We begin by mentioning some of the names that Allah AWJ gave our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. He had many names. Many of his names were given by later people (i.e., the sahaba, tabi'un, and the early scholars), and one of the famous scholars of the Sirah has derived over 250 names for the Prophet ﷺ; but we will only mention some of the names that Allah has given him, because those are the primary names that have the deepest meaning.

From Jubayr b. Mutim (جبير بن مطعم), in Sahih Muslim, he said the Prophet ﷺ said: "I have a number of names. I am Muhammad, and I am Ahmad, and I am al-Mahi —the one whom Allah erases kufr (كفر - disbelief) through—, and I am al-Hashir —people will be resurrected after me—, and I am al-Aqib —the one who has no prophet after—."

And in another narration: "And I am Nabi al-Rahma, and Nabi al-Tawba, and al-Muqaffa, and Nabi al-Malahim."

The two nouns that the Quran (قرآن) explicitly mentions are Muhammad (محمد) and Ahmad (أحمد).

The name Muhammad is mentioned 4 times in the Quran (see [3:144], [33:40], [47:2], [48:29]), and the name Ahmad is mentioned 1 time from the tongue of Isa (عيسى - Jesus) AS (Alayhi al-Salam/عليه السلام - Peace Be Upon Him) in the Quran, "A messenger after me whose name will be Ahmad" [Quran 61:6]. Both names come from the root ح م د (h-m-d); and "hamd" means "to praise," but not any type of praise, it means to praise not in return for some favor given to you; a praise that is given simply because of the inherent characteristics in the one that you are praising; that is, he deserves to be praised for who he is. An object of perfection. He is worthy of being praised regardless of what he has done or has not done. And both of the Prophet's ﷺ names —Muhammad and Ahmad— come from "hamd." Why? Because Allah has praised him, the angels have praised him, all the prophets have praised him, and every single one of mankind praises him directly or indirectly. As for praising him directly, these are the Muslims — we praise him directly; and as for praising him indirectly, these are the non-Muslims — even those who reject the Prophet ﷺ by the tongue, they must praise his character and qualities. So he is praised in the heavens and the earth, in the previous umam (أمم - nations) and the present umam, in this dunya (دنيا - world) and the akhira (آخرة - Hereafter). This is the ultimate praise. There is no human before, now, or after, who is praised more than the Prophet ﷺ.

In a long sahih (صحيح - authentic) hadith (حديث - Prophetic tradition), it is narrated that on the Day of Judgment, everyone will know that Islam (إسلام) is the Truth (including the nonbelievers, even though of course it is too late to believe), so the people will all go to Adam (آدم - Adam) AS and say to him, "O Adam, you are our father, and Allah created you with His Hands, and Allah blew His ruh into you! Do you not see the situation your children are in?" They will ask him to go to Allah and beg Him to start the Reckoning and ask for forgiveness, but he will say, "I committed a sin I should not have done, and I am worried about myself"—and so he will say, "Nafsi (نفسي - myself), nafsi. Go to another person. Go to Nuh (نوح - Noah)." Humanity at large will then go to Nuh AS and make the same request, but he will also make an excuse, "I made a mistake which I should not have done. Allah told me not to ask anybody to be saved, but I asked Him to save my son and I disobeyed Him." So Nuh AS is also worried about himself and will say, "Nafsi, nafsi." Then they will go to Ibrahim (إبراهيم - Abraham) AS, and he will also make an excuse, "I made 3 lies" (even though technically they were not lies). Then they will go to Musa (موسى - Moses) AS who will also make an excuse, "I killed someone in anger" (even though it was an accident). Then they will go to Isa (عيسى - Jesus) AS who will also say he is not worthy. And so they will go to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and beg him to be an intercessor and representative to go in front of Allah for all of humanity. To do what? To begin the Reckoning. Just to begin it. Because the Day of Judgment is so hard they will say, "Whatever comes let it come! Let us just move on to whatever it is! The tension is too much!" So they will beg the Prophet ﷺ, and he will say, "Ana laha (أنا لها), ana laha — this is my job, this is my job." And because of this, all of humanity will praise him. And he will be given the Praiseworthy Station which in Arabic is called al-Maqam al-Mahmud (المقام المحمود). And because it is the Praiseworthy Station, who better then it be given to than the one who is Muhammad and Ahmad.

Both Muhammad and Ahmad mean "the one who is ultimately praised," but what is the difference? Muhammad means he is being given continuous praise, time after time, praise after praise — from the beginning of time, up until our time, until the Day of Judgment, on the Day of Judgment, and after the Day of Judgment. So Muhammad is for the quantity of the praise. As for Ahmad, it means he is being given the best type of praise. So Ahmad is for the quality of the praise. And both Muhammad and Ahmad are combined in our Prophet ﷺ who will be given the Praiseworthy Station.

Why is it that Prophet Musa AS predicted our Rasul (رسول - Messenger) with the name of "Muhammad," and Prophet Isa AS predicted our Rasul with the name of "Ahmad"? The famous scholar Ibn al-Qayyim (ابن القيم) said the wisdom behind this is that the largest ummah (أمة - nation) of true believers after our ummah is that of the Bani Israel (بني إسرائيل - Children of Israel, i.e., the Jews); therefore they were told the name that is fitting with them — because they were large in quantity. As for Prophet Isa AS, his followers were few, but they were very pious and great in quality — they were tortured and persecuted; the pagan Romans killed them, combed their skin with combs of iron, etc., but they persevered and they were truly devoted; so for them, the name Ahmad was mentioned.

As for his third name, the Prophet ﷺ explained it himself: Al-Mahi (الماحي) means the one whom Allah wipe out kufr through. "Through me, Allah SWT will wipe out kufr." Indeed the Arabian Peninsula was immersed in kufr, but in his own lifetime the entire peninsula then converted to Islam. And within 20-30 years, major bastions of kufr were converted to Islam and remained in Islam ever since; within 60-70 years, Islam reached the borders of China and Andalus where it remains to this day. Al-Mahi — the one who erases and effaces kufr.

Al-Hashir (الحاشر) — mankind will be resurrected at the feet of the Prophet ﷺ (i.e., right after him). What does this mean? One interpretation is that the coming of the Prophet ﷺ is the first sign of the DoJ (Day of Judgment), and therefore the Prophet ﷺ is al-Hashir. Another interpretation is that the Prophet ﷺ will be the first person to be resurrected on the DoJ and then everyone else thereafter. Indeed the prophets will be resurrected first and foremost, then the salihun (صالحون - righteous) and the shuhada (شهداء - martyrs), and then the rest of the ummah. So al-Hashir is the one that will signal the Hashar (Day of Judgment).

Al-Aqib (العاقب) — the successor; the one who cuts off; the one who is at the end. And by this it means he is the last prophet.

Nabi al-Rahma (نبي الرحمة) — the prophet of rahma (mercy).

Nabi al-Tawba (نبي التوبة) — the prophet of tawba (repentance). Meaning by believing in him and following his teachings, people can be forgiven.

Al-Muqaffa (المقفى) — the one who comes at the end and makes the message of the previous prophets complete; or the one who makes the message of the previous prophets not needed anymore because he comes with the complete message.

Nabi al-Malahim (نبي الملاحم) — the prophet that will signal lots of trials. And indeed the biggest trials the world will ever see (the Dajjal [دجال], the three major earthquakes, etc.) will occur in this ummah.

As for the Prophet's ﷺ khasa'is (خصائص - specialties) [something that only he was given and no other human being was given], some scholars have listed up to 50 unique and specific characteristics/blessings. Some of these include:

مَّا كَانَ مُحَمَّدٌ أَبَا أَحَدٍ مِّن رِّجَالِكُمْ وَلَٰكِن رَّسُولَ اللَّهِ وَخَاتَمَ النَّبِيِّينَ

"Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but (he is) the Messenger of Allah, and the seal of the prophets." [33:40]

And in another hadith, he said to the sahaba, "Do you wish your ummah should be ⅓ of the people of Jannah (جنة - Paradise)?" They said, "Allahu'akbar (الله أكبر - Allah is the greatest)!" Then he was silent. Then he said, "Would you be happy if I told you if your ummah is ½ of the people of Jannah?" They said, "Allahu'akbar!" Then he was silent. Then he said, "By Allah, my hope is that my ummah shall be ⅔ of the people of Jannah!" (Subhan'Allah [سبحان الله - Glory be to Allah]! Modern estimates say there are close to 2 billion Muslims on this earth today; so do the math — from the time of the Prophet ﷺ until the Day of Judgment; and then compare this to the real followers of the prophets who came before, i.e. the Bani Israel, the actual followers of Isa AS; how few must they be?!)

اللَّهُمَّ رَبَّ هَذِهِ الدَّعْوَةِ التَّامَّةِ، وَالصَّلاَةِ الْقَائِمَةِ، آتِ مُحَمَّدًا الْوَسِيلَةَ وَالْفَضِيلَةَ، وَابْعَثْهُ مَقَامًا مَحْمُودًا الَّذِي وَعَدْتَهُ

"O Allah! Lord of this perfect call (perfect by not ascribing partners to You) and of the regular prayer which is going to be established — give Muhammad the Wasila and Fadila, and resurrect him on the Praiseworthy Station that You promised him (of)" [Sahih Bukhari].

Even those who mocked him, ridiculed him, drew diagrams against him in this dunya, will be praising him on the DoJ. And in the akhira, he ﷺ will be given al-Wasila and al-Fadila.  

It is the sunnah of Allah (سنة الله - the custom of Allah) that He sends prophets with the most perfect characteristics, inner and outer, so that mankind has no reason to reject the messenger. As we know, Prophet Yusuf (يوسف - Joseph) was given half of all beauty. Some scholars say this means half of all beauty of mankind (this is the majority opinion); but some scholars say it means half of the beauty of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ because —according to this opinion— the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is the most handsome and beautiful of the entire creation.

We have many narrations that describe the physical features of our Prophet ﷺ. It is reported in al-Tabarani's (الطبراني) al-Mu'jam al-Kabir (المعجم الكبير) and Bukhari's Kitab al-Manaqib (كتاب المناقب) that once, a son of an old sahabiyya (صحابية - female Companion) asked his mother al-Rubayyi' bint Muawwidh (الربيع بنت معوذ) after the Prophet ﷺ had passed away, "What was the Prophet ﷺ like?" She said, "O my dear son, if you were to have seen him, you would have thought that the sun had risen up." It is amazing that she described him as a sun, and another sahabi Kaab b. Malik (كعب بن مالك) described him as a moon. Kaab said, "Whenever the Prophet ﷺ was happy, his face would light up as if it was the full moon." It is beautiful that the sahaba are describing the Prophet ﷺ with what they know to be the most beautiful.

There is a tradition that almost makes you want to cry: The tradition of Amr b. al-As (عمرو بن العاص). He used to be of the leaders of the Quraysh (قريش) who were against Islam, and he only had the opportunity to be a sahabi for a few years. Later on in his life, he would say, "There was nothing sweeter or more beloved to me than to stare at the face of the Prophet ﷺ." The beauty and nur (نور - light) of the Prophet ﷺ was so great that Amr is saying there is nothing sweeter than to simply look at his face ﷺ. "I could never get enough of looking at him. And yet were you to ask me how he looked, I couldn't describe him. Because along with this desire to stare at him, there was also this awe I had that couldn't allow me to stare directly at him, and I had to look down." So there were two types of powers emanating from the Prophet ﷺ: the first of them is attracting Amr's vision to him, and the second is making him look away. "Even though I loved to stare, I couldn't." This is coming from a nobleman of the Quraysh, and this is how humbled he was just by the appearance of the Prophet ﷺ.

Most of the descriptions of the Prophet ﷺ come from the younger sahaba. Indeed, they didn't have the same type of emotions as the older sahaba. Anas b. Malik (أنس بن مالك) was introduced to the Prophet ﷺ at 7 years old, and he would serve him all day. In the Shama'il (شمائل) of al-Tirmidhi (الترمذي), Anas said, "The Prophet ﷺ was neither very tall such that he stood above the crowd, nor was he short such that he would be ignored. And he was neither extremely white nor was he ruddy brown." (Note: Generally speaking, when the Arabs used the word "white," they meant a lightish brown; and what we call "white," they called it "yellow.") "The Prophet's ﷺ hair was not in curls nor was it straight. And I never felt any velvet or silk softer than the hand of the Prophet ﷺ, nor did I smell any musk or perfume more fragrant than the smell of the sweat of the Prophet ﷺ." Indeed, Ummi Salama (أم سلمة) used to collect his sweat in a jar to use it as perfume and medicine.

Al-Bara' b. Azib (البراء بن عازب) described the Prophet ﷺ: "The Prophet ﷺ was of medium stature and he had broad shoulders; and his hair was thick." (Note: The thickness of his hair ﷺ had been narrated by at least five different sahaba. "His beard was very bushy," "His hair is very full," etc. And the Prophet ﷺ would grow his hair until it went down to his earlobes.) "Once, I saw him wearing a red hulla (حلة - cloak/jacket), and I never saw anything more beautiful than him on that night."

The Prophet's ﷺ cousin Ali b. Abi Talib (علي بن أبي طالب) said, "The Prophet ﷺ did not have a narrow face nor was it round, it was slightly ovalish. He had whitish skin (lightish brown). His eyes were large with jet-black pupils, and his lashes were long. His joints were large as was his upper back (broad shoulders). And he did not have hair all over his body, but he did have a fine line of hair extending from the chest to the navel. When he walked, he would walk briskly (fast) as if he was descending down a slope"—and some scholars say it was as if Allah made the earth humbled to him. "And when he turned, he would turn to face with his whole body. And between his two shoulders was the Seal of the Prophethood — and he was the seal of the prophets." (Note: The Prophet ﷺ had a physical Seal on his body that Allah gave him. And this was to be a sign by which he would be recognized by the People of the Book [Jews and Christians] as a true prophet. It was a small growth of hair of a different color than the usual color of his body hair in between his shoulder blades [more on this later]. And most famously, Salman al-Farisi accepted Islam because of this Seal.) "And whoever unexpectedly saw him would stand in awe of him. And whoever accompanied him and got to know him would love him. And those who described him would always say, 'I have never seen anyone before him or after him who was like him.'"

Jabir b. Samura (جابر بن سمرة) was going home one night when there was a full moon. And he just happened to pass by the Prophet ﷺ and he ﷺ was wearing a red hulla. Jabir narrated, "I looked at the face of the Prophet ﷺ and the full moon; and wallahi (والله - [I swear] by Allah), the Prophet ﷺ was more beautiful in my eyes than the full moon."

And many people accepted Islam just by seeing his face ﷺ. The most famous was the chief rabbi of the Jews of Madinah (مدينة - Medina), Abdullah b. Salam (عبد الله بن سلام). He had heard of a man coming and claiming to be a prophet (the first day the Prophet ﷺ arrived in Madinah), so he wanted to go and see the message. This hadith is in Bukhari: Abdullah b. Salam said, "As soon as I saw him ﷺ, I knew this face cannot be the face of a liar." So one conversation and he accepted Islam right then and there just by looking at his face ﷺ.

Along with the external beauty, of course our Prophet ﷺ was blessed with internal beauty: humility, modesty, simple lifestyle, etc.

i) Sahih Muslim: Once, Umar b. al-Khattab (عمر بن الخطاب) entered upon the Prophet ﷺ when he was lying in his small compartment in the masjid (مسجد - mosque), and there was nothing but a jug of water and a small bed made out of the branches of a date palm tree. (Note: This is the 7th or 8th year of the Hijrah when the Prophet ﷺ is the undisputed leader of a large chunk of Arabia.) When Umar comes in, he ﷺ sits up to greet him. And because of the date palm branches, there was a red mark dented into the side of the Prophet ﷺ. That was when Umar started crying: "O Messenger of Allah! How can we allow you to live like this. Look at the kings of Rome and Persia how they live! Surely you deserve better!" And to this, the Prophet ﷺ simply said, "O Umar, are you not happy that they have the dunya, and we have the akhira?"

ii) In Tirmidhi, Aisha bint Abi Bakr (عائشة بنت أبي بكر) described, "The bed the Prophet ﷺ used to sleep on was a leather skin that sometimes we would stuff with date palm leaves (to make it softer)." And it is narrated that once, one of the wives of the Prophet ﷺ folded up her own half of the bed to give the Prophet ﷺ extra (to make it more comfortable for him). And because of this, he ﷺ slept longer than usual. And so when he woke up and realized what had happened, he told her to change it back, as he didn't want this comfort, as it prevented him from waking up for tahajjud (تهجد).

iii) Aisha RA (radiyAllahu anha/رضي الله عنها - may Allah be pleased with her), the wife of the Prophet ﷺ, said, sometimes the Prophet ﷺ would not taste meat for 6 weeks. So her nephew Urwah b. al-Zubayr (عروة بن الزبير), forty years down the line, asked her, "O my Mother (Mother of the Believers), how did you live?" She said, "We lived by eating the two dark things: dates and dirty water."

iv) In a narration, it is said that when good food was brought to Abd al-Rahman b. Awf (عبد الرحمن بن عوف), he began to cry and said, "Till the day the Prophet ﷺ died, he never ate wheat bread to his fill! And not even his family!" And then Abd al-Rahman added, "I worry that Allah SWT has allowed us to remain for such a long time that we are seeing all of these blessings come and the Prophet ﷺ has gone on to something that is better." That is, he is worried that he is getting all of his ajr (أجر - reward) in this dunya when everyone else has gone on to enjoy their ajr in the Hereafter.

v) In many narrations, it is said that Aisha RA would also begin to cry when good food was given to her. Indeed, she lived 40 years after the death of the Prophet ﷺ when the money started flowing in, and sometimes people would gift her items and good food. And she would say the same thing as Abd al-Rahman b. Awf: "The Prophet ﷺ never ate [even] crusty or hard bread to his fill in his life."

vi)  Before the money came in and Islam came to power, the sahaba lived tough times in the early phase of Madinah. In Sahih Muslim1, Abu Hurairah reported that one day or one night, the Prophet ﷺ went out (of his house), and there he found Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (أبو بكر الصديق) RA (radiyAllahu anhu/رضي الله عنه - may Allah be pleased with him) and Umar RA. He ﷺ said: "What has brought you out of your houses at this hour?" They said: "Ya Rasulullah, it is hunger." Thereupon, he ﷺ said: "By Him in Whose Hand is my life, what has brought you out has brought me out too. Get up." So they got up along with him, and (all of them) came to the house of an Ansari (Abu al-Haytham b. al-Tayhan [أبو الهيثم بن التيهان]). But the Ansari was not at home. And when his wife saw the Prophet ﷺ, she said: "Most welcome." And the Prophet ﷺ said to her: "Where is so-and-so (Abu al-Haytham)?" She said: "He has gone to get some fresh water for us." And when the Ansari came and he saw the Prophet ﷺ and his two Companions, he said: "Alhamdulillah! No one has more honorable guests today than I (have)!" He then went out and brought them a bunch of ripe dates, dry dates, and fresh dates, and said, "Eat some of them." He then took hold of his long knife (for slaughtering a goat or a sheep). And the Prophet ﷺ said to him: "Beware of killing a milch animal." And he slaughtered a sheep for them. And after they had eaten of it and of the bunch and drank, and when they had taken their fill and had been fully satisfied with the drink, the Prophet ﷺ said to Abu Bakr and Umar: "By Him in Whose Hand is my life, you will certainly be questioned about this bounty on the Day of Judgment [see Quran, 102:8]. Hunger brought you out of your house, then you did not return until this bounty came to you."

i) The Prophet ﷺ frequently rode donkeys even though he had a camel named al-Qaswa' (القصواء).

ii) During the Battle of Badr (غزوة بدر), the Prophet ﷺ distributed the camels amongst the people. (And there were ~313 people and ~75 camels, so roughly 3 or 4 people per camel. — And some people had horses, etc.). And the Prophet ﷺ assigned Ali and Abu Lubaba (أبو لبابة) as his own companions. (And put yourself in their shoes: if you had to share a camel with the Prophet ﷺ, of course you would say, "Take it, ya Rasulullah! It's yours!") And so they said to him ﷺ, "We are young men in our 20s, we can walk. You take the camel, ya Rasulullah!" (Note: Indeed the leader and commander deserves extra respect and extra protection; the commander is someone who is not treated like the private, so the Prophet ﷺ could have said, "Okay, fine." Or he ﷺ even could have said, "No. Let us all share the camel.") [But] he ﷺ didn't want to make them feel that he was doing them a favor by turning down their generous offer, so he ﷺ smiled and said, "Neither are the two of you any stronger than me, and nor am I in any lesser need of the ajr than you two. So we are going to share [the camel]." Subhan'Allah.

i) Anas b. Malik said, "I served the Prophet ﷺ for 10 years, but not once did he rebuke me. Not once did the word uff (أف) comes from his mouth." (Note: Uff is the least word to express irritation; "tsk" would be the equivalent in English). "And not once did the Prophet ﷺ say, 'Why did (or didn't) you do this (or that)?'" This is of the perfection of the manners of the Prophet ﷺ. Subhan'Allah.

(Tangent: Anas b. Malik was a Companion of the Prophet ﷺ who lived for over 110 years, which was an exceptional lifespan during a time when the typical age of death was around 30 years. According to historical accounts, Anas's mother gave him to the Prophet ﷺ in servitude, hoping that he would pray for her son's well-being. The Prophet ﷺ fulfilled this request by making a supplication to Allah, asking for blessings in Anas's life, wealth, and progeny. And this prayer had a profound impact on Anas's life, as he went on to become a successful businessman with a great deal of wealth, and he lived long enough to see his grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and even great-great-grandchildren. This remarkable lifespan and success are all due to the blessings of the Prophet's  ﷺ prayer for him.)

ii) There is another beautiful narration as well: Anas b. Malik said, "Once, the Prophet ﷺ sent me on a chore. But on the way, I saw some kids playing. So I started playing with them and completely forgot about the chore"—Anas is a kid at the end of the day. Then the Prophet ﷺ came out in search, and he found him playing with the street children. And Anas narrates: "[Suddenly,] somebody held on to my ears and picked me up. And so I turned around. And it was the Prophet ﷺ smiling at me"—the Prophet ﷺ was playing with Anas, not even getting irritated.

iii) Even when people showed him the utmost contempt and disrespect, he ﷺ maintained his dignity. In Sahih Muslim2, Aisha RA reported that once, a group of Jews came to the Prophet ﷺ and sought his audience. And when it was granted, they said to him ﷺ, "Al-sam-u-alaykum (السام عليكم - death be upon you)"—in mockery of the greeting of the Muslims (al-salam-u-alaykum/السلام عليكم - peace be upon you). Aisha RA heard this, so she said in response, "Rather, may death be upon you, and also curse!" At this, the Prophet ﷺ said to her, "O Aisha, verily Allah loves kindness in every matter [i.e. You don't have to stoop to their level]." When the Jews left, she said to the Prophet ﷺ, "Didn't you hear what they said? [i.e. They said 'sam,' not 'salam'!]" The Prophet ﷺ said, "Did you not hear that I said (to them): 'Wa alaykum (وعليكم - and upon you)'?"—he ﷺ maintained his dignity and composure, and he didn't curse back at them.

i) Ali b. Abi Talib said in reference to the Battle of Badr, "When the fighting would become severe, we would seek refuge around the Prophet ﷺ."

ii) Anas b. Malik said, "Once in Madinah in the middle of the night, people heard a loud commotion outside and they did not know what it was, so they timidly came outside wondering what the noise was. But they found the Prophet ﷺ had already gone in the direction of the commotion alone, and he found the horse of Abu Talha (أبو طلحة); and he simply rode the horse back without a saddle; and he had his sword around his neck; and he was galloping/coming back to the people of Madinah saying, 'You have nothing to fear, I have checked it out.'"

i) He ﷺ would never refuse any request/asking of him. Ever. This is why a sahabiyya said, "It was possible for any little girl to go to the hand of the Prophet ﷺ for help."

ii) It is narrated that once, the Prophet ﷺ was wearing a garment that had holes in it, so one of the sahaba gifted him a very beautiful garment. And he wore this garment. Then another sahabi asked him, "Ya Rasulullah, can you give me this garment as a gift?" This is the very garment he just got as a gift! But immediately, the Prophet ﷺ said yes. And then he ﷺ went back home and came back wearing the tattered garment. And so all of the sahaba jumped on this sahabi and said, "How could have you asked the Prophet ﷺ this! You knew he would never turn down a request!" But the sahabi said, "Before you get angry at me... I am not doing this to wear! I want to use this as my kafan (كفن - shroud)! To show the generosity of the Prophet ﷺ in front of Allah!"

The Prophet ﷺ was blessed with a great sense of humor. Having humor shows your humanity and down-to-earthness. And there are so many instances of the jokes of the Prophet ﷺ. And all of his jokes are pure, clean, and truthful. Even his jokes are true. Even when he caused people to laugh, it was something that was true.

i) Once an old lady came to the Prophet ﷺ and said, "O Messenger of Allah! Make du'a that Allah causes this old lady (herself) to enter Jannah." The Prophet ﷺ looked at her and said, "O my aunt, have you not been informed that old ladies do not enter Jannah?" At this she began to wail and cry. Then he ﷺ told her, "Do not cry, for wallahi, old ladies do not enter Jannah; but Allah SWT will first make her into a young, fair maiden, and then she will enter Jannah." That is, you are going to be young and beautiful when you enter Jannah. And then he ﷺ recited the verse:

إِنَّا أَنشَأْنَاهُنَّ إِنشَاءً

"We bring them forth with a new beginning" [see Quran, 56:35].

ii) And the story of Aisha RA when the Prophet ﷺ was on his deathbed (note: he ﷺ literally had 4-5 days left to live; and of course, nobody knew this at the time, except him): It so happened that Aisha herself felt a little sick on one of the days and she had a severe headache, so she was crying, "Oh, my head! Oh, my head!" To this, the Prophet ﷺ said, "Rather, oh, *my* head! (I have a worse headache than you)." And to calm her down, he cracked some jokes, "O Aisha, what would you lose if you died right now? The one to do ghusl (غسل - washing) for you, and to pray your janazah (جنازة - funeral prayer), and to bury you, would be me." Aisha RA says, "I am sure you would like that to happen, because then you would be free to go to your other wives." Subhan'Allah, he is joking on his deathbed. And from this joke, scholars have derived fiqh (فقه - Islamic ruling): the permissibility of a spouse doing ghusl for [the janazah (dead body) of] his/her spouse — because the Prophet ﷺ never spoke except the truth. Al-Shawkani (الشوكاني) has a chapter in his book pertaining to this, and he mentions this hadith.

iii) It is reported in Tirmidhi that there was a young man by the name of Zahir b. Haram (زاهر بن حرام) whom the Prophet ﷺ used to love a lot. We don't know much about him, but there was something about him that the Prophet ﷺ loved. He was a simple sincere believer. Once, the Prophet ﷺ saw him in the souq (سوق - marketplace) selling some things: "Who is going to buy this from me? Who is going to buy this from me?" etc. So the Prophet came from behind quietly, grabbed him, and gave him a body-lock/bear-hug. At this, Zahir asked, "Who is this?!" And when he saw it was the Prophet ﷺ, he leaned back to the chest of the Prophet ﷺ to get as much barakah. Then as a joke, the Prophet ﷺ shouted out, "Who is going to buy this abd (عبد - slave) from me?" (Note: In those days, if you said who is going to buy an "abd" in a marketplace, of course it meant a real slave. But here the Prophet ﷺ meant abd = slave of Allah. Again, even in his joke, he ﷺ is not lying.) At this, Zahir said, "O Messenger of Allah, in that case, you are going to get a very bad bargain. I am not going to sell very expensive"—Zahir had very low self-esteem. And to this, the Prophet ﷺ said, "You are very expensive in the Eyes of Allah SWT." This is a beautiful story that shows the humanity of the Prophet ﷺ.

i) The Prophet ﷺ had an immense amount of love for his ummah. Allah AWJ says:

لَقَدْ جَاءَكُمْ رَسُولٌ مِّنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ عَزِيزٌ عَلَيْهِ مَا عَنِتُّمْ حَرِيصٌ عَلَيْكُم بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ رَءُوفٌ رَّحِيمٌ

"There has come to you a messenger from amongst you, he finds it difficult to bear your hardships, he is ever eager for you, to the believers he is full of compassion and mercy" [Quran, 9:128].

ii) It is narrated in Sahih Muslim that: Once, the Prophet ﷺ was reciting the Quran and he came across a number of verses. Of them is the famous verse when Ibrahim AS said, "My Lord [...] whoever follows me is with me, and whoever disobeys me—then surely You are [still] All-Forgiving, Most Merciful" [see Quran, 14:36]. And then he ﷺ came across the verse of Isa AS in Surah al-Ma'idah (سورة المائدة) saying, "[O Allah,] If You punish them, they belong to You after all. But if You forgive them, You are surely the Almighty, All-Wise" [see Quran, 5:118]. (In other words, Isa  AS wanted Allah to forgive his ummah.) So the Prophet ﷺ recites these two verses both of them regarding prophets making du'a for their ummah, and then he starts thinking of his own ummah, so he raises his hands to Allah and says, "O Allah, my ummah! O Allah, my ummah!" and he began to cry. Thereupon, Allah told Jibril, "Go to Muhammad and ask him why he is crying"—and of course Allah knew why he was crying. And so Jibril came to Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and asked him, "Why are you crying?" The Prophet ﷺ said, "I am crying thinking of my ummah and thinking of what will be their fate." Then Jibril went back to Allah. And then Allah said, "O Jibril! Go back to Muhammad and tell him We shall please you, and not displease you regarding your ummah." In other words, Allah is going to bless the ummah of the Prophet ﷺ because He SWT wants to please the Prophet ﷺ! Subhan'Allah.

iii) The greatest indication of the love that the Prophet ﷺ had for his ummah:

Allah SWT has given every single prophet one wish that He will never reject — and some of the prophets used it against their people who disobeyed. E.g. Nuh AS after making dawah (دعوة) for 950 years, he said, "My Lord! Do not leave a single disbeliever on earth" [Quran, 71:26] — so Allah destroyed all humanity except the Mu'minun (مؤمنون - Believers), that is Nuh AS, some of his children, and their spouse. As for Ibrahim AS, he made that famous du'a for the Prophet ﷺ, "Our Lord, send from amongst them a messenger" [see Quran, 2:129]. (Note: This verse is why the Prophet ﷺ said, "I am the du'a of my father Ibrahim.") And Musa AS made du'a against Fir'awn (فرعون - Pharaoh) [see Quran, 10:88], and it was answered. And Sulayman (سليمان - Solomon) AS made the du'a, "My Lord! Forgive me, and grant me an authority that will never be matched by anyone after me. You are indeed the Giver [of all bounties]" [Quran, 38:35], so Allah gave him powers no one had, e.g., given the control over wind & jinn [see Quran, 38:36-38] — jinns were building and diving and bringing treasures etc. for Sulayman. And he could speak to animals [see Quran, 27:16] and even to ants! All the animals became his servants [see Quran, 27:17]. This is the du'a of Sulayman.

So you see now what this du'a can give the prophets.

And our Prophet ﷺ had the biggest and greatest du'a — and what did he use it for? He used it for us. He said in a hadith, "Every single rasul (رسول - messenger) and nabi (نبي - prophet), Allah has given him one du'a that He never rejects. And every single nabi has used it up in this world, except for me. I have saved it for my ummah and I will use it for them on the Day of Judgment." And the du'a will be: "O Allah, forgive my entire ummah!" And Allah will accept this du'a, in that, every single Muslim who believes and acts upon even a little bit of his teachings ﷺ will eventually be forgiven and enter Jannah. All because the Prophet ﷺ saved that one du'a for us. Subhan'Allah. There can be no greater sacrifice than this. This shows us the love that he ﷺ had for us.

We conclude by mentioning a beautiful hadith reported in Bukhari: Anas b. Malik narrates: A man came to the Prophet ﷺ and said, "O Messenger of Allah, when is the Day of Judgment?" The Prophet ﷺ asked him back, "What have you prepared for it when it comes?" The man was silent for a while, and then he said, "I really do not have that much salah (صلاة - prayer), siyam (صيام - fasting), or sadaqa (صدقة - charity), but I have a genuine love for Allah and His Messenger." Thereupon, the Prophet ﷺ said, "A man shall be with he whom he loves [in Jannah]." And Anas commented as he was narrating the hadith, "Wallahi, we were never as happy and overjoyed as we were on that day when we heard that a man shall be with he whom he loves. Because we love the Prophet ﷺ and we want to be with him [in Jannah], but we thought our levels would be so different that we would never get to see him."

So let us have a genuine love for the Prophet ﷺ. Let us understand the sacrifices he made for us. Let us understand what a great personality he was. And most importantly, let us study his life and times so that we can implement and follow his teachings and come closer to Allah SWT. Allah says in the Quran:

قُلْ إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللَّهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِي يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللَّهُ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ

"Say, 'If you truly love Allah, then follow me. Allah will love you and forgive your sins'" [see Quran, 3:31].

May Allah SWT make us amongst those who truly follow the Prophet ﷺ, and may He forgive our sins.

Why should we study the Sirah?

لَّقَدْ كَانَ لَكُمْ فِي رَسُولِ اللَّهِ أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ

"Indeed there is for you, in the messenger of Allah, an exemplary manner, a perfect conduct" [see Quran, 33:21]. We have the perfect example to follow. And therefore, the study of the life & times of our Prophet ﷺ is the study of someone we must follow. And amazingly, no matter which angle we look at the Sirah, we will benefit from it:

(i) In terms of religion: how the Prophet ﷺ worshiped Allah

(ii) In terms of manners and morals: his mercy and tenderness

(iii) In terms of leadership: how he led the Muslims to success

(iv) In terms of how he was as a father and a husband

The purpose of Allah sending prophets is so that we have a living example to follow. Allah tells us in the Quran that if He had wanted, He could have sent angels [see Quran, 17:95]. But what would the nonbelievers have done if Allah sent angels? They would have rejected them [see Quran, 6:8-9].

Indeed, of the perfection of Allah's wisdom is that He sent down human beings —people like us, flesh and blood— so that we don't say, "But we can't be like them." They are born of women, they marry and have children just like us. The only difference is they are chosen by Allah and are made role models.

وَكُلًّا نَّقُصُّ عَلَيْكَ مِنْ أَنبَاءِ الرُّسُلِ مَا نُثَبِّتُ بِهِ فُؤَادَكَ

"We are going to recite to you the stories of the previous prophets in order that your heart attain affirmation" [see Quran, 11:120]. That is, to increase the Prophet's ﷺ optimism and Iman (إيمان - faith/belief/confidence). So how about us then? Don't we deserve even more so that our Iman goes up when we study the life and times of the Prophet ﷺ?

To summarize: The study of the Sirah is the study of (i) the best, and (ii) the best, and (iii) the best, and (iv) the best:

(i) It is the study of the life and times of the single best human to ever live. The Prophet ﷺ said, "I am the leader & the paragon of virtue of the children of Adam, and I am not saying this out of arrogance."
(ii) And the best time — the time of the sahaba.
(iii) And the best generation — the generation of the sahaba.
(iv) And the best place — Makkah and Madinah. (Note: These are the holiest cities on earth. But who knew this and really cared about Makkah and Madinah until the Prophet ﷺ lived there? As for Madinah, it *became* holy in the life of the Prophet ﷺ, as he said, "I am making Madinah holy like Ibrahim made Makkah holy [by the permission of Allah].")

So in every angle, it is the best of the best of the best of the best.

Therefore, studying the Prophet's ﷺ life and times is studying our religion. It is studying the rise of the phenomenon of our religion – how Allah brought about the revolution of Islam – how He brought about an entire change of mind – how Islam changed the world. By studying these 23 years of the life of the Prophet ﷺ (and yes, it is *only* 23 years from the beginning of his risala [رسالة - message] [i.e. prophethood] until his death), the miracle of the Sirah will benefit us in each and every aspect.

How do we know what happened 1400 years ago? Where do we get our stuff from? What are our sources?

(i) It is the speech of Allah, so we cannot doubt it

(ii) The eloquence is unparalleled, e.g., how beautifully Allah describes the Incidents of Badr (بدر) and Uhud (أحد)

(iii) It explains the ghayb (غيب - unseen) — any historian will record the outward, but the Quran records the outward and inward, e.g., Quran [47:29], [3:153]; and also the ghayb, e.g., Quran [3:124], [48:1]

However, of the 'issues' of the Quran is that (i) it is not chronological, and (ii) it does not mention reference. For example, Allah does not mention the word "Uhud" in the Quran, so we need to know that a portion of Surah Ali-Imran (سورة آل عمران) was revealed for Uhud. So the Sirah and the Quran go hand in hand: You need the Sirah to understand the Quran, and you need the Quran to understand the Sirah.

(i) Sahih al-Bukhari (صحيح البخاري),

(ii) Sahih Muslim (صحيح مسلم),

(iii) Sunan Abi Dawud (سنن أبي داود),

(iv) Jami' al-Tirmidhi (جامع الترمذي),

(v) Sunan al-Nasa'i (سنن النسائي), and

(vi) Sunan Ibn Majah (سنن ابن ماجه).

We wish we had these early books, but unfortunately, we don't. But we do have books that were written in the very next generation which shows us that Sirah was compiled even before hadith because of its importance.

And of course the greatest scholar of Sirah is Ibn Ishaq (ابن إسحاق) (d. 150 AH) who authored the Seeratu Rasulillah (سيرة رسول الله - Life of the Messenger of Allah) a.k.a. Seerat Ibn Ishaq (سيرة ابن إسحاق - Sirah by Ibn Ishaq). His name is Muhammad b. Ishaq (محمد بن إسحاق) and he was born in 85 AH. He lived in Madinah where the Prophet ﷺ lived and died. He grew up around the sahaba, their children and grandchildren, and he wrote everything he heard from them. He had a huge passion for Sirah and began to compile events in chronological order unlike the earlier treatises. He compiled a very large book (around 10-15 volumes), and just to be on the safe side, he even traveled to other cities, e.g., Basra (البصرة) and Kufa (الكوفة), to discover the stories of Ibn Mas'ud and others. One of the best things about Ibn Ishaq is he compiled everything with isnad (إسناد - chain of narrators). Isnad is a uniquely Islamic phenomenon, it does not exist in any other religion or culture. Isnad tells us where the story comes from. In Islam, we always verify authenticity. We know every person in the chain: when he was born, when he died, how good was he of a Muslim, did he have a good memory, etc. And thus we can judge the isnad.

Then another student (or to be more precise, student of a student) called Ibn Hisham (ابن هشام) (d. 218 AH) came along. His name was Abd al-Malik b. Hisham (عبد الملك بن هشام), and he authored al-Seerat al-Nabawiyyah (السيرة النبوية - the Life of the Prophet) a.k.a. Seerat Ibn Hisham (سيرة ابن هشام - Sirah by Ibn Hisham). The average Muslim should be aware of these two sourcebooks of the Sirah: Seerat Ibn Ishaq (primary) & Seerat Ibn Hisham (secondary). The difference between these two books is: Ibn Hisham realized Ibn Ishaq's volumes were too big, so he decided to summarize Seerat Ibn Ishaq. He did not add anything but rather subtracted. He deleted and made it into a book that is much more manageable, and now it is available in 4 volumes. Again, in those days there was no printing press, so if you wanted a book, you had to write it cover to cover — this is one of the reasons why he reduced. Also, Ibn Ishaq was one of the first people to write a history of humanity — from Adam AS to Nuh to Ibrahim to Musa all the way to the Prophet ﷺ; so Ibn Hisham deleted this entire section of earlier history and other information about the life of the Prophet ﷺ he deemed unnecessary. Over time, people began copying Ibn Hisham; and today, if you want to buy a copy of the book, you have to buy Seerat Ibn Hisham (سيرة ابن هشام), you won't find Seerat Ibn Ishaq anymore.

However, there was a very famous scholar by the name of Dr. Hamidullah (حميد الله) (d. 2002 CE) came along, he became one of the greatest scholars/researchers in Orientalism, and he discovered many manuscripts of Islam in various lands of Europe; and one of them was a partial copy of [Seerat] Ibn Ishaq — around ¼ of the entire book. He edited and published it, and when now we compare Ibn Ishaq to Ibn Hisham, we find that it is exactly as Ibn Hisham said — he simply cut off around half of the work of Ibn Ishaq. What did he cut off? Long poetry, the lineage of the Arabs, etc. So now when we read Ibn Hisham, we know for sure that we are reading something written just around 100 years after the death of the Prophet ﷺ, and this is amazing.

So these are the primary sources of Sirah.

(8) And to this, modern people have added sources that are not found in Muslim lands: A new genre of research in academia, Islamic studies in America and the Western world which deals with what the Romans and Persians say about the Prophet ﷺ and the Arabs/Muslims at the time.

Now we begin talking about pre-Islamic Arabia. We begin by discussing who the Arabs were. This is a topic of genealogy, of ethnicity. Who are the Arabs the Prophet ﷺ appeared amongst? This is the topic that Ibn Ishaq himself begins with.

The scholars have divided Arabs into two broad categories:

2a) Qahtan (قحطان) — he is considered to be the father of the Arabs. His son was named Ya'rab/Ya'rib (يعرب); and Ya'rab is where the term Arab (عرب) comes from. And it is said that Ya'rab b. Qahtan (يعرب بن قحطان) was the first to speak Arabic — the Arabic language is traced back to him. Now who is Ya'rab and who is Qahtan? Amazingly, we do not know. Where did Qahtan descend from? The majority opinion says he descended from the son of Nuh AS called Sam. (Tangent: Legend has it Nuh AS had 3 sons: [i] Sam [سام] is one of the three, and he is the father of the Semites including the Jew race, the people who spoke Aramaic, Ibrahim AS, etc. And [ii] his brother Yafith [يافث] is the father of the Roman race, the Caucasians. And [iii] his brother Ham [حام] is the father of the Africans. The Bible says this; and there is a da'if [ضعيف - weak] hadith in al-Tirmidhi that supports this, so Allahu a'lam [الله أعلم - Allah knows best]). So this opinion says Qahtan and Ibrahim AS both come from Sam but there is no direct connection between them. Another opinion is that Qahtan is in fact the descendant of Ibrahim AS — this is a minority opinion. A third opinion is that Qahtan is in fact the descendant of Hud (هود) AS — but this is a very weak opinion. Allah knows best, but the majority position seems to be that Qahtan is *not* linked to Ibrahim AS except that they were both descendants of Sam. When did Qahtan live? Once again, we have no idea, but he lived *way* before the second category of the Remaining Arabs which is Adnan [see below] — we have to make this a point. Where did the Qahtanis live? They lived in the southern portion of Arabia; and they had a number of dynasties and kingdoms, e.g., the Kingdom of Saba' (مملكة سبأ), Himyarites (مملكة حمير), and Ghassanids (غساسنة). The Aws (الأوس) and the Khazraj (الخزرج) in Madinah were also Qahtanis. These are called the Original Arabs (al-Arab al-Ariba/العرب العاربة) because they invented/spoke Arabic.

2b) Adnan (عدنان) — he is the ancestor of the Prophet ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ is Adnani, so we know a lot about Adnan. Who is Adnan? One of the descendants of Ismail (إسماعيل - Ishmael) AS. Now as we know, Ibrahim AS is originally from Ur (أور - an ancient city in Iraq), then his son Ismail AS is left as a baby with his mother Hajar (هاجر - Hagar) in Makkah in an area where Qahtanis don't normally inhabit — a barren land; and one of the tribes of Qahtan, Jurhum (جرهم), passes by, and Ismail AS marries into them (so his children are a mixture of Ibrahim's AS and the Qahtanis' blood), and they begin speaking the language of the Qahtanis that is Arabic, and a few generations down, a luminary appears by the name of Adnan. So as we said, Adnan is one of the descendants of Ismail AS. Al-Tabari (الطبري) mentions 7 opinions1 about the lineage between Ismail and Adnan: one opinion says there are 7 generations between them; another opinion says 8, another says 9, another 10, and another 41; but at the end of the day, we do not know. And then from Adnan, the Arab tribes spring forth. All of the Adnani tribes, most famously Quraysh, go back to Adnan, who goes back to Ismail AS. The Adnani Arabs are called the Arabs Who Learned Arabic (al-Arab al-Musta'riba/العرب المستعربة). Why? Because Arabic was not their language — they learned it from al-Arab al-Ariba. There is no difference of opinion that the Prophet ﷺ is the 20th offspring of Adnan. Now, the Adnanis actually spoke better Arabic than the Original Arabs. Why? Because they settled in central Arabia — because it was geographically central, all of the other tribes, including the Original Arabs, went through and interacted with them, so they began to take the best of all the Arab cultures, and eventually, they became more eloquent and prestigious than the Original Arabs. And our Prophet ﷺ came from them.

We need to understand the tribes and lineage of the Arabs to fully understand the Sirah of the Prophet ﷺ.

We know every nation had a prophet. And one of the prophets of the Arabs was Ibrahim AS. And Ibrahim AS sanctioned many practices which remained for thousands of years until the coming of the Prophet ﷺ. These include:

وَمَنْ دَخَلَهُ كانَ آمِناً

"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.

(Side note: Many non-Muslim researchers say these practices of Islam are taken from pagan culture. But this is all a matter of perspective. For the non-Muslims, they are not looking at the fact that these practices are coming from Ibrahim AS. So according to their perspective, they say the Prophet ﷺ adopted certain practices from paganism and then added his own two cents. But we say no, he ﷺ adhered to the original monotheism of Ibrahim AS, and he cleansed away the paganism.)

Now if the Arabs had a prophet who was Ibrahim AS and he taught tawhid (توحيد - monotheism), then where did paganism come from? The Prophet ﷺ told us when and where and how it began. Sahih Muslim: The Prophet ﷺ said, "I saw Amr b. Luhay al-Khuza'i (عمرو بن لحي الخزاعي) wandering around in the Fire of Hell with his entrails cut open behind him"—being punished in a humiliating manner. Why? Because he was the first to change the religion of Ismail. He was the first to introduce superstitions. Allah says in the Quran:

مَا جَعَلَ اللَّهُ مِنْ بَحِيرَةٍ وَلا سَائِبَةٍ وَلا وَصِيلَةٍ وَلا حَامٍ

"It was not Allah who instituted (superstitions like those of) a slit-ear she-camel or a she-camel let loose for free pasture or idol sacrifices for twin-births in animals or stallion-camels freed from work" [5:103].

Amr b. Luhay is the one who began these superstitions.

It is narrated that Amr b. Luhay traveled to Syria where the Amaliq (عماليق - Amalekites) reside — a tribe of tall people. He found them to be a powerful civilization that worships idols. He asked them, "What are these idols you worship?" They told him, "These are our sources of power — when we are in drought, when we are in hunger, when enemy attacks, we pray to these idols and miracles happen." Amr said, "Can you gift me one of these?" And they gave him an idol by the name of Hubal (هبل). So this became the first idol of the Arabian Peninsula and also became the main idol of the Quraysh. (Tangent: This is why hundreds of years later, in the Battle of Uhud [غزوة أحد], when Abu Sufyan [أبو سفيان] thought his pagan army had won against the Muslims, he shouted, "U'lu Hubal [أعل هبل - Hubal has won]!" He mentions the very idol Amr first brought. [See episode 49.] And the Prophet ﷺ said to Umar RA, "Respond back to him [Abu Sufyan]." Umar asked, "How do I respond back?" The Prophet ﷺ: "Allah is our Protector and you have no protector!") The point being Amr brought this idol back and put it in front of the Kabah, and this is how paganism started in Arabia.

Amr b. Luhay also changed the talbiyah (تلبية) for Hajj. The original talbiyah is, "Labbayk'Allahumma labbayk! Labbayka laa shareeka laka labbayk! (لبيك اللهم لبيك، لبيك لا شريك لك لبيك - Here I am, O Allah, Here I am! Here I am, You have no partner, Here I am!)" But Amr b. Luhay changed it to, "Labbayk'Allahumma labbayk. Labbayka laa shareeka lak illaa shareekan huwa lak tamlikuhu wa maa malak (لبيك اللهم لبيك، لبيك لا شريك لك إلا شريكاً هو لك، تملكه وما ملك - Here I am, O Allah, Here I am. Here I am, You have no partner except for a partner who belongs to You, and You control the partner and all that he controls)," which basically says, "You have partners, O Allah. But You are the big boss"—just like ancient Greek that has a main god and minor gods. Amr b. Luhay invented this new talbiyah and thus new religion. (However, it's worth noting that according to some, it wasn't him who invented this new talbiyah, but rather, some people a few generations after.)

When did Amr b. Luhay live? Unfortunately, we can never know precisely, because the Arabs had no real measure of dates. They did not record in dates, but rather, in occasion, e.g., Am al-Fil (عام الفيل - Year of the Elephant). They did not have a calendar (nor did they import the Roman/Persian/Jewish calendars) until Umar RA began the Islamic calendar, so they used to demarcate dates by marking big events, e.g., "the Year of the Elephant," "2 Years Before the Big Battle," "3 Years After the Elephant Attack." So obviously, when it comes to translating when Amr b. Luhay al-Khuza'i lived, it is impossible for us to fully comprehend. But we know Amr belonged to the generation around the same time as Fihr (فهر) —the founder of Quraysh— so we can roughly estimate he must have lived around the 1st century of the Christian Era, so ~500 years before the coming of the Prophet ﷺ. So over 500 years paganism spread.

The question now is how can one man single-handedly change the entire religion of their forefathers Ibrahim AS and Ismail AS?

Three factors:

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.

History records that there are some exceptions to this paganism. The books of Sirah mention there were a handful of people that were hanif (حنيف) (plural: hunafa' [حنفاء]) which means "turning away from." They are called the hunafa' because they turned away from shirk (شرك - polytheism/idolatry) to Allah. One hunafa' was Quss b. Saidah (قس بن ساعدة) from Banu Iyad (إياد), an old man around the age of 80-90 when the Prophet ﷺ saw him as a young man in his 20s. Quss would come to Makkah for the Hajj and he was preaching against idolatry. And he was one of the most eloquent of poets — it is said that his language resembled the language of the Quran. E.g.:

يا أيها الناس، اسمعوا وعوا، وإذا سمعتم شيئا فانتفعوا، إنه من عاش مات، ومن مات فات، وكل ما هو آت آت

"O people! Listen to me and understand! And when you hear, then benefit! Because whoever lives, of a surety will die! And whoever dies, has finished! And everything that Allah has decreed, will indeed come about!"

And he has:

يا معشر إياد، أين ثمود وعاد، وأين الآباء والأجداد، أين المعروف الذي لم يشكر، والظلم الذي لم ينكر، أقسم قس بالله إن لله لدينا أرضى من دينكم هذا

"O people of Iyad! Where is Thamud, and where is Ad? Where are your fathers, and where are your grandfathers? And who will reward the one who does good but he was never rewarded? And who will punish the one who does injustice but he was never punished? I swear by Allah that there must be a religion better than the religion you are upon!"

It is said that 40 years later, in the 9th year of Hijrah, when Banu Iyad came to accept Islam, the Prophet ﷺ asked the tribesmen, "Where is Quss b. Saidah?" But they said he died a long time ago. The Prophet ﷺ said, "I remember him on a red camel and he had a mesmerizing speech. Can anybody amongst you remind me of it?" So they related what we know (above), and the Prophet ﷺ liked what Quss had said. This shows there were some remnants of tawhid even in pre-Islamic Arabia.

The most important hunafa' were the following four. Ibn Hisham narrates a very beautiful story: Before the coming of the Prophet ﷺ, the Quraysh held a huge festival outside of Makkah and they exalted the idols, did tawaf around them, etc. When the entire city of Makkah left for the festival, four people found themselves remaining behind. And they realized they were on the same wavelength — upon tawhid. So they befriended each other. They were:

- We know that Khuwaylid (خويلد) the father of Khadija (خديجة) was also b. Asad. So Waraqa and Khadija were cousins. But Waraqa was ~40 years older.

- This is the cousin of the Prophet ﷺ through his father. Ubaydillah's mother is the Prophet's ﷺ aunt. Aunt meaning Abd al-Muttalib's (عبد المطلب) daughter.

- The first cousin of Umar b. al-Khattab b. Nufayl (but again, Zayd is ~40 years older)

So they befriended each other and said, "We all know that our people are upon misguidance; they had left the pure religion of Ibrahim AS. Are we going to do tawaf around a stone that can neither benefit us nor harm us? Let us search for the original religion of Ibrahim AS: The hanifiyah (حنيفية)"—the Arabs knew that Ibrahim AS was a hanif. Then they all split up and left Makkah in search of the Truth.

As for Waraqah b. Nawfal, he eventually chose Christianity and rejected the religion of the Quraysh. He was an old blind man in his 80s when the Prophet ﷺ heard Iqra (اقرأ) (i.e., when the Prophet ﷺ received the first revelation). Everyone knew he was a learned scholar who reads and writes, and he speaks Hebrew and Aramaic. So when Iqra came, Khadija RA (the wife of the Prophet ﷺ) said to the Prophet ﷺ, "Let us go to Waraqa." And Waraqa recognized the revelation that the Prophet ﷺ had received (Islam) to be the religion that the Christians were waiting for. And indeed, Waraqa was the first male convert to Islam. Even before the Prophet ﷺ realized he was a prophet and was wondering what was that entity that came to him, Waraqa knew straight away and said, "This is the same entity who came to Musa and Isa. This is the Namus (ناموس - the Secret Companion), Jibril!" And he said, "How I wish I were a young man now so that I can support you when your people persecute you and expel you!" The Prophet ﷺ was shocked, "My people will expel me?" Waraqa said, "Yes! Never has any prophet come with the Truth except that his own people opposed him." And just a little while after this event, Waraqa passed away.

Ubaydullah b. Jahsh has the saddest story. He initially converted to Christianity, and when the Prophet ﷺ preached Islam, he converted to Islam, he married Ummi Habiba (أم حبيبة) and migrated to Abyssinia, but when in Abyssinia, he became a murtad (مرتد - apostate) — he reverted back to Christianity, and that's when Ummi Habiba left him. He died shortly after; and then as we know, Ummi Habiba married the Prophet ﷺ.

Uthman b. al-Huwayrith too accepted Christianity, and he remained this until he died. We don't know if he heard the message of the Prophet ﷺ, because he left Makkah before the birth of the Prophet ﷺ (or when the Prophet ﷺ was a little child), never to return. He traveled to Rome and became an interpreter for Rome.

Zayd b. Amr b. Nufayl did not convert to Christianity or Judaism. It is narrated that he told both the rabbis and priests, "This is not the religion of Ibrahim and you know it." So he returned back to Makkah and told his people once he had become mature and respected, "O people of Quraysh! There is no one left upon the religion of Ibrahim in this whole city other than me!" Asma bint Abi Bakr (أسماء بنت أبي بكر) (the older sister of Aisha RA) said she remembers as a young child seeing Zayd b. Amr rebuking the Quraysh for worshiping idols, for giving meat to the idols, and for trying to bury their daughters alive. In fact, when any Qureshi wanted to kill their daughter, Zayd b. Amr would say, "Give her over to me, I will take care of her and I will bring her up. She will become my daughter"—so he would adopt all of the daughters that the Quraysh wanted to kill. This shows us his generosity and kind heart. And he refused to participate in any of their idolatry. It is authentically mentioned that the Prophet ﷺ met Zayd b. Amr when the Prophet ﷺ was young, and he asked, "What is the matter between you and your people? Why is there animosity?" (Note: This shows us that our Prophet ﷺ even as a young man had an inquisitive mind.) Zayd b. Amr said, "I cannot worship idols." And the Prophet ﷺ himself never worshiped an idol ever, so he found a kindred spirit with Zayd b. Amr. Zayd b. Amr continued upon his tawhid religion and died five years before the Prophet ﷺ began preaching Islam. Once, his son, Sa'id b. Zayd (سعيد بن زيد), who was a sahabi and one of the Ashara Mubasharun (العشرة المبشرون - The Ten Who Were Promised Jannah), asked the Prophet ﷺ, "O Messenger of Allah, you know my father, and you remember what he was upon. What will be his fate in the akhira?" The Prophet ﷺ said, "He will be resurrected on the Day of Judgment as his own ummah"—he was a one-man ummah. And when the Prophet ﷺ went back from al-Isra' wal-Mi'raj [see episodes 21-23], he said to Sa'id, "I saw your father in Jannah. And Allah had blessed him with not one, but two Gardens!" So this shows that even before the coming of Islam, people managed to enter Jannah, because their fitrah (فطرة - natural disposition) rejected paganism and idolatry. And Zayd b. Amr b. Nufayl is a one-man ummah; the only ummah without any prophet.

The Romans were upon Christianity, and the Persians/Sassanids were upon Zoroastrianism (Ahura Mazda, Ahriman, etc. — a type of pagan religion).

Christianity — To make a long story short, after Allah raised Isa AS, there were three major strands of Christianity:

For 300 years, Christians debated over what is the meaning of Christianity — who is Jesus: is he a God, is he a son of God, is he a prophet, etc.

Before Christianity, the Romans were pagans, and they were the worst enemies of the Christians. Stories have it they would find Christians and throw them to the lion pits, Emperor Nero would burn Christians alive, making the whole city of Rome burn alight by Christians' bodies, etc. So for 200-300 years, Christians were martyrs, until a miracle happened, that is the Emperor of Rome converted to Christianity — and this was quite a shock. (Note: The equivalent in our time would be: "The President of the US converted to Islam!") Constantine was the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. Then he convened a whole council with the Christians to figure out what Christianity is — and he was a pagan from before, so he wanted some paganistic elements in Christianity, so he invented 25th December, halos, Trinity, son of God, etc., and in 325 CE, he decreed that official Christianity is Pauline Trinitarian Christianity; and all the Unitarians/Jewish Christians were persecuted and killed. So Pauline Christianity became the standard, and from it we get the Orthodox, the Catholic, the Protestant, etc., i.e., 99.9% of the Christians today.

By the time the Prophet ﷺ was born (570 CE), there were only a handful of remnants of the Jewish Christians left, e.g., the teachers of Salman al-Farisi:

Salman al-Farisi (سلمان الفارسي) was the son of a priest in Persia. His father was the one who kept the fire lit. (Note: Zoroastrians have to keep the fire lit 24/7, they are not allowed to cut it off — they believe the fire is eternal. E.g., even when they build a new temple, they have to import an ever-lit fire from another temple where the fire is already lit.) The father of Salman al-Farisi taught him how to keep the fire going.

Salman al-Farisi told us his story from his own lips1. He said: "I come from Isfahan (أصفهان), from a place called Jai (جي), and I was the most beloved son of my father, who was a figure of high esteem among his people. We used to worship fire. I devoted myself to fire worship until I became custodian of the fire which we lit and never allowed to be extinguished. My father had an estate. And one day, he sent me there. I passed by a church and heard Christians praying. And I went in and saw what they were doing. And I was impressed by what I saw in their prayers. I said, 'This is better than our religion.' And I did not leave them until sunset, and I completely forgot about my father's estate, nor did I return to my father until he sent people to search for me. I asked the Christians about their affair and prayers which impressed me, and about the origin of their religion. They answered, 'In Syria.' I said to my father when I returned to him, 'I passed by people praying in a church, and I was impressed by their prayer, and I could see that their religion is better than ours.' And my father questioned me and I questioned him, and then he put fetters on my feet and locked me up. Then I sent word to the Christians saying I had entered their religion, and I requested that whenever a caravan came from Syria, they should tell me before its return in order for me to travel with the caravan, and so they did. I broke loose from the iron fetters and went away. I set out with the caravan for Syria. And when I reached Syria, I asked the people there, 'Who is the best person in your religion?' They said, 'The bishop in the church.' So I went to him and told him my story. And I lived with him, serving, praying, and learning. But this bishop was a bad man — he would collect money from people claiming he would distribute it in charity, but he would keep it for himself and did not give it to the poor. When he died, I told his people the truth. And they asked, 'How do you know that? Show us where his treasure is.' So I showed them where it was and brought out seven chests filled with gold and silver. When they saw that, they said, 'By God, we will never bury him.' Then they crucified him and pelted him with stones. Then they brought another man and appointed a new bishop in his place. I have never seen a man better than him; he shunned this world and sought the hereafter and no one strove harder than him night and day in worship. I loved him as I had never loved anyone before, and I stayed with him for a while. Then when he was about to die, I said, 'O So-and-so, I was with you and I loved you as I had never loved anyone before, and now the decree of God is upon you. To whom would you recommend me? And to whom would you leave me?' He said, 'O my son, I do not know anyone who is on the path I am and who leads the kind of life I lead, except a certain man in Mawsil (موصل - Mosul).' When he died, I went to that man in Mawsil, and told him the story, and I stayed with him as long as God wished me to stay. Then death approached him. So I asked him, 'To whom would you advise me to go?' He directed me to a pious man in Nisibin (نصيبين - Nusaybin). So I went to him and told him my story. I stayed with him as long as God wished me to stay. When death overtook him, I asked him as before. And he told me to meet a person at Amuriah (عمورية - Amorium) in Byzantium. So, to Byzantium I went and stayed with that man, earning my living there by rearing cattle and sheep. Then death approached him, and I asked him, 'To whom should I go?' He said, 'O my son, I do not know of anyone who follows our way to whom I can advise you to go. But there has come the time of a prophet, who will be sent with the pure religion of Ibrahim (Abraham). He will migrate to the place of palm trees. If you can be sincere to him, then do so. He has three signs with which you will recognize: (1) he does not eat of charity, (2) yet he accepts gifts, and (3) between his shoulders he has the Seal of the Prophethood.' And a caravan passed by me on that day. So I asked them where they had come from, and learned that they were from the Arabian Peninsula. So I told them, 'I give you these cattle and sheep of mine in return for your taking me to your land.' And they agreed. So they took me in their company until they brought me to Wadi al-Qura (وادي القرى), but there they wronged me — they sold me to a Jew as a slave. But I saw many palm trees and cherished the hope that it was the land that had been described to me which would be the future place of the advent of the prophet. But it was not. And I stayed with this Jew who bought me until another from Bani Qurayza (بنو قريظة) came to him one day and bought me from him. And I stayed with him until we came to Yathrib (يثرب) (later to be Madinah). By God, I had hardly seen it when I knew that it was the land described to me. And I stayed with the Jew, working for him on his plantation in Bani Qurayza until God sent His Prophet [ﷺ], who later emigrated to Yathrib and dismounted at Quba (قباء) [see episode 30 among the Bani Amr b. Awf (بني عمرو بن عوف). Indeed, one day, I was at the top of a palm tree with my master sitting below it when a Jewish man came. He was a cousin of his and said to him, 'May God destroy Bani Qayla (بني قيلة)! They are spreading a rumor about a man at Quba who came from Makkah claiming to be a prophet.' By God, he had hardly said it when I was seized by a tremor, and the palm tree shook until I almost fell on my master. And I climbed down quickly saying, 'What are you saying? What news?' But my master gave me a nasty slap and said, 'What have you got to do with this? Return to your work!' So I returned to work. At nightfall, I gathered what I had and went out until I came to the Prophet [ﷺ] at Quba. I entered and found him sitting with some of his Companions. Then I said, 'I have heard that you are a righteous man and that you have Companions who are strangers and are in need. So this is something that I have to give in charity, and I see that you are more in need of it than anyone else.' And I put the food down. And the Prophet [ﷺ] said to his Companions, 'Eat,' but he refrained from eating. So I said to myself, 'This, by God, is one sign. He does not eat of charity!' Then I returned to meet the Prophet [ﷺ] again the next day, carrying some food, and said to him, 'I see that you do not partake of charity. So I have something which I want to give to you as a gift.' And I placed it before him. And he said to his Companions, 'Eat,' and he ate with them. So I said to myself, 'This indeed is the second sign. He eats of gifts.' Then I returned and stayed away for a while. Then I came to him, and I saw him sitting, having returned from a burial in Baqi' al-Gharqad (بقيع الغرقد), and surrounded by his Companions. And he had two garments, carrying one on his shoulder, and wearing the other. I greeted him, then bent to see the upper part of his back. And he knew what I was looking for, so he threw aside his garment off his shoulder and, behold, the sign between his shoulders, the Seal of the Prophethood, was clear just as the Christian monk had described. So at once, I staggered towards him, kissing him and weeping. And he called to me to come forward and I sat before him. And I told him my story as you have heard me describe the events. And I became a Muslim. But slavery prevented me from taking part in the Battles of Badr and Uhud. Therefore, the Prophet ﷺ advised me, 'Go into terms with your master for him to free you,' and so I did [see episode 57. And the Prophet ﷺ told the Companions to assist me. And God freed me from bondage. And I became a free Muslim, taking part with the Prophet ﷺ in the Battle of al-Khandaq (غزوة الخندق) and others. And after that, I did not miss any major event with him."

Salman's story shows how few real Christians were left. The monk in Byzantium said, "I do not know of anyone who follows our way to whom I can advise you to go." This shows that the teachers of Salman were upon the version of Christianity that was not Pauline — as they had knowledge that's not found in the New Testament, i.e., the knowledge that's lost after Constantine burned all Christian books other than 4 that affirmed his belief.

Another story in Bukhari shows how few real Christians were left, in the story of Emperor Heraclius. Unlike most politicians in the world, he was an intelligent and educated man. And he was trained in Christianity. When the Prophet ﷺ wrote a letter to the emperors (in the 8th and 9th year of the Hijrah), he wrote one to Heraclius as well. (Or to be more precise, he wrote one to the governor of Bosra so that he would send it to Heraclius. But it so happened that Heraclius was visiting Jerusalem at the time, so he got the letter earlier [see episode 71.) And the letter says:

من محمد بن عبد الله إلى هرقل عظيم الروم: سلام على من اتبع الهدى، أما بعد فإنى أدعوك بدعوة الإسلام . أسلم تسلم ويؤتك الله أجرك مرتين ، فإن توليت فإن عليك إثم الأريسيِّين.

قُلْ يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ تَعَالَوْا إِلَىٰ كَلِمَةٍ سَوَاءٍ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَكُمْ أَلَّا نَعْبُدَ إِلَّا اللَّهَ وَلَا نُشْرِكَ بِهِ شَيْئًا وَلَا يَتَّخِذَ بَعْضُنَا بَعْضًا أَرْبَابًا مِّن دُونِ اللَّهِ ۚ فَإِن تَوَلَّوْا فَقُولُوا اشْهَدُوا بِأَنَّا مُسْلِمُونَ

In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy

From Muhammad son of Abdullah to Heraclius the Leader of the Romans:

Peace be upon he who follows the guidance.

As to what follows: I invite you with the invitation of Islam. If you submit, then you will find safety, and God will double your reward. If you turn away, you will bear the Arians' sins.

"Say, [O Prophet,] 'O People of the Book! Let us come to common terms: that we will worship none but God, associate none with Him, nor take one another as lords instead of God.' But if they turn away, then say, 'Bear witness that we have submitted [to God alone]'" [Quran, 3:64].

Heraclius read the letter, and then he inquired of his advisors, "Are there any Arabs in town?" They said, "Yes, it just so happens a trading caravan from Makkah is in Jerusalem." So Heraclius ordered these Arabs to be brought to his palace. And lo and behold, it was none other than Abu Sufyan (who at the time was not a Muslim). And after a long conversation between them, Heraclius told Abu Sufyan at the end, "If what you tell me is true, then this is indeed the prophet that our scriptures have predicted." Pause here. There is no clear prediction in the current New Testament. So clearly, Heraclius must have had access to the hidden scriptures (much like the Vatican) and realized that, "This is indeed a true prophet of God." He said, "I knew he was coming, but it never occurred to me that he would be from the Arabs." Heraclius then wrote to his confidant who was a bishop who was on the same wavelength as him, and the bishop confirmed, "Yes, he (the Prophet ﷺ) meets all the signs."

Yet Heraclius did not accept Islam as he could not give up being the emperor of Byzantium. So he died upon his faith.

So in this dismal darkness, the Prophet ﷺ was sent. This is exactly what the Prophet ﷺ said:

ألا إن ربي أمرني أن أعلمكم ما جهلتم مما علمني يومي هذا

وإن الله تعالى نظر إلى أهل الأرض فمقتهم عربهم وعجمهم إلا بقايا من أهل الكتاب

"My Lord has commanded me to teach you that which you were ignorant of. And Allah looked at the whole world and He despised everyone, except for some remnants of the People of the Book" [Sahih Muslim].

We conclude by mentioning a few benefits from today's halaqa:

The standard narrative goes that: the Arabs can be divided into two broad categories.

And so these civilizations, they no longer exist, obviously. And their progeny, according to the majority and dominant opinion (and we will come to another opinion), has been completely exterminated; that Allah SWT basically exterminated all of them. And these civilizations flourished five to six thousand years ago, i.e., from the earliest dawn of the recorded civilization. And some of them were destroyed by Allah SWT, such as Ad and Thamud. And others were forced to evacuate or wiped out by war. So the point is these are called the Ancient Arabs, and they are simply in the textbooks of history.

2a) The first of these are: al-Arab al-Ariba (العرب العاربة), or if you want to be in English: the Pure Arabs. The Arabs who were pure Arabs.

2b) And the second: al-Arab al-Musta'riba (العرب المستعربة). The Arabs Who Became Arab; the Arabs who learned the Arabic language.

So far so clear?

So you have the Original Arab (al-Arab al-Ariba); then you have the Arabs Who Became Arab; the Arabs who took the Arabic language (al-Arab al-Musta'riba). And there are two figures that the legend says are the founders of each of these. These two figures are not brothers, obviously. They are two separate categories.

The first of them, al-Arab al-Ariba. They say they are (primarily they say), this is Qahtan (قحطان). Or some say his son Ya'rub (يعرب). And from that, they say we get "Arab (عرب)." Ya'rub — those who were the descendants of Ya'rub, they became Arab. And they say Ya'rub was the first who spoke the beginning of Arabic. So they say Ya'rub spoke a language — they called it Ya'rab. And his, basically, people were called Arabi, from this person Ya'rub, the son of Qahtan.

And they are also called Qahtani Arabs (العرب القحطانية). So his father is Qahtan. So they say this is Qahtani Arabs.

And these Arabs primarily were found in southern parts of Arabia, such as the ancient Yemeni civilizations. The ancient civilizations of Yemen. Who was Qahtan? Qahtan was one of the descendants of Sam (سام). Who is Sam? Sam is the son of Nuh (نوح). And from Sam, we get the English term Semite. Semite. So from Sam we get, "These people are Semites."

Now common legend. Biblical and even hadith (there is a hadith [حديث] that some scholars have said is authentic, some said is not authentic). There is a hadith in Tirmidhi (الترمذي): Our Prophet ﷺ said, "Sam (سام) is the father of the Arabs. And Yafith (يافث) is the father of the Romans. And Ham (حام) is the father of the Africans"—this hadith is in Tirmidhi.

And legend. Even the Bible has the exact same thing, that Nuh had basically... eventually there were three sons. And these three sons, from them all of the races came. Sam, Yafith, and Ham. And Sam is the father of the Semite people, Yafith is the father of the Romans, and Ham is the father of the Africans. And this is the standard Biblical narrative. And it is also the standard Islamic narrative as well. Of course modern science does not accept any of this because they have their own theories.

Having said that by the way, modern science does say that the Semite people have a certain gene — so there is some evidence. But obviously, modern science does not hold this to be true.

So Qahtan is one of the Semites. And of course, Ibrahim (إبراهيم) is also one of the Semites eventually. Ibrahim and Qahtan are both descendants of Sam. Qahtan and Ibrahim are not brothers or contemporaries — we don't know when Qahtan lived, but Qahtan's ancestor, Ibrahim's ancestor, are both Sam. And therefore both Ibrahim and Qahtan are Semites.

However of course, the lineage of Ibrahim, we consider more pure — our Prophet ﷺ came from that; in that sense, meaning the sense of Ibrahim AS.

Now some people say that this man, Qahtan, was actually one of the descendants of the Ancient Arabs (al-Arab al-Ba'ida). So he was not just a total stranger wandering in, but rather that some Ancient Arabs remained, and one of these people was Qahtan, and he flourished at a time and a place we have no idea, anything really, about him other than southern Yemen basically, and that his children were called the Pure Arabs because his son is the founder, let's say, of the Arabic language, Ya'rub. So Ya'rub is the founder of the Arabic language.

Now as I said, we do not know when Qahtan flourished. By the way, Imam al-Tabari (الطبري) said that Sam has two different branches. One of them goes to Ibrahim, and another goes to Qahtan.

And other people say (other scholars say) that Qahtan is of the descendants of Hud (هود) AS. Hud. And of course Hud also is one of the ancient Arab al-Ariba. But the point is we do not know when he lived, and most likely Qahtan was predating Adnan (عدنان) by many centuries. Who is Adnan? That is the second category of Arabs — and these are the Arab al-Musta'riba (the Arabs Who Became Arab). Okay?

So once again, two large groups: the Qahtani Arabs (العرب القحطانية) and the Adnani Arabs (العرب العدنانية).

And all the Arabs are familiar with these two big branches. These are the two mother branches. The Qahtanis are those who lived in Arabia from the ancient times after the destruction of the first Arabs. Clear? Very ancient times. But not from the earliest of times — that is al-Arab al-Ba'ida.

So then who are the Arabasized Arabs (the Adnani Arabs)? These Arabs are of the descendants of Ismail (إسماعيل). One of the descendants of Ismail (Allah knows how many generations down), his name was Adnan. And Adnan obviously... where does his lineage come from? It goes back to Ismail, the son of Ibrahim; and where was Ibrahim living? In Arabia? No. Where was Ibrahim living? Iraq and Sham. Iraq and Sham and Filastin now. Right? Ibrahim is from up there. So they say therefore, that these Arabs (Adnan basically) are Musta'riba — they acquired the Arabic language, because Ibrahim was not speaking Arabic, he was speaking ancient Semitic language which is the mother of Hebrew and Arabic — some language that is neither Arabic nor Hebrew, it is some ancient Semitic language. However, most likely it is closer to Hebrew than it is to Arabic. Most likely, this language that Ibrahim spoke is closer to ancient Hebrew than it is to Arabic.

So where did Arabic come from? The Qahtani Arabs. Okay? And so when the descendants of Ismail, basically, lived in the Arabian Peninsula, they obviously have to adopt and take in the Arabic language. Now obviously, human linguistics and knowledge tells us that they must have added to the language as well — every time a civilization comes, you also add to the language. So the Adnani Arabs — and who is Adnan? One descendant of Ismail. How many people between Adnan and Ismail? We will come to that, but very simplistically: we do not know. And Adnan is a direct ascendant of our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. So our Prophet ﷺ is an Adnani Arab. Not a Qahtani. He is an Adnani. He has to be Adnani because Adnan is of the sons of Ismail AS. And our Prophet ﷺ is the 20th grandchild of Adnan. So between our Prophet ﷺ and Adnan is exactly 20 generations.

By the way, for the Arabs here: So Adnan, one of his great-great-great-great-grandchildren was Mudar (مضر). And his brother was Rabi'a (ربيعة). So Mudar and Rabi'a are the two main branches of Adnan.

Footnote here: There is an entire science of classical Islam, which is one of the rarest sciences alive to this day, and that is the science of ilm al-ansab (علم الأنساب). The science of lineage. That people literally memorize every one of these branches and trees and whatnot. And that is a science that the Arabs prided themselves on. And anybody who was knowledgeable of ansab was considered to be what we would consider a well educated man — "He has read all the classics." In those days what are the classics? It's the ansab; it's the lineage and genealogy.

So our Prophet ﷺ is of the descendants of Adnan.

When did Adnan live? I did as much research that I could find here — there is a report from Ibn al-Kalbi (ابن الكلبي). And Ibn al-Kalbi is one of the greatest ulama of ansab (d. 204 AH). Very early scholar, and one of the founders of the history of writing genealogy. Classical alim like Ibn al-Hisham and Ishaq, there is also Ibn al-Kalbi. Ibn al-Kalbi said that Ma'ad (معد), the son of Adnan lived contemporaneously with Jesus Christ. So Adnan is one generation before Jesus Christ.

Now I calculated this out. Actually, it is very accurate. This seems very accurate. Why? Because typically 100 years exactly... 100 years exactly is how many generations typically? 2? 5? 3 years. Exactly. The year is 2015. Go back to 1915 in your own family. And who was flourishing at that time? Great-grandfather. Not grandfather. Great-grandfather. Think about it. Flourishing and being at the prime... where you are right now of your life. Where you are right now at your life, this is your great-grandfather... right? My own great-grandfather died 1918 by the way. Pretty much exact 1918 he passed away, and relatively young. He was in his 40s — and basically is exactly what I'm going to be in a few years as well. But insha'Allah I hope I don't die in a few years. But the age is pretty much the same insha'Allah ta'ala.

The point being that if you do the math, if you do the math, what was the time difference between Isa (عيسى) and our Prophet ﷺ? Quickly. Everybody should know. Five hundred and? Five hundred seventy. Because our Prophet ﷺ was born when? 570. So we have exactly 570. Divide 570 by 20 and you get around 31, 32... which is basically exactly right. How old are you when you have your son or daughter? In your early 30s typically, right? That is the time zone typically. The average, right? And therefore if you do the math, we can pretty accurately date when did Adnan lived — he lived 30 BC. Because his son, Ma'ad, was contemporaneous to Isa b. Maryam (عيسى بن مريم). Clear?

So Adnan, the founder of the Adnani Arabs is roughly contemporaneous to... or pre Jesus Christ. And Qahtan, we have no idea. But probably a few hundred years before him — because Qahtan predates Adnan. How do we know this? Because Ismail marries into the Jurhumites (قبيلة جرهم) that is one of the branches of Qahtan. Clear? So the Qahtan has to predate Adnan.

So with this background, the lineage of our Prophet ﷺ is divided into 3 categories.

*Brother answers*

Jesus... okay. How about the Biblical sources?

*Brother answers*

Wa inka... No. They... What?

*Brother answers*

It is not mentioned. Why is it not mentioned?

*Brother answers*

Exactly. They don't care about Ismail's lineage. The Bible does not mention at all Ismail's lineage.

By the way, the Bible mentions that there is going to be the sons of Kedar (Qedar). Kedar. And one of the descendants of Ismail, he is Kedar (Qaidar/قيدار). Right? The Bible mentions — go look it up... if I am not mistaken, it is in Genesis. Ismail is mentioned, and Allah says, 'I shall make a great nation out of him.' And it also mentioned the sons of Kedar (k. e. d. a. r.); and Qaidar is one of the sons of Ismail, and one of the ancestors of Adnan. So Qaidar is mentioned in the Bible. But that's about it.

So where do we get this information from? From Arabic folklore. And Arabic folklore has not been preserved that well. So al-Tabari for example, mentions 7 opinions about the lineage between Adnan and Ismail. And in one opinion, there is 7 people; in another, 8; in another, 9; in another, 10; in another, 41 people... between Adnan and Ismail. In the end of the day, we have no idea. It is a big question mark.

What are the names of the ancestors and how many ancestors between Adnan and Ismail? We have no idea whatsoever. Even though to be frank, 7 does not seem enough, because if you do the math, Ismail is not living just 200 years before Jesus Christ. 7 generations would be 300 years. That is not enough. And probably the 40, 41 seems closer to the truth. In any case, we do not know. So that's the case we have no knowledge about.

And if you look at some of the charts printed in the Muslim world (and we find them in our houses), you find the lineage of Prophet ﷺ all the way to Adam. You must have seen this. It is also online and whatnot, right? This chart is half fact, half myth, and half fiction. Nah, that doesn't make sense. ⅓, ⅓, ⅓, okay?

And if you look at this chart and count the numbers, you will find exactly 55 generations between Adam and the Prophet ﷺ. And this fits in perfectly with the Jewish calendar of around 6,000 years, because the Orthodox Jews and the Fundamentalist Christians believe that we have been around for... how many years? 6,000 years. And this genealogy kinda sorta fits in perfectly to that narrative.

