aliases:
- عبد الله بن عباس
- ابن عباس
type: companion
sourceFile: Sirah Transcript by Yasir Qadhi
birth: -3
death: 68
father: "[[Abbas]]"
mother: "[[Umm al-Fadl]]"
about: Expert in tafsirIbn Abbas
Where do we begin when it comes to describing the one whom Allah (الله) has chosen above the entire creation. How can we do justice to him when Allah AWJ (Azza wa Jal/عز وجل - Mighty and the Majestic) Himself says, "We have raised up your remembrance and mention" [see Quran, 94:4]. And indeed, Ibn Abbas (ابن عباس) and other scholars of the sahaba (صحابة - Companions of the Prophet) said, "Allah has raised up his remembrance such that whenever Allah is mentioned, the Prophet ﷺ is mentioned right after." Allah SWT (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala/سبحانه وتعالى - Glorified and Exalted be He) Himself called our Prophet ﷺ a "Rahma li al-Alamin (رحمة للعالمين - Mercy to the World)" — He is the embodiment of rahma (رحمة - mercy); he is the channel of Allah's mercy. Indeed the Prophet ﷺ is mercy, his sending is mercy, his message is mercy, his teachings are mercy, and believing and acting upon what he has come with is mercy. He is everything associated with mercy. So how then can we begin to do justice to the Prophet ﷺ when Allah has praised him so highly.
"Whoever enters the Haram is safe" [3:97]. And this is a ruling we still apply in our shariah (شريعة - Islamic law). Ibn Abbas said, "A person would see the murderer of his father doing tawaf (طواف), and he would not touch a hair on his head"—because Makkah is sacred.
And there are even narrations that say shaytan inspired Amr b. Luhay through a dream with the names of the very first idols — the name of the five idols from the time of Nuh AS as mentioned in the Quran: Wadd (ود), Suwa' (سواع), Yaghuth (يغوث), Ya'uq (يعوق), and Nasr (نسر) [see Quran, 71:23]. And in a hadith, Ibn Abbas mentions the story of these five righteous men before the time of Nuh AS, who when they died, people built their statues to remind them of their piety. But as generations passed, instead of just looking at the statues, people began venerating and worshiping them. Shaytan used the righteousness of these five men as the stepping stone to idolatry. And it is said that thousands of years later, shaytan then inspired Amr b. Luhay to resurrect these five idols — and so Amr resurrected them. And indeed, they were worshiped in pre-Islamic Arabia even though their names were forgotten for millennia. One tribe had the Wadd statue, another had Suwa', and so on.
What about the month and the day of the month? Looking at two of the earliest books ever written about the Sirah, we find different accounts: (1) Ibn Ishaq (d. 150 AH) says without any chain of narrators, "The Prophet ﷺ was born on a Monday, the 12th of Rabi' al-Awwal in the Year of the Elephant." This explains why this opinion is present. However, between Ibn Ishaq and the Prophet ﷺ is almost 150 years — and he doesn't tell us where he gets the date from, who is narrating this to him, and what is the chain of narrators. (2) When we look at the second earliest book, the Tabaqat (الطبقات) of Ibn Sa'd (ابن سعد) (d. 230 AH), it says, "The Prophet ﷺ was born on a Monday. Some people say he was born on the 10th of Rabi' al-Awwal, and others say the 2nd of Rabi' al-Awwal"—two opinions, neither of which conforms to the 12th of Rabi' al-Awwal. And it is said that Ibn Abbas (d. 68 AH) also said that the Prophet ﷺ was born on the 10th of Rabi' al-Awwal.
