to Abu Bakr Siddiq radiyallahu ta'ala.
And this reached him.
This rumor reached him that people are comparing
him to Abu Bakr.
He said, How are you comparing me or
giving me priority over Abu Bakr?
I am one of his good deeds.
I am one of his good deeds.
Meaning, he set me free.
And because of his setting me free, I
am doing all that you can see.
Otherwise, I would have been a dead man
by now.
So in any case, the purpose of the
khutbah was to understand the status that Islam
gave to Bilal radiyallahu ta'ala who at
one time had been a slave and ultimately
became known by this name Sayyiduna.
Sayyiduna refers to the meaning, it means our
master.
Our master Bilal.
He came from, he went from a slave
Bilal to Sayyiduna Bilal.
So much so that he is still respected
to this day with that name.
So this is the status that Islam gives.
The status is not based upon the skin
color.
It is not based upon the language that
one speaks.
Rather, it is through the taqwa that one
attains and the deeds that one does.
So we need to inshallah focus on ourselves
and to make sure that we do not
differentiate between people because of their skin color.
We respect them.
We respect them despite whatever language they speak.
And whatever skin color there is, we need
to have that respect.
And this is what makes a wonderful and
a united community.
I pray that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
gives us tawfiq to understand and practice what
has been said and heard and gives us
tawfiq to follow in the footsteps of such
illustrious sahaba as Bilal radiyallahu ta'ala anhu.
Allahumma ansur man nasara dina muhammadin sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam wa ja'alna minhum wa akhthu
alman khadha dina muhammadin sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
wa la taja'alna ma'ahum Allahumma ansurna
wa la tansur alayna Allahumma mkur lana wa
la tamkur alayna Allahumma zidna wa la tanqusna
Allahumma atina wa la tahrimna Allahumma rabbana atina
fid dunya hasana wa fil aakhirati hasana wa
qina athab alnaar wa adkhinna aljannata ma'a
alabraar ya aziz ya ghaffar ameen ya rabbal
alameen ameen ya rabbal alameen Inna Allah ya'mur
bil adl wal ihsan wa ita'ithil qurba
wa yinha'an al fahsha'i wal munkari
wal baghi ya'idhukum la'allakum tathakkaroon uzkuru
Allah al aliyy al jaleeli yadhkurkum wa da
'uhu yastajib lakum wa la dhikru Allah ta
'ala a'ala wa awla wa akbar wa
Allah ya'alamu ma tasna'oon aqeemu as
-salah Allahu
akbar Allahu akbar shahada ar-rasulullah hayyara as
-salati hayyara al falah qadi qamat as-salah
qadi qamat as-salah Allahu akbar Allahu akbar
la ilaha illallah