Of course this is highly problematic in light of modern science, in light of archaeology, in light of human remains, in light of cave paintings. I have gone into this tangent multiple times right here from this platform, I am not going to go into them again. But the fact of the matter is that we can carbon-14 date humanity pretty clearly for tens of thousands of years. We have paintings in France. We have aborigine structures going back thirty thousand years in the minimal. Thirty thousand years. This is like literally set in stone. Carved in stone. It's not a pun. We have carved-in stone images, we have a handprint of a famous cave that was uncovered in France — the artist left his handprint on there, and it was a cave that was basically blocked off and it was discovered a few years ago. Famous incident. There is a National Geographic documentary about this. He left his handprint over there. You can carbon-14 date... the cave was cut-off because there was an avalanche and it was sealed completely. Then it was discovered a few years ago. You go back, you see the remains of the fire, you see the remains of the painting, the carvings, the animal shown no longer exist in the world, right? So it's bizarre, amazing. This goes back 30,000 years. These are Homo sapiens, these are not some Neanderthals or some Cro-Magnon. These are Homo sapiens. Our. Us. Even the guy who was there literally put his hand there and he showed this is the same size as us. Everything.

The point being that: clearly, 6,000 years does not make sense from a scientific perspective. And I have said this before, I'm not going to go into it now in a lot of detail, but we as Muslims do not have to believe the 6,000-year timeline. Our tradition does not tell us to believe in 6,000-year timeline. We have no problem extrapolating back twenty, thirty thousand years, as long as science tells us. And if we were to do this, then we have to say that this lineage that is shown between Adnan and Ismail, and between Ismail and Adam, has to be wrong. Because there must be more people. Cannot just be this small lineage.

And there are evidences to this as well: Imam Malik b. Anas (مالك بن أنس) was told about a human being in his time who could trace his lineage back to Adam AS. And Imam Malik said, "And how does he know? Who told him this lineage?"—he denied this. And he said that, "How about to Ismail?" And Imam Malik said, "Even this, I doubt." — How would somebody know his lineage back to Ismail AS? And there's also a hadith in it. Hadith regarding this in Mu'jam al-Kabir (المعجم الكبير) of al-Tabarani (الطبراني), which has some slightness in the chain, that the Prophet ﷺ heard somebody saying his lineage back to the Prophet Nuh. In which the Prophet ﷺ when he heard this lineage, he said, "Kadhaban nassabun" ("These people who are putting this lineage have lied" / "The genealogists have lied.") Then he recited the verse in the Qur'an. Surah al-Furqan [25:38] I believe:

وَقُرُونًا بَيْنَ ذَلِكَ كَثِيرًا

And there were KATHIR, MANY generations between them. So it is as if... (now, the hadith is slightly weak. If we say it is authentic, for historical reasons, meaning when it comes to history, we can be a little bit lax and accept incidents. But it is not authentic as a saying of the Prophet ﷺ. But it makes sense to be honest.) Allah says in the Quran:

وَقُرُونًا بَيْنَ ذَلِكَ كَثِيرًا

There were MANY generations between. And Allah is mentioning past generations, past nations. And Allah says there were many generations between them. If Allah is saying "many," in my humble opinion, this is not 10, 15, 20. For Allah to use the word "kathir," in my opinion, it does not make sense that this is just 7 people between Adnan and Ismail, or 10 people between. It seems to be a little bit more than this, right?

And this would fit in perfectly with modern science as well — that there were many many many generations. And there are other evidences as well that indicate that 6,000 years does not make any sense whatsoever. Of them is the Prophet ﷺ saying:

بعثت انا والساعة كهاتين

That, "I and the Day of Judgment have been sent like these two fingers [index and middle fingers]"—meaning the difference between these two fingers is... how little? How little is the difference? "I and the Day of Judgment have been sent like these two fingers"—meaning, "The Day of Judgment is right after me," okay? So since the beginning of man until the Prophet ﷺ is this finger [index finger]; and then the beginning of man until the Day of Judgment is this finger [middle finger]. So how much is the difference? This little.

Okay. We are now in what year of the Hijrah, who can tell me?

*People say something*

People have opinions about which year we are in the Hijrah? 1437 now. 1437 now. Masha'Allah, our young brother is right — 1437. So one thousand four hundred thirty seven years have gone by and we are still not here (and we don't want to be alive when this year comes), right? So if this little amount is one thousand years, how about then the rest of the finger? Doesn't it kind of makes sense to stretch it back to more than just 6,000 years?

And there are other evidences as well. Of them is the hadith in the Sahih Muslim (صحيح مسلم) where Allah SWT created the children of Adam, and Adam was there and he saw a bright light amongst his children, and he was amazed by this light. And he said, "Who is this, O Allah?" And Allah said, "This is your son, Dawud (داود)." "This is your son, Dawud who shall live towards the End of Times." "Akhir al-Zaman (آخر الزمان)." Now hold on a sec. Dawud is Akhir al-Zaman? What does that mean about us then? If Dawud who lived (maybe three four thousand years before us, right? Allah knows how many year. Or sorry, not 3, 4 thousand, but less than it. But still...) If Dawud is Akhir al-Zaman... where does that leave between him, Adam and Dawud? How many generations? If we were to go according to Biblical, or the 6,000-year period, Dawud would not be "akhir." Dawud would be a little bit after half, right? So for Allah to say, "This is your son, Dawud who will be fi Akhir al-Zaman"... ...So why am I saying this by the way? Because in my humble opinion, the evidences are very clear for me — but these are not Certain Evidences — they are not Qat'i (قطعي - Certain/Definitive), they are Dhanni (ظني - Conjectural/Probable) — that the 6,000-year timeline is not Islamic. And this is one of those things that people bring doubts about Islam: "Look at your 6,000-year." You know. "You don't believe in evolution," for example whatnot. And I have given entire lectures about that. Not the time here to get into it, [but] we are not restricted to 6,000 years. We can extrapolate masha'Allah, tabarak'Allah, as long as science tells us to — because we don't have any time frame. And perhaps these evidences seem to suggest that there were plenty of generations between our Prophet ﷺ and Adam.

Tayyib (طيب - alright/okay).

With that now let us get to the actual lineage of the Prophet ﷺ.

That our Prophet ﷺ is Muhammad b. Abdillah b. Abd al-Muttalib b. Hashim b. Abd Manaf b. Qusayy b. Kilab b. Murrah b. Kaab b. Lu'ayy b. Ghalib b. Fihr b. Malik b. al-Nadr b. Kinana b. Khuzaymah b. Mudrikah b. Ilyas b. Mudar b. Nizar b. Ma'ad b. Adnan.

محمد بن عبد الله بن عبد المطلب بن هاشم بن عبد مناف بن قصي بن كلاب بن مرة بن كعب بن لؤي بن غالب بن فهر بن مالك بن النضر بن كنانة بن خزيمة بن مدركة بن إلياس بن مضر بن نزار بن معد بن عدنان

This is the exact 20, okay? That is his lineage as has been agreed upon — these are exact 20. And we do not have much information about all of these 20. However, we do have a little tidbits here and there about some of them, and in particular, our Prophet ﷺ mentioned some of them in his ancestry — this hadith is in Sahih Muslim. And so let's look at this hadith and then we definitely have to analyze the people that he mentioned; that our Prophet ﷺ said:

إن الله اصطفى كنانة من ولد إسماعيل

Allah chose Kinana from all of the descendants of Ismail.

واصطفى قريشا من كنانة

And He chose Quraysh from Kinana.

واصطفى من قريش بني هاشم

And He chose the Banu Hashim from Quraysh.

واصطفاني من بني هاشم

And He chose me from the Banu Hashim.

So believe that the lineage of our Prophet ﷺ is the best and the most noble lineage ever that nobody had a more noble lineage. And this was very important especially for the Arabs of his time. Because for them, everything depended upon? Lineage. Everything! His status, his nobility, any cause he was fighting for. Everything depended upon his lineage. So our Prophet ﷺ was chosen to be of the best lineage. And this is narrated by the sahaba (صحابة) themselves. When Ja'far b. Abi Talib (جعفر بن أبي طالب) was speaking to the Najashi (نجاشي - Negus), so what did he tell the Najashi? (And I have gone over this story before as well.) So, "Allah sent a Messenger to us. We knew his lineage (عرفنا نسبه)."

And when al-Mughira b. Shu'ba (المغيرة بن شعبة) stood in front of Yazdegerd (the last emperor of Persia), what did he tell Yazdegerd, the last emperor? He told him:

فبعث الله إلينا رجلا معروفا نعرف نسبه ونعرف وجهه ومولده ، فأرضه خير أرضنا ، وحسبه خير أحسابنا ، وبيته خير بيوتنا ، وقبيلته خير قبائلنا ، وهو نفسه كان خيرنا

So in this hadith, he is basically saying, "Allah sent us a man. We know his lineage, and we know where he came from, and his land is the best of land, and his lineage is the best of lineage, and his house (meaning his immediate qabila [قبيلة - tribe]) is the best house, and his tribe is the best tribe, and he himself is the best of us."

So our Prophet ﷺ has the best and the highest lineage.

Now pause here for a quick second. One of my quick tangents here. There is a lot of misconception amongst our Muslim ummah (أمة) about the concept of sharaf (شرف), of lineage, of nobility of lineage. And people really get confused and messed up because... I guess we have not done the job of explaining properly. "We" = the scholars and students of knowledge, have not done the job of explaining this properly enough.

Listen. Doesn't matter who your father was, Allah AWJ will not cause you to enter Jannah (جنة) or Jahannam (جهنم) based upon your father. That's clear. Your lineage is irrelevant when you stand in front of Allah on the Day of Judgment. That much is clear.

لا فضل لعربي على عجمي ، ولا لعجمي على عربي ، ولا لأبيض على أسود ، ولا لأسود على أبيض - : إلا بالتقوى

There is no problem about this. But this does not mean that nasab (نسب - lineage/ancestry) and sharaf (شرف - honor/nobility) and hasab (حسب - status/rank) is irrelevant to a person stature in this world. Rather, the world universally acknowledges lineage as something to be acceptably proud of, if it is done within a reasonable amount. If it is taken to an extreme, then it becomes fakhar (فخر - [excessive] pride) and it becomes haram (حرام). But there is nothing wrong with taking some amount of happiness in nobility, and status confers this nobility upon people. So even in America, which is one of the places where lineage has almost completely been destroyed. (Because America by and large is a land of immigrants, even unlike Europe where lineage still carry some weight.) Even in America, if your last name happens to be Kennedy or Rockefeller, you're going to go places. And doors will open up for you. Whether you like it or not, this is the reality of the world that we live in, right? It doesn't matter if you are the most ignorant uneducated person, if your last name is... The point being that it doesn't matter, you know. This is the reality of the world we live in — that parents, grandparents, tribes, they do establish some type of respectability and president. And there is nothing wrong with accepting this, as long as it doesn't become a racism or a mark of pride. And what did we expect Allah AWJ to choose our Prophet ﷺ EXCEPT the best lineage in the history of mankind; the best lineage in the history of mankind. And this goes back to the sharaf or the honor given to the Prophet ﷺ.

And that is why... (and this is a very controversial point that many Muslims balk at when they hear, but this is something that is very clear in the Sunni tradition at least)... that the tribe of the Prophet ﷺ, Quraysh (قريش), has certain blessings. And the Ahl al-Bayt (أهل البيت - People of the House) have certain privileges. We believe this as Sunnis, even though we say the Shia have gone to an extreme, we as Sunnis, confer privilege on the Ahl al-Bayt. Is that not the case? Even though we say, "The Ahl al-Bayt will not enter Jannah if they are not righteous"—a person who is not righteous of the children of the Prophet ﷺ, that's not going to cause them to enter Jannah — but in THIS world, do we not respect them more? Do we not prevent zakat (زكاة)? (Because zakat is not appropriate for them. We don't give them zakat because zakat is not given to... it's... 'demeaning' to give zakat to the Ahl al-Bayt of the Prophet ﷺ, right?) And we have other ahkam (أحكام - rulings) as well.

So the righteous amongst them have a double reward, and a double respect. And the unrighteous amongst them, their lineage is not going to cause them to enter Jannah. So the Ahl al-Bayt... And the Quraysh as well, our Prophet ﷺ said:

الأئمة من قريش

"The leaders of my ummah should always be from the Quraysh." This is a hadith. And that is why for the bulk of this ummah, the Abbasid and the Umayyad and the bulk of the ummah, up until the 1500 CE, basically for, you know, one thousand something years, our khulafa were from the Quraysh.

Ya'ni (يعني) there are Khulafa al-Rashidun (الخلفاء الراشدون - Rightly Guided Caliphs), and Abdullah b. al-Zubayr (عبد الله بن الزبير), and then the Umayyad, and then the Abbasid — they are all from the Quraysh. And majority of the Sunni world basically accepted this reality.

The point being that our Prophet ﷺ was from the best of all lineages.

So he said that from the children of Ismail, Allah chose... who? Who? From the children of Ismail, Allah chose? Kinana.

Okay. Before we jump to Kinana, let us talk one sentence about Mudar. Mudar is one of the ancestors as well of the Prophet ﷺ. It is said that Mudar was the first of the Arabs to train camels, and to use them in a way that they can basically travel in caravans. And he would also have camel poetry. What is camel poetry? So it's like what you say to the camel to get it to go. So to train the camel to go faster and slower and to do... So it is said that Mudar was the first person to do that.

As for Kinana. Kinana — the name means that "the pouch that you put the arrows in" — this is what Kinana means. And that's not his actual name. He is called Kinana. Why was he called Kinana? Because he was known for his bravery, he was known as being a repository of ilm (علم - knowledge), of wisdom, of knowledge. It is said in the books of history that people would do hajj (حج) in order to meet with Kinana. (Now, hajj is of course since the time of Ismail.) So Kinana. To meet Kinana became an honor. And people would have a double niyyah (نية - intention) when doing hajj — that not just to come for the Makkah (مكة) and the hajj, but to also meet Kinana — people would literally travel. Kinana lived a very long life and he was a repository of knowledge, of wisdom. And he has a certain sayings still recorded in classical Arabic, about wisdoms and mathal (مثل - parables / statements of concise wisdom) — these are recorded from Kinana. So Kinana was a legendary Arab up until the time of the Prophet ﷺ.

Then he said, "And from Kinana, He chose Quraysh."

From Kinana He chose Quraysh. Okay. I just quoted you the lineage of the Prophet ﷺ, there is no man called Quraysh in there. There is no man called Quraysh. Who is Quraysh? Lots of opinions. And it appears that there are 3 people who can be called Quraysh; and some scholars have said there is the Big Quraysh, the Middle Quraysh, and the Small Quraysh. Al-Quraysh al-Akbar (ألقريش الأكبر), al-Quraysh al-Awsat (ألقريش الأوسط), and al-Quraysh al-Asghar (ألقريش الأصغر).

So 3 people have this title. But 2 of them are the real contenders, and that is: #1 is Fihr. And #2 is al-Nadr. Fihr and al-Nadr. Going back to the lineage:

Muhammad b. Abdillah b. Abd al-Muttalib b. Hashim b. Abd Manaf b. Qusayy b. Kilab b. Murrah b. Kaab b. Lu'ayy b. Ghalib b. FIHR

محمد بن عبد الله بن عبد المطلب بن هاشم بن عبد مناف بن قصي بن كلاب بن مرة بن كعب بن لؤي بن غالب بن فهر

So number? Number? 12.

Ibn Malik b. AL-NADR

بن مالك بن النضر

Or number? 14.

So either 12 or 14. One of these two is Quraysh. One of these two is Quraysh. And they say that al-Nadr is the Big Quraysh, and Fihr is the Middle Quraysh. And Qusayy, who is 5 generations, is the Minor Quraysh. So 3 people had a founding role in the tribe of Quraysh. But the actual tribes of Quraysh, all of them combined at Fihr. And Fihr is the? 12th. 12th.

So the stronger opinion: The one person who combines all the tribes of Quraysh... and one simple fact here: The Ten Who Were Promised Jannah were all Qureshi. They were all Qureshi. Who is the one ancestor, the closest ancestor? It's Fihr. The 10 people who were promised Jannah, Ashara Mubasharun (العشرة المبشرون), if you go back to their lineage, you keep on going going going, it's actually Fihr where they all combine. So the 10 people combined at Fihr. So therefore it seems to be Fihr is the person who is Quraysh. And all of the tribes of Quraysh, how many tribes of Quraysh were there at the time of the Prophet ﷺ? Probably around 12 or 13 subtribes. So you have the Banu Hashim (بنو هاشم), the Banu Zuhra (بنو زهرة), the Banu Makhzum (بنو مخزوم) — all of these tribes, we kinda talked about here and there... the Banu Umayya (بنو أمية), the Banu Abd Shams (بنو عبد شمس) — these types — they are basically around 12 or so tribes, and they all go back to Fihr.

So "Quraysh," what does it mean therefore? This is a laqab (لقب). A title. Not a name. What does Quraysh mean? A number of opinions once again:

Whatever the meaning is, this was the laqab that stuck with Fihr. And so the descendants of Fihr are called Qureshi. And therefore all of the tribes of Quraysh go back to Fihr who is a 12th ancestors back from the Prophet ﷺ.

So now let us begin very quickly about the immediate ancestors of the Prophet ﷺ, whom we know a little bit more about. Beginning with Qusayy, and then Abd Manaf, and then Hashim, and then Abd al-Muttalib. That will be our rest of the halaqa (حلقة) for today. What we know about these people.

Qusayy. How many generations? I want everybody to memorize at least up to Qusayy. At least up to Qusayy. So come with me. Come with me.

#1? Muhammad ibn?
Abdillah, ibn?
Abd al-Muttalib, ibn?
Hashim, ibn?
Abd Manaf, ibn?
Qusayy.

Okay? Memorize this. At least this much. Everybody should know, okay?

So Qusayy is the STAR of the Quraysh. That's why he is called the Minor Quraysh. He really started the immediate ascent of the Quraysh, so that when the Prophet ﷺ came, the Quraysh are at the pinnacle of their power, okay? So Qusayy is the one who BEGAN. And then 5 generations later, the Prophet ﷺ comes and of course he then takes it to an international level.

So what did Qusayy do? And when did he live? Qusayy lived around 400 CE. Around 400 CE., i.e., 170 years before the birth of the Prophet ﷺ. So what did Qusayy do?

Many things.

The most important thing he did: He wrestled back the power of the political city of Makkah into the descendants of the Quraysh. Well who was in Makkah at the time? There was another tribe of the descendants of Adnan, but not of the descendants of Fihr, i.e., not a Qureshi. And this was the tribe of Khuza'a (خزاعة).

So who are the Khuza'a? They are another Ismaili... hhh... when I say Ismaili, I don't mean THAT Isma'ili. Ismaili meaning of the descendants of Ismail, right? Another branch — not the descendants of Fihr/Quraysh. The Khuza'a are another branch of the descendants of Ismail. And the Khuza'a had taken over the city of Makkah. Who did they take it over from? From the ancient Arabs that Ismail had married into and that is? Who did Ismail marry into? Jurhum. Jurhum. So Ismail had married into Jurhum, Jurhum stayed for awhile, they began doing bad things, overtaxing the people — so the Khuza'a overthrew them and kicked out everybody, including Fihr's descendants, i.e., the original Quraysh. So where were they living? They were living in a small encampments, in small dwellings outside of Makkah, i.e., not in the city of Makkah, but traveling distance from Makkah.

So Qusayy, in a long story mentioned by Ibn Ishaq (ابن إسحاق), managed to win over the tribe of Khuza'a, the chieftain of the tribe. How did he do so? By a very smart tactical move. He married his daughter. So the chieftain of Khuza'a, he had sons, he had daughters — Qusayy managed to marry one of his daughters. And he then demonstrated his skills over and above the sons even of the chieftain of Khuza'a. And therefore when the father died, now he is in the family — he is a son-in-law — the people wanted Qusayy over the sons. And because of this, he managed to actually go to war with the other tribes, and he called in the descendants of Fihr, i.e., the other Qureshi tribes, and this is now the "Gathering" (some people say this is why Qureshi is called "Quraysh" — some people say this). He gathered together the tribes of Banu Fihr (بنو فهر). And he fought the tribes of Khuza'a. And of course they are very distant cousins, obviously. VERY distant cousins. But he fought them and he expelled them, so he took over Makkah.

So the great-great-grandfather, 6 generations back, of course the great-great-great-grandfather of the Prophet ﷺ reclaimed Makkah for the Quraysh. Or I should say claimed it, because before that time until the time of Ismail, there was no... So Quraysh, when did they start their rise to power? In the time of Qusayy.

Now what else did Qusayy do? Qusayy was the one who built the Dar al-Nadwa (دار الندوة - Place of Gathering), which was the parliament. He was the one who instituted this concept of "everybody come and voice your opinion." Then he built the structure that the Prophet ﷺ himself... EXACT same area (I'm sure it was not the same building; but the same area) of Dar al-Nadwa. We have mentioned the Dar al-Nadwa so many times. Who was the one who built it? It was Qusayy.

He also took custody of the Kabah (الكعبة) and he assigned responsibilities that trickle down — the responsibility of water, the responsibility of hospitality, the responsibility of diyaf/ضيف (of guests), the responsibility of the keys of the Kabah — HE was the one who made a list of responsibilities. And when he was alive, he had it all. Then amongst his sons, it was distributed, until the days of Banu Hashim where each tribe had a certain responsibility. And as we know, even in the time of the Prophet ﷺ, one of the tribes, the Banu Abd al-Dar (بنو عبد الدار), had the key. One had this, one had that. So this... all of these responsibilities, Qusayy was the one who began it. AND this also indicates that Qusayy was the one who began the institution of taking care of the hujjaj (حجاج - pilgrims). So the hujjaj would get free food and water. That wasn't there before. Now this is frankly... he is probably a good guy and nobody is denying that, and he is also a good politician. Because to be a good politician, what must you do? Make the people happy. There's nothing wrong with being a good guy and a good politician. I know it's rare, but that's...

So Qusayy was one of those people that he wants to please the people, and he is a good person, hospitable person — and therefore he instituted the entire concept of free hospitality for the hujjaj. "When they come, they are our guests." And every hajj, he would stand and do a fundraiser, and he would say, "O people of Quraysh, Allah has given you the blessings of taking care of His House, and the people are coming, and these pilgrims are guests of Allah, and they deserve our hospitality." So they would donate money and food and water, and he would then provide for the hujjaj.

And also, Qusayy would facilitate the actual hajj rites as well. He would light a fire for the hujjaj in Muzdalifah (مزدلفة). They could then use that fire to take their own, you know, to the local tents. He dug a well to provide water for the hujjaj. And this water was needed because, (we have all done this before, but I will just reiterate), there was no zamzam (زمزم) in the time of Qusayy. Why was there no zamzam in the time of Qusayy? Go back thousand years, or however many years that we talked about Khuza'a taking over from Jurhum. So when Khuza'a attacked Makkah... (Allah knows how many centuries ago — we don't know when this happened. Probably we are going back a little bit after the time of Jesus Christ. I mean this is like 400 years before the Prophet ﷺ. We don't know roughly when.) When Khuza'a attacked Jurhum, and Jurhum realized they are going to lose, they did a very dastardly deed — they buried the well of zamzam. They destroyed it and they buried it. And no matter how much Khuza'a tried and they tried and tried and tried and tried, they couldn't find the well. They are just keep on digging and nothing is happening. They could not find the well. Of course Allah willed they wouldn't find it.

So for over 300 years at least, the people of Makkah were forced to get water from other sources.

Now they cannot leave — this is the House of Allah. They are also accustomed to living there. Once you become accustomed to living, then you bear with it, right? So they cannot leave. So they had to dig wells far away and bring the water in. They would have a mountain collecting, what ways to do that. So they had a very tough time.

And Qusayy, also of the things that he did: He was buried at Hujun (الحجون); and Hujun is the famous graveyard of Makkah. He was the first person to be buried over there. And to this day Hujun is really one of the most famous graveyards of Makkah — he was the first person, and he is still buried there to this day.

His son Abd Manaf, his actual name was Mughira (المغيرة). And Manaf means "that which is raised." So they would give other names to Allah SWT. And Abd Manaf was known for his handsomeness and his leadership skills. He became famous even in the lifetime of Qusayy. Abd Manaf was handed many responsibilities. And he was beloved to the people.

His son Hashim is of course where we get "Banu Hashim" from. And Hashim is not his name — it is his title. His actual name is Amr (عمرو). His name is Amr. And Hashim comes from هـ ش م (h-sh-m) which means "to grind" — because he would grind the barley and present food to the pilgrims. So his name was Amr, and he was called Hashim because of his generosity. And it is said that Hashim never ever ate food alone — that if he was ever eating food, he would just call anybody to eat with him, to show his generosity. He was never a person to eat alone.

And Hashim did, perhaps, the most important thing to raise the economic level of the Quraysh.

So his grandfather, Qusayy raised the political level of Quraysh by capturing Makkah.

Hashim was the one who began the economic, if you like, raising of the Quraysh. And that is: He instituted Rihlat al-Shita'i wa al-Sayf (رحلة الشتاء والصيف - Winter and Summer Trip). He was the one who thought of the idea. One particular year, there was a very severe drought, and people were dying, and quite literally, a man would take his family and build a grave in the middle of... just because nobody else is going to build a grave and just wait for death to come because there was no food. And Hashim thought this is just too much, something has to be done. And he came across the idea that, "Why don't we institute 2 journeys? One in the summer, and one in the winter. So in the summer, we go up to Rome, and in the winter, we go down to Yemen?" — Rihlat al-Shita'i wa al-Sayf.

And they would go to the city of Bosra (Busra/بصرى, we talked about this. And the remnants of that city are still to this day visible. The very city of Bosra, which is outside of Damascus by 80 km or so). That Hashim began going up there, and down to Yemen. And this really was a stroke of genius that of course Allah blessed him with. And there have been entire books and articles written in English literature by non-Muslims, about this reality. Because it truly is... I mean all of us who are knowing business here: Business is all about location, location, location, right? Where is your business, and what is it catering to — location. And he came across the very simple idea that, "Everybody's coming to us in hajj. Why don't we give them stuff that's... We have the market. It's all here in front of us. The people are there. Why don't we sell them the merchandise they will need? Where we get the merchandise from? Well, we gotta get connected to the world trade routes." What are the world trade routes? Well, you want Indian stuff, and an African stuff, well then you go to Yemen. And in Yemen you will have the ships from India coming — Indian spice, Indian this — you will have African stuff coming in to Yemen — "So we will go to Yemen to get the Indian and African stuff. And we will go up north to get the Roman and Persian goods." — Because there is the Silk Route, right? The Silk Road went through Damascus and Bosra. So Bosra was on the Silk Road. So the Silk Road, as we all know, is the most famous road of caravans. So he just hooked up to the Silk Road, right?

And he made a lifeline all the way down to Yemen. And smack in the middle is Makkah, right?

So Makkah became on the grid. Is connected now to the lifeline. And so Hashim became extremely wealthy. That's why he could feed the people. That's why he could known as Hashim. He became extremely wealthy. Because he fed all of the pilgrims. Because he was the one who instituted Rihlat al-Shita'i wa al-Sayf.

And Allah mentions to the Quraysh, 'I blessed you with this.'

The whole surah (سورة - ~chapter) is revealed:

لِإِيلَافِ قُرَيْشٍ

إِيلَافِهِمْ رِحْلَةَ الشِّتَاءِ وَالصَّيْفِ

فَلْيَعْبُدُوا رَبَّ هَذَا الْبَيْتِ

الَّذِي أَطْعَمَهُمْ مِنْ جُوعٍ وَآَمَنَهُمْ مِنْ خَوْفٍ

'I am the One who gave you the money, so that you are no longer hungry; so that you are no longer fearful. I gave you the protection of the Kabah' [see Quran 106:1-4].

It is also said that Hashim understood that because he is from the Quraysh, and because they are the neighbors of Makkah, nobody would harm them. And so he took advantage of the fact that in a lawless society, him being from Quraysh and Makkah actually gave him protection. Nobody robbed the caravan. Because you can't possibly rob the caravan going to Makkah, can you? Right? Even the pagans felt a little bit of like, "These people are too holy for us."

So Allah says:

لِإِيلَافِ قُرَيْشٍ

This honor, this sanctity, this custom — who gave it to you? And it is also said that he (Hashim) struck a deal with the kings of Rome and Yemen, that to basically, you know, protect them when they are in their lands, and to give good deals. So basically he is a businessman, and he struck gold. And of course Allah blessed him with this — because again, look... Qusayy did the politics, Hashim did the wealth, and then Abd al-Muttalib did the prestige and the zamzam. All of these, every one of the ancestors of the Prophet ﷺ changed the course of the Quraysh history. And of course it's building up — because what is prestige of lineage other than what your ancestors have done, right? Why are Rockefeller and Kennedy famous? Because of what people have done one generation after the other. If they didn't do it, they wouldn't be Rockefellers and Kennedys, right? They just be like Tom, Dick, and Harry after that, right?

So how is the prestige or the lineage built? It's what the ancestors do. And in the case of our Prophet ﷺ, each and every ancestor is doing something that is absolutely amazing. And Hashim was extremely wealthy, and he was also very generous.

And of course, this wealth, it created jealousy, especially amongst his brother, Abd Shams, and his nephew, Umayya (Umayya b. Abd Shams). And this rivalry between the Banu Umayya and the Banu Hashim would continue up until Islam and post-Islam with the Abbasids and the Umayyads as well. That rivalry was established in his time.

And Hashim married a number of women. Actually, almost all of these... Of course, to marry multiple women was the norm. And in fact, almost all of the ancestors of the Prophet ﷺ had multiple wives. Hashim also married multiple women. One of his wives, and the great-grandmother of the Prophet ﷺ, was from Yathrib (يثرب). And this was, without a doubt, something that Allah AWJ, of course, had planned — why would a person from Makkah marry somebody from Yathrib? So that 3 generations from them, the Prophet ﷺ would have distant third cousins amongst the Ansar. Abu Ayyub al-Ansari is one of them, right? So he would have distant cousins from the Ansar. So Hashim married from Yathrib. And he died on a trading trip to Ghazza (غزة) — our Filastin brothers know this very well. And there is a masjid to this day called Masjid al-Sayed Hashim (مسجد السيد هاشم) obviously. And that is why Ghazza is sometimes also called Ghazzatu Hashim. To this day, the Ghazza, the famous Ghazza, the famous Gaza — Hashim is buried there. And the city is called the Ghazza of Hashim to this day. Ghazzatu Hashim. And his masjid is over there. So he died far far away.

And his son then, because his father had died, his mother took his most important son to her hometown of Yathrib. And so the Prophet's ﷺ grandfather was raised in the very city he would migrate to. And this is of course without a doubt, Allah's qadr — Allah's plan. Otherwise, really, Yathrib and Makkah don't have those strong ties.

And of course, the Prophet's ﷺ grandfather, what is his name? Abd al-Muttalib. But that's not his name. His name is Shaybat al-Hamd (شيبة الحمد). Shaybat al-Hamd. Shayba is whitish hair that old people have. (I'm getting it right now, masha'Allah, tabarak'Allah, okay? I'm beginning my shayba right now.) Shayba is the whitish hair. (Some of you, masha'Allah, tabarak'Allah, right? I'm not at that level yet. Others of you are hiding it, masha'Allah, tabarak'Allah as well... hhhh... okay. And others of you don't have to worry about anything okay. Hahahaha, masha'Allah, you're the smartest one, masha'Allah.)

So Shayba is the whitish hair that you have when you are old. And of course some people, some kids, are born; there are some kids, they are just born; so he was born with the whitish streak. So they said, "This is the Shayba of Praise (Shaybat al-Hamd)." So they called him Shaybat al-Hamd. And this was his name, Shaybat al-Hamd. He grew up in Yathrib because his father had passed away.

And his mother actually didn't even tell his uncles that she was pregnant. Because she was worried that the child will be taken away. So when she was pregnant, her husband died. She went back to Yathrib. And then the child is born there. Now she is happy that it's safe. Because you know, in those days, child custody goes to the stronger. And Quraysh is the stronger. So she went back, she lived a quiet life.

One day, it is said that the uncle of Shaybat al-Hamd, and his name is Muttalib, the uncle, was visiting Yathrib. And he saw Shaybat al-Hamd and he said, "This is my blood."

Now it's very true actually that in those days (and even now) they had this gift of recognizing "this is not a Yathribite," "this is not an Ansari," "this is a Qureshi." He found out, turns out, "Oh, this is the woman that my brother married." So he realize, "This is my nephew."

And so he concocted a plot. Long story. And he basically, literally, abducted the child. Like, the relatives would not have let him go. And he coaxed the child that, "Your ancestors are so-and-so. You have a great lineage. You will reclaim your honor." Some say that even the mother was convinced. Others say even the mother did not know. But definitely the uncles did not know — meaning the uncles in Yathrib.

And he took the child and dashed away on the camel, and he rushed back to Makkah. And when the people saw him with a young lad, they assumed the young lad was a new slave he had purchased. So that is why they called him, "Oh! Muttalib has an 'abd!" — "Abd al-Muttalib." Muttalib is his uncle. Muttalib is his uncle. And the name stuck. And therefore he is called Abd al-Muttalib.

And Abd al-Muttalib initially had a bit of a struggle with some of his uncles and cousins — because his father had died. And his uncles had taken the lion's share of the wealth. But Abd al-Muttalib proved himself with his own uncles, and inherited his father's share of the grandfather's wealth, and managed to carve out for himself an entire legacy. And we are going to just quickly gloss over the story out of Abd al-Muttalib, even though it is very important. But this is a story that has been told and retold so many times, I will just quickly mention the 3 main things that happened in his lifetime. And the details, unfortunately, I will have to just gloss over for this lecture, because we do not have time. (Actually, I'm condensing 2 lectures into 1. Because we did 2 different lectures and they were not recorded.)

The 3 main things that happened in the lifetime of Abd al-Muttalib is:

So we understand why zamzam was covered up. And how therefore did Abd al-Muttalib discover zamzam — that he saw it in a dream. Allah showed him in a dream that, 'If you go to such-and-such a place next to this idol, between that stone and marker (because there was idols around the Kabah), if you go to this place and you dig, you will find zamzam.' Initially, he ignored the dream. But he kept on seeing it, seeing it, seeing it, until finally he realize, "This is from Allah."

And so at the time, he only had one son, Harith. And Harith is his oldest son. And so his kunya is Abu al-Harith. Abd al-Muttalib's kunya is Abu al-Harith.

And so he took his one son and himself, and he took a shovel than an ax, and began digging. And the Quraysh, of course, are mocking him, "You think you are going to discover zamzam after we haven't found it for three four hundred years?" And he kept on digging, digging, digging. Until he struck something far more precious than gold, far more precious than oil, he struck water. And as we all know the story, when the water began bubbling up, the Quraysh surrounded him. His own relatives. And they said, "This is our property now." And he refused and he said, "No. I discovered it. I have the rights." Now again, it's not as if he is not going to give them water, but there comes power, and there comes prestige by claiming this. Both power and prestige. And he knows this.

And they surround him. And war is about to break out. This is a civil... not of war, but I mean, you know, scuffle that might lead to death. And that's when he makes a vow to Allah that, "O Allah, if you ever give me 10 sons to defend me, then I promise I will sacrifice one for You." That's when he does this.

But they don't want to fight him. And so they agree to go to a fortune-teller who is their priestess. (Of course their religion is paganism [so] who is their sheikh? Who is their elder? It is a priestess. Far far away, that's the senior most pagan, you know, whatever, like, you know, the Hindus have their pundits, whatever... so they have their hierarchy.) So they agreed they will go to such-and-such a lady.

And on the way there, they get lost actually. And they are about to die. On the way there, all of them, they are all cousins and relatives, they are all about to die, so much so that Abd al-Muttalib says, "Each one of you should dig his own grave because we are too weak to bury each other." So they dig their own graves. And as Abd al-Muttalib is digging his own grave, he strikes water again. And so his cousins and distant Quraysh said, "This is a sign from Allah that the water is yours. Because this water saved us." So without going to the priestess, they then come back, and they voluntarily gave the rights of zamzam to Abd al-Muttalib.

Children of Abd al-Muttalib
And then of course, as we all know, eventually, Abd al-Muttalib has... how many children? How many children does Abd al-Muttalib have?

*Brother answers*

15? 16? 18?

And so he has 12 sons and 6 daughters. 12 sons and 6 daughters. (And to be honest, he probably had more than 12 sons and 6 daughters — because in those days, kids died in their youth.) But 12 sons who lived to become adults, and 6 daughters who lived to become adults.

And the ones that we are most familiar with... We don't really know much about most of them to be honest. They died even before the coming of the Prophet ﷺ. Because remember, Abdallah was one of his youngest... not THE youngest, but one of his youngest sons, right? So Harith actually died in the life of Abd al-Muttalib. And the majority of his sons died, because Abd al-Muttalib lived almost to the age of 100, almost to the age of 100 he lived, that's a very old age, especially for that time when the average age is probably 30, 40, 50 years old. So he lived almost to the age of 100.

So (i) Harith (الحارث) was his eldest.

And then (ii) Zubayr (الزبير), (iii) Abdallah (عبد الله), and (iv) Abu Talib (أبو طالب) were from the same mother. Zubayr, Abdallah and Abu Talib were from the same mother.

Then (v) Abbas (العباس) and (vi) Dirar (ضرار) from another mother.

Then (vii) Hamzah (حمزة), and (viii) Muqawwam (المقوم), and (ix) Hajl (حجل) from another mother.

And then (x) Abu Lahab (أبو لهب) all by himself from one mother. Abu Lahab is by himself.

And he (Abd al-Muttalib) has 6 daughters:

(i) Safiyyah (صفية).  And of course Safiyyah is the only one of his (the Prophet's ﷺ) aunts who accepted Islam. As for the other aunts, we only know of (ii) Atikah (عاتكة), who was alive when the Prophet ﷺ began preaching, and then she simply disappears from the Sirah. We don't know whether she accepted Islam. To be frank, most likely she didn't. That's what seems to be the case.

And then we have (iii) Ummi Hakim (أم حكيم).

And then we have (iv) Umayma (أميمة). And Umayma is the mother of Zaynab bint Jahsh — the cousin that he (the Prophet ﷺ) married. (Zaynab bint Jahsh, how was she a cousin? Through Umayma. So she was his father's sister's daughter, okay?)

And then we have (v) Arwa (أروى) and (vi) Barrah (برة).

These are the 6 daughters of Abd al-Muttalib.

Vow to Sacrifice Abdullah
So we all know the story. I will quickly gloss over it that when all of these sons reach adulthood, he tells them to vow and he says, "Look, I am a man of my word. Allah blessed me. And I have to give one of you up to Allah, to sacrifice you." And that's when, as you know, he took Abdullah in front of the Kabah, and the Quraysh said, "You cannot do this. He is the most beloved." Abdullah was probably 17 at the time (16 or 17). And so they said, "You know, why don't you go to such-and-such priestess (another of their elite priestesses), and see if there is a way out." And that is when the 100 camels was instituted. (As you all know the story. I will quickly gloss over that one.) And this is when the life of a person became equivalent to 100 camels. (Which is still the shariah to this day. That if you do a manslaughter or accidental murder or accidental manslaughter or intentional murder, you have to pay 100 camels as blood money. To this day. And if you want to do the modern equivalent, you literally calculate the cost of a camel in US dollars. That's what the shariah would say. And then you just put that price and say, "That's the cost of a person's life" — if you accidentally kill somebody or whatnot. Where did this 100 camels come from? It comes from this incident, that the shariah came and then confirmed it, that this is the price of one man: 100 camels.)

Incident of the Attack of the Elephant(s)
And then the third and final story, which is the story of Abraha (أبرهة). Abraha was the governor of Yemen, under Najashi. So Najashi... (Not the same Najashi as the one that the Prophet's ﷺ sahaba emigrated to1, but his father.) Najashi had conquered some areas of Yemen. And he had sent his governor. And his governor's name was Abraha. So Abraha was the governor of the Najashi in Yemen.

And he saw his people, every year, go north. So he said, "Where are you guys going?" So they said, "We have to go do hajj." He said, "Why? What is there?" They said, "There is a House of Allah." So he said, "I will build you a house that is far better than any of your houses, and you will come for hajj under here."

So he built a massive cathedral (because they were Christians), and it was out of glass, and out of... Can you imagine, in Arabia, to bring stained glass? Because they had access to these architects and whatnot. And he built a cathedral in Yemen the likes of which he thought would become the biggest temple of Christianity in the entire Arabian Peninsula.

And he then said, "All of you have to come over here rather than going up north to the Kabah."

And when one of the Bedouins heard this, he went there — but he went there to relieve himself. Number 1 and number 2, right? And he went there and he did that. And he (Abraha) became so angry, that he said, "As revenge, I will destroy this House (Kabah in Makkah), so people must come to my House." And that is why he gather together his army. And of course because they were from Abyssinia, so they had elephants. Otherwise, elephants did not live in the Arabian Peninsula as natural beasts over there. But because he was from Africa, so he had a group of African elephants. And of course the people of Africa had trained the elephants to be instruments of war.

And this was when he marched to the Kabah. And he went with his army of around, some say 8, and some say 20 elephants, and the chief elephant... By the way, his name was Mahmud (محمود). Mahmud was the name of the chief elephant. And it is also said that he hired an Arab guide to take him to the Kabah. And this guide, his name was Abu Rughal (أبو رغال). Abu Rughal. And Abu Rughal became infamous for treachery — because to trade your honor for money, and to lead Abraha through the ways to get to the Kabah... And so there is an expression in Arabic (which I don't think the Arabs still use), they say, "More treacherous than Abu Rughal." I don't think you have this anymore, right? Okay. So this was common at the time of the Prophet ﷺ. And later on, this was a classical Arabic saying, "More treacherous than Abu Rughal." Abu Rughal is this person from that example.

And Abraha came with the entire army. As you know, when he got to Makkah, he captured the livestock of Abd al-Muttalib, over 200 camels and sheep, which by the way shows you Abd al-Muttalib is a rich man now. Times have changed for the Quraysh, masha'Allah, money is flowing in.

And you all know the story that Abd al-Muttalib came. And this is where we read the description of Abd al-Muttalib that he was a tall man (6-foot tall maybe, huge, far taller than any of the other Arabs), and he was handsome and admirable. And there is no denying, and this is scientifically proven as well, that those people who are handsome, or women who are beautiful, they actually get leadership positions. This is a scientific study. Qadr of Allah AWJ. You just automatically give a respect or whatnot to people who are looking better. Abd al-Muttalib was one such person. Very handsome, very strong, very tall. He looked like a leader. So much so it is said when he entered into the tent, Abraha was in awe of this man — so tall and handsome; he actually stood up from his chair and sat down on the floor with Abd al-Muttalib as a manner of respect that, "Abd al-Muttalib, the chieftain of Makkah has come."

And he said, as you all know, the famous story, I will go very quickly over it that: He said to Abd al-Muttalib, "I have no problem with you. You just get out of the city, and I'll destroy your House. And I have no problem with you guys." "There's nothing personal, I just wanna destroy your House of Worship. There's nothing against you." And that's when Abd al-Muttalib said, "I didn't come to you to talk about the House. I didn't come to you to talk about the Kabah. I came to you to talk about my camels." And this is when Abraha lost all respect for Abd al-Muttalib and he said, "I have come to destroy your Holy House, and you are coming to talk to me about your camels." And by the way, this shows us, subhan'Allah, that even though Abd al-Muttalib didn't come back with the right punch, he didn't come back with the one-liner yet, but what does it show? When you stand up for your principles, people will respect you. Even though both of them are different religions and pagans, but still, Abraha thought Abd al-Muttalib is going to argue about his House. And so he is honoring him. Then when he say "I want my camels," he said, "I lost all respect for you." That is when Abd al-Muttalib gives the one-liner punch, the right uppercut and he says, "It is not my business. The House has a Lord who will protect it. And the camels have a lord, and it is my job to protect the camels." Right?

So because of this one-liner, Abraha gave the camels back. And that was when the Quraysh left the city, after making lots of du'a — Abd al-Muttalib is pleading in front of the Kabah, "O Allah, we cannot fight this army. They are too strong for us. They have these elephant(s). They have these thousand men. You take care of it." And they then left to the mountains, and this is when they (the army of Abraha) faced Mahmud to the Kabah, and they are telling him (Mahmud) to go and go and go, and he would not go even if they whipped him, they beat him, they bled him, the elephant would not move. But whenever they turned him in any other direction, he would move in that direction. And that is why in the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah2, when the Prophet's ﷺ camel stopped, what did he say? "Don't get angry at my camel. The Same One who stopped the elephant from entering Makkah has stopped my camel as well." "There is a wisdom," right?

حبسها حابس الفيل

So Allah stopped the elephant from entering. And as they're debating what to do, that is when large Birds came:

وَأَرْسَلَ عَلَيْهِمْ طَيْرًا أَبَابِيلَ

تَرْمِيهِمْ بِحِجَارَةٍ مِنْ سِجِّيلٍ

So stones from Jahannam —imagine stones from Jahannam in this world— they are coming. And in front of their eyes, every stone hits an animal, and a person, and he literally dissolves — his skin dissolves, and he becomes a pile of broken and molten flesh in front of the eyes of the people of Quraysh. And it is said that Abraha himself suffered the worst fate, and they carried him back, and his skin is dissolving the entire way. And he dies right before reaching his home in Yemen, so that he suffers the worst punishment that: he is just about there, and then he dies. And he is buried over there.

And it is mentioned that the traces of the elephant still were there when the Prophet ﷺ was born. And one of the sahaba —his name is Qubath b. Ashyam (قباث بن أشيم)— Qubath b. Ashyam has a very famous narration in Sunan al-Tirmidhi, where one of the early Umayyad caliphs asks him that, "Are you bigger, or the Prophet ﷺ is bigger?" — meaning in age.

أأنت أكبر أم رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم؟

And he means, in age. So Qubath says:

هو(الرسول ص) أكبر مني ، وأنا ولدت قبله

"The Prophet ﷺ is bigger than me. But I was born before him."

Meaning don't say are you bigger or not.

"The Prophet ﷺ is BIGGER than me. But I was born before him."

Why? Because, "I remember my mother taking me and showing me the defecations of the elephant(s) that had withered and become yellow. I saw the elephant(s) and their defecations when I was a young boy." — So he is showing... And of course, the Prophet ﷺ was born in the Year of the Elephant. The fact that Qubath remembers this, he is saying, "I'm older than him." How did he prove he is older? "I remember my mother showing me the remnants of the elephant(s)."

And Aisha (عائشة) mentions and recalls that when she was a young child in Makkah, she remembered seeing one of the guides of the elephant that had come from Yemen who had been blinded and was living as a beggar (cursed obviously, to the end of his days), and begging the people for any morsel of food. So she says, "I remember one of the guys —he must have been a young man at the time; now he is an old man about to die— and he is still begging for food" — this is punishment. Obviously, this is the worst punishment that you are now blinded and you have no other means. So Aisha remembers seeing that.

To conclude: So the story, especially of our lineage of the Prophet ﷺ, proves very clearly that something momentous is about to happen.

Every single person in the lineage of the Prophet ﷺ establishes something of momentous value. Whether it's economic, whether it's political, whether it's just a discovery of water. And clearly therefore, when we now understand why the Prophet ﷺ was chosen by Allah, and Allah chose his lineage in this manner, that nobody in the world has a more noble and prestigious lineage. And that is why in the Battle of Hunayn3, what did our Prophet ﷺ say?

أنا النبي لا كذب ، أنا ابن عبد المطلب

"I am the Prophet, there is no doubt! I am the son (grandson) of Abd al-Muttalib!" So he is invoking his lineage here — because the Quraysh were still new in Islam. And he is telling them, "I AM that grandson of the person you are so proud of."

And can you imagine the prestige of Abd al-Muttalib? That it is under his leadership he makes du'a to Allah, and Allah sends the Birds of Ababil (الطير الأبابيل), and he discovers zamzam — and so these prestige of Abd al-Muttalib... there was no chieftain in all of Arabia as prestigious as Abd al-Muttalib. Not just because of him, but because of his father, and grandfather, and great-grandfather. And so to be born to the most beloved son of Abd al-Muttalib (that is Abdullah), to be born to the most beloved son and to be raised by him (Abd al-Muttalib) for 8 years... So all of this is of course a preparing for the Prophet ﷺ.

And also, we have over here as well the fact that 2 of the ancestors of the Prophet ﷺ were ransomed off and saved. The first is the beginning of the chain: Ismail. And the second is the end of the chain: Abdullah. So both the beginning and the end were ransomed off by Allah SWT. And this is clearly an indication that Allah AWJ is blessing this ancestry.

And the fact that there is also some hidden wisdom here (some semi-mystical wisdom here) that: We have a Christian attacking a pagan —Abraha attacking Abd al-Muttalib— and the Kabah is the subject of attack — and neither of them is able to defend (in fact the one is attacking, and the other cannot defend) — and Allah defends the Haram. And who was living in the Haram at the time? Aminah (آمنة). And she must have been pregnant with our Prophet ﷺ. So quite literally (because he is born in the same year, a few months later), so this means Aminah, when the Incident of Fil (فيل - Elephant) takes place, our Prophet ﷺ is literally in the womb of Aminah. So there is a huge symbolism here that Allah Himself protects, not just the Kabah, but what else? Our Prophet ﷺ. And this is as if to indicate that the mushrikun (مشركون - pagans) could not protect the Kabah — they are not worthy of the Kabah. So Allah SWT destroyed those who attempted to harm it, because there will come now somebody who will be worthy of the Kabah. The Quraysh have not been worthy to the level they deserve. So somebody will now come — and that is our Prophet ﷺ, who purified it of its idols, who made it the qibla, and who returned it to the glory that it was — and that is the initial House that Ibrahim AS built.

And with that, we come to the conclusion of our quick summary of 2 halaqas, insha'Allah ta'ala.

The interesting thing about the jahili Arabs was that they believed in the same God that we Muslims believe in, by the same name and attributes, and that is Allah. They never depicted Allah as an idol. They made idols of al-Lat (اللات), Hubal (هبل), al-Uzza (العزى), Manat (مناة), etc., but they never made an idol of Allah because they knew Allah could not be represented by an idol. They knew Allah was their Creator, Originator, and Sustainer. Allah says in the Quran:

وَلَئِن سَأَلْتَهُم مَّنْ خَلَقَهُمْ لَيَقُولُنَّ الله

"If you were to ask them who created them, they would say, 'Allah.'" [Quran, 43:87]

وَلَئِن سَأَلْتَهُم مَّنْ خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ لَيَقُولُنَّ الله

"If you were to ask them who created the heavens and the earth, they would say, 'Allah.'" [Quran, 39:38]

وَلَئِن سَأَلْتَهُم مَّن نَّزَّلَ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مَاءً فَأَحْيَا بِهِ الْأَرْضَ مِن بَعْدِ مَوْتِهَا لَيَقُولُنَّ الله

"If you were to ask them who sends the water (rain) from the heaven and gives life therewith to the earth after its death, they would say, 'Allah.'" [Quran, 29:63]

 قُلْ مَن يَرْزُقُكُم مِّنَ السَّمَاءِ وَالْأَرْضِ أَمَّن يَمْلِكُ السَّمْعَ وَالْأَبْصَارَ وَمَن يُخْرِجُ الْحَيَّ مِنَ الْمَيِّتِ وَيُخْرِجُ الْمَيِّتَ مِنَ الْحَيِّ وَمَن يُدَبِّرُ الْأَمْرَ ۚ فَسَيَقُولُونَ الله

"Say, 'Who provides you with sustenance out of the heaven and the earth? Who holds mastery over your hearing and sight? Who brings forth the living from the dead and the dead from the living? Who governs all affairs of the universe?' They will surely say, 'Allah.'" [Quran, 10:31]

So when the Prophet ﷺ comes to them, it is not with a new god. Their paganism is not the paganism of the modern day. They know Allah is their Lord. But they are not Muslims, and we don't consider them to be Muslims. Why? Because they worship idols. Why do they worship idols when they know Allah created them? The Quran tells us — they say:

مَا نَعْبُدُهُمْ إِلَّا لِيُقَرِّبُونَا إِلَى اللَّهِ زُلْفَىٰ

"'We are only worshiping these beings so that they can bring us closer to Allah.'" [Quran, 39:3]

So their ultimate goal is Allah — the idols were only intermediaries.

Allah says:

وَيَعْبُدُونَ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ مَا لَا يَضُرُّهُمْ وَلَا يَنفَعُهُمْ وَيَقُولُونَ هَٰؤُلَاءِ شُفَعَاؤُنَا عِندَ اللَّهِ

"They worship besides Allah things that do not harm them nor benefit them, and they say: 'These are our intercessors between us and Allah.'" [Quran, 10:18]

"We are too sinful to worship Allah directly, and these idols are holy beings, so we 'go through' them to get to the Holiest of holy that is Allah"—this is their mentality. So notice their shirk (شرك - idolatry/polytheism) was not in rejecting Allah; they firmly believed Allah is their Creator and Sustainer, but they were worshiping other than Allah — so we don't consider them to be Muslims.

This is important to note because in our times, some Muslims fall prey to this *exact* same mentality. They claim Allah is their Lord, but they feel they are too sinful to worship Allah directly, so they invent intercessors/intermediaries. Change al-Lat to pir, Manat to sheikh, al-Uzza to wali, and you get the exact same concept, word for word. They think they have to 'go through' the saint or the Prophet ﷺ. "We worship this being, sacrifice to this being, invoke the blessings of this being, because this being has a higher status with Allah, and they will plead our case to Allah"—this is exactly the mentality of the jahili Arabs. They might say, "How dare you compare a pir to al-Lat! How dare you compare my sheikh to al-Lat!" Our response is: "What is al-Lat except a saint?"

Do you know the origin of al-Lat? Al-Lat was a generous man who used to feed the pilgrims a type of soup. "Al-Lat" means "the one who grinds." (Note: Al-Lat is his title, not his name.) He would stand on the road towards Makkah and feed the people on the road. So they called him "al-Lat," the one who grinds the barley for the soup. When he died, they said, "Let us commemorate him. He was a good man"—so they built a monument. And then people came, rubbed their bodies on it, put their hands on it to get blessings, and slowly but surely, it became an idol that they worshiped besides Allah. So what is al-Lat except a saint? (Note: In our religion, we are not supposed to build a monument on a grave *exactly* because of this reason.)

And the most common being who is invoked and worshiped on earth besides Allah is Jesus Christ. Is Jesus a good or evil being? He is a good being. He is one of the greatest of all prophets. You see, the slippery slope doesn't occur with evil people — look at how few people worship shaytan (the Satanists), and yet billions of people worship Jesus Christ, because it is easy to slip with a good man — you put him above his place, you take him to a status above what he deserves. And this is what our religion came to prohibit. You don't worship anybody besides Allah, including the Prophet ﷺ. You don't 'go through' anybody to get to Allah. Take the Prophet ﷺ as a role model, not as another god or demigod.

So the shirk of the jahili Arabs was a very unique type of shirk, unlike the Hindus or the Zoroastrians — because these groups believe in another god besides Allah; but the god of the Arabs was the God of Ibrahim and Ismail and Ishaq, and that is Allah, the God that we Muslims believe in. Their shirk was not in rejecting Him, but ironically, in affirming Him as being too Holy.

If Arabia was so bad and evil, why did Allah choose it for the Prophet ﷺ to come in? Why not the Romans who were the mightiest civilization, or the Persians who had an ancient civilization? Why choose a desert that didn't have anything, not even a government? Why this society?

There are many wisdoms we can glean:

لَقَدْ أَنزَلْنَا إِلَيْكُمْ كِتَابًا فِيهِ ذِكْرُكُمْ

"We have given you a book, in it is your legacy" [see Quran, 21:10]—meaning the Arabs didn't have a legacy before the Quran came; and the Quran gave them a legacy that people will look up to them by. So the fact that they didn't have a civilization, when Islam came, it made it easier for them to develop a unique and comprehensive culture. If Islam came to the Romans for example, it would have been very difficult — the Prophet ﷺ would have had to fight the status quo, the current structure in place. But Arabia was like a vacuum waiting to be filled. And indeed the first time the Arabs were ever united was under the Prophet ﷺ. So a lack of civilization was a blessing in disguise.

a) Purity of spirit — they were simple people not polluted by philosophical indoctrinations. Of the positives of being simple is when the Truth comes, you accept it more easily. (And generally speaking, even in our times, the first converts are usually the sincere innocent people.)

b) The Arabs were so used to hardship, e.g., lack of water and food — this helped the Islamic armies in the early conquests. The troops of the Romans and the Persians were spoiled — they needed supply lines and had lots of baggage; but the Arabs were used to traveling in the desert for long distances with little water and little food, and early Islamic conquests needed this stamina that neither the Romans nor the Persians had.

c) Bravery — they were not cowards.

d) Honesty — the Arabs hated lying and they were very honest people. E.g., Abu Sufyan's story with Heraclius1 shows this: Abu Sufyan was brought in front of Heraclius, and Heraclius knew Abu Sufyan was an enemy to the Prophet ﷺ [at this time], so to make sure Abu Sufyan is speaking the truth, Heraclius puts the other Qureshis at the back of Abu Sufyan and told them that if Abu Sufyan lies, make a motion that he is lying (i.e., "Tell me he is lying"). And Abu Sufyan remarked later as he was narrating this story, "Were it not for the fact that my people would have accused me of being a liar, I would have invented lies against Muhammad"—even though he is a pagan, he did not want to be called a liar. Honesty was something that was prized amongst the Arabs.

e) They were sincere in their oaths — if they gave a promise, they would uphold it, e.g., Abd al-Muttalib and his promise to Allah2. The Arabs were people of their word, and they abided by their word. There was no need for witnesses or written documents.

f) The Arabs were the best horsemen — there was no denying this. The Romans and the Persians could not compete neither with the horses, nor with the riders, of Arabia. And indeed, there are authentic ahadith (أحاديث - plural of hadith) about Arabian horses — the Prophet ﷺ praised the horses of Arabia, so the blessings remained in them, and to this day the world knows that the most prized horses are Arabian horses. And the riders were the most accustomed to brutal wars and conditions, which the Romans and the Persians were not going to be accustomed to.

رَبَّنَا وَابْعَثْ فِيهِمْ رَسُولًا مِّنْهُمْ يَتْلُو عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتِكَ وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ

"O our Lord! Send amongst them (Ismail's progeny) a prophet (messenger) of their own, who shall recite to them Your signs, and teach them the Book and wisdom, and purify them" [see Quran, 2:129]. So Ibrahim AS made a du'a that let there be a prophet from Ismail's AS progeny, i.e., the Arabs. (Side note: He knew there would be prophets from Ishaq's [إسحاق - Isaac] AS progeny, as Allah said even before Ishaq was born:

فَبَشَّرْنَاهَا بِإِسْحَاقَ وَمِن وَرَاءِ إِسْحَاقَ يَعْقُوبَ

"We gave her [Sarah] good tidings of Ishaq, and after Ishaq, Ya'qub" [see Quran, 11:71].

وَوَهَبْنَا لَهُۥٓ إِسْحَـٰقَ وَيَعْقُوبَ وَجَعَلْنَا فِى ذُرِّيَّتِهِ ٱلنُّبُوَّةَ وَٱلْكِتَـٰبَ

"We blessed him with Ishaq and [later] Ya'qub, and reserved prophethood and revelation for his descendants" [see Quran, 29:27]. And indeed, we Muslims believe that every single prophet that came after Ibrahim AS was from the descendants of Ishaq AS. We affirm this. But we say there is only one exception, and that is the final prophet, Muhammad ﷺ — he was from the descendants of Ismail AS.) So the Prophet ﷺ is the result of the du'a of Ibrahim AS, and this is thus the main reason Allah chose the Arabs. The Prophet ﷺ said in an authentic hadith, "I am the response of the supplication of my father Abraham, and I am the glad tiding predicted by Jesus."

We have already pointed out that the lineage of the Prophet ﷺ was the purest and the noblest, as the Prophet ﷺ himself said in a hadith (Sahih Muslim).

Let us now move on to the issue of the birth of the Prophet ﷺ. His parents are Abdullah b. Abd al-Muttalib (عبد الله بن عبد المطلب) and Aminah bint Wahab (آمنة بنت وهب). We have but a few lines about their life and times. We know very little about them for a number of reasons:

So sadly, we have very little information. But what we do know, insha'Allah we will try to narrate:

Recall the story of Abd al-Muttalib's vow to sacrifice his son Abdullah3. Immediately after the incident, when Abdullah was "saved," Abd al-Muttalib decided he needed to choose a bride for his son. So he chose for him the daughter of the chief of the Banu Zuhra (بنو زهرة), Aminah. (Note: Quraysh is a large tribe and within it are many small tribes — the Banu Hashim is one, the Banu Zuhra is another.) Shortly before the caravan season, Abd al-Muttalib proposed to Aminah bint Wahab on behalf of his son; and her father Wahab, as the chieftain of another Qureshi tribe, agreed. So Abdullah got married to Aminah, and they barely spent 3-5 days together before Abdullah had to go with the caravan to Syria, as we all know, never to be seen again. He was 18-25 years old at this time.

There are some stories/legends that are not authentically narrated, but in this particular case, we will mention one of them since there is no harm in narrating it. (Note 1: This is one of the few exceptions we make.) (Note 2: Sometimes it's okay to mention stories even though it's best to stick to the facts through the science of hadith.) It is said that Abdullah had a type of brightness (nadarah/نضارة) on his face, and he was a very handsome young man. So the young damsels of Quraysh were all eager to get him to marry them. But after he married Aminah, this brightness left his face, so they stopped taking an interest in him completely, saying, "You had a brightness in your face that no longer is there." So the brightness left him, meaning it went to his progeny, Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. Allah knows best, this story is not authentic, but there is no harm in narrating something like this.

Nonetheless, so less than a week after marriage, he left to catch the caravan, and he went all the way to Syria. However, he fell seriously ill on the return journey, so when the caravan arrived in Yathrib (يثرب) (which later became Madinah), he chose to stay with his relatives there to avoid delaying the rest of the group. So he remained in Yathrib. (Note: In Yathrib was Abd al-Muttalib's mother, i.e., Abdullah's grandmother. Notice how Allah prepared some relationship between the Prophet ﷺ and the city he would migrate to. The Arabs married among themselves so it was very rare for them to have relatives outside the city they live in. On top of this, Yathrib was not a common city the Quraysh would travel to. Yet Allah prepared this relationship.) So Abdullah stayed in Yathrib, and when the caravan got back to Makkah, they told Aminah that Abdullah had fallen severely sick, and he is resting in Yathrib. But the next news came, they told her that in fact he had passed away. So Aminah became a young widow at 18-19 years old, carrying the offspring of Abdullah. And nobody knows where Abdullah is buried.

The Prophet ﷺ was born in the famous Year of the Elephant. But when was the exact date? It is commonly known that it was the 12th of Rabi' al-Awwal (ربيع الأول) — but the fact of the matter is there is no unanimously agreed upon opinion. However, the Prophet ﷺ told us certain things that we know for sure — of them, in the famous hadith of Sahih Muslim, a man asked the Prophet ﷺ, "Why do you fast on Mondays?" He ﷺ said, "This was the day I was born on, and this was the day revelation began to me." So we know for a fact that he was born on a Monday. As for the year, there is a narration in which Uthman b. Affan asks an old sahabi, Qubath b. Ashyam (قباث بن أشيم), after the death of the Prophet ﷺ, "Are you akbar (أكبر - older/grander) than the Prophet ﷺ?" He said, "The Prophet ﷺ is grander than me, but I am older than him." Then he said, "The Prophet ﷺ was born in the Year of the Elephant. As for me, I remember my mother taking me outside of Makkah as a child, and I saw the dried-up green dung that the elephant had left." So Qubath puts a year on the Prophet's ﷺ birth. Another sahabi, Suwayd b. Ghafla (سويد بن غفلة), said, "The Prophet ﷺ and I were both born in the same year, the Year of the Elephant." So we agree that he ﷺ was born in the Year of the Elephant. And remember, the Arabs did not have an established calendar and only had a calendar based on events (e.g., the Year of the Drought, the Year of the Invasion) until Umar RA made the Islamic calendar; so when exactly is the Year of the Elephant? Difficult to date because we don't have any chronicles of the Abyssinians. But by and large, the majority of historians say it corresponds to 570 CE.

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.

Ibn Kathir (ابن كثير) (d. 774 AH) in his al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya (البداية والنهاية) said, "The majority opinion is that the Prophet ﷺ was born in Rabi' al-Awwal. But others have other months as well. The scholars differed with regards to the date of his birth. One group said he was born on the 2nd of Rabi' al-Awwal — this is the opinion of Abu Ma'shar al-Sindhi (أبو معشر السندي) (d. 171 AH), Ibn Abd al-Barr (ابن عبد البر) (d. 463 AH), and al-Waqidi (الواقدي) (d. 207 AH) [three very early authorities]. Another opinion is that he was born on the 8th of Rabi' al-Awwal — this is the opinion of Ibn Hazm (ابن حزم) (d. 456 AH), Imam Malik b. Anas (مالك بن أنس) (d. 179 AH), Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri (ابن شهاب الزهري) (d. 128 AH), and Muhammad b. Jubayr b. Mut'im (محمد بن جبير بن مطعم) (d. ~100 AH). A third opinion is the 10th of Rabi' al-Awwal — this is the opinion of Ibn Asakir (ابن عساكر) (d. 571 AH) and Ja'far al-Sadiq (جعفر الصادق) [the descendant of the Prophet ﷺ] (d. 148 AH). The fourth opinion is the 12th of Rabi' al-Awwal — this is the opinion of Ibn Ishaq, but there is no isnad on this matter [note: and Ibn Kathir does say this is the most popular opinion in his time]. The fifth opinion is the 17th of Rabi' al-Awwal. The sixth opinion is the 22nd of Rabi' al-Awwal. The seventh opinion is not even in Rabi' al-Awwal but in Ramadan (رمضان) — this is the opinion of al-Zubayr b. Bakkar (الزبير بن بكار) (d. 256 AH). [And there are other opinions as well.]"

To summarize: There are over 10 opinions in the earliest books of Islam about the exact day that the Prophet ﷺ was born — none of them are clear-cut with solid evidence. All of them are the opinions of early authors and narrators. And to be academic, the opinion of the 12th of Rabi' al-Awwal seems to have much less weight than the 2nd, the 8th, and the 10th — because these three have tabi'un, tabi' al-tabi'un, and even the descendant of the Prophet ﷺ narrating; whereas the opinion of the 12th is by Ibn Ishaq who came ~150 years after the birth of the Prophet ﷺ, and he is narrating without any isnad.

So if this is the case, why then is the opinion of the 12th of Rabi' al-Awwal the most popular? Two reasons: (1) Because it is Ibn Ishaq's opinion — and 90% of Sirah writers only rely on Ibn Ishaq. (2) The first time the Prophet's ﷺ birthday was celebrated as a public event (i.e., the Mawlid al-Nabi), the authorities who celebrated it chose the 12th of Rabi' al-Awwal to celebrate it on — thus it spread like wildfire.

The Mawlid al-Nabi (مولد النبي - Observance of the Birthday of the Prophet ﷺ) — the first recorded instance that we have of people celebrating the birthday of the Prophet ﷺ is around 517 AH, i.e., the 6th century of Islam. So for 500 years, the concept of celebrating the birthday of the Prophet ﷺ was simply unknown to the Muslims. Celebrating birthdays was not the custom of the Arabs — they didn't even record dates. (Note: Celebrating birthdays is a Western concept that later spread to the world.) The first group that celebrated the Mawlid was the Fatimids of Egypt. (Note: The Fatimids are not of Sunni theology, they are of extreme Shia groups — the ancestors of today's Aga Khanis and Bohras, i.e., the Isma'ilis.) They instituted over 30-40 festivals, and of them was the Mawlid. When it was done, 150 years later, some Sunni governors in Mosul thought this was a good idea, so they imported the festival, and they copied it and did it on the 12th of Rabi' al-Awwal in around 670 AH, and it became a very luxurious festival — various governors and rulers competed who could have the grander festival. Free meat, free bread, gifts, etc. (Note: And of course, there are reasons why rulers want to have festivals — to attract trade and stimulate the economy, i.e., the same reason why governments in our time want the Olympics/World Cup to happen in their country.) Thus slowly but surely, the Mawlid began to spread in Sunni lands. Initially, some scholars opposed it (and some scholars said it is allowed with certain conditions) — but after a while, under public pressure, the floodgates opened, and it became a very common festival. And therefore, the 12th of Rabi' al-Awwal became commonly known to the public as the birthday of the Prophet ﷺ, even though, as we have seen, the 2nd, the 8th, and the 10th are more authentic historically. [Further reading: The Birth-Date of the Prophet and the History of the Mawlid by Dr. Yasir Qadhi

Sa'id b. al-Musayyib (سعيد بن المسيب) (d. 95 AH) said, "It has been narrated to me that the Prophet ﷺ was born at high noon." And this is the only narration we have about the timing of the birth of the Prophet ﷺ. He was born at high noon when the sun was at its pinnacle and peak. And of course, there is a clear symbolism here that is not lost on anybody: When the sun is brightest, this is when he is coming out with his own Truth — just like the bright sun illuminates everything, so too this prophet will illuminate everything and nothing will remain dark around him.

When it comes to the actual birth of the Prophet ﷺ, we only have one academically sound report in Musnad Imam Ahmad (مسند الإمام أحمد); and all the rest are just legends, so we will skip over — because frankly, we don't need these fairy tales and lies to praise the Prophet ﷺ. The facts are enough. What is really amazing is that the earliest books you go to have the least information; yet as you go on and on in history, the books get bigger and bigger, and the details get more and more — makes you wonder, where did these details come from? Ibn Ishaq is the author of the first comprehensive book of Sirah, and he says he will write everything he comes across, yet the size of his book was barely 10-15 volumes. And then you have a book written 700 years later, 5x the size! And this book is full of "...and it is said to me" — where is it coming from? Legends. E.g.: (1) In one report, it is said the Prophet ﷺ was born already circumcised. (2) In another, it is said he was born and fell into sajdah (سجدة - prostration). (3) In another, it is said he was born and he lifted his finger to the sky to say the shahada (الشهادة - the Testimony of Faith). We don't need to invent these legends. He is the best human, and the facts are enough to show us this. When we resort to these tales, it makes our religion not look as dignified. Ibn Ishaq mentions none of these things.

However, there is one authentic hadith pertaining to the birth of the Prophet ﷺ, mentioned by the Prophet ﷺ himself, as recorded in Musnad Imam Ahmad: "When my mother gave birth to me [or in another version: when my mother was carrying me], she saw a light emanate from her that reached all the way to the palaces of the city of Busra (بصرى - Bosra) in al-Sham (الشام - Greater Syria)." Scholars have tried to understand why al-Sham. Allah knows best, but we could surmise that al-Sham was mentioned because:

So the light emanating toward al-Sham is an indication that the Prophet ﷺ is going to challenge the status quo. Realize before the coming of Islam, Damascus was the right hand, the jewel, of the Byzantine Empire where everything happened — commerce, trade, culture, civilization, etc. So it was impossible for the Arabs to think that Damascus would one day become the core of their civilizations.

As Muslims, we also believe that Isa b. Maryam will descend in al-Sham where he will meet the Mahdi.

Now, there are a few incidents that are alleged to have occurred that are not found in the authentic books:

وَأَنَّا كُنَّا نَقْعُدُ مِنْهَا مَقَاعِدَ لِلسَّمْعِ ۖ فَمَن يَسْتَمِعِ الْآنَ يَجِدْ لَهُ شِهَابًا رَّصَدًا  

"Indeed, we used to sit there in (hidden) stations, to (steal) a hearing; but any who listen now will find a flaming fire watching him in ambush" [Quran, 72:9]. So one group of scholars says this happened at the birth of the Prophet ﷺ. But the correct opinion is that this occurred not at his birth, but when his prophethood began, i.e., 40 years later. And other ahadith reference this as well.

Getting back to Ibn Ishaq's narration: Ibn Ishaq says the Prophet ﷺ was circumcised on the 7th day, and his grandfather, Abd al-Muttalib, held a feast for him, and he chose the name Muhammad which was a very uncommon name — there was nobody in Makkah by this name. People asked him, "Why are you calling him by a name that nobody has heard of?" He said, "I want him to be praised by the people of the earth as I want him to be praised by the people of the heavens." ("Muhammad" means the one who is praised.)

When the news of the birth of the Prophet ﷺ spread amongst the Quraysh, his uncle Abu Lahab (أبو لهب) [whom as we all know would later become one of the main enemies of the Prophet ﷺ when his prophethood begins] set a slave girl free just because she came with this good news of the birth of his nephew. This shows how happy he was. And there is a hadith in Musnad Imam Ahmad that al-Abbas (العباس) saw Abu Lahab in his dream (after Abu Lahab had died) being punished with the utmost severe punishment. Al-Abbas asked him, "Didn't your relationship with the Prophet ﷺ [as his uncle] benefit you?" He said, "No, except for the one thing that I did: when the good news came that he was born, I freed Thuwaybah (ثويبة) (the slave girl); and because of this, I am allowed a few drops of water."

The first thing we know of his life after his birth is that his mother gave him to be raised away from the house in the desert. This seems strange to us, but it was a custom of the nobility of the Quraysh. It was a status symbol that was done for a number of reasons:

We know the story of Halimah al-Sa'diyah (حليمة السعدية), the famous foster mother of the Prophet ﷺ. She narrates this story in the first person, and it is recorded in a number of books of hadith and of Sirah. She explains why she took the Prophet ﷺ: She and her husband were suffering greatly from poverty — desert dwellers do not get much income, so one of the reasons why they would walk into Makkah to foster children from the rich people of the Quraysh was for money. This was an annual event. Everybody knew there was a period — for one week the women of the Bani Sa'd b. Bakr would come to Makkah to find babies to foster. Halimah herself just had a newborn son (side note: and she also had a daughter around 7-8 years old named Shayma [الشيماء]), and the newborn caused her milk to flow, i.e., she is able to foster care another child, so that year, she convinced her husband that she would obtain a newborn from the Quraysh who was willing to be foster-fed for 2-3 years. Her husband agrees, so she goes to Makkah with a group of women from her clan. There was a child known as "the orphan child," and some of the women didn't even visit this child's house. Others, including Halimah, did visit, but they moved on to find another child, as they felt they wouldn't get as much money from the parent of this child, as his father was dead. When the week finished, every one of Halimah's friends had acquired one of the newborns, except for her. And the only child remaining was the orphan child, the Prophet ﷺ. She told her husband, "I feel embarrassed. It's shameful that my friends are going back with a child and I don't have one." So her husband said, "Why don't you take the orphan child? Perhaps Allah will bless us through him." (Note: This shows the couple had good hearts.) So Halimah agreed to take care of the Prophet ﷺ.

All the narrations say as soon as they took the Prophet ﷺ, the miracles began right then and there: (i) They had one old goat that stopped producing milk for a long time, but as soon as the Prophet ﷺ came into the tent, it started producing milk again; and (ii) they had an old mount, when they put the Prophet ﷺ on it, it became the fastest animal of all.

Generally speaking, this foster care lasted only two years. But during these two years, the blessings that Halimah witnessed in her household were so many that she was scared of losing the Prophet ﷺ, so she invented 1001 excuses in front of Aminah to extend the contract — and Aminah agreed, even though for sure she couldn't have given the amount of money that Halimah's other friends would be getting. But it was not the money, it was the blessings that came with taking care of the Prophet ﷺ that Halimah wanted.

It was during this second phase of foster care that the famous incident of the Opening of the Heart of the Prophet ﷺ happened:

This is an incident that we have no doubt has happened because the Quran references it, there are authentic ahadith about it, and the sahaba saw the line on the chest of the Prophet ﷺ that showed it had been opened up. So this is clearly something we believe in:

In Sahih Muslim, Anas b. Malik related: "When the Prophet ﷺ was 4 years old, Jibril came to him when he was playing with the other children. The other children got scared and ran away, but the Prophet ﷺ stood his ground. And Jibril came and overpowered him." (Note: This means he ﷺ was struggling — a 4-year-old kid is fighting an angel, subhan'Allah. This shows his bravery and determination ﷺ.) "Jibril forced him on the ground and opened his chest, he took his heart out, and he took out a black portion from the heart and threw it away, and said, 'That was shaytan's portion that he had in you.'"

(Note: Indeed, we know that shaytan pricks any newborn baby out of hatred, anger, and jealousy. And the Prophet ﷺ said, "This is why babies cry when they come out of the womb." This shows how much of an enemy shaytan is to us. From the cradle up until the grave. Allah creates the child pure, but shaytan begins the corruption process from, not day one, but minute one. The prick causes the black spot in our hearts, and perhaps this is where the waswasa [وسوسة - devil's whisper] comes from. But remember, shaytan can never control us or force us, all he can do is whisper. Indeed, we learn from the Quran that on the Day of Judgment, shaytan will say to his followers from mankind, "I did not have any authority over you. I only called you, and you responded to me. So do not blame me; blame yourselves" [Quran, 14:22]. When we get a very evil and blasphemous thought, know that it is from shaytan. And our job is to fight it. This is part of the tests in this life.)

So this was cut off from the Prophet ﷺ at 4 years old. And this is proven in a hadith where the Prophet ﷺ said, "Every child that is born, shaytan (Iblis/إبليس) assigns a qareen (قرين) to the person." (Side note: So every one of us has a qareen. They are with us 24/7 and they know us better than anyone. And his job is to whisper bad things — they spend their whole lives just to misguide us out of jealousy and anger. This shows shaytan's hatred for us, in that, he hated the fact that Allah chose us over him.) The sahaba asked the Prophet ﷺ, "Even you [have a qareen], O Messenger of Allah?" The Prophet ﷺ replied, "Even me. Except that Allah helped me against him, and now he has accepted Islam and only whispers good things to me." This shows us the relationship the Prophet ﷺ had with shaytan had been severed.

Jibril then washed the heart in a golden cup of zamzam and then put it back, and he sealed it up. (Side note: So we believe that the first open-heart surgery was performed by Jibril upon the Prophet ﷺ. Because it was a physical taking out of the heart.)

The foster-brother and Shayma ran away screaming, "Our brother has been killed!" So Halimah runs outside, and she finds the Prophet ﷺ sitting with a pale face. Subhan'Allah, notice he isn't screaming, crying, or wailing — this shows how brave he was even at a young age. He is sitting there with fear and terror, but not screaming. And when they saw him, they saw the lines on his chest. (Note 1: It's reported that Anas b. Malik related when the Prophet ﷺ was around 60, "I could [still] see the traces on his chest.") (Note 2: If Allah willed, it could have easily been a clean cut. He didn't need to leave a line. But He wants to demonstrate that something physical has happened. So there was a physical line left on the chest of the Prophet ﷺ.) (Note 3: This incident of taking out of the heart occurred one more time almost 45 years later when the Prophet ﷺ went to the Night Journey of al-Isra' wal-Mi'raj1. Jibril opened up the chest of the Prophet ﷺ, took the heart out, washed it in zamzam, and put it back, but there was one difference — there was no black clot the second time, as it had already been removed when he was 4 years old.)

This incident concerned Halimah, so then and there she decided, "Let me return this child to Aminah." So she returns the Prophet ﷺ to Aminah.

The spiritual benefit we derive from this incident is that the Prophet ﷺ is being prepared to live the most respected and pure life. And this is because it's the sunnah of Allah that the characters of the prophets are impeccable — they cannot commit major sins. In Arabic, we call this ma'sum (معصوم - impeccable) or ismah (عصمة - infallibility). They can commit minor infractions and get angry like Musa AS did, do hasty things like Yunus (يونس - Jonah) AS did, but they cannot commit major sins. So even though it was a physical opening up of the heart, it was a spiritual cleansing. And Allah mentions in the Quran, "Haven't we opened up your chest?" [94:1] — and the majority opinion is that this is a reference to the Incident of the Opening of the Heart; but it's worth noting that some scholars posit that based on verse [39:22], this refers to the guiding of the Prophet ﷺ to Islam: "Can [the misguided be like] those whose hearts Allah has opened to Islam, so they are enlightened by their Lord?" [39:22].

It's narrated that 57 years later, during the Battle of Hunayn2 (غزوة حنين) —when all of the tribes are entering into Islam— the tribe of Banu Sa'd b. Bakr was also fought and conquered. And it's narrated that one of the women of this tribe stood up and made a commotion, claiming to be the sister of the Prophet ﷺ. The sahaba didn't know what to do, so they brought her to the Prophet ﷺ. And he ﷺ said to her, "How do I know this is you (Shayma)?" She said, "I still have the marks of the bite that you bit me (when I was carrying you as a baby) on my back." So the Prophet ﷺ realized this is indeed Shayma, as she said a story nobody would know, so he freed her and gave her many gifts.