We return to the long hadith of revelation in Bukhari: Jabir b. Abdillah (جابر بن عبد الله) continues the story and mentions the Prophet ﷺ stopped getting revelation. Ibn Abbas says the Prophet ﷺ would wander Makkah, its valleys and mountains, wanting to see Jibril AS again. But Jibril would not appear. Some scholars say this period lasted 2 or 3 years — but in our view, this is way too much. A riwaya (رواية - narration) from Ibn Abbas says 40 days. Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri said, "This period lasted for many days, for around a month [40 days]." Thus for an entire month and 10 days, the Prophet ﷺ was confused. And this is when he says, "I was worried for myself"—meaning he thought he was hallucinating. And he would go to Jabal al-Nour expecting to see Jibril again, but every day, he would go and there's nothing there. Until finally one day, the Prophet ﷺ was coming down the mountain and he heard his name being called —and he looked in front and behind and couldn't see anyone— and then, the Prophet ﷺ said, "I looked up and there was the angel I had seen at Hira, (sitting) on a throne between the heavens and the earth." Then the Prophet ﷺ began to tremble out of fear. — Subhan'Allah, he wanted to see Jibril, but when he saw him, he trembled immensely. One report says the Prophet ﷺ fell down on his knees out of shock and fear. And he rushes home again saying, "Wrap me up." And this was when the second revelation was revealed — the first 7 verses of Surah al-Muddaththir (سورة المدثر):
The third thing we'll mention is that they tried to ban the recitation of the Qur'an in public. When the Qur'an was recited, they would try to drown it out with their voices or stop it from being recited. Ibn Abbas mentions whenever the Prophet ﷺ recited the Qur'an in front of the Kabah, the Quraysh would begin shouting and making noise, and they would curse the One who revealed it, and the one upon whom it was revealed. Thus if someone wanted to listen to the Qur'an, he would have to pretend he isn't listening and hear it over the noise. Because of the shouting, the Prophet ﷺ often tried to raise his own voice above theirs. But this is when Allah revealed:
Sa'id b. Jubayr (سعيد بن جبير), the main student of Ibn Abbas, asks Ibn Abbas, "How was the torture of the sahaba in the early days? Was it really that bad?" Ibn Abbas says the believers were so severely tortured, starved, and deprived of water, that they couldn't even sit up because of the pain. It was so bad that when they were asked by the pagans, "Is al-Lat and al-Uzza your god?" they would respond, "Yes, al-Lat and al-Uzza are my gods," just to get rid of the torture. It even came to the point that if an insect passed by them and they were told to say it is their god, they would do so. (Islam allows one to say these things if you are being tortured to death, as long as your heart remains firm in Islam.) Abu Jahl, whom our Prophet ﷺ called the fir'awn (pharaoh) of this ummah, was the main propagator of this torture. He had a series of tactics:
Imagine the Prophet ﷺ reciting this so powerfully. And it's truly a powerful surah with constant rhetorical questions - so when the Prophet ﷺ reaches the end and falls down in sajdah, the Muslims fall down, and even the Quraysh fall down. And so version 1, the Bukhari version is the authentic version. There is no need for a far fetched tale to explain it. It was narrated by Ibn Abbas, "The Prophet ﷺ recited Surah al-Najm, and he prostrated, and all of the Muslims and the mushriks, and even the jinn, prostrated with him - except for al-Walid b. al-Mughirah (or in another version Umayyah b. Khalaf), he took sand and he put it on his head and said, 'This is sufficient for me.'"
Version 3, had it been supported by anyone else we could leave it, but it's supported by one of the greatest scholars of Islam, Ibn Taymiyyah. And he writes about this in a number of his books and tafsirs, and he says that not only do all the reports add up and make it authentic, but the verse of Surah al-Hajj makes it crystal clear, that, "O Prophet ﷺ, it's not only you, many prophets faced this." Now this word 'tamanna' originally means 'to recite' (Ibn Abbas himself said it means to recite). But later on it picked up another meaning which is 'to wish.' So this ayah can be interpreted in two ways:
When Umar was on his deathbed, Ibn Mas'ud RA said, "We have ever remained in izzah (honor) since Umar has converted up until now. We weren't allowed to pray even in the Haram, but when Umar converted, that was the day we all were able to pray in the Haram." And indeed Umar was a legend in Islam. Umar's khilafa was truly the pinnacle of Islam. In political sense, it was just unparalleled. And of course his conversion was a black and white moment. Ibn Abbas asked Umar once, "How did you get the title of al-Faruq (the one who divides good from evil)?" He said, "The Prophet ﷺ gave me this title because when I converted, we marched to the Kabah on that day, headed by two rows, me and Hamzah, and for the first time ever, we prayed in the public. And that was when the Prophet ﷺ gave me this title."
In fact, later scholars have found one of the tabi'un Qatada, the student of the student of Ibn Abbas, also says this, that, "The Sidrah FINISHES in the 7th heaven"—which means it begins somewhere else.
Of the first is there is a very long hadith the Prophet ﷺ narrates in Musnad Imam Ahmad, "On the night I went on al-Isra wal-Mi'raj, I smelled a fragrance that was very sweet, so I asked Jibril, 'What is this beautiful fragrance?' Jibril said it's the fragrance of the mashitah (the one who combed the hair) of the daughter of Pharaoh (Fir'awn), and her (the mashitah's) children. I asked Jibril, 'What is their story?' He said, once, she was combing, and the comb fell from her hand, and she said, 'Bismillah (بسم الله - In the name of God).' The daughter of Pharaoh said, 'Surely you mean in the name of my father?' The mashitah said, 'No, my Lord and your Lord is Allah, and the Lord of your father is Allah.' The daughter said, 'Do you want me to tell my father you said this?' The mashitah said, 'Yes, go ahead.' And then Pharaoh called her and asked, 'Are you saying you have a God besides me?' (see Qur'an [79:24] [28:38]). The mashitah responded with the same bravery, 'Yes, my Lord and your Lord is Allah.' So Pharaoh ordered a boiling cauldron be brought before her and told her to throw herself and her own children into the cauldron one by one (we don't know how many exactly), or else acknowledge Pharaoh as her lord. Faced with this dilemma, she asked him for one condition: that he bury her and her children all in one place. Pharaoh agreed, and so one by one her children were thrown in. But the last child was her baby who was still suckling and she was hesitant at this. But the baby miraculously spoke and said, 'O my mother, go forth and throw yourself in, for this 'punishment' of this world is nothing compared to the Punishment of the next.' (Or in another narration, 'Do not waver, for you are on the Truth.') So she threw herself in (with the baby)." And Ibn Abbas commented on this (his opinion): There are only four babies who spoke from their cradle: (1) the one in this story, (2) Isa AS, (3) the witness of Yusuf AS, and (4) the baby in the story of Jurayj (the person whose mother said 'O Allah, do not allow him to die until he sees the face of a prostitute' when he didn't respond to her because he was in prayer).
Ibn Abbas narrated that the Prophet ﷺ saw Allah.
Therefore as to what Ibn Abbas said, people have interpreted it as either a mistake from his part, or that he meant the Prophet ﷺ saw Allah with his heart. If Ibn Abbas affirms this, then it doesn't contradict the fact that nobody has seen Allah AWJ with the eyes.
The Hijrah took place on Monday 26th Safar of the 13th year of the dawah, which is the 1st year of the Hijrah. (We ESTIMATE this date based on an authentic narration from Ibn Abbas in Sahih Muslim.)**
Ibn Abbas says Allah revealed in the Qur'an Surah al-Anfal verse 30 regarding the night of the Hijrah:
It's also said in a weak narration that an old man came knocking on the door in the secret meeting. He said, "I am a leader from Najd. It has reached me that you are having a meeting. Allow me to come (join), perhaps I can benefit you with my wisdom about what you are planning to do." (Note: Ibn Abbas said the old man was shaytan/Iblis.) When they came together, they said, "The Muslims have now migrated. And we are scared if we allow this man (the Prophet ﷺ) to leave, they will become a political threat to Makkah." This meeting is held on the night before the Hijrah. Of course realize the timing of the Hijrah was because of this meeting: Because they plotted, Allah plotted [Qur'an, 8:30]. So they gave suggestions: First, "Let's imprison him in a house." Then Iblis said, "If you do this, his words would still reach his followers." Second, "Let's put him in exile." But Iblis said, "Sending him into exile is to send him back to his followers. It will strengthen them." Here is where Abu Jahl said, "You still haven't said the main point which everyone is thinking but no one has the guts to say: Let us just kill him." But realize it's a matter of law and honor for the jahili Arabs that you don't kill one of your own. This is something that's never been done before. For them it's a mark of humiliation. Their enemies would criticize them forever if they did this. So Abu Jahl said, "We'll do it in a way that nobody can get angry at any one tribe." This was the dastardly plot: He said, "Let every single tribe send one representative such that his (the Prophet's ﷺ) blood is on everyone's swords, and no one knows who killed him. If we do this, no one tribe can be made fun of, and the Banu Hashim cannot wage war against all of us - they will have to accept the blood money." See, the Banu Hashim would have to wage war because it's about tribalism and gang mentality. It's about tribal honor. But this way, they can't fight all of the Quraysh, and this was Abu Jahl's plot. After Abu Jahl said this, Iblis stood up and said, "This is the right decision!"
Ibn Abbas says, "A group of Muslims remained in Makkah. And in the Battle of Badr, because they didn't tell their Islam to others (out of fear of persecution), they were forced to participate on the wrong side." They didn't actually fight; they just kept in the back and did whatever they did; but some of them were killed by the Muslims (because of arrows etc.). So Allah revealed the above verse for those people, that the angels are basically asking, "What were you doing? Why are you on this side? How can you be fighting against the Muslims?" And they will say, "We were weak, we were forced to fight," but the angels will say, "You weren't forced to remain in Makkah. You could have gone to another place i.e. Madinah." Ibn Abbas says, "They were told by Allah that they have no excuse not to emigrate. This verse of Surah al-Nisa was sent to them." (Note: This shows us there's a secret correspondence going on between the Muslims of Makkah and the Prophet ﷺ in Madinah - obviously the Prophet ﷺ knows who are the Muslims, because they have informed him. So there's some messages [e.g. this Quran verses] being sent by the Prophet ﷺ to these Muslims in Makkah.) So Ibn Abbas says, "Some of them tried to emigrate, but the pagans prevented them. [The word used is fatanuhum (فتنوهم) - which basically means they could hurt/persecute them; details are not given.] And so they stayed put again. They didn't emigrate." And so Allah revealed a verse in Surah al-Ankabut which says:
We have a story of one sahaba who converted after the Prophet ﷺ emigrated to Madinah. His name is Junda' b. Damura (جندع بن ضمرة). Ibn Abbas tells us when Surah al-Nisa was sent, which says, "Those whom the angels come to and they are wronging themselves, the angels will ask them, 'What were you doing?' they will say, 'We were weak in the land.'" [paraphrased from Qur'an, 4:97], Allah did not accept these excuses from them, but He SWT then made an exception and excused those who were truly very weak, as in the case of this sahabi Junda'. In fact, Allah revealed this exception for Junda'.