It appears Halimah and her husband were not at this occasion. Only later on after this battle they came to visit. And when the Prophet ﷺ saw Halimah, he recognized her instantly, he stood up to greet her, took off his shawl, and he placed it on the ground for her to sit on —and some of the books say Halimah accepted Islam— then the Prophet ﷺ gifted her immensely, and she went her way. (Note: In some narrations it's said her husband was with her.)

So the Prophet ﷺ was returned to Aminah; and sadly, we only have one incident recorded during this time frame. What else did Aminah do, what were the moments, what was her tarbiyyah (تربية), we don't know anything. There is only one thing narrated and that is that Aminah decided to take the Prophet ﷺ, who was around 6 years old at the time, to Yathrib (which was to be called Madinah); and she had one servant with her, Ummi Ayman (أم أيمن). (Note 1: Recall in the previous halaqa, we mentioned that the Prophet's ﷺ great-grandmother was from Yathrib. Now surely we see the wisdom in Allah's divine plan that out of all the cities, it just so happens Abd al-Muttalib's father falls in love with a girl in Yathrib, and thus there was a connection between the Prophet ﷺ and Yathrib before the Emigration. Indeed, this was the only city the Prophet ﷺ traveled to as a child, and the only city he had other relatives in.) (Note 2: And of course, it was a custom of the Arabs that they preserved their lineage — they would know their generations back to Adnan. They would keep the ties of kinship. Why? Because this was jahili society, i.e., you are protected by your relatives — you are honored by the relatives you have.) (Note 3: Ummi Ayman lived a long life after Islam and became a Muslim. So it is sad — because IF only someone had sat down with Ummi Ayman [after the death of the Prophet ﷺ] and recorded stories from her about the Prophet's childhood, we would have had a whole chronicle. But Allah has His wisdom that we do not understand/know.) (Note 4: This story of visiting Yathrib is one of the stories that Ummi Ayman is telling, because she was the only witness.) (Note 5: Some books of Sirah mention that the Prophet ﷺ recognized some of the buildings of Madinah when he returned ±50 years later.) Aminah, the Prophet ﷺ, and Ummi Ayman stayed in Yathrib for a few months. And on the way back, in a small settlement called al-Abwa' (الأبواء), Aminah became ill and she passed away right then and there, so Ummi Ayman had her buried by the people of the village. (Note 6: To this day, Aminah's grave is still there in al-Abwa'.)

It is reported in Sahih Muslim that one time [during Madinan Sirah], when the Prophet ﷺ was returning home from a journey, he diverted away into the wilderness. And all the sahaba just walked with him, not even asking a question — whatever the Prophet ﷺ does, they-hear-and-they-obey. And the sahabi who narrated this says, "The Prophet ﷺ found a grave over there, and he sat down and cried like we had never seen him cry before, until his beard was wet." (Many of the sahaba had never seen him cry before. And it's narrated that he ﷺ only cried publicly a number of times.) And subhan'Allah, the sahaba didn't ask one question — but when they saw the Prophet ﷺ cry, the whole congregation cried with him — this is the love they had for him ﷺ. And then the Prophet ﷺ said, "I had used to forbid you from visiting graves..."—this was the initial ruling in Islam: you were not allowed to visit a graveyard except with a dead body, i.e., to bury the dead—"...But I asked Allah permission to visit my mother's grave..."—as a rasul, the Prophet ﷺ does not take one step without Allah's permission, even to visit his mother's grave—"...I asked Allah permission to visit my mother's grave, and He allowed me. So now I am allowing you." Thus from this, we see that the permissibility to visit graves came from the Prophet ﷺ wanting to see his mother's grave, Aminah.

And the Prophet ﷺ encouraged us to visit graves because it reminds us of death.

The Prophet's ﷺ father passed away when his mother was pregnant with him, and when he was 6 years old, he lost his mother, so he was then entrusted to his grandfather Abd al-Muttalib, the chieftain of the Quraysh. Once again, we hardly have anything about Abd al-Muttalib's relationship with the Prophet ﷺ other than one or two tidbits from Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Sa'd, and other classical books. Ibn Ishaq narrates this from the tabi'un, so insha'Allah it is permissible to narrate: It's said that Abd al-Muttalib would have a raised platform in front of, and connected to, the Kabah. (Note: He lived a long life over 80, and is already blind.) And around Asr (عصر) time when the shadow of the Kabah shade the platform, he would sit there and discuss the affairs of the Quraysh. This is the platform equal to the king's throne, so no one sits on it, not even his sons or grandsons — it is exclusively for Abd al-Muttalib. But once, the Prophet ﷺ as a young boy, came running and jumped onto the platform to be next to Abd al-Muttalib. And his uncles, al-Zubayr and others, pulled him back down. But Abd al-Muttalib stopped them and said, "Leave him. This is my child, and he can remain on the platform." So out of all his grandchildren, the only one that he allowed to be on the platform was Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.

There is one more incident narrated: On one occasion, the uncles of the Prophet ﷺ sent him to find some lost camels. Ibn Sa'd mentions that the reason why his uncles sent the Prophet ﷺ, a little 7 or 8 year-old, was because he never did anything except that it was successful. So now that the uncles are getting desperate that they can't find the camels, they decide to send this young boy out alone in the desert to find them. But the Prophet ﷺ was delayed in coming back. And when Abd al-Muttalib found out what the uncles did, he was furious at them. He was pacing and walking around, waiting for the Prophet ﷺ to return. And when he did, he hugged him and said, "From now on, I will never let you out of my sight"—this shows that Abd al-Muttalib had a special care and concern for the Prophet ﷺ.

And then at the age of 8, for the third time, the Prophet ﷺ became an orphan, as his grandfather Abd al-Muttalib passed away.

Ibn Sa'd mentions a narration in which a sahabi asked the Prophet ﷺ, "Do you remember Abd al-Muttalib, ya Rasulullah?"—Abd al-Muttalib was the legend among the Arabs, so the sahaba were curious and wanted to know. The Prophet ﷺ said, "Yes, I remember him. And I was 8 years old when he died." Even though this hadith is slightly weak, it clearly shows that the Prophet ﷺ was 8 years old when Abd al-Muttalib passed away.

And one of the things Abd al-Muttalib did on his deathbed was to entrust the Prophet ﷺ to his son, Abu Talib, as Abu Talib was the full brother of Abdullah, the father of the Prophet ﷺ. (Abd al-Muttalib had married 5 wives one after the other, and from one of them he had several daughters and two [or three] sons, that is Abdullah and Abu Talib [and al-Zubayr]. So they were full brothers unlike Abu Lahab or Hamzah.) So Abu Talib took charge of the Prophet ﷺ, and he lived a long life, and passed away when the Prophet ﷺ was over 50 years old [see episode 19.-,The%20Death%20of%20Abu%20Talib,-The%20first%20of).

Question: Why did Allah put so many trials on the young child? Three orphanhoods, one after the other, upon Prophet Muhammad ﷺ? If Allah had willed, he could have had loving parents and been born in the lap of luxury?

As our scholars mentioned, there are many reasons for doing so:

وَاصْطَنَعْتُكَ لِنَفْسِي

"And I chose you for Myself" [Quran, 20:41].

وَلِتُصْنَعَ عَلَىٰ عَيْنِي

"So that you may be raised under My care" [Quran, 20:39].
And this applies to our Prophet ﷺ as well.

That is why there are so many ahadith about taking care of orphans: (i) He ﷺ says, "I and the one who takes care of orphans will be 'like this' in Jannah" [as he gestures with his forefinger and middle finger, holding them close together]. (ii) He says, "When you see an orphan, say good words to him and put your hand across his head" [that is, treat orphans with love]. Surely, the Prophet ﷺ is remembering his own childhood as an orphan when he says these ahadith.

(As a personal advice to all of you: Wallahi, the least we can do is to find an orphan and sponsor that orphan. Allah has blessed us with so much wealth. Quran as well mentions the virtues of taking care of the yatim [يتيم - orphan] and preferring the yatim over ourselves. All you need is $30-$50 a month. Make this a part of our life. [Wallahi we spend more on coffee and TV sets than we do on this.])

By going through traumatic times, our Prophet ﷺ developed that fondness, softness, mercy, and tenderness for the weak — a necessary requirement for being a prophet.

أوتيت جوامع الكلم

"I have been given (by Allah) the most succinct/precise/concise of all speech." Jawami' al-kalim (جوامع الكلم) means a small phrase that can be explained and understood in hundreds of hours, as it has many deep meanings and profundity in it.

The final story that we will mention is the story of the Prophet's ﷺ journey to Syria. This story is mentioned in Sunan al-Tirmidhi (سنن الترمذي). And realize most of the Sirah is not mentioned in the books of hadith, but rather in Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Sa'd, etc. — and the standards of the authenticity of these books are one degree less than the books of hadith which are the most strict: Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, Nasa'i, Ibn Majah, Muwatta Imam Malik (موطأ الإمام مالك), Musnad Ahmad b. Hanbal, and Sunan al-Darimi (سنن الدارمي) — our fiqh, theology, legal, ethics is based upon these books of hadith. The books of Sirah however are a level beneath them in terms of authenticity. Thus a lot of the incidents of the Sirah are not as authentic as our hadith and theology. Most of the time, we have no problems narrating them; but sometimes. we get into problems. And this is one of those times; so we have to go into a little bit of academic detail. What is the story?

The story is that when the Prophet ﷺ was still young and had not yet reached puberty (11-12 years old), his uncle Abu Talib took him on a journey to Syria along with Abu Bakr and Bilal b. Rabah (بلال بن رباح). And on the way there, they passed by a monastery where a monk called Buhayra (بحيرى - Bahira) used to live, who would never give them the time of day, but this time when they were with the Prophet ﷺ, Buhayra came out searching for them and greeted them and invited them all back to his house for a feast. When they asked him why, he said, "You have in your midst a boy who will become a prophet. I saw the clouds shelter him, I saw the trees shelter him, and the stones prostrate to him." So Buhayra told Abu Talib to take care of the boy. And while they were eating, they saw seven Roman soldiers appear, who allegedly were trying to find the prophet to come, to capture and kill him. So Buhayra hid them and told them to immediately go back to Makkah.

This story is narrated in some basic form in Tirmidhi, and of course in Ibn Ishaq and others. Most of the scholars of our tradition have accepted it at face value, including Tirmidhi (d. 279 AH), Ibn Hajar (ابن حجر) (d. 852 AH), al-Hakim (الحاكم) (d. 405 AH), et al. However, some of our more critical-minded scholars such as Imam al-Dhahabi (الذهبي) (d. 748 AH), Ibn Kathir (d. 774 AH), and Ibn Sayyid al-Nas (ابن سيد الناس) (d. 734 AH) said something is wrong about this story. Imam al-Dhahabi is one of the greatest chroniclers and historians of the 7th century who had a very critical mind and didn't accept everything at face value (and this shows his intellectual prowess). (Note: In academia, there is a whole methodology of modern study called "historical criticism," and it means you cannot just take books of history and take them at face value — you have to read through, dissect, compare, and think is it possible or not. Don't just accept everything. And this applies to our tradition as well.) Imam al-Dhahabi said, "How can this story be true — Abu Bakr was just a kid at the time, why would he go on a caravan with Abu Talib when there is no relation? As for Bilal, he hasn't even been born yet. And he was not acquired by Abu Bakr until after Islam. How did Bilal come into the picture? Why would the trees shelter the Prophet ﷺ when according to the same report, the clouds are already sheltering him? And why don't we find the Prophet ﷺ reminding Abu Talib of this incident [later] when he became a prophet? [E.g., 'Didn't Buhayra tell us that I will become a prophet?'] Why did the Quraysh find it problematic that he became a prophet when apparently Buhayra announced he would become a prophet? In fact, why did the Prophet ﷺ himself not understand what was happening when Jibril came to him in Ghari Hira (غار حراء - the Cave of Hira')? Why was he confused, scared, and terrified? Why did he come to Khadija saying, 'What happened? I don't understand,' and she had to take him to Waraqa, and Waraqa had to explain?3" Why, why, why...

And some scholars have said: "Okay, Bilal and Abu Bakr are incorrect details; but let's accept the rest of the story as truth."

But we say:

But we say: Firstly, as some of our early scholars have pointed out, the story of Buhayra does not make sense (and Imam al-Dhahabi went as far as saying it is fabricated); and secondly, even *if* it is authentic, the orientalists' claims are still ludicrous — how could an 11-year-old kid memorize all the encyclopedic information in barely half an hour and then relate it 30 years later? Impossible. Allah mentions in the Quran:

تِلْكَ مِنْ أَنبَاءِ الْغَيْبِ نُوحِيهَا إِلَيْكَ ۖ مَا كُنتَ تَعْلَمُهَا أَنتَ وَلَا قَوْمُكَ مِن قَبْلِ هَٰذَا

"This is one of the stories of the unseen which We reveal to you [O Prophet]. Neither you nor your people knew it before this" [11:49].

ذَٰلِكَ مِنْ أَنۢبَآءِ ٱلْغَيْبِ نُوحِيهِ إِلَيْكَ

"That is from the stories of the unseen which We reveal to you [O Prophet]" [12:102].

Allah further says:

وَمَا كُنتَ تَتْلُو مِن قَبْلِهِ مِن كِتَابٍ وَلَا تَخُطُّهُ بِيَمِينِكَ

"You [O Prophet] could not read any writing [even] before this [revelation], nor could you write at all" [29:48].

[So we Muslims say: These stories of the unseen (i.e., the histories of the Jews and Christians in this context) were revealed to him ﷺ directly from Allah SWT (through Jibril), which is one of the proofs that he was a true prophet.]

(Tangent: Unfortunately, throughout our history, many people have fabricated ahadith — some with good intentions and some with evil intentions. [But obviously, the ends don't justify the means.] There is a commonly known fabricated hadith about the blessings of every single surah of the Quran; and when Imam Ahmad captured the fabricator, he [the fabricator] said, "I found the people getting busy in fiqh and history, so I wanted them to go back to the Quran. So I fabricated something, perhaps they will read the Quran because of it." So there are some good intentions. But certainly, fabricating hadith is not allowed. This is why there is a whole study called "the science of hadith" to help scholars sift through inauthentic narrations. We must understand that when it comes to the Sirah, a lot of people, because of emotionalism, they wish to add things that are not found in the earliest books, to make things seem better than they were. We mentioned some examples in the last halaqa, and you have stories that the Prophet ﷺ didn't have a shadow, etc. But these stories are not found in Ibn Ishaq or Ibn Sa'd; they are only found in books written hundreds of years later. Some people want to exaggerate. But frankly, we don't need to, as our Prophet ﷺ is the best human being without these exaggerations. When we put these stories in, wallahi, we give our religion a bad name. People look at us and think, "What type of religion is this?" Allah has told us what we need to know; and in the authentic blessings of our Prophet ﷺ, there is plenty that we can stick to. We don't need to resort to fables — it is a disservice to us.)

To conclude: In our opinion, the story of Buhayra does not make sense. Allah knows best, but the story does appear to be weak.

[Re-revised by Muhammad Abdul Rahman, May 2021]

We do however know the first job of the Prophet ﷺ — and this hadith is in Bukhari so it is authentic: the Prophet ﷺ said, "Allah never sent a prophet except that he was a shepherd." The sahaba asked, "Not even you, O Messenger of Allah?" (Side note: this shows that most sahaba didn't even know he had a job as a shepherd — let alone the other details.) They thought the Prophet ﷺ would be an exception — but the Prophet ﷺ replied, "I was. And I used to tend to the flock of the people of Makkah in return for some qararit (قراريط - pennies/insignificant amount of money)." In another hadith, it's said the Prophet ﷺ saw some of the shepherd taking care of the sheep they had and said, "I advise you to find the tree of arak (أراك - Salvadora persica/toothbrush tree) and find the darker branches as this will be better for your flock." So they were shocked and asked, "How do you know this, O Messenger of Allah?" He said, "I used to be a shepherd, and every prophet of Allah used to be a shepherd." In another narration, in Musnad Imam Ahmad, the Prophet ﷺ is recorded to have said, "Musa was sent (to become a prophet) when he was a shepherd. Dawud was sent when he was a shepherd. And I too was a shepherd in [the valley of] Ajyad (أجياد)."

If Allah had willed, the Prophet ﷺ could have been born rich, and money would be poured upon him as a child, teenager, and adult. Why would Allah will the Prophet ﷺ starts his life with the most menial, lowest paid, most difficult job in all of Makkah? There are a lot of wisdoms:

مَا وَدَّعَكَ رَبُّكَ وَمَا قَلَىٰ

وَلَلْآخِرَةُ خَيْرٌ لَّكَ مِنَ الْأُولَىٰ

وَلَسَوْفَ يُعْطِيكَ رَبُّكَ فَتَرْضَىٰ

 أَلَمْ يَجِدْكَ يَتِيمًا فَآوَىٰ

وَوَجَدَكَ ضَالًّا فَهَدَىٰ

وَوَجَدَكَ عَائِلًا فَأَغْنَىٰ

فَأَمَّا الْيَتِيمَ فَلَا تَقْهَرْ

وَأَمَّا السَّائِلَ فَلَا تَنْهَرْ

وَأَمَّا بِنِعْمَةِ رَبِّكَ فَحَدِّثْ

"Your Lord has not abandoned you, nor has He become hateful [of you]. And the next life is certainly far better for you than this one. And [surely] your Lord will give so much to you that you will be pleased. Did He not find you as an orphan then sheltered you? Did He not find you unguided then guided you? And did He not find you needy then satisfied your needs? So do not oppress the orphan, nor repulse the beggar. And proclaim the blessings of your Lord" [Quran, 93:3-11].

After the incident of being a shepherd, only two or three things are recorded before the prophethood begins.

When the Prophet ﷺ was a teenager, between 15 and 18 (most likely closer to 15, as he didn't physically fight in the battle, which shows that he was not of the age to carry a sword, when in those days, around 15 was when you were regarded as a full adult and allowed to carry a sword), the Quraysh fought in the Harb al-Fijar (حرب الفجار - the Evil Wars). The Fijar Wars is a series of small battles that broke out between two large tribes of Arabia: Kinana (كنانة) and Qays Aylan (قيس عيلان).

To make a long story short: A person from Kinana killed somebody from the Hawazin. When they found out, the Hawazin attacked the Kinanite tribes. So the Kinanite tribes, including the Quraysh, rushed back to Makkah — they did this because the rule of law was "whoever enters the Haram is safe." But the Hawazin followed them, and because they were so angry, they didn't care about the sanctity of the Haram, and they attacked the Kinana.

Now, this is interesting: the initial fault was that of the Kinanite tribes, as indeed, killing a person is a crime — however, attacking the sanctity of the Haram is a much bigger crime — and therefore, the Quraysh declared all-out war against the Hawazin and Qays Aylan tribes. And this war is called the Wars of Fijar — because both sides committed evil, and especially because the sanctity of the Haram was broken, which is the height of evil.

And the Prophet's ﷺ job was to find and look for the arrows that missed the target, and return them to his uncles.

Initially, the Quraysh was losing. But eventually, they won over. Whenever the Prophet ﷺ would appear on the day with the Quraysh, they would win over. But whenever he would not be at home, they would lose ground. And Abu Talib saw this, so he said, "By Allah, you are going to stay with us." And eventually, a peace treaty was enacted — the Quraysh agreed to pay the blood money, so the fighting stopped.

And it is recorded that after Islam, when the Prophet ﷺ was much older, he said, "I remember participating in the Fijar Wars, and I would collect arrows for my uncles and hand them back to them. And I do not regret participating in that war."

In another few years, a more famous incident occurred, called the Hilf al-Fudul (حلف الفضول), also called Hilf al-Mutayyabin (حلف المطيبين) — the Treaty/Pact of Fudul or Mutayyabin. At this stage, the Prophet ﷺ is probably in his early 20s. This pact occurred in Dhu al-Qa'dah, one of the Sacred Months, and took place in Makkah.

A person from the tribe of Zubayd (زبيد) —a tribe from Yemen, which in Makkah was not considered to be as elite— sold a number of items to al-As b. Wa'il (العاص بن وائل), the father of Amr b. al-As, before Hajj, as a merchant. And al-As b. Wa'il is a chieftain, a politician, a career statesman in the Quraysh, and also a rich businessman — and he told the man, "I'll give you the money after Hajj before you go back to Yemen."

So this man performs the Hajj, and then he goes to al-As and asks for his money. But al-As says, "Come back tomorrow." So he does so. But then al-As says again, "Come back tomorrow." And this continued until this man realizes that he won't get his money back. So this person goes to the other subtribes in the Quraysh, e.g., Banu Hashim, Banu Abd al-Dar, etc., asking for help — but everyone makes an excuse, as al-As is a rich politician. And the tribesmen of Zubayd are all far away in Yemen, so there aren't any people ready to fight for him. Feeling completely trapped, he decided to make this a public issue.

And in those days, to make things public, they would 'write' poems and announce them. So the man said a poem out loud one day when everybody was gathered around the Kabah:

يا آلَ فِهْرٍ لِمَظْلُومٍ بِضَاعَتُهُ *** بِبَطْنِ مَكَّةَ نَائِي الدَّارِ وَالنَّفَرِ 

وَمُحْرِمٍ أَشْعَثٍ لَمْ يَقْضِ عُمْرَتَهُ *** يَا لَلرِّجَالِ وَبَيْنَ الْحِجْرِ وَالْحَجَرِ

إِنَّ الْحَرَامَ لِمَنْ مَاتَتْ كَرَامَتُهُ *** وَلاَ حَرَامَ لِثَوْبِ الفَاجِرِ الغُدَرِ

"O family of Fihr (Quraysh)! I am one who has been unjustly treated because of my merchandise! I am in the valley of Makkata, far away from my home and away from people to protect me! I am still in my ihram (إحرام)! My hair is not combed nor have I finished my Umrah (عمرة)! Where are my men to help me? Between the Hijr (حجر - the Maqam Ibrahim) and the Hajar (حجر - the Stone) you are doing this to me! The true Haram belongs to those who are noble! There is no sanctity to the one who wears a thobe while he is a traitor!"

And the news spread like wildfire. Al-Zubayr b. Abd al-Muttalib, the uncle of the Prophet ﷺ, heard of this, and he decided something had to be done. So he convened a gathering of all of the senior members of the Quraysh in the house of Abdullah b. Jud'an (عبد الله بن جدعان), a distinct uncle of Aisha RA who was considered to be the most noble of the people of Makkah in terms of hospitality and genuine sincerity. And here is where they agreed to a treaty, that they would side with the oppressed against the oppressor regardless of their tribe — even if the one who is shown injustice is from a faraway tribe, and the oppressor is from the Quraysh.

And they all went in front of the Kabah and 'signed their names on a document.' Now of course they are all unlettered — they can't read or write. So what they would do instead is dip their hand in perfume and put that perfume on the Kabah on the same place. And this is why it's called Hilf al-Mutayyabin, the Treaty of Those Who Have Perfumed Themselves. It is also called Hilf al-Fudul because when al-As heard of this, he said, "Why did they have to get involved in a matter that is fuduli (none of their business)?!"

When the Prophet ﷺ was much older, he said, as recorded in Sahih Bukhari: "I witnessed in the house of Abdullah b. Jud'an a treaty that, were I asked to uphold it even in Islam, I would do so. And I would not be willing to give up my place for a lot of red camels"—meaning the Prophet ﷺ was very proud to be a part of this treaty and would not give up his place in it even for a lot of money. And he ﷺ said, "In that treaty, they all agreed that the rights would be given back to the one who deserves them, and that no oppressor would have an upper hand over the one who is oppressed."

We can derive many benefits from these two stories:

Next time, we will discuss the Prophet's ﷺ marriage to Khadija RA, and the rebuilding of the Kabah, insha'Allah.

[Re-revised by Muhammad Abdul Rahman, March 2023]

Now, how did the Prophet ﷺ meet Khadija bint Khuwaylid (خديجة بنت خويلد) RA? As we said before, the Prophet ﷺ was a shepherd. He would find people who owned a flock, tended them, and would get some wages. And it so happened Khadija's older sister had a flock —a herd of camels— and she was looking for someone to graze and take care of them outside of Makkah. So she hired two people — the Prophet ﷺ and another young man.

After the Prophet ﷺ had finished the grazing, they had to go back into town to collect the wages. The young man with the Prophet ﷺ said, "Now that we are done, let's go and ask for our wages." But the Prophet ﷺ said, "Why don't you go on my behalf — because I am too shy to go." So the person came to Khadija's sister —and it so happened Khadija was in the house at the time— Khadija asked, "Where is Muhammad?" The young man said, "He was too shy to come and ask it from you." So at this, Khadija's older sister remarked, "I have not seen any man who is more shy, honorable, noble, and chaste in his interactions, than Muhammad." And it's narrated that this is the first time Khadija heard of the Prophet ﷺ — and it was in such a manner — so something entered her heart.

And note, Khadija RA was single at the time even though it was generally rare for an adult to remain single in their society. A lot of men did try to marry her because of her noble, pure Qureshi lineage, her substantial wealth, and the fact that jahili law dictates the wealth would be transferred to the husband — but she turned all of them down.

Later that year, Khadija had to send her caravan to Syria for commerce and trade. And as we know, she owned a lot of wealth: she had been married twice, and her second husband was a wealthy merchant, and the two of them did not have any children, nor did the husband have any siblings — so she inherited his small fortune when he passed away, even though it was not common in the time of Jahiliyyah for women to inherit. (Note: She did have sons from the first marriage, but not the second.) And over the course of the next few years, she kept on investing: she would order some goods to be purchased in the time of Hajj, and she would sell them in Syria — and then purchase other goods from Syria, and sell them in Yemen — then purchase other goods from Yemen, and sell them in Makkah — so on and so forth. But because she was a woman, she could not go herself. So every single time, she had to hire a businessman. And note, in those days, you wouldn't hire such a person by a wage. You would make it a percentage profit, i.e., mudarabah (مضاربة). For example, "30% of all the profit will be yours, and 70% will be mine." (And note, this is legitimate even in Islam.) But because Khadija is sending a man who is not related to her & not looking after her best interest, usually, the person would steal, lie, and cheat. Thus she never managed to get the type of wealth that she deserved.

So when she heard the praise of the Prophet ﷺ, she decided to choose him for the mudarabah, even though he was inexperienced when it comes to business — he had never ever gone on a business trip himself — but because of his honesty, she decided to overlook this lack of experience and the lack of age (the Prophet ﷺ was just around 24-25). And indeed, it's human nature that when a man is decent and elegant in his interaction with a woman, the rest of his nature is also good.

So Khadija, who was well known as the richest lady in Makkah, sent a message to the Prophet ﷺ through her servant, asking him to take care of her caravan. So the Prophet ﷺ went to Abu Talib and said, "O my uncle, Khadija has sent me such-and-such an offer — what do you think?" (And this shows us that the Prophet ﷺ was a very respectful young man — he didn't just impetuously say yes, but asked his uncle for advice and permission.) And Abu Talib basically said, "O my nephew, she is well known to be the richest woman. Allah has blessed you with this opportunity. Do not say no to her." So the Prophet ﷺ said yes, and Khadija agreed to give him 50% of the profits —as she felt a good incentive would lead to him doing a better job— so he ﷺ accepted, and she sent one of her servants along, and the Prophet ﷺ took the caravan to the city of Bosra. (Not to be confused with Basra [البصرة] of Iraq or Bursa [بورصة] of Türkiye.)

Bosra is a small town outside of Damascus by ~100 km and was the typical and most convenient location for the Arabs to do all the buying and selling. It had a huge marketplace — so many different people from all around used to go there for trade. Yemenites, Egyptians, etc. It is well known to be a town of economic transactions. And to this day, there are ruins of the marketplace. (Side note: During Umar's RA caliphate, he conquered Bosra, and he built one of the first masjids ever built in what is now Syria.)

So Khadija sent her servant Maysara (ميسرة) with the Prophet ﷺ, and when they returned, Maysara told Khadija of the care and concern that the Prophet ﷺ had shown, and of the honesty in his dealings and transactions. And it's also been narrated that she told her of the miracle of the cloud that always provided shelter for the Prophet ﷺ. (Note: No doubt, this can happen by the will of Allah. However, as we mentioned during our discussion about the story of Buhayra, it's important to exercise caution when narrating pre-prophethood miracles in the absence of authentic reports.)

In any case, the Prophet ﷺ made double or triple the profit anyone else made before — and this is of course for two reasons: (i) he is being honest, and (ii) because whatever he does has barakah — Allah blesses it. Indeed, as we have seen, even when the Prophet ﷺ was with Halimah as a baby, everything got barakah. So there is no question that whatever the Prophet ﷺ is doing, it will have extra blessings.

So the caravan came back with double, triple profits. This thus increased the emotions Khadija RA had for the Prophet ﷺ. And note, there is nothing wrong with feeling such emotions — she is a single lady, and the Prophet ﷺ is an eligible bachelor. Falling in love is not haram; it's what you do with that love that can make it halal or haram. Falling in love is a natural emotion. First Khadija RA heard the Prophet ﷺ being praised so highly by her own sister, then she saw his honesty, then she saw the barakah, etc., so it's only natural. And thus, there is nothing wrong with her desire now to marry the Prophet ﷺ. In fact, what lady would not have desired to marry the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.

The precise details regarding how the marriage proposal came about vary, but it is widely agreed among scholars that Khadija RA was the one who instigated it and arranged for the Prophet ﷺ to propose. Normally, the man proposes; however, if the woman expresses an interest, this is permissible even in Islam under certain guidelines.

In one version, it's said Khadija RA confided in an elderly servant named Nafisa (نفيسة) about her desire to marry the Prophet ﷺ. And Nafisa took it upon herself and said, "Leave this to me. I will arrange it," so she approached the Prophet ﷺ with the question, "O Muhammad, why don't you get married?" The Prophet ﷺ simply smiled and said, "Who would marry me? I am an orphan and I am poor." Nafisa then posed the question, "What if Khadija wanted to marry you?" The Prophet ﷺ fell silent, and then said, "Why would she want me?"—notice the Prophet ﷺ didn't say no, but he was simply wondering why would Khadija RA want him — so the implied message was that he is interested. So Nafisa went back and told Khadija RA of this, and the matter went to the next stage.

Ibn Ishaq said this marriage took place 3 months after he returned from Bosra, in the month of Safar. So for 3 months, there was this back-and-forth.

There are a number of versions as to how the marriage took place as well.

In one version, it is narrated with a very weak chain that Khadija's father opposed the marriage, so he was caused to become drunk, and it was made to appear to him that the marriage had taken place, so when he became sober, it was too late to say no. But this narration contradicts other known fact, as Ibn Hajar and others have pointed out: Khadija's father had died long ago — which makes sense, as had he been alive, he would have taken the money — therefore, it is clear that this version is not true.

The more authentic version is that her uncle Amr b. Asad (عمرو بن أسد) became the wali (ولي - legal guardian), and the Prophet ﷺ came with Abu Talib who delivered the khutbah (خطبة - sermon), as recorded in the early books: he began by praising Allah and extolling the lineage and the blessings of the Quraysh — that they are the caretakers of the Kabah, the blessed people of Makkah, etc.; and then said: "My nephew is the one who is no comparison with any other young man in all of Makkah, in his manners, nobility, and lineage. And he has proposed to your noble lady with a mahr (مهر - dower)1 of 12 uqiyyah (أوقية) and a nash (نش) (which amount to a modest and respectful sum of about $400)." And Khadija's uncle stood up and said, "This is a young man who cannot be refused — we accept the proposal."

And as we mentioned, Khadija had been married twice before. And her first marriage gave her a son named Hala b. Abi Hala (هالة بن أبي هالة). (And when the risala of the Prophet ﷺ began, Hala eventually accepted Islam, and he lived a noble life alongside the Prophet ﷺ.)

Now, the question of Khadija RA's age at the time of her marriage to the Prophet ﷺ has been a topic of much discussion among scholars. While the popular view holds that she was 40 years old and died at the age of 65, as reported by the classical scholar al-Waqidi, other reports suggest a different age. Scholars unanimously agree that the couple was married for 25 years and that the Prophet ﷺ was 25 years old at the time of the marriage. However, the age of Khadija RA is subject to debate. From an academic standpoint, the widely accepted age of 40 presents two issues:

Therefore, based on the weight of evidence from multiple authoritative sources, it appears more academically sound to conclude that Khadija RA was likely 28 years old at the time of her marriage to the Prophet ﷺ.

- She was the first to believe in the Prophet ﷺ and comforted him when the revelation began [see episode 10.

- She was the one who took him to see Waraqah b. Nawfal [see episode 10.

- She was the only one in which Jibril would come in the household (Jibril did not enter the house of any other wives of the Prophet ﷺ). Once, the Prophet ﷺ told Khadija, "O Khadija, here is Jibril, and he is sending Allah's salam upon you, and he is giving you his salam, and is giving you the glad tidings of a house in Jannah where there will be no noise or any struggling." And Khadija RA responded in such an intelligent way — she didn't say "Wa'alaykassalam, ya Allah (وعليك السلام يا الله - peace be upon you, O Allah)," but rather, "Allah is al-Salam (السلام - the Peace/the Source of Peace), and may salam be upon Jibril, and may salam be upon you, ya Rasulullah." (Side note: Likewise, when something good happens to us, we're not supposed to say "Jazak'Allah, ya Allah [جزاك الله يا الله - may Allah reward You, O Allah]"—because Allah's jaza [جزاء - reward] comes to us, and we are nobody to give jaza back to Allah. [So say "alhamdulillah (الحمد لله - praise be to Allah)" instead.])

(A few months after Khadija's passing, one of the sahaba commented, "We did not see the Prophet ﷺ smile for months" [see episode 19.)

- Aisha RA, who was the favorite wife of the Prophet ﷺ in the Madinan phase, once said, "I was never more jealous of any woman than I was of Khadija, even though I never saw her, because I knew how much the Prophet ﷺ loved her." And once, when the Prophet ﷺ was talking about Khadija RA, Aisha RA had enough, so she uttered some things she shouldn't have uttered: "Ya Rasulullah, for how long are you going to mention an old [...] when Allah has given you a young fertile ground instead?" This remark left the Prophet ﷺ displeased, and he replied, "No, by Allah. Allah has not given me anyone better than her. She was the first to believe in me when everyone rejected me. And she gave me of her money when everyone had abandoned me. And she supported me when the community gave me the cold shoulder. And Allah blessed me with children only through her." After this, Aisha RA learned her lesson and never mentioned Khadija RA again. One of the reasons why Aisha RA was so jealous of her was that whenever the Prophet ﷺ received gifts, money, or meat, he would send part of it to Khadija's RA friends — showing how much he thought of her. Another time, Khadija's older sister came to visit the Prophet ﷺ in Madinah —and Aisha was present— and when the sister was walking outside the door, the Prophet's ﷺ demeanor changed, because her footsteps reminded him of Khadija's. And when the sister asked permission to enter, Aisha could see the paleness on the Prophet's ﷺ face as all his memories of Khadija came flooding back. Of course the Prophet ﷺ knew it wasn't Khadija, but his memories of her were so strong that even after so many years, he was almost moved to tears.

And we can go on and on with regards to her blessings.

It's interesting to comment that, subhan'Allah, the Prophet ﷺ is facing the most traumatic problems after problems. Indeed, there is no greater difficulty than losing parents or children. And the Prophet ﷺ had to go through both. Our Prophet ﷺ is multiple times orphaned. And then he is multiple times losing his children — first al-Qasim, then Abdullah, and then Ibrahim (إبراهيم) who was born of his maidservant [see episode 97. It's as if Allah SWT is giving him the most difficult tragedies imaginable. Why? There are a number of wisdoms we can glean:

And note, even though Allah SWT tested him, He did not test him beyond his capacity — He blessed him with both sons and daughters to give him a taste of fatherhood, and to silence those who tried to mock him. Indeed, if the Prophet ﷺ didn't have any children, people could have said many things. And subhan'Allah, when the Prophet ﷺ lost his son Abdullah, al-As b. Wa'il (العاص بن وائل) was so crude and callous that he cheered for joy, happy that the Prophet's ﷺ progeny 'has been cut off.' Can you imagine the pain of losing a son, and on top of that your worst enemy is running through the streets of Makkah cheering for joy? So to this, Allah revealed Surah al-Kawthar (سورة الكوثر) —and the three short ayahs in the surah were so beloved to the Prophet ﷺ—: "Indeed, We have granted you, [O Muhammad], al-Kawthar. So pray to your Lord and sacrifice [to Him alone]. Indeed, your enemy is the one cut off" [Quran, 108:1-3]. Allah SWT is saying, 'We have given you plenty, so do not worry, We have taken away one thing, but given you al-Kawthar (and al-Kawthar means many things: the Paradise, everything in Paradise, and the river of Paradise). Pray to Allah, and those who oppose you will be the ones who are cut off from everything.' And Allah has kept His promise — look at their legacy: the only people who mention the names of al-As b. Wa'il and the like are those who hate and despise them. Look at how Allah has disgraced the enemies of the Prophet ﷺ. What legacy have they left?

There are also theological wisdoms as to why the Prophet ﷺ was not allowed to have sons: As we know, he ﷺ was blessed with Ibrahim when he was 59 or 60, and the child lived for only around 18 months — and in Ibn Majah, the Prophet ﷺ is recorded as having said, "Had Ibrahim lived, he would have been a prophet"—that is, it's not possible that the son of Rasulullah ﷺ to not be a prophet — but because the Prophet ﷺ was the last prophet, theologically, Allah had to seal the prophethood. So it's clear why the Prophet ﷺ had no sons. And the Prophet ﷺ knew this. (And subhan'Allah, look at what the ummah has done with the sons of the Prophet's ﷺ *daughter*. What groups were formed exaggerating their status. Imagine if there was a direct *male* progeny — the ummah would have made them into prophets/gods walking on the earth. So it was actually a mercy and blessing from Allah that the sons of the Prophet ﷺ did not live long.)

The incident of the rebuilding of the Kabah took place when the Prophet ﷺ was around 35 years old — so 10 years after the marriage with Khadija RA.

The Kabah was damaged by a fire and a flood: a woman was cooking outside of her house close to the Kabah —and in those days, the houses were 5-10 feet away from the Kabah— and one of the embers sparked, and it set the cloth of the Kabah ablaze. So the Kabah was damaged — and at this stage, it was weakened, but not destroyed. But later on, a massive flood came into Makkah, and it destroyed the roof and some of the walls of the Kabah. So the Quraysh decided they needed to rebuild the entire Kabah, as the structure is now more or less gone.

And around the same time the Kabah was destroyed, there was news of a sale going on in the city of Juddah (جُدَّة) (now Jeddah):

The Caesar of Rome had sent supplies to one of the cities of Yemen to rebuild a church that was destroyed by the Persians. The Caesar got the best wood, marble, craftsmen, etc., and sent them all to Yemen on a ship. But Allah had another plan — the books of Sirah mention Allah sent a wind off the coast of Juddah causing the ship to crash. The ship was damaged, but it made it to Juddah. So all of the cargo —the most expensive marble, wood, etc.— is now in Juddah. Subhan'Allah, it's amazing when you think about it. And the people of the ship decided to sell the material, as they had to raise enough money to go back to Rome. So when the Quraysh heard about this, they gathered all of their wealth, went to Juddah, and they purchased all of this merchandise along with hiring the craftsmen who had been educated in the palaces of Caesar. They bring all of the goods back to Makkah.

Now they are wondering, "Should we destroy the House of Allah?" i.e., to rebuild a whole new structure. And according to one report in Ibn Ishaq, when they were debating what to do, a large snake came out of the Well of Zamzam, and whenever they approached, it hissed at them. But then Allah sent a big bird to pick up the snake and remove it. So they took this as a sign that they should approach the Kabah. But of course, the thought of destroying the House of Allah was still considered sacrilegious to them, so they were hesitant to take action, and were nudging each other, "Why don't you go first." Until finally, al-Walid b. al-Mughirah (الوليد بن المغيرة) (the nobleman of the Quraysh mentioned in the Quran, who will become one of the enemies of the Prophet ﷺ later on), said, "I will do it," and he took an ax, went in front of the Kabah, and said, "O Allah, don't get alarmed or angry — we are just trying to help rebuild the Kabah," and he began breaking down one of the walls. And everybody just watched and nobody lifted a finger to help. They then started talking among themselves, "Why don't we use al-Walid as the 'litmus test.' If he survives the night, we will join him the next day." So they basically didn't help him until the next morning al-Walid b. al-Mughirah woke up just fine.

So the next day, everyone helped him tear the Kabah down and rebuild it. The task was divided among the subtribes of the Quraysh: they divided the subtribes into four groups, and each group took responsibility for one of the four walls. The Banu Abd Manaf (بنو عبد مناف), the prominent subtribe of the Quraysh which included the Banu Hashim, the tribe of Abd al-Muttalib who was the legend among the Arabs, was assigned the most prestigious wall. And the second most prestigious was given to the Banu Makhzum which had al-Walid b. al-Mughirah, Abu Jahl (أبو جهل), et al.

And as we know, the Black Stone is situated at the corner of the Kabah, so it's connected to not one, but two walls — and these two walls are now under the responsibility of the two rivaling tribes, the Banu Abd Manaf and the Banu Makhzum. So when they got to the corner, trouble occurred — they both said, "The Black Stone belongs to our side. Not yours." And then the other tribes got involved as well and said, "Why should you get the privilegeof putting the Black Stone back in its place]?" So they all began to dispute until the fighting/anger between them reached such a level that the construction of the Kabah was stopped for five days.

On one of these days, the Banu Makhzum secretly put together an agreement with some other subtribes that they would fight to the death to put the Black Stone in — and they dipped their hands in camel blood as a promise/signature to make a pact. Subhan'Allah. Look at this Jahiliyyah — are you going to kill yourself and leave your wife widow and children orphan just for the pride and honor of putting the Black Stone in?!

They were almost about to reach into a big fight, until on the fifth day, Abu Umayya b. al-Mughira (أبو أمية بن المغيرة), the oldest person alive in Makkah, said, "There will be no bloodshed. We are not going to fight over this. Let us just give it over to the next person who enters from the 'major area.'" Now this means it's going to be the luck of the draw — because whoever walks in will obviously choose his own tribe. But, as we know, the next person to enter turned out to be the Prophet ﷺ. And what is amazing is when the Prophet ﷺ walked in, each tribe was delighted, thinking the Prophet ﷺ liked them the most and would choose their side. Subhan'Allah. This shows the beautiful character of the Prophet ﷺ.

(Tangent: Fast forward a few decades later: In a hadith, it's narrated that Amr b. al-As said, "The Prophet ﷺ was so gentle and nice to me that I knew he loved me the most out of everybody [or so I believed], so one day, I asked him ﷺ, 'Who do you love the most?' And the Prophet ﷺ said instantly, 'Aisha.'" Amr said, "No. I meant amongst the men." The Prophet ﷺ said, "Her father." Then Amr said, "After him?" The Prophet ﷺ said, "Umar." And Amr kept on asking until he got the point —his name never came up— and so he stopped asking. This hadith shows that the way the Prophet ﷺ dealt with everybody was so kind and gentle that they all felt the Prophet ﷺ loved them the most. And this is wallahi amazing.)

And when the Prophet ﷺ walked in, as we know, he said, "Bring me a sheet/garment"—and when it was brought, he himself put the Black Stone on the garment, and said, "Let every subtribe send its representative, and we will all put the Black Stone together." So they all lifted it, including the Banu Makhzum (so they fulfilled their promise) — and then the Prophet ﷺ himself was the one who put the Black Stone into that particular location.

Now, it's important to note that the Quraysh didn't build the Kabah in the original structure before it was destroyed — they changed a few things. And Allah had willed this change would become permanent:

It's also worth mentioning that when the Prophet ﷺ conquered Makkah 25 years later [see episode 83, he said to Aisha RA, "Were it not for the fact that your people are still new to Islam, I would have rebuilt the Kabah in its original structure of Ibrahim AS, and made the door accessible to everybody." But the Prophet ﷺ didn't, as there were many new converts at the time of the Conquest, and it would have been too big a fitna for them to see the Kabah being destroyed and then rebuilt. However, a few decades later, after the Prophet ﷺ had passed away, in the time of the early Umayyad dynasty, one group led by a pious sahabi, Abdullah b. al-Zubayr RA, broke away from the Umayyad empire, and they founded their own mini-caliphate in Makkah. And when the aforementioned hadith reached Abdullah b. al-Zubayr, he destroyed the Kabah, made it into a rectangle shape, and he lowered the door down to the earth — just like the Prophet ﷺ wanted. And this was happening in the time of the infamous Hajjaj b. Yusuf (الحجاج بن يوسف), the most tyrant ruler ever seen in the ummah. And when Hajjaj overtook Makkah again from Abdullah b. al-Zubayr by throwing catapults, it destroyed the Kabah. And as we know, he crucified Abdullah b. al-Zubayr RA —a companion, the son of a companion, the brother of a companion— in front of the Kabah. Subhan'Allah. Look at how evil this Hajjaj was. And Hajjaj then rebuilt the Kabah as it was before, i.e., square-shaped, with a raised door, etc. Then, it is reported that in the time of Imam Malik, the khalifa at the time asked Imam Malik, "Shall we rebuild the Kabah as it was built by Ibrahim AS?" But Imam Malik told him, "No. I don't want the Kabah to become a toy that kings come along and do what they want with it"—and this is what you call true fiqh (فقه - understanding). So from the time of Hajjaj b. Yusuf, the Kabah has remained upon the foundations of the pre-Islamic structure, square-shaped with a raised door.

Notice how everything is planned by Allah — the Arabs in the desert had no fancy wood or marble, yet Allah sent them the choicest materials from the palace of Caesar (so we could say Caesar himself is 'financing' the building of the Kabah), subhan'Allah. Indeed, Allah is the Best of Planners.

[Re-revised by Muhammad Abdul Rahman, March 2023]

أَوَّلَ بَيْتٍ وُضِعَ لِلنَّاسِ لَلَّذِي بِبَكَّةَ

"The first House [of worship] established for mankind was that at Makkah" [Quran, 3:96]. Thus, this House represents the worship of Allah. And the symbolism of it being destroyed shows that the religion of Ibrahim has not been preserved by humanity, and the fact that it's being renewed at the time of the Prophet ﷺ is a sign that the religion of Ibrahim is going to be rebuilt.

There are one or two interesting bits here as well:

There is another story before the advent of the wahy, which clearly shows the character of the Prophet ﷺ, and that is the story of Zayd b. Harithah:

Zayd b. Harithah (زيد بن حارثة) was a boy from the Qahtani branch of the Arabs, not the Adnani branch, and he was from a tribe of Yemen.

Zayd's mother and father were from two different tribes that had a love-hate relationship: One day, Zayd's mother, Su'da bint Tha'laba (سعدى بنت ثعلبة), took Zayd, who at the time was 7 or 8 years old, to her own tribe; and right at that time, it so happened that a small fight broke out between Zayd's father's and mother's tribes — and Zayd's distant relatives from his mother's side got so angry, they took Zayd, kidnapped him from his own mother, and sold him into slavery to get revenge at his father's tribe — because in Jahiliyyah, the son belongs to, and takes the lineage of, the father. And so, Zayd was sold in the grand fairs of Ukkadh (عكاظ - Okaz) —the largest marketplace which took place after the Hajj season— and they sold him to Hakim b. Hizam (حكيم بن حزام), Khadija's nephew, for 400 dirhams — Khadija had given Hakim money to find a young slave. And so Zayd becomes Khadija's servant. And when Khadija married the Prophet ﷺ, she gifted Zayd to the Prophet ﷺ. And this is of course way before Islam.

Zayd's father, Harithah, is frantically looking for his son. He is spreading the news, "There is a boy from our tribe — these are his features! If anybody hears of him, please come and tell me!" And it so happened that during the Hajj season, someone saw Zayd, and realized this is the boy Harithah is looking for. So they told Harithah, "We found your son — he is a slave to one of the grandsons of Abd al-Muttalib, and his name is Muhammad." So his father and his father's brother travel to Makkah and ask where is Muhammad ﷺ. And they are told he is in the Haram area — so they approached the Prophet ﷺ and said, "Ya Muhammad b. Abd al-Muttalib, you are of the most noble lineage, and you are people of trustworthiness, and Allah has given you so much blessings. Ya Muhammad, we want to take our son back who was unjustly stolen and kidnapped and sold into slavery. Zayd is our son, and we will give you any ransom you want. But please be generous with us, because we can only afford so much."

Note this happened in the days of Jahiliyyah, so there was no law and order — and power belongs to the strongest. No court or anything of the sort for them to plead their case. The law of Jahiliyyah is that they have to deal with it — and thus, they are now willing to buy their son back. The Prophet ﷺ said, "Is this what you want? That I send Zayd back with you?" They said, "Yes." The Prophet ﷺ said, "It is up to him (Zayd). I will leave the matter to him. If he chooses you, I will send him back with no ransom. But if he chooses me, I can never turn away from somebody who has turned to me." So the father and uncle were overjoyed — they said, "O Muhammad! You have done marvelous, and you have done much more than we could have asked for!"

So the Prophet ﷺ called Zayd, who is now around 25 years old, and the Prophet ﷺ asked him, "Do you recognize these men?" Zayd said, "Yes, this is my father, and this is my uncle." Then the Prophet ﷺ said, "They have come requesting that you go back with them. And I have left the matter to you — if you want, you may go with them, or if you want, you may remain with me."

Subhan'Allah, even in this, we find that the Prophet ﷺ had a fondness for Zayd — he doesn't want to let go of him, but he cannot say no to Zayd's father and uncle, because morally, they have a point, "Our son is not a slave." So the Prophet ﷺ does the morally correct thing — but he doesn't want to hand over Zayd as he has genuine feelings of paternal love.

But to his father's and uncle's surprise, Zayd instantaneously said to the Prophet ﷺ, "I can never choose anyone over you, for you are to me more than a father and an uncle combined." This is unnatural for a man to say to a person who is not his blood relative. Biologically, the love you have for your father is there — it's in the fitrah. And yet, instantaneously, he said, "How can I choose anyone over you?" Wallahi, this is unnatural except if this man is a prophet of Allah — the love of a prophet trumps the bond of fatherhood.

At this, Zayd's father said, "O Zayd, have you gone crazy? You will choose to be a slave in a strange land, and refuse to come with your own father to your own tribe?"—because as a slave, you have no honor, rights, or protection. So his father said, "Have you gone crazy?" And to this, Zayd said, "I know what I have said. I have seen from this man that which no other man has done."

And right then, the Prophet ﷺ stood up, took Zayd by the hand, went to the Hijr Ismail, and announced, "O people of Makkah, I want you all to testify that from now on, Zayd is a free man, and I have adopted him as my son. So he is now my son, and he will inherit from me, and I from him." The Prophet ﷺ did this in front of the father to bring peace to his heart, that his son is now a free man, adopted by the Quraysh.

Thus, the Prophet ﷺ adopted Zayd, and Zayd became known as Zayd b. Muhammad (زيد بن محمد).

Subhan'Allah, this is an amazing story, and it tells us about the mannerisms of the Prophet ﷺ — it speaks volumes about who he is.

A few decades later, Abdullah b. Umar (عبد الله بن عمر) RA remarked, "We never knew of Zayd by any other name except Zayd b. Muhammad, until Allah revealed Surah al-Ahzab (سورة الأحزاب) 'Verse 5.'" This is where Allah says, "Call children by their fathers. That is more just in the Sight of Allah"—so this is when the Prophet ﷺ re-changed the name of Zayd back to Zayd b. Harithah.

The three commanders that died in the Battle of Mu'tah were all extremely beloved to the Prophet ﷺ. As such, this was a very painful time for the Prophet ﷺ. When the news of this came, it was very painful. Then a few years later, the Prophet ﷺ appointed Zayd's son Usama, who was a young lad of around 16 years old, to go and fight the next battle against the Romans. And as we know, the Prophet ﷺ passed away during this, and this is when the small crisis between Abu Bakr and Umar happened when Umar said, "Take Usama out of the battlefield, he is too young" — but Abu Bakr said, "I cannot undo a command that the Prophet ﷺ did" [see episode 101.

These are pretty much the only incidents we know about before the revelation begins.

And it's now as if the stage has been set, the character of the Prophet ﷺ has been established, there are many signs and hints that there is a prophet coming — there are clear indications that something is about to change.

Aisha RA is the main narrator of the hadith of how wahy (revelation) began. It's a very long hadith —two pages— and it's very detailed. And in this, by the way, there is a beautiful wisdom — she couldn't have witnessed this herself but is narrating in vivid detail — which shows that the Prophet ﷺ had many conversations with her just like any loving husband does.

This is the hadith narrated in Bukhari1:

—

Aisha RA narrated: The commencement of the Divine Inspiration to the Prophet ﷺ was in the form of good dreams which came true like bright daylight, and then the love of seclusion was bestowed upon him. He used to go in seclusion in Ghari Hira (غار حراء - the Cave of Hira') where he used to worship (Allah alone) continuously for many days before his desire to see his family. He used to take with him the journey food for the stay and then come back to (his wife) Khadija to take his food like-wise again until suddenly the Truth descended upon him while he was in Ghari Hira. The angel came to him and asked him to read. The Prophet ﷺ replied, "I do not know how to read." (The Prophet ﷺ added): "The angel caught me (forcefully) and pressed me so hard that I could not bear it anymore. He then released me and again asked me to read and I replied, 'I do not know how to read.' Thereupon, he caught me again and pressed me a second time until I could not bear it anymore. He then released me and again asked me to read but again I replied, 'I do not know how to read (or what shall I read)?' Thereupon, he caught me for the third time and pressed me, and then released me and said, 'Read, [O Prophet,] in the Name of your Lord who created — created humans from a clinging clot. Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous, who taught by the pen — taught humanity what they knew not' [Quran, 96:1-5]." Then the Prophet ﷺ returned with the revelation and with his heart beating severely. Then he went to Khadija bint Khuwaylid and said, "Cover me! Cover me!" She covered him until his fear was over and after that, he told her everything that had happened and said, "I fear that something may happen to me." Khadija replied, "Never! By Allah, Allah will never disgrace you. You keep good relations with your kith and kin, help the poor and the destitute, serve your guests generously, and assist the deserving calamity-afflicted ones." Khadija then accompanied him to her cousin Waraqah b. Nawfal b. Asad b. Abd al-Uzza, who during the pre-Islamic period became a Christian and used to write the writing with Hebrew letters. He would write from the Gospel in Hebrew as much as Allah wished him to write. He was an old man and had lost his eyesight. Khadija said to Waraqa, "Listen to the story of your nephew, O my cousin!" Waraqa asked, "O my nephew! What have you seen?" The Prophet ﷺ described whatever he had seen. Waraqa said, "This is the same One Who Keeps the Secrets (angel Gabriel) whom Allah had sent to Moses. I wish I were young and could live up to the time when your people would turn you out." The Prophet ﷺ asked, "Will they drive me out?" Waraqa replied in the affirmative and said, "Anyone (man) who came with something similar to what you have brought was treated with hostility; and if I should remain alive until the day when you will be turned out, then I would support you strongly." But after a few days, Waraqa died and the Divine Inspiration was also paused for a while.

—

Aisha RA says, before the revelation began, the Prophet ﷺ used to seclude himself in the Cave of Hira on the top of the mountain that is now called Jabal al-Nour (جبل النور - Mountain of Light). (Side note: This cave is amazing in many ways. It's not as much of a cave as it is a crevice [a type of hole] — and when you sit in the cave, there is only space for one person, and you are forced to face the direction of the Kabah. And to this day, you can clearly see the Kabah from the cave. And it's said in Ibn Ishaq that Abd al-Muttalib was the one who discovered it and he also sat there to meditate.) The Prophet ﷺ would go with some food and water to just sit there and meditate for a number of nights. And when he ran out of food and water, he would go back to replenish and take care of some of the family affairs for a few days, and then go back up again.

In one narration in Sahih Muslim, the Prophet ﷺ is recorded as having said about during this time: "Before the revelation came to me, I began to hear rocks and stones greet me in my path. And there was a particular rock that always gave salam to me — and I recognize that rock even to this day."

Also around this time, every single night, the Prophet ﷺ began having a dream about what would happen the next day — as the narration in Bukhari says, "The Prophet ﷺ would dream as true as the sun rose (as certain as you know the sun will rise tomorrow)"—that is, his dreams would all come true. He mentioned this to Khadija, and she said, "This is a good sign from Allah."

And it's mentioned in another narration in Bukhari that this period of dreams lasted for 6 full months. So let's pause here for a while to talk about dreams.

Firstly, we know for a fact that the revelation of the Quran began in Ramadan [see Quran, 97:1].

Secondly, in a hadith in al-Tirmidhi, the Prophet ﷺ said, "Nothing is left of prophethood except good dreams. And good dreams are 1/46 of prophethood." Some scholars tried to explain this particular ratio, and one of the explanations is:

[But of course, we have no way of discerning whether this is correct, as there is no evidence from hadith to support this interpretation.]

—

Why are all these things happening to the Prophet ﷺ?

There are three types of dreams [that we non-prophets see, believers and nonbelievers]:

In these 6 months, the Prophet ﷺ cut himself off from society to worship Allah SWT more and more.

In some narrations, it's mentioned that on one of the Saturdays of Ramadan, the Prophet ﷺ saw a light and heard a sound, so he looked around — but he couldn't find anything. And on Sunday, the same thing happened. And then on Monday, Jibril AS came to him. Indeed, as we have discussed before [see episode 6, the Prophet ﷺ said in a hadith in Sahih Muslim, "On a Monday I was born, and on a Monday the revelation began."

So the revelation began in the last 10 days of Ramadan on a Monday —which, by the way, marks Laylat al-Qadr (ليلة القدر - the Night of Glory/Decree/Power)—: The angel Jibril came to the Prophet ﷺ and told him, "Iqra (اقرأ - read)." And the Prophet ﷺ said, "I cannot read." Then Jibril squeezed him so tight that the Prophet ﷺ said he lost all energy, then Jibril let him go. And Jibril said again, "Iqra." And the Prophet ﷺ said again, "I cannot read." And Jibril squeezed him again. And this repeated until Jibril said the first 5 verses of Surah al-Alaq (سورة العلق).

Why is Jibril squeezing the Prophet ﷺ? There is really no authoritative answer — but we can venture a few guesses:

And only Allah knows why the squeeze occurred.

Now, as for the revelation itself: "iqra" has two meanings — to "read" (from a paper, etc.), and to "recite" (from memory). The verb encompasses both meanings. When Jibril said, "Iqra," the Prophet ﷺ thought he meant in the "read from a parchment" sense. However, Jibril meant iqra in the sense recite from his memory. And at the third time of asking, Jibril said, "Recite in the Name of your Lord who created" [96:1]. That is, "Your recitation will come from Allah, in His Name, with His blessings"—the qira'ah (قراءة - recitation) will be in Allah's Name. And it's very profound that this is the first verse revealed — the Prophet ﷺ is being told that when you recite, recite in the Name of your Lord. (Side notes: The ba [ب] in the verse could also mean: [1] you will recite *by* Allah — and in Arabic, this is called ba' al-sababiyyah [باء السببية] — meaning the recitation will come directly from Allah — not from yourself. And [2] it could also mean Allah will help you in this recitation — and in Arabic, this is called ba' al-ma'iyyah [باء المعية].)

Next, Jibril said, "[The Lord who] created man from alaq (علق - that which clings)" [96:2]. And most scholars say "alaq" is a reference to the human embryo that is clinging in the womb of the mother. So Allah is saying the One who created man in all the stages —embryo, fetus, newborn— He is the One who is speaking to you.

And then in the third verse, "iqra" is mentioned for the second time: "Iqra! And your Lord is the Most Generous" [96:3]. And the reason for this duality/repetition is many: (1) Firstly, the repetition signifies that your job is to recite and keep on reciting, recite and keep on reciting, and recite and keep on reciting. (2) Secondly, some scholars have said the first iqra is a commandment to seek religious knowledge; and the second is a commandment to seek the knowledge of this world — as the first iqra says, "Iqra in the Name of your Lord" [96:1], and the second says, "Iqra! And your Lord is the Most Generous, who taught by the PEN — taught man what he didn't know" [96:3-5]. So it is as if the seeking of knowledge is being encouraged, both religious and of this dunya. Allah is telling us Muslims to learn the knowledge of religion that comes from Him, and then learn the knowledge of man that comes from the pens. But realize, even the knowledge of this dunya, Allah is the One who taught them; "Your Lord is the Most Generous who taught by the pen — taught man what he didn't know" [96:3-5].

And note these verses came down to an unlettered nation, a group of people who didn't know how to read and write. Allah is telling them to read what others have written and study them. It's not a coincidence that a hundred years later, the Muslims are already becoming the greatest superpower on earth. A few more centuries and they become the bastion of human civilization. They reach the pinnacles of their period — there are people coming to study medicine, science, math, chemistry, law, engineering, in Islamic lands. There are documented cases of people from [lands later became known as] France, Italy, England, coming to Andalus (Spain) to study medicine and then going back to teach their people.

Why did this happen? Because Allah encouraged the seeking of knowledge from the first revelation. Go ahead and study. Go ahead and learn. Go ahead and broaden your horizons. But as we do this, remember, all of the knowledge comes from Allah. If Allah hadn't given it to us, we wouldn't have it. Even the knowledge we take for granted, such as writing; the whole concept is really a miracle — the sounds that come out as speech can be recorded through scribblings? And you can then pass it down to anybody who was not present to hear it? Wallahi, it's a miracle. If Allah had not taught it to us, we would never know it. Our Prophet ﷺ said in a hadith, "The first person to ever write with the pen was Idris"—Allah taught the Prophet Idris how to write; and if He had not taught him, we would never have learned how to write. All knowledge of this world goes back to Allah. Subhan'Allah. Allah taught Adam how to speak; and if He did not teach him how to speak, we would be grunting and groaning like animals and would never have learned speech. And the Prophet ﷺ said Allah taught Nuh AS how to build a ship, and He SWT taught Dawud AS how to make the armor malleable. Allah taught so many prophets so many different things — and from these, all other human knowledge comes forth. This is why we say whatever discovery we come across, Allah is the One who gave us the qudrah (قدرة - capacity) & intelligence to find it.

Now, the significance of beginning the revelation with "iqra" is that Allah SWT is telling that what is about to happen is, from now on, man will have a direct communication (a Book) coming from Allah. So the first command is to read and recite the Quran. Also, it's worth noting that from the word "iqra," we get the word "Quran." And as iqra both means "recite" and "read," the Quran has been preserved in both memory and writing — in the hearts of the huffaz (حفاظ - Memorizers [of the Quran]) and in the form of al-Kitab (الكتاب - the Book, i.e., the Quran). And this is the only book preserved in both.

Getting back to the story, Aisha RA narrates that the Prophet ﷺ ran back to Khadija, and his heart was palpitating. He entered in upon Khadija, and said, "Cover me up! Cover me up!" This shows how unexpected the occurrence was for the Prophet ﷺ. And this, by the way, wallahi, also shows the humanity of the Prophet ﷺ, and that his Message was not premeditated — he didn't think, "Let me see how I can trick mankind into believing that I'm a prophet," unlike some false prophets who have magnificent stories of themselves which sound so grandiose, our Prophet ﷺ goes running home to his wife Khadija. Wallahi, this shows that our Prophet ﷺ is telling the truth and that he is a true prophet.

So Khadija covers him up — until finally, he calmed down. And then he told her all that had happened —which shows how close he was to her; he could have gone to Abu Talib, but he went to his wife— and says, "I am scared/worried for myself." And this phrase has led to some discord among scholars — what exactly did he mean by he is scared/worried for himself? There are over 12 opinions as to what this means, but the bottom line is clear: (1) Either he was scared of dying from the squeezing of Jibril; or (2) he was scared that he was seeing visions that normal people don't see — he was scared of losing his sanity.

And Khadija RA said:

كلَّا! والله ما يخزيك الله أبدًا، إنك لتصل الرحم، وتصدُقُ الحديثَ، وتَحمِل الكَلَّ، وتَكسِبُ المعدومَ، وتَقري الضيف، وتعين على نوائب الحق

"No, by Allah! Allah will never humiliate you or cause you harm. You are good to your kin, you are truthful in speech, you take on the burden of others, you give money to those who have little, you are hospitable to your guests, and you do all kinds of good!" — She gives us a beautiful rule from her pure fitrah, without knowing any Quran or hadith, that if you do good, Allah will do good to you. And she is certain — she swears by Allah, that it's not possible that Allah will cause harm to the Prophet ﷺ. This shows why Allah chose Khadija RA for our Prophet ﷺ.

According to one book, she first went to Addas2 (عداس), a Christian who was a slave in Makkah, and asked him if he was familiar with what was going on. Addas said, "What? The angel of Allah (God) in this heathen place of idols of Makkah? How is this possible?" So when Khadija got the sense that this is something that is related to Judaism or Christianity, *then* she goes to Waraqah b. Nawfal — Khadija's older cousin. (And recall, Waraqa is one of the four hunafa' —the four who rejected idolatry— and he is the eldest of the four, and he had traveled through the lands and adopted some type of religion. The version in Bukhari says Waraqa learned to write the books in Hebrew and became a Christian — so most likely, he is a Jewish Christian, not a 'pure Christian' or a 'pure Jew' — as he didn't write in Syriac or Greek.)

And Khadija asks Waraqa, and he becomes enthusiastic and eager, and says, "By God! This is the same Keeper of Secrets (al-Namus) that came to Moses!" Notice Waraqa mentioned "Moses" and not "Jesus" — and this most likely is because he understood that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ would be resembling Moses AS more than Jesus AS, especially in terms of becoming political figures along with religious figures. He then said, "How I wish I were a young man so that I could help you when your nation ridicules you, persecutes you, and expels you!" When Waraqa said, "Expels," the Prophet ﷺ asked, "My nation will expel me?!" Of course the first two are bad enough — but the third one, the Prophet ﷺ couldn't keep quiet and said, "My people will kick me out?" Waraqa said, "Yes, never has any prophet been sent except that his people ridiculed him, persecuted him, and expelled him."

And Aisha RA mentioned that Waraqa only lived a short time after the first revelation.

(Side note: Aisha RA narrated that once, Khadija RA asked the Prophet ﷺ about the fate of Waraqa34, "He believed in you, but he died before your advent." And the Prophet ﷺ said, "I saw him in a dream, and upon him were white garments. If he were among the inhabitants of the Fire, then he would have been wearing other than that." So from this, we deduce that Waraqa was surely one of the earliest converts to Islam — he was the first sahabi, and the first to die as a Muslim in Islam.)

The Prophet ﷺ then continued to narrate his story, "The revelation stopped for a while [after the first revelation]"—some scholars say up to 6 months, some say 3 months. And so the Prophet's ﷺ life resumed back to normal. But then, "When I was walking, I heard a sound, so looked up, and there I saw the same angel that had come to me in Hira, sitting on a throne that was in the heavens and the earth, and once again I trembled — and I rushed back to Khadija again saying, 'Daththiruni (دثروني - wrap me up)!' and that was when Jibril came and revealed the second revelation:

يَا أَيُّهَا الْمُدَّثِّرُ

...قُمْ فَأَنذِرْ

'O you who is wrapped up [in a cloak]! Stand up and warn (be active and spread the Message)!' [Quran, 74:1-2]."

(So scholars say: with "iqra [read]," the Prophet ﷺ became a nabi [prophet], and then with "qum fa andhir [stand up and warn]," he became a rasul [messenger].)

وَرَبَّكَ فَكَبِّرْ

وَثِيَابَكَ فَطَهِّرْ

وَالرُّجْزَ فَاهْجُرْ

وَلَا تَمْنُن تَسْتَكْثِرُ

"And your Lord, glorify. And your clothing, purify. And uncleanliness, avoid. And do not confer favor to acquire more" [Quran, 74:3-6].

You can understand these verses literally and metaphorically. The symbolisms are, "Worship and pray to your Lord, and have strength from Him throughout! And be pure physically and spiritually — cleanse yourself from sins! And abandon all idols! And don't be greedy for what is in the hands of man — do things for the sake of Allah and expect your reward from Him!"

Next we will talk about the types of wahy and how they occurred.

[Re-revised by Muhammad Abdul Rahman, March 2023]

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):

يَا أَيُّهَا الْمُدَّثِّرُ

قُمْ فَأَنذِرْ

وَرَبَّكَ فَكَبِّرْ

وَثِيَابَكَ فَطَهِّرْ

وَالرُّجْزَ فَاهْجُرْ

وَلَا تَمْنُن تَسْتَكْثِرُ

وَلِرَبِّكَ فَاصْبِرْ

What is the wisdom of the 30-40 days that the Prophet ﷺ was not inspired? The scholars say one wisdom is to prepare him for the second meeting. To make him recover and recollect energies and make him feel enthused. Indeed, the Prophet ﷺ was coming to the mountain every day to try to meet Jibril — but despite this preparation, he still became terrified when he saw him. All of this shows us the humanity of the Prophet ﷺ. And this surely isn't something a fraud, a charlatan, a two-faced liar would do — when someone makes a false claim to be a prophet, the stories they invent are all grandiose — they always put themselves to be the hero. But look at the story of the Prophet ﷺ — we find a human reaction. Thus, this shows that our Prophet ﷺ is telling the truth and he is a true prophet.

(Notice as well, by the way —a lot of people think the second revelation occurred as soon as the Prophet ﷺ saw Jibril AS; but this is wrong— from the context, it is clear that it occurred in the house of Khadija RA. Which shows Jibril AS must have followed him ﷺ back to the house, and when he is covered up, *then* Jibril said, "O you who is wrapped up [in a garment].")

What is the relevance of the verses in the second revelation?

1 & 2. "O you who is wrapped up [in a garment], stand up and warn the people"—the symbolism here is, "O you who are living in comfort and ease, stop this life of ease, stand up, be active, leave this sheltered life, and go out and warn the people."

Then Allah SWT says:

And the last ayah in the second revelation was:

What exactly is revelation? How does it occur? What happens when a person is inspired?

Wahy (وحي) or inspiration is a direct communication from Allah to mankind. And Ibn al-Qayyim mentioned that the Prophet ﷺ was inspired by 7 different means/methods/ways:

Some scholars claim that the Prophet ﷺ became a nabi through the revelation of iqra, and he became a rasul through the revelation of Surah al-Muddaththir. This leads us to another tangent: what exactly is a nabi, what exactly is a rasul, and what is the difference between a nabi and a rasul, and what was our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ? There are many opinions, but for the sake of brevity, we will only mention four:

And then Ibn Taymiyyah says: Generally every rasul does have a new shariah (but this is not a rule, it's just a symptom/adjective which has exceptions).

Can there be female prophets i.e. prophetesses? This is an interesting question. Maryam AS and Ummi Musa are the foremost example for those who believe there are female prophets. Of the scholars who held this opinion were Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari, al-Qurtubi, and Ibn Hazm al-Andalusi. So let us see how Maryam AS and Ummi Musa were described in the Qur'an. It's agreed that the angel Jibril AS showed himself to Maryam AS - but does this make her a prophetess? No. The sahaba also saw Jibril AS but that didn't make them prophets. And of the evidence the scholars who held this opinion gave is: Allah used the word 'wahy' in the Qur'an [28:7] for Ummi Musa - but does this make Ummi Musa a prophetess? No. We already mentioned that ilham is not given ONLY to the prophets. And further Allah says in Surah al-Ma'idah:

مَّا الْمَسِيحُ ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ إِلَّا رَسُولٌ قَدْ خَلَتْ مِن قَبْلِهِ الرُّسُلُ وَأُمُّهُ صِدِّيقَةٌ

"The Messiah, son of Mary, was not but a rasul; [other] rasuls have passed on before him. And his mother was a siddiqah." [5:75] - Notice how Allah says Isa AS is a rasul just like rasuls before him; and as for his mother, she was a siddiqah. Clearly Allah is mentioning the difference. And we know from other ayah [4:69] that of the levels of the righteous people are: (1) nabiyyin (2) siddiqin (3) shuhada, and (4) salihin. Isa AS was level #1 and his mother was level #2. And Allah says in the Qur'an [3:42] to Maryam that, He has "chosen you above the women of the worlds" - [so if the best woman in the world is a siddiqah, then surely there can't be any female prophets.] And in another ayah, Allah mentioned two conditions for prophethood:

وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا مِن قَبْلِكَ إِلَّا رِجَالًا نُّوحِي إِلَيْهِم مِّنْ أَهْلِ الْقُرَىٰ

'For every person that we send before you was (1) a man (2) from the people of the cities.' [12:109]

So clearly therefore, putting all the evidences together, the majority opinion has always been that the prophets of Allah have only been men.

In a hasan hadith in Musnad Imam Ahmad, Abu Dhar al-Ghifari asked the Prophet ﷺ, "How many messengers (rasul) did Allah send?" The Prophet ﷺ said, "310 and something." (Side note: "310 and something" was also the exact number of Badr, and also the exact number of the people of Talut [the people who crossed over the river [Qur'an, 2:249]]. This number seems to be recurring and seems to have some type of power to it.) And then Abu Dhar RA asked, "And how many prophets were there?" The Prophet ﷺ said, "124,000." So this is another indication that rasul and nabi are not the same. And from this we derive that every rasul is a nabi, but not every nabi is a rasul. Out of the rasuls, there are elite rasuls called the Ulu al-Azm (أولو العزم) - and these are of course Nuh, Ibrahim, Musa, Isa and Muhammad PBUTA.

What is the purpose of prophets? Why do we need them? This is the crux of the difference between us [adherents of Abrahamic religions] and the rest of humanity. We believe that the only guidance that is ultimate guidance is the guidance that comes from Allah SWT through the prophets. Whereas the bulk of the world believe that they can find their own way in life by experimenting with different laws and customs. But we believe that the best law is the law of Allah, and only Allah has the right to ultimately legislate, and Allah knows what is best for us, and that is why Allah sends prophets continuously. To deny Allah sends prophets is to deny the mercy and power of Allah. There are many people on earth who say, "Yeah, God created us, but then He let us be, and He has nothing to do with us anymore" - this is insulting to Allah AWJ; and Qur'an [6:91] mentions this:

وَمَا قَدَرُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ قَدْرِهِ إِذْ قَالُوا مَا أَنزَلَ اللَّهُ عَلَىٰ بَشَرٍ مِّن شَيْءٍ

This is difficult to translate, but can metaphorically be translated as: "They did not give the respect that is due to Allah when they say Allah does not reveal anything to mankind" - they insulted Allah when they claimed He didn't send anything. We say, "For God so truly love the world, He continue to send prophets to us from the beginning up until the very end." The sending of the prophets is the sign of Allah's love for us. There is always going to be prophets preaching the truth. Without knowledge of the prophets, there is no ultimate knowledge of truth. How do we know what is right and wrong; how do we know what is good and bad; how do we know what is moral and immoral - unless there were prophets of Allah? Look around us, societies and nations - all of their laws differ. No two countries, or even two states in the US, have the exact same laws. One thing might be legal in one land, but illegal in another land. Logically, this doesn't make sense - if it's illegal in one land why should it be legal in another? This is what's going to happen when they don't have a standard. Thus it's necessary for us mankind to have prophets sent by Allah.

Getting back to the Sirah, in this early time when "arise and warn" [74:2] was revealed, we only have a few brief stories as to what the Prophet ﷺ did. That is he preached to his immediate friends and family.

The first convert was Khadija bint Khuwaylid RA (خديجة بنت خويلد), she converted without even knowing what it is she is converting to, which shows how much faith she had in her husband. She said, "Allah is never going to humiliate you. Allah is never going to cause you to go astray. You are a person who is kind, merciful, tender."

The second convert would have been Waraqah b. Nawfal (ورقة بن نوفل), which a lot of people overlook. He converted without even saying the shahada, because there was no shahada to say at that point in time. But [technically] he converted by saying, "You are a prophet." He died without ever praying a prayer; but because he had that sincerity and he affirmed the prophethood of the Prophet ﷺ, [so] the Prophet ﷺ saw him in Jannah.

The third convert is either Ali b. Abi Talib, Abu Bakr or Zayd b. Harithah RA. Scholars differed over who of the three converted first. One of the easiest ways to resolve this is to say: The first child to convert was Ali, the first adult free man was Abu Bakr and the first freed slave was Zayd.

In the early days, the dawah was not a 'secret' dawah; the better word to use is it was a private dawah. What is the difference? Secret means nobody knew about it. Private means you kept it to yourself but it was an open secret. When the Prophet ﷺ started preaching Islam, it was a private dawah — rumors spread and the people heard about it; and this is proven from the fact that Amr b. Abasah came all the way from Yemen. But because in this early stage, the Prophet ﷺ was only preaching privately to his friends and those whom he trusted, so he said to Amr, "It's too early. Don't accept Islam now. When you hear I am victorious, then come back to me." Thus because it was a private dawah, there could be no public opposition. For three years, the Prophet ﷺ did not preach to the masses. He didn't preach to the pilgrims or the visitors of Makkah or even his own relatives whom he thought would not accept Islam, e.g., Abu Lahab, Abu Jahl — they were not approached. Of course they heard about this new theology being preached, but they didn't do anything to the Prophet ﷺ because he ﷺ wasn't interfering with the trade of Makkah, nor standing and preaching aloud.

So why was the dawah private? Many reasons:

First and foremost, so that it doesn't result in any confrontation between the Muslims and the Quraysh. No torture, ridicule etc. If someone converts to Islam, he's not making a public announcement — he's simply minding his own business and not getting involved with the society at a religious level, so there's no reason for the Quraysh to torture or persecute them. The Muslims were being taught their religion, concentrating on the teachings of Islam without having to worry about politics and torture. In fact, this is what prepared them with the spiritual boost they needed to face the torture later on.

This also shows, in some circumstances, it's permissible to give dawah in private. If the political climate is one of fear/tension, you don't have to go public about your dawah, e.g., in the 1920s and 1930s when the communism took over, they would literally kill people for claiming to be Muslim —and our religion does not demand you to be public about your religion if there is a fear of persecution— so you are allowed to stay private, keep a low-key, and mind your own business. But if somebody comes to learn your religion, give him dawah.

Also notice every single convert at this early stage becomes a leader, a mover and shaker unlike bulk of  the later converts whom we don't even know their name — there are certainly over 100,000 sahaba and we only have the names of around 5,000. Why? Because some of them just performed Hajj with the Prophet ﷺ, some of them went in one ghazwa and that's it; so their names are not recorded. The names of those that are recorded are few. And of these, the bulk of them we only have one or two incidents recorded, and it is only a handful that we have life stories about, and most of these were the early converts or of the early Ansar. This shows the early converts' Iman were so powerful they went on to play a significant role in early Islam.

Most of the converts at this early stage were from the lower class — Ammar b. Yasir, Bilal RA, etc. This is the general rule for any religion. It is so much of a general rule that when Heraclius the Emperor of Rome, the first time the Prophet ﷺ wrote him a letter, he quizzed Abu Sufyan 10 questions, and one of those questions was, "Who are his converts? The rich or the weak?" and when Abu Sufyan said, "The weak and the poor,"  Heraclius said, "This is the sign of a true faith — it doesn't appeal to the rich or the elite, whereas the poor understand and accept the message." When you are rich and powerful, you have more to lose when you change status quo. Allah mentions this in the Qur'an [11:27] that even the people of Hud said, "We only find your followers to be the people who take care of the sheep." And Allah SWT mentions, even the people of Musa (the Jews), in the beginning, they were lower class, but in the end, they end up to be the victors:

وَأَوْرَثْنَا الْقَوْمَ الَّذِينَ كَانُوا يُسْتَضْعَفُونَ مَشَارِقَ الْأَرْضِ وَمَغَارِبَهَا الَّتِي بَارَكْنَا فِيهَا

"And We caused the people who had been oppressed to inherit the eastern regions of the land and the western ones, which We had blessed" [7:137]. Indeed, the Bani Israel, they eventually became the leaders.

So the wisdoms of doing dawah privately in this early stage are:

There is no authentic narration, but it seems at this early stage, salah and wudu were legislated. Jibril AS came down and taught the Prophet ﷺ how to do wudu and how to pray, though at this stage, prayer was voluntary and not obligatory — it was made obligatory in al-Isra' wal-Mi'raj when the five prayers were set (and that's why when Allah told him to pray, he didn't need to be taught how to pray, because he already knew). Also, in this early stage, all the prayers were two rak'at — this is what Aisha says in a hadith in Sahih Bukhari.