"Except for those who are genuinely weak of the men, women, and children, that they cannot find a way out, nor find a passage. For these people, perhaps they will be forgiven." [see Qur'an, 4:98-99] Note Allah SWT says 'asa' (عسى - perhaps); but Ibn Abbas comments that whenever Allah says 'asa,' it is certainty. Meaning Allah WILL forgive him. But still 'asa' is used to show the severity of those who don't have a genuine excuse for remaining in Makkah.
(As a footnote, there were three groups of the sahaba during the time of fitna:1] The group of Ali, [2] the group of Muawiyah, and [3] the group that didn't fight i.e. the abadilah: Abdullah b. al-Zubayr, Abdullah b. Umar, and Abdullah Ibn Abbas. They were asked multiple times to take part, but they said no. And Ibn Abbas was asked, "Are you on the team of Ali or the team of Aisha?" He said, "Neither. Don't get me involved with this. I am on the team of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ." Ibn Taymiyyah says, "This group of sahaba [who didn't pick sides] was ON the truth; Ali was *closer* to the truth; And Muawiyah was *not as close* as Ali.")
Wallahi, this is the height of eloquence. It's beautiful. Allah criticized the shedding of the blood, He did not sanction it - the Muslims should not have shed this blood and He affirms this. But then Allah gave a judgment that clearly shows that our Lord is a Lord who is al-Haq and decrees with Haq; He criticizes the Quraysh by saying, "Who do you think you are? You are preventing people from coming to the Bayt al-Haram! And you have rejected Allah, and expelled people from Makkah. All of this is much worse in the Eyes of Allah. And the fitna (trial and tribulation) that you are causing is far bigger than the blood that this person has shed." Ibn al-Qayyim comments: So Allah says in this verse that, "The matter you have criticized the Muslims for is indeed a big sin, but if it so, then what you have done of rejecting Allah, of preventing people from coming to His House, and of expelling the Muslims who truly belong there (physically and spiritually) is yet a greater crime." (Sidenote: Ibn Abbas said the meaning of "fitna" in this verse is shirk. It is true that one of the reference is shirk, but also we can be more broad and say: included in the fitna is the chaos, the breaking up of the tribes, the expelling of the Muslims from their household - this is also a fitna. And Allah is saying this fitna AND the shirk is worse than the shedding of blood.) So Ibn al-Qayyim says Allah says, "The shirk that you are upon and the fitna that you have caused because of it is even greater [evil] in the Sight of Allah than the crime of fighting in the Sacred Month." And note the verse is extremely eloquent here - many scholars have had long discussions about how Allah AWJ phrased the verse - it is very atypical. There's even an academic paper in Western journals about the grammatical analysis of this verse.
A number of stories have been narrated where the sahaba saw the angels. We already mentioned in last lesson that as soon as the Prophet ﷺ lowered his hands, he said, "Allah has answered our prayer. Here is Jibril, turbaned, armed, and riding a horse." Notice even the angels have horses which leads to the interesting theological question. There are animals within the realm of the angels. And we know for a fact that even jinns have animals. So Allah has created creatures way beyond our imagination. "And He creates what you do not know" [Quran, 16:8]. And why are the angels armed? Allah wants to show us even the angels need to put in the effort. Of the stories mentioned, in Sahih Muslim, Ibn Abbas narrates that one of the sahaba was in hot pursuit of a mushrik, and he heard the sound of a whip coming from in front of him, and he heard a rider (an angel) calling out to his horse, "Go forth, Haizum (حيزوم)!" and he saw the mushrik he was about to attack, his nose was instantly chopped off. Before the Muslim could lower his sword, the angel chopped the mushrik's nose off. (Again the key point here is the angels "helped" the believers - every action they began, the angels completed it. We need to put in the effort, THEN Allah will help us.) And when the sahaba told the Prophet ﷺ what happened, the Prophet ﷺ said, "You have told the truth, that was a help Allah had sent down from the Third Heaven."
Ibn Abbas also narrates that, "Never did the angels actually fight with the believers except on the Day of Badr." i.e. In every other occasion, they merely were backups - they were present, but didn't physically fight; except for Badr.
Of the stories, one of the highlights of Badr is the killing of Abu Jahl (Amr b. Hisham/عمرو بن هشام). And the Prophet ﷺ said he is the fir'awn (pharaoh) of this ummah. And Allah willed he be killed by two young teenagers, around 16-17 years old. There's great wisdom here: That this great tyrant will be killed by some teenagers. It's another humiliation for him, but an honor for the two teenagers and the Ansar. Abd al-Rahman b. Awf (عبد الرحمن بن عوف) RA said when he was battling in Badr, he wanted strong people by his side so if they finish their 1 on 1 battle, they could help him. But he narrates that when he turned to his left and right, he saw young small men fighting. So he was disappointed. And their names were Mu'adh b. Amr b. al-Jumuh (معاذ بن عمرو بن الجموح) and Muawwidh b. Afra' (معوذ بن عفراء). And Mu'adh b. Amr b. al-Jumuh's father was a leader of the Banu Salama. Mu'adh himself took the shahada at the second treaty, Bay'at al-Aqaba. And he is around 16 now. Ibn Abbas narrates: Suddenly one of these boys poked Abd al-Rahman b. Awf and whispered in his ear, "Where is Abu Jahl?" It turns out both of these boys were friends and they had a competition between them of who would kill Abu Jahl. They are both young Ansaris and so they haven't seen Abu Jahl. So one of them poked Abd al-Rahman and said, "O uncle, have you seen Abu Jahl before? I have heard he has disrespected the Prophet ﷺ, and I've given an oath to Allah that if I see him, my shadow will overlap with his until one of the two of us is dead." And so Abd al-Rahman said, "If I see him I'll tell you." And barely had he got back to his position when the other boy poked him and asked the exact same question. And he told him the exact same answer. And so when Abd al-Rahman heard this, he felt comforted that although these guys are young, they both have spirit. Ibn Hajar and others mention that Abu Jahl was standing in a grove of trees - a type of protection. And he was surrounded by his men, most importantly by his son Ikrimah (عكرمة) who was a strong, young man.
On the third day, as the Prophet ﷺ was departing away from the well, he diverted the caravan away from the way back to Madinah, and stopped at the well where all of those bodies had been buried. And he called them out by name one by one, "O Utbah b. Rabi'ah, O Walid b. Utbah, O Abu Jahl," etc., and said, "Have you found what your lord has promised you to be true? As for me, I have found the promise of Allah to be true." And so he mentioned all the leaders of the Quraysh one by one and gave this rhetorical question. And Umar RA said to him, "Ya Rasulullah, how can you speak to bodies that have no soul?" The Prophet ﷺ said, "I swear by the One in whose Hands is my soul, you are not able to hear me now any better than they can. But they cannot respond to me" (i.e. they can hear me very clearly) - this hadith is in Sahih Muslim. One of the narrators, Qatada (قتادة) the student of the student of Ibn Abbas explained this hadith by saying, "Allah brought them back to life in order that they could hear the Prophet ﷺ speak, and in order that they could be humiliated and insulted upon their injuries, and they could be a source of regret and guilt for them."
On the other camp we have Aisha RA, Umar RA, Qatada (the student of the student of Ibn Abbas), al-Bayhaqi (البيهقي), al-Shawkani (الشوكاني), al-Albani (الألباني), Ibn Atiyyah (ابن عطية), Ibn al-Jawzi (ابن الجوزي), Ibn Qudama (ابن قدامة), al-Suhayli (السهيلي), al-Qadi Abu Ya'la al-Hanbali (القاضي أبو يعلى الحنبلي), etc., who said Allah *brought them back to life* so they could hear. How do you reinterpret all of the ahadith that seem to suggest the dead can hear?
- Ibn Abbas said 'fitna' here means 'shirk.'
So the next wife of the Prophet ﷺ after Khadija RA (~6 months after her death) was Sawda bint Zam'a b. Qays b. Abd al-Shams (سودة بنت زمعة بن قيس بن عبد شمس). Her previous husband was al-Sukran b. Amr (السكران بن عمرو) the brother of Suhayl b. Amr. Al-Sukran had migrated to Abyssinia, and he either died in Abyssinia or right after his return — he died a very early death. He is one of the few sahaba whose name we know who died in the Makkan era. And Sawda, when she converted to Islam, her family had disowned her, so she had no one to take care of her after his death. So the Prophet ﷺ felt compassion for her, and married her probably in Shawwal in the 10th year of the dawah. She was also the eldest of all of the wives of the Prophet ﷺ. We do not have any dates of her age, but we know that she was the eldest and that she was a rather large lady and she would walk slowly. We know this because she herself tells us this: "In Hajjat al-Wada' (حجة الوداع - the Farewell Hajj [10 AH]), I asked permission from the Prophet ﷺ to leave Muzdalifah (مزدلفة) early to avoid the crowds because I am of a large build and I walk very slowly"—and Ibn Abbas was sent with her to avoid the rush. (Note: From this we get the fiqh position that on the night of Muzdalifah, anyone who has any need [the elderly, the weak, and those who need to take care of them] can leave and go to Makkah early.)
This surah came down perhaps 4 years after this incident; and according to Ibn Abbas, verse 11 is talking about the Banu Nadir's attempt to eliminate the Prophet ﷺ.
Ibn Abbas called this surah Surah Banu Nadir, and he refused to call it Surah al-Hashr. Why? Because "hashr" means "the gathering," and usually when Allah uses the term "hashr," He SWT refers to Yawm al-Qiyamah (يوم القيامة - the Day of Judgment); but in this Surah, it doesn't refer to Qiyamah. This is why Ibn Abbas felt strongly that it should not be called Surah al-Hashr.