The stages of dawah are five, each is a legitimate stage for any Muslim community in the world depending on their circumstance:

Historically speaking, our ummah has utilized all of these ways. Therefore in our times, there is no question militarily this is not any time we can do anything especially as minority in many lands. This is the time we talk about public dawah without any confrontation, where we preach our message and [when we see] those groups that are violent, we say, "No, this is not the way of our religion." Our Prophet ﷺ showed us the clear way. His methodology is the best methodology, and his Sirah is the best Sirah.

Every community throughout the world, its leaders and ulama can see which of these five is best for that community. Each of these is a legitimate means of our Prophet ﷺ.

So now we move on to the second stage of the five, which is open preaching with no public conflict from Muslim side; open preaching without any command for warfare. This open preaching took place three years after iqra came down. Allah revealed a number of verses which commanded the Prophet ﷺ to preach openly. Two of them are the most important: Surah al-Hijr verse 94, "Don't hide, go forth and proclaim what We have commanded you, and turn away from the ignorant people." So the Prophet ﷺ understood this is a command to go public. Then a verse came down which is even more explicit, the verse that is commonly associated with the public dawah, Surah al-Shu'ara, verse 214, "And warn your close relatives"—the word 'ashira/عَشِيرَ' [in the ayah] not only applies to his uncles and aunts, but all of his tribesmen, thus this referred to the Quraysh and all the people of Makkah who were his kith and kin. Thus, the Prophet ﷺ realized he needed to go public.

Looking at the source books of Sirah, it appears the Prophet ﷺ did this in two stages:

The first stage: He went public to the Banu Hashim only, that is his immediate tribe. Recall the [noble] people of Makkah were all Quraysh. So the Prophet ﷺ invited his immediate tribe - his immediate uncles and aunts, over 40 of the adults, to his own house and told Ali b. Abi Talib to prepare food and soup, and the narrator says, "Even though the food was in one plate, all 40 ate to their fill as if they ate from the plate themselves. And they drank the soup to their fill as if they drank from the one cup alone." Abu Lahab sensed that something was going to happen - he was scared that the Prophet ﷺ would make public what was now private. So before they finished eating, Abu Lahab gave an excuse and said he needs to leave - of course he was a senior, so when he left, it destroyed the aura that was being created, so a number of others also left with him. The Prophet ﷺ understood this was a tactic of Abu Lahab. So a few days later the Prophet ﷺ did the same thing, he told Ali to make another meal, invited them again, and this time, before they could finish, he stood up and began preaching. He began by praising Allah SWT and giving Khutbah al-Hajah, and then said, "O Bani Abd al-Muttalib, I do not know of any Arab before me who is coming to his people with a message that is better than what I am coming to you with. I am coming to you with something that will give you your deen and your dunya, this world and the akhira; I am coming as a messenger from Allah SWT that if you leave your idolatry and turn to Him, then Allah will give you all the good of this world and give you the Jannah in the next." And he went on preaching and preaching. Before this time, they might have heard that the Prophet ﷺ is preaching, but they have not been approached directly. This was the first time the message of Islam openly reached many of their ears. Abu Lahab became irritated and said to the people around the Prophet ﷺ, "This seems to be an unworthy message, we have our way of our forefathers. Who does this young man think he is to come and oppose the ways of our forefathers." Abu Lahab was the only one that was harsh, the rest of his uncles and aunts took the message not that seriously. And in one of the source books, it is said that Ali RA stood up and said, "O Messenger of Allah, I will help you" - and of course there is no surprise in Ali RA being this brave. At this point, his immediate relatives did not accept nor reject.

The second stage: A few days/weeks later, soon after this, this was when the Prophet ﷺ went public to the whole city of Makkah. Reported in Bukhari: "The Prophet ﷺ climbed the Mountain of Safa which was the closest mountain to the Kabah." It was much taller than it is now. So for a person in Makkah to climb to the top of Safa, this was the equivalent of, "I have an announcement to make." So the Prophet ﷺ climbed all the way to the top of Safa and he began calling the people. We have to realize Makkah only had around 1,000 people - small little village. So when the Prophet ﷺ was calling all the tribes, everyone came. People stopped doing what they were doing and they came and listened. The Prophet ﷺ waited for everyone to assemble and then he said, "If I were to inform you about something, do you trust me?" And they said, "We know nothing but good from you, you are our son and the son of our brother, you are our nephew etc." "Have you heard any lie from me?" "We have heard nothing but good. You are al-Amin." And then the Prophet ﷺ said, "If I were to tell you that there is an army coming to attack, would you believe me [without any checking, just with my word]?" And they said, "Yes, we never heard you ever say a lie." So here is when the Prophet ﷺ said, "Then know therefore, I am a Warner sent by Allah, to proclaim the coming of a severe punishment on the Day of Judgment unless you turn to Allah and leave your idolatry. O tribe of Kaab b. Lu'ayy, save yourselves from the Fire of Hell, I will not be able to help you. O Bani Murrah b. Kaab,  save yourselves from the Fire of Hell, I will not be able to help you. O Bani Abd Manaf, O Bani Abd al-Muttalib, so on and so forth..." He began with the furthest tribe that was related to him, and worked his way inward, closer and closer, until he got to, "O Banu Hashim," and then he began mentioning his uncles [and aunts] by name, "O Hamzah b. Abd al-Muttalib", "O Safiyyah bint Abd al-Muttalib" etc. And he concluded with the person who was the most dear & the most beloved to him, "O Fatima bint Muhammad, you need to save yourself from the Fire of Hell, I will not be able to help you on the Day of Judgment." And with Fatima he ﷺ added one phrase, "Except that in this world I will give you all that I have, (I'm your father, you ask me anything that I have, it is yours. But in the hereafter, I cannot save you from Allah's punishment)." When the Prophet ﷺ finished this very emotional message, this is when Abu Lahab stood up, picked up some sand and through it in the direction of the Prophet ﷺ. This is meant to show vulgarity and say, "What is this [message]? It's not even worth this sand I am throwing!" It's a sign of great arrogance. Then he said, "May you be cursed O Muhammad! Is this why you called us here?!" And this is when Allah revealed in the Quran Surah al-Masad [111:1-5]:

تَبَّتْ يَدَا أَبِي لَهَبٍ وَتَبَّ

مَا أَغْنَىٰ عَنْهُ مَالُهُ وَمَا كَسَبَ

سَيَصْلَىٰ نَارًا ذَاتَ لَهَبٍ

وَامْرَأَتُهُ حَمَّالَةَ الْحَطَبِ

فِي جِيدِهَا حَبْلٌ مِّن مَّسَدٍ

Abu Lahab was the first person to publicly oppose and ridicule the message. In the house of the Prophet ﷺ a few days ago, he wasn't that rude. But now in public, because of his arrogance and rudeness, he publicly opposed the Prophet ﷺ in a vulgar manner. And thus Allah revealed Surah al-Masad. This is of course the sunnah of Allah SWT - never has a messenger been sent except that he has to face struggles and hardships against his own people. Most of mankind do not want to change their lifestyles. It's difficult to give up what you're used to, it's difficult to lead a religious life.

Of the benefits we gain here is that every single person needs to be responsible first and foremost for his immediate family, and then for society at large. Indeed, initially the Prophet ﷺ is told to preach to his own relatives. So much so that when a Yemeni comes to him, he tells him, "Not now." So the responsibility of a da'i is much more for his immediate family than anyone else. Indeed the Prophet ﷺ first called Banu Hashim, then the people of Makkah. From this point onwards, the Prophet ﷺ started preaching everywhere. In public venues, in front of the Kabah, when visitors/hujjaj came to Makkah - the Prophet ﷺ would speak to them in the marketplaces of Mina etc. This is when the dawah became public, and of course this is when the public opposition began as well.

How did the people oppose the message? By many ways. Note these aren't necessarily chronological.

The first thing is that they tried to appeal to the highest authority which was Abu Talib. Recall there is no one ruler in Makkah. They were too arrogant to appoint one ruler. What they did have was Dar al-Nadwa - a group of senior people none of whom was in charge, but had a big say in the matters of the community. Who were these people? They were the representatives of each of the subtribes of Makkah. So each of the subtribes has a ruler. The Banu Hashim has a ruler, the Banu Makhzum, Banu Abd al-Dar etc. has a ruler. The affairs of that one tribe will be in accordance with what each chieftain says. The leader of Banu Hashim was of course Abu Talib. It's the way of the Arabs that the leader of each tribe is never deposed, never gotten rid of, never disobeyed etc. He is given the utmost respect. And then when he dies, one of his sons takes over (just like when Abd al-Muttalib died, Abu Talib took over). So when the Prophet ﷺ started preaching, they went to Abu Talib, gently, and said, "O Abu Talib, this is your nephew cursing our idols, preaching a new message, surely you cannot let this happen?" Abu Talib did not want confrontation, he gave them some gentle words and let them go their away. He simply sidetracked hoping that the matter would go away. But it didn't. Few weeks later, they come to Abu Talib again. As more and more people convert to Islam, as more and more of the hujjaj go back bearing the news that, "There is a man in Makkah preaching a new message," they realized that action has to be taken. So they increase the pressure on Abu Talib. They try to threaten, bribe, and cajole him. "We cannot take this anymore - your nephew is insulting our forefathers." Pause. This is the way of everybody who opposes Islam, even in our times: they take a small thing and make it so big as if the world is going to collapse. The Prophet ﷺ never cursed their forefathers - they're his own forefathers. He ﷺ is preaching tawhid. But they make a true statement like, "Idolatry is not a good way, it's foolish," and exaggerate it twenty times by saying, "Well if it's foolish, this means our forefathers were foolish. And if they were foolish, this means you're cursing them," etc. And of their accusations was, "Your nephew is cursing our idols." But the Prophet ﷺ never cursed their idols, Allah says:

وَلَا تَسُبُّوا الَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ فَيَسُبُّوا اللَّهَ عَدْوًا بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ

"And do not curse those they invoke other than Allah, lest they insult Allah in enmity without knowledge." [Qur'an, 6:108] And yet they accused him of cursing their idols. So they go back to Abu Talib and told him, "Your nephew is doing this and that, we cannot bear this anymore. You stop him from preaching or you hand him over to us and we do as we please." And Abu Talib had never been confronted by his people in this manner.

(Realize, every leader is outwardly powerful but inwardly very weak - because every leader is dependent upon the people that follow him for that leadership. Every leader has to appease his own people. Even if you are a tyrant, you have to have a core group of people whom you appease - that you give them everything they want and overlook any crime they'd do. It's only Allah who is truly al-Malik, the King. Every other king is dependent on people around them. They need to have viziers, ministers, army, etc. So when your own people oppose you, you don't have any power.)

And Abu Talib never experienced this. Once again, they could not harm on their own tribesmen unless the chief allows it. This is the law of the Arabs. If they did not obey it, they would face shame and ridicule. So as long as Abu Talib did not hand over the Prophet ﷺ, they could not do anything. So they go to Abu Talib and demand one of those two things.

This is when Abu Talib went to the Prophet ﷺ and said to him, "O my nephew, my people have come to me and said such and such, so be merciful for yourself and be merciful to me, do not place me on a situation I cannot bear." This is emotional blackmail at its best - this was of the most difficult encounters for the Prophet ﷺ. Abu Talib loved the Prophet ﷺ so much, more than his own children, and remember Abu Talib is the Prophet's ﷺ real blood uncle - and the Prophet ﷺ had the same type of love for Abu Talib, like a father. And here Abu Talib is begging and pleading with the Prophet ﷺ that, "Have some mercy on me, I am an old man, how much can I bear?" Here is when the Prophet ﷺ said, "O my uncle, wallahi, if they were to give me the sun in my right hand, and the moon in my left hand, I cannot give up this message until I succeed in what I am doing or I die a death in this path preaching what I am preaching."
In another version which is probably more authentic, he said to his uncle, "Do you see the sun, O my uncle?" "Yes." "Wallahi, I have no more power to stop preaching than you do to light your stick with this sun." What is the symbolism of the phrase here? There's a dual meaning. (1) The Prophet ﷺ is saying that the light of Islam is brighter than the sun and moon, 'I cannot extinguish it. If hey were to give me all of this light, I have a light that is brighter than this light, I cannot eclipse it. Nothing can eclipse this light.' (2) The Prophet ﷺ is saying that, 'Even if they were to give me something beyond this world (the sun and the moon), I cannot give up what I am doing until I meet my death or I succeed in my message.' When Abu Talib saw this persistence and sincerity, he said, "Do what you will, my nephew. Fa wallahi, I will never come to you again to stop you. You have my protection."

When the people heard that he tried and failed, they went back to Abu Talib, but this time with the whole delegation of the Quraysh. So not just Banu Hashim, but all the tribes. This is the stepping stone - the next step of course is the boycott (which we will talk in episode 18). So for now they say to him, "We have a proposition - we have chosen the most noble young man, the son of al-Walid b. al-Mughirah; and one son for one son: we'll hand over al-Umara b. al-Walid to you, and he will become yours (your son), and in return you hand over your nephew to us and we do as we please." At this Abu Talib became very angry and said, "What an evil, treacherous bargain! What kind of foolish bargain is this? You want me to take care of one of your own so that I fatten him (with my food) while you take my son and you kill him?"

At this Mut'im b. Adi stood up and said, "O Abu Talib, I think your people has done as much as they humanly can. You must accept one of their offers." Mut'im b. Adi is the senior most person in all of Makkah. Recall he was the one that prevented the bloodshed in the Kabah by suggesting the solution to the Black Stone (i.e. whoever walks in first). This is the least hostile person that has the most sense. So for him to take sides, this was a big deal. Now it's literally the whole of Makkah against Abu Talib. Mut'im said, "What more do you expect them to do?"

(The Prophet ﷺ later on, after the Battle of Badr, said about Mut'im one of the highest praises to a pagan: "If Mut'im b. Adi were alive right now, and he said to me one word about these 72 prisoners, I would have freed them all for his sake." Notice Mut'im b. Adi did a lot for Islam even though he wasn't a Muslim. Even though he is taking sides against the dawah of the Prophet ﷺ now, this is probably the worst thing he did. Over the next 10 years, we'll see he did a lot of positives for the Muslims. And because of this, the Prophet ﷺ praised him. This shows us there are some kafirs that are very good, with genuine hearts. So you don't treat all non-Muslims the same. There are many non-Muslims who stand for human rights etc. We should help and praise them like the Prophet ﷺ did about Mut'im b. Adi.)

So Mut'im b. Adi told Abu Talib, "Take one of these options and come on, move on. What else do you want us to do?" This was again literally Abu Talib vs. the whole of Makkah. So Abu Talib takes on a bravery that is unbelievable. He says to Mut'im b. Adi directly, "O Mut'im, this is a plot that you have hatched, to stand up at this time and publicly take sides. You had this planned from before." Then he says, "Do as you please, I will not budge from my position." This was genuine bravery - he had no support whatsoever. It's literally his honor and prestige against the whole of Quraysh.

Abu Talib also wrote some poetry; note that Abu Talib was one of the greatest poets of the Quraysh. And his poetry is absolutely phenomenal. In fact, Ibn Hajar and many others say his poetry was more profound and even better than the Mu'allaqat/المعلقات (Seven Hanging Poems) in the Kabah. (His poetry is recorded in many books: Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Hisham, Tabaqat of Ibn Sa'd, etc.) And so he composed a series of poems chastising his own relatives. And accusing them of being traitors to their own way of lives, that they are not respecting the sanctity of their own relatives. And Allah willed that the Quraysh backed down even though Abu Talib had literally no power on his side. But it was the sense of dignity and sincerity and the strength of conviction that allowed him to win.

In this one incident, we open up the window to see the wisdom of Abu Talib.

Indeed, the Prophet ﷺ did not love anyone more than Abu Talib. And yet Abu Talib did not convert to Islam. When the Prophet ﷺ begged and pleaded with him, even on his deathbed when the Prophet ﷺ was 50-51 years old [i.e. in later stage of the Sirah]:

أي عم: قل لا إله إلا الله كلمة أحاج لك بها عند الله

"O my uncle, I beg you say, 'La ilaha illaLlah,' so that I will be able to argue in front of Allah to save you." And Abu Talib was about to say it because in his heart he knew that the message of the Prophet ﷺ is true. He had seen too many signs and miracles, and he knew the Prophet ﷺ too well that he couldn't tell a lie. But there was one thing more precious than his nephew, and that was his father - the lineage and prestige, "You are the son of Abd al-Muttalib." That prestige of lineage, which was everything for the Arabs, is what prevented Abu Talib. He happened to be the son of the most famous Arabs of the generation, this giant of a figure.

Abu Talib was just about to say the kalimah, but Abu Jahl was standing there and said, "Are you going to leave the religion of your father?" That caused the mouth of Abu Talib to close, and that's when the malak al-mawt/ملك الموت (angel of death) came and took his ruh (soul). He didn't say the kalimah - but the Prophet ﷺ was so emotionally moved, he said, "I will ask Allah to forgive you even if I don't have permission." Realize that for a prophet, you cannot do anything without the permission of Allah. Why did Allah SWT do what He did to Yunus AS? Because Yunus AS left his people without permission. Because you are a prophet and you are representing the message and shariah of Allah. So the Prophet ﷺ would not do anything unless Allah told him. But here his emotions were so high, the Prophet ﷺ continued to ask forgiveness, without permission, for his uncle, until Allah revealed multiple verses in the Quran. One such is:

مَا كَانَ لِلنَّبِيِّ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَن يَسْتَغْفِرُوا لِلْمُشْرِكِينَ وَلَوْ كَانُوا أُولِي قُرْبَىٰ

 "It's not befitting for the prophet and the believers to seek forgiveness for pagans even if they are close relatives." [9:113]

And of them is,

إِنَّكَ لَا تَهْدِي مَنْ أَحْبَبْتَ وَلَٰكِنَّ اللَّهَ يَهْدِي مَن يَشَاءُ

"You are not able to guide those whom you love, but Allah guides those whom He pleases." [28:56]

This is what Sh. Yasir calls "the Phenomenon of Abu Talib."

[Note: Abu Talib is still alive at this stage. This is just one of Sh. Yasir's tangent.]

This is what Sh. Yasir calls "the Phenomenon of Abu Talib." Why? Here is the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and Abu Talib is the most beloved person to him, the one whom he loves like no one else so much so many years later when the Muslims conquered Makkah, when Abu Bakr comes to the Prophet ﷺ with his own father Abu Quhafa —a pagan and enemy to Islam— being carried by the people to finally accept Islam as an old man of 80 years old, when he (Abu Quhafa) puts his hand on the Prophet's ﷺ hand and recites the kalimah, Abu Bakr began to cry and says, "Wallahi, what I would give, even my father's hand, if I could see the hand of Abu Talib in your hand to accept Islam"—i.e., Abu Bakr would even give up his own father's Islam because he wanted the Islam of Abu Talib — showing he knew how much the Prophet ﷺ loved Abu Talib. Yet Allah did not allow him to die in Islam.

Why? What is the wisdom?

(There are many Muslim groups out there that have taken the love of Rasulullah ﷺ to an extreme level and make him out to be literally a god or a demigod. But this is wrong. We can see even in his own lifetime he couldn't protect his own uncle.)

Notice as well, we see the four uncles of the Prophet ﷺ —all of them children of Abd al-Muttalib— each of them occupies such a different level. All of them direct uncles — showing how lineage means nothing in Islam. It is your own actions [that matter]. Two Muslims, two non-Muslims:

These are four brothers, and every one of them occupy such a different level even though they are all sons of the same father, and they are all uncles of the greatest human being who ever walked the face of this earth. This shows us your fathers and children will not help you on the Day of Judgment; what helps is that which each and every one of us have done in this world. This is the basic message the Prophet ﷺ said in his first khutbah, "Nobody can help you against the punishment of Allah — you must save yourselves. (Therefore live righteous lives.)"

What else did they do to prevent the message being spread?

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:

وَلَا تَجْهَرْ بِصَلَاتِكَ وَلَا تُخَافِتْ بِهَا وَابْتَغِ بَيْنَ ذَٰلِكَ سَبِيلًا 

"Do not say it loudly, nor in a whisper, but say it in a moderate voice." [17:110]

Once, the companions came together in the House of al-Arqam and they said, "No one has recited the Qur'an in public except the Prophet ﷺ. Who is going to volunteer?" Then Abdullah b. Mas'ud said, "I will do it." But they said, "We don't want you because you don't have family members/tribe to help and protect you." Indeed Ibn Mas'ud was a Yemeni, he wasn't a Qureshi, not even a Makkan. Recall in those days tribal lineage was everything - if you were a part of a tribe, you were protected. But Ibn Mas'ud said, "I want to do it - I put my trust in Allah." (This is Ibn Mas'ud who the Prophet ﷺ said, "If you want to recite the Qur'an properly, go to Ibn Mas'ud." He was the one who said, "I have taken more than 70 surahs directly from the mouth of the Prophet ﷺ.") Ibn Mas'ud said, "I want to do this," and he went to the Kabah the next morning when the people had gathered.

Of course the Kabah was the place of socialization. When the businesses of the day had been done, everyone would gather in the shade of the Kabah and gossip and relax. So when all gathered, Ibn Mas'ud stood at the Maqam of Ibrahim, and began reciting in a loud and beautiful voice, Surah al-Rahman. It was so beautiful people gathered around him to listen. One of them asked, "What is this he is reciting?" Realize the whole science of tilawah (تلاوة) and tajwid (تجويد) is specific to the Qur'an. The Arabs didn't use to speak in ghunnahs (غنة) and mudud (مدود). The art and words of the Qur'an is on a different level and it's mesmerizing. So they all began talking. Until one of them said, "Oh, this is what Muhammad [ﷺ] has claimed has been revealed with. That is what Ibn Mas'ud is reciting." Now the cat is let out of the bag. So immediately people pounce on him and begin beating him because again he is not from the Quraysh so he had no protection. And they continued to beat him until he could not continue reciting. He wasn't able to finish two pages of Surah al-Rahman. And he came back bloodied and battered and bruised and the sahaba said, "This is exactly why we didn't want you to go." But Ibn Mas'ud said, "Wallahi, after today, nothing has increased other than my contempt for the Quraysh - I am willing to do this again tomorrow." The sahaba said, "Enough, enough. You have done enough to distress them. They have heard the Qur'an; and you have caused them to be distressed."

We also know the famous story wherein the three leaders of Quraysh went in secret to hear the recitation of the Prophet ﷺ:

Muhammad bin Ishaq said in al-Sirah: "Muhammad b. Muslim b. Shihab al-Zuhri told me that it happened that Abu Sufyan b. Harb, Abu Jahl b. Hisham and al-Akhnas b. Shurayq b. Amr b. Wahb al-Thaqifi, the ally of Bani Zuhrah, went out one night to listen to the Messenger of Allah when he was praying at night in his house. Each one of them took up a position for listening, and none of them knew that the others were also there. They stayed listening to him all night until dawn came. When they left, they met up on the road, each of them blaming the others, saying to one another; `Do not come back again, lest you give the wrong impression (i.e. that you like what you hear).' Then they went away until the second night came, when each of them came back to his place and spent the night listening. When dawn came they left, then when they met up on the road, each of them blamed the others, saying the same as they had said the previous night. Then they went away until the third night came, when each of them came back to his place and spent the night listening. When dawn came they left, then when they met up on the road, they said to one another, `Let us not leave until we promise not to come back,' so they made a promise to that effect, and went their separate ways. In the morning, al-Akhnas bin Shurayq took his stick and went to the house of Abu Sufyan bin Harb, where he said, `Tell me, O Abu Sufyan what do you think of what you have heard from Muhammad' Abu Sufyan said, `O Abu al-Akhnas, by Allah, I have heard something I understand and I know what is meant by it, and I have heard things I do not understand and do not know what is meant by it.' Al-Akhnas said: `Me too, by the One by Whom you swore.' Then he left and went to Abu Jahl, and entered his house. He said, `O Abu al-Hakam (i.e. Abu Jahl) what do you think of what you have heard from Muhammad' He said, `What did you hear' He said, `We and Banu `Abd Manaf competed for honor and position: They fed people so we fed people, they engaged in battle so we engaged in battle, they gave so we gave, until we were neck and neck, like race horses. Then they said, we have a prophet among us who receives revelation from heaven. How could we compete with that - By Allah we will never believe in him.' Then al-Akhnas got up and left him.''

Subhan'Allah from this we realize how beautiful the recitation of the Prophet ﷺ himself must have been - that it mesmerizes and moves the hearts even of these three leaders including Abu Jahl himself. So on the 4th day, as above, al-Akhnas goes to Abu Sufyan and says, "By Allah this recitation seems to be the truth." Abu Sufyan was too embarrassed to agree so he said, "I understood some of it but other parts I didn't understand." He gave a wishy-washy answer, even though he knew it was the truth. But of course being a politician that he is, he doesn't want any slip to come out. Al-Akhnas then asked Abu Jahl's opinion. So Abu Jahl gave an honest answer as to why he will never accept the Prophet ﷺ, "Us and the Banu Abd Manaf have always been in competition. When they give water, we give water." [Side note: The Prophet ﷺ - Banu Abd Manaf/Hashim; Abu Jahl - Banu Makhzum] "We are right at the end of the race, but now they tell us they have a prophet whom Allah inspires from the heavens - how can we compete with that? So by Allah, as long as I live, I will never accept him." Notice he is being honest here that he cannot accept because of competition and arrogance.

The fourth tactic was to ridicule the Prophet ﷺ and his believers. Many reports are reported. Once the Prophet ﷺ did not receive new revelation for weeks or months, so the wife of Abu Jahl [perhaps] said to the Prophet ﷺ, "I see that your shaytan (Jibril AS) had abandoned you. I don't see you recite anything new." At this the Prophet ﷺ felt very grieved. This is when Allah revealed Surah al-Duha, "Your Lord has not abandoned you, nor has He detested you. The Hereafter is better for you. And your Lord will give you, and you will be satisfied." [93:3-5]

Also, Abu Jahl would go out of his way and personally try his best to smear the religion. If it's a person of status, he would make fun of him and say to him, "How can you leave the religion of your father? Are you better than your father and grandfather?" And if it's a lowly person, he would get physical and abuse them. Once Abu Jahl purchased something from someone. But Abu Jahl then refused to pay him and kept on stalling. One day, Abu Jahl said to him, "Go to Muhammad [ﷺ] and he will get it for you." Abu Jahl said it as a joke. But the man didn't get it so he went to the Prophet ﷺ and told him, "Abu Jahl owes me money, and he has told me to come and collect it from you." He thought the Prophet ﷺ might owe Abu Jahl money, so instead of giving it back to Abu Jahl, he'd give it to himself. The Prophet ﷺ said, "Don't worry. I will get your money back for you." He took the man by the hand and walked right then and there to the house of Abu Jahl, and knocked on the door. When the door is opened, he said, "O Abu Jahl, give the man his money back. Now." Abu Jahl's face changed to complete white, he began trembling and ran all the way back and threw money in the person's face without even counting it. Abu Jahl later said in one report that he did this because he saw behind the Prophet ﷺ what anyone else couldn't see - a herd of angry camels waiting to pounce on him - and that terrified him. This of course was a miracle from Allah. He tried to smear the Prophet ﷺ but it backfired.

The fifth tactic was false accusations and slander. This is where the Quraysh stooped to a very low level that they've never stooped to before. The Qur'an mentions 3~5 of their particular lies - and it's amazing that to this day whoever lies about the Prophet ﷺ has to say one of these lies; they cannot get out of the same lies that are recorded in the Qur'an. Of these lies, "He is crazy." [68:51] [To that] the Qur'an says, "I lived a whole lifetime amongst you, you know who I am, can't you think?" [10:16] They said also, he is "a soothsayer" [69:42], he is either "a magician" [15:15, 51:52] or "magic has been done on him." [17:47] And to this day those people who reject Islam say similar things, and the most common understanding [among non-Muslim academics who study Islam in depth] is that the Prophet ﷺ was deluded into thinking he was a prophet - which is a type of madness - because even they cannot doubt the sincerity of the Prophet ﷺ. But it's impossible for a man to be crazy in only one area and completely sane in every other area (as a family man, leader, etc.). They also accused him of being a poet. This too is standard to this day - they say the Prophet ﷺ was a marvelous poet who had a command of the Arabic. But Allah tells us in the Qur'an [36:69] that the Prophet ﷺ is not a poet. And indeed until his death, perhaps only two or three lines of poetry came from the mouth of the Prophet ﷺ. One scholar said never did the Prophet ﷺ give a full couplet of poetry - only one half at max. And yet [the eloquence of] the Qur'an is beyond measure.

The main story [that illustrates this point] that we all should know is the story of al-Walid b. al-Mughirah, the father of Khalid b. al-Walid. Again, the Qur'an was completely unprecedented. Its tone, style, language etc. is completely unique and on another level. Imagine the Qur'an being recited to the masters of the Arabic language. And the biggest master was al-Walid b. al-Mughirah who was the chief of the Banu Makhzum (the tribe of Abu Jahl). He was the Shakespeare of Makkah - the best poet of Makkah. Once the Prophet ﷺ was reciting the Qur'an and al-Walid b. al-Mughirah managed to listen uninterrupted for the first time. And he is mesmerized - he stops in his tracks and listen until the Prophet ﷺ finishes, and he goes away a changed man. He muttered something as he walks away and it spread in the people of Makkah - again, the people of Makkah were few and it's a very small village, so everything spreads - gossip was rampant. As he walks away, he says a beautiful prose, describing the beauty of the Qur'an as a pagan:

ﻭﺍﻟﻠﻪ ﻟﻘﺪ ﺳﻤﻌﺖ ﻣﻦ ﻣﺤﻤﺪ ﺁﻧﻔﺎً ﻛﻼﻣﺎً ﻣﺎ ﻫﻮ ﻣﻦ ﻛﻼﻡ ﺍﻷﻧﺲ ﻭﻻ ﻣﻦ ﻛﻼﻡ ﺍﻟﺠﻦ

ﺇﻥ ﻟﻪ ﻟﺤﻼﻭﺓ ﻭﺇﻥ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻟﻄﻼﻭﺓ ﻭﺇﻥ ﺃﻋﻼﻩ ﻟﻤﺜﻤﺮ ﻭﺇﻥ ﺃﺳﻔﻠﻪ ﻟﻤﻐﺪﻕ ﻭﺃﻧﻪ ﻳﻌﻠﻮ ﻭﻣﺎ ﻳﻌﻠﻰ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ

"By Allah, I have heard a speech from Muhammad right now that is neither from the speech of men nor jinn; It has a rhythm, the top of it is fertile, the height of it is beautiful, and it surpasses everything I've heard, and nothing can surpass it." The people panicked that their greatest poet has admitted defeat. When the news reached Abu Jahl, he went to al-Walid b. al-Mughirah. He said, "Your people have heard your praise of the Qur'an, and they will not be satisfied with you until you say something against it." al-Walid b. al-Mughirah said, "What do you want me to say? Tell me, I'll say it." (Compare this to Abu Talib - he stood his ground and said, "Do what you want.") Abu Jahl says, "Call him a madman." But al-Walid b. al-Mughirah said, "But he is not a madman, and everybody knows he is not a madman. We have seen crazy people, but he has no symptoms of a crazy man." Then Abu Jahl said, "Say he is a fortune teller." But al-Walid b. al-Mughirah says, "He isn't a fortune teller - he doesn't have the dandana or the mazmara of the fortune tellers." So Abu Jahl said, "Call him a magician." But again al-Walid b. al-Mughirah said, "He isn't a magician." Then he said, "Say he is a poet." But al-Walid b. al-Mughirah said, "By Allah, I am the best poet amongst you. And I am telling you that this is not the type of poetry that we are used to." So Abu Jahl then said, "You need to say something and we won't be satisfied with you until you say something." So al-Walid b. al-Mughirah said, "Leave me alone for a few days."

And he began walking around in his house, thinking about what he is going to say. He is frowning. He is going about back and forth, until he comes across an idea. But before he could say it, Allah revealed in the Qur'an exactly what is happening in the privacy in his house, and the feelings in his heart, and the expressions in his face that nobody, not even his family knew. Look at the beauty of the Qur'an - coinciding with reality, that before he can say something, the Prophet ﷺ recites it and exposes him. Surah al-Muddaththir, the second portion. Allah speaks directly to al-Walid. This is a miracle. No one could have known this, yet it's in the Qur'an:

ذَرْنِي وَمَنْ خَلَقْتُ وَحِيدًا

وَجَعَلْتُ لَهُ مَالًا مَّمْدُودًا

وَبَنِينَ شُهُودًا

وَمَهَّدتُّ لَهُ تَمْهِيدًا

ثُمَّ يَطْمَعُ أَنْ أَزِيدَ

كَلَّا ۖ إِنَّهُ كَانَ لِآيَاتِنَا عَنِيدًا

سَأُرْهِقُهُ صَعُودًا

إِنَّهُ فَكَّرَ وَقَدَّرَ

فَقُتِلَ كَيْفَ قَدَّرَ

ثُمَّ قُتِلَ كَيْفَ قَدَّرَ

ثُمَّ نَظَرَ

ثُمَّ عَبَسَ وَبَسَرَ

ثُمَّ أَدْبَرَ وَاسْتَكْبَرَ

فَقَالَ إِنْ هَٰذَا إِلَّا سِحْرٌ يُؤْثَرُ

إِنْ هَٰذَا إِلَّا قَوْلُ الْبَشَرِ

سَأُصْلِيهِ سَقَرَ

"And leave to me [O Prophet] the one I created all by Myself,

and granted him abundant wealth,

and children always by his side,

and made life very easy for him.

Yet he is hungry for more.

But no! [For] he has been truly stubborn with Our revelations.

I will make his fate unbearable,

for he contemplated and determined [a degrading label for the Quran].

May he be condemned! How evil was what he determined!

May he be condemned even more! How evil was what he determined!

Then he re-contemplated [in frustration],

then frowned and scowled,

then turned his back [on the truth] and acted arrogantly,

saying, 'This [Quran] is nothing but magic from the ancients.

This is no more than the word of a man.'

Soon I will burn him in Saqar!" [74:11-26]

These are so powerful, that Allah is saying do you think you can challenge My speech?

It's also narrated that Abu Jahl would stand outside of Makkah and tell the pilgrims, "Careful, there is a madman in town." Sometimes Abu Lahab would do this as well, "He is my own nephew and he has gone crazy. And I warn you, do not listen to him because if you do, you will be mesmerized." "He is a magician who will captivate you. So when you see him, turn around, put your hands in your ears, and do not listen to him." But subhan'Allah, this was the cause of the conversion of more than one person - one of them said, "Oh, if he is a madman, I will cure him since I am a doctor." So he went to the Prophet ﷺ and said, "I heard you are a madman, or have some issues. So I will cure you." But the Prophet ﷺ said, "I am not mad; but listen to my message." And the Prophet ﷺ recited Khutbah al-Hajah:

إن الحمد لله نحمده، و نستعينه، ونستغفره، ونعوذ بالله من شرور أنفسنا، ومن سيئات أعمالنا, من يهده الله فلا مضل له

The Prophet ﷺ didn't even get to the message yet, just Khutbah al-Hajah; and the man said, "Stop. Repeat what you have just said." This is not even the khutbah, and the doctor said, "By Allah, I have never heard anything more beautiful than this." And he accepted Islam.

But of course, the bulk of people listened to Abu Jahl and avoided the Prophet ﷺ.

The sixth tactic was to challenge the Prophet ﷺ for a miracle. And they demanded to see something with their eyes. Allah mentions many such challenges in the Qur'an. In Surah al-Isra':

وَقَالُوا لَن نُّؤْمِنَ لَكَ حَتَّىٰ تَفْجُرَ لَنَا مِنَ الْأَرْضِ يَنبُوعًا

أَوْ تَكُونَ لَكَ جَنَّةٌ مِّن نَّخِيلٍ وَعِنَبٍ فَتُفَجِّرَ الْأَنْهَارَ خِلَالَهَا تَفْجِيرً

أَوْ تُسْقِطَ السَّمَاءَ كَمَا زَعَمْتَ عَلَيْنَا كِسَفًا أَوْ تَأْتِيَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْمَلَائِكَةِ قَبِيلًا

أَوْ يَكُونَ لَكَ بَيْتٌ مِّن زُخْرُفٍ أَوْ تَرْقَىٰ فِي السَّمَاءِ وَلَن نُّؤْمِنَ لِرُقِيِّكَ حَتَّىٰ تُنَزِّلَ عَلَيْنَا كِتَابًا نَّقْرَؤُهُ ۗ قُلْ سُبْحَانَ رَبِّي هَلْ كُنتُ إِلَّا بَشَرًا رَّسُولًا

"And they say, 'We will not believe you until you break open for us from the ground a spring.
Or [until] you have a garden of palm trees and grapes and make rivers gush forth within them in force [and abundance].
Or you make the heaven fall upon us in fragments as you have claimed or you bring Allah and the angels before [us].
Or you have a house of gold or you ascend into the sky. And [even then], we will not believe in your ascension until you bring down to us a book we may read.' Say, 'Exalted is my Lord! Was I ever but a human messenger?'" [17:90~93]

Allah tells the Prophet ﷺ to, "Say: I am only a prophet, not God walking on earth."

A question comes, why didn't Allah give these miracles to them?

i) Well firstly, Allah did give them many miracles. The major one was the splitting of the moon [Qur'an, 54:1]. And when Allah did this they said, "He bewitched our eyes." [Qur'an, 54:2]

ii) Second, Allah revealed the greatest miracle - the Qur'an. Allah kept emphasizing that Qur'an is His miracle.

iii) Thirdly, Allah knew they are just asking out of stubbornness and arrogance. (And this is proven by the fact that when the miracle is shown, they rejected it, such as [the splitting of] the moon.) Allah says in the Qur'an, "And even if We had sent down to them the angels [with the message] and the dead spoke to them [of it] and We gathered together every [created] thing in front of them, they would not believe unless Allah should will." [6:111]

iv) Another wisdom is that Allah is above being so petty that every time somebody asks, they're going to get it. Allah has given enough signs that they should believe in those signs.

v) Another wisdom is that if Allah is challenged, He takes it, but with a challenge back. And that is if you reject, you will face the punishment.

Narrated in Sahih Bukhari, once they begged the Prophet ﷺ to convert Safa into gold. The Prophet ﷺ felt they were very sincere so he made a special du'a to Allah to convert it into gold. So Allah sent Jibril AS down and said, "If you want, I will convert Safa into gold, but if they refuse [to believe in your prophethood], they will not have a second chance." Of course Allah doesn't play games, this is beyond Him - it's too petty and this isn't a joke. If they refuse, the punishment will come instantaneously. And so the Prophet ﷺ realized it's better this doesn't happen. There are at least 20 verses in the Qur'an about this where Allah says, of them is, "The only reasons We don't send signs is because even the earlier nations rejected them." [17:59] "How do you know [ya Rasulullah] - [I know]; when the miracles come, they will reject them."[6:109]

So the Prophet ﷺ is being told, there is a reason why Allah is not answering all the miracles; and that he has enough miracles with him. So he has given some miracles and denied others.

The seventh tactic was attempts of a middle ground/bribery - negotiations directly with the Prophet ﷺ. Because it's getting out of their hands now; people are converting and the society is 'breaking up'. So they told the Prophet ﷺ, "Let's reach a compromise. One day we'll all be Muslim, the next day we'll all worship our gods (idols)." This is the compromise they wanted. But of course there is no compromise in tawhid. So Allah revealed Surah al-Kafirun:

قُلْ يَا أَيُّهَا الْكَافِرُونَ 

لَا أَعْبُدُ مَا تَعْبُدُونَ

وَلَا أَنتُمْ عَابِدُونَ مَا أَعْبُدُ

وَلَا أَنَا عَابِدٌ مَّا عَبَدتُّمْ

وَلَا أَنتُمْ عَابِدُونَ مَا أَعْبُدُ

لَكُمْ دِينُكُمْ وَلِيَ دِينِ

"Say, 'O disbelievers,
I do not worship what you worship.
Nor are you worshipers of what I worship.
Nor will I be a worshiper of what you worship.
Nor will you be worshipers of what I worship.
For you is your religion, and for me is my religion.'" [109:1-6]

Question: What does it mean, "Nor are you worshipers of what I worship," when the Quraysh did worship Allah? Response: When you worship Allah via shirk, you are not worshiping Allah.

The scholars have differed, over 10 opinions, about what is the difference between the second and the fourth verse. Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah RH has a position: The second and third refer to Allah and the gods i.e. the object of worship; whereas the fourth and the fifth refer to the actions of worship - what you do to worship. E.g. Muslims pray, fast, give zakat, etc. and the mushrikun throw arrows in front of the idols, clapping, singing, whistling etc.

Once, they called a meeting with the Prophet ﷺ in Abu Talib's house and propositioned to him directly, "What can we do so that you get rid of this message?" The Prophet ﷺ said, "I only want one word from you." They stood up, "One word? We'll give you 10!" Of course they understood it as just 'one condition' but the Prophet ﷺ said, "What I want is the kalimah, 'La ilaha illaLlah (there is no God but Allah).'" And then they said as revealed by Allah in the Qur'an, "Has he made our objects of worship into one? This is something that is crazy (we have never heard of this before)." [38:5]

The most famous incident of outright bribery is of Utbah b. Rabi'ah. Utbah was from the Banu Abd Shams and was a man of wisdom. He is a distant uncle of the Prophet ﷺ. (He is the one who commands the Christian servant boy to give the grapes to the Prophet ﷺ after the incident of Ta'if [in later Sirah]. And he is the person who, before the Battle of Badr [in later Sirah], when the Prophet ﷺ was looking and saw a man racing back and forth on a red camel, the Prophet ﷺ said, "If the Quraysh have any good in them, they will listen to the wise man on the red camel" - and the man was Utbah b. Rabi'ah, who was saying to his people, "O people, there is your brother, there is your father, there is your uncle, how can you fight them?! Are you going for war?! You're going to kill these people?! Who's going to be the victor?! If you die, you die; and if you win, you've killed your own brother! How would you like to be the murderer of your own brother?!" So he tried to stop the Battle of Badr from happening with a moving sermon. But of course Abu Jahl stood up and told people to ignore him. So Utbah fought in the Battle of Badr [on the side of the Quraysh], and was killed; him, his brother and son were all killed in the very beginning of the battle.)

So the Quraysh are sitting in their gathering, and they are simply cursing the Prophet ﷺ, making fun of him etc. Utbah says, "Has any of you tried to negotiate with him?" They say, "No, we haven't." So he said, "Okay then, that's what needs to be done. Send me as a representative, allow me to speak on your behalf. We know him to be a good man, I'm sure we can work something out." So they say, "Khalas, whatever you need, you are our representative. Go and try to negotiate a treaty with the man." So Utbah goes to the Prophet ﷺ, who was sitting in front of the Kabah, and says, "O my nephew, you know your status and lineage. But now you've come forth with a matter that has caused havoc in out society. O Muhammad [ﷺ], are you better than your father, Abdullah? Are you better than your grandfather, Abd al-Muttalib?" - clearly, these are trick questions - of course the Prophet ﷺ is better, but in that society, it was a blasphemy to say that you are better than your own father and grandfather, ESPECIALLY Abd al-Muttalib, the most respected chieftain in Arabian history.

The Prophet ﷺ did not even answer - and there is a beautiful point of wisdom in that. When you are asked trap questions, you don't have to answer - as we as Muslims are not allowed to lie. Our religion does not allow us to have double-faces. You can't answer every question to satisfy the questioner, because their intellectual level is different - Utbah is steeped in Jahiliyyah; and to him, it is just completely a given that Abd al-Muttalib was the greatest Arab ever, and the Prophet ﷺ is just his grandson. So it's a trick question. So the Prophet ﷺ understood this, thus he didn't say, "Of course I am better because I am upon tawhid and he was upon shirk." No. He remained silent.

And then Utbah kept on going and said, "We have never seen any young man as promising as you, flip around and become so unpromising. What a desolate failure you have become - you have broken our society. You had so much potential. But now we have not seen any young man bring forth more harm to his people than you have. The Arabs are all making fun of us, the people are mocking your call, you have split us up, and 'we are now waiting for the cry of the pregnant woman' to have civil war (it's just a matter of time before civil war breaks out). You are an intelligent man, so listen to me, I will propose certain conditions, perhaps you will agree to one or more of them: (1) If you wish for money, I have the power of Quraysh invested in me, and we will give you more money than anybody of us have. You shall be the richest of the Arabs. (2) If you want power, we will make you our king. (The Quraysh didn't have a king, but they are now so desperate. Can you believe this? In their hatred of Islam, they are willing to unify). (3) If you want woman, go choose any woman you want, and we will ensure she will marry you. (After all, these are the three things that most men want: power, money, and woman - [but not the Prophet ﷺ]). (4) And if you think you are unwell (mentally), we will hire doctors to cure you."

When he is finished, the Prophet ﷺ said, "Are you done, ya Aba al-Walid?" Again this is wisdom - you do not interrupt a person when they are speaking. Let them finish. Not just that, you then ask, "Are you done? Or anything else?" Utbah goes, "No. That is all I have." So then the Prophet ﷺ said, "Now listen to me," and he begins reciting Surah Fussilat [41]. Just like the rest of the Quraysh, Utbah has never listened to the Qur'an wholeheartedly. After he's done with his negotiations, he was sitting back initially, but as the Prophet ﷺ recites, verse after verse, Utbah's expression began to change. He begins to palpitate. And there is a verse which says, "But if they turn away, then say, 'I have warned you of a thunderbolt like the thunderbolt [that struck] Ad and Thamud.'" [41:13] When the Prophet ﷺ reached this verse, it was so powerful and frightening that Utbah jumped up and put his hand on the Prophet's ﷺ mouth and said, "I beg you, by Allah, and by the rights that I have over you as your blood relative! Do not send this punishment!" It moved him so much he is trembling. So he turns and runs back to the same group who sent him as their delegate, and says to them, "Listen to me. Leave this man alone. Because I have heard a speech from him that I have never heard before. I could not comprehend all of it," - pause here. Some scholars say the reason why some mushrikun could not understand some verses of the Qur'an was because: when they are immersed in so much shirk, there is a ghishawa/غشاوة (veil) on their hearts (as Allah says in the Qur'an, 2:7). Utbah continues, "I could not comprehend all of it, however, he is going to have a sha'n (شأن - importance) - he is going to cause some scene. If the Arabs get rid of him for us, then our hands are clean (we won't have to kill our own tribesman); but if he overcomes the Arabs, then by Allah, his victory is our [own tribe's] victory; his power is our power." When Utbah said this, they told him, "He has bewitched you as he has bewitched everyone else." They just cannot accept the truth as it comes to them.

(Tangent: And indeed through the Qur'an, the Arabs were later given the honor to rule the world, as Allah says in Surah al-Anbiya', "We have sent down to you a Book; in it will be your honor." [21:10] This is exactly what happened.)

The eighth tactic was to try to expose the Prophet ﷺ by quizzing him with questions that only a true prophet would know the answer to.

Now, the Arabs didn't really know of the notion of a prophet (as Allah says about the Quraysh in the Quran [32:3], "A people to whom no warner [prophet] has come before"), but they knew the Jews did, since they would get prophet after prophet. (Side note: Of course Prophet Ibrahim AS was there, but his legacy was almost forgotten.) So to attempt to expose the Prophet ﷺ that 'he is a false prophet,' they sent emissaries to Madinah (which at the time was called Yathrib) to the Jews/the People of the Book, and said, "This phenomenon (of prophethood) that is from your religion is now happening in our culture [i.e., a man named Muhammad from our tribe is now claiming to be a prophet]. And we know he is lying. So why don't you tell us something that we can quiz Muhammad with, so that his lies will be exposed." The People of the Book said, "Ask him about Ishaq (Isaac), Ya'qub (Jacob), and Yusuf (Joseph) — ask him about what happened to the family of Ya'qub." So the Quraysh went to the Prophet ﷺ and asked him about the family of Ya'qub. And then Allah revealed the whole of Surah Yusuf (سورة يوسف) as a response. And in one of the verses, He SWT said, "That is from the stories of the unseen which We reveal to you [O Muhammad]. You were not present when they [all] made up their minds, and when they plotted [against Joseph]" [Quran, 12:102]. Meaning the Arabs had no clue about the family of Ya'qub, what happened to them, and the inner struggle between Ya'qub's children. Yet the Prophet ﷺ answered miraculously in one of the most beautiful surahs in the Quran. So the Quraysh's plot did not succeed.

Another famous incident also occurred during this time frame, in which the Arabs, again, sent a delegation to Madinah and asked the Jews, "What questions can we quiz Muhammad with?" And the Jews said to ask him about 3 things that no one would know the details about except a true prophet:

[This is reported in Tirmidhi, slightly weak.]

The Prophet ﷺ was asked these 3 questions, and he told the people confidently, "Come back to me tomorrow, and I will tell you the answers to these 3 questions." And because he ﷺ was overconfident and didn't say "insha'Allah," therefore, instead of 1 day, it was dragged on to 2 weeks for the revelation to come down, all the while the Quraysh were mocking him ﷺ, "Has your 'false spirit' abandoned you?" This incident shows us who is the Rabb (رب - Lord/Master/God) and who is the servant — wahy doesn't come down at the Prophet's ﷺ will, rather, it is revealed at Allah's will.

And eventually, Allah SWT revealed Surah al-Kahf (سورة الكهف) as the response to these questions:

(Anthropological tangent: Every single nation that has been documented has 2-4 things in common:

The ninth tactic was outright torture.

The Arabs of old were a tribal society — everything was based upon tribalism. Your tribe was your protection. Those who had tribal bonds, they were somewhat protected. The Prophet ﷺ, being a Qureshi, had his protection in his lineage. However, the slaves and the mawali (موالي - freed slaves) (singular: mawla [مولى]) didn't have this protection. (Note: The concept of mawla is somewhat similar to that of indentured servitude; the man is free, but not fully, in that, he owes his allegiance to his master.)

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:

i. If the person who converted was from the noblemen of Quraysh, they would begin verbal abuse.
ii. If the person was a businessman who was doing business with the Quraysh, they would boycott him.
iii. If they were slaves and mawlas, they would physically torture and try to kill them.

A famous story in Sunan Ibn Majah1, narrated by Abdullah b. Mas'ud RA:

The first people to declare their Islam publicly were seven: The Prophet ﷺ, Abu Bakr, Ammar b. Yasir, Sumayyah, Suhayb al-Rumi, Bilal al-Habashi, and al-Miqdad (المقداد). As for the Prophet ﷺ, he was protected by Allah SWT through his uncle Abu Talib. As for Abu Bakr, Allah SWT protected him through his people. As for the rest, the Quraysh rounded them up and began torturing them in various ways, e.g., putting irons on their bodies, taking them to the sand, and leaving them there. All of them eventually gave up and said what the Quraysh wanted them to say, EXCEPT for Bilal b. Rabah al-Habashi:

Bilal b. Rabah al-Habashi 
Bilal b. Rabah al-Habashi (بلال بن رباح الحبشي) refused to budge one bit. Ibn Mas'ud said, "Bilal considered his soul insignificant in front of Allah"—Bilal was willing to give up his soul for Allah SWT. So the Quraysh concentrated their efforts on him. "Bilal was handed over to the gangs/ruffians/teenagers, and they would run around with a rope around his neck and drag him through the streets of Makkah, all the while Bilal would say, 'Ahadun Ahad (أحد أحد - One, One)! Ahadun Ahad!'"—crying the oneness of Allah AWJ. Umayyah b. Khalaf (أمية بن خلف), the owner of Bilal, also participated in the torture of Bilal. Realize it's a delicate line that you are drawing, because slaves are very expensive 'property' — more expensive than camels. To punish your own slave means you are harming your own income. YET they tortured him, and risked his life. This is how much hatred they had for Islam, and showed the depth of their evil character. Bilal would be trapped and pinned under a rock under the hot sun. Many of the sahaba were amazed that Bilal survived his torture, as Amr b. al-As said the rocks were so hot you could literally cook raw meat on them. Amr also said he heard Bilal saying while he was tortured:

أكفر باللات والعزى وأؤمن بالله

"I reject al-Lat and al-Uzza, and I believe in Allah SWT."

Umayyah continued to punish him, but he refused to budge and kept on saying, "Ahadun Ahad! Ahadun Ahad!"

Many years later, Urwah b. Zubayr (nephew of Aisha) narrated: "Bilal was tortured by the people of Makkah, and by Umayyah b. Khalaf in particular, but he never even gave them one word to please them."

And look at how Allah SWT rewarded him. We as Muslims firmly believe that:

 الجزاء من جنس العمل

"Al-jaza-u min jins-il-amal (the reward or the punishment will be the exact same as what you did to get that reward or punishment)"—an Arabic saying, NOT a hadith. This is a maxim that we apply in our religion. (Also in the Quran, Allah SWT says, "Is there any reward for goodness except goodness?" [Quran, 55:60].) So Bilal was eventually rewarded by becoming the first, the most important, and the only OFFICIAL muezzin of the Prophet ﷺ. The voice that was calling out, "One, One, One, One (Ahadun Ahad, Ahadun Ahad)," later becomes the voice that calls out adhan, reciting the kalimah loudly. The Prophet ﷺ himself chose Bilal to be the muezzin because he had the best voice amongst them.

Bilal was the one who gave the adhan in the Haram when the Prophet ﷺ reconquered Makkah [see episode 80. That is his reward — becoming the one who calls out the name of Allah at the pinnacle of honor, the height of dignity, re-establishing tawhid at the Kabah.

And from ahadith, we learn so many blessings of the muezzin, which all apply to Bilal as well:

i. The Prophet ﷺ said, "If people knew how much reward would be in the giving the adhan and in standing in the first row (in salah), and they had no other way out other than by drawing lots, they would've drawn lots in order to give adhan and to stand in the first row"—emphasizing how much blessing is there in giving the adhan.

ii. He ﷺ also said, "Any muezzin who gives adhan, whatever hears his adhan, from animate or inanimate object, will testify for him (on the Day of Judgment)" [Ibn Majah].

iii. In Bukhari, the Prophet ﷺ said to a shepherd, "Whenever you are in your lands, give the adhan (even when you are alone), because no jinn or human will hear your voice except they will testify to what you have said (Iman) on the Day of Judgment." So one plus one: The Prophet ﷺ said whoever hears the adhan will testify on behalf of the muezzin. — And who was the muezzin of the Prophet ﷺ by designation? Bilal b. Rabah. And whose adhan did the Prophet ﷺ hear 5 times a day, morning and evening, for over 10 years? Bilal b. Rabah. So subhan'Allah, look at the maqam (مقام - status) of Bilal b. Rabah RA.

iv. In Bukhari, he ﷺ said, "Muezzins will have the longest necks on the Day of Judgment." (It doesn't mean they're going to be like giraffes; it's an Arabic expression that could mean they will have the greatest honor — people will look up to them.)

Khabbab b. al-Aratt
Khabbab b. al-Aratt (خباب بن الأرت) — One of the first ten converts of Islam. He was an Arab slave (and Arab slaves were treated a little better than slaves of other ethnicities). His master was a female, Ummi Anmar (أم أنمار). She purchased him because he was a forger/swordmaker. When she found out that he converted, she got a gang together to beat him up. Khabbab narrated, "And when I came back, I saw a whole group of Quraysh around me at my place of work, and they began to taunt and ridicule me about 'where were you,' 'what have you done,' until I confessed I'm a Muslim. And when I confessed I'm a Muslim, they began hitting me so much that the next thing I know, I woke up and I was bloodied and bruised."

And Khabbab's master Ummi Anmar would many times use the iron that he would use to forge swords, to burn his back. Many years later, when Umar al-Khattab was the khalifa, Khabbab visited Umar, and Umar asked him about the things that Ummi Anmar used to do to him when he was a slave. He didn't say anything; he just lifted his shirt and showed his back to Umar. Umar said, "Wallahi, I have never seen anything as I have seen today." And Umar made him sit with him on the majlis (مجلس), and he gave him a lot of honor.

In Bukhari, the Prophet ﷺ said no one is allowed to punish by fire except the Creator of the fire. Because fire is the worst type of torture imaginable. When the Prophet ﷺ saw Khabbab being tortured one day by the fire, he lifted his hands up and said, "O Allah, help Khabbab." A few days later, Ummi Anmar woke up sick and started acting like a rabid dog. Panting around and crawling around the house, completely lost her senses. The doctors of Makkah said the only treatment for her would be cauterization (burning of the skin). So she had to be cauterized on her back and her head. And eventually, she died as a result of this.

كما تدين تدان

"As you do it shall be done unto you."

الجزاء من جنس العمل

"The reward or the punishment will be the exact same as what you did to get that reward or punishment."

Narrated in Sahih Bukhari: The torture of Khabbab was in fact so severe that it was Khabbab who went to the Prophet ﷺ when the Prophet ﷺ was sitting in the shade of the Kabah with his back against it, and said, "Ya Rasulullah, for how long? How long can we bear this? How long are we going to be tortured like this? Can you ask Allah to bring about honor and glory and get rid of this state of humiliation?" The Prophet ﷺ sit up and said, "Verily, the people before you were tortured worse than you, with hot iron combs that would strip his flesh, and with a saw or knife that would cut him in half; and still that would not turn them away from the worship of Allah. Verily, I swear to you by the One who has sent me, Allah will perfect this matter (religion) until [you will see a day in which] a Muslim shepherdess will take her flock from Sana'a to Hadhramaut and she will fear none but Allah, or a wolf attacking her sheep. (Meaning there will be so much peace and security that she won't have to worry about anybody attacking her flock.) But you are being hasty."

Another famous story of Khabbab is when Umar came to his sister's house, Khabbab was in the house at the time, teaching Islam to other Muslims [see episode 18 — he was one of the more knowledgeable of the sahaba.

Khabbab participated in all of the expeditions of the Prophet ﷺ (in Madinan Sirah).

During the khilafa of Abu Bakr RA, Abu Bakr had a policy that all of the sahaba should get the same salary from the government. When he was asked about this, he said, "Who am I to prefer one over another? [Only] Allah knows who has more taqwa." But when Umar RA becomes the khalifa 2 years later, Umar basically said, "Those who accepted Islam earliest will get grade A pay; the next batch will get grade B;" and so on. (And ironically, this puts himself at grade C, which shows he was not doing this to prefer himself.) As for Khabbab, he is one of the earliest, so he is getting one of the highest salaries from the Bayt al-Mal (بيت المال). So with this salary, he built himself a modest house in Kufa, and he had a treasure box that was open. And it was known in the city if anyone had any monetary problems, they can simply take from the treasury of Khabbab with no questions asked.

And when he was about to die [37 AH], he was crying on his deathbed. His family asked him, "Why are you crying? You have suffered so much [in this dunya], you have reached the highest level, you will meet the Prophet ﷺ and be rewarded by Allah SWT!" He said, "I am not crying out of pain or fear of meeting Allah SWT. I am crying because of what you see around you: This house! What will I answer Allah for my luxurious living? Verily, I was with a group of people who were tortured as I was, but they all have gone before me without tasting the sweetness of this world; and Allah has left me to enjoy the fruits of this world. So I am scared that because of this, my share of the akhira will not be as much as the share of my companions." [See also: episode 48.]

This is Khabbab b. al-Aratt. What a story of Iman.

Yasir (ياسر), Sumayyah (سمية), and their 2 children, Abdullah (عبد الله) and Ammar (عمار), were a family being tortured in front of each other. All of them were slaves. And Yasir and Sumayyah became the first martyrs of Islam, one after the other. Hadith of the Prophet ﷺ:

صبراً يا آل ياسر فإن موعدكم الجنة

"Be patient, O family of Yasir! Indeed, the place appointed to you [by Allah] is Jannah." It was also painful for the Prophet ﷺ to see them being tortured as he was walking by, but nothing could be done at this stage. When Yasir was being tortured, it made his wife even more full of Iman. She rebuked Abu Jahl, and Abu Jahl killed her in a brutal manner — he took a spear and thrust it up her private area all the way up. This was in front of Abdullah and Ammar. Then they throw Abdullah into a ditch, and finally turn on Ammar (at the time probably around 15 years old or maybe younger). Ammar has seen too much he cannot take it anymore, so he succumbs and utters statements of kufr so the torture would stop. And he is the youngest of the four, so they let him go.

Ammar ran to the Prophet ﷺ in Dar al-Arqam (دار الأرقم), and mentioned how he said statements of kufr to let the torture stop, "Ya Rasulullah, I uttered words of kufr. What am I going to do now?" Subhan'Allah, his whole family was just murdered in front of his eyes, but he is worried about his Iman more than anything that his family became secondary. The Prophet ﷺ asked, "How is the faith in your heart?" Ammar said, "As it always is (i.e., my heart is Islam, and I just said those things to stop the pain)." The Prophet ﷺ said, "If they return, then you return (i.e., if they do what they did again, then you do what you did again.)" He ﷺ then recites Surah al-Nahl (سورة النحل):

مَن كَفَرَ بِاللَّهِ مِن بَعْدِ إِيمَانِهِ إِلَّا مَنْ أُكْرِهَ وَقَلْبُهُ مُطْمَئِنٌّ بِالْإِيمَانِ وَلَٰكِن مَّن شَرَحَ بِالْكُفْرِ صَدْرًا فَعَلَيْهِمْ غَضَبٌ مِّنَ اللَّهِ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ

"Whoever disbelieves in Allah after their belief —NOT those who are forced while their hearts are firm in faith, but those who embrace disbelief wholeheartedly— they will be condemned by Allah and suffer a tremendous punishment" [Quran, 16:106].

And as we know, Ammar b. Yasir became one of the most famous sahaba, and the Prophet ﷺ had so many praises for him. The Prophet ﷺ said in a hadith, "Iman has been filled in his heart all the way up until here [neck] (i.e., his Iman is overflowing)." In another hadith, "Ibn al-Sumayyah is upon the fitrah (فطرة - pure nature). Whenever he is faced with two choices, he always chooses the more correct of the two." (Note: Notice how the Prophet ﷺ called him "Ibn al-Sumayyah" to honor his mother.) And in the most famous hadith about Ammar b. Yasir, the Prophet ﷺ said, "May Allah have mercy on you, O Ammar! You shall be killed by the rebel party." And subhan'Allah, ~35 years after this hadith, in the civil war between Ali and Muawiyah [i.e., in the Battle of Siffin, 37 AH], Ammar chose the side of Ali b. Abi Talib, and was killed by an arrow from the side of Muawiyah. So this hadith was then used by the people as a huge victory point that the more correct side was the side of Ali. (Side note: As Sunnis, it is part of our theology that we don't say anything bad about any of the sahaba. So we assume both Ali and Muawiyah intended good for the ummah. No doubt, one side was closer to the truth than the other; but we don't say evil about the other. And we say Allah will forgive both sides.) [See also: episodes 31 & 58.]

Suhayb al-Rumi (صهيب الرومي) — Ammar, Suhayb, and Bilal were always mentioned together in the Sirah because they were very close friends.

Once, the leaders of the Quraysh (Abu Jahl, Umayyah b. Khalaf, et al.) began talking with the Prophet ﷺ; and the Prophet ﷺ became hopeful that some of them were coming closer to Islam. And then Ammar, Suhayb, and Bilal passed by. Abu Jahl, who was worried that other leaders were getting sympathetic to Islam, took advantage of this and remarked, "O Muhammad, how is it possible that if you are upon the truth, THESE people are following it before us?! If you want us to accept your religion, you have to get rid of these people." He basically meant, "Your religion has meager slaves following it. How can WE the good and noble men, be in the same boat as them?" Once again, Jahiliyyah mentality. At this, Allah SWT revealed some verses in Surah al-An'am (سورة الأنعام), and in one of them, He SWT told the Prophet ﷺ:

فَتَطْرُدَهُمْ فَتَكُونَ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ

"If you were to reject them (i.e., the weak and meager), you would be from the wrongdoers" [see Quran, 6:52]. This verse is of the highest praise for Ammar, Suhayb, and Bilal. Allah SWT told the Prophet ﷺ that if you turn away from Ammar, Suhayb, and Bilal, and choose the elites of the Quraysh over them, you would be of the zalimin (ظالمين - wrongdoers).

Story of Suhayb al-Rumi — Even though he was called al-Rumi (الرومي - the Roman), he was not of Roman lineage. He was an Iraqi, captured as a boy, sent to Rome, and grew up in Rome. He forgot Arabic, spoke fluent Latin. But he knew he was an Arab, so he eventually fled, and was sold to Abdullah b. Jud'an (عبد الله بن جدعان) in Makkah. Ibn Jud'an was known to be more merciful than others to his slaves. Therefore, the torture of Suhayb was not as bad. Suhayb was actually a business manager for Ibn Jud'an because of his knowledge and ability to read and write. He became wealthy. After Ibn Jud'an died, Suhayb was free because Ibn Jud'an wrote in his will that Suhayb would be free when he dies. So Suhayb became a mawla.

[In later Sirah, when the Muslims were emigrating to Madinah] Suhayb as well wanted to emigrate [see episode 26. However, the Quraysh heard about this and they approached him on the outskirts of Makkah. So Suhayb turned around, took out his bow and arrow, and told them, "I am the sharpest shooter amongst you, and you know it. I promise that none of you will touch me until every arrow in my quiver has touched human flesh. And I promise that none of you will touch me until my sword is bent and broken upon your bones and blood." With that challenge, the 10 or so Quraysh that came to stop him said, "O Suhayb, when you came here, you were penniless, and now you are leaving as a rich man with OUR wealth? At least give us back our wealth, and we will let you go"—even as they know Suhayb earned his money through his own hard work, they brought up this pathetic argument. Their mentality is like that of today's people, who complain about the immigrants, while they themselves won't do the jobs that the immigrants do to earn their living. The Quraysh were attributing all of Suhayb's success to themselves, even though they had nothing to do with it. Nevertheless, Suhayb gave consideration to this argument and said, "Is that what you want from me? You want all of my wealth?" They said, "Yes. And even the camel you're riding!" So Suhayb said, "Okay," and he gave them his wealth, his camel, and even told them where his extra wealth was buried — he didn't care about the money. And so the Quraysh let him go. And Suhayb al-Rumi became the only sahabi we know of who performed the Hijrah (هجرة - Migration) on foot. After being the richest mawla, he arrived in Madinah with just the clothes on his back. The books of Sirah say by the time he got to Quba, he was literally crawling on all fours, completely emaciated. And this is when he met the Prophet ﷺ; and he ﷺ wiped the dust off of him, gave him food and water, smiled, and said, "O Abu Yahya (Suhayb's nickname), your business transaction has been the most successful." Suhayb said, "Ya Rasulullah, nobody could have told you about this [transaction] except Jibril." And indeed, it was Jibril AS who told him about it. Allah SWT revealed in Surah al-Baqarah (سورة البقرة):

وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَن يَشْرِي نَفْسَهُ ابْتِغَاءَ مَرْضَاتِ اللَّهِ ۗ وَاللَّهُ رَءُوفٌ بِالْعِبَادِ

"And of mankind is he who would sell himself, seeking the pleasure of Allah. And Allah is full of Kindness to [His] slaves" [Quran, 2:207].

The last tactic they did was that of the boycott — this is a topic in and of itself [will be discussed in episode 18.

Next week we'll continue with the sacrifices and the tortures that the Prophet ﷺ underwent, insha'Allah.

The question is: Why did Allah allow such hardship? What was the wisdom? This is a question Khabbab asked as well. We will discuss this, insha'Allah.

safwan-khan@hotmail.com

What happened with the Prophet ﷺ himself? Did he undergo any physical torture, pain, and suffering? There is no question he had plenty of emotional torture from the opposition, but how about physically?

Even though the Qureshi Muslims had protection, they were not completely unharmed. We have a number of incidents in which the Prophet ﷺ was physically harmed. The Prophet ﷺ sometimes was protected by Allah SWT, but sometimes —in Allah's Divine wisdom— he was not protected.

Instances of the persecutions the Prophet ﷺ underwent:

And because of this incident, Allah SWT revealed the conclusion of Surah al-Alaq (سورة العلق):

كَلَّآ إِنَّ ٱلْإِنسَـٰنَ لَيَطْغَىٰٓ

أَن رَّءَاهُ ٱسْتَغْنَىٰٓ

إِنَّ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ ٱلرُّجْعَىٰٓ

أَرَأَيْتَ الَّذِي يَنْهَىٰ

عَبْدًا إِذَا صَلَّىٰ

أَرَأَيْتَ إِن كَانَ عَلَى الْهُدَىٰ

أَوْ أَمَرَ بِالتَّقْوَىٰ

أَرَأَيْتَ إِن كَذَّبَ وَتَوَلَّىٰ

أَلَمْ يَعْلَم بِأَنَّ اللَّهَ يَرَىٰ

كَلَّا لَئِن لَّمْ يَنتَهِ لَنَسْفَعًا بِالنَّاصِيَةِ

نَاصِيَةٍ كَاذِبَةٍ خَاطِئَةٍ

فَلْيَدْعُ نَادِيَهُ

سَنَدْعُ الزَّبَانِيَةَ

كَلَّا لَا تُطِعْهُ وَاسْجُدْ وَاقْتَرِب

"Most certainly, one exceeds all bounds once they think they are self-sufficient. [But] surely to your Lord is the return [of all]. Have you seen the man who prevents a servant [of Ours] from praying? What if this [servant] is [rightly] guided, or encourages righteousness? What if that [man] persists in denial and turns away? Does he not know that Allah sees [all]? But no! If he does not desist, We will certainly drag him by the forelock — a lying, sinful forelock. So let him call his associates. We will call the wardens of Hell. Again, no! Never obey him [O Prophet]! Rather, [continue to] prostrate and draw near [to Allah]." [Quran, 96:6-19].

In this instance, Abu Jahl was unsuccessful.

أتقتلون رجلا أن يقول ربي الله

"Are you going to kill a person just because he says, 'My Lord is Allah'?!"

In this instance, Allah AWJ willed that Abu Bakr save the Prophet ﷺ.

i. Abu Jahl b. Hisham (أبو جهل بن هشام)
ii. Utbah b. Rabi'ah (عتبة بن ربيعة)
iii. Shayba b. Rabi'ah (شيبة بن ربيعة)
iv. Walid b. Uqba (الوليد بن عقبة)
v. Umayyah b. Khalaf (أمية بن خلف)
vi. Uqba b. Abi Mu'ayt (عقبة بن أبي معيط)
vii. (Ibn Mas'ud mentioned one more name, but the narrator of the hadith forgot the name)."

Ibn Mas'ud then said, "I swear by the One who sent Muhammad ﷺ with the Truth, that I myself saw every one of these seven DEAD in the Battle of Badr. I saw their bodies dragged into the well and thrown into the Well of Badr"—Allah took care of all of them in the very first engagement in Islam [see episodes 36-42].

And there are many more incidents as well.

Questions that come to people's minds: If Allah loves the prophets and the believers, why were they tested in this fashion and manner? What is the wisdom in such hardship? Why not just protect the believers and give them immediate victory? What is the purpose of the greatest man on earth being tortured?

There are many reasons:

Allah tests mankind to see those who are pure, firmly believe in Him, worthy of being blessed in the akhira vs. those who are not. Allah SWT says in Surah al-Ankabut (سورة العنكبوت):

أَحَسِبَ النَّاسُ أَن يُتْرَكُوا أَن يَقُولُوا آمَنَّا وَهُمْ لَا يُفْتَنُونَ

وَلَقَدْ فَتَنَّا الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ ۖ فَلَيَعْلَمَنَّ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ صَدَقُوا وَلَيَعْلَمَنَّ الْكَاذِبِينَ

"Do people think once they say, 'We believe,' that they will be left without being put to the test? We certainly tested those before them. And [in this way] Allah will clearly distinguish between those who are truthful and those who are liars" [Quran, 29:2-3].

And in Surah al-Baqarah:

أَمْ حَسِبْتُمْ أَن تَدْخُلُوا الْجَنَّةَ وَلَمَّا يَأْتِكُم مَّثَلُ الَّذِينَ خَلَوْا مِن قَبْلِكُم ۖ مَّسَّتْهُمُ الْبَأْسَاءُ وَالضَّرَّاءُ وَزُلْزِلُوا حَتَّىٰ يَقُولَ الرَّسُولُ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مَعَهُ مَتَىٰ نَصْرُ اللَّهِ ۗ أَلَا إِنَّ نَصْرَ اللَّهِ قَرِيبٌ

"Do you think you will be admitted into Paradise without being tested like those before you? They were afflicted with suffering and adversity and were so [violently] shaken that [even] the Messenger and the believers with him cried out, 'When will Allah's help come?' Indeed, Allah's help is [always] near" [Quran, 2:214].

إِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا

"Surely, with difficulty comes ease" [Quran, 94:6]. We learn this from the incident of Khabbab, when he came complaining to the Prophet ﷺ (rightfully so), as he was tortured with fire, "O Messenger of Allah, for how long are we going to suffer like this?" and the Prophet ﷺ said, "Indeed, the people before you were tortured worse than you, with hot iron combs that would strip his flesh, with a saw or knife that would cut him in half, and still that would not turn them away from the worship of Allah. Verily, I swear to you by the One who has sent me, Allah will perfect this matter (religion) until [you will see a day in which] a Muslim shepherdess will take her flock from Sana'a to Hadhramaut and she will fear none but Allah, or a wolf attacking her sheep. (Meaning there will be so much peace and security that she won't have to worry about anybody attacking her flock.) But you are being hasty"—Allah SWT will fulfill His promise, but there will be trials in the beginning. (Note: Persecutions that the Prophet ﷺ described in this hadith happened to the Christians under the Roman rule [pagans]. Emperor Nero would use the Christians as light bulbs — he would douse the Christians with petrol, and light them as light bulbs. They were persecuted very severely, YET they did not swerve away from the worship of God/Allah.) Allah is going to give you victory, but you need to be patient. Even the prophets of Allah were not handed the blessings on a silver platter. They needed to struggle to earn it.

When the number of the sahaba reached around 20-30, the Prophet ﷺ realized he needed a place to congregate. And it had to be a secret place, as a lot of Muslims were secret Muslims — they hadn't informed their relatives and friends; especially some of the slaves who had converted, they hadn't told their masters. And there was no "mosque" yet at this stage. (Masjid Quba [مسجد قباء] was the first mosque in Islam built much later on [in the Madani phase — see episode 31.) So the Prophet ﷺ decided to choose the house of al-Arqam b. Abi al-Arqam (الأرقم بن أبي الأرقم) to congregate. So Dar al-Arqam (دار الأرقم) became the place where the sahaba met. When did this happen? We estimate it was around the middle of the 3rd, or the beginning of the 4th, year of the dawah. So this happened a few months after the dawah went public. Recall after 3 years, the dawah went public, and that's when the persecution began [see episode 12 — so the Prophet ﷺ shortly after this chooses a meeting place.

Question: Why the house of al-Arqam? What is the wisdom behind choosing the house of al-Arqam? The books of Sirah do not mention this, so we need to study who is al-Arqam, where his house was — and then we try to derive some wisdom:

Dar al-Arqam is where Ammar b. Yasir accepted Islam, Suhayb al-Rumi accepted Islam, Umar accepted Islam where Khabbab brought Umar after Umar repented and changed his mind about trying to kill the Prophet ﷺ. When Khabbab brought Umar, al-Arqam said, "Who have you brought? How can you bring Umar al-Khattab? Have you lost your mind?!" But Khabbab explained, so Umar was let in, and he accepted Islam [will be discussed in detail in episode 18. This was the central station for the Muslims.

The next major incident is the first emigration to Abyssinia. When these tactics of open intimidation, torture, and humiliation continued, the Prophet ﷺ suggested to the sahaba, "This land has become too constricted for you — so for those of you who want to, why don't you emigrate to the neighboring land of Abyssinia? For there is a Christian king there, who is a just king. He shall allow you to worship without interference." And this was announced in Rajab in the 5th year of the dawah.

Recall the dawah went public in the 3rd year; and this announcement was made less than 1½ years later — so we can imagine all of the torture we talked about, they all happened in this 1½ years. And it got so difficult that the Prophet ﷺ allows the sahaba to emigrate.

The world has changed immensely from 1400 years ago, so most of us will never understand the hardship involved with emigrating from land to land, as most of us have lived in multiple cities in our lives. But in jahili Makkah, uprooting yourself was completely unheard of — as a Qureshi, you HAD to be linked to Makkah because of the concept of tribalism. If you went anywhere else, you have no honor or protection because there is no law or government or civilization. You become a second/third class citizen. And this is even within Arabia, so imagine going to a foreign land. On top of that, there is no bank transfer; your property is your property — and you can't sell it because you can't tell anyone you are leaving. (When they performed Hijrah to Madinah [see episode 26, the sahaba suffered immense financial loss. Even the rich sahaba [e.g., Abd al-Rahman b. Awf]. Because they couldn't take their money with them. It's too dangerous to carry your gold and silver with you.) And so, when you're making hijrah, you are entering into a strange world with no honor or protection, and you are at the mercy of those around you. To make matters worse, it's a land in Africa where the people don't even speak Arabic. The culture is completely different. So this underscores how difficult Makkah was for them to prefer going to Abyssinia over staying in Makkah.

When the Prophet ﷺ gave this command, 15 people migrated in total — 11 men and 4 women. Among them were Uthman b. Affan and his wife Ruqayyah the daughter of the Prophet ﷺ. And he was followed by Abd al-Rahman b. Awf, Uthman b. Mazun (عثمان بن مظعون), Zubayr b. al-Awam, Mus'ab b. Umayr (مصعب بن عمير), Abu Salama (أبو سلمة) and his wife Ummi Salama, and a number of other sahaba.

It's unclear whether they all secretly emigrated or whether it was known. Some reports seem to indicate they left secretly — they made their way to Juddah (now Jeddah), and then took a ship to Abyssinia. But other reports seem to suggest the news reached the Quraysh — and this is also acceptable, as at this time, there is no reason for the Quraysh to stop them. And there is one report in the Mu'jam of al-Tabarani (book of hadith) which suggests that the news was public. The story involves one of the couples. Note there were four couples who migrated. Amir b. Rabi'ah (عامر بن ربيعة) and his wife Layla (ليلى) was one of them. It was narrated Layla packed her bags and loaded the camels. And Umar b. al-Khattab, who was not yet a Muslim at the time, passes by and sees they are traveling, so he asks, "Where are you traveling to?" (as it was not the season of Rihlat al-Shita'i wa al-Sayf [Winter and Summer Trip2].) Traveling was a massive deal for them. It's not a normal thing. And Layla was understandably irritated, so she said, "This is all because of you and your terrorizing/persecution of us just because we want to worship Allah! Because of you we have to go somewhere else and find a land where we can worship Allah in!" At this, instead of getting angry, Umar showed compassion and said, "Has the matter reached that level? May Allah be with you." And he walks on his way. Layla is completely flabbergasted — so when her husband comes home, she tells him about this, that Umar showed compassion. But her husband snorted in contempt and said, "Do you really think he will be merciful to us and accept Islam? The donkeys of his father's house will embrace Islam before he does."

(Subhan'Allah, this incident shows us Umar had an outer hardness, but inside, he was very compassionate and soft. Indeed, when he hit his own sister [see episode 18, as soon as she bleeds what happens? We will see.) (And indeed, the sahaba never expected him to accept Islam. So this also shows we should never condemn people to Hell. Allah guides whomever He wills.)

Ummi Salama narrated in the first person, in Bukhari: "We began to live in a good land with good neighbors. And we were safe with regards to our religion and did not fear any persecution."

Now, a number of points to note here. Notice everyone who migrated was all high-status Qureshi people. Why couldn't the lower-status emigrate? Because they were slaves. So they didn't have the political luxury to emigrate. So the people who needed to emigrate the most, like Bilal, Khabbab, Ibn Mas'ud, and Ammar, they couldn't do so. Whereas the more elite Muslims, like Uthman b. Affan —who, in later Sirah, was the one the Muslims sent for Hudaybiyyah because everyone knew the Quraysh would never hurt him as they loved him so much3— they could, so they took advantage of the opportunity and emigrated. And this shows us, a person does have to take care of himself [see Quran, 5:105] — the elites were not as persecuted as the rest, but they had an opportunity to have less persecution, so they availed themselves of the opportunity. There's no point in them remaining and being persecuted. And there is nothing un-Islamic about this. Even though there were people who needed to emigrate worse than them, but you make the best of a bad situation. Whoever CAN leave and be emigrated, they did. There is a maxim in fiqh: Akhaff al-dararayn (أخف الضررين - [take a path of] the lesser of the two evils); you might not be able to save everybody, but that doesn't mean everybody has to suffer.