One final story related to Banu Nadir which was peculiarly interesting. The books of Sirah gloss over this; it's found in some books of hadith. In Abu Dawud it's said on the authority of Ibn Abbas that there was a custom in Jahiliyyah that the women who had lots of miscarriages used to say, "O Allah, if you bless me with a son, I'll make him into a Jew." Why? Because the Arabs of Yathrib felt the Jews were superior to them. And frankly they were. Because the Yathribites were idol worshipers and the Jews were the People of the Book. In every single marker, the tribes of the Jews were at a higher level than the tribes of Yathrib: in civilization, education, wealth, religion, etc. So the women of Yathrib as a superstitious custom would say, "I would give my son as a Jew." So there was a group of such people who had been given over to the Banu Nadir. And these young men had grown up and been adopted by the Jewish tribes, and they were for all practical purposes considered Jews.
3. Another lesson we can derive from the story of Hassan b. Thabit is that there is no need for us to put people in pigeonholes or use derogatory adjectives; there is a place for artistry in Islam. A lot of our younger Muslims don't understand that the ummah needs not just Khalid b. al-Walids (military commanders), Abu Hurairahs (hadith narrators), Ibn Abbass and Ibn Umars (fuqaha), but also Hassan b. Thabits (poets/artists) — everyone has something to contribute.
Ibn Abbas says every time Allah says "asa (عسى - might/perhaps)" it means He will do it; so He will forgive. (So if we acknowledge we are sinful and ask for repentance, insha'Allah, Allah will forgive us.) Hasan al-Basri used to say, "This verse is the most optimistic verse in the whole Quran for me."
As for which tree it was, it's said Jabir b. Abdillah, who was still a young, 19 or 20 year-old man when he took the Pledge, says when he later becomes a blind old man, "If only I could see, I would show you exactly that tree we sat under." The tree is significant because Allah mentions it in the Quran [48:18] and the Prophet ﷺ sat under it for a long time getting the bay'ah. So clearly, there is a lot of history attached to the tree. Yet at the same time, it looks like the majority of sahaba really could not identify the tree. Why? Because all trees look the same. It's narrated in Sahih Bukhari that one of the companions said, "When we got there [the next year], we tried to find the tree, but no two of us could agree which tree it was." It's also narrated that within a decade or so after the death of the Prophet ﷺ, the Bedouins and the new converts began venerating the tree and built a masjid in the vicinity. One of the tabi-tabi'un saw this masjid in the middle of nowhere outside of Makkah, so he asked the people, "What is this?" The people said, "This is where the Prophet ﷺ gave the Bay'at al-Ridwan." So he went back to Makkah, and there was Sa'id b. al-Musayyib (سعيد بن المسيب) (the student of Ibn Abbas), who was very knowledgeable and one of the leaders of the tabi'un, he said, "My father was of those who took Bay'at al-Ridwan, but he and his companions could not figure out which tree it was. Are you telling me these people know better than the sahaba?"
i) His love for Zaynab (as narrated by Ibn Abbas);
Here there is a huge controversy in the books of fiqh. Ibn Abbas says the Prophet ﷺ married Maymunah in the state of ihram. It's an authentic hadith, but it raises a huge controversy because technically, you are not supposed to get married while in the state of ihram. (Side note: By unanimous consensus, the marriage was not consummated in Makkah; we are talking about the nikah contract, i.e., the aqd [عقد].) The question is, was the Prophet ﷺ in ihram when he did the nikah? Ibn Abbas says he was. But we have authentic narrations not the least of which is narrated by Maymunah herself, that, "When the Prophet ﷺ married me, he was outside of ihram." So this is clear-cut that he was outside of ihram. Ibn Abbas must have made an honest mistake. Some people try to say by "ihram" Ibn Abbas didn't mean the Prophet ﷺ was in ihram, but rather, he was "in Makkah inside of the Haram," but this reconciliation attempt seems a bit far-fetched. The majority position is the Prophet ﷺ did not marry Maymunah except after the ihram finished, and he was in the state of hil (حل).
So 3,000 signed up, and they left on a Friday in Jumada al-Awwal in 8 AH. We know it's Friday as Ibn Abbas narrated, "I said to myself, 'Should I leave with them or pray with the Prophet ﷺ Jumu'ah first?'" The army was leaving in the morning, and Ibn Abbas was debating whether he should pray Jumu'ah and catch up to them or leave with them in the morning. And he decided to wait and pray Jumu'ah with the Prophet ﷺ. When he finished, the Prophet ﷺ saw him in the masjid, and he ﷺ knew Ibn Abbas had signed up to go, so he asked him, "What is the matter with you? Why didn't you go?" Ibn Abbas said, "Ya Rasulullah, I wanted to pray with you and then catch up with them"—he thought he wanted to get extra reward by praying Jumu'ah. But the Prophet ﷺ said, "If you were to give sadaqa of all of the money of this world, you will not be able to get the reward of that having left early with them." Meaning he gave up the bigger reward of leaving early for a smaller reward.
The Battle of Mu'tah really had a serious psychological blow. The Prophet ﷺ lost the most beloved to him, Zayd b. Harithah who for all intents and purposes was his real son. Ibn Abbas says, "I never knew Zayd b. Muhammad was Zayd b. Harithah until Allah revealed the verse in Surah al-Ahzab [see Quran, 33:5]." And now he has died. Ja'far has died. And Ibn Rawahah has died.
Of course, Surah al-Nasr is a surah about the Conquest. And later on, many years later, in the khilafa of Umar b. Khattab RA, Umar would have a senior meeting with the elder sahaba —Ansar and Qureshi— and the youngest person to be admitted was Ibn Abbas, the cousin of the Prophet ﷺ, around 15-16 years old. Some of the elder sahaba objected to Ibn Abbas's admittance and said to Umar, "Ya Amir al-Mu'minin, we have sons older than him and you don't allow them to come to this gathering. Why are you allowing this man to come?" Ibn Abbas narrates the hadith, and it's in Bukhari: Ibn Abbas says, "One day, Umar called me — and I think he called me just to test me. And when all the people were gathered, he asked the sahaba in the gathering, 'Can you explain to me إِذَا جَاءَ نَصْرُ اللَّهِ وَالْفَتْحُ... (i.e., Surat al-Nasr)?'" And of course, Surah al-Nasr [110] is:
One sahabi said, "Allah is saying when He blesses you, thank Him." Another said something else generic. Then Umar RA turned to Ibn Abbas and said, "Now you interpret it." Ibn Abbas said —and he narrates this in the first person—, "They (the elders) have not spoken correctly. Rather, Allah is informing the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ that when Makkah is conquered, your time on earth is about to come to an end. So prepare to meet Allah by increasing your worship and seeking His forgiveness. Verily, Allah is ever Accepting of Repentance." Umar RA said, "This is the only knowledge I have of the surah," i.e., "You have spoken all that I know." (And with this, Umar RA made the point to the elders that this is why Ibn Abbas was admitted — because he has profound knowledge in tafsir; he's an intelligent young man.)
So, in fact, Surah al-Nasr is the beginning of the end. It tells us for the very first time that death for the Prophet ﷺ is close by. He's reached his pinnacle, he has achieved the Conquest of Makkah, and now there's a short time left. And Ibn Abbas understood this. This shows us the importance of the Conquest. Quite literally, the Conquest is the pinnacle. The Prophet ﷺ reached the highest point with the Conquest, and now he just has to wrap up a few last things before Allah will cause his mission on earth to come to an end. And as we know, barely 2 years after this, our Prophet ﷺ passed away.
So right outside Ta'if, for the first time ever, a catapult is built by the Muslims. Initially, the sahaba camped at a certain area, but they were showered with volleys of arrows, so the Prophet ﷺ told them to go to another location (and this location, by the way, later became the site of the first mosque in Ta'if; and to this day, that masjid is the main masjid of the city of Ta'if — it's called the Masjid of Abdullah Ibn Abbas; these days, that masjid is inside the city because the city has expanded; but when the Prophet ﷺ camped, the location was obviously outside the city). And at this place, the Prophet ﷺ began the actual siege. The sahaba tried a number of things: On one occasion, they used the testudo to come close to the walls, but the burning oil still got through and it burned many of them; so they fled from under the shield, but lo and behold, then the showers of arrows came, and a number of people died. So the Muslims grew a little bit desperate: What is to be done now? How do you attack a city with thick walls? What can you do? The battering rams did not work; the catapults caused some damage but they did not cause the doors to open.
And indeed, it turned out to be too large an army to handle. The army eventually ran out of rations, and they even ran out of water. And it's narrated Umar RA was asked by Ibn Abbas and others, "Tell us about the Expedition of Difficulty. What happened?" So Umar RA narrated, "We left with the Prophet ﷺ to Tabuk in extremely hot weather, and we reached a place where we felt so thirsty we thought 'our throats would collapse' (an Arabic expression meaning 'we would die'). And people went out in search of water, but they came back even more thirsty. Some people sacrificed their camels in order to squeeze the water out of the sack of the camel..." Subhan'Allah, they were so desperate they killed their camels to get any water they could. Now when you kill your camel, that means you have to walk the entire way back. But they still decided to kill the camel. Umar RA continued: "...Until finally, Abu Bakr pleaded with the Prophet ﷺ, 'Ya Rasulullah, make du'a for us.'" So the Prophet ﷺ said, "If you wish," and he raised his hands. And Umar RA narrates the Prophet's ﷺ hands did not come down until the sky began to pour with rain. And the sahaba were able to fill all of their canisters and containers with that rainwater.
So Allah called it the "time of difficulty," and that is what Tabuk is called. Qatada, the student of the student of Ibn Abbas commentates on this verse and says, "This verse refers to the Battle of Tabuk — they left towards Syria in the blazing summer, and they were tested severely, so much so it's mentioned two or more people were rationed one date per day." Subhan'Allah. "And they would split that date amongst themselves, and then they would take the date pit and suck on it one after the other to get some taste."