We learn that not all of the lands of the non-Muslims are the same. Some of the lands of the non-Muslims are peaceful and could be inhabited to worship Allah in peace, and others are hostile. Makkah and Abyssinia were not the same. There are lands where freedom is guaranteed, and there are lands where people are persecuted. So in our religion, we have a clear-cut political notion that there are certain lands we are allowed to or in fact should live in, provided we can worship Allah in that land. And if we have this freedom, we should remain law-abiding citizens of that land. The model of the Abyssinian Muslims is a model Muslims living in the Western world should benefit from, even as we know no two things are exactly the same. But overall, there is a model. And the model is: You live as a minority in a majority non-Muslim land, and you obey the laws of the land, and you understand that you are citizens under the government of the land, and you don't intend to overthrow the constitution or the government. The Abyssinian Muslims did not plot and plan to overthrow the Najashi — they just lived, worshiped, and participated in the community without any problems. Many extremists in our day say it's haram to live in America. In response, we say the Muslims lived in Abyssinia, and their goal was nothing but the freedom to worship Allah. They had no political ambitions. And they remained there for over a decade; in fact, for 14 years — 7 years after the Hijrah, the Muslims were still in Abyssinia [see episode 18. It was only after the Battle of Khaybar [7 AH] that the Prophet ﷺ sent a letter to Ja'far in Abyssinia and tell them to come to Madinah [see episode 68. This shows there was a community of believers living in Abyssinia even when there was a fully functioning Dar al-Islam (دار الإسلام - Abode of Islam) in Madinah. Thus how about in our time when there is no khilafa or Dar al-Islam?

Also notice, the Prophet ﷺ described the Najashi of Abyssinia (the Emperor of Abyssinia), named As'hama b. Abjar (أصحمة بن أبجر), as a JUST king. Why? Because he did not persecute his subjects nor did he interfere in their religion — allowing people freedom in worship is considered a just act. Now, is it possible that a Christian can be praised for allowing the freedom of worship, yet our shariah does not allow the same? No. So even in a utopic Islamic land that some of our naive youngsters daydream about where an ideal Islamic government actually exists, that government should not have the right to ban other religions. It is un-Islamic to infringe on the freedom of worship of others. And historically speaking, we have always had non-Muslim minorities living in Muslim lands. Always. This is proven by the fact that 10% of Egypt is still Coptic Christian — showing they have this freedom. No doubt, the laws were slightly different, but in essence, the government cannot BAN a religion. Scholars have differed on whether this only applies to the People of the Book. But the correct opinion is that it applies to ANY religion. What is the evidence for this? Even though, yes, the Prophet ﷺ only said "Jews and Christians," but when the Muslims conquered Persia where the majority of the people were Zoroastrians (i.e., not the People of the Book), by unanimous consensus, the Muslims extended this ruling meant for the People of the Book, to them. Thus the correct opinion, as mentioned by Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn al-Qayyim, is that this applies to any religion — even to paganism. No doubt, there are different laws for them, e.g., they cannot proselytize to their faith; but we do not ban them from practicing their religion. They have the right to worship in their centers of worship, and do in their localities, as they please — this is something that the Islamic shariah guarantees.

This shows us the perception many non-Muslims (and even some of our overzealous Muslim brothers) have of our religion is incorrect.

The wisdoms of choosing Abyssinia as the safety net were as follows:

وَلَتَجِدَنَّ أَقْرَبَهُم مَّوَدَّةً لِّلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا الَّذِينَ قَالُوا إِنَّا نَصَارَىٰ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّ مِنْهُمْ قِسِّيسِينَ وَرُهْبَانًا وَأَنَّهُمْ لَا يَسْتَكْبِرُونَ

"And you will find the nearest of them in affection to the Believers (Muslims) those who say, 'We are Christians.' That is because among them are priests and monks and because they are not arrogant" [Quran, 5:82]. And it's also said (a theory), that the Najashi was following a version of Christianity that wasn't the Trinitarian version:

[Unlike the Christian view of the death of Isa (Jesus), Muslims believe he was raised to heaven without being put on the cross, and Allah created a resemblance to appear exactly like Jesus who was crucified instead of Jesus; and Jesus ascended bodily to heaven, there to remain until his Second Coming in the End days.]

And when Jesus was raised up, his followers were immersed in a huge confusion, "What happened? Where is he?" And within a generation, the question became, "Who is he? What was he?" And one group, the true disciples of Jesus like Barnabas, said he was a prophet, a messiah, a noble person who obeyed the law of Musa (Moses). (i.e., they believed as we Muslims believe.)

Another person came along by the name of Paul who never met Jesus, and he taught a version of Christianity that was a different version. That you have to believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And that Jesus came to abrogate the law of Moses and Abraham. (This is why Christians in our times don't have a law even though Jesus himself was circumcised, didn't eat pork, lived a life of a Jew, etc.)

And this controversy continued for 300 years.

One group of Christians remained firm. Modern-day scholars call them Messianic Jews (i.e., they believed Jesus to be the messiah) — these were the real Muslims.

Another group was the Pauline Christians, and they said Jesus was a son of God who came to abrogate the law of Moses. And eventually, the Trinity was added to this belief, even though Paul never preached it. (Note: You'll never find the Trinity in the Old Testament. And even in the New Testament, you won't find any reference except with great difficulty. And you'll NEVER find it in the words of Jesus Christ.)

To make a long story short, Constantine, the Emperor of the Roman Empire, called a huge council in Nicaea. He invites all the bishops of the Christian world. And you have opposing factions; some who say there is one God, etc. And Constantine makes a decree — the Nicene Creed. This creed says there are three that rule in heaven, but these three are not actual three — they are One. Basically 3=1.

The main opponent of the Nicene Creed was a man by the name of Arius. He did not agree with the Trinity. And after this meeting, Constantine said he had to be executed. Arius fled for his life and he fled down south. Possibly to parts of Africa (this is theory now) — that he fled down while the Nicene Creed was spreading down through the Roman Empire.

(Note: There are three main branches of Christianity in our times: Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox. And they all go back to the Nicene Creed. Those that are pre-Nicene Creed have all disappeared.)

There's not a single branch of Christianity that is existent in our times that was of the original pre-Nicene Creed Christianities. But there is legend that some pockets of true Christianity survived — and we should believe it because it's mentioned in a hadith: Recall the story of Salman al-Farisi [see episode 4; his teacher said, "I don't know of anybody left upon my religion except so-and-so. Go to him!" And so Salman goes and goes, until finally when he meets his last teacher, the last teacher said, "I don't know anybody left upon OUR VERSION of Christianity." And that version of Christianity was true Islam.

Thus there is a theory that the Najashi was influenced by Arius's understanding of Christianity. And that's why when Islam came to him, he instantly said, "Verily, this (Quran) and what Jesus brought (Gospel) has come from the same source of light." He instantaneously recognized it. And we know for a fact that Arius's influence was in that part of Africa. Perhaps some of those influences remained, and therefore the Najashi was influenced by that.

This incident was the famous incident some called the 'satanic verses'. They returned back because of one rumor. And that was that the Quraysh had accepted Islam. Indeed, for anyone, the most difficult time of moving is the first few months, when you don't have a house, you don't have friends, you are not settled down, etc. It's so different from what you're used to - acclimatization, different language, different culture, etc. It's very difficult. And so some rumor spread that they just pounced on, and they embraced. And that rumor was that the Quraysh had accepted Islam. No matter how wild it sounded, their hearts were yearning to go back to Makkah so they decided to pack their bags and go all the way back, as they had no way to verify the rumor. On the way there, they discover this to be not true. The basis of the rumor was what some call the 'satanic verses'.

Before we begin, the controversy comes over whether the incident of the 'satanic verses' is authentic or not. And IF it is authentic, how do we understand the incident. So we'll discuss the different versions of the story that exist. We'll discuss 3 versions.

This is the version reported in Sahih Bukhari, thus the most authentic. And it says in this hadith, that in the month of Ramadan (the month is not mentioned in Bukhari, but we learn this from Ibn Ishaq), in the 5th year of the dawah, the Prophet ﷺ recited Surah al-Najm in its entirety. It's a very powerful and eloquent surah. The momentum and the excitement builds up especially towards the end. The power of the Quran affected the entire congregation, Muslim and non-Muslim, such that when the Prophet ﷺ recited the last verse, "Prostrate to Allah and worship Him," the Muslims fell into sajdah, and the Quraysh were so emotional that they too fell into sajdah. For the first time, Muslim and non-Muslim ALL united behind the Prophet ﷺ. Except for al-Walid b. al-Mughirah (or in another version Umayyah b. Khalaf) who put sand to his head and said, "This is good enough for me." By the time this news reached the 15 sahaba in Abyssinia, the rumor had been exaggerated.

This is the version narrated in Bukhari. A simple story.

Surah al-Najm is such a powerful and eloquent surah. There's an element of excitement being built up verse by verse that even the Quraysh were overwhelmed by the power of the surah and they too prostrated. In the last few ayahs, Allah says:

أَمْ لَمْ يُنَبَّأْ بِمَا فِي صُحُفِ مُوسَىٰ

وَإِبْرَاهِيمَ الَّذِي وَفَّىٰ

أَلَّا تَزِرُ وَازِرَةٌ وِزْرَ أُخْرَىٰ

وَأَن لَّيْسَ لِلْإِنسَانِ إِلَّا مَا سَعَىٰ

وَأَنَّ سَعْيَهُ سَوْفَ يُرَىٰ

ثُمَّ يُجْزَاهُ الْجَزَاءَ الْأَوْفَىٰ

وَأَنَّ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ الْمُنتَهَىٰ

وَأَنَّهُ هُوَ أَضْحَكَ وَأَبْكَىٰ

وَأَنَّهُ هُوَ أَمَاتَ وَأَحْيَا

وَأَنَّهُ خَلَقَ الزَّوْجَيْنِ الذَّكَرَ وَالْأُنثَىٰ

مِن نُّطْفَةٍ إِذَا تُمْنَىٰ

وَأَنَّ عَلَيْهِ النَّشْأَةَ الْأُخْرَىٰ

وَأَنَّهُ هُوَ أَغْنَىٰ وَأَقْنَىٰ

وَأَنَّهُ هُوَ رَبُّ الشِّعْرَىٰ

وَأَنَّهُ أَهْلَكَ عَادًا الْأُولَىٰ

وَثَمُودَ فَمَا أَبْقَىٰ

وَقَوْمَ نُوحٍ مِّن قَبْلُ ۖ إِنَّهُمْ كَانُوا هُمْ أَظْلَمَ وَأَطْغَىٰ

وَالْمُؤْتَفِكَةَ أَهْوَىٰ

فَغَشَّاهَا مَا غَشَّىٰ

فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكَ تَتَمَارَىٰ

هَٰذَا نَذِيرٌ مِّنَ النُّذُرِ الْأُولَىٰ

أَزِفَتِ الْآزِفَةُ

لَيْسَ لَهَا مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ كَاشِفَةٌ

أَفَمِنْ هَٰذَا الْحَدِيثِ تَعْجَبُونَ

وَتَضْحَكُونَ وَلَا تَبْكُونَ

وَأَنتُمْ سَامِدُونَ

فَاسْجُدُوا لِلَّهِ وَاعْبُدُوا

"Or has he not been informed of what was in the scriptures of Moses
And [of] Abraham, who fulfilled [his obligations]
That no bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another
And that there is not for man except that [good] for which he strives
And that his effort is going to be seen
Then he will be recompensed for it with the fullest recompense
And that to your Lord is the finality
And that it is He who makes [one] laugh and weep
And that it is He who causes death and gives life
And that He creates the two mates - the male and female
From a sperm-drop when it is emitted
And that [incumbent] upon Him is the next creation
And that it is He who enriches and suffices
And that it is He who is the Lord of Sirius
And that He destroyed the first [people of] 'Ad
And Thamud - and He did not spare [them]
And the people of Noah before. Indeed, it was they who were [even] more unjust and oppressing.
And the overturned towns He hurled down
And covered them by that which He covered.
Then which of the favors of your Lord do you doubt?
This [Prophet] is a warner like the former warners.
The Approaching Day has approached.
Of it, [from those] besides Allah, there is no remover.
Then at this statement do you wonder?
And you laugh and do not weep
While you are proudly sporting?
So prostrate to Allah and worship [Him]."
[53:36-62]

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.'"

There is no mention of shaytan.

Version 2 & 3 revolve around reports that are not found in the famous books of hadith. Nor in the 6 Books or Musnad Imam Ahmad. Not even in Ibn Ishaq or Ibn Hisham. They are found usually in the more obscure works - books that collect everything, tertiary works. Such as al-Tabari's tafsirs and al-Wahidi's Asbab al-Nuzul. Note, al-Tabari didn't write a tafsir for the masses. Rather he wanted to write an encyclopedia for the scholars. He mentioned in the beginning of his famous book, "I will report absolutely everything I hear, authentic or not." Al-Tabari is not Bukhari - Bukhari was a critical collector. And so the following reports that mention a story that involve Iblis, shaytan, is found in these such books. And because it involves Iblis, a western researcher (orientalist) by the name of Sir William Muir (d. 1905) said we'll call it the 'satanic verses'. So this term was coined by this person who specialized in Islam, and became a professor who wrote a big book about the Sirah in English. And so he labelled the chapter the 'satanic verses'. The Islamic sources call it the 'story of the gharaniq (قصة الغرانيق)' Gharaniq is the name of a beautiful bird with long neck - modern Arab linguists differ whether it's pelican, heron, or crane.

In essence versions 2 and 3 are the same but with one critical difference:

This version adds details not found in Bukhari or any well known sources of Sirah. Recorded by al-Tabari in his Tafsir:

It goes back to Urwah b. Zubayr. Recall he wasn't a sahabi so there is a missing link in the chain of narration - it does not go back to the Prophet ﷺ. He was a famous tabi' but not a sahabi. Urwah was not narrating from the Prophet ﷺ. In verse 19-22 of Surah al-Najm, Allah says, "Have you not seen al-Lat and al-Uzza? (19) And the third of them Manat? (20) Are you going to get the males and you will give Him the females? (21) What an unfair sharing. (22)" Now the story is this: Urwah said, "After verse 20, shaytan cried out, and he added two verses that were not in the Qur'an, and these verses were heard by the nonbelievers but NOT the believers. Shaytan cried out in his own voice, and he added two verses. After "Have you not seen al-Lat and al-Uzza and the third of them Manat?" he added, "These idols are the mighty cranes, and their requests (intercessions) will be granted." This is the first time the idols were being 'praised' apparently. That these idols are beautiful birds and that you should worship them as their intercession will be accepted. And so, when the mushriks heard these verses they thought, "Finally he (the Prophet ﷺ) has come to the middle ground. He is willing to accept our gods finally." Recall their problem was that the Prophet ﷺ rejected al-Lat and al-Uzza, and they had no problem with Allah. So they said, "The Prophet ﷺ has agreed to accept our gods," and so when the Prophet ﷺ finished, they all prostrated with him.

This version is found in al-Wahidi and other Islamic sources - so to be clear, the story of the 'satanic verses' were not concocted by non-Muslims. They are found in Muslim sources. This is why non-Muslims jump on this. They say the Qur'an can be changed by shaytan. So to non-Muslims, this story clearly proves the Prophet ﷺ invented the Qur'an - he changes his theology one day to the next, singing the tune of the people. And again the story is not fabricated by non-Muslims - it's found in our sources. Version 3 is even worse. In version 2, shaytan recited out and the mushrikun hear. In version 3, the Prophet ﷺ hears shaytan's recitation and thinks it is Jibril AS reciting to him, so then with his own tongue the Prophet ﷺ recited those 'satanic verses.' This is of course even worse - because those who believe this story are now saying that the Prophet ﷺ couldn't tell the difference between shaytan and Jibril AS. This is the premise for the non-Muslims' argument (and Salman Rushdie's book, as a side note).

So we have three versions.

Then it gets lower and lower in authenticity.

"And We did not send before you any messenger or prophet except that when he spoke [or recited], satan threw into it [adds some misunderstanding]. But Allah abolishes that which satan throws in; then Allah makes precise His verses. And Allah is Knowing and Wise." [22:52]

So the thing that shaytan said will become a fitna for those that have a weak and hard heart. So according to version 3, shaytan succeeds in deceiving the Prophet ﷺ, and so the Prophet ﷺ recites these verses, but Allah then corrects these verses, and the proper recitation is revealed, and initially the Quraysh say they want to join hands but then they say no.

There is no question that the first report is authentic - it is in Bukhari.
The problem is that versions 2 and 3 do NOT contradict version 1.

Sadly, the scholars don't all agree.

We have a good group of scholars who say version 1 is all we need, and reject versions 2 and 3, such as:

How we wish we can restrict ourselves to them.

Unfortunately there are other scholars who say version 2 and 3 actually are true. An interesting point: In 1966, there was a world wide conference on this one story in Cairo, Egypt. A lot of the major scholars who were there all presented papers and references and proofs, and the outcome of the conference was that versions 2 and 3 are fabricated. So we can say the bulk of the scholars cross out version 2 and 3. And in any modern book of Sirah, this story isn't mentioned or it's mentioned as a fabrication. However, that's not the only position within Sunni Islam. Some scholars have accepted version 2, and some even version 3. Had they been small names we could have rejected them, but they were all big names.

Version 2 which says Iblis said out loud and the Prophet ﷺ had no idea - this is easy to swallow because there's no interference with the process of wahy per se. And this version is accepted by a lot of scholars, most importantly, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, who was one of the specialist of Sahih al-Bukhari. His point is that, it's true every individual version of the story is from a weak chain - but when you put all these chains and stories together, it's acceptable. This leads us to a small tangent in the Sciences of Hadith: It's a true principle that if you have many hadiths about the same story and even if they all have weak chains, if you put them together, you can say it's acceptable and true. And so Ibn Hajar applied this principle to this incident. He says, "All the reports are certainly weak, but when you put them together we can accept it as truth." Shaykh al-Albani says what Ibn Hajar says is true that weak reports put together become authentic, BUT not every single time - there is a science behind it. This rule has exceptions, and Shaykh al-Albani shows we cannot apply this principle here.

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:

"And We did not send before you any messenger or prophet except that when he spoke [or recited], satan threw into it [adds some misunderstanding]. But Allah abolishes that which satan throws in; then Allah makes precise His verses. And Allah is Knowing and Wise. That He may make what is thrown in by satan a trial for those in whose hearts is a disease (of hypocrisy and disbelief) and whose hearts are hardened." [22:52-53]

Meaning this 'satanic verses' become a test for those with weak Iman - opinion of Ibn Taymiyyah.

The other interpretation is that this verse has nothing to do with Surah al-Najm. Nothing to do with the 'satanic verses.' It's a general verse, and take it at face value:

"And We did not send before you any messenger or prophet except that when he wishes, satan threw into it [tampers with his intentions]. But Allah abolishes that which satan throws in; then Allah makes precise His verses. And Allah is Knowing and Wise. [22:52]

But Ibn Taymiyyah says: If you were to take this verse at face value, how then do you understand the next verse [22:53]? "That He (Allah) may make what is thrown in by satan a trial for those in whose hearts is a disease (of hypocrisy and disbelief) and whose hearts are hardened…" - So according to Ibn Taymiyyah, this means they have heard something.

The other dimension is theological.

The majority of those who say version 2 or 3 cannot happen say: How is it possible that the Prophet ﷺ could not tell the difference between Jibril AS and shaytan? It implies that the revelation itself has the possibility to be corrupted. The integrity of the wahy becomes compromised. So a famous scholar said, "I don't care if the isnads are like the sun, I will not accept this story." Al-Qadi Ayyad is one of the scholars who say this - one of the best writers of the books of Sirah. He says, "How can anyone believe in this story?" And he says, "How can anyone accept that the Prophet ﷺ takes shaytan's recitation?" Nabi are ma'sum (cannot commit mistakes) - so we cannot accept that this incident occurred.

Ibn Hajar says version 2 does not compromise the Prophet's ﷺ honor and integrity. So we'll reject version 3 and accept version 2 - version 2 is not a big deal according to him.

But Ibn Taymiyyah, who of course also believes that the Prophet ﷺ is ma'sum (no Sunni Muslim says otherwise), said, his definition of 'isma' (عصم) is different to that of other Muslims. Can the prophets commit mistakes? According to Ibn Taymiyyah, the prophets cannot commit major mistakes, vulgar sins, or lie. BUT they can make judgmental errors (and he quotes many examples e.g. prisoners of the Battle of Badr when Allah revealed in the Quran, "It is not for a prophet to have captives [of war] until..." [8:67]). Then Ibn Taymiyyah says that the prophet can commit minor sins - but they do not persist and they repent immediately. And of course the main example is of Adam AS. So Ibn Taymiyyah said the Prophet ﷺ is the best human, but he is a human. And so he can commit sins, but he repents immediately and in this repentance is the perfection of the prophets. He quotes second example in Surah al-Fath verse 2, "That Allah may forgive you your sins of the past and the future, and complete His Favor on you, and guide you on the Straight Path." [48:2] He says that their humanity is as perfect as possible. Indeed the prophets can't just be angels as there would be no point. So Ibn Taymiyyah says this does not show at all that the wahy has been corrupted, but rather it shows the wahy has been protected and the Prophet ﷺ is the most truthful of all those who speak the truth because of the fact that he came clean with the story.

(As a footnote: There are two stories in the Sirah that are highly sensitive, emotional, and controversial. The first of these is this (the incident of the 'satanic verses'); and the second is the story of Zaynab. And that is a very difficult story - even though relatively easier compared to this. Nonetheless it has its own 'issues.' Allah revealed in the Qur'an verses about Zayd b. Harithah and Zaynab bint Jahsh [33:37]. Zayd and Zaynab were married. One day, Zayd came to the Prophet ﷺ wanting to divorce Zaynab, but the Prophet ﷺ advised him to keep his wife. At this, Allah revealed the verse, "And [remember, O Muhammad], when you said to the one on whom Allah bestowed favor and you bestowed favor, "Keep your wife and fear Allah," while you concealed within yourself that which Allah is to disclose. And you feared the people, while Allah has more right that you fear Him. So when Zayd had no longer any need for her, We married her to you in order that there not be upon the believers any discomfort concerning the wives of their adopted sons when they no longer have need of them. And ever is the command of Allah accomplished." [33:37] This is a whole different tangent. But we should never be afraid of these verses, especially if we live in a non-Muslim land and the people are going to come and say, "Look, this is what your Book says." Some Muslims, when they are told of this story the way it is found in the non-Muslim books, they go, "A'udhubiLlah, how is this possible?" - they have no clue. Ignorance is not bliss [in this case]. Knowledge is power. So we need to embrace these stories, say them, and then critique them academically. Aisha RA says, "If the Prophet ﷺ wanted to hide something from the Qur'an, he would have hidden this verse. But he still recited it to the people, and to this day it is in the Qur'an." - He didn't have to tell us this verse, yet he recited it all, and they are in Surah al-Ahzab. Allah does the nikah himself in the Qur'an.)

(For now) the point is Aisha RA says: If the Prophet ﷺ wanted to hide something, he would have hidden this verse. Ibn Taymiyyah says: Why can't we apply the same to this story? He says Allah allowed the shaytan to get in two verses, but then Allah abrogated what the shaytan said, and the Prophet ﷺ came clean and said everything.

Allah AWJ knows the truth; but as a minor student of knowledge, Sheikh Yasir Qadhi's opinion is as follows: Version 1 is the truth. We can cross out version 2 and 3 for the following seven reasons:

Modern researchers wonder as to where this story came from. But even legends have a basis. There is a modern historian who theorizes that when the Quraysh prostrated, they felt embarrassed they had become so emotional, so as a result, they said the reason they did this was because the Prophet ﷺ had agreed to praise their idols. Sadly, we cannot find any classical reasoning to verify this. It is a reality that the tabi'un narrated it, but none of the companions mentioned it. In the end, all verses have been accounted for; those two verses are not in the Qur'an anyway. And so as Allah says, He has made His verses crystal clear.

From the immediate sahaba, (1) Umar was still not Muslim, (2) Uthman RA emigrated and (3) Ali b. Abi Talib was too young to emigrate. How about (4) Abu Bakr RA? He initially decided to emigrate and accompany Uthman. But on the way to the ship in Juddah (Jeddah), they passed by the leader of the neighboring tribe, Ibn al-Daghina. He saw them all leaving and asked them, "Where are you going and why?" Then Abu Bakr told him of the torture the Muslims went through and so he said we want to go to a land where we can worship in peace. Full story below:

Narrated by Aisha bint Abu Bakr (the wife of the Prophet ﷺ): "I never remembered my parents believing in any religion other than the true religion (Islam), and (I don't remember) a single day passing without our (house) being visited by Allah's Messenger in the morning and in the evening. When the Muslims were put to test (troubled by the pagans), Abu Bakr set out migrating to the land of Abyssinia (Ethiopia), and when he reached Bark al-Ghimad, Ibn al-Daghina, the chief of the tribe of Qara, met him and said, 'O Abu Bakr! Where are you going?' Abu Bakr replied: 'My people have turned me out (of my land), so I want to wander on the earth and worship my Lord.' Ibn al-Daghina said: 'O Abu Bakr! A man like you should not leave his homeland, nor should he be driven out, because you help the destitute, earn their living, and you keep good relations with your kith and kin, help the weak and the poor, entertain guests generously, and help the calamity-stricken persons. Therefore, I am your protector. Go back and worship your Lord in your town.'"

So Ibn al-Daghina said, "Let me intercede on your behalf, and let me protect you." The tribe of Abu Bakr had basically withdrawn their protection, so Ibn al-Daghina said, "I will protect you." So Ibn al-Daghina and Abu Bakr both returned back and Ibn al-Daghina announced, "O people of Makkah, will you accept my protection over Abu Bakr?" Ibn al-Daghina was a neighboring chief, and a person who did frequent trade, so the Quraysh accepted. But they said we will allow it on one condition that he cannot pray publicly. Abu Bakr was the only one with the Prophet ﷺ who actually prayed publicly. And they didn't want him to pray in public because of the effect this had on the people.

Because of this, Abu Bakr was the first person to build a 'masjid.' He didn't actually build a masjid structure, but basically extended his house and made a room into his place of worship. He prays out loud in this extension because he can pray out loud in his own house (he's taking advantage of the loophole). And Abu Bakr's recitation was beautiful - the women and children would gather around listening to this recitation. And as narrated by Aisha RA he would cry a lot while reciting the Qur'an, so the people gathered around his house every time he prayed. Indeed houses in Makkah were small and were very close to each other, and it was dead silent at night so it's easy to hear the recitation. Technically all he was doing was praying in his house, but the Quraysh couldn't take it so they sent a messenger to Ibn al-Daghina. When Ibn al-Daghina came to Makkah, they said, "We have to take back our condition - he cannot pray even in his house." So Ibn al-Daghina said to Abu Bakr, "I have no choice except to ask you to stop praying, or allow me out of the protection." And Abu Bakr RA said, "I throw back your protection at you (you're free now - you have done your job), and I accept the protection of Allah." Narrated in full below:

Aisha RA continues: "Then a thought occurred to Abu Bakr to build a mosque in front of his house, and there he used to pray and recite the Quran. The women and children of the pagans began to gather around him in great number. They used to wonder at him and look at him. Abu Bakr was a man who used to weep too much, and he could not help weeping when reciting the Quran. That situation scared the nobles of the pagans of Quraysh, so they sent for Ibn al-Daghina. When he came to them, they said: 'We accepted your protection of Abu Bakr on condition that he should worship his Lord in his house, but he has violated the conditions and he has built a mosque in front of his house where he prays and recites the Quran publicly. We are afraid that he may affect our women and children unfavorably. So, prevent him from that. If he likes to confine the worship of his Lord in his house, he may do so, but if he insists on doing that openly, ask him to release you from your obligation to protect him, for we dislike to break our pact with you, but we deny Abu Bakr the right to announce his act publicly.' Ibn al-Daghina went to Abu Bakr and said: 'O Abu Bakr! You know well what contract I have made on your behalf; now, you are either to abide by it, or else release me from my obligation of protecting you, because I do not want the Arabs hear that my people have dishonored a contract I have made on behalf of another man.' Abu Bakr replied: 'I release you from your pact to protect me and I'm pleased with the protection from Allah.'"

And after this, Abu Bakr had no protection. And this is why when Abu Bakr saved the Prophet ﷺ when the Prophet ﷺ was being strangled, they could get away with beating Abu Bakr almost to death. He was immobilized for more than a week in his house. How could they get away with this even though he was a Qureshi? - Because his own subtribe & Ibn al-Daghina both had basically withdrawn, so he is now a 'homeless' person.

As we said, between 14-17 people emigrated to Abyssinia; strongest opinion is 12 men and 5 women. And after the incident of the 'satanic verses' they decided to come back. As they were coming back, they were eagerly asking, "Have they (the pagans of Makkah) accepted (Islam)? Have they accepted?" But the first caravan they came across told them, "No, you have heard false. They were as they were." And this jolted them so much so that some of them said, "Let's just go back to Abyssinia." Even though they were just a doorstep away from Makkah. Debate occurred, until obviously their emotional state prevailed and they said, "We're so close, so let's just go in." Indeed to leave your land was a huge burden back then. (One of the punishment in Islam for certain crimes used to be to leave your land and go somewhere else for a certain period of time - showing how much of a burden it was back then.) Now, when they left Makkah, they had 'cancelled their passports' and renegaded from their tribes. So now each one of them has to find new protection.

Uthman b. Mazun (famous sahaba) reached out to al-Walid b. al-Mughirah, because he had some friendship with him, and he agreed, and they publicly announced, "I've given my protection to Uthman b. Mazun." Recall al-Walid b. al-Mughirah was one of the most powerful men in Makkah. (He is the one whom Allah spoke about in Surah al-Muddaththir.) So not a hair on the head of Uthman was touched. Ibn Ishaq said: When Uthman saw his Muslim brothers being persecuted, his guilt got the better of him and he said, "How come they are suffering and I am in safety?" So he went to al-Walid and said, "Please take your protection back. I cannot bear to see my fellow brothers suffer while I have this freedom." Subhan'Allah. Even though Islamically speaking there is nothing wrong about him having the freedom, but he voluntarily returned his protection because of his strong conscience. So al-Walid announced that, "Uthman has asked his protection be returned."

Uthman comes walking back and he passes by a very famous poet who was visiting Makkah at the time, Labid (who eventually accepts Islam). Labid was reciting poetry and he says, "Verily everything other than Allah is useless." (Side note: The Prophet ﷺ later says this was the most truthful statement any poet ever said.) When Labid recites the line, Uthman remarked, "Sadaqta - you have spoken the truth." And then Labid said, "Every blessing, without any doubt, will disappear." Uthman's didn't agree with this, so he said, "Kadhabta - you have just lied - Jannah will never disappear, the pleasures of Jannah will never come to an end." Imagine, the guest of honor is reciting poetry, the entire Quraysh was standing around him, and he is interrupted by Uthman. Labid gets irritated and said, "Since when have you treated your guests with this manner? This is rude." Labid of course doesn't know the political climate in Makkah (the tension between the pagans and the Muslims). So he considered Uthman a heckler. And so someone stood up in anger and gave Uthman a hard smack and gave him a black eye. His left eye became completely swollen. When al-Walid heard about this, he went to Uthman and said, "My nephew[?], why have you taken back the protection? Come back and I'll give the protection back to you." Uthman said, "No, my other eye is now in need of the blessing my left eye has got."

Abu Salama, who was the husband of Ummi Salama, the future wife of the Prophet ﷺ, kept the protection. (Abu Salama is a cousin of the Prophet ﷺ from his mother's side, and was a Makhzumi, the tribe of Abu Jahl. His mother is Abdullah's sister i.e. the Prophet's ﷺ father's sister.) Abu Salama reached out to Abu Talib, his mother's brother. (He didn't reach out to Abu Jahl, because there's no way Abu Jahl would give anyone protection.) So Abu Talib said, "Of course I will protect you." When Abu Jahl found out about this, he got angry and he sent people to Abu Talib. But Abu Talib said, "Well, if I'm going to give protection to one nephew (the Prophet ﷺ), why can't I give protection to the other nephew (Abu Salama)?" And argument broke out. But Allah brought about a solution we would never expect - through Abu Lahab. Abu Lahab felt compassion for his brother, Abu Talib, so he stood up and said, "Have you not irritated this old man (Abu Talib) enough? Let him be. For by Allah, if you are going to continue, I will have to force my side and I will choose him." So Abu Lahab defended against Abu Jahl. Here he is speaking as a tribesman and defending Abu Talib out of love for his brother - even though his stance ended up benefiting Islam in this case, but this type of love is not going to help one from the punishment of Hell; as it isn't done out of religious love for the Prophet ﷺ. And indeed Allah helps Islam through whoever He chooses. The Prophet ﷺ said in Madinah many years later:

إن الله ليؤيد هذا الدين بالرجل الكافر

أو في بخاري ومسلم : بالرجل الفاجر

"Verily, Allah supports this religion [even] with a disbelieving man." Or in Bukhari and Muslim: "[even] with an evil man."

So the situation in Makkah remained status quo, and the Quraysh continued to torture and persecute the Muslims. In the meantime news spread amongst the Muslims about how good Abyssinia was in terms of freedom. They had food and safety in Abyssinia and that was enough. When the Muslims heard this, 40% if not 50% of them got together and said let's go to Abyssinia. That's a huge number. So it's as if the wisdom why Allah allowed these early Muslims to return was so that the bulk of the Muslims also go to Abyssinia to safety. Indeed there was no other way so many Muslims would have emigrated. No way they would leave their entire livelihood and homes. So for the second emigration, more than 80 Muslims emigrated, headed by Ja'far b. Abi Talib, the direct cousin of the Prophet ﷺ.

Note: Uthman b. Affan decided to remain in Makkah and he migrated to Madinah later on. Also, Mus'ab b. Umayr, the first person to emigrate to Madinah within 3 years, the one whose his own parents tortured him so much, also did not return to Abyssinia even though he went the first time.

Note at the time Makkah only had around a few hundred people in it. Certainly not more than 800 people. And out of that, 80 are migrating - more than 10% of your population. And it's a huge embarrassment for the Quraysh, the custodians of the Haram, that your own people are leaving. And so when the Muslims migrated, they decided, "We cannot allow this emigration," and they sent two delegates, Amr b. al-As and another person (scholars have differed who the second person was), to Abyssinia, to appeal directly to the Najashi, the leader of Abyssinia.

The name of the Najashi was As'huma [or As'hama] b. Abjar (أصحمة بن أبجر). (His grave is still well known to this day.)

Amr b. al-As was a very intelligent and shrewd politician. And so he was sent by the Quraysh.

Ummi Salama has left us many reports about life in Abyssinia. She narrates, "When we landed in Abyssinia, we were treated very hospitably. The Negus granted us security and freedom; in fact we did not even hear one ridicule against us by the people. But then the Quraysh heard of our status, so then they plotted against us so they sent two strong men (who would do their job). And they loaded them with many gifts (e.g. camel leather skins). When the two dignitaries arrived, the first thing they did was that they went to all the ministers of Najashi and gave each of them expensive gifts and leather. And they said, 'We have in your midst a group of rebels, and we want to take them back and we want you to support us in this cause. When we give the Negus (Najashi) his gifts, remember our gifts to you.' (So this is open bribery. Look at the hatred of the Quraysh - they can't even bear the Muslims live in a foreign land.) And the next day they speak to the Negus and said to him, 'Some foolish youth from amongst our nation are in your country, and they've invented a new religion. They've left ours and neither embraced yours. And the leaders of us have sent us to you so you can hand these young foolish people back to us.' And they presented the Negus with lots of fine gifts."

(Side note: Subhan'Allah our religion is so perfect - even before all of the modern system came about, the Prophet ﷺ strictly forbade what we now call lobbying. You're not allowed to give a public servant money. In an Islamic state, we're not allowed to give the employees of the state any money at all. Their money comes from the treasury/from the state - because they are employees. They have no right to get any money from you, because that is going to sway them from their job. That is basically the essence of bribery. And subhan'Allah, in certain lands in our times, they call it lobbying and consider it legit. The irony is if you pay them money directly to their pocket, they'll know it's bribery; but if you pay to their campaign or if you pay something else, they call it lobbying. And they just have their way around it. But we know the famous hadith wherein the Prophet ﷺ forbade this. One day the Prophet ﷺ appointed somebody to go collect zakat. And when the zakat collector came back, he said, "All of this is for you (ya Rasulullah), and as for this, I was given a gift of something small." The Prophet ﷺ became so enraged he stood up and called the people and gave them khutbah, "What is wrong with some of you? We appoint him to do a job and we pay his salary, but then he comes back and says, 'This is for you, and this gift is for me.' Why don't this man sit in his mother's house and see if a gift would then come to him?")

So the Quraysh tried to bribe the Najashi. Notice also they are frightening the Najashi by religious, social, and political differences. They say they were 'a bunch of youngsters' that have 'broken away from the religion.' And political as well, 'these are a group of strangers, we don't know what's going to happen - but we can control them, so send them back to us' - for every government is scared of the unknowns.

So the viziers stood up and said, "O our ruler, what they have said makes sense, return them back to their people and let them deal with their affairs." So all the viziers agreed with the two Qureshi. Najashi said, "No, by Allah, I cannot hand them back after they have chosen my land." Recall when they entered Abyssinia—even though the books of Sirah don't explicitly mention this, but—they must have sent a petition to Najashi asking permission to live - because there is no other way you can live in that land. And Najashi must have granted that petition. So he said, "They have chosen me over all the other lands they could have chosen, and asked for my protection. The least that I can do is to listen to their side of the story." Subhan'Allah he truly was a just king, "I won't return them back until I listen to them." This shows us how sensible and common-sense filled the Negus was. So Najashi sent a messenger to Ja'far b. Abi Talib to come to the palace and explain why they migrated and why their people opposed them. And so the Muslims became scared, but Ja'far said, "We will speak the truth and only say what our Prophet ﷺ told us to say." So they arrived at the palace and found the Negus surrounded by his viziers and patriarchs - it's an official meeting. You have Amr b. al-As and his companion on one side, and Ja'far and the delegations of the Muslims on the other side. Amr b. al-As and his companion entered first, and they prostrated in front of the Najashi. Ja'far entered and he walked in firm and he did not lower his head one inch. The minister said, "How dare you walk in without prostrating to Najashi." Subhan'Allah this was at a time when their life was hanging in the balance. But this wasn't an issue of compromise even though they are at a state of weakness. Ja'far says, "Our Prophet ﷺ has told us we can only prostrate to our Lord." Najashi says, "Tell me what is this new religion? And why have you forsaken the religion of the people, nor become Christian or Jew?" And so Ja'far gave a response which was the pinnacle of eloquence:

"Your Highness, we used to be a nation steeped in Jahiliyyah,

and we would worship idols,

and we would eat dead meat,

and we would perform fahisha,

and we would break the ties of kinship,

and treat our neighbors in contempt,

the strong amongst us would eat up and devour the weak,

and we remained in this state until Allah SWT sent a messenger to us.

This messenger was known to us - he is from our community,

we know his house and his lineage,

and we know his truthfulness and he never spoke one lie in his life.

And he invited us to believe in One God alone,

and to leave idol worship,

and he told us to abandon the ways of our forefathers,

and to leave the worship of stones and statues,

and he commanded us to be true when we speak,

and to fulfill our promises,

and to fulfill the tie of kinship,

he told us to be good to our neighbors,

and he commanded us to avoid all evils,

he told us to not spill blood,

to give true testimony,

he forbade us from eating the property of orphans,

he forbade us from accusing others of adultery,

and he commanded us to worship Allah alone without associating anything with him,

he told us to pray,

and to fast,

and to give charity.

So we believed in him,

and we followed him,

and we had faith in him,

and we worshiped Allah alone,

and we gave up worshiping idols,

and we forbade upon ourselves everything that he forbade upon us,

and we make permissible all that he allowed for us.

But our people opposed us,

and they showed hatred towards us,

and they tortured us,

and they punished us,

and they tried to force us back into idol worship,

and they were unjust to us and they made life miserable,

and they prevented us from being who we were.

So when they did this, we emigrated to your land,

and we chose you above all other rulers,

and we wish to come under your generosity and hospitality,

and we put our trust in you,

that we would not be shown injustice in your land, O Exalted Highness."

Subhan'Allah it was such a powerful speech. Ja'far instantly puts the Muslims in the positive, and the two delegates sent by the Quraysh in the negative. He explains how they had no laws or ethics before Islam - and recall Abyssinia was a civilized nation so they understood this well. And this speech of Ja'far also shows he understood the Negus since the Negus knows what a prophet is. The Najashi then asked the Muslims, "Do you have any revelation?" Ja'far said, "Yes I do," and so Ja'far recited Surah Maryam - the one surah that talks about Mary, Jesus AS etc. And again imagine the voice of Ja'far; all the elite people are hushed and humbled by the recitation that went on for at least 15 minutes. He recited all of the story of Jesus AS in Surah Maryam. And even the patriarchs without understanding Arabic were moved to tears. And Najashi himself too began to cry. And he said, "I swear by God, this recitation and the messages of Moses and Jesus have sprung forth from the same fountain." And he said to Amr b. al-As and his companion, "Go away from me, I will never hand these people to you and don't even think about it." As they left, Amr said to his companion, "Don't worry, I have one final trick, I will come back tomorrow."

As they left, Amr said to his companion, "Don't worry, I have one final trick, I will come back tomorrow." His companion though said, "Leave it ya Amr, in the end they are our relatives." But this is Amr b. al-As, so he went the next day and he told the Negus, "Oh we forgot to mention to you one thing, that they say something blasphemous about your God, Jesus." And so Najashi told the Muslims again to come immediately to the palace. At this the sahaba were struck with immense terror. They know this is Amr's doing. So once again Ja'far said, "We will say what the Prophet ﷺ told us to say. We will not change that Jesus is the servant, messenger and kalimah of Allah, born of the Virgin Mary."

(Before we move on, the most important lesson we learn from this whole story is that the sahaba used the system of the time to fight the oppression of the time. It's not an Islamic state so they can't do anything but what the system allows. Ja'far b. Abi Talib is using the system of the land to fight for his freedom. We don't find the Muslims saying, "Hold on a sec, the ways of Najashi are the ways of kufr," etc. No. Ja'far had no qualms using the system, so we in our times too should do the same - fight against oppression through the courts, media, public pressure, etc. The same opportunities that everybody has, we too have them.)

And thus Ja'far and the Muslims went back to the Najashi. The Najashi was a bit irritated; he asked them, "What is this that I have heard that you have a blasphemous opinion about Jesus Christ?" Ja'far said, "Your Royal Highness, we say exactly what our Prophet ﷺ has told us - that Jesus was the slave, messenger and kalimah of Allah. His mother Maryam was a virgin." Notice he didn't go on the offensive and say, 'Trinity is blasphemous; the concept of the son of God is insulting,' etc. - even though that's what the Qur'an says. And even in this there is wisdom. Ja'far is not hiding the truth, and as Muslims we are not allowed to lie, but we should not go on the offensive straight away. As we see Ja'far did - he presented the truth in a wise manner, with proper methodology, and appropriate wording.

Najashi now gets the point, "You don't think Jesus is the son of God." And we read in to the lines here: It comes out that the Negus was in fact not a believer in the Trinity. He didn't believe Jesus is the son of God. In this he resembled Heraclius, the Emperor of Rome. When Ja'far speaks the truth, Najashi is even more impressed - because this is what he himself has been believing all this time. So he picks up a little branch/twig in front of him, and says, "By Allah, what you have just said doesn't exceed what Jesus Christ said by this much of a branch." i.e. "Your message is the message of Jesus Christ." Najashi then makes a final decision and turns to Amr with his companion, and said, "Begone from here, and take all your gifts with you, I have no need for them." The day before at least the gifts were accepted, but now they are all sent back.

And Ummi Salama concluded by saying, "They both left humiliated, debased, and degraded. And we remained in the land receiving the best hospitality and the most neighborly treatment, until we finally returned to the Prophet ﷺ."

Few more points: When Najashi said what he said when he picked up the twig, rumors spread that, "Najashi has become a heretic and he's abandoned the religion of our forefathers." So a group began to taint him and there was a possibility of a coup d'état. And Najashi is aware of this.

He wrote on a parchment: "I bear witness that there is only one God, and that Jesus is the prophet, slave, and word of Allah," and he puts it in his robe. He then calls the instigators, brings them into his private chambers, and asked them, "What is your problem? Have I not been a good king to you?" "Yes." "Have I not been a just ruler to you?" "Yes." "Have I not improved the situation (economy etc.)?" "Yes." "What is your problem with me? Come out with it." "You have abandoned our religion." So Najashi asked them, "What do you believe?" They say, "We believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God, our Lord, our Savior, the third of Trinity, etc." And so Najashi says, "I swear by Allah, THIS (and Najashi pointed at his chest on the parchment) is exactly what I believe." And he left it at that. So it's basically a tawriya/تورية (double meaning). The people thought he believes as they believe, but the Najashi was actually referring to his parchment.

It's mentioned that before this meeting, he sent a secret messenger to the Muslims saying, "I am having issues and problems, and may be killed soon. I have prepared a ship for you, so if I die, that ship is yours with its captain."

But he actually won the battle so that plan was not realized.

Al-Bayhaqi narrated in Dala'il al-Nubuwwah that the Prophet ﷺ eventually wrote him a letter after the Hijrah to Madinah, and Najashi wrote back and said, "I am a Muslim, I follow you, and if you command, I will come to Madinah and serve you." Subhan'Allah!

The other story we have was that of another force/family that tried to seek powers in the land. And matters began to get bigger and bigger, heading towards a civil war. And Ummi Salama narrates, "We made du'a to Allah to help Najashi." And then civil war started. And so the Muslims said, "Who will go to the battlefield to see who will win so we can leave if needed?" So Zubayr b. al-Awam volunteered. The battle took place on the banks of the Nile, and so Zubayr camped on the bank and waited to see. And Ummi Salama said, "In the meantime, we prayed to Allah the most serious prayer, 'O Allah, allow the Najashi to remain in power, and give him authority in the earth.'" When Zubayr came back, he said, "Rejoice, indeed Najashi has won."
So yet another important lesson we can learn from this - Najashi and his contemporary weren't fighting over Islam, it was pure politics, yet the Muslims sided with one party over the other emotionally. (They couldn't get involved in any other way because they're not citizens of the land - it was not their war to be fought.) So extrapolate this to our times: There's nothing wrong when there's two parties in the land, one of whom is more sympathetic to Muslims, that you want that sympathetic party to win over the other. Had the Abyssinian Muslims been in a position to help Najashi, do you think they would've not helped him? Of course they would. It's a matter of survival. This shows it's in fact Islamic to choose one party and make do if you want.

Final point is that Najashi died a number of years later, and the Prophet ﷺ said, "Jibril has come and informed me that a pious brother of yours has died in a neighboring land." And he commanded the sahaba to come and pray the one and only prayer that was ever prayed in the lifetime of the Prophet ﷺ, the Salat al-Janazah ala al-Gha'ib (صلاة الجنازة على الغائب - Salat al-Janazah Without the Body) or Salat al-Gha'ib (صلاة الغائب). Never before or after this one prayer the Prophet ﷺ prayed over somebody without a body being present. The question arises why did he only pray this salah for Najashi? There are many opinions on this and many different views [further read: The Funeral Prayer in Absentia by Sh. Yasir Qadhi. In Sh. Yasir's opinion, the Prophet ﷺ did this because nobody in Abyssinia prayed Salat al-Janazah over Najashi since he was a secret Muslim.

They remained there for another 10-11 years. This is significant because the Prophet ﷺ emigrated to Madinah in just 2-3 years later. But they stayed there even after Badr, Uhud, Khandaq etc. It was only when the Prophet ﷺ sent a letter to Ja'far after the Battle of Khaybar that they finally came to the Prophet ﷺ in Madinah. This is interesting because we wonder why did the Prophet ﷺ want the Muslims to remain in Abyssinia when he was in power in Madinah, winning battles etc.? Most likely, the Prophet ﷺ wanted a backup plan in case Madinah didn't work. And this shows us the long-term planning of the Prophet ﷺ that he's 'tying his camel.' Only when he is firmly established in Madinah, when he expelled all of the immediate threats, when it was fully secure, that he called the Muslims back.

There remains a controversy which we may never resolve unless we discover some new books: Did the locals of Abyssinia convert to Islam when the Muslims were there? i.e. Did they give dawah to the locals? Allahu a'lam, but there might be some indications that a few Abyssinians embraced Islam through interactions with the Muslims, but for sure Islam didn't pass down in Abyssinia until Islam conquered its land after 50-60 years. Islam didn't make a strong presence just by dawah in the land. They converted Najashi of course, but there was no large presence of Islam.

Another incident was that Ubaydullah b. Jahsh, a cousin of the Prophet ﷺ, passed away in Abyssinia. So his wife Ummi Habiba Ramla bint Abi Sufyan (أم حبيبة رملة بنت أبي سفيان) (daughter of Abu Sufyan) became a widow in a foreign land. There was no one to take care of her. So after her iddah, the Prophet ﷺ sent her a marriage proposal through the Najashi. So the Najashi took charge of the marriage. And he gifted the mahr to Ummi Habiba on behalf of the Prophet ﷺ, even though the Prophet ﷺ didn't particularly ask him to. She then migrates to Madinah, accompanied by a delegation sent by the Najashi. So Ummi Habiba is one of the Mothers of the Believers.

We return to the affairs in Makkah. Two major conversions took place after the bulk of the Muslims migrated to Abyssinia for the second time. Some scholars say there were only around 37-38 Muslim men left in Makkah. Allah AWJ then blessed two people to embrace Islam, that caused a huge safety factor for the Muslims: (1) Hamzah b. Abd al-Muttalib; and (2) Umar b. al-Khattab.

The first of them was Hamzah b. Abd al-Muttalib (حمزة بن عبد المطلب) — the uncle of the Prophet ﷺ. It's narrated that Hamzah was a well known archer, he was one of the strongest men in Makkah. He would often go on long expeditions, and when he returns, he would go to the Kabah, do tawaf and go home.

One day Abu Jahl was in a foul mood for some reason, he began to curse the Prophet ﷺ and his ancestors like he'd never before. The Prophet ﷺ remained silent not saying one word back until Abu Jahl got tired and just went away. One of the women of the Banu Hashim got extremely insulted that Abu Jahl cursed the Prophet ﷺ and her own forefathers, "Who does he think he is to curse our men?" She wasn't a Muslimah, but this was a matter of tribal honor.

When Hamzah returned from one of his expeditions, some of the women began to taunt him, "What type of uncle are you? What type of leader are you? When your own nephew is insulted, no one stands up to defend him!" i.e. "Where is your honor for the Banu Hashim?!" So Hamzah asked, "What happened?" They said, "Abu Jahl stood there for however long he wished haranguing and insulting Muhammad [ﷺ] and not one person stood up to defend him!" And they narrated all that Abu Jahl said. Hamzah's blood began to boil — it's a matter of pride and honor for him. So he asked, "Did this happen in public?! Did other people see this humiliation?!" They told him, "The whole of Makkah saw it! It was a public insult!" So Hamzah lost it. He marched to the Kabah, still with his bow and arrow, and went straight up to Abu Jahl and smacked him across the face with his bow, causing a huge gush of blood to come out. And he said, "How dare you curse my own nephew?!" and he didn't even realize what he was going to say but he just blurted out, "And I too am a follower of his religion!" He didn't plan this — he just said it out of anger, basically to say, "What are you gonna do now?!" And this of course shocked himself as much as it shocked everybody else. He just wanted to defend the Prophet ﷺ because he's his nephew.

When this happened, the tribesmen of Banu Makhzum around Abu Jahl stood up to attack Hamzah; but Abu Jahl said, "Leave him be, for I cursed his nephew like never before (so I know why he is angry)." Then Hamzah returned home confused and dazed, "What am I going to do now? I don't know if this [religion] is the truth or not!" And so Hamzah made a du'a, "O Allah, you know I am a leader of the Quraysh. And I've said something that I cannot take back. So if this matter is true, guide my heart to it. And if it's not true, cause me to die right now." And so he spent the most miserable night of his life tossing and turning.

The next morning he went to the Prophet ﷺ and told him the whole story. So the Prophet ﷺ stood up and began talking to him, convincing him until finally Hamzah said, "I testify you are speaking the truth and now I don't want to go back to the religion of my forefathers."

So this is Hamzah's conversion story. Initially he wasn't sincere, but then Allah guided his heart, and later on in the Battle of Uhud he is going to become the Leader of the Shuhada (Sayyid al-Shuhada). When Hamzah accepted Islam, this was a huge boost for the Prophet ﷺ as he was the senior most Qureshi to convert up until this point. He was the son of Abd al-Muttalib, and the brother of Abu Talib! So when Hamzah converted, the mushriks had to tone down their hatred towards the Prophet ﷺ and the Muslims.

It's reported that just three days after the conversion of Hamzah, Allah blessed the Muslims with another conversion that is the conversion of Umar b. al-Khattab (عمر بن الخطاب). It most likely occurred in Dhu al-Hijjah in the 6th year of the dawah. And we mentioned before, for the second migration to Abyssinia, when Umar passed by Layla and asked, "Where are you going?" she got irritated and said, "You dare ask?! Because of you we have to emigrate! Because of your animosity we have to leave our homeland and our belongings in order to worship Allah!" And she was expecting a harsh response back, but Umar softened at her comments and said, "Has it reached this level? May Allah protect you wherever you go." When her husband came back she told him the story but her husband said, "His father's donkey will accept Islam before he does!" That was his perception of what would happen, but he didn't know that the Prophet ﷺ had made a du'a to Allah.

The du'a is narrated in Sunan al-Tirmidhi. Ibn Umar (the son of Umar) narrated: The Prophet ﷺ had made a du'a to Allah, "O Allah, bring glory to Islam with one of these two men who is the more beloved to you, either Abu Jahl or Umar b. al-Khattab." These two men were the most severe enemies to Islam; they were physically powerful; and in terms of lineage also the most powerful. So the Prophet ﷺ basically said, "One of these two, please give him to me. The one that is more beloved to you." And Ibn Umar said, "Umar was more beloved than Abu Jahl." And indeed this shows that guidance is from Allah SWT; these two people were beyond hope — nobody could've imagined that either could come to Islam, but Allah caused the heart of Umar to come to Islam. It also shows that people of influence and power have more of an impact upon the masses, thus it's a sign of intelligence to talk to them and concentrate your dawah upon them (of course not to ignore the others). The Prophet ﷺ made du'a specifically for one of these two people. Indeed if a big person converts this brings about a huge change.

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."

Umar's conversion: There is more than one story mentioned regarding his conversion. It's narrated that once Umar went out during the evening with a craving for drinking. He went to the house where all of the young men would go and drink and he found none of them were there. He went to another house but for some reason they too were not there. He went to the wine seller, but even the wine seller wasn't there. So he said, "Let me just go do tawaf," just to get his mind off the craving. So he went to the Kabah and he heard the Prophet ﷺ reciting Qur'an all alone in the middle of the night. No guards no nothing. And so Umar thought to himself, "Now is my time to beat this person up." So he crept up behind the Prophet ﷺ, but he found him reciting something — the Qur'an. Of course just like the rest of the Quraysh, Umar never listened to the Qur'an wholeheartedly — so he stopped and began listening. Even the Prophet ﷺ didn't know Umar was there. (Umar is narrating this story himself in Musnad Imam Ahmad.) And Umar said he was amazed at the rhythm and power of the surah (al-Haqqah). And while the Prophet ﷺ was reciting, Umar began to think, "Where is this coming from? This must be the statement of a beautiful poet just like the Quraysh are saying." As soon as he thought of this, Surah al-Haqqah said, "And it is not the word of a poet; little do you believe." Then Umar thought, "It must the word of a soothsayer/magician." Then the Prophet ﷺ recited, "Nor the word of a soothsayer; little do you remember." Umar thought: "Then what is it?!" Surah al-Haqqah: "[It is] a revelation from the Lord of the worlds." Umar thought: "And what if he is inventing it?!" Surah al-Haqqah: "And if Muhammad had made up about Us some [false] sayings. We would have seized him by the right hand; Then We would have cut from him the aorta." And Umar listened until the Prophet ﷺ finished the entire surah. Umar later said, "That was the first time Islam entered my heart."

Then one day, the people were sitting and Umar were with them. And Abu Jahl began his tirade about the Prophet ﷺ and said, "This man has done more to insult our fathers and gods than anybody else! He has cursed our religion! He has said that anybody who worships idols will be punished in Hell — he's making fun of our forefathers! Who will finally rid us of this man? By Allah anyone who succeeds in doing this, I promise him 100 camels, red (dusky brown) and black, the choicest colors! And I'll also add 100 uqiyyah (pouches of silver)." And this was an immense amount of wealth. So Umar thought, "This is a good amount of money, I'll do it." So he went back home, took his sword out, and walked towards the Prophet ﷺ with an unsheathed sword. And subhan'Allah in Ibn Ishaq and other riwayat, it is said that as he was walking towards the Prophet ﷺ, a number of things stopped him along the way — he heard some supernatural voices telling him in eloquent Arabic, "What are you doing? This is just a man saying there is no God other than Allah!" But he kept on ignoring it. Until he passes by Nu'aym b. Abdillah al-Nahham (نعيم بن عبد الله النحام), who was a fresh secret convert, and he asks Umar, "Where are you going? What happened?" Umar said, "Enough is enough! We have been cursed too long! Our ancestors have been ridiculed! I am going to kill Muhammad [ﷺ]!" Nu'aym panicked and said, "Have you lost your mind?! Do you really think the Banu Abd Manaf will allow you to walk on the face of this earth after you kill one of their own?! And if you really want to do something, go back and fix your own family first!"

Umar was shocked, "What do you mean?" Nu'aym: "Don't you know? Your own sister and brother in-law have accepted Islam!" Nu'aym thought, "Let me just get him off the back of the Prophet ﷺ — he's not gonna harm his own sister, is he?" But this enraged Umar even more — as this is now a slap on his face, "MY family has converted?!" So he marched to his sister's house in anger and as he came close to the door, he heard the recitation of the Qur'an. (Side note 1: This was because every time someone converted, the Prophet ﷺ would assign a teacher to the new convert. This shows us that EVEN in this times of persecution, the education of Islam was paramount. The Prophet ﷺ had an educational program up and running — the teacher would teach how to pray, fast, read the Qur'an etc. In our times when someone converts, nothing even happens — we just come and hug him and khalas, never hear from him again. This needs to change.) (Side note 2: The one who was assigned to teach Umar's sister, Fatima bint al-Khattab (فاطمة بنت الخطاب), was Khabbab b. al-Aratt. And Fatima's husband was one of the Ashara Mubasharun, Sa'id b. Zayd (سعيد بن زيد), the son of Zayd b. Amr b. Nufayl who was one of the hunafa — the one whom the Prophet ﷺ said is a one man ummah with two Gardens.)

[Back to the story] Khabbab was teaching the Qur'an to Fatima and Sa'id, and Umar was hearing this through the door. He then bangs the door, and out of fear, Khabbab hides in the closet, and Fatima hides the parchment (or stone or tablet) she was reading by covering it over with her skirt (as if she was sitting on it). "Come in! Come in! What are you doing here at this time of the day?" Umar: "What is this noise I heard you were reciting?" Fatima: "No, you didn't hear anything." But Umar said, "By Allah, I know what I heard! I know now that the both of you have accepted Islam!" They continued to deny it, and Umar was already enraged so he took a step forward to punch Sa'id b. Zayd. But Fatima got in the way so the blow landed on her instead of him — the blood began to flow down. When this happened, both Fatima and Sa'id became enraged they said, "Yes! We have accepted Islam and we believe in the Prophet ﷺ! So what?! Do as you please!" When Umar saw the blood and this sincerity, again his heart softened. Indeed we all know that Umar had a harsh side and a soft side — and this continued throughout his khilafa as well. So Umar then calmed down and said, "Let me see what you were reciting." Umar was an educated man so he could read and write. Fatima got worried because the Qur'an needs to be respected so she didn't want Umar to desecrate it; but Umar swore that he wouldn't do anything except to read it. So she told him, "You are a pagan so you are not allowed to touch the Qur'an until you purify yourself." So Umar quickly did ghusl and then read Surah Taha. Islam then entered his heart.

Sa'id saw he had completely calmed down, and so when Umar requested to see the Prophet ﷺ, Sa'id took him to the House of al-Arqam with the sword still in his hand. Umar then bangs on the door of al-Arqam's house and when one of the sahaba saw him he said, "Ya Rasulullah, Umar is outside with a sword in his hand!" And so Hamzah says, "Let him in, for if Allah wants good, he will accept Islam, but if Allah wants other than this, the very sword he is holding will be the end of him (i.e. I will use his sword against him)." Some of the sahaba went to the door and they escorted Umar to the Prophet ﷺ, and he sat down in front of the Prophet ﷺ. Ibn Ishaq says the Prophet ﷺ held onto his collar and said, "Ibn al-Khattab, what are you doing here?" No fear from the Prophet ﷺ. And the Prophet ﷺ said, "If you continue in this path, Allah will destroy you." This is when Umar said, "I have come to accept Islam" and upon hearing this the Prophet ﷺ said, "Allahu Akbar!!" so loud everyone in the house could hear it and knew Umar had accepted Islam. After the conversion of Umar, they all publicly prayed in front of the Kabah. The narration says there was around 40 people. Hamzah and Umar went together, leading the way because nobody would dare harm them.

And there are many other stories narrated of Umar's conversion. Of them is that he wanted to personally inform Abu Jahl of his conversion to basically rub it in, so he went knocking on Abu Jahl's door. Abu Jahl opened the door and welcomed him, "Welcome! What has brought you here?" Umar: "I have come to personally inform you that I am now a Muslim, and I am upon the religion of Muhammad ﷺ." Abu Jahl slammed the door on his face and said, "May Allah curse you and what you have come with!" And then Umar RA said, "Who is the one who is the most rumormonger/tattletale in all of Makkah?" Someone said, "Jamil b. Ma'mar al-Jumahi (جميل بن معمر الجمحي)." So he went to Jamil and said, "Do you know I have a secret? I have just accepted Islam and I am now following the religion of Muhammad ﷺ!" Jamil jumped up barely grabbing a garment to cover his nakedness, and rushed outside because he wanted to be the first to tell, so he began screaming in the streets of Makkah before he even gets to the Kabah, "O people of Makkah! O Quraysh! Umar b. al-Khattab qad Saba'a!" (Saba'a is what the pagans used to call 'accepting Islam' — because there was a religion at that time called Sabianism. And the pagans would say that anybody who left idolatry has become a Sabian.) And Umar RA tried to correct Jamil, "Aslamtu (I accepted Islam)." And it's also narrated that many people had fights with Umar RA that day in front of the Kabah until Amr b. al-As's father, al-As b. Wa'il (العاص بن وائل) gave him protection.

And of course there are so many blessings of Umar b. al-Khattab. Of the most authentic and simplest one narrated in Bukhari: The Prophet ﷺ said, "There were people before you who were communicated with [by the angels] but they were not prophets. If there is anybody in my ummah like this, then it is Umar." It's enough of a blessing to see what happened in his khilafa — Islam quadrupled in size. Abu Bakr RA solidified Islam in Arabia, and Umar RA expanded it.

With these two conversions, both Hamzah and Umar RA, the Quraysh really felt threatened.

Two things had happened now that is just astounding. Firstly, the bulk of the Muslims fled to Abyssinia. This was threatening and disgraceful. And secondly, two of the most prominent and powerful men had left them and joined Islam.

It's said that in the 7th year of the dawah, all the Qureshi tribes got together and agreed, "We need to kill Muhammad." And they said, "How can we do it? The Banu Hashim is not going to give him over to us." So they said, "We will offer whatever blood money they want. And we'll even conceit to them that none of us will kill him — we'll pay some other tribes to do the job." So for the final time they went to Abu Talib and say to him, "You don't have a choice — either hand over Muhammad —and we will give you whatever blood money and it won't even be a Qureshi who will do the job— OR we will have to cut you off from the Quraysh." Again this is absolutely unprecedented. "How are you gonna cut us off? We're blood relatives." They said, "None of us will allow you to get any food or water; we'll boycott you; we'll cut off all marriages with you; there will be no business transactions." etc. When they came to Abu Talib like this, he became furious and said, "Do as you please, I will never hand my nephew over to you."

One report says they were forced to, but most likely voluntarily, Abu Talib decided to live elsewhere; and so the Banu Hashim & Banu Muttalib (two cousin tribes) imposed a type of exile on themselves and moved to a valley that the Banu Hashim 'owned' outside of Makkah, called the Valleys of Abu Talib (شِعب أبي طالب).

So this is the incident of the boycott.

In order to solidify this, the Quraysh wrote a treaty/pact amongst themselves that nobody will buy and sell to the two tribes, nobody will marry into or from them, and nobody will socialize with them. So it was a boycott of an economic, political, and social level. And they hung this treaty inside the Kabah. And of course nobody walks in and out of the Kabah, so they locked the door and left it hanging in there. (Side note: It is said that Bu'ayd b. Amir (بعيض بن عامر) was the one who wrote this treaty, and the Prophet ﷺ made du'a against him, and his hands became paralyzed until he died.)

So the Banu Hashim & Banu Muttalib lived outside of Makkah for 2-3 years.

We don't have too much information about this period. Why? Firstly, because very few lived to narrate these times. Secondly, people tend to gloss over bad memories — we don't want to think about bad memories. So even those who lived to narrate, they didn't narrate much. It was a very difficult and traumatic time for them.

So for 2-3 years they lived in these valleys eking out an existence. Drinking rainwater, eating from the shrubbery, leaves etc. Bilal said that we began defecating like how goats defecate. Our droppings were indistinguishable from the goats'. One of the main sources of food was that every few weeks someone felt sympathy for them and sent in secret supplies of food. The most famous of them was Mut'im b. Adi (مطعم بن عدي‎). (Recall Mut'im b. Adi was a chief of the Banu Nawfal, one of the subtribes of the Quraysh. And he died a year before the Battle of Badr. He was one of the most sympathetic non-Muslims ever. And the Prophet ﷺ praised him a lot. E.g. After the Battle of Badr he said if Mut'im was alive and told him to release all the captives of war, he would have done it without any question.) Mut'im every few weeks would go to the valleys with a large camel laid in with food, supplies, water, grain etc. And of course when they caught it, they could dry the meat, they could keep it, and it lasts for many many weeks.

It's reported that a few other people also would do this during this 2-3 years boycott. Of them is Hakim b. Hizam (حكيم بن حزام) (Khadija's nephew, and later became a famous sahabi). Otherwise they eked out an existence. Even when foreigners came, Abu Jahl would say, "Don't sell to these people; I will pay double whatever they are offering." Even though foreigners are not barred like the Quraysh, but Abu Jahl would still prevent them from selling to the Banu Hashim/Banu Muttalib.

Even during this 2-3 years, the Prophet ﷺ continued to give dawah during the Hajj season. He would go out of the valley and meet with the tribes and find converts to Islam.

A number of incidents happened that finally brought about the boycott to end.

One of the most interesting thing that happened during this time is that Abu Talib wrote what is considered to be the most eloquent Arabic poetry in existence. It's called the "Lamiyah of Abi Talib" (لامية أبي طالب) because every single verse ends with the letter lam (ل). It's around 100 lines of poetry and universally known as the pinnacle of poetry of that era. Ibn Kathir says this one poem beats all of the Seven Hanging Poems in Makkah at the time — in its style, content and rhythm. It's absolutely powerful. But it's so advanced and beautiful that it's near impossible now to even understand it.

Some of the benefits we gain from the incident of the boycott is that it's amazing to see the kinship between tribes. Indeed many people in Banu Hashim & Banu Muttalib weren't Muslim, but they underwent the hardship of the boycott for the sake of the Prophet ﷺ. Every nation has some people that are mean and some people that are nice**. So we take the good when people offer it and we use it against the bad. Indeed this is what the Prophet ﷺ did. He took the good of Mut'im and the like to help them during the boycott.** And we too should reach out to those who want to support freedom and are open minded in our times.

The Prophet ﷺ and the sahaba returned back to Makkah after ~2.5 years of the boycott, which means it's the 10th year of the dawah now, and the Prophet ﷺ is roughly 49 years old. After this, Allah will test the Prophet ﷺ with even greater tragedies: the death of Abu Talib, Khadija and then the incident of Ta'if. One low after the other. This was the lowest period of the Sirah of the Prophet ﷺ. And this would all be a precursor to the Hijrah to Madinah.

The first of these was that barely 5-6 weeks after the Banu Hashim came back, Abu Talib fell sick and he eventually passed away in the month of Shawwal in the 10th year of the dawah. In Bukhari it's narrated, "When Abu Talib reached the nearness of death, the Prophet ﷺ entered upon him while Abu Jahl was there. And he said, "O my uncle, say the kalimah so I can argue in front of Allah." And Abu Talib was about to say it, but there with him was Abu Jahl, and Abdullah b. Abi Umayya and they said, "O Abu Talib, are you going to leave the religion of Abd al-Muttalib?!"" And they kept on saying this every time they thought he might say the kalimah. And eventually he died without ever uttering the kalimah. And the Prophet ﷺ said, "I will continue to ask Allah to forgive you until Allah stops me from doing so." Note the Prophet's ﷺ role is to obey the commandments of Allah. The general rule is that the prophets don't just make up their minds about what they want to do, they have to wait for Allah's commandments. Generally the prophets followed this, but in this case the Prophet ﷺ was so emotionally attached he said even though Allah hasn't told him to, he decided to ask Allah to forgive Abu Talib, unless Allah stops him from doing so. And so Allah revealed in the Qur'an very gently telling him in Surah al-Tawba:

"It is not (proper) for the prophet and those who believe to ask Allah's Forgiveness for the mushrikun (polytheists, idolaters, pagans, disbelievers in the Oneness of Allah) even though they be of kin, after it has become clear to them that they are the dwellers of the Fire (because they died in a state of disbelief)." [9:113]

So the Prophet ﷺ desisted from seeking forgiveness for him. And Allah also revealed Surah al-Qasas:

"Verily, You (O Muhammad ﷺ), will not (be able to) guide those whom you love; rather Allah guides those whom He wishes. And He knows best those who are the guided." [28:56]

And in another hadith in Sunan Abu Dawud, we find that it was in fact Ali b. Abi Talib who eventually came to inform the Prophet ﷺ that Abu Talib had died. So this shows that the Prophet ﷺ did visit Abu Talib on his deathbed but he wasn't literally there when Abu Talib died. Then Ali came and said to him, "Your uncle has passed away," or in another narration, "Your misguided uncle has passed away." This shows Ali's disappointment in his own father that he hadn't accepted Islam. The Prophet ﷺ told Ali, "Go and bury him." Ali said, "But he died a mushrik." The Prophet ﷺ said, "Go and bury him and then come back as soon as you have finished. Don't do anything on the way." So Ali went and buried him. Then he came back and while the dust was still on his body, the Prophet ﷺ made a long du'a for him, to calm him down & bring him solace and comfort. Ali later said, "I would never give up all of those du'as for the world and everything in it."

Note these 13 years of Makkah, we only have a handful of incidents; nor do we know the exact chronology. It's because we don't have many narrations, and for the ones we do have, there is no context.

Case in point: The famous story where the people visited Abu Talib to beg the Prophet ﷺ to stop preaching, and Abu Talib then went to the Prophet ﷺ.

In Ibn Ishaq, it is said that when the Quraysh left, Abu Talib told the Prophet ﷺ, "I would've said the kalimah were it not for the fact that my people would accuse me that now that I'm about to die I accept your religion out of fear." This is sad because he knew that his nephew is a real prophet. In one of his poetry he says, "Indeed Muhammad's religion is the best of all religions and were it not for the fact that people would criticize me, I would've accepted it."

Many years later, Abbas, the younger brother of Abu Talib, asked the Prophet ﷺ, "Ya Rasulullah, have you benefited your uncle anything? He used to protect you and be angry on your behalf." The Prophet ﷺ said, "Yes, I was able to benefit him. He is on the peripheries of the Fire of Hell. Were it not for me, he would have been in the depths of the Fire of Hell." In a hadith in Sahih Muslim the Prophet ﷺ said, "The person that is being punished least in the Fire of Hell (eternal inhabitants of Hellfire) is Abu Talib." Indeed we know that the Muslims who enter Hell [may Allah not make us of them], their punishment will never be eternal or as bad as those who are the eternal inhabitants. So what is the punishment of Abu Talib? He shall be made to wear sandals of fire and because of this, his brain will be boiled. And this is the 'easiest' punishment for those who are eternally damned to Hell.

This is what we know of Abu Talib's death.

There are many lessons from his life and death:

"You (O Muhammad ﷺ) will not find any people who believe in Allah and the Last Day, making friendship with those who oppose Allah and His Messenger, even though they were their fathers, or their sons, or their brothers, or their kindred..." [58:22]

Some people say, "Islam preaches hatred of non-Muslims" - but this isn't correct. In a nutshell, the love Allah is talking about in these verses is a religious love and religious hatred. The religious love we have for all Muslims, we can never have it for anybody who opposes Allah and His Messenger, even if they are close relatives. But we may have a natural love for them e.g. if they are fathers or mothers. Or another example: in Islam, a Muslim man is allowed to marry a Jewish or Christian lady. And how can a man remain married to a lady that, according to those who misinterpret the Qur'an, he is required to hate?! It doesn't make sense at all. We say it's Islamically permissible to feel a natural affinity and love for people of your tribe, family, ethnicity, nationality, etc. But it cannot become a religious one except for those who have the same religion.

Therefore a kafir can be (1) someone who doesn't know the truth; but also (2) someone who knows the truth but refuses to act upon it. This gets us to the deep issue. What do we say to the Muslim who knows Islam to be true but does not act upon it? What is the difference between say Abu Talib and such a Muslim? They both recognize Allah is one and the Prophet ﷺ is the messenger of Allah but both refuse to submit in action to Allah. The fact is, someone who says they are Muslim but doesn't do anything i.e. doesn't fast, pray or give zakat, this theoretical saying, "I am a Muslim" is not different to the 'iman' of Abu Talib or even Iblis. This is very pertinent to the hadith, "Whoever says the kalimah shall enter Jannah," because the hadith has to be taken in context with other ahadith (that start with, "Whoever says the kalimah sincerely," "Whoever says the kalimah with his heart," etc.).

One final point: It's incorrect to translate Iman as faith. Abu Talib had faith. Iblis has faith. But it doesn't make them a Mu'min. Faith is but one part of Iman.

The Prophet ﷺ had 10 uncles (they were 11 brothers including the father of the Prophet ﷺ). Of those 11 brothers, 7 died before the Prophet ﷺ preached the message. So 7 never heard the Prophet ﷺ preaching tawhid. Out of the [remaining] four (Hamzah RA, Abbas RA, Abu Talib, and Abu Lahab), two converted and two rejected. Coincidentally, the two who rejected had pagan names, and the two who accepted had beautiful, noble names. (Side note: Some people confuse Abu Lahab with Abu Jahl, but note that Abu Lahab is from Banu Hashim and Abu Jahl is from Banu Makhzum. Two different people completely.)
Abu Lahab's name was actually Abd al-Uzza. And he was a very handsome man so they called him 'Abu Lahab' as if fire is coming from his cheeks and face. But Allah mocked this name and literally called him 'Lahab' to mean he will burn in the Fire. (Recall Abd al-Muttalib had 5 wives and one of them gave birth only to Abu Lahab.)
Abu Talib's name was Abd Manaf. (And he was the full brother of Abdullah.)

Manaf and al-Uzza were names of idols. And so the two uncles with these two names didn't convert for reason only Allah knows.
The two brothers that converted were Hamzah and Abbas - both names mean the lion. Hamzah has the connotation of strength; Abbas has the connotation of bravery.

As for the Prophet's ﷺ aunts, there were six aunts.

And we only know of one of them that for sure converted to Islam, Safiyyah bint Abd al-Muttalib who was the full sister of Hamzah.

Another aunt, Atikah, we know for sure she heard of Islam, but we are not sure if she converted - Atikah is the one who [in later Sirah] sees the dream of the Battle of Badr.

The rest of them we don't know who amongst them converted, nor do we know if they even lived to see Islam. And logically this means the rest of them didn't convert since if they did, we would've known about it.

We have two groups in Islam that believe Abu Talib was in fact Muslim:

One is the Shias who say the father of the 12 Imams could not have been a kafir and if we say otherwise, they feel insulted about this. But it's very easy to respond to them: none of the Imams are better than Ibrahim AS yet Allah says his father made and worshiped idols.

The other is the more extreme Sufi groups e.g. Barelvis. One such argument is Abu Talib did the nikah of the Prophet ﷺ so he must've been a Muslim or else the nikah would've been invalid. Our response: The nikah was done in the days of Jahiliyyah - nobody was Muslim at the time.

And there are 3 verses in the Qur'an, sahih hadith, incidents in Ibn Ishaq Sirah etc. which all show that Abu Talib did not die upon tawhid. So our position is very clear.

Moving on, the death of Khadija followed. She passed away on the 10th Ramadan, less than 40 days after the death of Abu Talib. And when Khadija passed away, the salah had not yet been revealed, so there was no janazah performed over her. But the Prophet ﷺ took charge himself of burying her. He himself put her in the grave. And the sahaba report after her death, "We didn't see the Prophet ﷺ smile for months." And indeed these two were so important to the Prophet ﷺ. Abu Talib protected him externally; Khadija RA protected him internally and gave him support inside the house. And the death of these two caused the Prophet ﷺ immense grief that the whole year was called the Year of Sorrow. And there are so many narrations which show how much the Prophet ﷺ loved Khadija RA. E.g. When her sister Hala visited the Prophet ﷺ later in Madinah, the Prophet ﷺ jumped up and you could see the fluster on his face because he remembered Khadija RA. Aisha RA saw this so when Hala left the house, out of jealousy she said, "O Messenger of Allah, for how long are you going to remember an old... [and Aisha used words that are not appropriate to describe Khadija RA]. Allah has given you someone better than her!" The Prophet ﷺ responded, "No, by Allah. Allah has not given me someone better than her. She supported me when no one did, she comforted me when the world gave me grief, she spent on me when everyone boycotted me, and Allah gave me children through her when Allah deprived all of my other wives of this blessing."

When Abu Talib died, this proved to be a very difficult time politically for the Prophet ﷺ. Why? Because Abu Talib was his protection & his 'passport.' And so with the death of Abu Talib, he was in a very precarious situation. Ibn Ishaq says: After the death of Abu Talib, the Quraysh increased the persecution of the Prophet ﷺ like never before. Another tabi' says: With the death of Abu Talib the Quraysh could finally come out what they were forced to hide in the time of Abu Talib.

Of the most significant things is the infamous incident of six/seven elders conspiring to throw a dead carcass on the Prophet ﷺ when the Prophet ﷺ went into sajdah. And Uqba b. Abi Mu'ayt himself carried the entrails with his own hands to throw it on the Prophet ﷺ. We mentioned this story before, but if we think about it, it makes more sense for this to happen now i.e. when Abu Talib is not around to protect him. (It all comes back to the fact that these incidents have no chronology.) And then the Prophet ﷺ made du'a to Allah, "I call to you, O Allah. You deal with these..." and he mentioned each of the 7 by name. And every one of them died in the Battle of Badr.

After the death of Abu Talib, Abu Lahab instantly took charge since he is the most senior pagan Hashimi alive. And surprisingly, he seems to have a soft spot all of a sudden. When someone from outside the Banu Hashim curses the Prophet ﷺ severely, Abu Lahab goes to the Prophet ﷺ and says, "O Muhammad, be as you were in the time of Abu Talib (i.e. the privileges you had in the time of Abu Talib, you have them now). For as long as I am alive, you shall live in the same manner." So he felt some responsibility to protect the Prophet ﷺ as a chieftain of the Banu Hashim. (And this is a common & simple human psychology - before you get responsibility you can say things, brag and boast etc. but when you get those responsibilities you act differently.) Before Abu Lahab came to power he basically said he will kill the Prophet ﷺ etc. but when he became the chief, he settled down. And there is a prestige element that as a chieftain he has to guard and protect his people, which includes the Prophet ﷺ. It was not out of love for the Prophet ﷺ.

And so when the people heard this, the people spread a rumor that Abu Lahab accepted Islam. So they asked him, "Have you become a Muslim?" Of course Abu Lahab said, "No, I am just protecting my flock." So Abu Jahl and Utbah hatched a plot to remove this protection. They said to Abu Lahab, "Why don't you ask your nephew about the fate of your father Abd al-Muttalib?" And so Abu Lahab did this. Now of course it's a trick question, so the Prophet ﷺ answered generically, "He is with his people." And this shows the wisdom of the Prophet ﷺ that he didn't give incendiary remarks (he didn't make things worse) but at the same time he didn't lie. So Abu Lahab went back happy and told Abu Jahl, "Oh it's fine - he is with his people." So Abu Jahl said, "You fool! And where is his people according to him?! In the Fire of Hell!" Abu Lahab finally gets it so he became enraged and withdrew his protection from the Prophet ﷺ.

So the Prophet ﷺ was left without any protection in Makkah. And this was then what caused him to try his luck/qadr at the closest city to Makkah: Ta'if.

We continue from last time. We discussed how the Prophet's ﷺ uncle and wife passed away. With this, Abu Lahab first offered protection to the Prophet ﷺ but then retracted it after asking, "Where will my father be?" As a result of this, life in Makkah became almost impossible and this is when the Prophet ﷺ began thinking of leaving Makkah. Notice for the last 10 years he didn't think of leaving. Only when politically he had no protection and it became almost impossible to remain there, he thought of moving. This shows the general ruling is that we should remain in the society we live in as the Prophet ﷺ did. This is a huge lesson for us: Even if life gets difficult, we have a responsibility still in our own communities. We learn from the Sirah that a person should stay in his society for as long as it's feasible. The Prophet ﷺ only did Hijrah when it became impossible for him to remain in Makkah.

So the first thing the Prophet ﷺ tried was to go to Ta'if. Why? For many reasons:

وَقَالُوا لَوْلَا نُزِّلَ هَٰذَا الْقُرْآنُ عَلَىٰ رَجُلٍ مِّنَ الْقَرْيَتَيْنِ عَظِيمٍ

"And they say, 'Why is not this Quran sent down to some great man from [one of] the two major cities (Makkah and Ta'if)?'" [43:31]

And so the Prophet ﷺ decided to try giving dawah in Ta'if - this happened in the month of Shawwal, basically a few weeks after Abu Talib & Khadija RA died, and as soon as Abu Lahab retracted his protection. The Prophet ﷺ tried a secret attempt, along with Zayd b. Harithah, his adopted son - they ventured on foot to Ta'if. They didn't take a horse or a camel so as not to arouse any suspicion. In our times it takes an hour and a half by car. To walk up would take 1-2 days; taking a horse would be significantly easier but still the Prophet ﷺ chose not to. This also shows the tactics and planning of the Prophet ﷺ: Yes he had trust in Allah, but this doesn't mean he acted foolishly. Indeed putting your trust in Allah doesn't mean you be rash. But rather you plan everything perfectly and then in your heart you realize it's up to Allah. And so him and Zayd left the town by foot arousing no suspicion. Indeed if the Quraysh knew what he was doing they might harm him then and there.

Also, leaving Makkah signified him cutting off any and all ties with the Quraysh i.e for him to take any move at this moment is a sign that he has accepted the status he is in.

We have a beautiful narration reported by Aisha RA in Bukhari. She doesn't know about the Makkan Sirah. So she asked the Prophet ﷺ, "Was there any day worse than the Battle of Uhud?" And the Prophet ﷺ immediately says, "Yes. Your people have hurt me a lot. And the worst I got was on the Day of Aqaba (Aqaba is where the stoning took place - outside of Ta'if). On that day I presented myself (to the leaders of Ta'if) and they didn't respond the way I wanted them to." Note the Prophet ﷺ leaves it generic. He didn't go into details as he didn't want Aisha's pity. And the Prophet ﷺ said, "And they caused me grief and sadness." So we learn that even though Uhud was worse physically, Ta'if was worse psychologically. Indeed the Prophet ﷺ said Ta'if was worse than Uhud. Also, the Prophet ﷺ said, "I didn't know where I was until I reached Qarn al-Tha'alib/قرن الثعالب (about 7-8 km outside of Ta'if)." And this indicates that after the stoning, he was in a state of shock. And from this we learn that when something traumatic happens it's natural to act in this manner, but it's important we get over it.

Also notice how the Prophet ﷺ didn't say any other details about this. Were it not for the fact that Aisha RA asked him, he would not even have mentioned Ta'if. This shows the strength of the mind of the Prophet ﷺ. A Muslim is not someone who whines for sympathy. He does not victimize himself. The Muslim is strong and has honor for himself. The Prophet ﷺ suffered worse than us yet he didn't grovel for sympathy in front of others.

Ibn Ishaq provides us many more details. It's a well known and authenticated story. The Prophet ﷺ walked to Ta'if and presented himself to the leaders of Ta'if, who were three brothers: Abd Yalil, Mas'ud, and Habib the sons of Amr. (Their father was the chieftain of Ta'if - but these three brothers made a pact that they would not fight over succession and decided to govern Ta'if together. So they were together the chieftains of Thaqif. Thaqif was the main tribe in Ta'if, as Quraysh was the main tribe in Makkah. And Thaqif and Quraysh are big rivals.) The Prophet ﷺ sets up a meeting with these three brothers and presents the message of Islam to them and asks them to convert. But all three rejected in the utmost sarcastic manner. One said, "If Allah has sent you as a prophet, I might as well tear down the curtains of the Kabah (in remorse)." The second said, "Has Allah not found anyone better than you?" The third said, "I cannot speak to you, because if you really are a prophet then you are too holy for me. And if you are a liar then you are too beneath my dignity that I respond to you." So all three of them mocked him with the utmost mockery, so the Prophet ﷺ said, "Okay, I will leave," but he requested, "Please don't tell the Quraysh that I came." And they agreed and respected this and Quraysh did not hear about this visit from them at least. Once again this shows the Prophet ﷺ had a plan right to the very end. You do what you can and then you put your trust in Allah.

Now according to the more authentic reports, he didn't leave Ta'if right then and there but rather he stayed for a week trying to give dawah to the individuals/laymen. (Side note 1: This is again a sign of wisdom that you approach those with status and power first; but don't ignore the masses either.) (Side note 2: We don't have the full story in precise detail as only Zayd was with the Prophet ﷺ, and he died very early, in the Battle of Mu'tah i.e. he didn't live after the Prophet ﷺ to tell us this stories.) However we have authentic reports from some of the later Thaqafi Muslims recalling, "I remember the Prophet ﷺ preaching in the marketplace in Ta'if. And no one responded to him." And in one such incident when someone might appear to have converted, this is what sparked the mob - the big incident we all know about. There was a potential of some people converting, and that was when the leaders of Ta'if panicked and they send a mob against the Prophet ﷺ. And they told this mob to stone and kick the Prophet ﷺ out of the city. The Prophet ﷺ bled so much that his sandals were soaked with blood. Zayd b. Harithah tried his best to protect him - he himself was injured from head to toe. The entire mob continued to pelt them until finally they let them out of the city, at Qarn al-Manazil/Qarn al-Tha'alib (قرن المنازل/قرن الثعالب). And this is where the Prophet ﷺ referred to when he said, "I didn't realize until I'm in Qarn al-Manazil."

Qarn al-Manazil is where the famous incident took place: The Prophet ﷺ saw some shelter and sat under a tree that was next to a gardened wall. But he didn't know this garden belonged to Utbah and Shaybah b. Rabi'ah; a distant cousin of the Prophet's ﷺ father. (Note many Quraysh had gardens in Ta'if as it was a beautiful city with lush gardens and the perfect climate for growing greenery. To this day Ta'if is a desert resort. And there's plenty of water; thus there are lots of fruits and vegetations unheard of in Makkah or Yathrib.) And so this is where the Prophet ﷺ sat down and said the famous du'a mentioned in the Sirah of Ibn Ishaq. One of the scholars of our times says even though this du'a is not in Bukhari or Muslim and has some missing links, we don't need an isnad since the wordings of the du'a can only come from the heart of a prophet. It's so perfect and moving it doesn't need an isnad. And this du'a was:

اللهم إني أشكو إليك ضعف قوتي وقلة حيلتي وهواني على الناس ، أنت رب المستضعفين وأنت ربي إلى من تكلني إلى بعيد يتجهمني أم إلى قريب ملّكته أمري إن لم يكن بك غضب عليّ فلا أبالي ولكن عافيتك أوسع لي أعوذ بنور وجهك الذي أشرقت به الظلمات وصلح عليه أمر الدنيا و الآخرة من أن تنزل بي غضبك أو يحل عليّ سخطك لك الحمد حتى ترضى ولا حول ولا قوة إلى بك

"O Allah, to You I complain of my weakness of strength, and my helplessness and lowliness before men. You are the most merciful and the Lord of those who are humble and weak, and You are my Lord. To whom do You leave me with? To somebody who is a stranger that will treat me harshly (Ta'if)? Or to a close relative who You have given ultimate power over me (Abu Lahab)? As long as You are not angry with me, I don't care. Except for the fact that Your protection from tribulation, Your ease and comfort, is more easy for me. O Allah, I seek refuge in Your Face that is the source of the light that gets rid of the darkness because of which this world is guided. And I seek refuge in Your Face that Your anger comes down upon me. It's Your right to criticize until You are content. And there is no power or change except with You and through You."

This du'a is really one of the gems of the Sirah.

The Prophet ﷺ said, "To You I complain," which shows there is a legitimate concept of complaining to Allah in Islam. It's a part of our tawhid. Indeed Ya'qub complained to Allah in the Qur'an [12:86].

Complaints to Allah is of two types - one is kufr, the other is the essence of tawhid:

The first type is to reject/challenge the decree and qadr of Allah. "Why are you doing this Allah? I DON'T DESERVE THIS!" This type of complaining is not just a sin but it's kufr. And Iblis is the prime example of this who said to Allah, "It's Your fault. You let me go astray." (paraphrase from the Qur'an [7:16][15:39])

The second type is the opposite of this, which is the essence of tawhid: You complain to Allah seeking refuge in Allah from Allah turning to Allah for His sympathy. A complaining to Allah to get His mercy. To get sympathy from Allah. The best example is the Prophet ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ himself complained to Allah. The Arabic is 'shakwa (شكوى)' - where the Prophet ﷺ said, "Ya Allah look at me and help me." Notice there's an element of "O Allah I am worried - are You angry with me?" After all the stoning and pain, the Prophet's ﷺ main fear is, "Have I done something wrong? Are You angry with me?" So what's causing him distress is not the pain of the body, but the possibility he has done something to cause Allah's anger. The Prophet ﷺ basically is saying, "As long as this isn't Your punishment I am happy." He is basically saying, "I don't care what state You leave me in as long as You're not angry with me." Note also the Prophet ﷺ said, "If You give me something better it's easier for me." So it's allowed to ask Allah to protect us from trials and give us something easier. We don't challenge Allah's decree but we DO ask for something easy. Also notice the Prophet ﷺ concludes with, "And there is no power or change except with You and through You" - we learn from a hadith that this kalimah, la hawla wala quwwata illa biLlah (لا حول ولا قوة إلا بالله), is a treasure from the treasures of Jannah. And it's such a perfect conclusion, "Only You can change my condition - only You have the power."
Also notice that du'a is the weapon of the believer. In this state he is literally alone with no one other than Zayd. He doesn't have a city to go back to i.e. Makkah, and the sister city, Ta'if, completely rejected him. He has no money or food or shelter. And so he makes du'a. As long as we have du'a, we will find a way out of our problems. Du'a grants what nothing else grants. The only thing that changes qadr is du'a, as the Prophet ﷺ said.**

So the Prophet ﷺ says this du'a under a tree, next to a wall. And little did he know this wall belongs to Utbah and Shaybah ibn Rabi'ah (his distant uncles). The two had seen from the distance how the Prophet ﷺ is being stoned out of Ta'if, so they felt pity for the Prophet ﷺ. And they also felt a sense of hamiyyat al-jahiliyyah, "How can they do this to one of our own?!" And so they decided to gift him some of their fruits. And they sent their servant Addas (Iraqi Christian) with a bowl of grapes to him. And notice these fruits are of the most soothing, comforting and lush fruits. And Allah gifts it to the Prophet ﷺ right then and there. So he accepted the gift and said, "Bismillah (in the name of Allah)," and began eating.

Addas was shocked and said, "What is this phrase? (This is not the phrase of the local Arabs!)" And so the Prophet ﷺ said, "This is something my Lord has taught me. And where are you from O Addas?" Addas said, "I am from Nineveh." So the Prophet ﷺ smiled and said, "The city of Yunus b. Matta?" i.e. Jonah the son of Matthew. Addas was shocked and said, "How did you know Yunus b. Matta? Nobody in this whole land has ever heard of him at all?" The Prophet ﷺ said, "How do I not know Yunus. He is my brother; and I am his brother. We are both prophets of Allah." And this is a miracle that the Prophet ﷺ knows this. The Arabs had nothing to do with Yunus and his story. And Addas is the only actual practicing Christian for a hundreds of miles around. Here he meets a man who knows what Nineveh is, and who Yunus is. And so Addas instantly began kissing the feet of the Prophet ﷺ as the Christians did out of respect like they did with their elders and priests. And he believed in the Prophet ﷺ right then and there.

The two masters are staring in shock, so when he comes back they tell him, "Woe to you, why are you kissing his hands and feet?" Addas said, "O my masters, there is no one on earth better than him since he is a prophet as he told me things only a prophet could know." The 2 masters (Utbah and Shaybah) said, "O Addas, he has bewitched you, as your religion is better than his."

Later on they tried to force Addas to fight against the Prophet ﷺ in the Battle of Badr but he refused to obey his own masters, which was unheard of, and said, "Wallahi, even the mountains could not harm him." And his masters met their death at the Battle of Badr.

And after this Bukhari narrates: The Prophet ﷺ said, "When I reached Qarn al-Manazil, I looked up and there was a cloud that had given me shelter, and in this cloud there was Jibril AS. And he said to me, "O Muhammad, your Lord has heard what your people have said to you, and their rejection of you. And He has sent me with the Angel of the Mountain to put at your disposal." Then the Prophet ﷺ heard another voice who said, "I am the Angel of the Mountain. Say what you want; I am at your disposal. If you want I can squeeze this city in between the two mountains." But the Prophet ﷺ said, "No - rather I hope Allah will extract from their children those who will eventually worship Him without associating partners."

We can learn so many lessons from the story of Ta'if:

Although the incident of Ta'if might not have been what we call a 'political success,' it resulted in the conversion of Addas. And the conversion of one person is worth more than a hundred camels. As the Prophet ﷺ said in a hadith: "If Allah guides one person through you, it will be better for you than a whole lot of red camels."

And Addas wasn't the only man/group who converted. Further on the way back to Makkah, the Prophet ﷺ camped in the Valley of Nakhla, and as was his habit, he prayed tahajjud. (No matter how tired he was, he has not yet taken a bath from the wounds, the scars have not yet healed, there was nobody there, it's a cold desert, YET the Prophet ﷺ never once gave up his tahajjud. Contrast this with how some of us can barely make out 5x a day fard salah in our comforts.) And Allah told us what happened next. What happened is a miracle the eyes of men cannot witness - Allah says, "When we caused a group of jinn to come pass by you, and they started listening to the Qur'an," [46:29] Allah caused a group of jinn to come pass by the Prophet ﷺ as he was standing praying and reciting the Qur'an. And Allah says the jinn didn't come out of nowhere, He caused their travel plans to go such that they are wandering right next to the Prophet ﷺ. Further Allah says, "When they were in your presence, they all said, 'Quiet, listen.'" [46:29] Subhan'Allah. If the world of men rejected him, the world of jinn says quiet and listen. And they listened to the whole of the tahajjud and they were "transformed" not only into Muslims, but "Warners" [46:29] (mini-messengers, scholars, and teachers). They said to their people:

قَالُوا يَا قَوْمَنَا إِنَّا سَمِعْنَا كِتَابًا أُنزِلَ مِن بَعْدِ مُوسَىٰ مُصَدِّقًا لِّمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ يَهْدِي إِلَى الْحَقِّ وَإِلَىٰ طَرِيقٍ مُّسْتَقِيمٍ

يَا قَوْمَنَا أَجِيبُوا دَاعِيَ اللَّهِ وَآمِنُوا بِهِ يَغْفِرْ لَكُم مِّن ذُنُوبِكُمْ وَيُجِرْكُم مِّنْ عَذَابٍ أَلِيمٍ

"O our people! We have just listened to a Book that has been sent down after Moses. It contains the Books that came before it and it guides to the Truth and to a Straight Way. O our people! Accept the invitation of the one calling to Allah and believe in him. Allah will forgive you your sins and will save you from a painful torment." [46:30-31]

We see from this that these were Jewish jinns - they had believed in Musa and the Tawrat. Indeed jinns follow the religions of men. There are Jewish, Hindu, Christian, Buddhist jinns etc. And when these Jewish jinns heard the recitation of the Qur'an, they knew the Qur'an came from the same being who had sent down the Tawrat, so they converted to Islam.

Therefore there is a huge symbolism here that, "Ya Rasulullah, even if all of mankind right now you think they have rejected you, the world beyond mankind have accepted you - the world of the jinn." Also from the conversion of Addas, "Even if the people of Makkah have rejected you, the people of Iraq, from the furthest corner, know that you are upon the Truth." Nobody can prevent the spread of the Truth.

And this was the first batch of jinn converts to Islam. And these jinns went to their people calling them to Islam. And they then came back to Makkah while the Prophet ﷺ was in Makkah, and they learned Islam from him. We know this from Ibn Mas'ud, who was asked by his student Alqama b. Qays, "Was anyone there when the Prophet ﷺ witnessed the Laylat al-Jinn (the Night of the Jinn)?" He said, "No, nobody was there. One night we were with the Prophet ﷺ and then he disappeared. And we looked for him everywhere. And we could not find him. And we thought he had been kidnapped or assassinated. And we spent the worst night of our lives until the morning broke and we saw him coming from the direction of Ghari Hira. So we said, 'Ya Rasulullah, where were you?' The Prophet ﷺ said, 'One of the callers of the jinn came to me telling me that there is a congregation waiting for me. So I went out to meet them and recited the Quran.' Then he ﷺ walked with us and showed us their campsite - the fires they had lit and the after effects of that." This is the version in Sahih Muslim.

Another version is that the Prophet ﷺ said, "Whoever wants to come with me to be with the matter of the jinn can come." And in this report, Ibn Mas'ud went with him. "And we started walking until we came to a valley outside of Makkah and he ﷺ drew a line in the sand and said, 'Sit here and do not move until I come back.' So the Prophet ﷺ continued walking and recited the Quran. Then a whirling of black clouds appeared around him until he disappeared and I couldn't see him, but I could hear him. One group of clouds remained, but the Prophet ﷺ was nowhere to be seen. (The clouds split up. One group of jinn took the Prophet ﷺ somewhere, and the other stayed in the visible distance.) When the Prophet ﷺ came back after Fajr, he asked, 'Where is the other group of jinn?'" Ibn Mas'ud pointed to the group of clouds, and the Prophet ﷺ gave them some bones and some animal dung. The bones are food for the jinn, and animal dung are food for their animals (the jinns' animals). This particular portion of hadith is found in Bukhari and Muslim in many different locations: The Muslim jinns asked the Prophet ﷺ, "Where will we get our food from?" The Prophet ﷺ said, "Every bit of bone that my ummah eats and mentions Allah's name over shall become flesh for you." (The reason they asked this is because the shayatin eat that over which Allah's name has not been mentioned, i.e. basically a 'haram meat'. So now that they've accepted Islam, they were wondering where would their food come from.) And the animal droppings in our world will be transformed into the food for their animals. (This shows that even jinns have animals - there is something called animal jinns as well.)

So as explained, by walking out of Makkah and disappearing for 10 days, the Prophet's ﷺ fate is sealed. He is officially cut off from Makkah. So now he is basically in limbo. Zayd asked him, "Ya Rasulullah, how are we going to enter Makkah now that you have been 'expelled' from it?" The Prophet ﷺ said, "Allah will make a way out for us. And Allah will help his prophet and make the truth supreme." Subhan'Allah! There is no Makkah or Ta'if - he is literally camped in the desert but he has ultimate tawakkul. This is where tawakkul comes into play - he did everything he could, didn't fall short in anything, so now it's up to Allah. So the Prophet ﷺ sent emissaries to two/three allies in the Quraysh that he thought could help. Obviously he didn't even bother with Banu Makhzum since Abu Jahl and al-Walid b. al-Mughirah were the ones in charge. The first man he approached was al-Akhnas b. Shurayq, but he sent a message back saying, "I am not in a position to give you protection." The Prophet ﷺ then sent the request to Suhayl b. Amr's tribe. (Note both Suhayl and al-Akhnas eventually accept Islam. This shows that the Prophet ﷺ is not sending it to random people. These are people he knows they sympathize with him unlike Abu Lahab, Abu Jahl, etc.) Suhayl b. Amr then sent a message back basically saying he too cannot give protection. The excuses they gave were flimsy excuses, not true excuses - the Prophet ﷺ knows what he's doing. If they wanted to, they could have given him protection. (Note as well the fact that they gave flimsy excuses shows that their animosity towards Islam is not the same as the animosity of Abu Jahl and others.)

Then the Prophet ﷺ sent a request to Mut'im b. Adi. He is the chief of the Banu Nawfal b. Abd Manaf, and he is the only one who died a pagan in this list of three. (Recall Mut'im was the main one who broke the boycott. He was the one who would send an entire camel full of food, drinks, etc. which by the way would be equal to ~$50,000+$20,000 in our times - a massive amount of money.) The Prophet ﷺ sent him a message, "Will you give me your protection?" Mut'im didn't just send a messenger back saying yes, he tells his sons, "Go arm yourselves and bring Muhammad [ﷺ] back. Protect him and bring him straight back to me." Subhan'Allah. So an entourage of the sons of Mut'im b. Adi went outside of Makkah all of them dressed to fight, and they came in with the Prophet ﷺ protected. And Mut'im went to the Kabah to receive him. And he said to the Prophet ﷺ, "Do tawaf, I will wait for you." So the Prophet ﷺ did tawaf armed with guards doing tawaf with him. And when he finishes, Mut'im stands up and says, "O people of Makkah! I have given my protection to Muhammad [ﷺ]." Abu Sufyan stood up and said, "Are you his follower or are you just giving protection [still as a pagan]?" Mut'im said, "No, I am not his follower, I'm just giving protection." Then Abu Sufyan said, "In that case we shall accept it." (Notice had Mut'im converted, the Quraysh would have rejected the protection. So there is a great wisdom in why certain people didn't convert.)

After this, the Prophet ﷺ remained under Mut'im's protection for 1.5-2 more years. But he knows it's a very precarious situation. So he kept on looking for another way, until Allah finally allowed him to do Hijrah. And shortly after the Hijrah, Mut'im died.

(This protection and the breaking of the boycott is the reason why the Prophet ﷺ praised Mut'im so highly. He gave him a huge badge of honor after the Battle of Badr saying, "If Mut'im gave me one word, I would have freed all these 73 natnas (POW), no questions asked!" And in this we see a great wisdom: Putting religion aside, there are a lot of non-Muslims who do good for this world. And yes we draw a line - the Prophet ﷺ didn't pray Mut'im's janazah or pray for him. But still the Prophet ﷺ gave him that badge of honor that will remain until the Day of Judgment.)

(The Prophet ﷺ said in a hadith in Sahih Bukhari, "Indeed, Allah helps this religion [even] through a disbelieving/evil man." Mut'im might have been evil in his religion which is the worst type of evil [shirk], but in other affairs, he was a good man. Therefore brothers and sisters, we need to form relations with the Mut'ims of our times. When we find them, we form allegiances. We praise them, they praise us. But we have a line - we don't praise their religion. Many of these might be atheists or Christians, but not a problem at all.)

One final point: After being rejected 2 times, the Prophet ﷺ could have tried another city - emigrate to Abyssinia where Najashi would definitely have accepted him; but he still wanted to live in Makkah, the land of persecution. Why? Because despite the pain and suffering, there's no other place he calls home. And he only leaves when it becomes a matter of life or death.

So what is the isra? Linguistically it means "to travel at night." Therefore al-isra means "the travel that occurred at night." And in Islamic/Sirah terminology, al-Isra (لإسراء) means "the Night Journey that the Prophet ﷺ undertook from Makkah to Jerusalem."

Mi'raj means "the item/mechanism of rising up high." Therefore al-mi'raj means "the instrument you use to rise up." Call it a lift or elevator, the apparatus that causes a person to ascend up is what we call al-mi'raj. Al-Mi'raj (المعراج) linguistically refers to the actual apparatus, but in Sirah terminology, we refer to it as the actual ascension, i.e., "the Prophet's ﷺ ascension to the heavens."

So al-Isra is the Journey from Makkah to Jerusalem, and al-Mi'raj is from Jerusalem to the heavens.

This Journey is referenced in the Qur'an in two separate surahs.

As for the Isra, Allah revealed an entire surah, and the surah is called Surah al-Isra. And the surah begins by the famous ayah:

سُبْحَانَ الَّذِي أَسْرَىٰ بِعَبْدِهِ لَيْلًا مِّنَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ إِلَى الْمَسْجِدِ الْأَقْصَى الَّذِي بَارَكْنَا حَوْلَهُ لِنُرِيَهُ مِنْ آيَاتِنَا ۚ إِنَّهُ هُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْبَصِيرُ

"Exalted is He who took His Servant by night from al-Masjid al-Haram to al-Masjid al-Aqsa, whose surroundings We have blessed, to show him of Our Signs. Indeed, He is the Hearing, the Seeing" [17:1].

"Subhana" means "exalted," "free of imperfection," "He has no evil nor defect." And Allah is saying that He is worthy of being praised/venerated because of this Journey. That's how grand, miraculous, and important the Journey is.

"The One who took His servant." Here the word "abd/عبد (servant)" is the highest praise Allah has given to the Prophet ﷺ. Because in Surah al-Dhariyat, Allah said, "I have created jinn and men for no reason but to worship Me (لي-عبد-ون)" [Qur'an, 51:56]. So Allah is saying in Surah al-Isra that the Prophet ﷺ has perfected his worship. No one has perfected the worship of Allah (the purpose of creation) like our Prophet ﷺ. And therefore, as Ibn Taymiyyah says: Allah AWJ generally calls our Prophet ﷺ not by his name, but by his title, to show his honor and rank. Even in America we use "Mr. President," "Mr. Senator," "Your Excellency," etc., to honor the person — we don't mention names because there is a title that is given — this is the culture of mankind. Allah SWT refers to the Prophet ﷺ sometimes by name (generally in the kalimah shahada, "Muhammadur Rasulullah"), but more often than his name, He refers to him by his title, and that is "abdullah/abdihi" [72:19] [17:1] [18:1] — that our Prophet ﷺ is the one who has perfected the worship of Allah.

And then Allah says He has blessed the land around al-Masjid al-Aqsa.

And then Allah tells us the wisdom of al-Isra, "So that We may show him of Our wondrous Miracles." Notice how لنريه (so that We may show *him*) is in the singular. Thus the entire Journey of al-Isra is meant for the Prophet ﷺ alone. As for us, we simply have to believe that it happened. It was solely for the Prophet ﷺ.

As for the Mi'raj, Allah references it in Surah al-Najm. He says:

مَا كَذَبَ الْفُؤَادُ مَا رَأَىٰ

أَفَتُمَارُونَهُ عَلَىٰ مَا يَرَىٰ

وَلَقَدْ رَآهُ نَزْلَةً أُخْرَىٰ

عِندَ سِدْرَةِ الْمُنتَهَىٰ

عِندَهَا جَنَّةُ الْمَأْوَىٰ

إِذْ يَغْشَى السِّدْرَةَ مَا يَغْشَىٰ

مَا زَاغَ الْبَصَرُ وَمَا طَغَىٰ

لَقَدْ رَأَىٰ مِنْ آيَاتِ رَبِّهِ الْكُبْرَىٰ

"The heart belied not what he saw. Do you then dispute with him concerning what he sees (with the eyes)? And he saw him once again by the farthest Lote-Tree, nearby which is the Garden of Repose. At that time the Lote-Tree was covered with that which covered it. The sight was neither dazzled nor it exceeded the limit, and he saw of the greatest Signs of his Lord" [53:11-18].

In both Surah al-Isra and Surah al-Najm, roughly the same phrases are used, that is, "So that We can show him Our Signs." Thus the reason for al-Isra wal-Mi'raj was to show the Prophet ﷺ the magnificent Sings of Allah AWJ. It was a personal gift for him and him alone. We just hear about it as a blessing to the Prophet ﷺ.

And the timing is perfect as we already said Allah never tests a person and that person passes the test except that he faces the fruits of the test immediately.

The Journey of al-Isra wal-Mi'raj is a little bit problematic from an academic perspective for many reasons. Firstly, there are numerous ahadith about it — over 20 sahaba have narrated; in fact in Bukhari alone there are 6 sahaba who narrate portions of the Journey; in fact if we were to compile all of the ahadith about the Makkan era without al-Isra wal-Mi'raj, and just compile the ahadith about al-Isra wal-Mi'raj, we will find the latter pile to be bigger, subhan'Allah; in other words, it is great that we have so many narrations, but this leads us to some issues:

To sift through authentic and inauthentic is relatively easy because we have an exact science in our religion — we go through the chains of narrators etc. And many scholars have done this. But once we even do that, we have another problem:

For example, in one version, it's said Jibril AS comes to the Prophet ﷺ while he is in Bayt al-Maqdis (بيت المقدس) and hands him the two vessels of milk and of wine, and the Prophet ﷺ chooses between the two. In another version, it's said Jibril AS hands these two when he is taking him up to the heavens, and he's in the heavens. What do we do here? Both narrations are authentic so who is correct? Obviously one of the narrators mixed things up. How do we reconcile? Some scholars say it happened twice; others say we follow whichever has the stronger chain. So this is another job that the scholars will always be engaged in.

These points raised above illustrate some of the problems the scholars face when studying the Sirah. And also to show that sometimes what one scholar says about the Sirah is different from another. In fact, because there are so many narrations and different details about al-Isra wal-Mi'raj, some scholars, including Imam al-Nawawi (إمام النووي) and Ibn Abi Jamra (ابن أبي جمرة), felt that perhaps there were multiple al-Isra wal-Mi'raj — perhaps twice. And this is actually a very common opinion. Many famous scholars of the past said this. They were forced to say this because some of the reports were not reconcilable. However, the majority opinion (including Sh. YQ's) is that there was only one al-Isra wal-Mi'raj because Allah clearly says in Surah al-Isra, "ليلا"—singular, "one night." So it is clear that there is only one al-Isra wal-Mi'raj, and if there are any discrepancies, we try to reconcile them.

First question — when did it occur? We find in early literature from the tabi'un or tabi-tabi'un some dates, but we don't have any narration from a sahabi. Most of the early writers, including Ibn Ishaq, who is the number one authority of Sirah, said it happened 1 year before the Hijrah. And this is the strongest opinion. Others say 1½, 2, or even 5 years before the Hijrah. However, we have one very important clue from Aisha RA that we can use to eliminate some of the more extreme opinions. Aisha RA authentically said, "Khadija RA died before the salah became fard." And we know that salah became fard at al-Isra wal-Mi'raj — so the fact that Khadija RA died before salah became fard clearly shows that al-Isra wal-Mi'raj happened in the last 1½ years of the Makkan era. So it makes complete sense, and this is the majority opinion, that it happened after the Year of Sorrow and before the Hijrah.

As for the month, there are no opinions amongst the early scholars. All the opinions began after the first 200 years. This clearly shows therefore that we don't know which month it happened in. Some scholars said Rabi' al-Awwal, some said Rabi' al-Thani, some said Rajab, some said Ramadan, and some said Shawwal, but none of these opinions have any authentic basis from the sahaba or tabi'un. So forget the day, we don't even know the month.

The fact that the sahaba didn't preserve the date shows that they didn't care what day it occurred, i.e., they understood that what's important is the details of the incident, not the date. The Muslims don't commemorate specific days of the year when something happens on it. This is not of our culture.

Second question — where did it happen from? Here we see a difference in opinion; many opinions, all authentic, and 2 of them are in Bukhari itself:

The first report says the Prophet ﷺ said, "While I was sleeping in the Hatim, Jibril AS came to me." This is the most authentic version. (Tangent: al-Hatim/الحطيم = semicircular region outside the Kabah that the Quraysh built after the [incident of the rebuilding](The incident of the rebuilding of the Kabah). And it was the wisdom of Allah that the Hatim remained open for everybody — because praying in the Hatim is basically praying inside the Kabah.)

Another version is that the Prophet ﷺ said, "When I was in my house, I saw the roof opened up and Jibril AS came to me." This is also authentic. Ibn Hajar says, "This shows that the Prophet ﷺ was in his house, and Jibril AS first took him to the Hatim." This makes sense because why would the Prophet ﷺ be sleeping in the open in the Hatim when he has a house in Makkah. So we see that not every contradiction is at face value a full contradiction. In fact Ibn Hajar makes a good point, that Jibril AS came to the Prophet's ﷺ house and first took him to the Kabah to pray two rak'at, and then from there he took him somewhere else. And this is how we reconcile sometimes — to take both narrations at face value.

The Prophet ﷺ said, "In the Hatim, Jibril AS opened up my chest. And he brought a bowl made out of gold that was full of..." in one version it says, "of zamzam," in another version, "of Iman." Again, there is no contradiction since whatever is in the bowl is going to give him Iman, and it can be zamzam. "And he took out my heart, washed it, and put it back." Note this is the second time this happened. The Prophet's ﷺ heart was taken out twice. [Once when he was 4-5 years old](The Incident of the Opening of the Heart of the Prophet ﷺ), but that time there was a detail that is not mentioned here, that is there was a black spot on the heart, and it was taken out. Now the second time this is happening there is no black spot to take out because it's already been taken out. Here the purpose of washing the heart is to strengthen the Prophet ﷺ for what he is about to see. And that is, as Ibn Hazm says, if another man were to have seen even a fraction of what the Prophet ﷺ saw, he would have gone mad. Indeed the Prophet ﷺ entered a different world, a different dimension. Allah says in Surah al-Najm:

مَا زَاغَ الْبَصَرُ وَمَا طَغَىٰ

"The sight [of the Prophet] did not swerve, nor did it transgress [its limit]" [53:17].

The Prophet ﷺ says, "Then Jibril AS brought me a dabba (دابَّة - beast/animal). It is smaller than a mule and larger than a donkey. Pure white and it was called al-Buraq (البرق) (comes from the root of "lightning," برق). And it puts its hoof where the eye can see." Here is where some legends begin — the image of Buraq with wings is not narrated in any authentic literature. This hadith clearly says that the Buraq is a physical creature, a dabba, flesh and blood, which can run much faster than a normal horse. So fast that it jumps as far as the eye can see.

According to Tirmidhi, the Prophet ﷺ said, "It had a harness and a saddle." Jibril AS was holding on to the harness and the Prophet ﷺ mounted al-Buraq. Then it's narrated that al-Buraq jumped up, but Jibril AS yanked the harness and said, "Woe to you, are you not ashamed? For wallahi, no one has ridden you that is more blessed in the Eyes of Allah than your current rider." Note this shows that al-Buraq has been ridden by other riders/creations. This again shows that the Buraq is a physical creature because it reacted like a normal animal. It also shows that Allah has created things beyond our knowledge, as Allah says in the Qur'an [16:8]. And we mentioned in the last episode how even jinns have beasts and animals — this is of the creation that is amongst us we have no knowledge of them. So how about of the other world? Or how about even al-Buraq, which is a physical creature that lives in the other world? And it's only brought down for occasions like this, or maybe this was the only time it was brought in this world, we will never know — this is of ilm al-Ghayb. Subhan'Allah.

The Prophet ﷺ then said, "I rode him and he took me until we came to Bayt al-Maqdis." (And here it's interesting to note that at this time, there is no sanctuary/structure/mosque/synagogue/temple at Bayt al-Maqdis because Jerusalem was under the Roman control, and the Roman Emperor had basically decreed that this holy sight of the holy temple should be converted into a junkyard/trash dump, a filthy area [because the Christians wanted to make a point to the Jews that they have no respect for their heritage; historically, Christian have been well known to be antisemitic], but when the Prophet ﷺ came here, he is seeing the Bayt al-Maqdis as it was — Allah AWJ basically brought about probably the original Temple of Sulayman or something, and the Prophet ﷺ was praying there.)

The Prophet ﷺ then said, "And I tied al-Buraq to the animal post that is used by the prophets." This clearly shows that the Prophet ﷺ is seeing a structure that is not seen by men at this time. Because obviously, the post that Prophet Sulayman used is not going to be present for 300 years later. Allah AWJ is basically showing the Prophet ﷺ the original Bayt al-Maqdis, and the Prophet ﷺ is physically there. And this is Allah's capability beyond our understanding.

The Prophet ﷺ then said, "I went inside and prayed two rak'at." This was before Tahiyyat al-Masjid (تحية المسجد) was legislated in Madinah (later). This shows that the Prophet ﷺ was practicing things that were not legislated yet for the ummah.

And here is where we get another minor difference:

One narration says the Prophet ﷺ prayed two rak'at and when he turned around, he saw all of the prophets lined behind him. So the impression we get from this narration is that he didn't know there were prophets behind him.

From the other narration that we have, the Prophet ﷺ says, "I saw myself with the other prophets. And there was Musa AS praying; and he was a tall, strong, and muscular man of a brownish color like someone from the tribe of Shanu'ah (شنوءة). And I saw Isa b. Maryam AS standing and praying; and the one who looks most like Isa is Urwah b. Mas'ud al-Thaqafi (عروة بن مسعود الثقفي)." So the Prophet ﷺ is trying to describe the prophets for his sahaba. In another narration, the Prophet ﷺ said Isa was whitish in color which means he was basically Caucasian looking (of course the Arabic word used is "red," but the Arabs used to call white people "red," and sometimes "yellow," because that is how they perceived that type of whiteness). The Prophet ﷺ also said, "His hair glistened with water as if he had come out of a steam bath, and he is a rather short man compared to Musa AS." And then he said, "I saw Ibrahim AS standing and praying; and the one who resembles him the most is your own companion"—meaning the Prophet ﷺ himself. (In another hadith, he said, "I could not see anyone more closely resembling Ibrahim AS than myself, and I could not see anyone more closely resembling myself than Ibrahim AS," i.e., Ibrahim AS and our Prophet ﷺ were almost mirror images of each other in their physical appearance.) "And then it came the time for salah and I was put the Imam of them." So this version has it that the Prophet ﷺ knew exactly what is going on.

This is difficult to reconcile. There are two versions. Did he know? Did he not know? Allah knows best.

The main point is he is leading the prophets. And what's interesting is that all the prophets he saw are already standing and praying. This shows us the importance of salah — even after death the prophets are praying. In fact the Prophet ﷺ said, "When I was going to al-Isra, I passed by the grave of Musa AS and I saw him standing and praying." This is enough of an indication of the blessings of salah. (Note: This means the Prophet ﷺ met Musa AS 3 times during al-Isra wal-Mi'raj. Twice during al-Isra: once at his grave and another at Bayt al-Maqdis. Then one more time during al-Mi'raj at the 6th heaven (later). [After seeing Musa at his grave, Allah SWT took Musa to Bayt al-Maqdis, and then to the 6th heaven. Musa AS doesn't need al-Buraq because he is already in the spirit form.])

The fact that the Prophet ﷺ becomes the Imam of all the prophets clearly shows he has been given an unparalleled and unequaled honor, that is that not only is he Sayyid al-Anbiya (سيد الأنبياء) and Imam al-Mursalin (إمام المرسلين), but also the Leader of all the ummahs (because every prophet is the Leader of their ummah, and the Prophet ﷺ is leading their Leaders AS), as he said in a hadith, "I am the Leader (Sayyid) of all of the children of Adam on the Day of Judgment, and I am not saying this to boast (or being arrogant)."

Another point is that the scholars say the prophets were all standing in one row (they were in the spiritual form so there was no space barrier as it is, so they were literally standing in one long row consisting of 120,000+ prophets & 310+ messengers), and this proves another point which is that all the prophets are the same in one sense —لَا نُفَرِّقُ بَيْنَ أَحَدٍ مِّن رُّسُلِهِ, "We make no distinction between any of His messengers" [Quran, 2:285]— but they are different in another sense —تِلْكَ الرُّسُلُ فَضَّلْنَا بَعْضَهُمْ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍ, "Those messengers — some of them We caused to exceed others" [Quran, 2:253]—. How do we reconcile these two verses? Indeed, the prophets all pray to one God in the same way, their message is the same, but amongst themselves some are better than others, and our Prophet ﷺ is the best of all of them.

Then the Prophet ﷺ said after he finished, "Jibril AS presented two utensils. One of them has milk, the other has wine." (Side note 1: As we said, there's a minor difference between two authentic narrations here. In one version, Jibril AS presents the utensils right now; and in another, Jibril does this when they ascend up to the heavens.) (Side note 2: Remember, up until this time wine has not yet been made haram.) Jibril AS hands him the two utensils and says, "Choose, and choose for your ummah," i.e., the choice will affect not just the Prophet ﷺ, but also his ummah. The Prophet ﷺ chose the milk and Jibril AS said, "You have chosen the fitrah." And there is a huge symbolism here. The difference between wine and milk is very profound:

Milk comes pure from the animal, as Allah says, "We give you drink from what is in their bellies — between excretion and blood — pure milk, palatable to drinkers" [Quran, 16:66]. And in a hadith, "Nothing substitutes for both food and drink other than milk." So milk is a blessed delicacy that Allah mentions in the Qur'an; and the Prophet ﷺ praised and used to love it. It's nourishing and nutritious.

What is wine? Wine is corrupted, fermented, and filthy. It is something that was pure but then bacteria have infested it. Wine literally stinks. And what does it do? Is it nourishing? Wholesome? No. It corrupts you. It makes you act foolish. One of the sahaba said, "Wallahi, even if wine had not been prohibited, any intelligent man would have avoided it."

Compare and contrast what is milk vs. what is wine. The Prophet ﷺ chose that which is pure, comes from the pure, and sustains you purely; versus the wine that is corrupt, that is corrupted, and that corrupts the body. And Jibril AS said, "This is for your ummah," i.e., "Your ummah will also be pure, upon the fitrah." (Side note: In one hadith, the Prophet ﷺ said, "Every child is born upon the fitrah," i.e., every child is pure and good. The base instinct of men is good, not evil.)

Then the Prophet ﷺ says, "Jibril AS asked permission for the door of the heaven to open." The gatekeeper asked, "Who is it?" "It is Jibril." "Do you have anyone with you?" "Yes, I have with me Muhammad [ﷺ]." "Has he been sent for (does he have permission to pass)?" "Yes." And then the door opened up. And for every single one of the seven heavens this exact same conversation happened with each of the gatekeepers.

This shows there are doors to the heavens that are locked and each door has a gatekeeper. And the gatekeeper is not allowed to let anyone pass unless they have permission. And because these are angels and they cannot lie, there's no special code needed — Jibril AS simply has to say yes and it will open up.

So this is al-Mi'raj now. (Note the Buraq is still tied to the post, as after the Mi'raj the Prophet ﷺ will use it to go back to Makkah.)

Before moving on, we will explain what these seven heavens are. What is sama (سماء - heaven) (plural: samawat [سماوات])? And what is Jannah (جنة - Paradise/Garden) (plural: Jannat [جنات])? Many people confuse Jannah with sama, but these are two separate words and two separate concepts. Allah says, "[Allah has] created seven samawat one on top of the other" [67:3]. Now, samawat are physical heavens above us. And in the opinion of Sh. YQ, everything we see around us, i.e., the billions of stars and galaxies, are all within the very first and lowest layer of heaven. How do we get this opinion? (1) Allah says in the Qur'an, "We have beautified the Sama al-Dunya (سماء الدنيا) with its lamps and its lights" [67:5]. (2) In Bukhari, the Prophet ﷺ said, "Jibril AS took me until we finished the Sama al-Dunya, and *then* he asked permission for the door to open." So one plus one.

And then beyond Sama al-Dunya is the 2nd level of the sama, beyond that is the 3rd, and so on until we get to the highest level.

Now what are the Jannat? The Jannat are the Gardens/Paradise that are promised as the reward for the believers. Where are they? There are two interpretations. One interpretation is that the Jannat consist of hundreds of thousands of layers, and the place they occupy is the 7th heaven (7th sama). Another interpretation is that the Jannat begin in the 6th, and work its way up to the 7th. And there are evidences for both, but at the end of the day, this is ilm al-ghayb (علم الغيب - knowledge of the unseen). The bottom line is the Jannat are at the top of the samawat.

What happened at each level of the heavens as the Prophet ﷺ ascends:

There appears to be some wisdom in this ordering. Why these prophets in this order? Realize this order, contrary to popular misconception, has nothing to do with the blessings of the prophets. Some people try to say Adam AS has the least blessing, but that is not the case at all. What appears to be the case is that these are basically welcoming committees/parties; Allah SWT sent some of the noblest and most famous prophets to simply greet the Prophet ﷺ as he comes in. The Prophet ﷺ is basically being given a royal, red carpet welcome. And in each of these 7 choices there seems to be some wisdom:

(Remember, these are heavens and not Jannat. All the prophets will be in the highest levels of Jannah. Right now they have been taken from their places and been brought to these samawat to be welcoming parties for the Prophet ﷺ. Otherwise they are still in their graves, standing and praying. The only exception is Isa, who had to come down to meet the Prophet ﷺ. This is symbolic since Isa AS will come down to earth near the End of Times. Jannah has not been occupied since Adam AS has left it, and won't be occupied until after the Day of Judgment.)

As we said, one of the biggest problems with al-Isra wal-Mi'raj is to piece together the chronological narrative of the story. We have narrations the Prophet ﷺ very clearly spoke to the other prophets, but where did this happen? It could be in the heavens or in the Bayt al-Maqdis.

Abdullah b. Mas'ud reports, "The Prophet ﷺ said, on the night he went to al-Isra wal-Mi'raj, he met Ibrahim, Musa, and Isa, and they began talking about the Day of Judgment. And Ibrahim was the first to be asked, 'Tell us about the Day of Judgment,' but he said, 'I have no knowledge of the Day.'" Then they asked Musa and same response. Then they asked Isa. He said, "I am informed one of the signs of it is I will be coming back (to earth) —and Allah SWT knows when that is— and Dajjal will come, and I will kill him. And the people will then go to their various lands, and Yajuj and Majuj will come forth 'from every single valley/area' [as per Quran, 21:96], and every water they pass by will be drunk/finished until I will make du'a to Allah that they be killed, so Allah will kill them, and the entire world will be stenched with their decomposed bodies, and I will then make another du'a to Allah to get rid of these bodies, so Allah will send rain from the sky and they will be washed away. When this happens, the Day of Judgment will be like a pregnant woman who is just about to give birth."

And the Prophet ﷺ said whatever Isa AS said is found in the Qur'an, "Until when [the dam of] Gog and Magog has been opened and they, from every elevation, descend" [21:96], etc.

So this conversation has been preserved, but anything else they talked about, Allahu a'lam.

Note also a lot of the hadith with the Prophet ﷺ narrate about Yajuj and Majuj, about Isa coming down, the Day of Judgment, etc., this incident shows one source is from Isa AS directly.

Another conversation recorded is when the Prophet ﷺ said, "I met Ibrahim AS on the night I went to al-Isra, and he told me, 'Ya Muhammad, give my salam to your ummah...'"—Ibrahim AS is telling his salam to us through his own son, the Prophet ﷺ—"'...and inform them that Jannah, its soil is beautiful and lush, but it is barren (flat without any trees), and the seedlings we put into the soil will come from 'subhan'Allah,' 'alhamduliLlah,' 'la ilaha illaLlah,' 'Allahu akbar.''"

Malik, the Gatekeeper of Jahannam
This could have happened in the Bayt al-Maqdis or in the heavens (we don't know for sure): It's narrated the Prophet ﷺ met Malik (مالك) the gatekeeper of Jahannam. His name is mentioned in the Qur'an: "And they will call, 'O Malik, let your Lord put an end to us!' He will say, 'Indeed, you will remain'" [43:77].

Jibril AS told the Prophet ﷺ, "O Muhammad, this is Malik, the gatekeeper of Jahannam. Give him salam," so the Prophet ﷺ said he turned around to greet him, but before he could say anything, Malik said salam first. The Prophet ﷺ replied with salam as well. The Prophet ﷺ further narrates Malik seemed very sad and never smiled and so the Prophet ﷺ asked Jibril AS why this is. (Note: The fact that the Prophet ﷺ asked this question shows the other angels clearly had a very positive/joyful/happy vibe coming from them — and this shows us angels were happy when they saw the Prophet ﷺ.) So Jibril AS responded, "He has never smiled or laughed since he has been created. Were he to have smile for anybody, it would have been you"—his association of guarding Jahannam has made him so somber that he has never smiled or laughed since he has been created.

Even though the Prophet ﷺ is going to see Jannah and Jahannam, he didn't visit Malik while he was 'on-duty' at the gate of Hellfire. Rather, Malik was brought up to say salam to him. Why? One of the wisdoms we derive is: To emphasize that the Prophet ﷺ is as far away from the Fire of Hell as the 7th heaven is from the bottom of the creation. (Even though Malik himself is a noble angel, but because the thing he is associated with is Jahannam.) And that's also why Malik was the one who said salam first — to show there is no relationship at all between the Prophet ﷺ and the Hellfire; to clearly show the distance and superiority of the Prophet ﷺ from ever coming close to anything to do with Jahannam.

The Prophet ﷺ then proceeded onward above the 7th heaven after seeing the prophets. He ﷺ said, "And then I saw in front of me the Sidrat al-Muntaha."

What is Sidrat al-Muntaha?

For the Arabs, what comes to mind when the word sidrah is mentioned is a type of wide tree that grows in the desert known for its large branches that cover a very wide and vast area, and it's known for its delicious fruit and sweet scent.

And muntaha means "the very end."

So Sidrat al-Muntaha (English: Lote Tree) means the "Tree at the Very End." And the Prophet ﷺ said, "The fruits of this Tree were as large as the water jars [of the people] of Hajar, and its leaves are like the ears of the elephants"—this is what we call eloquence; the Prophet ﷺ explains something using metaphors that the people in his time can understand.

After viewing it, Jibril AS told the Prophet ﷺ, "This is Sidrat al-Muntaha."

In a hadith in Bukhari, the Prophet ﷺ said, "Then Jibril AS continued going up with me, until we got to the Sidrat al-Muntaha. And it was enveloped with colors I don't know." Allah SWT Himself said in the Qur'an, "When the Tree was covered up by what it was covered up with" [53:16]—Allah does not tell us specifically what the cover is. (And it's interesting to note there are colors beyond the spectrum that we know of. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet — this is a very small spectrum. Beyond this is of course many other types of energy and light. And the Prophet ﷺ is seeing something that in this world cannot be seen. So he is definitely in another zone/dimension. He is witnessing colors coming from this Tree which he said, "I don't know how to explain these colors to you"—and we find this phrase very fascinating because it fits in very well with whatever we know of science. He is saying something so simple for the casual observer, but there is a profound truth to it.)

According to Bukhari, Sidrat al-Muntaha is the last thing the Prophet ﷺ saw before he went above to meet Allah SWT.

But in Sahih Muslim, Abdullah b. Mas'ud said the Prophet ﷺ said, "I stopped at the Sidrat al-Muntaha, it is in the 6th heaven. Everything that is raised up from the earth (e.g. du'a, prayer, good deeds, good words) stops at Sidrat al-Muntaha, and it absorbs them. And from it originates and descends down everything that is coming to this earth (e.g. Allah's rahma, rain). When the Tree was enveloped by what it was enveloped by, there were butterflies made out of gold." Allah SWT says in Surah al-Najm, "When there covered the Sidrat al-Muntaha that which covered [it], the sight [of the Prophet] did not swerve, nor did it transgress [its limit]. He certainly saw of the Greatest Signs of his Lord" [53:16-18]. So by viewing the Sidrat al-Muntaha, Allah is saying the Prophet ﷺ has seen of His most magnificent creations. In one version in al-Tabari, the Prophet ﷺ said, "When it was enveloped by what it was enveloped by, it kept on changing until nobody could have described it"—so the Tree is not a static tree. It's a dynamic, majestic tree that's out of this world, with constantly changing colors, etc., described as, "Ayat al-Kubra (Greatest Signs)," [53:18] in the Qur'an.

Note in one hadith in Bukhari, the Prophet ﷺ is recorded to have said he passed Ibrahim AS in the 7th heaven and then saw the Sidrat al-Muntaha, but in Muslim, he ﷺ is recorded to have said he saw the Sidrat al-Muntaha in the 6th heaven, so there is clear contradiction. Imam al-Nawawi tries to explain this and it seems like a good explanation: he says the trunk of the Tree begins in the 6th heaven, but its branches finish at the end of the 7th heaven — because the Sidrat al-Muntaha is the end of the creation as we know it; nothing is beyond it except the Throne and the One who is above the Throne.

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.

Thus from these we derive the Sidrah is a massive tree.

And note the motif/concept of a tree is very common throughout the Qur'an. It is the symbol of Iman, life, etc. It is in the fitrah of the children of Adam that when we see a tree, we are optimistic. To this day many NGOs use the symbol of a leaf/twig. Allah ingrained in our fitrah that it is a symbol of optimism, peace, and life.

Then the Prophet ﷺ said, "At the base of the Sidrat al-Muntaha, there are four rivers coming down. 2 of these are hidden, and 2 are open. So I said to Jibril what are these rivers? Jibril AS said, 'As for the hidden ones, they are ones in Jannah (i.e. you are not going to see them in the dunya). As for the ones everybody can see, they are the Nile river and the Euphrates river.'" From this we learn the Nile and the Euphrates are blessed rivers. And subhan'Allah, the Prophet ﷺ again just makes a passing statement that has a profound truth: Now we know the cradle of civilization has always been associated with these two rivers. The earliest civilization on earth was basically Mesopotamia (Ur, Babylon, etc.), which is associated with the Euphrates; and the second was on the Nile. These two rivers from the beginning of time have always been rivers of life and civilization. And Jibril AS said both rivers are from the blessings of Allah that everybody can see; they emanate from Up There (Allah knows how), but apparent for everybody [in the dunya] to see. As for the two rivers of Jannah [that are hidden], they are al-Kawthar [108:1] and Salsabil [76:18].

In one version of the narration, the Prophet ﷺ is recorded to have said, "THEN I saw al-Bayt al-Ma'mur." In another version, "I saw Ibrahim AS in the 7th heaven, sitting with his back on Bayt al-Ma'mur."

Now was this one incident and somehow it got into these two narrations, or was it two separate times the Prophet ﷺ saw Bayt al-Ma'mur? Allahu a'lam. We don't know exactly. This often happens in the narrations of al-Isra wal-Mi'raj (and Sirah in general) as it's the sahaba narrating and there is a human element of documenting the ahadith that we need to be aware of — it's impossible to reconstruct A-Z. So we're not sure exactly what happened when.

As we mentioned before, the Prophet ﷺ said, "The Bayt al-Ma'mur is a House similar to the Kabah [on earth]..." (or in another hadith, "It is above the Kabah on this earth...") "...such that if it were to fall down, it will land on the Kabah on the earth." And this is when he said, everyday 70,000 angels enter it never to return; this has been happening since Allah created it until Allah knows when — and of course if you do the math, after a while your mind starts boggling away. How many angels are there? Allah says in the Qur'an only He knows how many soldiers (angels) there are [74:31].

After this the Prophet ﷺ said he saw Jibril AS in his original form. And he ﷺ described him in many ahadith. One of them, in Sahih Bukhari, "Jibril AS had 600 wings. He blocked the entire horizons." In a hadith in al-Tabari, "From the feathers of Jibril's wings, pearls and corals were dripping." So just like Sidrat al-Muntaha, Jibril AS is not a static creature. Note 600 is the maximum number of wings any angel has, as Allah says in the Qur'an, most of the angels have "2, 3, or 4 wings" [35:1]. But Jibril AS has 600 wings because he is the best of the angels.

Ibn Mas'ud said when the Prophet ﷺ saw Jibril, this is the reference in the Qur'an:

لَقَدْ رَأَىٰ مِنْ آيَاتِ رَبِّهِ الْكُبْرَىٰ

"He saw of the Major/Greatest Signs of his Lord." [53:18]

What does it mean the Prophet ﷺ saw the Major Sings? 3 things:

Every one of them is of Allah's Major Signs. The Sidrat al-Muntaha represents the highest portion of this universe, the Bayt al-Ma'mur represents the spiritual Kabah of the heavens & the worship of Allah by the angels, and Jibril represents the most chosen of Allah's servants amongst the angels (so the most chosen amongst the children of Adam is seeing the most chosen amongst the angels in his original form. And it's said the Prophet ﷺ only saw Jibril AS in his original form twice — this is one of those two occasions.)

Somewhere in this period, the Prophet ﷺ was given the last verses of Surat al-Baqarah. Narrated in Sahih Muslim, Ibn Mas'ud said the Prophet ﷺ stopped at the Sidrat al-Muntaha in the 6th heaven [...] then he was given three things:

In regards to Baqarah, scholars say (opinion) the last two verses of Surat al-Baqarah occupy a special status in the Quran. As for the rest of the Quran, Jibril came down with it and recited it to the Prophet ﷺ, but there is only one passage in which Allah directly recited it to the Prophet ﷺ in His presence, and that is the last two verses of Surat al-Baqarah. The Messenger was brought up to receive the revelation rather than the revelation being sent down. Again, this is just an opinion — not something we can say for sure.

In a hadith, the Prophet ﷺ said, "I have been given these two verses from underneath the treasures of the Throne of Allah"—so this adds to what Ibn Mas'ud said.

We know the virtues of these verses: (1) The Prophet ﷺ said whoever recites these two verses, Allah will protect him. (2) And in another hadith, whoever recites these verses on a nightly basis, that will be enough for him. And there are various interpretations as to what "enough" here means: (i) One scholar says it will protect you from shaytan; (ii) others say even if you don't pray tahajjud, Allah will write you amongst those who are not ghafil (غافل - heedless), etc. Various interpretations.

So we should now memorize it and make it a habit to recite it every night.

It was then the Prophet ﷺ went to the gist of al-Isra wal-Mi'raj, and that is the Divine Appointment with Allah SWT Himself.

But going through the classical books, narrations, and dissertations, sadly, we cannot find anything authentic about the *details* of the meeting. There are many legends and fabrications that are not true; of them is that the tashahhud is a summary of this conversation — but this is fabricated.

Did the Prophet ﷺ go beyond the Sidrat al-Muntaha alone or with Jibril AS? There is nothing except an indirect reference in Sahih Bukhari: The Prophet ﷺ said, "Then I was caused to ascend forth"—so 'I' is used in the singular, no mention of Jibril, whereas before this it was always "Jibril continued going up with me." Allah knows best but we can assume from this the Prophet ﷺ rose beyond the Sidrat al-Muntaha alone.

Then he said, "I rose to a level where I could hear the Pen writing." Now what is the Pen? And who is the writer? Well, we know —as the Prophet ﷺ said— the first thing Allah created was the Pen, and then He told the Pen, "Write." The Pen asked, "What shall I write?" He said, "Write everything that will happen until the Day of Judgment." So the Pen is a creation of Allah that is writing alone; there is no scribe doing the writing.

This was an elite audience the likes of which never occurred. But we don't have any details about what was said except for the 50 salah (see next subtopic). Even though we can assume other things were also said, but the only thing that has been reported to us is that of 50 salawat. And in this perhaps there is a wisdom, that what happened is something private — Allah gifted the Prophet ﷺ with something so precious, noble, and blessed that he doesn't need/want to tell us. Only Allah and the Prophet ﷺ know the full conversation.

The only thing we know is Allah told him to pray 50 salah (plural salawat) every day. And the Prophet ﷺ goes back down through the heavens and meets Musa AS who tells him to go back up to ask for less. Now before we get to that, the Prophet ﷺ must have passed by Ibrahim AS on the 7th heaven, but Ibrahim AS didn't say anything. Why? Three reasons:

So Musa asks him, "What did your Lord tell you for your ummah?" The Prophet ﷺ said, "My Lord told me I should tell my ummah to pray 50 times a day." Here Musa says, "Go back to your Lord and tell Him to lower this because I have experience with the Bani Israel, and your ummah will not be able to do this." [The following is a detail that many people don't know, but it's in Musnad Imam Ahmad] The Prophet ﷺ then looked at Jibril AS wanting to get his opinion. And Jibril nodded to him. This shows us despite Musa being who he is, the Prophet ﷺ was not content until he got a second opinion. So backed with the opinion of the best angel and a noble prophet, the Prophet ﷺ goes back up.

Here is where the narrations differ. Some say it went down by 5, some say by 10 (both authentic, there is no way to resolve), but the point is the Prophet ﷺ went back and forth, up and down for at least five times, and every time, Musa AS is telling him the same thing, "Go back to your Lord and ask Him to lower it, because I have tested the Bani Israel and they were not be able to do this. Your ummah won't be able to do this," until finally when the Prophet ﷺ came back down with only 5 and Musa AS told him to go back one more time, the Prophet ﷺ said, "I have gone back and forth until I am embarrassed now. But I am content and happy." And when he said this, a Voice called out (of Allah): "My farida has been established and I have made things easy for My servants. It is five, but it shall be rewarded with fifty." What this means is Allah SWT had already decreed it would be five; Allah already knew the Prophet ﷺ would come back to Him; so the Prophet ﷺ was given the ilham to know when to stop. And this is why when it was reduced to five, the Prophet ﷺ said what he said. And then the Voice came out, and the two people hearing it are the two people who have already had an audience with Allah — Musa AS and the Prophet ﷺ.

From this incident so much can be derived:

17 fard rak'at
12 rak'at for sunan al-ratibah
2 rak'at before tahajjud
8 rak'at for tahajjud
3 rak'at for witr
8 rak'at for salat al-duha
————————————
50 rak'at on the dot

This was the regular routine of the Prophet ﷺ, even though this is not wajib for the ummah.

And this is just the regular, not including tahiyyat al-masjid, istikharah, etc.

What is the wisdom of bringing down a number when Allah knows it will be brought down? Why go through this whole routine from 50 to 45...to 10 to 5? Many reasons:

So the meeting with Allah SWT is the main incident, but it's not the grand finale, there's more to follow.

After this, the Prophet ﷺ described many other things he saw on the way down, including Jannah and Jahannam (will be discussed in the next episode).

Question: Why does he see all these things *after* the meeting with Allah SWT? Why not before? The wisdom here is obvious. That is, it's not befitting that the meeting with the King of kings be delayed. So he is going straight up, and once he meets and speaks with Allah, then he may go and do other things.

We used the word "meeting" Allah SWT and that is an appropriate word, however, scholars differ as to whether the Prophet ﷺ literally saw Allah. The majority and correct view is he didn't. He only saw the Veil of Allah (will be discussed in the next episode).

The beginning portions of Surat al-Najm describes certain of these incidents in indirect language:

"By the star when it descends,
Your companion [Muhammad] has not strayed, nor has he erred,
Nor does he speak from [his own] inclination/imagination [i.e. what he saw is not just a dream].
It is not but a revelation revealed [from Allah],
Taught to him by one intense in strength [Jibril] -
One of soundness [perfect, free of any defect]. And he rose to [his] true form
While he was in the higher [part of the] horizon [i.e. Sidrat al-Muntaha].
Then he [Jibril] approached [Muhammad] and descended
And was at a distance of two bow lengths or nearer.
And He [Allah] revealed to His Servant what He revealed [i.e. there's secrecy here that we don't need to know — all we need to know is the 5 salawat].
The heart did not lie [about] what it saw [note: Allah ascribed the vision to the chest because the Prophet's ﷺ eyesight absorbed it in, and when he's speaking, he's speaking the truth].
So will you dispute with him over what he saw?
And he certainly saw him in another descent
At the Sidrat al-Muntaha of the Utmost Boundary -
Near it is the Garden of Refuge -
When there covered the Sidrat al-Muntaha that which covered [it].
The sight [of the Prophet] did not swerve, nor did it transgress [its limit].
He certainly saw of the Greatest Signs of his Lord."
[53:1-18]

Q: If the Pen is still writing, is qadr still being written as we speak? Can it be changed?

A: There are 5 levels/types of qadr:

Side note: Angel of Death — Every one of us has a Malak al-Mawt (ملك الموت), an angel whose sole job is to take our soul when our time is done [Quran, 32:11], but it is possible that if you are good to your relatives for example, your lifespan will be increased [based on a hadith].

يَمْحُو اللَّهُ مَا يَشَاءُ وَيُثْبِتُ ۖ وَعِندَهُ أُمُّ الْكِتَابِ

"Allah blots out (erases) what He wills and confirms (what He wills). And with Him is the Mother of the Book (al-Lawh al-Mahfuz)" [Quran, 13:39].

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).

What's amazing about the story of the mashitah is Allah willed this story be preserved even though we don't even know her name; but the Prophet ﷺ narrated her sacrifice and courage to the ummah. Her exemplary Iman will be remembered and mentioned by the largest ummah and she will become a role model. It's amazing that this story, even though it happened in Musa's ummah, it's preserved in our ummah. Indeed this story isn't found in any of the Old Books, i.e., the Old Testament or Jewish scripture.

The Prophet ﷺ narrates in Sahih Bukhari that after he received the command for salah, he entered into Jannah. And he saw tents made out of pearls and the soil was made out of musk (perfume). As mentioned in previous episode, the priority of al-Mi'raj was the meeting with Allah — when that was over, then he could meet and see everything else.

Here we have a theological question and that is how do we understand the interpretation of the scholars who say, "Nobody has entered Jannah since the time of Adam AS until the Day of Judgment"? And this is something that hadith literature references as well that the first person to enter Jannah after the Day of Judgment will be the Prophet ﷺ. And there is also another theological maxim: "Whoever enters Jannah will never exit from it (especially after the hisab etc.)." (Note: The shaheed is not living IN Jannah — he is flying around and seeing Jannah, and he's not in his original body, he's in the body of a green bird, and he is hanging from the chandeliers of Jannah, but he is not living IN Jannah.)

The response: There is no clear-cut interpretation, but: (1) One can say of course it is true the Prophet ﷺ is the first person to enter Jannah after Adam AS, except he entered it once during al-Isra wal-Mi'raj, and then for eternity after the Day of Judgment, i.e., this was an exception. (2) Another interpretation is he is observing Jannah in a manner similar to the shaheed — he didn't enter but just surveyed.

And this is all that we know about his entering into Jannah.

The Prophet ﷺ also said he saw many of the punishments of Hell. (And this gives credence to the fact he didn't actually enter Jannah because obviously he didn't enter Hell — so when he describes Jannah, he most likely must have been an overlooker/overseer of Jannah, just as when he described Hell.)

The Prophet ﷺ gave many ahadith about the punishments of Hell he saw on the night of al-Isra wal-Mi'raj, and the descriptions spread over several hadiths. In each hadith he saw the punishment and then asked Jibril, "Who are these people?"

In one hadith, the Prophet ﷺ said he saw the punishment of the one who stole an orphan's money — they had noses like that of camels, and they were eating coals made out of fire, and their mouths would swallow the coals and it would come out through their anuses. And this is exactly what Allah SWT says in the Qur'an, "Indeed, those who devour the property of orphans unjustly are only consuming into their bellies fire" [4:10].

In another hadith, he saw people who had nails of copper, and they were scratching their bodies and faces because they used to backbite.

The Prophet ﷺ said he saw people who had in front of them pure meat and rotten meat, but they were eating the rotten meat and avoiding the pure meat. Jibril said, "These are the people that used to fornicate — they would leave the halal (spouses) and would go to the haram."

In another hadith, the Prophet ﷺ saw people with such large bellies they could not stand up, and animals were being brought over them to trample over them. Jibril said these are the people who got their money from riba (ربا). (The connotation here is greed, "Go get as fat as you can. These are your animals; and these are all that you owned. See what good they have done you on this day"—because once upon a time if you are rich, you had a lot of animals. In our times if you are rich, you have fancy cars and houses.)

The Prophet ﷺ also said he saw people who were cutting their own lips and tongues with scissors of fire/copper. Jibril said these were the people who used to tell others to do good, but they would forget themselves.

The Prophet ﷺ also said he saw the Dajjal, and one of his eyes was bloated (not seeing). In another hadith, the Prophet ﷺ said, "I saw the Dajjal, and I will tell you something no other prophet told his people, and that is his left eye is like a rotten grape (one of his eyes is bloated & not normal)." And the Prophet ﷺ also said, "Know that the Dajjal is one eyed."

So these are some of the things we hear about when the Prophet ﷺ is coming back down. We don't know the order or any further details as we did when the Prophet ﷺ was ascending.

The Prophet ﷺ came back down to Jerusalem and re-rode Buraq. Recall Buraq was the animal that transported the Prophet ﷺ from Makkah to Jerusalem.

There are some narrations, not fully authentic, that on the way back to Makkah, the Prophet ﷺ passed by three caravans of the Quraysh he recognized. On one of them, he noticed a certain people of the Quraysh (because everybody knows everybody in Makkah). On another, he drank some water from their public urn/canister (not private property), as he was feeling thirsty. And in the third, he said he saw so and so looking for a camel that had been lost. These are the three caravans he said he saw.

When he came back to Makkah, the Prophet ﷺ went back to sleep, and woke up in the Haram. This shows therefore the actual Isra took place from the Haram itself to Bayt al-Maqdis and then back to the Haram, in conformity with the Quran, "From al-Masjid al-Haram to al-Masjid al-Aqsa." [17:1] So the actual Isra took place from one masjid to the other. When he woke up, he himself tells us this whole story in the first person:

He said, "When I woke up the next morning, I felt an anxiety about how am I going to tell the people of what happened to me." Subhan'Allah, this shows the human nature of the Prophet ﷺ. It also shows Allah instructed the Prophet ﷺ to tell the people, as he wouldn't have told them without Allah's permission. He then continued, "As I was sitting anxious, nervous and worried, Allah willed that the enemy of Allah, Abu Jahl, passed by and saw me in that (grief-struck) state."

So Abu Jahl asked the Prophet ﷺ in a sarcastic manner, "What is the matter with you? Has anything happened?" The Prophet ﷺ said, "Yes, something happened." "What?" "Last night, I was taken from here to Jerusalem." Abu Jahl was shocked, "And you are here amongst us now?!" (The Prophet ﷺ himself narrates to the sahaba later, "Abu Jahl didn't know whether to mock and make fun of me then and there, or to delay it until later so that I would not retract what I said when he calls other people." i.e. Abu Jahl was being serious.) The Prophet ﷺ said, "Yes, I am waking up amongst you here." So Abu Jahl said, "If I call your people (the Quraysh), will you tell them exactly what you have just told me?" The Prophet ﷺ said, "Yes, I will."

So Abu Jahl started screaming out to the people, "Come forth, we have an announcement to make!" Makkah is a small city and Abu Jahl is a leading figure, so all the people gathered with curiosity. Abu Jahl said, "Tell them what you promised you would tell them." So the Prophet ﷺ said, "Last night, I went to Bayt al-Maqdis and I prayed in Masjid al-Aqsa." (Side note: Notice how the Mi'raj is not mentioned. Perhaps Allah told him to only mention the Isra. He leaves the Mi'raj only for the Muslims later on.) The people began reacting in different ways. Some began clapping, others put their hands on their heads, other began snickering and laughing. They didn't know what to do! He's never known to have lied before, so people are in shock, until one of them who has been to Jerusalem before quizzed, "Can you describe it (Bayt al-Maqdis) for us?" (Because everyone knew the Prophet ﷺ had never been to Bayt al-Maqdis.) And so the Prophet ﷺ began describing it until they began to ask him about specifics he wasn't able to recall. And again this shows his humanity - no human can recall everything.

As they began to ask more and more, the Prophet ﷺ said he got confused and became so worried and anxious like never before that he couldn't respond. The word used is "kurba/كرب" meaning literally terrified. Why is he terrified? Because it's a legitimate question but he can't remember the answers to all of them.

He then said, as he was waiting for what to respond with, "I saw in the distance Bayt al-Maqdis rising up in front of me until it extended above the house of Aqil b. Abi Talib (house he grew up in i.e. the house that used to belong to Abu Talib)." Subhan'Allah! "And no question they asked of me except that I saw the Bayt al-Maqdis being shown in front of me (from whichever angle I needed to see it), and I answered it fully." (Of course the Quraysh could not see it.) Until finally one of them said, "As for the description of Bayt al-Maqdis, he is fully accurate."

Ibn Hisham narrates: At this time, the Prophet ﷺ said, "I will give you some signs as well," and he mentioned the three caravans, "(1) One is the caravan of so and so, and they will be returning soon, (2) one is the caravan of so and so, and they lost a camel, (3) one is the caravan of so and so, and they had a large urn of water that I drank from." Abu Jahl said, "If you saw one of them in such and such a place, that caravan should be arriving in Makkah right now." And as they were discussing, the news arrives that the exact caravan is entering Makkah. So Abu Jahl goes and sees - and it was exactly as the Prophet ﷺ described. So he comes back and says, "This is clear sorcery/sihr."

There is a phrase that's only found in Ibn Hisham, and it doesn't have an isnad. It says, "When the news spread amongst the Muslims, some of them couldn't grasp it and they left their religion." This is problematic for many reasons. Most importantly, we don't have a single narration of any Muslim becoming murtad in the Makkan era. Significantly, a hadith in Bukhari says, in the 7th year of the Hijrah, when Abu Sufyan (who wasn't a Muslim at the time) was in Jerusalem and Heraclius quizzed him, "Has any one of them (the Muslims) left the religion after embracing it?", Abu Sufyan replied, "No." So for a fact we know nobody left Islam in the Makkan period. This is a fact. Yet here in Ibn Hisham we see a completely contradicting narration. Allahu a'lam, but we deduce that this line in Ibn Hisham must not be true. And indeed it doesn't have an isnad.

It is authentically narrated that at this time, the news reached Abu Bakr, which was before the Prophet ﷺ could tell Abu Bakr himself, one of the Quraysh came running and said, "Do you know what your companion has just said? He claims to have gone all the way to Jerusalem and back. Two months journey, in one night!" Abu Bakr replied, "If he said that, then it must be true." (Note: This shows his intelligence. He didn't say, "Yes, he did," rather, "IF he said that, then it must be true," because the Quraysh could be lying etc.) So the man said, "Do you believe him in such a claim?!" Abu Bakr said, "I believe him in something even more amazing than this: he claims that the revelation from above the seven heavens comes to him instantaneously." Because of this, from this time onward, Abu Bakr was called "al-Siddiq." He got the title from this occasion.

We've already mentioned Allah mentions the Isra in one surah, Surah al-Isra, and the Mi'raj in another surah, Surah al-Najm. It's interesting to note Surah al-Isra begins with the Isra, just one ayah, but the bulk of the surah talks about the Jews, their transgressions, the sanctity of Bayt al-Maqdis, and what is going to happen towards the End of Times about Bayt al-Maqdis [17:7]. As for Surah al-Najm, of course it mentions issues of the Mi'raj.

Ibn Abbas narrated that the Prophet ﷺ saw Allah.

But in Sahih Bukhari, Aisha RA said, "Whoever says the Prophet ﷺ has seen his Lord has said a huge lie against Allah, because Allah says in the Quran, 'Eyes cannot encompass Him.' [6:103]" In Sahih Muslim, one of the students of the sahaba, Masruq, asked her from behind the curtain, "My mother, allow me to ask something, and don't get angry. Didn't Allah say, 'And he has already seen him in the clear horizon' [81:23], 'And he certainly saw him in another descent' [53:13], 'And was at a distance of two bow lengths or nearer' [53:9]?" (Side note: Aisha RA never ever appeared publicly - always behind a curtain of niqab and hijab. Allah says about the wives of the Prophet ﷺ that if you have to speak to them, speak from behind a hijab [33:53]. And note this hijab was special, in that Aisha RA was behind an actual, physical curtain, so much so her figure could not be seen. Even when she went outside, there was an actual curtain on her camel.) Aisha RA responds back, "Subhan'Allah! My hair is standing on end because of what you have said. I was the first person to ever ask the Prophet ﷺ about these verses; but the reference is to Jibril - all of them are not to Allah Jalla Jalaluhu." Then she said, "Have you not read in the Qur'an, 'Eyes cannot encompass Him, and He encompasses all eyes.' [6:103]? And have you not read in the Qur'an, 'And it is not for any human being that Allah should speak to him except by inspiration, or from behind a Partition/Curtain, or that He sends a messenger (angel) to reveal' [42:51]?" So Aisha RA clearly knows her stuff. Subhan'Allah. Masruq thought he outwitted Aisha RA, but she knew better.

Further, in Sahih Muslim, Abu Dhar al-Ghifari RA asks the Prophet ﷺ directly, "Ya Rasulullah, did you see your Lord?" The Prophet ﷺ responds, "There was light; how could I see Him?" And the scholars have said the reference here is the light of Allah's Hijab. (Note: This shows the Prophet ﷺ went to a place no one has been to, as he saw the Veil of Allah.) Another hadith in Sahih Muslim says, "Allah has a Hijab of nur (light). If Allah were to lift this Veil, the rays that come from His face would destroy everything that it sees (i.e. everything in creation)." So Allah is nur [24:35], His guidance is nur. (We affirm every name and attribute of Allah, but we don't/shouldn't think "how", as there's no way we can comprehend it.) The nur of Allah is so powerful it can destroy the whole creation. And indeed what happened when Allah lifted the Veil for a split second for the mountain, when Musa requested to see Him? [7:143] The whole mountain collapsed. No creation can withstand the Beauty of Allah in this dunya. In order to protect the creation from His magnificence, Allah has taken a Veil. And unlike the veils in our dunya, which are always veils of darkness and cover, the Veil of Allah AWJ is light.

How then will the creation see Allah AWJ in the next world? In the next world, we will be in existence of a different type, not the physical bodies that we have now. It will be a perfect resurrection. And only in that existence will we be able to see Allah Jalla Jalaluhu. No one has seen Allah, nor could anyone see Allah, in this world.

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.

Another question debated by some early scholars, and being resurrected in our times: Was al-Isra wal-Mi'raj a dream, or an actual physical journey? Some of the early scholars say it was a dream based on narrations by some of the tabi'un/students of the sahaba, wherein the Prophet ﷺ said, "I woke up in Makkah in front of the Kabah." From this they deduce, "Because he 'woke up,' it must have been a dream." But the people who narrated this are only 1 or 2 in number, and it's clear they are misinterpreting the whole incident based on one phrase.

The fact of the matter is throughout medieval and pre-modern Islam, the Muslim ummah has unanimously agreed that the Isra and Mi'raj was in body and soul, flesh and spirit, in a state of wakefulness, and not in a dream. The evidences for this are too many to mention. Of this, had the Prophet ﷺ experienced it in a dream, what then is miraculous about him journeying to Jerusalem and back in one night? Indeed one can dream about going to the moon and back - and there's nothing amazing about it. So if it's a dream, why was he so anxious about telling it to the Quraysh the next day? Further there was a physical beast, the Buraq, needed to take him to Jerusalem. Of this is that he got thirsty on the way back and he drank the water - showing his state of wakefulness.

In our times, people who are afraid to believe in miracles (progressives and modernists) try to reinterpret these things to make it 'scientific' enough for them e.g. parting of the Red Sea, splitting of the moon, the Night Journey, and so on. But this is all wrong. These were real life miracles. Indeed in a dream you can do more than what the Prophet ﷺ narrated; so without a doubt it was in body and soul.

The event is mentioned in the Qur'an, and it's narrated in the mutawatir hadith (the authentic narrations that have been narrated by many companions), in excess of 40 narrations. Therefore anyone who denies this incident denies the Qur'an and the authentic hadith. No Muslim can do this.