The sahaba donated whatever they could, and of course the lion's share came from Uthman b. Affan RA — it just so happened around 100 camels of his had returned from an expedition up north, thus when he heard this hadith above, he donated all that money in the thousands of gold coins. And so the Prophet ﷺ had in front of him all this pile of gold just from Uthman, and he began flipping this coin around in his hands saying, "Wallahi, whatever Uthman does after today, it will not harm him." Subhan'Allah. (Side note: This hadith is in Bukhari and Muslim, and Ibn Abbas used it to defend Uthman against the neo-kharijites [much later on, in 35 AH] — he said, "Whatever your fabricated complaints are, don't you know your own Rasulullah said whatever Uthman does will not harm him? If he said this, then who are you to complain?")
The Prophet ﷺ was amongst the sahaba and he had in his hand a tree branch. He said to Musaylimah, "Wallahi, if you asked me for this stick I wouldn't even give this to you. And Allah SWT will deal with you and humiliate you. And I am certain that you are what Allah showed me (i.e., the fulfillment of the prophecy [dream] that Allah had warned me about)." Many years later, Ibn Abbas asked Abu Hurairah, "What was that dream the Prophet ﷺ talked about?" Abu Hurairah said (hadith in Bukhari): I heard the Prophet ﷺ say, "Once when I was sleeping, I saw myself wearing two bracelets of gold (which of course is haram for men). And I felt disturbed at this. And it was inspired to me (in the dream) to blow on these bracelets. So I blew on them, and they broke off and went away from me. I interpret them to be two liars who will appear after me. And the first of them will be the one from the tribe of Anas (قبيلة عنس) (al-Aswad al-Ansi/الأسود العنسي), and the second will be Musaylimah from al-Yamama."
Also note some scholars say the private issues of the Prophet ﷺ are private so they shouldn't be discussed. In response Sh. YQ says, if Allah willed, they would be private, but He revealed Surah al-Tahrim because of it. And according to Sh. YQ, even some of the sahaba were not of the opinion that this matter should be kept private: Ibn Abbas said, "I was waiting for an opportunity for years to ask Umar b. al-Khattab about Surah al-Tahrim, until finally one opportunity came; I found him by himself, so I asked him, 'Ya Amir al-Mu'minin, who are the two women in Surat al-Tahrim?'" And Umar RA says, "Aisha and Hafsa"—subhan'Allah, it's his own daughter, yet Umar RA answered. Even he didn't keep it private.
Ibn Abbas narrates: "I was always anxious to ask Umar for over a year about the two ladies Allah mentions in the Qur'an (Surah al-Tahrim)." (Note: Look at Ibn Abbas's patience and eagerness, and also his respect for the time of Umar RA.) Ibn Abbas eventually found him alone and asked him the question, to which Umar gives the story of Maria which we've already discussed [see episode 97. But then, Umar RA goes on, "We were a people from the Quraysh who would dominate over women. Yet when we came to Madinah, we found that the people of Madinah were a group whose women dominated them. When we moved from Makkah to Madinah, our women learned from the women of the Ansar (to dominate men). I had a house situated in al-Awali, one of my wives lived there. One day, I became angry at my wife and I said something. And she responded back. So I rebuked her, but she said to me, 'You are rebuking me for responding back, but don't you know that the wives of the Prophet ﷺ respond back to him? So much so that sometimes they abandon him in anger, even for a whole day.'" Subhan'Allah, this shows us so many things: (i) the Prophet's ﷺ wives had learned the customs of Madinah; (ii) it also shows us the Prophet ﷺ is tolerating this — he is not enforcing the customs of Makkah; and (iii) the women of Madinah knew how the Prophet's ﷺ wives treated him.
In Bukhari, Ibn Abbas says, "One day, we woke up and rumors spread that all of the wives [of the Prophet ﷺ] had been divorced. And they were all crying. And all of their families were with them. So I went to the masjid. And it was full of people. And Umar came when the Prophet ﷺ was in his private room. He asked permission to enter three times (same as Umar narrated) and then he entered, and asked the Prophet ﷺ if he had divorced his wives. The Prophet ﷺ said, 'No, but I have done ila' for one month from them.' So he remained for 29 days away from his wives, and then he entered upon them after this."
— This is a reference to the Conquest of Makkah, that when the big Conquest comes and the help of Allah comes and all of mankind enters Islam by the armies, what should you do? Start praising Allah and asking forgiveness, for indeed, Allah forgives. And this, of course, is indicating that the end is about to come. Once, Umar RA, in his khilafa, quizzed the sahaba, "What does this Surah mean?"—and none of them understood, but Ibn Abbas said, "This was an indication to the Prophet ﷺ that the end of his time is about to come, and he should prepare to meet Allah SWT." [See also: episode 81.]