The Prophet ﷺ tried presenting himself (ya'ridu nafsahu/يعرض نفسه) to the tribes that came for Hajj. And he asked them to sponsor him; to transfer allegiance. This was something known but very rare. The Arabs had this concept that sometimes someone changed tribes for a marriage or political reason. But this was rare. Nevertheless, the Prophet ﷺ tried to utilize this concept by approaching the various people that came for Hajj. (Note: We've already mentioned Hajj was a phenomenon that continued from the time of Ibrahim AS.) In Mina, different tribes camp in different zones (just like in our times where people from different countries camp in different zones). So the Prophet ﷺ would utilize the fact people came to him (to Makkah), and he went to each tribe asking for protection. There are records that even before Abu Talib died, the Prophet ﷺ was doing this, but he was only doing it to preach Islam, not to ask them to adopt him. But this time he went to them to ask for political asylum.

And there are numerous reports from eyewitnesses reporting what the Prophet ﷺ would say at the time. Of them is the story of Rabi'ah b. Abbad who many years later said, "I remember when I was a young child, a young man (the Prophet ﷺ) came and spoke to my father, telling him to embrace the worship of Allah, and to leave idolatry, and to accept him into his tribe. I also saw an elderly man standing behind him, wearing a Yemeni cloak, having two ponytails. When this young man finished and moved to the next tent, this elderly man came forward and said, 'O people, do not give up the way of your forefathers.'" So Rabi'ah says, "I asked my father who these two men were, and he told me, 'The first man is the man claiming to be a prophet, and the elderly man is his uncle Abdul Uzza (Abu Lahab).'"

In another narration reported in many books, the Prophet ﷺ said, "Who will take (adopt) me so that I may preach the message of Allah? Because the Quraysh have stopped me from doing this." So the Prophet ﷺ approached many tribes (e.g. Kindah/كندة, Banu Kalb/بنو كلب, Banu Hanifa/بنو حنيفة, Banu Amir b. Sa'sa'a/بنو عامر بن صعصعة, etc.) but all of them rejected the message, some of them more harshly than others. There are several interesting stories with regard to this:

The Prophet ﷺ approached the chieftain of Kindah. Note, Kindah was a tribal kingdom that was very prestigious a few hundred years back. However, at the current time they lost this status, though they are still a big tribe. So the Prophet ﷺ approached one of the chieftains of Kindah, and the chieftain listened very attentively, and then said, "This is a very interesting message. Come with me, I will grant you an audience with the other chiefs. What you said to me, say to them." So the Prophet ﷺ followed him and preached the same message to them. Then the man who brought him in said, "O my fellow tribesmen, if we were to take this matter from this young man (late 40s) from the Quraysh and adopt him, we will have a message through which we can conquer the other Arabs." Notice he is thinking politically. He wants to regain the tribal kingdom of Kindah. And he realized the power of this message of Islam. So he is telling the other chiefs to think not in terms of theology, but in terms of politics and power. Then he said to the Prophet ﷺ, "If we were to follow you, and then Allah gives us victory over your enemies, will you give us control of this affair after you?" Meaning, "Will we be the rulers after you?" So the Prophet ﷺ said very accurately, "The kingdom belongs to Allah, and Allah gives it to whomever He pleases." Notice the beauty of the speech - he didn't say yes or no. He is seeing the reason they want to embrace the faith is not genuine Iman, but politics. So he's not attracted himself to this group. So the chieftain said, "So you are asking us to follow you, stick our necks out behind you in order to have them cut off (in war etc.), and then after we have spilled our blood to conquer the Arabs, you will take the kingdom? Go, we have no need of this!" So the whole point for them was politics. They did not find any use in a message that would not give them power. And look at the wisdom, sincerity, and firmness of the Prophet ﷺ: the Kindah tribe is one of the heavyweights of the Arabs, yet the Prophet ﷺ did not compromise the message of Allah. He gave up an opportunity many of us would have no problem compromising. He realized two things: (1) The message of Islam cannot be compromised, and (2) this group of people wouldn't be true believers.

Another story is that of the Banu Shayban b. Tha'laba. Generally the Prophet ﷺ would go with Abu Bakr to a tribe because Abu Bakr was an expert at tribal knowledge (genealogy). (Note: This shows us the Prophet ﷺ took advantage of the knowledge of the people around him. If this is the case of our Prophet ﷺ, where do we stand? This is something many Muslim groups find awkward, "How could the Prophet ﷺ have benefited from the knowledge of other people?!" etc. But we keep on seeing in the Sirah the humanity of the Prophet ﷺ. Indeed he is Rasulullah but he doesn't have knowledge of all.) So when they go to this tribe, Abu Bakr says the salam and asks them, "من القوم؟" which is the polite way of asking, "Who are you?" They say, "We are the Banu Shayban b. Tha'laba." Then Abu Bakr leans over to the Prophet ﷺ and says, "Ya Rasulullah, the Banu Shayban are of the most noble, illustrious and intelligent tribes of the Arabs - and they have amongst them X, Y and Z, who are known for their generosity, sincerity, etc." So Abu Bakr is preparing the Prophet ﷺ and introduces the Prophet ﷺ. Then the Banu Shayban say, "What is your matter?" Then the Prophet ﷺ spoke, "We have come here to invite you to the worship of Allah alone, and that you reject the false gods. And we also ask you to accept us, take us into your tribe because the Quraysh have been arrogant and evil and prevented us from spreading the speech of Allah; and Allah is the Self-Sufficient, the Praiseworthy (i.e. I am asking for your help, but Allah does not need your help)." So the tribal leaders said, "Is there anything more?" The Prophet ﷺ recited the famous verses of Surah al-Anfal:

قُلْ تَعَالَوْا أَتْلُ مَا حَرَّمَ رَبُّكُمْ عَلَيْكُمْ ۖ أَلَّا تُشْرِكُوا بِهِ شَيْئًا ۖ وَبِالْوَالِدَيْنِ إِحْسَانًا ۖ وَلَا تَقْتُلُوا أَوْلَادَكُم مِّنْ إِمْلَاقٍ ۖ نَّحْنُ نَرْزُقُكُمْ وَإِيَّاهُمْ ۖ وَلَا تَقْرَبُوا الْفَوَاحِشَ مَا ظَهَرَ مِنْهَا وَمَا بَطَنَ ۖ وَلَا تَقْتُلُوا النَّفْسَ الَّتِي حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ إِلَّا بِالْحَقِّ ۚ ذَٰلِكُمْ وَصَّاكُم بِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ

وَلَا تَقْرَبُوا مَالَ الْيَتِيمِ إِلَّا بِالَّتِي هِيَ أَحْسَنُ حَتَّىٰ يَبْلُغَ أَشُدَّهُ ۖ وَأَوْفُوا الْكَيْلَ وَالْمِيزَانَ بِالْقِسْطِ ۖ لَا نُكَلِّفُ نَفْسًا إِلَّا وُسْعَهَا ۖ وَإِذَا قُلْتُمْ فَاعْدِلُوا وَلَوْ كَانَ ذَا قُرْبَىٰ ۖ وَبِعَهْدِ اللَّهِ أَوْفُوا ۚ ذَٰلِكُمْ وَصَّاكُم بِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونَ

"Say, 'Come, I will recite what your Lord has prohibited to you. [He commands] that you not associate anything with Him; and to parents, good treatment; and do not kill your children out of poverty; We will provide for you and them. And do not approach immoralities - what is apparent of them and what is concealed. And do not kill the soul which Allah has forbidden [to be killed] except by [legal] right. This has He instructed you that you may use reason. And do not approach the orphan's property except in a way that is best until he reaches maturity. And give full measure and weight in justice. We do not charge any soul except [with that within] its capacity. And when you testify, be just, even if [it concerns] a near relative. And the covenant of Allah fulfill. This has He instructed you that you may remember.'" [6:151-152] - verses about ethics and morality. The chieftains said, "Anything more?" The Prophet ﷺ said:

إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَأْمُرُ بِالْعَدْلِ وَالْإِحْسَانِ وَإِيتَاءِ ذِي الْقُرْبَىٰ وَيَنْهَىٰ عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالْمُنكَرِ وَالْبَغْيِ ۚ يَعِظُكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونَ

"Indeed, Allah orders justice and good conduct and giving to relatives and forbids immorality and bad conduct and oppression. He admonishes you that perhaps you will be reminded." [16:90]

So the chieftain said, "You have indeed come with good, and you have called us to the best of morals. And the Quraysh have lied against you." Notice even before the Prophet ﷺ has come, they're aware of the things Quraysh say about him. This shows the phenomenon of the Prophet ﷺ has spread amongst the Arabs. When he presents the message, they say, "The Quraysh have lied, and your message is indeed righteous." So the elder, Hani b. Qays, stood up and said, "I have heard what you have said, O member of Quraysh. And I feel if we leave our religion and embrace your ways after a first meeting, this will be a hasty decision, and it might cause us harm. We have also left people behind whose advice we haven't sought. So I think we should wait, and you should wait. And we shall return, and you shall return (i.e. next year)." And then this elder referred to their military leader, Muthanna b. Harithah, "What do you say?" (Notice clearly Abu Bakr was right when he said they are wise, intelligent, and noble people.) Their military chief said, "What our elder, Hani, has said is true. We will not be hasty. Also there's another matter: We have treaties with two groups of people: One with our neighboring Arab tribes, and one with Kisra (Sassanid Emperor)." Note: We can see from this that these people are living in the bordering regions of the Persian Empire. Muthanna continued, "As for the Arabs, we don't have any fear or worry; but as for Kisra, we have a deal with him to be neutral in all affairs in the Arabian Peninsular. And this matter of yours does not seem to be something the kings would approve of. So if we were to accept it, it would only be on the Arabs side. Not with our dealings with Kisra."

Thus he's basically saying, "We won't help nor fight you against the Persians." Indeed Kisra is a superpower. The Sassanid Empire. A mighty power; a massive empire. The Prophet ﷺ said, "Your response has been fair. But Allah's religion will only be helped by those who embrace it fully." Before leaving, the Prophet ﷺ said, "What if I were to tell you that this matter of Kisra, Allah will grant you victory over their kingdom? And you will enjoy their land, money, and captive women? Would you accept?" One of the younger ones said, "Yes, of course." But the elders couldn't believe this. This is an amazing prophecy that even though the Prophet ﷺ is in a dire situation, he is promising victory over the Persians. Subhan'Allah! What's amazing is the prediction was specific: it was for Kisra only (and not Qaisar).

(Tangent: Recall what happened [in later years] when the Prophet ﷺ sent the king [Kisra] a letter? The king tore the letter up. And the Prophet ﷺ said, "As he tore my letter up, Allah will tear their kingdom up." Indeed, for 400 years the Romans could not damage the Persians, but the Muslims destroyed it in 2 years. To this day historians are mystified, completely baffled, and astounded, "How could this have happened?" If anyone were to predict that the Persian Empire would collapse, you would be called crazy. If anything, the Romans were on the verge of collapsing, as Allah says, "Alif Lam Mim. The Romans have been defeated." [30:1-2] The Persians won at one point. And there was this fear that the Roman Empire would have to give up Damascus. Little did they realize Damascus would come into Muslim hands, and the Persian Empire in its entirety would collapse. It was one of the most astounding incidents in history if you understand what the Persian Empire was. Just google the images of their massive palaces in Ctesiphon. But this was all conquered by literally a group of Bedouins who had converted to a new faith, who had no military power etc. We all know the story between Rib'i b. Amir (ربعي بن عامر) and the Persian Emperor, Rustum (رستم), where Rustum basically said, "What are you guys doing here?" and Rib'i gave that brave response, "We have come out from our land to get people out of the worship of other people, and to embrace them into the worship of Allah SWT..." And it's amazing within 2 years the entire Sassanid Empire collapsed and became a nonexistent history of the past. All of these lands: Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, etc. became Muslim lands within a few years of the death of the Prophet ﷺ. This prophecy is what the Prophet ﷺ told to the Bani Shayban.)

The main story of course is the story of a small group from Yathrib (يثرب) whom the Prophet ﷺ was not too familiar with, even though he had visited the city once or twice as he had relatives there (his father's grandmother was a Yathribite).

The city of Yathrib was composed of three main groups of people. Two of whom were Arab, and one large group of Jews.

The Arab tribes:

The Jewish tribes:

The city had been a flourishing oasis for about 100 years. It wasn't an ancient city, it was relatively modern. Yathrib and Khaybar were the only areas in the entire Hejaz where there were Jews. The other closest Jews were in Yemen.

The year that Abu Talib died (the 10th year of the dawah), the Prophet ﷺ met the first group of the people of Yathrib whom would convert to Islam. The main thing that facilitated this conversion was the Battle of Bu'ath. This battle was the culmination of a civil war between the Aws and the Khazraj that lasted for over a decade. They were having minor skirmishes over typical Bedouin issues (e.g. land rights, watering rights, etc.), and this built up more and more until finally there was a major battle, the Battle of Bu'ath. This battle took place around 4-5 years before the Hijrah, i.e. around 2½-3 years before the meeting with the Prophet ﷺ.

Aisha RA said in Sahih Bukhari, "The Day of Bu'ath was a gift from Allah to the Prophet ﷺ. It was because of Bu'ath their unity had been fragmented (Aws, Khazraj); and their leaders completely decimated." The battle killed the bulk of the senior members of the Aws and Khazraj. And those left were generally the younger generation who had seen 10 years of blood and war and they were sick of it. So they were wanting something new, something that will give them meaning & purpose in life. Indeed youngsters are easier to change whereas elders are stuck on their ways. There was one senior member left after the battle, Abdullah b. Ubayy b. Salul. (And it was his seniority that gave him arrogance. In terms of rank, he was the undisputed leader of Madinah were it not for Islam. Eventually of course, he became the leader of the munafiqs.)

Before the Prophet ﷺ met these people, there are indications that the message of Islam had already reached Yathrib/Madinah. Of them is the story of Suwayd b. al-Samit (سويد بن الصامت). He was the poet of the Khazraj. Before the Battle of Bu'ath, in the earlier stages of Islam when the Prophet ﷺ was doing peaceful dawah, Suwayd went for Hajj and searched for the rumored Qureshi 'magician/poet' (i.e. the Prophet ﷺ). And he says to the Prophet ﷺ, "I have heard you have eloquent speech - I have something similar to you." The Prophet ﷺ said, "What do you have? Let me listen to it." Clearly it's at advanced level, typical classical pre-Islamic poetry. The Prophet ﷺ says, "What you have is good, but what I have is better." Indeed you cannot compete with the Quran. So Suwayd said, "Let me hear." And the Prophet ﷺ began reciting the Qur'an and Suwayd was dumbstruck. And he said, "Let me think about this. This is deep." Suwayd returned to Yathrib and it was in that year that the Battle of Bu'ath took place, and he died in the battle. Later on his people said, "We are certain he died a Muslim."

There are also other references of a young man of the Khazraj whom the Prophet ﷺ approached in the earlier days of dawah, and he almost converted were it not for the chief saying, "Mind your own business, don't worry about this guy." He also died in the Battle of Bu'ath and it's reported as he was dying he began reciting tasbih, tahmid and takbir. This is again before sajdah, salah, etc.

So there are references to Islam having reached Yathrib before anything (treaty etc.) happening. But the main conversion takes place in the 10th year of the dawah, the same year Abu Talib died. Abu Talib died around Ramadan or Shawwal, therefore the next month, say Dhu al-Qa'dah or Dhu al-Hijjah, the Prophet ﷺ is making his rounds in Mina looking for help and protection. Of course he is concentrating on the big tribes (Banu Kindah, Banu Hanifa, etc.), but he didn't ignore the smaller ones. So when he sees a small tribe at Aqaba (place where the stones are thrown, close to what is now Masjid al-Khayf), he asked, "من القوم؟/Who are you?" They said, "We are from the Khazraj." So the Prophet ﷺ thinks, "Which Khazraj?" And here Abu Bakr is not there to help him out. And he asks them, "Are you the neighbors of the Jews from Yathrib?" They said, "Yes." And then the Prophet ﷺ said, "May I speak with you?" They said, "Yes." So the Prophet ﷺ sat down and explained to them the teachings of Islam, recited the Quran, explained tawhid, warned against shirk, etc. all with the same passion, sincerity, and zeal as if he was speaking to one of the massive tribes like the Banu Hanifa, even though they were but six people without a tent. This isn't one of the rich tribes! (Note the Khazraj were a more poorer tribe, compared to the Aws. They consisted more of farmers and laborers while the Aws were more so the businessmen.)

And he moved on.

Subhan'Allah! Allah had willed that Islam would be helped by this 'obscure' tribe the Prophet ﷺ hardly recognized. This shows us we are never meant to trivialize any opportunity that presents itself. Never ever. Indeed the Prophet ﷺ is concentrating on the elites, but he doesn't ignore the others. When he passed by the Khazraj, he gave them the same dawah with the same zeal. And these six people converted to Islam as the first major converts from outside of Makkah.

Why did the Khazraj convert to Islam?

Of the six were some of the famous Ansar: Uqba b. Amir al-Juhani (عقبة بن عامر الجهني), Jabir b. Abdillah (جابر بن عبد الله), and As'ad b. Zurarah (أسعد بن زرارة). They converted and went back and spread the message until in the next few months everybody in the city of Yathrib had heard of the new message and knew some of their own that had converted.

What's really amazing about this story is that the Prophet ﷺ was being equally sincere to all the tribes. And he's literally just planting seeds - and Allah knows where the fruit will come from. The Prophet ﷺ didn't expect anything to come from the Khazraj. He himself said that when he was in Makkah, Allah showed him (in a dream) that he will be migrating to another land with greenery & palm leaves, so he thought it would be Yemen (he was expecting the big tribes), but rather it turned out to be Yathrib (which was to be called Madinah later). The point is the Prophet ﷺ did not expect it to be Yathrib, but he still gave his full attention to the people of Yathrib, and Allah SWT gave him back the fruit. And this is an important lesson for us - we should never trivialize any opportunity to do good, dawah, khayr, etc.

Indeed because our Prophet ﷺ did not trivialize the dawah, this initial seed of six people gave fruit; and the next year, more than double the amount of people came back to Makkah; and the next year, more than 10x the amount; and by the third year, they demanded from the Prophet ﷺ, "You are not going to live amongst those people who are persecuting you! You will come to us with izzah and honor! And we will give our lives and souls to protect you!" Indeed, "Whoever fears Allah, He will make for him a way out, and will provide for him from where he does not expect." [Qur'an, 65:2-3] And this is what happened with the Prophet ﷺ.

We'll see how within just 2½ years, an entire city could be demanding the Prophet ﷺ to come and be their leader.

The next year, they sent a message to the Prophet ﷺ, "We are coming for Hajj with 12 people all of whom have converted." (And this is amazing as this is the largest group of people outside of Makkah to convert since the beginning of the dawah. Never have 12 people converted from any group outside of Makkah/Quraysh.) Therefore in the 11th year of the dawah, 2 years before the Hijrah, 10 people from the Khazraj and 2 from the Aws came and met with the Prophet ﷺ in the Plains of Aqaba. Note at this time there was no secrecy - it was just 12 hujjaj having a conversation with the Prophet ﷺ (unlike the year afterwards, it's going to change).

Also we notice for the first time, the Aws and Khazraj seem to be forgetting about their war and hostility, and they are coming together for the sake of Islam. Never before have both parties come together for anything. For the first time we see signs Islam will cement bonds and unite the people. Note during the second visit, the bulk are still from the Khazraj (5:1 ratio), showing it will still take a while for them to unite fully. However, Islam will slowly but surely unite both fully.

In this meeting with the Prophet ﷺ, this was the first time they 'formally' converted. In those times, whenever anyone converted, they would give an oath to the Prophet ﷺ by placing their hand in the Prophet's ﷺ hand and swear a conversion.

Ubada b. al-Samit (عبادة بن الصامت) was one of those who witnessed this first covenant. It's called the First Covenant of Aqaba (Bay'at al-Aqaba al-Ula/بيعة العقبة الأولى). (Note what happened the year before is not called a covenant or bay'ah - we don't even know if those six accepted Islam on the spot; it was simply the opening up of their hearts to Islam.) Ubada b. al-Samit said in Bukhari, "I was of those who took the First Covenant of Aqaba, and it was the Oath of the Women (Bay'at al-Nisa/بيعة النساء)." This was an oath that had no political connotations - it's just an oath of theology and morality. (Unlike the Second Covenant that will take place the next year which will involve not just theology and morality, but also protection, alliances, and political support.) Why is this First Covenant called the Oath of the Women? Because when women would convert, the Prophet ﷺ would only ask them to live moral and righteous lives, and be worshipers of Allah (i.e. it only involves theology and morality). So this oath was called this because there were no political connotations, even though the participants were all men. So Ubada said the First Covenant was like an oath for women. Then he said, "And we swore to worship Allah alone, and not fornicate, steal, or kill our children. We will not live immoral and unrighteous lives. And we will obey the Prophet ﷺ in all good matters." Note at this time, the pillars weren't established besides salah and kalimah. Zakat, fasting, Hajj - these were not obligatory yet. Not even alcohol was banned (it's going to be banned in the 3rd year of the Hijrah). So the aim was to worship Allah alone and live righteous lives. The Prophet ﷺ said, "Whoever fulfills this oath, his reward will be with Allah. Whoever falls short and repents, Allah will forgive you."

When these 12 converted to Islam, the Prophet ﷺ chose a Qureshi by the name of Mus'ab b. Umayr (مصعب بن عمير) to go back with them to teach them the Qur'an and salah. It's narrated within a few weeks of Mus'ab reaching Yathrib, 40 people had converted. And therefore the Prophet ﷺ told them they may establish Jumu'ah Salah (Friday Prayer). And so the very first Friday sermon in the history of Islam was delivered by Mus'ab, NOT the Prophet ﷺ, as the people in Makkah couldn't pray in public. It was delivered in the house of As'ad b. Zurarah (أسعد بن زرارة) who was hosting Mus'ab.

What is the minimum required people necessary for Friday Prayer? The scholars of fiqh have differed over this issue. Hanbali madhhab says 40 based on this narration of Mus'ab and As'ad. They say the reason why Jumu'ah became obligatory upon them was because they reached the number 40. But if you think about it, was it really because they reached 40, or it just so happened coincidentally that they were 40 when the Prophet ﷺ sent the letter to do Jumu'ah? It appears that the Prophet ﷺ didn't even know how many people converted. He gave them the command to do Jumu'ah, and it just so happened they were 40. So this opinion doesn't seem to have very strong academic merit. Other madhhab say you need to have a "large group of people" (without a specified number). The fact of the matter is there doesn't seem to be any number specified in the shariah. Therefore it goes back to what is the minimal congregation that you need to establish a congregational prayer. Most scholars say the minimal congregation consist of 3 people, 1 of whom is the imam. So according to this opinion, if you have 3 people, you should do Jumu'ah. And according to another opinion, actually if there are 2 people including the imam, you should still do Jumu'ah.

[April 2020 note: With regards to COVID-19, Sh. YQ clearly says in his recent lectures: You should pray Zuhr (4 rak'at) at home.]

Eventually every single subtribe of the Aws and Khazraj had at least a household of Muslims. There's not a single locality of Yathrib except that there's one or more households that have embraced Islam. And the conversion of two people in particular led to a mass conversion. These two were the up and coming leaders of the Aws in the vacuum created by the Battle of Bu'ath. And these two were Usayd b. Hudayr (أسيد بن حضير) and Sa'd b. Muadh (سعد بن معاذ). (Side point: Usayd b. Hudayr is the one who whenever he recited the Qur'an, he would see the angels come down to listen to him - hadith in Bukhari. He would see some light coming down and listening to him (after Fajr). So he went to the Prophet ﷺ saying, "Every time I recite, I see these lights. My animals start getting agitated and I get worried what's going on." The Prophet ﷺ said, "These are the Peace (angels) of al-Rahman coming to listen to your Qur'an." And Sa'd b. Muadh is the one who's mentioned in a famous hadith that when he died, the Throne of Allah shook out of anger that someone had killed him.)

Usayd and Sa'd were close friends. They were talking and Sa'd says, "This new religion has come to our city, and my cousin As'ad is housing the man who is spreading the faith (Mus'ab). But because he is my cousin, I feel awkward going. So why don't you go and expel this man (Mus'ab) from our city?" So Usayd went with his spear. And when As'ad saw him marching with his spear, he said to Mus'ab, "O Mus'ab, this is one of our leaders of the Khazraj." Usayd came and said in an angry voice, "Why have you come to our land? To brainwash those of us who don't have strong intellect? To take our women and children away from our ways? To convert them to the ways of this new prophet of yours? Go back to where you came from if you value your life!" Mus'ab responded with a calmness and confidence that only Iman allows. He said, "Why don't you sit and listen to what I have to say. If you agree, that's good. If not, I will go." Usayd found this to be a very reasonable request, so he sat down and listened to Mus'ab preached to him the basic message of Islam. It was only after listening to the basic teachings, his heart opened up to Islam. He said, "What you have said makes complete sense to me. How does one embrace your faith?" Coming with a javelin to kill him, 5 minutes later he converts to Islam. Subhan'Allah! Mus'ab said, "Go do ghusl, say shahada, and pray 2 rak'at." So Usayd did so. Then he said, "I have a person who has sent me (Sa'd b. Muadh). If you can convince him of this, then you will have no opposition left." Mus'ab said, "Go send him to me."

So Usayd went back to Sa'd. Sa'd was sitting with his friends. As Sa'd saw Usayd, he said to his friends, "This is not the same man who has left us. (i.e. something is different about him.)" Indeed when you embrace tawhid, you change completely. Sa'd asked him, "Did you succeed?" Usayd said, "I tried talking to them but... Why don't you try?" He's basically trying to get him to go. And to add some salt and a sense of urgency, he said, "I've heard the tribe of so and so has decided to kill As'ad because he is housing the man" - based on a rumor.

So Sa'd became alarmed, and he took his weapons, and went marching, and said to As'ad, "O As'ad, had you not been my cousin, these weapons would not be hanging at my side (i.e. they would be unsheathed and out at you). It's because of our blood relationship that I am not taking this more. Get rid of this guest of yours, and tell him to leave our land and stop spreading his 'pollution.'" Mus'ab took over immediately and said, "At least listen to what I have to say. If you agree, good. If not, I will stop." Subhan'Allah, this shows his immense confidence in Islam. And so the same thing happens. The calmness and confidence of Mus'ab makes Sa'd think, "Okay, that's valid." And this time Mus'ab recited with beautiful recitation Surah al-Zukhruf [43], and this completely changed Sa'd b. Muadh. Indeed Qur'an is a miracle. Having heard it directly, Sa'd immediately said, "How do I convert?" So Sa'd as well converted.

With the conversion of both, the entire tribe of Banu Abd al-Ashhal (بنو عبد الأشهل), a subtribe of the Khazraj, converted - as these two were their leaders. And this was the largest mass conversion ever up to this point in time.

There was however one exception who did not convert - Usayrim (الأصيرم). The only pagan of the tribe of Banu Abd al-Ashhal for the next three years. He refused to convert even while slowly but surely everyone converted. And then he converted on one particular day.

Many years later, Abu Hurairah quizzed his students, "Who can tell me the name of the man who entered Jannah without having prayed a single rak'at?" Of course the tabi'un would not know. So Abu Hurairah said, "He is Usayrim of the Banu Abd al-Ashhal. He remained firm on his paganism until the Day of Uhud. On the morning of the Battle of Uhud, he decided to convert. When he came to fight in the Battle, his people said, 'O Usayrim, we have no need of you (since you are not a Muslim).' But Usayrim said, 'I am here to fight.' They said, 'Are you going to fight out of tribal loyalty, or out of love for Allah and His Messenger?' Usayrim said, 'I am now a Muslim, and I want to fight for the sake of Islam.'" So they took him to the Prophet ﷺ, and he embraced Islam after Fajr. And he became shaheed (martyr) before Zuhr. So no salah ever came at his time. There was no salah to pray. So the Prophet ﷺ said, "He did very little, but was rewarded a lot. And he is of the people of Jannah."

So Mus'ab converts a good amount of people of Yathrib. Therefore in the 12th year of the dawah, one year before the Hijrah, or to be more precise just a few months before the Hijrah (because the Hijrah takes place in the beginning of the 13th year), ~75 Muslims come to give their bay'ah to the Prophet ﷺ in Makkah. This bay'ah is called the Second Covenant of Aqaba (Bay'at al-Aqaba al-Thaniya/بيعة العقبة الثانية). Note these are only the ~75 who went to do the Hajj. For each of these people, there is at least 3 people at home in Yathrib. So ~75 people actually travel from Madinah to Makkah.

So Mus'ab returns with around 75 converts. In 1 year he manages to convert a minimum of 250-300 people. (This is the largest group of converts outside of Makkah, rivaling the quantity in Makkah. Subhan'Allah, why did the people of Yathrib embrace Islam so quickly when the people of Makkah was so stubborn that in 13 years the quantity of converts is just a little bit more than what it is in Yathrib? Why? Many reasons. (1) No persecution. (2) Monotheism tendencies of the people of Yathrib. (3) The main reason being the tribal leadership had been decimated in the civil war. And so there was a younger, fresher generation who hadn't been raised up in paganism - rather they've seen the foolishness of paganism which caused bloodshed etc. So they wanted a change.)

So around 75 people come for Hajj that year, and the Prophet ﷺ communicates with them and says, "We shall meet up on the last night of the Hajj before everyone returns home. Meet me before the Fajr prayer in the valley next to Aqaba."

Jabir b. Abdillah (جابر بن عبد الله), one of the most famous of the Ansar (or to be more precise, the people who were TO BECOME the Ansar), was an eyewitness to this bay'ah. He narrates, "The Prophet ﷺ stayed for more than 10 years in Makkah, preaching to the people in the Hajj season. And he would ask the other tribes, 'Who will support me so that I can spread the message of my Lord?' And he wouldn't find anyone embracing his faith except for a man or two from Mudar, Yemen, etc. (i.e. the converts were not en masse), until finally Allah SWT guided us to Islam. A group from the people of Yathrib preached Islam to us, we believed in him, and we recited the Qur'an, until not a single subtribe of Yathrib were there except that some amongst them had embraced Islam. And then Allah SWT caused us to come together, and we spoke to one another, and we said, 'For how long will we allow the Prophet ﷺ to be repelled from one valley to another outside of Makkah and live in fear?' (i.e. the idea came that we should now take in the Prophet ﷺ and protect him.)" And Jabir says, "Allah gave us this idea."

Kaab b. Malik (كعب بن مالك), the one whom Allah revealed his tawba in the Qur'an [9:118] in 9 AH, also witnessed this treaty, and he said, "When we went for Hajj, we hid our Islam from our pagan relatives. And we all agreed to meet at a particular place (the valley behind Aqaba) in the last third of the night. And we snuck out of our tents at nighttime, one by one, so as not to arouse suspicion (among the Khazraj), to meet with the Prophet ﷺ. And we waited for him. And eventually he came with his uncle al-Abbas, even though al-Abbas was still upon the religion of his people." Interesting. Abbas is coming even though he is still a pagan at this time.

Continuation of Jabir's narration: Jabir says, "So we gathered together in the last night of the Hajj. When his uncle Abbas came, he said to the Prophet ﷺ looking at all of us, 'O my nephew, I don't know any of these men, and I don't feel comfortable.'" Remember Abbas is a trader - he knows many of the elders of Yathrib from his traveler's days, but these elders have now died in the Battle of Bu'ath, and Abbas doesn't know any of these 'youngsters,' so he didn't feel comfortable. Because he is thinking in terms of jahili tribalism.

And this shows why Abbas is coming. He feels a sense of loyalty out of tribalism and thinks he needs to negotiate the Prophet's ﷺ release to the people of Yathrib as the senior most member of the Quraysh who still acknowledges him. This shows that just like Abu Talib, Abbas genuinely loved the Prophet ﷺ with a natural love. (Eventually he is going to convert to Islam, but much later on.) Also Abbas and the Prophet ﷺ were foster brothers and of a similar age, so there was a strong bond of friendship, even though they were uncle and nephew. The Prophet ﷺ trusted al-Abbas.

Continuation of Jabir's narration: "We came in front of the Prophet ﷺ, and Abbas was the one who stood up to speak on behalf of the Prophet ﷺ. He said, 'O people of the Khazraj (even though there were some Aws as well), you know the status of this man (the Prophet ﷺ) amongst us (the Banu Hashim). And we have protected him from his own people even though we agree with our people (i.e. we agree with the religion of our people, but we have prevented them from harming this man). He has izzah and honor amongst us; and he has protection. But he has decided to leave us to go over to you. So if you are sure that you can live up to your conditions with him, and protect him from those who disagree, then you shall bear this responsibility. Otherwise, let him be from now. And realize that he is honored amongst his people.'" Abbas is clearly not trusting of the Khazraj, very hesitant at what's happening, and also embarrassed at the fact that his own nephew has to leave the Banu Hashim because they couldn't do their job. So he is trying to overcompensate by saying the Prophet ﷺ has izzah and protection, but that's no longer true after the death of Abu Talib.

The people replied, "O Abbas, you have spoken, now let the Prophet ﷺ speak. Ya Rasulullah, put up the conditions." The Prophet ﷺ stood up and began preaching about fearing Allah AWJ, recited the Quran, and then said, "I shall give you the allegiance/bay'ah in return for mun'ah (protection), that you shall protect me like one of your own." One of the soon-to-be Ansar, al-Bara b. Ma'rur (البراء بن معرور), said, "We are experienced in the arts of war - this is an easy condition. We will protect you, no one will touch you. Stretch forth your hand and we will give you the allegiance." This was a hasty response but also one of Iman.

Another soon-to-be Ansari stood up: Abu al-Haytham b. al-Tayhan (أبو الهيثم بن التيهان), the famous soon-to-be Ansar who [in later Sirah] fed the Prophet ﷺ, Umar RA, and Abu Bakr RA when they were all hungry wandering the streets with a stone tied to their stomach. This is a man of intelligence. He said, "Ya Rasulullah, we have ties (political treaties) with the Jews. By accepting you, those ties will be broken and we know it. So once you come over to our side and then Allah gives us victory, will you then leave us and go back to your people?" He firmly believes this is the Messenger of Allah, and that victory will come. But he is saying his fear is once they have victory, will the Prophet ﷺ go back to Makkah, leaving them in a very difficult situation in Madinah (after breaking ties with the Jews). The Prophet ﷺ smiled and said, "No. My blood is your blood, and my destruction is your destruction." i.e. 'We're gonna live together, we're gonna die together.' A very beautiful phrase. So the Prophet ﷺ is saying he will now permanently be a Madani. And this was the condition they wanted (i.e. they are satisfied with the response). Subhan'Allah, look at their Iman. Contrast this with those of Kindah who wanted "leadership" after victory. Note the Aws and the Khazraj are the Qahtani Arabs, a totally different branch than the Quraysh. They are people of Yemen. And there are so many ahadith where the Prophet ﷺ praised the people of Yemen. Of them, "The people of Yemen are the softest in their hearts, and the gentlest in their chests" i.e. they're very good people. Of them, "Iman is Yemeni, and wisdom is Yemenite." So even in the Aws and the Khazraj we see their wisdom and Iman.

Also notice the bravery of Abu al-Haytham, he asked a very blunt question that might even border on sacrilegious. The openness and freedom is really amazing to see.

Also once the Prophet ﷺ gave his word, obviously he lived up to it. When [in later Sirah] he conquered Makkah and he is with his entire tribe all of whom have accepted Islam; and there was the house of Khadija where he lived for 20 years, and the house of Abu Talib where he grew up in and lived for 40 years; and he could have moved back if he wanted to; what did he do? Eventually he turned his back to Makkah and walked back to Madinah, and he lived in Madinah, and he died in Madinah, and he is buried in Madinah. Subhan'Allah.

They said, "O Messenger of Allah, what is the phrase of the bay'ah we should give?" The Prophet ﷺ said, "You must give the bay'ah that you hear and you obey in times of difficulty and ease, and that you spend (of your money) in the way of Allah SWT, and that you command the good and forbid the evil, and that you speak the truth no matter what the consequences, and that you help me once I come to Yathrib just like you help your own family." These are the political conditions along with Islamic conditions. Once he said this, a voice cried out from amongst them, "And what shall we get in return?" And the Prophet ﷺ said the one word they wanted to hear. He said, "Al-Jannah." No money, fame, or fortune. Paradise will be yours. And that's all they wanted to hear. And they all stood up to give the bay'ah.

But before anyone could embrace the Prophet's ﷺ hand, As'ad b. Zurarah held on to the Prophet's ﷺ hand and kept it down. This is a freedom of expression that is unbelievable. He did not allow him to raise his hand. And he said, "Wait, everybody." (Remember As'ad is one of the six, one of the first converts, the guy that housed Mus'ab.) He said, "O people of Yathrib, we haven't traveled this whole distance except that we know this man is the Messenger of Allah. And once his people expel him, then you will be asking for war (i.e. once the Prophet ﷺ leaves the Quraysh, the Quraysh will try to kill him). And so if you're ready that your necks meet swords (i.e. if you're ready to die), then go and give him the oath of allegiance. And realize the best of you will be killed, fathers will lose their sons, and sons will lose their fathers, and you will cause death amongst yourself. If you're prepared to do this, then give him the oath. If not, then stop now, perchance Allah will forgive you." i.e. 'This isn't a joke. This is the last chance. Once you put your hand in his hand, end of story, there's no going back.' This is the intelligence of As'ad - he didn't want the punishment of Allah to come if his tribe eventually say they can't do it, it was too much, etc. But they said, "O As'ad, you have spoken enough. Get your hand off the hand of the Prophet ﷺ. We want to put it." And so one by one, all 72 men amongst them gave the bay'ah to the Prophet ﷺ, and in return, he promised each one of them Jannah. One by one. What a beautiful, blessed group that is. And the 2 women that were present there, the Prophet ﷺ took their oath of allegiance verbally. He did not take it in his hand. As we know, he never touched the hand of a woman that was not related to him.

When the entire oath was finished, Abbas was looking along in great worry, and he said to the Prophet ﷺ, "These are people I don't know any of them. And all of them are young kids." He's very worried about the Prophet ﷺ. But if Abbas did not know them, then Allah AWJ knew them. If Abbas did not recognize them, then Allah and His Messenger did indeed recognize them.

Recall we began to discuss the preparation for the Hijrah and the two types of covenants (bay'ahs) that took place between the Prophet ﷺ and the people of Yathrib. The main difference between the first and second covenants was that the first was a 'Women's Covenant' - based on religious commitment only. The second was a commitment of protection and war as well as religious. Notice also the second covenant mentions a defensive protection, not an offensive attack. Therefore as we will mention [in future episodes], when the Battle of Badr takes place, the Prophet ﷺ had to basically ask the Ansar, "Are you agreeing? Is this fine with you [to launch an offensive attack with us against the Quraysh]?", as the covenant was more so about defense, as the Prophet ﷺ said, "You will protect me like one of your own...," "...and you will get Jannah."

And right before they gave their oath, for one last time, As'ad b. Zurarah said, "O people, don't be hasty! We have traveled all this way knowing he is the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, but realize this covenant is not like the first one - if you say yes, you will lose children, make women widows, etc. If you are ready to do this, take this oath or otherwise excuse yourself now!" Clearly As'ad is thinking about the future. But when he said this, the people said, "You have spoken enough. Get your hand off the hand of the Prophet ﷺ and let us give our bay'ah."

All the while Abbas is standing there displeased, "I don't know any of these people. They are all youngsters." And he is thinking in terms of Jahiliyyah, that there are no elders there. "Why would these youngsters do anything for you?!" - Abbas could not see why the Aws and the Khazraj would be loyal to the Prophet ﷺ, and this is what Abbas was worried about. But of course Allah already chose them for the big mission that is to come.

In Ibn Hisham it's narrated that while the oath was going on, they heard a loud voice in the Valley of Mina. The voice cried out, "O people sleeping in the tents (hujjaj)! Do you not know that a group of rebels/blameworthy people have gathered together with the Sabi' (صابئ) to wage war against you?!" (Note here a "Sabi'" for the jahili Arabs meant someone who has left the religion of their forefathers [i.e. paganism], and become a monotheist.)

(Tangent: Note that in the Qur'an, the term Sabi'un [صابئون] means something different. Who are the Sabi'un according to the Qur'an [5:69]? A group that goes back even before Christianity. So much so they claim to have a book from Sheeth AS [the son of Adam AS1]. And they still exist in our times. Very small quantity, roughly 30,000 people. They don't eat pork, have to do ghusl after janaba etc., so they clearly have some type of shariah. They come from the land that is the cradle of civilization that has all the religions, subcultures, and sects of the world, which is Iraq. In our times they are called al-Mandaiyun [المندائيون] or Mandaeans, and they are all Iraqis.)

So a voice cried out in the middle of the night saying, "They are waging war against you under the Sabi' (the Prophet ﷺ)." And the Prophet ﷺ said, "This is Azab b. Uzayb (عزب ابن عزيب), the leader of the shayatin of Aqaba. I swear by Allah, O enemy of Allah, I will deal with you."

The shaytan felt so overwhelmed that something will happen and Islam will now grow, he screamed out to the human world, to the people of the tents. And subhan'Allah, the Prophet ﷺ knew the name of the shaytan and knew he was the leader. And we learn from this incident (and other sources) that shayatin live in abandoned valleys and places that people don't frequent.

The Ansar when they heard this said, "Ya Rasulullah! Should we not launch an attack now? If they're going to fight us, shouldn't we preempt the attack? We are 70 strong, we all have our swords and they are unarmed." Note in Hajj you can only carry one weapon, that is a defense sword (e.g. against an animal if it attacks you), it's not the fighting sword. So the Ansar said, "We are 70 strong and they are not prepared. We can attack them in the middle of the night and have a huge 'victory.'" But the Prophet ﷺ said, "I have not been commanded to do this," i.e. "This is not my methodology to just go kill people like this." So the meeting wrapped up quickly, the bay'ah was finished, and the Ansar went back to their tents silently just as they had come.

The rumors have spread. So the next morning a delegation from the Quraysh was sent to each camp and they asked, "Do you know of any meeting that took place with this man, Muhammad [ﷺ]? Did anybody from your tribe meet him?" When they went to the tents of the Khazraj, the Muslims of them remained silent, and the pagans of them swore by Allah that they haven't meet with the Prophet ﷺ. As Muslims we are not allowed to lie, so the Muslims of the Khazraj didn't say anything, and basically they went in behind the oath of the pagans. So the matter was resolved.

The incident of the bay'ah clearly shows that the Ansar are developing their Iman. Not only are they the ones who say, "For how long will we let the Prophet ﷺ beg tribes for protection? Why don't we adopt him?" but they are the ones who volunteer, "Why don't we launch an offensive attack?" They are so eager to protect the Prophet ﷺ. Therefore when the Battle of Badr took place [in later Sirah], which was offensive and not defensive, they all volunteered. None of them held back. Even though the letter of the law was only defensive.

One of the most beautiful blessings of the Ansar is: After the Conquest of Makkah, when the Prophet ﷺ gave many of the leaders of the Quraysh and Thaqif large amounts of money—so much so an entire valley full of sheep to one of them—and the Ansar felt, "We are the ones that fought and did all the hardship and yet they get the bulk of the booty?" what did the Prophet ﷺ say? He called a meeting just for the Ansar. None of the Muhajirun. (Side note: The fact that the murmuring only happened amongst the Ansar, and not the Muhajirun, shows that the level of the Muhajirun is higher than the Ansar.) The Prophet ﷺ made sure there were no Muhajirs in the tent, and he ﷺ gave a beautiful and loving speech to the Ansar, "Were it not for the Hijrah, I would have been a man of the Ansar. And if the Ansar went in one direction and all of mankind went in another, I would go in the direction of the Ansar." And then he said, "O people of the Ansar, are you not happy that these people go back with the sheep and dirham and dinar, and you go back with the Messenger of Allah?" Amazing. And of course at this they all broke down crying and they were satisfied. Even after the Conquest of Makkah, the Prophet ﷺ did not stay in Makkah; he went back to Madinah with the Ansars.

(Tangent: Of course the Ansar got a share of the booty, but it's up to the commander what to do with the surplus. In this instance, the Prophet ﷺ gave the bulk to those leaders [of Thaqif etc.], whose Iman was very weak, to gain their trust. And indeed one tribal leader, when he got a large share, he said to his people, "O my people, embrace Islam! For wallahi, this man does not fear poverty or love wealth" i.e. "He must be a prophet!")

And the Prophet ﷺ said (mentioned in Bukhari), "Loving the Ansar is a part of Iman."

And in another hadith, "Hating the Ansar is a sign of hypocrisy."

Therefore we must love not only all the sahaba, but the Muhajirun and the Ansar in particular.

In another hadith he ﷺ said, "O Allah, forgive the Ansar and their children."

(i) Asma bint Amr (أسماء بنت عمرو) - Sadly just like the majority of the sahaba, we don't have any detail about her. All that we know is that she was the cousin of Muadh b. Jabal (معاذ بن جبل) RA.

(ii) Nusaybah bint Kaab (نسيبة بنت كعب) - She participated in the Battle of Uhud [later in 3 AH], and severely wounded in the battle (over 12 wounds). She also witnessed the Oath of Ridwan [in 6 AH]. Her son became a general under Khalid b. al-Walid. And he was martyred in front of her eyes by Musaylamah the Liar, in the Battle of Ridda [11-12 AH]. And in her 60s she participated in the wars against the Romans [the Battle of Yarmouk, 15 AH], and her hand was cut off. She lived up to her oath to the Prophet ﷺ. Masha'Allah.

إِنَّ الشَّيْطَانَ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ فَاتَّخِذُوهُ عَدُوًّا

"Indeed, shaytan is an enemy to you; so take him as an enemy." [35:6]

So the question arises: Are all of these phases equally legitimate based on our circumstance? OR is it that the early phases were all just building up to the final phase in Madinah and thus the only legitimate phase is the final phase that the Prophet ﷺ died upon?

This is a classic controversy. It goes back to the earliest scholars. A small minority of them, e.g. Ibn Hazm al-Andalusi, said, "All of the earlier phases cannot be used. We must go with the last phase, which is all out offensive war." But he was writing at a time of the beginning of political decline of Andalus, so there was a level of desperation. However this is a minority opinion. The majority of scholars have always understood that other phases were NOT abrogated—there is no reason to consider them to be abrogated. And therefore our religion has given us many options politically.

Some groups only have one vision for the whole ummah. E.g. the Ikhwan, Jamaat-e-Islami, Hizb al-Tahrir etc. they have one unified vision for the entire ummah. But this is not very wise. It's not academic. It doesn't work that way. Every group of people needs to look at their own situation. What's happening in Pakistan is not what's happening in Egypt. What's happening in Egypt is not what's happening in Tunisia and Algeria. What's happening in Algeria and other Muslim lands is not what's happening in America. Even in Western countries, what's happening in France is not what is happening in America. If you study the political climates of every country, you'll find so many scenarios and circumstances unique to every country. So with respect to all the groups, the scholars of each locality need to study the Sirah afresh and anew; they need to study it in light of their circumstances. The Sirah will always be a source of inspiration, of model of how to live our lives. So we should always go back to the Sirah and find that which is the most suitable for our time and place. One of the models that is closest to the model of Muslims in the West is the model of the Muslims in Abyssinia. Of course we will never going to get a 100% hand-fitting gloves, but we have an overall model. E.g. they had no political ambition to conquer Abyssinia. Their goal was to worship Allah SWT in peace. They had no political ambitions to challenge the authority of the status quo. They had their business to worship Allah in peace; and the political system is what it is. This is a basic premise we as UK or American Muslims can use. As for other lands, let the scholars of those lands look and deal with their own situation. There's no question the perfect vision is that of Madinah, but all other phases are equally acceptable. We have options to choose from, and that is the beauty of the Sirah.

And thus the Second Bay'ah was completed. The Ansar returned home even more excited waiting for the Prophet ﷺ to come to their city of Yathrib, which will later be called the Madinatu Rasulillah [ﷺ].

After the Treaty of Aqaba, the Prophet ﷺ made an announcement to the Muslims, "Allah has shown me the land you shall emigrate to. [I saw it in a dream.] It's a land of date palms between two volcanic plains." And indeed Madinah is in the middle of two volcanoes either side. And it has date palms. According to one narration, the Prophet ﷺ announced it, but he didn't specifically know what city it was. So he speculated, "I've been shown it, and I think it is such-and-such," but he didn't know the city. Then a few days later he said, "Allah has told me it is Yathrib."

In one version he said, "I thought it might be Khaybar, but it is in fact Yathrib." In another version he said, "I thought it might be [...and he mentioned a land in Yemen]." - Because there is only a few places in the Arabian Peninsula that has date palms in a large amount. Khaybar and that place in Yemen are of the candidates, but both don't have volcanic plains around them. Only Madinah has both of these signs. And so in a later hadith, the Prophet ﷺ said, "Allah has told me that it is [in fact] Yathrib."

So he gave the Muslims the permission to emigrate. So the Muslims began emigrating by ones and twos, secretly. None of them did so in public except for one or two exceptions as we will come to. The reason they emigrate secretly is of course because the Quraysh would not be willing to allow this to happen.

It's said the first person to emigrate was Abu Salama b. Abd al-Asad (أبو سلمة بن عبد الأسد), the husband of Ummi Salama (who was to become the wife of the Prophet ﷺ later on).

(Backgrounds of Abu Salama: Abu Salama was a man who was a free nobleman, but was not a Qureshi, and he moved to Makkah to live with his wife, Ummi Salama, who was a Qureshi. He and his wife both moved to Abyssinia during the first emigration, and when the 'satanic verses' incident happened, they came back to Makkah and decided to stay. So they are the few who are called the People of the Two Hijrahs [Hijrah to Abyssinia & Madinah].)

Abu Salama gathered his belongings, put his wife and his one son on his camel, and he made his way out. He was the first to emigrate, so he didn't know how the Quraysh would react, so he didn't do it secretly. (It is said that the following incident that took place is the reason why people started migrating secretly.) Everybody in Makkah knew he was about to leave. The news spreads amongst the people, so when he leaves, the Quraysh come and confront him with their weapons. And they said, "O Abu Salama, where do you think you are going?" He said, "I am a free man [so I can go wherever I want]; I am leaving for Yathrib." They said, "As for you, yes, we have no right over you. But as for your wife, she is ours. And we won't let you take her or her son, as he is our son." - not that they have any interest in Ummi Salama or her son; it's just pure zulm. So they forced him to leave his wife and child and expelled him. Everything is taken from him including his wife and son. When Abu Salama's tribe found out that he had been treated this way, their Jahiliyyah got the better of them, and they marched to the Quraysh and said, "As for the lady, she is yours; but this boy is ours!" They took the boy, but the Quraysh held on, and it became a tug of war with a two year old; until his hand was dislocated! And Ummi Salama cried out, "Let them take the boy!" This is all just Jahiliyyah; not that either party cares about the boy; but it's just the issue of arrogance.

So Abu Salama's tribe took the baby, Ummi Salama is left with the Quraysh, and Abu Salama goes to Madinah alone. And Ummi Salama narrates this story herself, "For more than 16 months I would go to al-Bat'ha (البطحاء - the farthest place outside of Makkah that is still within view of the city), crying everyday, not able to do anything." - because that's where her child and her husband have gone. And she continues, "Until finally, some of my cousins had sympathy on me, and they begged the elders of the Banu Makhzum to let me go."

So she went to the tribe of her husband, and by this time the tempers had calmed down, so they gave back the boy, so she took the boy, and walked into the desert, and set out for Madinah, putting her trust in Allah, "I need to get to Madinah somehow." And she says by the time she got to Tan'im (تنعيم - where Masjid Ayesha is in our times), she met Uthman b. Talha (عثمان بن طلحة - not a Muslim at this time), and he sees her all alone in a dangerous place, so he asks her, "What are you doing?" She says, "I am going to my husband, Abu Salama, at Yathrib." He says, "You're all alone?" She says, "I have no one." So Uthman says, "Wallahi, this will not be. I will take you (to your husband in Yathrib)."

Ummi Salama when she narrates this story to the sahaba, she says, "I don't think there is any more noble gentleman amongst all of the Arabs than Uthman b. Talha. He walked on foot [and let us ride his camel] the entire way, from Makkah to Madinah. And he didn't say a word to me. And when it was time to stop, he would tell the camel to come down, and he would go forward and turn his back on me (to protect my modesty - because I'm a woman). When I would get down, he would put me under the tree to let me sleep, and he would sleep by the camel. And then in the morning, I would get back on the camel. And we proceeded this way, until finally I could see the houses of Yathrib, and he said, 'Your husband is over there,' and he let me go on the camel." This is Uthman b. Talha. Not even a Muslim at the time. Would we have done even a fraction of this? From Makkah to Madinah, WALKING. This was at least a 2 weeks journey, one way. And on the way back he doesn't even have a camel.

No doubt Allah will reward him. No doubt. And who is this man? Allah gave him the honor to be the very last batch of converts before the Conquest of Makkah [8 AH]. Him, Amr b. al-As, and Khalid b. al-Walid would do Hijrah right before the Conquest of Makkah. And converting before the Conquest is a big honor, as this is a sign of a genuine conversion to Islam. Indeed, Allah says:

لَا يَسْتَوِي مِنكُم مَّنْ أَنفَقَ مِن قَبْلِ الْفَتْحِ وَقَاتَلَ ۚ أُولَٰئِكَ أَعْظَمُ دَرَجَةً مِّنَ الَّذِينَ أَنفَقُوا مِن بَعْدُ وَقَاتَلُوا

"Not equal among you are those who spent before the Conquest [of Makkah] and fought [and those who did so after it]. Those are greater in degree than they who spent and fought afterwards." [Qur'an, 57:10] And then in the Conquest of Makkah, when Makkah is conquered, the Prophet ﷺ handed out the big prizes of the Kabah, and that is the siqaya (the right to give the water to the pilgrims), and the right to the key of the Kabah. Abbas was given the siqaya, and he wanted the key as well, but at this Allah revealed:

إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَأْمُرُكُمْ أَن تُؤَدُّوا الْأَمَانَاتِ إِلَىٰ أَهْلِهَا

"Indeed, Allah commands you to render trusts to whom they are due." [Qur'an, 4:58] So the Prophet ﷺ gave the key to Ali b. Abi Talib and said, "Go give this to Uthman b. Talha, and it shall be with him and his descendants until the Day of Judgment. And anybody who tries to take it from him will be a zalim (ظالم / transgressor)." So Ali went and gave it to Uthman b. Talha. Uthman said, "I thought you guys (the Banu Hashim) were getting it." - because the news spread that Abbas wanted it. Ali said, "Allah revealed in the Qur'an this about you." - that basically they had to give the key to Uthman.

Can you believe for the last 14.5 centuries, the key has been amongst his descendants? To this day the keeper of the keys of the Kabah is from the descendant of Uthman b. Talha. Masha'Allah. This shows that if you do good, Allah will reward you. He showed respect and honor, and who was it to? Ummi Salama, the future wife of the Prophet ﷺ.

There are many other stories as well. Of the famous stories is the story of Suhayb al-Rumi (صهيب الرومي), the only sahabi that spoke fluent Latin.

(Backgrounds of Suhayb al-Rumi: He was not a Roman. He was originally from a northern Arabian tribe. But he was conquered in the days of Jahiliyyah, and sold into slavery to the Romans. So he grew up amongst the Romans. It's also said he had a ruddy complexion, so this gave him the laqab (لقب / nickname) "Suhayb al-Rumi (Suhayb the Roman)." It is even said that he spoke Arabic with an accent. So he is ethnically Arab, but his culture was Roman. One of his masters sold him back eventually to an Arab, and he ends up in the house of Abdullah b. Jud'an (عبد الله بن جدعان), a distant relative of Aisha RA. Suhayb then worked his way to freedom, and became a businessman. He was clearly intelligent. And his closest friend was Ammar b. Yasir; and they both accepted Islam together - both among the early converts.)

So Suhayb decided to leave as well for Yathrib. He tried to be secret, but eventually news spread. Since Makkah was a small town and everybody is watching everybody, and if you are going to leave, you have to pack your stuff, have a certain mount, a lot of baggage for the food, water, etc., so it's not easy to be surreptitious, so the Quraysh heard about this, they surrounded him on the outskirts, and tried to stop him. Suhayb took out his bow and arrow and said, "O people of Quraysh, I have 40 arrows in my quiver. And I swear by Allah that none of you will get to me until I have used all 40. And then when you get to me, here is my sword. And I swear by Allah, nobody will be able to get me until I get to him first." As they were wondering what to do, Suhayb said, "What if I were to tell you where I hid all of my wealth?" - in those days there was no bank account you could transfer money to; so you had to hide your wealth somewhere. So Suhayb said, "What if I tell you where all of my wealth is? Will you let me go?" They said, "Okay, deal."

So Suhayb told them everything. So he literally arrived in Madinah with just the clothes on his back. After won his freedom, become a mini-businessman, and having a decent amount of wealth, he literally arrived in Madinah to start completely from scratch. And as soon as the Prophet ﷺ saw him, he smiled and said, "Allah has revealed in the Qur'an about you, O Suhayb!"

وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَن يَشْرِي نَفْسَهُ ابْتِغَاءَ مَرْضَاتِ اللَّهِ ۗ وَاللَّهُ رَءُوفٌ بِالْعِبَادِ

"There are those who sell themselves (sell everything) for the sake of Allah. And Allah is kind to [His] servants." [Qur'an, 2:207]

The Prophet ﷺ continues, "O Abu Yahya (Suhayb's nickname), your transaction has been successful! Your transaction has been successful!" - without Suhayb telling him what happened! Of course it was Jibril who told him what Suhayb has done.

When Umar RA decided to emigrate, he chose as his companions for the journey two other sahaba. And they are Hisham b. al-As (هشام بن العاص ; the brother of Amr b. al-As), and Ayyash b. Abi Rabi'ah (عياش بن أبي ربيعة). The deal was they planned to meet up on such-and-such a day at a certain valley outside of Makkah. And when dawn breaks, whoever is there will go; and whoever is not there will be assumed is stopped [by circumstances]. At the appointed time, Hisham did not show up, so Ayyash and Umar made their way to Madinah without him.

Abu Jahl and his brother, who were both the half brother of Ayyash, traveled all the way to Madinah and said to Ayyash, "O Ayyash, don't you know what you have done? Do you know the state of our mother after you've left? She cannot eat or drink; she's made a promise to Allah she will sit in the sun with no shade until she sees you. And she has made her hair completely full of lice. She is on the verge of death, etc. etc." - it's emotional blackmail. And so he decided to go back with them. Umar RA said, "They are tricking you! If she's hungry she can eat food, if she has lice she can shave her hair off. You don't have to go back and do that for her." But Ayyash insisted and said, "No, I'll be a good son. Let me go back to my mother and sort her affairs out, and then come back. I also have some money to collect as well now that everything is secure here." Umar RA said, "If it's money, wallahi, I will give you all that you want. Don't go! If it's your mother, she will deal with herself." But Abu Jahl kept on insisting, so Ayyash's heart melted and decided to go back. Umar RA still knew they were tricking him, so he pulled Ayyash aside and told him, "Look, if you are going to go, take my camel. For my camel is faster and stronger than theirs. And if you find any treachery, ride back immediately to Madinah." So Umar RA is bending over backwards just to help Ayyash out.

Ayyash goes back with them. And eventually as the road goes on, they start chit-chatting, open up, laughing and joking. When Ayyash starts getting comfortable, Abu Jahl said, "Oh, looks like my camel is weary and tired. Why don't we just ride on yours, because it's stronger. Let me ride on your camel and let mine take a break." So Ayyash made his camel sit down to let Abu Jahl ride. But as soon as he did this, they jumped on him, tied him up, make him a prisoner, took him back to Makkah in this state, and marched him all around town saying, "This is how we treat our fools!" The Prophet ﷺ was still in Makkah at this time and he saw this.

And further, Ayyash discovers Hisham (the one they were supposed to meet to migrate together) is also being held prisoner. And he gets thrown into the dungeon with Hisham. The Quraysh set up a prison in Makkah special for these two.

(Tangent: Later when the Prophet ﷺ migrated, he made du'a qunut for them and all the oppressed in Makkah, "O Allah, save Ayyash, save Hisham, save the vulnerable (mustad'afin/مستضعفين), send your Punishment upon the Quraysh." And he kept on asking the Muslims, "Who will volunteer to save Ayyash? Who will volunteer to save Hisham?" To go to save them meant to walk into the lion's den, so understandably nobody wanted to do it. However, finally al-Walid b. al-Walid, the older brother of Khalid b. al-Walid, volunteered. He said, "I will do it, O Messenger of Allah!" And so he traveled to Makkah, entered it in the middle of the night, and Allah AWJ blessed him to find out where the dungeon was, and he broke into it, cut the bonds of Ayyash and Hisham, rescued both of them, and brought them back to Madinah. Allahu'akbar!)

Before we get on to the actual emigration of the Prophet ﷺ, we will discuss Umar's RA Hijrah. Ali b. Abi Talib narrated, "I don't know of anyone who did the Hijrah publicly except for Umar. He was the only one to do it publicly." Umar RA packed his bags, armed himself, wore his shields and arrows, dressed as a traveler, goes to the Kabah, does tawaf seven times, and then makes an announcement: "O people of Makkah! Whoever wishes that his mother loses him tonight, or that his children become orphans, or his wife a widow, then know that I am doing the Hijrah, and you can meet me outside of Makkah in such-and-such a valley." Of course no one took up Umar RA on that challenge. And this, again, shows us the status of Umar RA. It's a manifestation of the du'a of the Prophet ﷺ, before Umar converts, to bless Islam with one of two Umars, "O Allah, bless Islam with the more beloved of the two Umars to You." (The other Umar being Abu Jahl, because his name was also Amr [عمرو], which is a type of umar [عمر].)

We need to piece together the incident of the Hijrah of the Prophet ﷺ from many different reports. As we mentioned many times, the Sirah is not written down in one story, so just like in al-Isra wal-Mi'raj we don't know its exact order.

The first most authentic source is Aisha RA, narrating in Sahih al-Bukhari. She narrates her memories of the Hijrah as a young girl of around 6-7 years old. She said, "I don't remember any day except my parents were Muslims." So when she was born, Abu Bakr RA was already a Muslim. (Note: And she was the younger of the two. Her older sister was Asma bint Abu Bakr, who had a different mother, and her mother wasn't a Muslim, so Abu Bakr divorced Asma's mother, and married Aisha's mother.) Aisha continues, "And I don't remember any day except the Prophet ﷺ would come visiting us in our house." So her earliest memory is everyday the Prophet ﷺ would come visit them in their house, sometimes in the morning and sometimes evening. "And then," Aisha narrates, "When the Prophet ﷺ was given the permission to migrate, and he told the Muslims to migrate, Abu Bakr prepared a camel to migrate. And he asked the Prophet ﷺ for permission." Note every Muslim asked the Prophet ﷺ for permission to leave first. "And when Abu Bakr asked for permission, the Prophet ﷺ said, 'Wait. I hope Allah will give us permission.'" So Abu Bakr understood that the permission the Prophet ﷺ was waiting for is permission for him to accompany the Prophet ﷺ on the Hijrah. So he asked, "Are you hoping for my companionship? (i.e. Can I be with you?)" The Prophet ﷺ said, "Yes. This is what I'm hoping for." (Note: This shows us that the Prophet ﷺ never did anything except with the permission of Allah.)

So when Abu Bakr heard this, he prepared two camels instead of one. And what does it mean to prepare a camel? We all know that a camel is the ship of the desert; and that it's able to carry food and water on its back. But in order to do so, you need to feed the camel a special diet, cause it to drink extra water by giving salt, keep it locked up so it doesn't burn its fat, etc. So you prepare it for a few weeks and then the hump appears. Abu Bakr RA said he prepared the camels for 4 months. (Here Abu Bakr RA is rounding up, as it was most likely 3.5 months from when the Prophet ﷺ told the Muslims to migrate to when he migrated.)

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.)**
Aisha continued, "In the hot time of the day (when it's too hot for anyone to be on the street), we saw a figure approaching. The figure had wrapped his turban around his head/face (we could not see him). Until we recognized from the distance that it is the Prophet ﷺ, coming from a far away distance, and so we said, 'Wallahi, the only reason he must be coming, it's for something very grave to have occurred (i.e. emergency).' The Prophet ﷺ asked for permission to come in, Abu Bakr granted it to him, and he ﷺ said, 'Remove everybody from the room.' Abu Bakr said, 'They are but your family (i.e. Aisha and her sister.)'" (Side note: Of course Aisha RA had already been engaged to the Prophet ﷺ. The nikah had been done, but the consummation had not yet occurred.) Aisha continued, "And the Prophet ﷺ said, 'Allah has given me permission to emigrate.' So Abu Bakr asked, 'O Messenger of Allah, did Allah allow me to be your companion? I beg you, by my mother and father, did He?' And the Prophet ﷺ said, 'Yes. The permission has been given for you to accompany me.'" [The following line is found in Ibn Ishaq] Aisha RA said, "I saw Abu Bakr cry. And I had never believed people could cry out of happiness until that day." Then Abu Bakr said, "O Messenger of Allah, I have prepared two camels, one of them is yours." (Subhan'Allah, note the Prophet ﷺ didn't even have a camel.) The Prophet ﷺ said, "Only if I pay you the price of the camel." He is not going to take it as a freebie. Why? This is of the perfection of his manners ﷺ. Even if he is the Messenger of Allah, he doesn't take advantage of people. Also, he wanted the full reward of doing the Hijrah. (Because as we know, if you help somebody doing some good deed, what happens? You get a share.) So Abu Bakr was basically forced to take a sum from the Prophet ﷺ to give that camel. And Asma, who is an adult, at least 10-15 years older than Aisha, had prepared the food and reserves for them, but in the panic of the moment, she bundled up all of the food when she didn't have anything to tie the bag with. So she took off her belt, tore it in half with her teeth, and used half of the belt for her own garment, and the other half for the bag. This is why she was called Dhat al-Nitaqayn (ذات النطاقين / She of the Two Belts) - this is her laqab. And Abu Bakr RA had at this point in time 5,000 dirhams (Ibn Ishaq narrates that when Abu Bakr accepted Islam [i.e. in the first year of the dawah], he was a wealthy man who had 40,000 dirhams. And he spent ~90% of his wealth for Islam, e.g. freeing slaves and helping the Prophet ﷺ.)

And when he emigrated, he took the entire amount (5,000 dirhams) with him. When he did this, his father Abu Quhafa, who wasn't a Muslim at the time, and was a bitter, sharp-tongued, blind old man, came to Asma and mocked Abu Bakr for having abandoned the two 'little' girls without any money. "What type of father is this?! He has left you with no money?!" So Asma took the money jar (which wasn't actually a jar, but rather a sackcloth), and quickly picked up some pebbles and filled it with them. And she then wrapped it in some more cloth, and said to Abu Quhafa, "No, my grandfather! He has left us some money." And she gave him the bag that Abu Bakr kept for his money. So you know that this is a money bag. Remember Abu Quhafa is blind. So when he felt it a heavy amount, he said "Oh, okay. I'm mistaken. If this is what he has left for you, then there is nothing to blame." Even though, in reality, as Asma later narrates to others, "Our father didn't leave us a single penny." Abu Bakr RA wants every penny for the Prophet ﷺ, and he expects somebody will give Asma and Aisha food and water, and he knows they are not going to starve to death in Makkah. Makkah is a city after all. Whereas him and the Prophet ﷺ are going in the middle of the desert, and they don't know where they are going to need the money. So he took every last penny he had. (And of course, Allah SWT took care of Asma and Aisha, and eventually they made their way to Madinah.)

This is the version of Bukhari. And as always, Bukhari's versions are the most concise and least detailed. If we want the juicy details, we need to go to the other books. And the problem with the other books is, many times, they don't have authentic isnads. And as we said many times over and over again, these types of traditions, no problem in narrating them, but we should sift through that which we know is a fact versus that whose isnad might be slightly weak.

When we turn to Musnad Imam Ahmad, we have hadith that gives us a little bit more description about what happened on that particular night:

Ibn Abbas says Allah revealed in the Qur'an Surah al-Anfal verse 30 regarding the night of the Hijrah:

وَإِذْ يَمْكُرُ بِكَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لِيُثْبِتُوكَ أَوْ يَقْتُلُوكَ أَوْ يُخْرِجُوكَ ۚ وَيَمْكُرُونَ وَيَمْكُرُ اللَّهُ ۖ وَاللَّهُ خَيْرُ الْمَاكِرِينَ

"And [remember, O Muhammad], when those who disbelieved plotted against you to restrain you or kill you or evict you [from Makkah]. But they plan, and Allah plans. And Allah is the best of planners." [8:30]

So what happened? The Quraysh came together in Dar al-Nadwa, in the middle of the night, holding a secret meeting. And representatives for all the tribes came except for the Banu Hashim, even Abu Lahab, because it would have been a conflict of interest. Why? Because they were planning to harm his own blood. No matter how much Abu Lahab would have liked it, he couldn't give the 'green light.' It was very crafty of them to leave Abu Lahab out. They also left out Mut'im b. Adi. He is the one who is protecting the Prophet ﷺ. So they figured out they can't invite him; nor Abu Lahab, as he simply cannot go against the custom of jahili tribalism and get his hands guilty with his own blood. Not that he loves the Prophet ﷺ. But it's a matter of tribal honor and the customs of the time. If Abu Lahab let the Prophet ﷺ die knowingly, it would have been a shame to him forever.

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!"

So right then and there all the tribes picked one person and sent them all to the house of the Prophet ﷺ. At the same time, Jibril AS came down to the Prophet ﷺ and informed him, "You must make Hijrah now." The same evening the Prophet ﷺ spoke to Abu Bakr, that's the same day they left.

Ibn Ishaq famously reports, without any isnad: As they surrounded the Prophet's ﷺ house, the Prophet ﷺ walked out of it reciting Surah Ya-Sin, and they were completely blinded to his presence. They couldn't see a thing. And Ibn Ishaq mentions that the Prophet ﷺ threw dust on every one of them. It's said he was still living in the house of Khadija at the time. And Ali RA who was living with the Prophet ﷺ since a young age, is a young man at this time, and he (Ali) was told to remain behind in the bed of the Prophet ﷺ so if the Quraysh look, they will see a figure. But these details have no real isnad - they are only found in Ibn Ishaq.

Now Abu Bakr RA had already prepared the two camels, and in the middle of the night, they both went to the Cave of Thawr (Ghari Thawr). It's very interesting because the cave is located in the exact opposite direction that Madinah is. Madinah is due north. Ghari Thawr is due south - exact opposite. You're literally turning your back to Madinah. It's a 2.5-3 hour walk from Makkah. The Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr had already devised a plan to go to this cave and stay there for three days and three nights in utmost secrecy. And after the three days and three nights, they would then meet with a guide who would take them to Madinah through a path that was unknown to the Quraysh. A path that only some of the Bedouins knew. Not the 'highway.' Rather a backroad. In fact they had to circle down to what is now Jeddah, and then make their way to Madinah from Jeddah.

And Abu Bakr RA had a plan how to undertake this journey - we are going to get to this in a while. But before we get there: It's reported by al-Tirmidhi in his Sunan that when the Prophet ﷺ left Makkah and passed the final shops (souq) of Makkah in the middle of the night, he turned around to take one final look at Makkah (he wouldn't enter again for many years later), and he said to Makkah, "You are the most blessed land on earth and the most beloved to me. And were it not for the fact that my people have expelled me, I would not have left you." This is exactly the wordings that Waraqah b. Nawfal told him almost 13.5 years ago. The exact same wordings. 13 years later the Prophet ﷺ is saying the exact same phrase, as Waraqa knows reality and what has happened in the past with other prophets. Ibn Kathir says the Prophet ﷺ also made a long, beautiful du'a where he basically asks Allah for protection, asks Him to make the journey easy for him, asks Him for His mercy, etc. This particular point is mentioned only in Ibn Kathir, and not found in earlier sources. Allah knows best.

Back to the story: Aisha RA says Abu Bakr RA planned to stay in the cave for three nights. And they made an arrangement with three people to do three chores:

Now note they did have 'highways' back then i.e. a well-traveled road that had wells and even provisions for travelers who completely run out of everything (this would depend on the political and economic state of the people), there would be markings. So people know it's a well-traveled path and people take those path for safety, security, reliance, etc. The same reason why we take the major highways and not the backroads. But of course the Prophet ﷺ couldn't go on this path. So they hired Abdullah b. Urayqit to take them through a back path.

Abu Bakr RA narrates the details of the journey. (Note: The Cave of Thawr is a very small cave. Its entrance is more on the top, you have to wiggle your way into it. It's more like a crevice. Over time it's increased in size, so in our times it's like a small chamber. But back then it's said there was only space literally for two people.) When the Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr were in the cave, one time they saw the Quraysh walking up and down the cave. Question arises: how did the Quraysh get there? Answer (found in al-Baladhuri, etc.): When the Quraysh figured out the Prophet ﷺ had not gone on the usual roads, they hired an expert scout to figure out the traces of the camel from the house of Abu Bakr. And this scout managed to, despite all of the precautions, lead them to the base of the Cave of Thawr. "This is where I can trace it. From here it's a mountain, so I can't follow anymore." Although it's a bit iffy, this is the first lead/hint they've got, so all the big names come: Abu Jahl, al-Walid b. al-Mughirah, etc.

And this is where the famous incident occurred where Abu Bakr RA looks out and sees all of those big names, and he whispers to the Prophet ﷺ, "لو نظر أحدهم إلى قدميه لأبصرنا (If they just look down at their feet now, they would see us.)" - since the entrance of the cave was at feet level i.e. below the ground. And the Prophet ﷺ responded, "يا أبا بكر ما ظنك باثنين الله ثالثهما (O Abu Bakr, what do you think of two people; Allah is the third of them?)" And Allah made it so that they didn't check the cave.

We all know the famous stories of the spider, trees, pigeons, etc. That the spider made a web on the cave so as to appear no one has entered. Or the tree leaning down over the mouth of the entrance of the cave; or the two pigeons creating a nest on the cave. Out of these stories, even though it still has a slight weakness in it, the most authentic is the spider, as it is reported in Musnad Imam Ahmad. The other two have been reported in books from the third or fourth generation i.e. big missing links in the chain of narrators. While there's no issue narrating it, we don't know if it's fully true. (But of course, if Allah had willed it, then we don't have any problem affirming them.)

In any case, the Quraysh passed the cave and didn't realize they were in there. And on the third night, the Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr RA met Abdullah b. Urayqit as planned, and they journeyed to Madinah.

On the way to Madinah, a number of incidents occurred. Of these, two are clearly authentic: (1) The story of Suraqa b. Malik; and (2) The story of Ummi Ma'bad.

The first is the story of Suraqa b. Malik (سراقة بن مالك). He was from the tribe of Ju'shum (not from the Quraysh) and he was the leader of the tribe. And the bounty of 100 camels had been placed on the Prophet ﷺ, dead or alive. That is an immense amount of money. It's a treasure. And this story is narrated by Suraqa b. Malik himself after he accepts Islam.

He says he was sitting with his fellow tribesmen. And the news comes that there is a search for three riders: The Prophet ﷺ, Abu Bakr RA, and Abdullah b. Urayqit. Suraqa b. Malik said he was sitting and one of his people came back and said, "I saw three people in the distance and I am sure this must be the three the Quraysh are looking for." Suraqa b. Malik got greedy, he wanted the 100 camels for himself, so immediately he lied and said, "Oh, that's not them. That's the party of so-and-so, they told me they are going on an expedition in that region (i.e. That's someone else, I know who they are.)" So everyone sat down.

Suraqa b. Malik said, when they all forgot about the incident, he slipped away, rushed back home, got his war horse ready, put on his armor, and galloped as fast as he could to the three people. (Even though they were three, Suraqa had bows and arrows, and it said "dead or alive," so he thought he could just kill them without even coming close and get the 100 camels.)

Suraqa says when he saw them for the first time in the distance, all of a sudden his horse sunk into the ground and flipped him over—and it had never done this before. In another version he said he could see a smoke between him and the three riders. So he pulled out his azlam (أزلام - arrows similar to Ouija boards, tarot cards, etc. that they use to 'predict' the future - to ask the pagan gods what to do - i.e. a 'pagan salat al-istikhara' if you will), and he threw out his azlam onto the sand and the response he got was "do not proceed." But he ignored it and kept going, out of greed. The second time he got closer, the exact same thing happened. His horse flew him over, he took out his azlam and it said "do not proceed." But he continued anyway until they were within yelling distance. But the third time it happened again, this time even more violently. After this, he said, "I knew this was a force beyond me. I knew this was a man I could not reach. Beyond my taqah (طاقة / power)" and that, "I knew that the affair of this man (i.e. Islam) would spread."

And Suraqa narrates something interesting: "When I saw them, I saw one of the two always riding in an agitated state, constantly looking right and left, sometimes going behind, sometimes going to the front, etc." And indeed it's because Abu Bakr RA is so worried about the Prophet ﷺ. And Suraqa said, "Whereas the other rider was riding so peacefully, not turning once left or right, reciting something (the Qur'an)."

After giving up the 100 camels bounty, he called out to them, "I am a safe person! I'm not going to harm you! Give me permission to come close!" So when he got permission to come forth, Suraqa says he asked the Prophet ﷺ to give him protection, in writing. This is truly amazing: One minute he was hunting, the next minute he seeks protection. As he knew that the affair of the Prophet ﷺ would spread everywhere. So he wanted protection when that happen. And the Prophet ﷺ allowed Abdullah b. Urayqit to write down protection for Suraqa b. Malik. (Tangent: And much later on, on the Day of Hunayn [8 AH], when the Prophet ﷺ conquered the other tribes outside Makkah, including Suraqa b. Malik's tribe, Suraqa b. Malik pulled out this amanah [protection]. The Prophet ﷺ recognized him and gave him security, and Suraqa accepted Islam. Suraqa eventually became a well known sahabi, and migrated to Madinah.)

Further, Suraqa b. Malik offered some food, but they refused. However Abu Bakr RA said, "Do one thing: don't tell anyone about us." And so Suraqa b. Malik didn't tell anybody about them, and he let them go. (Jumping the gun: Later when the Prophet ﷺ reached Madinah safe and sound, eventually Suraqa told everyone what happened, and when the news reached the Quraysh, Abu Jahl wrote a scathing poem addressed to Suraqa, "You are foolish! You let them go?!" etc. Then Suraqa wrote back poetry that, "Had you been there on that day and had seen what I had seen, you would not be saying what you are saying." - this narration is found in Ibn Ishaq.)

Ibn Abd al-Barr says when Suraqa b. Malik turned to leave, the Prophet ﷺ turned to him for the first time and said to him, "O Suraqa, how will you be the day that you put on the bracelets of Kisra?" There was only one Kisra in the world, but Suraqa b. Malik was so shocked he asked, "Kisra, the son of Hormuz?!" (Note Kisra would wear very expensive gold, decorated bracelets, and jewelry, like the emperor in 300 movie. It was well known and everybody envied him for this.) Within 6-7 years after the Prophet's ﷺ death, the Sassanid Empire collapsed in the Battle of al-Qadissiyah, and eventually Persepolis was conquered, and all of the treasures were gathered and sent to Umar RA, and the masjid was filled with treasures and gold. And Umar RA puts Suraqa b. Malik on his own chair, he finds the bracelets of Kisra, and he puts them on the hand of Suraqa b. Malik. And the entire congregation starts praising Allah, "Allahu'akbar!" Can you imagine? The bracelets of Kisra! This is the fulfillment of what the Prophet ﷺ said. And it's narrated in the version of Ibn Abd al-Barr that they took Suraqa b. Malik around Madinah with these bracelets. Umar RA said, "Alhamdulillah who has taken these bracelets away from Kisra the son of Hormuz, and given them to Suraqa, a Bedouin from Banu Mudlij." This is one of the many many miracles that are mentioned in the time of the Prophet ﷺ.

Abdullah b. Urayqit - no proof whether he was a Muslim or not.

The story of the Hijrah has a number of small stories. One of these is that of Ummi Ma'bad. It's narrated from her directly. And she converted to Islam at the end. She says that she's an elderly lady, a complete Bedouin, living in a tent in the desert wandering, finding food and water. One day when she was waiting for her husband to return, she heard the rustling of some travelers who ask her permission to come in, so she let them come in (because she's an elderly lady and is very poor and has nothing to be stolen, so she's not worried about anything). It turns out it's the Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr RA. (But of course she doesn't recognize them.) This narration is significant because Ummi Ma'bad is one of the few sahabiyyat (صحابيات - female Companions of the Prophet) who actually describes the physical looks of the Prophet ﷺ. And she says he was handsome, had long hair, neither short nor tall, etc. which we already mentioned in episode 2.

This incident happened outside of Madinah by around 3½ hour drive in our time, and the place is still called Qadid/Qudaid to this day.

The Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr entered and said, "May we purchase any food from you?" (This is of course their adab - even though if they had asked for free food, it's also customarily acceptable.) Ummi Ma'bad apologized and replied she had nothing to give them, and that in fact her husband had gone out in search for food. The Prophet ﷺ saw in the tent an old goat in the corner, but it was apparent that it's too old to give milk or reproduce goatlings. But the Prophet ﷺ still asked permission to milk it. Ummi Ma'bad replied, "That day has long gone," but the Prophet ﷺ still asked, "But do you allow me to?" In her mind of course there was no question this was impossible, but looking at the insistence, she said, "If you want to, go ahead." The Prophet ﷺ made du'a and mentioned the name of Allah SWT, moved his hand under the udder, and the udder instantly filled up with milk. Abu Bakr then milked it, and they drank to their full, and they left the remainder for Ummi Ma'bad and her husband. And of course Ummi Ma'bad was shocked, and when her husband got back, he was shocked too, and asked her where did the milk come from. She explained there were two travelers who came in and so on. And this is where Ummi Ma'bad described the physical looks of the Prophet ﷺ. Upon this her husband said, "Those are the two the Quraysh are hunting." And he said, "Do you not know one of them claims to be a prophet?" When she heard this, she realized this is not just a claim, he must be a prophet, so they both accepted Islam.

We also know the Prophet ﷺ converted two or three more people along the way to Madinah. But we don't know the details or their names. Even though it's insignificant, still the point is when he is running for his life, he is still inviting people to Islam and thinking about saving people. Any opportunity he gets to do good, he does, and gives dawah.

It's also narrated a caravan passed by the Prophet ﷺ. Now in those days it was common when two caravans met, they stopped to say salam, find out any news etc. Indeed if you're in the middle of the desert and haven't seen anyone for days, any opportunity of meeting someone you would take. So when the caravan passed by the Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr, they stopped, and by chance one of the people recognized Abu Bakr - he wasn't a Qureshi but from another Arab tribe. And so they greeted Abu Bakr. Note they haven't heard of the bounty here. They ask Abu Bakr, "Who is this man with you?" Abu Bakr responded in tawriya (double meaning). Tawriya is not a lie, it's a double meaning i.e. it doesn't give you an untruth. Abu Bakr RA said, "He is my guide, guiding me to the path." Of course what Abu Bakr meant was he (ﷺ) is guiding him to the path to Jannah, and they understood this as a normal travel guide who's guiding him to another place. This also shows us Abdullah b. Urayqit left them at a certain time and place prior this incident.

**

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Look at the meticulous preparations for the Hijrah. The Prophet ﷺ told Abu Bakr, "Don't travel. I need a companion, and insha'Allah, it will be you." And upon hearing this Abu Bakr prepared diligently. He fattened up two camels, prepared food for the journey, etc. The Prophet ﷺ then comes to him when everyone is asleep (taking qaylulah) i.e. midday so no one can see it's him. Also when he comes, he covered his face as an extra measure. On top of this, when he enters, he tells everyone other than Abu Bakr to leave the house. Now these preparations are coming from someone who has ultimate tawakkul in Allah. Still he takes precautions. This manifests the reality of our religion: "اعقلها وتوكل (TIE your camel, and THEN put your trust in Allah [that the camel won't run away])," i.e. we must do everything we can. The Prophet ﷺ left Ali RA in his bed, leaving in the middle of the night, covering their tracks using the flocks of Amir b. Fuhayra, finding a trustworthy guide, Asma giving them food, Abdullah b. Abi Bakr listening in to conversations and news, etc. And what's beautiful is the Prophet ﷺ on the journey is just walking straight in absolute peace reciting the Quran - as he knows he has done everything he can. This is the essence of tawakkul. You do everything you can but your heart is not attached to these preparations, but rather to Allah AWJ.

Again, in the cave, Abu Bakr RA said, "If they just look down, they will see us!" But the Prophet ﷺ calmed him down. Indeed tawakkul is not standing and saying, "Here we are, O Quraysh! Come for us! Allah will protect us!" No! Tawakkul is hiding in the cave, doing as much as you can, and then trusting Allah, as they did. Allah will make sure they don't look down, and He did. So once we do our jobs, Allah will do His. There is a beautiful verse in Surah al-Tawba, one of the last surahs revealed. At a time when the Muslims were at the peak of their power, after the Conquest of Makkah (8 AH). Allah says to the sahaba:

إِلَّا تَنصُرُوهُ فَقَدْ نَصَرَهُ اللَّهُ إِذْ أَخْرَجَهُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا ثَانِيَ اثْنَيْنِ إِذْ هُمَا فِي الْغَارِ إِذْ يَقُولُ لِصَاحِبِهِ لَا تَحْزَنْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَنَا ۖ فَأَنزَلَ اللَّهُ سَكِينَتَهُ عَلَيْهِ وَأَيَّدَهُ بِجُنُودٍ لَّمْ تَرَوْهَا وَجَعَلَ كَلِمَةَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا السُّفْلَىٰ ۗ وَكَلِمَةُ اللَّهِ هِيَ الْعُلْيَا ۗ وَاللَّهُ عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمٌ

Sahih International: "If you do not aid the Prophet, Allah has already aided him when those who disbelieved had driven him out [of Makkah] as one of two, when they were in the cave and he said to his companion, "Do not grieve; indeed Allah is with us." And Allah sent down his tranquility upon him and supported him with angels you did not see and made the word of those who disbelieved the lowest, while the word of Allah - that is the highest. And Allah is Exalted in Might and Wise." [9:40]

i.e. "If you are not going to help the Prophet ﷺ, don't worry, Allah has already helped him. When the kuffar expelled him (from Makkah), and he was the second of only two people, when they were in the Cave (of Thawr), when he said to his companion, "Don't worry, Allah SWT is with us," at that point, Allah sent his sakina (سكينة - peace/tranquility) upon him, and Allah helped him with an 'army that you did not see' (a lot of mufassirun say the reference here is to the dove/pigeon, spider, etc.)."

The rest of the sahaba are inferred indirectly, but Abu Bakr is direct. In the same [9:40], Allah says, "إِذْ يَقُولُ لِصَاحِبِهِ" i.e. Allah affirmed Abu Bakr as being a sahib. So if anyone denies Abu Bakr RA being a sahabi, he has gone against the Qur'an. And by unanimous consensus of all the groups of Islam (including even the non-Sunnis), it was indeed Abu Bakr RA who was in the cave with the Prophet ﷺ. Not anybody else. So anyone who denies the companionship of Abu Bakr, he has gone against the Qur'an.

So, right now we are just outside the city of Madinah (or Yathrib as it was first known) and the Prophet ﷺ is going to come in. Before we get there, let us discuss about the name Madinah.

Madinah of course was originally called Yathrib. It's an ancient city surrounded by volcanic rock and it's blessed with an undercurrent of water (groundwater), and that allows for fertile date palms to grow. Khaybar and Yathrib were the only two places in Hejaz with these large date palms. In fact, the Prophet ﷺ was shown Madinah in his dream by its date palms. In the 10th or 11th year of the dawah, 2 years before the Hijrah, when he was still in Makkah, he tells the Muslims:

رأيت في المنام أني أهاجر من مكة إلى أرض بها نخل فذهب وهلي إلى أنها اليمامة أو هجر فإذا هي المدينة يثرب

"I saw a dream that I will emigrate to a land with a lot of date palms. So I thought it might be al-Yamamah or Hajar (two cities far away, in Yemen). But it turned out to be Madinah." The Prophet ﷺ found out it turned out to be Madinah when the Khazraj embraced Islam and invited him to come to their city. This hadith is found in Sahih Bukhari.

And in Sahih Bukhari as well, the Prophet ﷺ said:

أمرت بقرية تأكل القرى يقولون يثرب وهي المدينة

"I have been commanded to emigrate to a city that shall devour all other cities. They call it Yathrib, but it is Madinah." From this hadith, we learn that Islamically, we are not allowed to call this city Yathrib anymore. The Prophet ﷺ changed its name. And it's clear that the Qur'an also emphasizes this point. We see that whenever the Qur'an mentions the name Yathrib, it ONLY comes from the tongues of the munafiqs. E.g.:

وَإِذْ قَالَت طَّائِفَةٌ مِّنْهُمْ يَا أَهْلَ يَثْرِبَ لَا مُقَامَ لَكُمْ فَارْجِعُوا

"And when a faction of them said, 'O people of Yathrib, there is no stability for you [here], so return [home].'" [Qur'an, 33:13] They still called it Yathrib because they didn't like the name Madinah (as it was given by the Prophet ﷺ).

In one hadith, the Prophet ﷺ said, "Whoever calls Madinah Yathrib should say istighfar, because it is Taba." (We will get to this name "Taba" in a while.)

Allah and the Prophet ﷺ always call the city Madinah. For example, in Surah al-Tawba:

وَمِمَّنْ حَوْلَكُم مِّنَ الْأَعْرَابِ مُنَافِقُونَ ۖ وَمِنْ أَهْلِ الْمَدِينَةِ

"And among those around you of the Bedouins are hypocrites, and [also] from the people of Madinah." [Qur'an, 9:101]

The name Yathrib, some scholars say, it comes from "tathrib (تثريب)" which means "to criticize," (as found in [Qur'an, 12:92]). Others say it comes from "tharb (ثرب)" which means "evil/corruption." And we know that the Prophet ﷺ did not like bad names. E.g. When a number of people who converted to Islam had bad names, the Prophet ﷺ changed them. In one example, a lady had the name (in Arabic) 'sour' so the Prophet ﷺ changed it to 'sweet.' The jahili Arabs had a superstition that if someone says something good about someone, you must say something bad, allegedly, to counter the 'nazar.' E.g. if someone says, "Your son is handsome," they would say, "No, no. He is ugly!" to, allegedly, counter the evil eye. But in Islam, this is not how we counter evil eye. In any case, the point is we should not choose bad names.

So the Prophet ﷺ called it "al-Madinah" i.e. "the City." And the longer name is "Madinatu Rasulillah SallAllahu Alayhi wa-Sallam (the City of the Messenger of Allah Peace Be Upon Him)," but he primarily called it al-Madinah. And it has many other names; one scholar listed over 100 names for Madinah. However, our Prophet ﷺ only called it Madinah (مدينة), Taba (طَابَة), and Tayyiba (طَيْبَة). Taba and Tayyiba both mean "the Pure," and "the Source of Purity." In one hadith, e.g. in Musnad Imam Ahmad, the Prophet ﷺ said, "Whoever says Yathrib should say istighfar, because it is al-Taba, because it is al-Taba, because it is al-Taba." And this actually shows that Yathrib meant evil and corruption, because the opposite of Tayyib/Taba is evil.

The Prophet ﷺ said Madinah had many blessings:

From a fiqh perspective, Madinah is something we call a Haram. What exactly is a Haram? It comes from the word haram which of course means forbidden. Now Haram is an area of land that certain things halal outside of it become haram inside. For example, carrying weapons is haram in the Haram (except for a necessity for the ummah e.g. the armed guards that are protecting the imams in our times. But this is an exception.) Armies do not come in - even when the Prophet ﷺ conquered Makkah, he said Allah has given him special permission to enter it with an army for a little bit of time in the day. Otherwise, it is not allowed. It's such a haram (it's so sacred) that you can not even pluck a grass/leaves/fruits. Any living object is protected. Everything is safe. Allah says in the Qur'an:

وَمَن دَخَلَهُ كَانَ آمِنًا

"Whoever enters it [the Haram] shall be safe." [3:97] Therefore Ibn Umar says, "In the days of Jahiliyyah, a man would see the murderer of his father doing tawaf around the Kabah, and he wouldn't do anything to harm him." Why? Because Makkah was a Haram from Ibrahim's AS time, and the Arabs knew this. (And Islam came and affirmed this fact.) Thus in short, a Haram means everyone and everything is protected. If you even find a lost item, you have to leave it.

And Allah says:

وَمَن يُرِدْ فِيهِ بِإِلْحَادٍ بِظُلْمٍ نُّذِقْهُ مِنْ عَذَابٍ أَلِيمٍ

"And whoever intends therein [in the Haram] [a deed] of deviation [in religion] or wrongdoing, We will make him taste of a painful punishment." [Qur'an, 22:25]

There are only two Harams in the world: Makkah and Madinah i.e. al-Haramayn al-Sharifayn (الحرمين الشريفين). How about Bayt al-Maqdis (Aqsa)? It is a blessed land, it is the first qibla, it is a place where you get extra reward (250x) if you pray in - all of these blessings are there, but it's not a Haram from a fiqh standpoint. Even though people of Jerusalem call it al-Haram al-Sharif, still it's not a Haram from a fiqh standpoint. You can hunt the animals of Jerusalem; you cannot of Makkah and Madinah. And none of the scholars or ulama ever said Jerusalem is a Haram. Yes it's a land of large blessing, but it's not a Haram. Every Haram is a blessed land, but not every blessed land is a Haram.

Now why was Madinah chosen? Out of all the cities in the world, if Allah had wanted, he could have sent the Prophet ﷺ to Abyssinia for example. So why Madinah? Note this is from what we understand, from what our scholars have derived, but Allah knows the real reasons.

Next time we will discuss where the Jewish tribes come from. In the middle of the Arabian Peninsula, where did they come from?

Today we will talk about the demographics of Yathrib. Who lived there etc. We all know there were two major ethnic groups living in Yathrib. The Jewish tribes and the Arab tribes. The first question is, where did these Jews come from? What are they doing in the middle of Arabia? Secondly, which Arabs are these? What's the relationship between them and the other Arabs? And what's the relationship between the Jews and the Arabs in Yathrib?

Realize this issue is a very politicized and polemical one: One of the accusations against Islam in our times is that Islam is antisemitic, and that the Prophet ﷺ had inclinations to disregard Jews. The way the three Jewish tribes (the Banu Qaynuqa, the Banu Qurayza, and the Banu Nadir) were treated one after the other is their basis for this accusation. From this, this is a key dawah question asked by people to us. And over the course of the Madani Sirah, we will see what really happened.

Banu Nadir (بنو النضير), Banu Qurayza (بنو قريظة), and Banu Qaynuqa (بنو قينقاع). Where did these Jews come from? And what are our sources for the stories about the Prophet ﷺ and the Jews? One of the biggest problems (in light of responding to the accusation of antisemitism) is that non-Islamic sources have no mention of these Jewish people at all. There are references to Jews in Arabia, but as of yet, we have not discovered any history/chronicle that mention the tribes in Madinah. The only reference we have to these tribes is from within the Islamic tradition. This is considered problematic by non-Muslims because they say, "These sources are biased. They all (the Muslims) have an agenda to defend the Prophet ﷺ at all costs." They think we Muslims paint anyone who opposes the Prophet ﷺ in a negative light. So in the name of undoing this alleged implicit bias, some of them went even as far as viewing the leader of the munafiqun (Abdullah b. Ubayy) as being a noble man. They flip the entire narrative around.

So we need to be very cautious and careful about how we are going to interpret the sources.

We begin by saying there are a number of theories as to where these Jewish tribes came from. Some of these theories were simply said by the early scholars, and some are propounded by later scholars:

i) 587 BC: Nebuchadnezzar (بختنصر), who was an evil tyrant ruler, surrounded Jerusalem, and for the first time in the history of the Jewish empire, he destroyed the actual, original Temple of Sulayman (Haykal of Sulayman). It was a structure the likes of which man had never seen. It was considered to be one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was massive, beautiful, and a feat of architecture - and as Muslims, we believe the reason why was because Sulayman AS had the jinn built it for him. Allah says in the Qur'an, some of the jinn were architects and diver [38:37], and they dived into the sea to get pearls and treasure. The Haykal stood solid for 400-500 years untouched. But then Allah willed the first destruction occurred in 587 BC. And this was the first time the Jews had to flee: It's called a diaspora. The Jewish people call themselves "the wandering people." Why? Because since that time, they have never had a unified land [up until 1947].

It was at that diaspora that large groups left for many lands. We know for a fact that the majority of them went to Iran, until after decades, finally Cyrus the Great allowed them to come back. Many of them came back, but some of them remained in Iran. (Thus Iranian Jews are considered to be the most ancient of the Jews.) Also, they went to areas of Iraq. Early Umayyads was full of Jews (e.g. in Kufa and Baghdad). It's also mentioned some Jews went to Yemen, but some scholars say they went to Yemen only during the second expulsion. Allah knows best. In any case, there is one theory that a small group of Jews, in 587 BC, emigrated to Hejaz (Arabia). But to Sh. YQ, this theory is doubtful, as it takes the presence of the Jews a thousand years before the coming of the Prophet ﷺ, and that seems far too early for their entrance.

ii) One of the emperors rebuilt the Temple for the Jews, but this as well was destroyed in 70 CE. And this led to a second diaspora. (This happened under Emperor Titus, after the coming of Isa b. Maryam AS.)

iii-a) There was a third major diaspora in 132 CE, when a group of Jews revolted against the ruler of the time, Emperor Hadrian, the emperor brutally slaughtered hundreds and thousands of them, so they fled once again. It is said that this wave of emigrants, some of them running and fleeing wandered down into Arabia; they come across this fertile ground with date palms with no inhabitants at the time, so they settled down there i.e. in Yathrib area. So according to this narrative, the Jews are the ones who found Yathrib. One group settled in Yathrib, another in Khaybar (relatively close to each other). It's also said large group of them continued down until they reach Yemen. (And the Yemeni Jews were the largest quantity of Jews in the Arabian Peninsula. In fact, when the Prophet ﷺ sent Muadh b. Jabal to Yemen [much later on, in 9 AH], he told him, "You are going to go to a land of the Ahl al-Kitab [the People of the Book (Jews and Christians)." Yemen was the only land in Arabia that had a lot of Christians. Because there was a Christian Himyarite Kingdom - when Abraha conquered parts of Yemen, he installed the governor there, so a lot of people converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity.)

iii-b) Yet another theory is the opposite: The Jews of Yathrib are from the Jews of Yemen. The first theory has it the people from Jerusalem wonder down, small pockets settle in Yathrib, and the bulk go to Yemen. But the second theory says from Yemen, small pockets emigrated to varying lands working their way up and some of them end up in Yathrib. In either case, it establishes some type of relationship between the Jews in Yathrib and the Jews in Yemen. This makes complete sense and fits in perfectly as we will see.

(Tangent: Some modern researchers, looking at the reports of the Jews in Madinah and seeing what they had [their institutions, the Arabic phrases they used to use, etc.], they tried to reconstruct who these Jews were. And they come up with a theory that the Jews of Madinah were not from the sects of mainstream Judaism. Rather they were from an ancient sect called the Karaites. The Karaites reject the authority of the rabbis and say to follow the Torah directly. [In our times, they number only ~40,000 in the whole world.] This is opposite to Rabbinic Judaism which follow what the rabbis say. Rabbinic Judaism began only after 400-500 CE. So it seems that the theory of the researchers that say the Jews of Madinah were Karaites Jews adds weight to the fact that they came from the expulsion of Hadrian or Titus - since the expulsion took place around 70-130 CE, and at the time, Karaites Jews were predominant.)

Sh. YQ's theory: There is an element of truth in more than one of these stories. Looking at how the Jews in Yathrib were divided into different tribes (Banu Qaynuqa, Banu Qurayza, and Banu Nadir), it appears that these tribes represent three different emigrations to Yathrib from the times of diaspora. Because the Jews typically do not have tribes. This was an Arab phenomenon. In ancient times, yes, they had "the 12 tribes of Bani Israel," but it's long gone. Even at the time of the expulsions, there were no tribes; they were just one nation, one ethnic group. How did these Jews of Yathrib get divided into three tribes when, if the story is correct, they all came from one area and settled together in Yathrib? In the Wars of Bu'ath, these three tribes were even having battles with each other. The Arabs were fighting among themselves, and so were the Jews. The Aws were fighting the Khazraj, and the Jewish tribes themselves were divided and fighting each other. So Sh. YQ's theory is that these tribes represent three different emigrations to Yathrib. Each time a new group arrived, they were not considered part of the old one.

And Allah knows best.

The second group of people in Yathrib are the Arabs: The Aws (الأوس) and the Khazraj (الخزرج). And unlike the Jewish tribes, we know where they came form; in fact their lineage is mapped out. (Some modern non-Muslim scholars say actually the Madinan Jews were really just Arabs that converted to Judaism - this is a ridiculous theory, though, because if that is the case, we would know their lineage. But these three tribes appear out of nowhere. There is no connection to Adnan or Qahtan at all. We can trace every single Arab tribe back to one of them. But we simply cannot for the Jewish tribes. Even their names are not typical Arab names: Qaynuqa, Qurayza, Nadir. These are Arabized Jew names.)

The Aws and the Khazraj are descendants of Qahtan. They are Qahtani. Yathrib was the only region in the entire Hejaz (Middle Arabia) where Qahtanis were present. The bulk of Hejaz is Adnani. (Sidenote: The Prophet ﷺ was Adnani.)

Where did the Aws and the Khazraj come from? They came from the city of Ma'rab (مأرب) i.e. they are the people of Saba (سبأ). In the Qur'an, Allah SWT mentions an amazing feat of the people of Saba, and that is: they were the first civilization ever to build a dam; as found in [34:15]. They had rivers flowing from this dam, and through this rivers, Allah blessed them with beautiful gardens on the right and on the left of the city; but when they turned away in disobedience, Allah punished them by causing the dam to collapse [see Qur'an, 34:16]. This most likely occurred around 300 CE. This led to hundreds and thousands of people dying, and many had to migrate away. Some of these people were the Aws and the Khazraj (they were cousin tribes that literally go back to the same person), and they end up in Yathrib. Why Yathrib? Again, nobody knows, but we do have theories:

If we say the Jews of Yathrib had relationships with Yemen, it makes complete sense for the Yemeni Qahtanis to be aware of an established settlement that had nothing to do with the Adnanis. (Sidenote: There was animosity between Adnan and Qahtan.) If those Jews had some type of relationships with Yemen, then it makes complete sense that the Aws and the Khazraj would've known of a group of Jews they would've comfortable being with - because they are already comfortable with the Jews in Yemen.

So the Aws and the Khazraj settled down in Yathrib, and the Jews and the Arabs benefited each other. The Jews were skilled in agriculture, weaving, and businesses; and the Arabs had knowledge of war and language. So the Arabs Arabized the Jews i.e. the language and culture became theirs - the Jews began speaking fluent Arabic (even though they still speak Hebrew obviously - we know this from the Sirah; and it's understood that any minority retains its language for many generations.)

Theory goes that the Aws and the Khazraj didn't arrive at Yathrib at the same time. Maybe a few years apart. The Aws probably arrived first, and we know for a fact that they had asked permission from the Banu Qurayza and Banu Nadir to live there, and formed an alliance with them. The Khazraj arrived later and taken permission from the Banu Qaynuqa. This theory seems to explain how come these two Arab tribes have different Jewish alliances. This also explains why the Aws were richer, socioeconomically better off, and they occupied the better land of Yathrib, compared to the Khazraj. It is said that the Jews needed manual labor, so they allowed the Aws the opportunity to basically fraction it out, "You take charge of the land, you give us a fraction of the produce, and you take the rest."

Over the course of the next 150-200 years, this solidified the relationships. The Aws and the Khazraj had their alliances with the Jews, and each of them had wars with each other. The civil wars between the Aws and the Khazraj lasted for more than 100 years, and the worst of them was the Wars of Bu'ath which took place 5 years before the Hijrah of the Prophet ﷺ.

It's also known that the allied Jewish tribes financed the Arabs in the civil war - Banu Nadir financed the Aws on the one side, and Banu Qaynuqa financed the Khazraj on the other side. So the Jews were involved in the civil war - but whether they actually fought physically, we don't know.

The total population of the three Jewish tribes seems to have been around 2,000 men. Adding the women and children, we can say roughly 6,000 Jews.

We also know that in the Conquest of Makkah, the Ansar had 4,000-5,000 men participating, so that's around 15,000 Arabs. So they were far more in number, but the Jews had the power because they had the money, land, and fortresses.

So roughly around 20,000 people were in Yathrib. So it was a relatively large town for the time.

We conclude by talking about the Prophet's ﷺ arrival into Yathrib. We discussed the Hijrah and the various stories that happened along the way. So now the news has spread that the Prophet ﷺ is about to arrive. Every single day, the Ansar would go outside the city towards Quba (قباء), waiting for the Prophet ﷺ to arrive. Every day, they would go in the morning and wait until around 11 AM until the sun gets too hot. One day, when they went back to their houses, the Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr appeared in the distance. It so happened one of the Jews was on the top of the tree plucking the dates - so he was the first to see in the distance the Prophet ﷺ coming. The excitement of waiting for the Prophet ﷺ was so immense among the people of Yathrib that it even affected the Jews. So the man shouted out, "O Arabs, your king has arrived!" (Notice he knows that the Aws and the Khazraj have taken the Prophet ﷺ as their "king." Also notice he says "your" - he doesn't ascribe it to the Jews. Because up until this point, the Jews always felt that, "That's their business, and we have ours. And they will not interfere in our business.")

When the news of the arrival spread, the Ansar rushed out in hoards, hundreds of them. The Prophet ﷺ entered on a Monday, in the 14th year of the dawah, which was to become the 1st year of the Hijrah, on the 2nd or 12th of Rabi' al-Awwal.

Al-Bara' b. Azib (البراء بن عازب) narrates in Sahih Muslim, "I saw the Ansar all dressed up and coming out. Over 500 men came outside; all of them armed and dressed to accompany the Prophet ﷺ. The women climbed up on the houses. The children thronged around to see. The Prophet ﷺ are surrounded by hundreds of people, all believing in him." For the first time we get a glimmer of hope that change is in the air. There is a freshness happening that people in the thousands are thronging to welcome and greet the Prophet ﷺ. And we can sense the joy and vibrancy that a new tide is coming, that the change has begun, that the blessings of Allah will signal a new era. And this is the seed of the first Islamic nation. And the story of its nurturing, expansion, and flourishing, will insha'Allah be the story of the Madani Sirah.

At this point it was fard ayn (compulsory/obligatory) upon every single Muslim to emigrate to Madinah, down to women and children. The Prophet ﷺ was one of the very last to emigrate. There were only handful few that emigrated after him e.g. Ali b. Abi Talib. Ali RA was entrusted to return back all the amanat (أمانات - trusted amounts/items) to people who gave it to the Prophet ﷺ to protect. Otherwise the Prophet ﷺ was the last to emigrate. Allah SWT revealed many verses, around 8 or 9, with every one of them getting stricter and stricter in command, to emigrate to Madinah. Allah first encouraged to emigrate, and then eventually threatened. E.g. in Surah al-Hajj, a surah revealed some say during the Hijrah, Allah says:

وَالَّذِينَ هَاجَرُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ثُمَّ قُتِلُوا أَوْ مَاتُوا لَيَرْزُقَنَّهُمُ اللَّهُ رِزْقًا حَسَنًا ۚ وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ لَهُوَ خَيْرُ الرَّازِقِينَ

"And those who emigrated for the cause of Allah and then were killed or died - Allah will surely provide for them a good provision. And indeed, it is Allah who is the best of providers." [22:58] This is encouragement. There is no threat.

Fast forward in Surah al-Nisa which came down 2-3 years down the line, Allah says if you do not emigrate, you are a major sinner, and Allah will punish you. One such verse is:

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ تَوَفَّاهُمُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ ظَالِمِي أَنفُسِهِمْ قَالُوا فِيمَ كُنتُمْ ۖ قَالُوا كُنَّا مُسْتَضْعَفِينَ فِي الْأَرْضِ ۚ قَالُوا أَلَمْ تَكُنْ أَرْضُ اللَّهِ وَاسِعَةً فَتُهَاجِرُوا فِيهَا ۚ فَأُولَٰئِكَ مَأْوَاهُمْ جَهَنَّمُ ۖ وَسَاءَتْ مَصِيرًا

"Indeed, those whom the angels take [in death] while wronging themselves - [the angels] will say, 'In what [condition] were you?' They will say, 'We were oppressed in the land.' The angels will say, 'Was not the earth of Allah spacious [enough] for you to emigrate therein?' For those, their refuge is Hell - and evil it is as a destination." [4:97]

Note this is the sunnah of Allah; laws come down gradually - the first is an encouragement, then it becomes obligatory.

There's now two groups of Muslims in Makkah: (i) Those who were already Muslims when the Prophet ﷺ emigrated but they remained behind and didn't emigrate [we don't have any particular names of these people]; and (ii) Those who convert in Makkah after the Prophet ﷺ emigrated to Madinah [we have some of their names.] (Note: Dawah still continued in Makkah even after the Prophet ﷺ emigrated to Madinah.) And Hijrah was made obligatory on both groups.

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:

وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَن يَقُولُ آمَنَّا بِاللَّهِ فَإِذَا أُوذِيَ فِي اللَّهِ جَعَلَ فِتْنَةَ النَّاسِ كَعَذَابِ اللَّهِ وَلَئِن جَاءَ نَصْرٌ مِّن رَّبِّكَ لَيَقُولُنَّ إِنَّا كُنَّا مَعَكُمْ ۚ أَوَلَيْسَ اللَّهُ بِأَعْلَمَ بِمَا فِي صُدُورِ الْعَالَمِينَ

"There are those that say 'we are believers' - but when he is slightly irritated, he considers the fitna of the people to be as bad as the Punishment of Allah." [29:10] The word udhiya (أوذي) could mean 'persecuted' but also 'slightest irritation,' i.e. a little bit of pressure and he collapses. Then Allah says, "But when the help of Allah comes, they say, 'Indeed, we were with you.'" i.e. they want to have their cake and eat it too. They want to be Muslims, but they also want to remain in Makkah. Why do they want to be in Makkah? Because it's a world where property and wealth is around them. In those days they didn't have bank accounts they could transfer money to, so performing Hijrah meant they need to give up bulk of their wealth; emigration automatically meant poverty. That's the main point here. Allah is saying these small groups of people (probably 3-5 people) prefer living in Makkah for the sake of their wealth over living in Madinah as instructed. And then Allah says, "Is not Allah most knowing of what is within the breasts of all creatures?" [29:10] i.e. "Verily, Allah knows what is in the hearts of the believers."

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'.

Junda' b. Damura was a sahabi that was so weak, elderly, blind, and he couldn't even walk. But when this verse came down, he said, "I am not one of those that have an excuse. I can emigrate to Madinah." He said, "I will not spend another night in Makkah," and so he commanded his servants to lift him up on his chair/couch and walk with him outside the city, and he had tawakkul he would find his way to Madinah. But Allah was merciful to him and he met his death right outside of Makkah. On his deathbed, he put his right hand on his left hand and said, "O Allah, this is my oath of allegiance to the Prophet ﷺ upon what he wanted me to do," i.e. "I don't have the opportunity to do it in person, so whatever I can do, O Allah, accept from me." He died in Tan'im (basically near Masjid Ayesha in our times). When the news of his death reached Madinah, the sahaba basically said, "How unlucky. He almost made it" i.e. "He didn't really make it; but he tried," (look at how strict the sahaba were.) At this, Allah revealed the next verse in Surah al-Nisa, which said:

إِلَّا الْمُسْتَضْعَفِينَ مِنَ الرِّجَالِ وَالنِّسَاءِ وَالْوِلْدَانِ لَا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ حِيلَةً وَلَا يَهْتَدُونَ سَبِيلًا

فَأُولَٰئِكَ عَسَى اللَّهُ أَن يَعْفُوَ عَنْهُمْ ۚ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ عَفُوًّا غَفُورًا

"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.

Now the whole issue of Hijrah and living in Dar al-Kufr and Dar al-Islam is very pertinent to our times today. It requires a long fiqh discussion but to summarize a few major points, the ruling of Hijrah from Makkah to Madinah was fard ayn for the Muslims of that time. After the Battle of Ahzab in the 5th year of the Hijrah, when it became clear that the Muslims are the more powerful, the ruling became laxer, and after the Conquest of Makkah, this ruling was abrogated. In Sahih Bukhari, the Prophet ﷺ said, "There is no Hijrah after the Conquest of Makkah," meaning the Hijrah from Makkah to Madinah has been nullified. If anyone emigrates now, they won't get the reward promised by Allah for the emigration. Also it means the commandment to emigrate to Madinah is abrogated. This led to controversy in later fiqh among the four madhhabs. Is it allowed to live in a land that is not Islamic? In medieval Islam when there was a true Islamic land, there were two opinions on this issue.

Now can we import these 500 year old fatawa, when there was an actual Dar al-Islam and khilafa, into our times? In our days, in India alone there are 200 million Muslims - where do you expect them to go? If you do the math, you will get half a billion Muslims living in minority lands. Scholars in our times who say it's wajib to emigrate, with all due respect, they are not being realistic. Even in the time of the Prophet ﷺ, Hijrah was only wajib because of the circumstances of Makkah and Madinah. Therefore we say: if any land becomes difficult to live and practice Islam in, then yes, Hijrah will become wajib. For every land, it's for the scholars of the land to judge. In America, UK, etc. there is complete freedom to practice Islam. So there is no need to emigrate.

When did the Prophet ﷺ emigrate? Everybody loves to quote 12th of Rabi' al-Awwal for everything, e.g. for the birth date of the Prophet ﷺ, for the first date the Quran came down (which obviously cannot be true, since it came down in Ramadan), but really we don't know the exact date. It was however most likely the first week of Rabi' al-Awwal, which corresponds to September 622 CE.

Now, Madinah at the time wasn't a continuously populated city - every tribe were in their small areas, separated by desert and trees. The very first settlement, the furthermost settlement outside central Madinah, was Quba. (In our days, the city of Madinah is so big that it goes even beyond Quba.) The Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr arrived in Quba and waited for Ali RA, Aisha RA, and Asma RA. They waited around a week for them - and when they arrived, they entered central Madinah with them. And it's said they entered central Madinah on a Friday. When the Ansar heard that the Prophet ﷺ is entering, they all dressed up in their armor and over 500 went to Quba and accompanied the Prophet ﷺ into Madinah.

(Tangent: There is a famous story that when the Prophet ﷺ was entering, there were little girls singing, "طلع الـبدر عليـنا مـن ثنيـات الوداع (tala' al-badru 'alayna, min Thaniyat al-Wada' [The full moon rose over us, from Thaniyat al-Wada'])" - but this story for sure did not happen during the Hijrah. It's impossible because Thaniyat al-Wada' has nothing to do with the road from Madinah to Makkah (southward). In fact it's the road to the exact opposite side (northward). So even IF this incident occurred, it happened AFTER the Battle of Tabuk [9 AH]. Thaniyat al-Wada' is literally on the opposite side of Quba, so this story cannot take place during the Hijrah.)

We do know that the Ansar accompanied the Prophet ﷺ into Madinah and then every sahaba wanted him to live with them. But it was decided to let the Prophet's ﷺ camel walk freely and wherever it sits and whomsoever's house it is near to will be where the Prophet ﷺ will reside. The Prophet ﷺ said, "Let the camel be, because Allah has taken charge of it." When the camel sat down, the Prophet ﷺ understood that is where Allah wants him to build his masjid. The camel sat on a small plantation that was used by the people to dry their dates. There were a few trees, it was an open ground by and large, and the villagers would dry their dates there. When the camel sat down, the Prophet ﷺ asked, "Who amongst my family is the closest to the camel?" (Remember, the Prophet ﷺ had distant cousins in Madinah - his great-grandmother is a Madani [Banu Najjar].) So Khalid b. Zayd (خالد بن زيد), who was also known as Abu Ayyub al-Ansari (أبو أيوب الأنصاري), said, "O Messenger of Allah, I am from the Banu Najjar," and Abu Ayyub is roughly the Prophet's 6th cousin. Remember the Arabs memorized their lineage and genealogy. So because of this ancestry, the Prophet ﷺ decided to live with him. (And this shows the rights of the relatives.)

The Prophet ﷺ lived at the house of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari for half a year while he waited for his own house and masjid to be built. Abu Ayyub al-Ansari was a relatively upper middle class man so he had a two-storey house that could easily allow the Prophet ﷺ, Abu Bakr RA, and some of the sahaba to live in. And so Abu Ayyub and his wife moved upstairs; the Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr RA lived downstairs.

Ibn Hisham mentions: In the middle of one night, Abu Ayyub was sleeping, and in turning over, he knocked over a jar of water. He became worried that the water would seep through the floor and drip onto the Prophet ﷺ, so he woke his wife up and the two of them spent the entire night soaking up the water with their blankets. In another narration in Musnad Imam Ahmad, it is mentioned that one evening, Abu Ayyub and his wife suddenly realized, "We are walking above the head of the Prophet ﷺ!" meaning their feet were above the head of the Prophet ﷺ and they felt that was inappropriate. So they sat with their feet withdrawn in for the entire night.

The next morning, they go down to the Prophet ﷺ and say, "O Messenger of Allah, please move up." The Prophet ﷺ replied, "The bottom floor is easier for me," meaning, "You have more privacy. I have guests coming in here," etc. But Abu Ayyub said, "No, wallahi, O Messenger of Allah! We can never ever be on top of you, on a roof that your head is under." So, amazingly, they disobeyed him out of respect. So the Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr RA for the bulk of the time were upstairs (only a few weeks they were downstairs).

It's also narrated that Abu Ayyub and his wife would always cook the food, send the full dish up to the Prophet ﷺ, and then eat the leftovers. When the leftovers are sent down, Abu Ayyub would ask, "Where did the Prophet ﷺ eat from?" and he would eat from where the Prophet ﷺ ate from. One day, the food came down untouched, so Abu Ayyub panicked - he rushed upstairs and asked, "O Messenger of Allah, what have I done? Is there something wrong?" etc. The Prophet ﷺ said, "No, but the food has garlic in it." Abu Ayyub asked, "Is garlic haram?" The Prophet ﷺ said, "No. But I speak to those whom you do not speak to (i.e. the angels)." (Tangent: Most people in our times misunderstands that it is makruh [مكروه‎ - disliked/discouraged] to eat garlic; but look, the discouragement is meant only for uncooked garlic, because it has a bad after-smell. If you grind it, cook it, etc., that removes the odor, so there is no problem. And even if you ate raw garlic, it is still halal. But the Prophet ﷺ said, "Whoever eats garlic should not come to the masjid," because the masjid is the place of angels. So if your breath is smelling really bad with garlic, then you should wait until the bad smell goes away. But otherwise garlic is no issue cooked - and in our times no one eats it raw anyway.)

So these are a few narrations about Abu Ayyub and his wife. And the Prophet ﷺ stayed at his house for around 6 months.

Back to the story of the camel: The camel sat down around a land that wasn't used for date palms, but used for drying the dates. The Prophet ﷺ said, "Who does this land belong to?" And it's said it belonged to some orphans (Sahal and Suhayl / سهل وسهيل) that inherited it from their father. They said, "O Prophet ﷺ, this is a gift to Allah from us." The Prophet ﷺ said, "No, I will only take it with its due price." And he negotiated a price with them and paid them the agreed money. Further, he ordered the date trees be cut down, and two corpses which were buried in the land to be dug up and buried elsewhere. This shows us the permissibility of digging up graves for a legitimate reason. This also shows us a fiqhi point: One may cut down the trees of the Haram for legitimate needs e.g. construction work.

Note the very trees the Prophet ﷺ cut down, he used them to make the front and back walls of the masjid; the other sides were built with clay bricks the sahaba constructed. Note the Prophet ﷺ physically participated with the construction. He was a part of the line that was moving the bricks along etc. The sahaba told him to sit down, but the Prophet ﷺ refused, and he built the masjid with them. And it's said the Prophet ﷺ began saying lines of poetry/du'a at the time, "اللهم إنه لا خير إلا خير الآخرة * فانصر الأنصار والمهاجرة (O Allah, there is no good other than the good of the hereafter; so have mercy on the Ansar and the Muhajirun.)" - recorded in Sahih Bukhari. They were all saying it together just to get the time go by as they pass the bricks to one another, etc. And it's reported in al-Bayhaqi's Dala'il that it took almost two weeks to build the masjid. For its time it was very large. (Even for our time it is quite big - if you go to the actual Rawdah [روضة], you get an idea it's a large place. Allah knows best, but some modern estimates have said the masjid was around 100 x 130 ft. [more of a square than rectangle].)

Also we learn that there were at least three main doors:

To this day there are pillars which say, "Bab al-Rahma," "Bab Jibril," and "Bab al-Nisa'" i.e. exactly where they used to be. One door was assigned for women because Umar RA told the Prophet ﷺ men and women should not enter with the same door. In addition to this, there were private entrances to the masjid. The three were public entrances, but there were at least half a dozen private entrances directly from houses on the other side of the walls of the masjid.

We know Abu Bakr RA was one of those whose house was attached to the masjid. How do we know this? Because the Prophet ﷺ, on his deathbed, said, "Every [private] door to the mosque should be closed/sealed from now on, except for the door of Abu Bakr RA." The Prophet's ﷺ house (Aisha's house) was also connected to the masjid, separated only by a curtain.

The roof of the masjid was very low, and initially the Prophet ﷺ only covered one area of the masjid with a roof (the northern portion) which at the time was the one facing the qibla (Jerusalem). Later when the qibla direction changed to Makkah (facing southward), the roofed area became the back of the masjid. And anyone who wanted to spend the day in the masjid would have to spend it under that shelter, so that area was called al-Suffa (الصفة).

The Prophet ﷺ eventually built a roof above the whole masjid; but it was a roof that was only to protect them from the sun (not coldness, rain, etc.). We know this for sure, because in Sahih Bukhari, it's stated that on the 22nd of Ramadan, probably in the 8 year of the Hijrah, it rained, and the entire masjid got muddy, but the Prophet ﷺ still did full sujud, and when he came up, there was the traces of mud on his forehead and nose. This shows that the roof was leaking - it wasn't a solid roof.

In terms of expansion, Abu Bakr RA didn't touch the masjid during his reign. Umar RA was the first one to solidify it, put pillars of wood, and install a waterproof roof. He also expanded it by 10-15 rows. Then during Uthman's RA reign, he did a major expansion, by around 50%.

The next Umayyad khalifa a few generations down the line, al-Walid b. Abd al-Malik b. Marwan (الوليد بن عبد الملك بن مروان), in approximately 96 AH, was the one who destroyed the entire old mosque and built a fully expensive, decorative, solid mosque. He was also the one to incorporate the grave of the Prophet ﷺ and the house of Aisha RA inside the masjid. There's a common misconception/myth that, "The Prophet ﷺ was buried in the masjid." But that is not the case. He was buried in his house, and his house was outside the masjid. (It was connected to the masjid, but was outside.) And al-Walid b. Abd al-Malik was the one who incorporated the house of Aisha RA into the masjid. And he literally more than doubled the space of the masjid in all four directions. He is the only person in our entire history to do this. He added 15 rows including towards the direction of the qibla, so the original minbar (منبر - pulpit) of the Prophet ﷺ is actually not where the imam prays right now in Madinah - the minbar is 15 rows back which is why the imam does khutbah there, then walks through the crowd to lead the salah. Al-Walid also destroyed all the houses of the sahaba (except for Aisha's, because that's where the Prophet ﷺ is buried). Of course a number of tabi'un objected - Sa'id b. Jubayr (سعيد بن جبير) said, "You are including the graves inside the masjid, but graves should not be in there!" Indeed Islamically speaking, graves and masjid should be separate. Others objected as well - they said, "You are destroying the heritage of the Prophet ﷺ and the Mothers of the Believers! Let these buildings remain so people can see how simply the Prophet ﷺ lived!" (Subhan'Allah, this was only 80-90 AH but even within a century luxury began. Even the later sahaba lived 10x better than the earlier sahaba.) But al-Walid had his reasons and so all houses were destroyed other than the house of Aisha RA.

Of course the blessings of the masjid are well known.

We know that in the beginning (in the early portion of the Madinan period), one of the stumps of a tree was used for the Prophet's ﷺ minbar. It was rather large that he would, in one hadith it's said, pray his salah on the stump to show the Ansar how to pray (and of course he stepped down during sajdahs). And for a few years, the Prophet ﷺ would give the khutbah on this stump. Then in Sahih Muslim it's said one time the Prophet ﷺ told one of the Ansari ladies who had a slave who was a carpenter to, "Tell your carpenter to make for me a [proper] minbar." So the carpenter made a minbar of three steps. This narration is found both in Bukhari and Muslim. During the first khutbah that he gave on those three steps, away from the tree stump, the sahaba said, "We began to hear a wailing/crying like that of a baby camel, and we found that the source of the noise was the stump. And the Prophet ﷺ interrupted his khutbah, came down, and hugged the stump, and it sniffled and stopped crying." (This is a miracle - Allah SWT allowed the sahaba to hear the emotions of the tree.) Anas b. Malik RA said, the Prophet ﷺ said, "If I hadn't hugged it, it would have cried until the Day of Judgment." Obviously the tree is jealous that the Prophet ﷺ has left him for another minbar. So the Prophet ﷺ gave the tree its wish by digging it under his new minbar.

At this, al-Hasan al-Basri (الحسن البصري), after narrating the hadith to his students, said, "O believers, look, this was a tree that was crying because it wished to be with the Prophet ﷺ. Is it not more befitting that those of us who are men should cry even more to be with the Prophet ﷺ?"

Note here the Prophet ﷺ did not even build his own house until the house of Allah was built. He built the masjid first, and only then attention was turned to his own house.

As to when he arrived in Quba, we don't know for sure. People did not concern themselves with dates that much. 12th of Rabi' al-Awwal was commonly put - but academically, it doesn't makes sense. One early book says the Prophet ﷺ left Makkah on the 1st of Rabi' al-Awwal - the average time it took to get from Makkah to Madinah, by a fast rider, is about 3½ days. If it's a slow caravan, it would take 9 days. So it doesn't make sense the Prophet ﷺ arrived on 12th, even if we put in 2-3 nights in Ghari Thawr. A date of 8th or 9th makes more sense.

Ibn Ishaq mentions that, "The Prophet ﷺ arrived on a Monday, and we know from the reports that he arrived around high noon." The report said, "We've derived it." And it said, "When the news reached Madinah that the Prophet ﷺ has left..." - the fact that the news has reached shows that 4 days has already passed.

The Ansar go out to meet the Prophet ﷺ every day but when the sun gets too hot, they would go back to qaylulah (by 11 AM or so). And the Prophet ﷺ arrived around high noon i.e. when the people had gone back home. And this was on a Monday.

We already said Madinah is composed of small pockets of villages. The farthest settlement of Madinah in the direction of Makkah was Quba, so the people of Quba met the Prophet ﷺ first.

When in Quba, the Prophet ﷺ stayed in the house of Kulthum b. al-Hidm (كلثوم بن الهدم), who was an elderly man from the tribe of Amr b. Awf (بنو عمرو بن عوف), and he was the first sahabi to die in Madinah after the Prophet ﷺ arrived. So subhan'Allah, Allah allowed him to live until the Prophet ﷺ came, host the Prophet ﷺ, and then die.

It is also said the Prophet ﷺ stayed in the house of Sa'd b. Khaythama (سعد بن خيثمة). But some reports say, rather, he would spend the night with Kulthum, and then go to the house of Sa'd b. Khaythama - Kulthum was a married man with children, and Sa'd was a bachelor, thus the Prophet ﷺ would spend the day in the house of Sa'd, so guests could come without any problem. Abu Bakr RA stayed in the house of another of the Ansar.

The next day, the Prophet ﷺ started to build the first masjid in Madinah, that is Masjid Quba (even though there was already a makeshift masjid that the sahaba would use to pray in - most likely it's the house of As'ad b. Zurarah [أسعد بن زرارة]). And Jumu'ah had already begun and taken place even before the Prophet ﷺ came - because they had Mus'ab b. Umayr RA (مصعب بن عمير) with them. The Prophet ﷺ had not prayed Jumu'ah once yet. This shows us the commandment of Jumu'ah is so important that the sahaba had to establish it even without the Prophet ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ start building Masjid Quba when Ali RA arrived (i.e. 2-3 days after staying in Quba). Note that technically, Quba is the first masjid the Prophet ﷺ built, but he did not witness its completion. The first masjid he completed himself and prayed in is his own masjid, Masjid al-Nabawi. Of course there is a "first" element to both of them.

The Prophet ﷺ left Makkah before Ali RA by three days, he stayed some night in the Cave of Thawr, and he took a longer path. But Ali RA took a faster route and essentially Ali RA arrived on around Wednesday or Thursday. And then according to Ibn Ishaq, they set out for the city of Madinah (central Madinah) on Friday morning. So Masjid Quba was begun to be built on Wednesday or Thursday. The first stone/pillar was put by the Prophet ﷺ, then Ali and Abu Bakr RA continued, and then the Ansar took over.

There is a little bit of controversy in the books of tafsir about a reference in the Qur'an, Surah al-Tawba, verses 108-110. The Prophet ﷺ is being told, "You are not allowed to pray in Masjid al-Dirar (the masjid of the munafiqun/hypocrites)." - we will come to the story of Masjid al-Dirar in later episode, but Allah says in the Qur'an, in Surah al-Tawba:

لَا تَقُمْ فِيهِ أَبَدًا ۚ لَّمَسْجِدٌ أُسِّسَ عَلَى التَّقْوَىٰ مِنْ أَوَّلِ يَوْمٍ أَحَقُّ أَن تَقُومَ فِيهِ ۚ فِيهِ رِجَالٌ يُحِبُّونَ أَن يَتَطَهَّرُوا ۚ وَاللَّهُ يُحِبُّ الْمُطَّهِّرِينَ

"Do not stand [for prayer] within it - ever. A mosque founded on Taqwa from the first day is more worthy for you to stand in. Within it are men who love to purify themselves; and Allah loves those who purify themselves." [9:108]

Which masjid was being referred to? It's the masjid "built upon Taqwa." But which is it? Masjid Quba or Masjid al-Nabawi? There are obviously two opinions:

Q: So which one?

A: It's both. The verse applies to both. Both masjids were built upon Taqwa from the first day. And the reason the Prophet ﷺ said "my masjid" was so that no one thinks Masjid Quba has higher status than his mosque, because it doesn't. And Allah knows best.

So the Prophet ﷺ announced on Thursday night that he will enter Madinah the next morning. On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, he was in Quba helping build the masjid. On Friday morning, he leaves Quba, and Salah al-Jumu'ah occurs in the middle. So the first Jumu'ah the Prophet ﷺ prayed was neither in Masjid Quba, nor was it in Masjid al-Nabawi (because there was no Masjid al-Nabawi yet at the time); he prayed it in the area of Banu Salama. He just stops over there and gives his first Jumu'ah khutbah. And this khutbah has been recorded by Ibn Ishaq and al-Bayhaqi, with a slightly weak chain, but there is no haraj/problem in narrating it. What is really amazing is that all of the khutbahs of the Prophet ﷺ that we have recorded—and we only have a few of them—they do not last more than 3-5 minutes. The khutbahs of the Prophet ﷺ were extremely short. In one narration, the Prophet ﷺ said, "It is from the fiqh (intelligence/understanding) of a man that he shortens the khutbah, and lengthens the salah." So his ﷺ salah was longer than his khutbah. But in our times it's the other way around. Why? Because in our times, Jumu'ah is the only time 90% of the ummah ever comes to masjid. And the Prophet ﷺ was speaking to people whose Iman was at a different level. And they did not need the reminders that we need. So this is one of those things that the ummah has had to change, but still we try to keep it reasonable: 20-25 minutes is reasonable. An hour is clearly too long.

As to the khutbah of the Prophet ﷺ, it comprised of a few things:

In the first khutbah, he encouraged them to be generous, reminded them the certainty of death and of meeting Allah SWT, and that Allah will ask every one of them what he had been given and how he spent it, and then he said—and this part is recorded in Bukhari—"Whoever is able to save himself from the Fire even with the seed of a date, let him do so. And if he doesn't even have this, then with a good word. Because every deed is multiplied 10 times." Then he sat down. That's the first khutbah: Charity, death, meeting Allah, hisab (حساب - accountability), and speaking good.

Then he stood up, and began the second khutbah with Khutbah al-Hajah. (Note 1: This is contrary to what we do today, of reciting Khutbah al-Hajah in the first khutbah) (Note 2: However, from other narrations, we learn that he would usually recite the Khutbah al-Hajah in the first khutbah. [So it's just possible he changed over later].) The Prophet ﷺ then said, "The successful one is he whom Allah has beautified his heart, and has caused him to enter Islam after leaving kufr, and has chosen him above the rest of the people for the best of all matters (i.e. you who have accepted Islam have been blessed like no one else on earth)." He then said, "Love what Allah SWT loves, and love Allah with your ENTIRE heart, and never tire of the Speech of Allah, and of the dhikr of Allah. And never let your heart become hard. Allah chooses what He wishes and what He blesses, and He blessed this (i.e. the Qur'an and dhikr) to be the best deed. So worship Allah, and do not associate partners with Him. And have Taqwa of Him as He said you should, and be sincere to Allah in all that you say. Love one another with the spirit of Allah between you. And remember, Allah hates His promise be broken. Wassalamu'alaykum."

Subhan'Allah, look at how comprehensive the khutbah, and how pertinent it is. In the first khutbah, the Prophet ﷺ stressed charity because Islam needed money and sacrifice at that time. Indeed, if there was any time people need to donate for the cause of Allah, it was right at the beginning of Islam. He further reminded them of the reality of life and the certainty of death. This short khutbah has both threats and rewards. This is the way of Islam. We tell people the rewards of Allah to make them feel happy and joyful, but we also make them scared of the fearful punishment of Allah. This concept is called targhib and tarhib (الترغيب والترهيب‎) in Arabic. Note the first khutbah is action based, and the second is purely spiritual. Subhan'Allah, this is the perfection of Islam. Further he tells them to never get tired of reading the Qur'an or doing dhikr - as these two can make your heart soft. And he concludes by reminding them to love one another with the help of Allah, for His sake, and he reminds them that they have a promise to Allah to fulfill His religion.

He then entered Madinah after this, and the events went as we discussed previously. The camel sat down, the Prophet ﷺ asked whose house was the closest, and he stayed with Abu Ayyub.

The Khutbah al-Hajah:

إن الحمد لله نحمده ونستعينه ، ونعوذ بالله من شرور أنفسنا ومن سيئات أعمالنا ، من يهده الله فلا مضل له ، ومن يضلل فلا هادي له ، وأشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له ، وأشهد أن محمدا عبده ورسوله

"Verily, all praise is due to Allah, therefore we praise Him, and we ask for His help. And we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our deeds and the consequences of our souls. Verily, whomever Allah guides, no one can misguide. Whomever Allah misguides, no one can guide him [back to the Straight Path]. I testify that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah—alone and with no partner—, and I testify that Muhammad is His servant and His Messenger."

This is so eloquent. It is such a beautiful and concise speech. This khutbah is so powerful that people accepted Islam just because of this khutbah. The most famous example is that of Dimad al-Azdi (ضماد الأزدي) [during Makkan dawah]. He was from the leaders of the tribes of Yemen. And he was a medicine man. When he came to Makkah, the people of Makkah told him, "Beware of this man [Muhammad ﷺ]. He is a magician, he is a crazy man, etc." So Dimad put cotton in his ears to make sure he doesn't hear what the Prophet ﷺ says - they warned him so much he became terrified. But then he said to himself, "I am an intelligent man. How powerful can his speech be? If he's wrong, I'll guide him. If he's sick, I'm a medicine man, I'll cure him." So he took the cotton out, and walked up to the Prophet ﷺ, and said, "Your people have warned me about you. But I want to listen to what you have to say." So the Prophet ﷺ recited Khutbah al-Hajah, and said, "Amma ba'd" - he was going to begin the speech. But Dimad said, "Stop. Repeat this word that you have just said." So the Prophet ﷺ repeated the entire Khutbah al-Hajah. And Dimad said, "I have memorized the poetry of everyone out there, and I consider myself an intelligent and educated man. But wallahi, I have never heard anything as eloquent as this. By Allah, you must be a man Allah inspires." And khalas, he accepted Islam right then and there. This is how eloquent Khutbah al-Hajah is, and it deserves its own lecture.

And people have written books about it. Ibn Taymiyyah has a treatise explaining Khutbah al-Hajah. Ibn al-Qayyim has many pages in his explanation of Sunan Abi Dawud, about Khutbah al-Hajah. In our times, Sheikh al-Albani has written an entire booklet about Khutbah al-Hajah and its reports.

The first thing the Prophet ﷺ did in Madinah was turning his attention to building the masjid. Notice in the span of 5 days, the Prophet ﷺ has built two masjids, and he doesn't even have a roof over his head yet. (And the people built a third masjid where the Prophet ﷺ stopped and did khutbah.) [On this note, there were many masjids in Madinah at the times of the Prophet ﷺ. Not just Masjid Quba and Masjid al-Nabawi. There were at least a dozen masjids, but the Prophet's ﷺ Masjid was the central and the largest. It also appears to be the only masjid where Jumu'ah was done.]

We see therefore the importance of the masjid. The masjid was built even before his house.

It shows us the status of the house of Allah AWJ - Allah literally calls masjids His houses, and He praises them in the Qur'an [24:36].

The masjid was the place of ilm (knowledge) and shura (discussion).

It was the place where people decided affairs and socialized. They would laugh and joke in the masjid.

The masjid was the place of celebration e.g. nikahs.

And subhan'Allah, the Prophet ﷺ was in his Masjid more than he was in his own house.

From the masjid, ilm, Qur'an, and the armies of Islam spread.

And in it, those who had no house would sleep - as soon as Muslims came, they would be housed in the masjid. The Prophet ﷺ said in a sahih hadith, "Masjid is the house of every muttaqi (can loosely be translated as "believer")." Of course the scholars have discussed whether it is wajib to house every Muslim that has no shelter, but basically the general rule of Islam is that a Muslim who needs a place to sleep, the masjid would become his place to sleep. (Sidenote: This hadith has a secondary meaning as well, which is, "The muttaqi would want to be in the masjid i.e. they would feel comfortable being in the masjid as they would in their house.")

And of course, the Masjid of the Prophet ﷺ literally became a university, and a house, and a masjid, all in one, for the People of the Suffa (Ahl al-Suffa) - we will talk about Ahl al-Suffa in episode 34, insha'Allah.

We mentioned that the Prophet ﷺ himself participated in building the masjid. When the sahaba saw him, they versified a poem:

لئن قعدنا والنبي يعمل لذاك منا العمل المضلل

"Wallahi, if we sit down and the Prophet ﷺ is working, then this from us is a very astray/shameful matter."

One incident is narrated that has deep theological and historical implications. Ammar b. Yasir (both his parents were the first shaheeds) was carrying two large bricks (quarry stones), and his entire body is dusted in full. And he is struggling with them, and he says (jokingly), "O Prophet ﷺ, they are killing me by giving me two stones and they are only carrying one stone." (Sidenotes: This shows us the sahaba had a sense of humor with the Prophet ﷺ. It also shows a fiqhi point: When it comes to these types of jokes, it is not considered "lying" as long as the person you are speaking to understands that it is a joke.) The Prophet ﷺ smiled and said, "No, O son of Sumayyah, they are not killing you. Rather, the people who shall kill you will be al-Fiat al-Baghiyah (الفئة الباغية - the Group That Has Gone Beyond the Bounds)." (And note he called him "son of Sumayyah" to give honor to his mother Sumayyah, the first shaheed in our religion. Forever afterwards the sahaba would call him "son of Sumayyah" because the Prophet ﷺ called him this.) And the Prophet ﷺ also said, "Everyone is getting one reward and you are getting two. And the last thing you shall drink in this world will be a glass of milk."

Ammar only joked with the Prophet ﷺ, but the Prophet ﷺ replied with a hadith that would carry such a deep theological and historical implication. Ammar b. Yasir's death would become a very important death. Why? Because during the time of fitna (37 AH, in Ali's khilafa), Ammar will choose to be on the side of Ali RA against Muawiyah b. Abi Sufyan RA (معاوية بن أبي سفيان). Thus as Sunni, we believe that Ali was closer to the truth than Muawiyah, based on this hadith of Ammar. But also as Sunni, we respect all of the sahaba, so we don't say anything bad about Muawiyah. We say Muawiyah was sincere too, it's just that Ali was closer to the truth - radi-Allahu-anhum ajma'in (رضي الله عنهم أجمعين - may Allah be pleased with them all).

(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.")

And indeed, as the Prophet ﷺ prophesied, Ammar b. Yasir drank some milk, went to fight in the battle against the forces of Muawiyah, and he died from an arrow shot.

Moving on to the prayers in the masjid. We don't know exactly when the changing of the rak'at of the 5 salahs occurred. Recall the 5 salahs were given during al-Isra wal-Mi'raj. However, at that time, every single salah was two rak'at. In Sahih Bukhari, Aisha RA tells us, "When we came to Madinah, the salahs were placed as you know them; and the two rak'at were kept for the traveler." This shows us therefore, some time earlier on, the Prophet ﷺ and the sahaba started praying as we now know it: 2-4-4-3-4. But before this, every salah was just two rak'at. And then the sunan and the nawafil were added.

As to the times of the prayer: The Prophet ﷺ called the sahaba and asked them, "How should we call the people at the time of the salah?" One said, "Let us use a bell like the Christians." But this was discarded. (And there are authentic hadith that the Prophet ﷺ did not like bells, and that he also said, "The angels do not accompany any caravan that has a bell.") Others say, "Let us use a shofar (i.e. a horn)." But this was discarded too. And others gave other ideas, but no idea basically made sense, so the meeting finished without any idea being chosen. That night, two people saw a dream, Umar RA and Abdullah b. Zayd (عبد الله بن زيد) RA. Their dreams were the same. Abdullah b. Zayd saw a man selling some items (either the horn or the bell or something). And Abdullah b. Zayd asked the man, "Can we buy these items?" The man said, "Why?" and he said, "Because the Prophet ﷺ wants to call the people to prayer, so I'm thinking one of these would do the job." The man said, "Should I not tell you something better than that?" and Abdullah said, "Of course." The man said, "When you want to call the people to prayer, say, 'Allahu'akbar, Allahu'akbar (and all the way to the end - basically adhan as we know it now).'" And then he woke up - this dream was so vivid he rushed to the Prophet ﷺ to tell him. And the Prophet ﷺ said, "This is a true dream, insha'Allah." And it's clear from the report that Abdullah b. Zayd was hoping to be the muezzin, but the Prophet ﷺ had other plans. The Prophet ﷺ then said, "Stand up, O Bilal, because you have the loudest voice." And the Prophet ﷺ told Abdullah b. Zayd to stand with Bilal to tell him the adhan. So Abdullah b. Zayd told him every phrase and Bilal repeated in a loud voice. (So technically, Abdullah b. Zayd did give the first adhan.) And as Bilal is saying the adhan, Umar RA comes rushing into the masjid, without having fully tied his lower garment, and said to the Prophet ﷺ, "O Messenger of Allah, I saw these phrases in my dream too." So Allah AWJ had shown it to multiple of the sahaba; but He willed that Abdullah b. Zayd was the one who get the honor of telling it to the Prophet ﷺ.

(Note: This is the only aspect of our shariah that was legislated by the dream of a sahabi - BUT its legislation was NOT the dream, rather the Prophet ﷺ saying, "It is true." We DO NOT BASE our shariah on dreams. If the Prophet ﷺ had not said, "It is true," we would not have based on it.)

Why was the adhan legislated in this manner? Allah knows best. Sh. YQ haven't found anybody commenting on this. And Sh. YQ also tried to look up about Abdullah b. Zayd, but all he could find was from Ibn Hajar who says, "This is the sahabi who is famous for the story of the dream." That's it. So why did Allah choose him for the dream? We do not know.

So the Prophet ﷺ spent around 2-3 weeks building his mosque, and thereafter, started building his houses. At the time, he had 2 wives: Sawda RA and Aisha RA. And so both of their houses were built next to the masjid. These were the only two houses of the Prophet ﷺ that were connected to the masjid. (Other wives were married later on by a number of years; and by that time, people had moved in and connected other houses to the masjid, so the Prophet's ﷺ other wives' houses were in a separate block i.e. they didn't have direct entrances to the masjid.) Note Sawda RA was an elderly lady and senior to the Prophet ﷺ in age. She wanted to please the Prophet ﷺ so much that she told him one year, "Ya Rasulullah, I am an elderly lady, and I know that you prefer the company of Aisha, so I will gift you my night to her." This means Aisha's RA house was the only house the Prophet ﷺ LIVED IN that was connected to the masjid. Sawda's RA house was connected as well, but the Prophet ﷺ didn't spend the night there. He would visit Sawda and spend time with her during the day, but he would not spend the night in her house, because she gifted her night to Aisha.

Next time we will discuss the pairing up of the Muhajirun and the Ansar, and the treaty that the Prophet ﷺ drew up between the Ansar, the Muhajirun, the pagans, and the Jews, of Madinah. This was an unprecedented treaty.

Sunnah prayer.

The regular sunan can be divided into two categories:

Fajr: 2 sunnah before Fajr

Zuhr: 4 before Zuhr, 2 after (some say 2 before, and 2 after)

Maghrib: 2 after Maghrib

Isha: 2 after Isha

These are the Sunan al-Rawatib (or Sunan al-Ratibah) which the Prophet ﷺ always prayed when he wasn't travelling. Except for the sunan of Fajr, he would pray it even when he's travelling.

There is also nafl prayer which is unlimited in its scope. You may pray it in any time of the day and night, as long as it's not in the time of prohibition.

Before we move on, there is an interesting important milestone in our history that's not related directly to the incident of the Hijrah, but it's very important for our history, and that is the establishment of the Islamic calendar based upon the Hijrah. The Arabs did not have a calendar they relied upon. A sign of civilization is to have a calendar, script, architecture, etc. The whole miracle of Islam is that it came and transformed this backward society to become the rulers of the entire world - and Allah says this in the Quran [21:10]: "We have revealed a book, in it will be your remembrance/legacy."

The Arabs had many problems:

Now imagine what would happen after decades and centuries of swapping months around. The entire months are going to be jumbled up like a jigsaw puzzle, and nobody has any idea what month should it actually be. So the months lost the significance of their order that they used to have. But the year the Prophet ﷺ performed the Hajj al-Wada [10 AH], he announced that, "This year, the months have fallen in order the way that they were when Allah created the heavens and the earth." Allah willed that in that year the months go in their proper order. And the Prophet ﷺ then said, "From now on, no swapping." So from that time up until our times, those months have been repeating correctly. And so the problem with the order of the months is taken care of.

So Umar RA called a gathering of the sahaba to sort this out. One or two suggested, "We'll follow the calendar of the Romans or the Persians," but this was immediately rejected because the Muslims realize they had their own civilization now - you don't need to be following others. They then decide to have their own calendar. Umar RA asked, "Which year should we begin with?" The sahaba differed. One of them said: with the death of the Prophet ﷺ. Another said: with the birth of the Prophet ﷺ. Another said the Battle of Badr... Ali b. Abi Talib said, "The year of the Hijrah shall be the first year of the calendar because this was the one decisive thing that changed the Muslims from being humiliated to being honored." The sahaba all agreed to this. Umar RA said, "This is the wisest opinion." (Note: Later scholars tried to read in a Quranic evidence for this [from [9:108]], but Allah knows best.) The second issue is: Which month should be taken as the first month? People differed again. Some said Ramadan as it's the holiest month; others said Dhu al-Hijjah, Rajab, etc. until Uthman b. Affan said, "It shall be Muharram." Why Muharram? Scholars have differed. Two reasons have been given:

i. It's linked to Ali's announcement of the years of the Hijrah being the first year. Note the ACTUAL month the Prophet ﷺ migrated was Safar (late Safar to early Rabi' al-Awwal). Why not choose Safar then? The announcement came for people to do Hijrah in Muharram, and the bulk of Muslims emigrated then, and the Prophet ﷺ emigrated right at the end of Safar. So Muharram was taken as the first month.

ii. In some reports, Uthman RA expressed a reason. In those days, the sahaba pretty much every year did Hajj. And for them, returning back from Hajj represented a new life and a fresh beginning. And when do you come back from Hajj? The end of Dhu al-Hijjah. So what month represents the new beginning? The following month, which is Muharram. So they take Muharram as the first month.

The Makkan period lasted 13 years, the Madani period lasted 10 years. This period can be split up into three distinct categories:

Note even though we have discussed 53 years of the Prophet's ﷺ life, the Madani Sirah is three times as large as the Makkan Sirah as we have three times the information. Therefore there is still much more to go in the Sirah, insha'Allah.

Now, how did the early immigrants find Madinah? The fact of the matter is, they did not like it. Not because of anything problematic, but because they missed home. There is truly "no place like home." It doesn't matter how well you are treated at someone's house, or if you visit a fancy hotel, "there is no place like home." That comfort you get there you will not get anywhere else. On top of this, they miss the environment, the city, and the people of Makkah. Therefore the Muhajirun (Immigrants) felt so homesick that they literally fell sick. Aisha RA narrates that she visited Abu Bakr and Bilal RA after she arrived in Madinah and asked them, "How are you?" She said both of them were moaning and Abu Bakr was in a severe fever. And he said, "We wake up with our family, but death is closer to us than our shoelace" - the point here is that he's so sick he is thinking of death.

Aisha RA then asks Bilal and he also says some poetry, "How I wish that I would spend a night in a valley full of thorns" i.e. he is missing the thorns and dryness of Makkah. And Bilal said to Aisha, "May Allah's punishment be on..." and he starts listing the Quraysh leaders. Why? Because he says, "They kicked us out of our homes," and he is venting his anger out on them.

And Aisha RA says she goes back to the Prophet ﷺ to inform him of what's going on. And so the Prophet ﷺ made a special du'a for all of the Muhajirun (and Muslims in general), "O Allah, make Madinah beloved to us like we used to love Makkah, or even more." And, "O Allah, bless us in our food measurements (i.e. all of the food supplies); O Allah, remove the bad weather and diseases/plagues (Madinah had more plagues than Makkah) and throw it outside of Madinah in the barren land of Juhfah (جحفة)." And so slowly but surely, the love of Madinah entered their hearts, so much so that when the Muslims would go away from Madinah, they would count the days they are going to come back to Madinah. And when the Prophet ﷺ would see Madinah in the distance, he would fasten his camel/horse to reach home quicker. And indeed, even today, when we visit Madinah, it's truly peaceful, and there is a sense of love for Madinah that's not felt elsewhere.

The famous first hadith that is narrated from Madinah was by Abdullah b. Salam (عبد الله بن سلام - the big Jewish rabbi who converted to Islam; one of the few who did). He said when he heard the Prophet ﷺ arrived in Quba, he rushed to take a look at him. And he was of the first who arrived. And when he saw the face of the Prophet ﷺ, he knew that, "This face is not the face of a liar" - Allah AWJ allows righteousness and piety to show in a way that we will never understand. This is called firasa (فراسة): pure people can sense pure people. (And in one hadith, the Prophet ﷺ affirmed the reality of firasa.) And Abdullah b. Salam says the first thing he heard the Prophet ﷺ saying was, "Spread the greetings of salam (peace); feed the people; be good to your relative; and pray during the night when everybody is asleep. You will enter Jannah in salam (peace)." So the Prophet ﷺ is encouraging being brotherly, kind, and generous, from day one. But then he went a step further and instituted the concept of muakha:

Of the early things the Prophet ﷺ did—so much so that one of the earlier scholars said he did this even before the masjid was built—was he made a muakha (making people 'akhi' i.e 'brothers') between the Muhajirun and the Ansar - despite the fact that he had already encouraged the Ansar to be generous to the Muhajirun (and they were indeed generous).

Allah SWT mentions their generosity in the Quran [59:9]:

وَالَّذِينَ تَبَوَّءُوا الدَّارَ وَالْإِيمَانَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ

"And those who prepared the abode [الدار] and [adopted] the faith before them..." Note Allah called Madinah "the abode/home/house" - this is an interesting noun to use. And also note He said THE house, instead of THEIR house. What's the difference here? It is technically the house of the Ansar, so if Allah had said, "Those who had prepared THEIR house," this would have been accurate, but He didn't. Allah called it THE house because the Ansar gave up half of their house to the Muhajirun. So Allah calls Madinah THE house of the Ansar and the Muhajirun. And then He said:

يُحِبُّونَ مَنْ هَاجَرَ إِلَيْهِمْ وَلَا يَجِدُونَ فِي صُدُورِهِمْ حَاجَةً مِّمَّا أُوتُوا وَيُؤْثِرُونَ عَلَىٰ أَنفُسِهِمْ وَلَوْ كَانَ بِهِمْ خَصَاصَةٌ

"...They love those who emigrated to them and found no hesitancy to give everything. And they preferred others over themselves, even if they themselves were in poverty." They gave the Muhajirun everything they needed, from home, to food, to animals, etc.

It is even reported in Sahih Bukhari that the Ansar came to the Prophet ﷺ and said, "O Messenger of Allah, we shall give half of our land over to the Muhajirun." And the Prophet ﷺ made du'a for them, but he refused to accept such a generous gift. He said, "They will take care of the manual labor, and you will share in the produce," i.e. let them do work for the dates and for the privilege. Subhan'Allah, this shows us the spirit of Islam - that the Prophet ﷺ did not want this free handouts; he wanted the Muhajirun to work. And he also didn't want shaytan to maybe bring animosity between the Muslims 5 generations or 5 decades later; the descendants of the Ansar might say, "Oh, we gave you all of this for free," etc. You never know. The Ansar of course had pure hearts, but how about their descendants? Or the munafiqun who were forced to give? So this is the long term thinking of the Prophet ﷺ - he cut off this possibility; even though it was such a generous gift. The Prophet ﷺ said, "No. They shall do work, and take their wages in dates and in food. And you can take your percentage as well." So he insisted the Muhajirun to do work, and he insisted the Ansar be generous too.

The Prophet ﷺ paired every single male Muhajir with an Ansari. In this early stage, the pairing was so complete that they would be considered like full brothers even in inheritance (but this was of course later abrogated). It is mentioned that over 100 such pairs were done - which basically means, for every single male Muhajir, there was a pair done. One of the examples is the muakha between Abu Bakr and Kharijah b. Zayd (خارجة بن زيد). And every time you look at the biographies of the people that are being paired, you find that they have a lot of things in common - they were very similar. Abu Bakr and Kharijah b. Zayd were both one of the noblemen of their people. The Prophet ﷺ knows exactly who he is pairing with who. Every one of these names paired together, we also find them mentioned in the Sirah many times together. Which means they took this pairing together very seriously they literally became like brothers to one another. For example the famous story about when Salman al-Farisi (Muhajir) visited Abu Darda (أبو الدرداء) (Ansari) in his house.

Another famous story is with Abd al-Rahman b. Awf (Muhajir) and Sa'd b. Rabi'ah (Ansari). Sa'd wanted to split everything down the middle: His house, his money, his land, and he even offered one of his two wives. But Abd al-Rahman said, "May Allah bless you even more in your money and your family. But I don't want any of this; just tell me where the marketplace is." And Abd al-Rahman worked hard, bought and sold items, etc. until he got some money, and built himself up. The Prophet ﷺ saw him one day walking by in fancy clothings with perfume; and Abd al-Rahman informed him that he got married to a woman of the Ansar. Notice the generosity of the Ansari and the self-honor of the Muhajir. One is offering out of Iman, and the other is declining out of Iman.

The Ansar in fact helped the Muhajirun so much that the Muhajirun went to the Prophet ﷺ worried and said, "O Messenger of Allah, we have never seen a group of people like this: They share everything with us equally at times of difficulty, and are generous with us at times of ease; they have taken care of our needs, and allowed us to share with them in good - so much so that we are worried." They are worried that the Ansar will take all of their ajr away from them; that all of the rewards from enduring the torture in Makkah, leaving behind their wealth for the sake of Allah, etc., will go to the Ansar. Look at the complaint - it's truly amazing! (It's not a complaint against the Ansar, obviously; it's a troubled worriness that they have about their own good deed.) The Prophet ﷺ said, "No. They will not get all of your reward as long as you praise them and make du'a for them." 'You have your reward, they have their reward.' So what the Muhajirun did cannot be just taken by the Ansar. This is why the Muhajirun are at a higher level than the Ansar, even after all that the Ansar did.

We already mentioned that the two would even inherit from one another, until finally after the Battle of Badr [2 AH], Allah revealed Surah al-Anfal and said,

وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مِن بَعْدُ وَهَاجَرُوا وَجَاهَدُوا مَعَكُمْ فَأُولَٰئِكَ مِنكُمْ ۚ وَأُولُو الْأَرْحَامِ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلَىٰ بِبَعْضٍ فِي كِتَابِ اللَّهِ ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ

"And those who believed after [the initial emigration] and emigrated and fought with you - they are of you. But those of [blood] relationship are more entitled [to inheritance] in the decree of Allah. Indeed, Allah is Knowing of all things." [8:75] i.e. it abrogates the inheritance clause between each pair.

There are several points regarding the muakha:

وَالسَّابِقُونَ الْأَوَّلُونَ مِنَ الْمُهَاجِرِينَ وَالْأَنصَارِ

"The first people to embrace Islam from the Muhajirin and the Ansar..." [9:100]

لَّقَد تَّابَ اللَّهُ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ وَالْمُهَاجِرِينَ وَالْأَنصَارِ

"Allah has already forgiven the Prophet and the Muhajirin and the Ansar…." [9:117]

And even in the highest praise to the Ansar in [59:9], Allah praised the Muhajirun first in [59:8] - the verse right before it. When the Ansar were praised so highly, this is why the Muhajirun became scared that their reward would be taken.

The next major incident of the early Madani period is the Constitution of Madinah. So what exactly is this constitution? One of the problems we have is this constitution is not mentioned in every classical source of Sirah, and those that mention it, sometimes they mention it without a chain of narrators (isnad). When we go back to Ibn Ishaq, he mentions it in full but says, "It has been narrated to me" - the issue here is there is 150 years between him and the Prophet ﷺ, so we don't have a direct isnad. Other early books sometimes mention the constitution as well, but again, without a full chain of narrators. Some books of hadith e.g. Musnad Imam Ahmad, does mention one phrase of the constitution, (Imam Ahmad says, "The Prophet ﷺ wrote a book between the Muhajirin and the Ansar, and this book mention in it: 'Every one of them would take care of their own debts and problems, and there will be islah [إصلاح] and ma'ruf [معروف] between them'"), but the problem comes is that there is no early book which mentions the WHOLE constitution WITH an isnad. And this has led some people to doubt there ever was a constitution; they say, "There is no evidence for this constitution to have taken place."

However, many modern researchers say, "Even if there is no chain of narrators, when you look at this constitution and its language, you see that it uses a very archaic language - a language that is not common even in the time of Ibn Ishaq. If somebody were to fabricate it, he wouldn't have fabricated it with such a difficult language." And therefore, the majority of scholars of our times consider this constitution to be an authentic constitution. Note the constitution takes up 5 pages, so we cannot discuss every single clause, so we will rather break up the constitution into four issues:

(Sidenote: Imam al-Dhahabi [الذهبي] and others just gloss over the constitution. It seems many people underestimated the importance of this constitution. Ibn Sa'd [ابن سعد‎] and al-Waqidi [الواقدي] hardly mention it. And it's mentioned in bits and pieces by others. So it seems the significance of the constitution is not fully appreciated. For us who live in Muslim minority lands however, the constitution is very heartening and optimistic.)

The constitution is written in a very difficult language; and it's composed of sentences e.g., "The Prophet ﷺ said this, and he said this, and he said this," and a lot of what is mentioned are the names of tribes that we don't know anymore. (Recall "the Ansar" means "the Helpers," and they were composed primarily of the Aws and the Khazraj, but they were more than these two; and even within the Aws and the Khazraj, there are at least 40-50 subtribes. And most of these subtribes, we don't have much details of their names.) But this constitution mentions every single one of these (which is in fact a sign of its authenticity), and what is required of these subtribes. The same applies for the Jews: There were three large tribes, but within them there were many subtribes.

And the way the constitution was written was very different to today: sentences were jumbled up (not each in their own section) i.e. it's very difficult to analyse. So we will simplify it: