Sh. Dr. YQ's Seerah Transcript (EP 001 - 010).docx.pdf

‫هَّٰلل‬ ‫ِيم‬ َّ ‫ٱلر ْح ٰ َم ِن‬ ِ ‫ٱلرح‬ َّ ِ ‫ِب ْس ِم ٱ‬ PDF Transcript of Sh. Dr. Yasir Qadhi's SEERAH...

‫هَّٰلل‬ ‫ِيم‬ َّ ‫ٱلر ْح ٰ َم ِن‬ ِ ‫ٱلرح‬ َّ ِ ‫ِب ْس ِم ٱ‬ PDF Transcript of Sh. Dr. Yasir Qadhi's SEERAH SERIES In the Name of Allah — the Most Compassionate, Most Merciful. Insha'Allah, the intention is to create a PDF version of the transcript of the Seerah Series by Sh. Dr. Yasir Qadhi. The most difficult parts of recording the videos and transcribing have been completed, and we make du’a that Allah blesses everyone involved. We simply want to make an accessible PDF version of the transcript. If you find this beneficial, please make du’a for us and our families. Link to video series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAEA99D24CA2F9A8F Source of transcript: https://arqadhi.blogspot.com/?m=1 1  001. Specialties of Prophet Muhammad ‫ﷺ‬ Insha'Allah, before we embark on the journey of seerah, we will study the Prophet's ‫[ﷺ‬2] shama'il to build up even greater eagerness and motivation to learn about the life and times, the lessons and morals, the incidents that occurred, in the life of our Prophet Muhammad ‫ﷺ‬. Where do we begin when it comes to describing the one whom Allah has chosen above the entire creation. How can we do justice to him when Allah AWJ Himself says, "We have raised up your remembrance and mention" [see Quran 94:4]. And indeed, Ibn Abbas (‫ )ابن عباس‬and other scholars of the sahaba said, "Allah has raised up his remembrance such that whenever Allah is mentioned, the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬is mentioned right after." Allah SWT Himself called our Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬a "Rahma li al-Alamin" — he is the embodiment of rahma; he is the channel of Allah's mercy. Indeed, the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬is mercy, his sending is mercy, his Message is mercy, his teachings are mercy, and believing and acting upon what he has come with is mercy. He is everything associated with mercy. So how then can we begin to do justice to the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬when Allah has praised him so highly. However, even if we cannot mention all of his blessings and characteristics, let us at least mention some. The Names of Prophet Muhammad ‫ﷺ‬ 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 seerah 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 ibn Mut'im (‫)جبير بن مطعم‬, in Sahih Muslim, he said the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬said: "I have a number of names. I am Muhammad, and I am Ahmad, and I am al-Mahi —the one through whom Allah erases kufr—, and I am al-Hashir —people will be resurrected after me—, and I am al-Aqib —the one who has no prophet after—." 1 Insha'Allah (‫ )إن شاء هللا‬- God willing. 2 ‫( ﷺ‬Salla-llahu alayhi wa sallam) - peace be upon him / may Allah send blessings and peace upon him. 3 Shama'il (‫ )شمائل‬- characteristics. 4 Allah (‫ )هللا‬- God. 5 AWJ (Azza wa Jal / ‫ )عز وجل‬- Mighty and the Majestic. 6 Sahaba (‫ )صحابة‬- Companions of Prophet Muhammad ‫ﷺ‬. 7 SWT (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala / ‫ )سبحانه وتعالى‬- Glorified and Exalted be He. 8 Rahma li al-Alamin (‫ )رحمة للعالمين‬- Mercy to the World. 9 Rahma (‫ )رحمة‬- mercy. 10 Tabi'un (‫ )تابعون‬- generation of Muslims who followed the sahaba. 11 Kufr (‫ )كفر‬- disbelief. 2  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 (‫ )قرآن‬explicitly mentions are Muhammad (‫ )محمد‬and Ahmad (‫)أحمد‬. The name Muhammad is mentioned 4 times in the Quran, and the name Ahmad is mentioned 1 time from the tongue of Isa AS in the Quran, "A messenger after me whose name will be Ahmad" [Quran 61:6]. Both names come from the root ‫( ح م د‬h-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 ‫ ﷺ‬names —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 ‫ ﷺ‬by the tongue, they must praise his character and qualities. So he is praised in the heavens and the earth, in the previous umam and the present umam, in this dunya and the akhira. 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 hadith, it is narrated that on the Day of Judgment, everyone will know that Islam (‫ )إسالم‬is the Truth (including the nonbelievers, even though of course it is too late to believe), so the people will all go to 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, nafsi. Go to another person. Go to Nuh." 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 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 AS who will also make an excuse, "I killed 12 See Quran [3:144], [33:40], [47:2], and [48:29]. 13 Isa (‫ )عيسى‬- Jesus. 14 AS (Alayhi al-Salam / ‫ )عليه السالم‬- peace be upon him. 15 Umam (‫ )أمم‬- nations. 16 Dunya (‫ )دنيا‬- [this temporal] world. 17 Akhira (‫ )آخرة‬- Hereafter. 18 Sahih (‫ )صحيح‬- authentic. 19 Hadith (‫ )حديث‬- Prophetic tradition. 20 Adam (‫ )آدم‬- Adam. 21 Nafsi (‫ )نفسي‬- myself. 22 Nuh (‫ )نوح‬- Noah. 23 Ibrahim (‫ )إبراهيم‬- Abraham. 24 Musa (‫ )موسى‬- Moses. 3 someone in anger" (even though it was an accident). Then they will go to Isa AS who will also say he is not worthy. And so they will go to the Prophet Muhammad ‫ ﷺ‬and 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 with the name of "Muhammad," and Prophet Isa AS predicted our Rasul with the name of "Ahmad"? The famous scholar Ibn al-Qayyim (‫ )ابن القيم‬said the wisdom behind this is that the largest ummah of true believers after our ummah is that of the Bani Israel; 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 ‫ ﷺ‬explained it himself: Al-Mahi (‫ )الماحي‬means the one through whom Allah wipes out kufr. "Through me, Allah SWT will wipe out kufr." Indeed the Arabian Peninsula was immersed in kufr, but in his own lifetime the entire peninsula 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 (‫ — )الحاشر‬mankind will be resurrected at the feet of the Prophet ‫( ﷺ‬i.e., right after him). What does this mean? One interpretation is that the coming of the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬is the first sign of the DoJ (Day of Judgment), and therefore the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬is al-Hashir. Another interpretation is that the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬will 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 and the shuhada, and then the rest of the ummah. So al-Hashir is the one that will signal the Hashar (Day of Judgment). 25 Isa (‫ )عيسى‬- Jesus. 26 Rasul (‫ )رسول‬- Messenger. 27 Ummah (‫ )أمة‬- nation. 28 Bani Israel (‫ )بني إسرائيل‬- Children of Israel, i.e., the Jews. 29 Salihun (‫ )صالحون‬- the righteous. 30 Shuhada (‫ )شهداء‬- martyrs. 4  Al-Aqib (‫ — )العاقب‬the 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 الرحمة‬the prophet of rahma (mercy). Nabi al-Tawba (‫ — )نبي التوبة‬the prophet of tawba (repentance). Meaning by believing in him and following his teachings, people can be forgiven. Al-Muqaffa (‫ — )المقفى‬the 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 المالحم‬the prophet that will signal lots of trials. And indeed the biggest trials the world will ever see (the Dajjal, the three major earthquakes, etc.) will occur in this ummah. ______________ The Specialties of Prophet Muhammad ‫ﷺ‬ As for the Prophet's ‫ ﷺ‬khasa'is (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: 1. (Obviously) He is the final prophet of Allah. No prophet has been the final; and Allah chose him to be the final. The Quran says: َ ‫ان م َُح َّم ٌد َأ َبا َأ َح ٍد مِّن رِّ َجالِ ُك ْم َو ٰ َلكِن رَّ سُو َل هَّللا ِ َو َخا َت َم ال َّن ِبي‬ ‫ِّين‬ َ ‫مَّا َك‬ "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]. 2. The prophethood of the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬had been decreed by Allah even before Adam AS existed; even before the ruh was blown into Adam. One sahabi asked the Prophet ‫ﷺ‬, "When were you decreed to be a prophet, ya Rasulullah?" The Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬said, "When Adam was between the tin and the ruh." In other words, when the ruh and tin of Adam were still not yet combined — were still two separate entities. Before the ruh was blown in, Allah had already decreed. 31 Dajjal (‫ )دجال‬- False Messiah / Antichrist. 32 Khasa'is (‫ )خصائص‬- specialties. 33 Ruh (‫ )روح‬- soul. 34 Sahabi (‫ )صحابي‬- male Companion. 35 Ya Rasulullah (‫ )يا رسول هللا‬- O Messenger of Allah. 36 Tin (‫ )طين‬- mud. 5  3. The only prophet to have been sent for all of humanity — in fact the only prophet to have been sent even to the jinn (‫[)جن‬37]. (And insha'Allah, in the course of our lectures, we will mention the incident of the Night of the Jinn — the night in which the jinn came to Makkah to learn about Islam [see episode 20].) 4. The Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬said, "Allah has helped me with ru'b — Allah will inflict into my enemies fear even one month journey away before I reach them." This is unique to the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬only. When he went into battle, people became terrified of him even before he reached them. 5. He has been given the largest ummah out of all of the prophets. In a hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari (‫)صحيح البخاري‬, he said Allah showed him the umam, and he saw an ummah as large as the eye could see, and he said, "Maybe this is my ummah," but he was told, "No, this is the ummah of Musa," and then he saw an ummah even larger that blocked his vision, and he was told, "This is your ummah." And in another hadith, he said to the sahaba, "Do you wish your ummah should be ⅓ of the people of Jannah?" They said, "Allahu'akbar!" 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! 6. He has been given the most powerful miracle, i.e., the miracle of the Quran. There is no miracle that compares to the Quran. One thing demonstrates this: Look at any other miracle, e.g., the splitting of the Red Sea, or when Isa resurrected the dead — we cannot see and experience those miracles ourselves except that we just believe they happened. But the Quran is a living miracle — it is a miracle that all of humanity has access to. It is a miracle that we can recite and the people can hear. 7. The Night Journey of al-Isra' wal-Mi'raj (‫ — )اإلسراء والمعراج‬no other prophet has had the privilege of undertaking this journey. Even when Allah AWJ spoke with Musa, it was the Divine Speech given while Musa was on earth, on Tur Saina. The Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬was the only human to have been called up to the presence of Allah AWJ. He undertook a journey no 37 Note: Somebody can say Adam and Nuh were also sent for all of humanity. But Adam and Nuh were both exceptions that simply happened by a coincidence of early history; in that, Adam was the first human, and naturally, the only human beings in his time were his descendants. The same goes for Nuh: there was only one city, nation, group, community of people in the whole world in his time, so it was just a coincidence. It is not as if Adam & Nuh were intended to be sent for all of humanity. 38 Makkah (‫ )مكة‬- Mecca. 39 Ru'b (‫ )رعب‬- a type of fear. 40 Jannah (‫ )جنة‬- Paradise. 41 Allahu'akbar (‫ )هللا أكبر‬- Allah is the greatest. 42 Subhan'Allah (‫ )سبحان هللا‬- Glory be to Allah. 43 Note: Modern estimates say there are close to 2 billion Muslims on this earth today; so do the math — from the time of the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬until 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?! 44 Tur Saina (‫ )طور سيناء‬- Mount Sinai. 6 other makhluq, as far as we know, ever undertook: he went up to a maqam that even Jibril said, "My permission stops here; you must go alone." "This is where it ends for me; I cannot go any further." 8. He is the leader of all of humanity. He himself told us this in the hadith in Bukhari (‫ )بخاري‬and Muslim (‫)مسلم‬, "I am the Sayyid of the children of Adam." Sayyid here means he is the master, the perfection of humanity. And he deserves to be the leader of humanity. And indeed he will be the leader of humanity on the DoJ. 9. The Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬will be the first to be resurrected on the DoJ [Sahih Bukhari] — the first grave to open up when the second trumpet is blown will be the Prophet's ‫ ﷺ‬grave. This explains his name al-Hashir. And he will be the first to be clothed on the DoJ. 10. He will be given the largest hawd (‫ — )حوض‬a pool that is square in shape; it is so large that one side of it is as if it is from Makkah to Sana'a (‫)صنعاء‬, which is half of the Arabian Peninsula. 11. He will be given the Kawthar (‫ — )الكوثر‬the main river of Jannah; and all rivers of Jannah split from it. It is as if the people of Jannah will drink water from the gift of the Prophet ‫ﷺ‬. 12. He will be the first to cross over the Sirat — the one to guide his ummah to Jannah; first to knock on the Doors of Jannah; he will be the first human to ever enter Jannah after Adam left it; and he will be the one in whose name the Gates of Jannah will be opened. The angel will ask, "Who is it?!"... "To you I have been commanded to open." So it is his name that will be the permission to open up the Gates of Jannah. So the very first step to enter into Jannah is the right step of our Prophet Muhammad ‫ﷺ‬, followed by his ummah (even though we are the last ummah chronologically). 13. Allah has blessed him with the highest level of Jannah: the pinnacle of al-Firdaws al-A'la (‫)الفردوس األعلى‬. It is an entire level. Some scholars have said Jannah is kind of like a pyramid, in that, the higher up you go, the fewer the people; there will come a point where the whole plain of Jannah is meant for only one person; it will be the pinnacle of al-Firdaws al-A'la; and it will be immediately underneath the Throne of Allah SWT; and it is called al-Fadila (‫)الفضيلة‬. The Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬said, "This Fadila is a level of Jannah that Allah has chosen for only one of His servants." And then he said modestly, "I hope that I am that person" (even though obviously there is no other human than him that is qualified for this position). And he ‫ ﷺ‬wanted us to pray that Allah gives him the Wasila (‫ )الوسيلة‬and Fadila (‫)الفضيلة‬. And that's why every time the adhan is called, we say this du'a: 45 Makhluq (‫ )مخلوق‬- creation. 46 Maqam (‫ )مقام‬- place. 47 Jibril (‫ )جبريل‬- Gabriel. 48 Sayyid (‫ )سيد‬- the one who is in charge of, i.e., the leader. 49 The Sirat (‫ )صراط‬- the Bridge. 50 Adhan (‫ )أذان‬- prayer call. 51 Du'a (‫ )دعاء‬- supplication. 7  ‫ َواب َْع ْث ُه َم َقامًا َمحْ مُو ًدا الَّذِي َو َع ْد َت ُه‬،‫ت م َُح َّم ًدا ْال َوسِ ي َل َة َو ْال َفضِ ي َل َة‬ ِ ‫ آ‬،ِ‫صالَ ِة ْال َقاِئ َمة‬ َّ ‫ َوال‬،ِ‫اللَّ ُه َّم َربَّ َه ِذ ِه الدَّعْ َو ِة ال َّتا َّمة‬ "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 ‫ ﷺ‬will be given al-Wasila and al-Fadila. 8  002. Specialties of Prophet Muhammad ‫( ﷺ‬Part 2) In our last halaqa (‫)حلقة‬, we mentioned only around 15 khasa'is; but realize there are close to 50 special qualities that only the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬was given. Today, insha'Allah, we will begin by talking about his physical appearance ‫ﷺ‬. The Physical Appearance of Prophet Muhammad ‫ﷺ‬ It is the sunnah 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 was given half of all beauty. Some scholars say this means half of all beauty of mankind; but some scholars say it means half of the beauty of Prophet Muhammad ‫ ﷺ‬because —according to this opinion— the Prophet Muhammad ‫ ﷺ‬is 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 (‫ )الطبراني‬al-Mu'jam al-Kabir (‫ )المعجم الكبير‬and Bukhari's Kitab al-Manaqib (‫ )كتاب المناقب‬that once, a son of an old sahabiyya asked his mother al-Rubayyi' bint Muawwidh (‫ )الربيع بنت معوذ‬after the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬had passed away, "What was the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬like?" 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 Ka'b ibn Malik (‫ )كعب بن مالك‬described him as a moon. Ka'b said, "Whenever the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬was happy, his face would light up as if it was the full moon." It is beautiful that the sahaba are describing the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬with what they know to be the most beautiful. There is a tradition that almost makes you want to cry: the tradition of Amr ibn al-As (‫)عمرو بن العاص‬. He used to be of the leaders of the Quraysh (‫ )قريش‬who 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 of the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬was 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 was attracting Amr's vision to him, and the second was 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. 52 Sunnah of Allah (‫ )سنة هللا‬- custom of Allah. 53 Yusuf (‫ )يوسف‬- Joseph. 54 This is the majority opinion. 55 Sahabiyya (‫ )صحابية‬- female Companion. 56 Nur (‫ )نور‬- light. 9  Most of the descriptions of the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬come from the younger sahaba. Indeed, they didn't have the same type of emotions as the older sahaba. Anas ibn Malik (‫)أنس بن مالك‬ was introduced to the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬at 7 years old, and he would serve him all day. In the Shama'il (‫ )شمائل‬of al-Tirmidhi (‫)الترمذي‬, Anas said, "The Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬was 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. The Prophet's ‫ ﷺ‬hair 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 سلمة‬used to collect his sweat in a jar to use it as perfume and medicine. Al-Bara' ibn Azib (‫ )البراء بن عازب‬described the Prophet ‫ﷺ‬: "The Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬was of medium stature and he had broad shoulders; and his hair was thick. Once, I saw him wearing a red hulla, and I never saw anything more beautiful than him on that night." The Prophet's ‫ ﷺ‬cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib (‫ )علي بن أبي طالب‬said, "The Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬did 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. 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 ibn Samura (‫ )جابر بن سمرة‬was going home one night when there was a full moon. And he just happened to pass by the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬and he ‫ ﷺ‬was wearing a red hulla. Jabir narrated, "I looked at the face of the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬and the full moon; and wallahi, the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬was 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, Abdullah ibn Salam (‫)عبد هللا بن سالم‬. He had heard of 57 Generally speaking, when the Arabs used the word "white," they meant a lightish brown; and what we call "white," they called it "yellow." 58 The thickness of his hair ‫ ﷺ‬had been narrated by at least five different sahaba. "His beard was very bushy," "His hair is very full," etc. And the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬would grow his hair until it went down to his earlobes. 59 Hulla (‫ )حلة‬- cloak / jacket. 60 The Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬had 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. 61 Wallahi (‫ )وهللا‬- [I swear] by Allah. 62 Madinah (‫ )مدينة‬- Medina. 10 a man coming and claiming to be a prophet, so he wanted to go and see the Message. This hadith is in Bukhari: Abdullah ibn 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. _______________ The Internal Qualities of Prophet Muhammad ‫ﷺ‬ Along with the external beauty, of course our Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬was blessed with internal beauty: humility, modesty, simple lifestyle, etc. 1. Simple Lifestyle i) Sahih Muslim: Once, Umar ibn al-Khattab (‫ )عمر بن الخطاب‬entered upon the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬when he was lying in his small compartment in the masjid, and there was nothing but a jug of water and a small bed made out of the branches of a date palm tree. When Umar comes in, he ‫ ﷺ‬sits 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 and how they live! Surely you deserve better!" And to this, the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬simply 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 بكر‬described, "The bed the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬used 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 ‫ ﷺ‬extra (to make it more comfortable for him). And because of this, he ‫ ﷺ‬slept 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, the wife of the Prophet ‫ﷺ‬, said, sometimes the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬would not taste meat for 6 weeks. So her nephew Urwah ibn al-Zubayr (‫)عروة بن الزبير‬, forty years down the line, asked her, "O my Mother, 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 ibn Awf (‫)عبد الرحمن بن عوف‬, he began to cry and said, "Till the day the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬died, 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 ‫ ﷺ‬has gone on to something that is better." That is, he is 63 The first day the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬arrived in Madinah. 64 Masjid (‫ )مسجد‬- mosque. 65 This is the 7th or 8th year of the Hijrah when the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬is the undisputed leader of a large chunk of Arabia. 66 RA (radiyAllahu anha / ‫ )رضي هللا عنها‬- may Allah be pleased with her. 67 Mother of the Believers. 11 worried that he is getting all of his ajr 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 ‫ ﷺ‬when 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 ibn Awf: "The Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬never 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 Muslim, Abu Hurairah (‫ )أبو هريرة‬reported that one day or one night, the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬went out (of his house), and there he found Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (‫ )أبو بكر الصديق‬RA and Umar RA. He ‫ ﷺ‬said: "What has brought you out of your houses at this hour?" They said: "Ya Rasulullah, it is hunger." Thereupon, he ‫ ﷺ‬said: "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 ibn al-Tayhan [‫[]أبو الهيثم بن التيهان‬71]). But the Ansari was not at home. And when his wife saw the Prophet ‫ﷺ‬, she said: "Most welcome." And the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬said 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 ‫ ﷺ‬and 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 ‫ ﷺ‬said 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 ‫ ﷺ‬said 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." 2. Humility i) The Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬frequently rode donkeys even though he had a camel named al-Qaswa' (‫)القصواء‬. ii) During the Battle of Badr (‫)غزوة بدر‬, the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬distributed 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 ‫ ﷺ‬assigned Ali and Abu Lubaba (‫ )أبو لبابة‬as 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 68 Ajr (‫ )أجر‬- reward. 69 https://sunnah.com/muslim:2038a 70 RA (radiyAllahu anhu / ‫ )رضي هللا عنه‬- may Allah be pleased with him. 71 We learn from other sources that this Ansari was Abu al-Haytham ibn al-Tayhan. 12 extra protection; the commander is someone who is not treated like the private, so the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬could have said, "Okay, fine." Or he ‫ ﷺ‬even could have said, "No. Let us all share the camel.") [But] he ‫ ﷺ‬didn't want to make them feel that he was doing them a favor by turning down their generous offer, so he ‫ ﷺ‬smiled 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. 3. Manners i) Anas ibn Malik said, "I served the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬for 10 years, but not once did he rebuke me. Not once did the word uff come from his mouth. And not once did he 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. ii) There is another beautiful narration as well: Anas ibn Malik said, "Once, the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬sent 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 ‫ ﷺ‬came 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 ‫ ﷺ‬smiling at me"—the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬was 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 Muslim, Aisha RA reported that once, a group of Jews came to the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬and sought his audience. And when it was granted, they said to him ‫ﷺ‬, "Al-sam-u-alaykum"—in mockery of the greeting of the Muslims. Aisha RA heard this, so she said in response, "Rather, may death be upon you, and also curse!" At this, the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬said 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 ‫ ﷺ‬said, "Did you not hear that I said (to them): 'Wa alaykum'?"—he ‫ ﷺ‬maintained his dignity and composure, and he didn't curse back at them. 72 Anas ibn Malik was a Companion of Prophet Muhammad ‫ ﷺ‬who 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 Prophet Muhammad ‫ ﷺ‬in servitude, hoping that he would pray for her son's well-being. The Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬fulfilled 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 ‫ ﷺ‬prayer for him. 73 Uff (‫ )أف‬is the least word to express irritation; "tsk" would be the equivalent in English. 74 https://sunnah.com/muslim:2165a 75 Al-sam-u-alaykum (‫ )السام عليكم‬- death be upon you. 76 Al-salam-u-alaykum (‫ )السالم عليك‬- peace be upon you. 77 Wa alaykum (‫ )وعليكم‬- and upon you. 13  4. Bravery i) Ali ibn 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 ibn 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 ‫ ﷺ‬had already gone in the direction of the commotion alone, and he found the horse of Abu Talha (‫ ;)أبو طلحة‬and 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.'" 5. Generosity i) He ‫ ﷺ‬would 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 ‫ ﷺ‬for help." ii) It is narrated that once, the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬was 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 ‫ ﷺ‬said yes. And then he ‫ ﷺ‬went 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 ‫ ﷺ‬this! 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! To show the generosity of the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬in front of Allah!" 6. Humor The Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬was 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 ‫ ﷺ‬and said, "O Messenger of Allah! Make du'a that Allah causes this old lady (herself) to enter Jannah." The Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬looked 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 ‫ ﷺ‬told 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 ‫ ﷺ‬recited the verse: 78 Kafan (‫ )كفن‬- shroud. 14  ‫ِإ َّنا َأن َشْأ َناهُنَّ ِإن َشا ًء‬ "We bring them forth with a new beginning" [see Quran, 56:35]. ii) And the story of Aisha RA when the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬was on his deathbed. 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 ‫ ﷺ‬said, "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 for you, and to pray your janazah, 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: the permissibility of a spouse doing ghusl for [the janazah (dead body) of] his / her spouse — because the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬never spoke except the truth. Al-Shawkani (‫ )الشوكاني‬has 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 ibn Haram (‫ )زاهر بن حرام‬whom the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬used to love a lot. We don't know much about him, but there was something about him that the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬loved. He was a simple sincere believer. Once, the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬saw him in the souq 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 ‫ ﷺ‬to get as much barakah. Then as a joke, the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬shouted out, "Who is going to buy this abd from me?" 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 ‫ ﷺ‬said, "You are very expensive in the Eyes of Allah SWT." This is a beautiful story that shows the humanity of the Prophet ‫ﷺ‬. ______________ Prophet Muhammad's ‫ ﷺ‬Love For His Ummah i) The Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬had an immense amount of love for his ummah. Allah AWJ says: َ ‫َل َق ْد َجا َء ُك ْم َرسُو ٌل مِّنْ َأنفُسِ ُك ْم َع ِزي ٌز َع َل ْي ِه َما َع ِن ُّت ْم َح ِريصٌ َع َل ْي ُكم ِب ْالمُْؤ ِمن‬ ‫ِين َرءُوفٌ رَّ حِي ٌم‬ "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]. 79 He ‫ ﷺ‬literally had 4-5 days left to live; and of course, nobody knew this at the time, except him. 80 Ghusl (‫ )غسل‬- washing. 81 Janazah (‫ )جنازة‬- funeral prayer / dead body. 82 Fiqh (‫ )فقه‬- Islamic ruling. 83 Souq (‫ )سوق‬- marketplace. 84 Abd (‫ )عبد‬- slave. 85 And 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 ‫ ﷺ‬meant abd = slave of Allah. Again, even in his joke, he ‫ ﷺ‬is not lying. 15  ii) It is narrated in Sahih Muslim that: Once, the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬was 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 ‫ ﷺ‬came across the verse of Isa AS in Surah al-Ma'idah (‫ )سورة المائدة‬saying, "[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 ‫ ﷺ‬recites 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." So Jibril came to Prophet Muhammad ‫ ﷺ‬and asked him, "Why are you crying?" The Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬said, "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 ‫ ﷺ‬because He SWT wants to please the Prophet ‫ !ﷺ‬Subhan'Allah. iii) The greatest indication of the love that the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬had 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 (‫ )دعوة‬for 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, 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]. And Musa AS made du'a against Fir'awn [see Quran, 10:88], and it was answered. And Sulayman 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] — jinn 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 ‫ ﷺ‬had 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 and nabi, 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, 86 And of course Allah knew why he was crying. 87 Mu'minun (‫ )مؤمنون‬- Believers. 88 And this verse is why the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬said in a hadith: "I am the du'a of my father Ibrahim." 89 Fir'awn (‫ )فرعون‬- Pharaoh. 90 Sulayman (‫ )سليمان‬- Solomon. 91 Rasul (‫ )رسول‬- messenger. 92 Nabi (‫ )نبي‬- prophet. 16 every single Muslim who believes and acts upon even a little bit of his teachings ‫ ﷺ‬will eventually be forgiven and enter Jannah. All because the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬saved that one du'a for us. Subhan'Allah. There can be no greater sacrifice than this. This shows us the love that he ‫ ﷺ‬had for us. ______________ Conclusion We conclude by mentioning a beautiful hadith reported in Bukhari: Anas ibn Malik narrates: A man came to the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬and said, "O Messenger of Allah, when is the Day of Judgment?" The Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬asked 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, siyam, or sadaqa, but I have a genuine love for Allah and His Messenger." Thereupon, the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬said, "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 ‫ ﷺ‬and 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: ‫ُّون هَّللا َ َفا َّت ِبعُونِي يُحْ ِب ْب ُك ُم هَّللا ُ َو َي ْغفِرْ َل ُك ْم ُذ ُنو َب ُك ْم‬ َ ‫قُ ْل ِإن ُكن ُت ْم ُت ِحب‬ "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. 93 Salah (‫ )صالة‬- prayer. 94 Siyam (‫ )صيام‬- fasting. 95 Sadaqa (‫ )صدقة‬- charity. 17  003. Why Study the Seerah and Pre-Islamic Arabia Before we discuss the life of the Prophet ‫ﷺ‬, we must discuss pre-Islamic Arabia. In order to understand the seerah, we need to understand the world at his time. This is why every single book of seerah has a number of introductory sections. What does the word seerah (‫ )سيرة‬mean? It means to traverse or to journey. It is derived from the root ‫( س ي ر‬s-y-r) which means to travel — and the reason why seerah (the biography of a person) is called seerah is because you are traveling his journey, following his footsteps. Even though its use can be for the biography of anybody, Muslim scholars have now kept it only for the biography of the Prophet ‫ﷺ‬. Benefits of Studying the Seerah Why should we study the seerah? 1. Allah has commanded us to know this man. This is an obligation that Allah has put upon us. And there are over 50 verses in the Quran that command us to take the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬as an example. Of them: ‫ُول هَّللا ِ ُأسْ َوةٌ َح َس َن ٌة‬ َ ‫لَّ َق ْد َك‬ ِ ‫ان َل ُك ْم فِي َرس‬ "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 ‫ ﷺ‬is the study of someone we must follow. And amazingly, no matter which angle we look at the seerah, we will benefit from it: (i) In terms of religion: how the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬worship 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. 2. The seerah is the number one way to increase our love for the Prophet ‫ﷺ‬. There is no other way as effective and as powerful. So isn't it sad that our ummah has neglected this study? Most of our children are completely ignorant of the seerah. It's embarrassing that we know so much more about movie stars and athletes, and have no clue as to the real 18 person whom we should know about. By studying the seerah, our love for the Prophet ‫ﷺ‬ increases, and conversely, it demonstrates our love. So it's a two-way street: When you study, your love increases; and when you love, you want to study more. Indeed, when you love someone, you want to know everything about him, and you want to imitate him in every way possible. It's a circle: The more we study the more we love, and the more we love the more we study. Anyone who claims to love the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬but doesn't study the seerah, wallahi, the fact that he doesn't study is a sign that he doesn't love him. 3. It also helps us to understand the Quran. The Quran is a very profound book that you cannot understand without context. For example, Surah al-Duha (‫)سورة الضحى‬, "Your Lord has not abandoned you, nor is He displeased" [Quran, 93:3] — we cannot understand this verse until we understand the seerah and see when and why this verse was revealed. The context is that the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬was worried and concerned that for weeks wahy hadn't come down, so he began thinking, "Maybe Allah has abandoned me." This is the first year of revelation, and shaytan is giving him bad thoughts; so Allah SWT revealed Surah al-Duha to comfort him ‫ﷺ‬. Until we understand this, the surah doesn't make much sense. So the Quran gains meaning by studying the seerah. 4. It raises our hopes, lifts our spirits, and blesses us with optimism. This is especially true in our times when we face Islamophobia. Even though in comparison to what the sahaba went through, it is embarrassing to even call what we go through a "persecution," nonetheless we are facing a little bit of the heat. So by studying the seerah, we can understand that the people before us suffered even more, and we compare our trials and tribulations to theirs, and realize that actually we are having it easy. And in fact, the Quran tells us the reason why Allah is telling the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬the stories of the earlier prophets (i.e., earlier seerahs): َ َ‫ِّت ِب ِه فَُؤ اد‬ ‫ك‬ َ ‫َو ُكاًّل َّنقُصُّ َع َلي‬ ُ ‫ْك مِنْ َأن َبا ِء الرُّ س ُِل َما ُن َثب‬ "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 ‫ ﷺ‬optimism and Iman. 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 5. Yet another benefit of studying the seerah is that the seerah itself is a miracle of the Prophet ‫[ ﷺ‬i.e., the study of the seerah is the study of the Proofs of his prophethood]. When somebody [e.g., a Jew or a Christian] asks us what are the miracles of our Prophet Muhammad [i.e., what are the Signs of his prophethood], we immediately start thinking of the splitting of the moon, the talking of the tree, etc., without realizing that in fact the whole life of the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬is an even greater miracle; an indication that he was a true prophet of Allah. Coming from where he came and bringing forth the profundity & eloquence of the Quran, his leadership, his patience, his success; coming from the middle of a pagan ancient civilization that didn't even have a library or script; and yet within 50 years Islam spread, and within 100 years it ruled the world — this is a miracle. The seerah is an affirmation of this miracle. The power he wielded and yet the simplicity with which he lived his life; it is 96 Wahy (‫ )وحي‬- revelation. 97 Shaytan (‫ )شيطان‬- devil / satan. 98 Iman (‫ )إيمان‬- faith / belief / confidence. 19 impossible for a human not to be affected by the power or luxury unless there is pure, divine sincerity. Ibn Hazm (‫)ابن حزم‬, a famous Andalusian scholar, said, "Wallahi, if the Prophet ‫ﷺ‬ had not been given any miracle other than his life and times, it would have been sufficient to prove that he is a prophet of Allah." How he revolutionized Arabia and changed the entire world — this is truly a miracle. Within 20 years — nobody could have *ever* predicted that a group coming from Arabia would destroy the Persian Empire and start knocking on the doors of the Roman Empire. A group with a new religion, new theology, a force that cannot be equaled with the mighty empires of Rome and Persia; and yet Allah SWT allowed these people that were less educated and less civilized with nowhere near the army or weaponry of the mighty empires to be victorious — because of the religion they held firm to, that is Islam. 6. The seerah lays out a precise methodology to revive the ummah. There are many Islamist groups in our times with their own methodologies to do so. But if you want to bring about izzah back, then why don't you look at the seerah? The Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬began literally from zero and look where he reached. We look at the ummah today and our hearts bleed, and wonder, "Why, oh Allah?!" "How can we revive the state of the ummah?!" — And the response is: by studying the seerah. 7. By studying the seerah, we also see the life and times of the best generation who ever lived: the generation of the sahaba RA. Allah says, "Allah is pleased with them, and they are pleased with Allah" [Quran, 9:100]. And the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬said, "The best generation is my generation." Ibn Mas'ud (‫ )ابن مسعود‬RA said, "Allah looked at the hearts of His servants and He chose the brightest and the purest heart to be that of the Prophet Muhammad ‫ﷺ‬. And then He chose the purest next and made them the sahaba of the Prophet ‫ﷺ‬." So by studying the seerah, we also study the stories of Abu Bakr, Umar, Anas, Jabir (‫)جابر‬, Sa'd ibn Mu'adh (‫)سعد بن معاذ‬, Talha (‫)طلحة‬, Zubayr (‫)زبير‬, et al., and our Iman goes up by listening to the lives of these legendary people, their sacrifices, struggles, perseverance, and patience. They are all role models for us. According to a weak athar, the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬said, "My sahaba are like the stars. Whichever one you follow, you are going to be guided." 8. The seerah brings about knowledge with which we can defend the honor of our Prophet ‫ﷺ‬. The honor of our Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬has always been attacked from day one. The Quraysh fabricated things against him, they said he was a madman [see Quran, 68:51], magician [38:4], poet [37:36], etc., because none of them could explain how the Quran came, and where did this 'unlettered shepherd' get the Quran from. So they invented all these preposterous claims. And it continues to this day. In our times, how many people say our Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬was a bloodthirsty terrorist, a womanizer, etc.? If we want to defend the honor of our Prophet ‫ﷺ‬, how can we do so if we don't know his life and times, if we don't even know whether the accusations are true? And if they are partially true, how do we understand them properly? There is no way other than by studying the seerah. And this is why the early scholars of Islam (the sahaba, tabi'un, tabi' al-tabi'in) used to teach the seerah just like they would teach all of the other sciences. Ali ibn al-Husayn (‫)علي بن الحسين‬, the great-grandson of the Prophet ‫ﷺ‬, said, "We would teach our children maghazi (‫( )مغازي‬i.e., 99 Izzah (‫ )عزة‬- honor / glory. 100 Athar (‫ )أثر‬- tradition. 20 the seerah) just like we would teach them the Quran." So the curriculum in early Islam was Quran + seerah. And we must all do the same with our children. To summarize: The study of the seerah is the study of (i) the best, and (ii) the best, and (iii) the best, and (iv) the best: 1. It is the study of the life and times of the single best human to ever live. The Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬said, "I am the leader & the paragon of virtue of the children of Adam, and I am not saying this out of arrogance." 2. And the best time — the time of the sahaba. 3. And the best generation — the generation of the sahaba. 4. And the best place — Makkah and Madinah. So in every angle, it is the best of the best of the best of the best. Therefore, studying the Prophet's ‫ ﷺ‬life 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 ‫( ﷺ‬and yes, it is *only* 23 years from the beginning of his risala until his death), the miracle of the seerah will benefit us in each and every aspect. ______________ Primary Sources Used for the Series How do we know what happened 1400 years ago? Where do we get our stuff from? What are our sources? 1. The Quran. The number one source is the Quran. This is a source that is overlooked by many. But it was revealed during the seerah, so it caters to situations that arose during his life, and it references almost every single major event that happened during the life and even before the time of the Prophet ‫ﷺ‬. It is the best source for many reasons: (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 (‫ )بدر‬and Uhud (‫)أحد‬. (iii) It explains the ghayb — 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]. 101 Makkah and Madinah are the holiest cities on earth. But who knew this and really cared about them until the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬lived 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)." 102 Risala (‫ )رسالة‬- Message, i.e., prophethood. 103 Ghayb (‫ )غيب‬- [the] unseen. 21  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 عمران‬was revealed for Uhud. So the seerah and the Quran go hand in hand: You need the seerah to understand the Quran, and you need the Quran to understand the seerah. 2. The hadith. Every hadith is one snapshot of the seerah. There are lots of books of hadith, but the most famous ones are 6 of them, called Kutub al-Sittah (‫)كتب الستة‬: (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. 3. Books written specifically for seerah. The first people to begin writing books of seerah were the sons of the sahaba. So many stories were told from their fathers. Urwah ibn Zubayr ibn al-Awwam wrote one of the greatest accounts. Also the son of Uthman ibn Affan (‫ )عثمان بن عفان‬whose name was Aban (‫( )أبان‬died in the year 105 of the Year of the Hijrah) — he also wrote a booklet on seerah. Then a great scholar came by the name of Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri (‫( )ابن شهاب الزهري‬d. 124 AH), and he wrote one of the earliest treatises of seerah. But unfortunately, none of these books is existent anymore. The reason is simply: when later books came, they absorbed the earlier treatises. Realize in those days there were no printing presses. If you wanted a book, you had to sit there and write it yourself cover to cover. So if you had to choose one book, you would choose the ones that are better compiled (i.e., the later ones). 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 seerah was compiled even before hadith because of its importance. And of course the greatest scholar of seerah is Ibn Ishaq (‫( )ابن إسحاق‬d. 150 AH) who authored the Seeratu Rasulillah, a.k.a., Seerat Ibn Ishaq. His name is Muhammad ibn Ishaq (‫ )محمد بن إسحاق‬and 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 seerah 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 (‫ )البصرة‬and Kufa (‫)الكوفة‬, to discover the stories of Ibn Mas'ud and others. 104 Urwah was one of the greatest tabi'un (‫ — )تابعون‬his father, mother, grandmother, and brother, were all sahabi. But he was born after the death of the Prophet ‫ﷺ‬, so he wasn't a sahabi. And his aunt was none other than Aisha RA. So he was one of the primary narrators of fiqh, hadith, tafsir (‫ تفسير‬- exegesis), and seerah — because he had access to Aisha RA. He was her mahram (‫)محرم‬. 105 Seeratu Rasulillah (‫ )سيرة رسول هللا‬- Life of the Messenger of Allah. 106 Seerat Ibn Ishaq (‫ )سيرة ابن إسحاق‬- Seerah by Ibn Ishaq. 22 One of the best things about Ibn Ishaq is he compiled everything with isnad. 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 هشام‬d. 218 AH) came along. His name was Abd al-Malik ibn Hisham (‫)عبد الملك بن هشام‬, and he authored al-Seerat al-Nabawiyyah, a.k.a., Seerat Ibn Hisham. The average Muslim should be aware of these two sourcebooks of the seerah: 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 ‫ ;ﷺ‬so Ibn Hisham deleted this entire section of earlier history and other information about the life of the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬he 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 هللا‬d. 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. 4. Books written about the characteristics of the Prophet ‫ﷺ‬. In Arabic, this is called shama'il (‫)شمائل‬. And the most famous is Shama'il of al-Tirmidhi. Shama'il is a genre of books that deals with the looks, the characteristics, the manners, the possessions, the houses, etc., of the Prophet ‫ﷺ‬. 5. Books written about the miracles of the Prophet ‫ﷺ‬. In Arabic, this is called dala'il (‫)دالئل‬. The most famous is Dala'il al-Nubuwwah by al-Bayhaqi (‫ — )البيهقي‬a massive encyclopedia with ~12 volumes. 6. Histories of the sahaba — by reading their histories we extract seerah. 107 Isnad (‫ )إسناد‬- chain of narrators. 108 Al-Seerat al-Nabawiyyah (‫ )السيرة النبوية‬- the Life of the Prophet. 109 Seerat Ibn Hisham (‫ )سيرة ابن هشام‬- Seerah by Ibn Hisham. 110 Dala'il al-Nubuwwah (‫ )دالئل النبوة‬- The Signs of Prophethood. 23  7. Histories of Makkah and Madinah — by reading the tarikhs we extract seerah. So these are the primary sources of seerah. (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 ‫ ﷺ‬and the Arabs / Muslims at the time. ______________ Pre-Islamic Arabia: Early Arab's Genealogy 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: 1. The Extinct Arabs (al-Arab al-Ba'ida / ‫العرب البائدة‬‎) — the earliest civilizations that lived in Arabia, pre-Islam by thousands of years. The Quran mentions some of their stories, e.g., Ad (‫[ )عاد‬e.g., Quran, 89:6-14] and Thamud (‫[ )ثمود‬e.g., Quran, 11:61-68]. They have nothing to do with the later Arabs. They are called Arabs simply because they lived in the lands that later became Arabia. And as far as we know, Thamud is the earliest humanity that flourished in the Arabian Peninsula around 3000 BCE — so around 5000 years ago. We have documented evidence of the Thamud flourishing 5000 years ago. And to this day, we have the remains of the palaces of the people of Saleh (‫)صالح‬, which came after Thamud, in an area called al-Ula (‫ )العال‬in Saudi Arabia. Ibn Khaldun (‫ )ابن خلدون‬mentions, "These people fled from the ancient city of Babel (‫ )بابل‬and they made their way to Arabia." Then what happened to them? Each one of them has its own story: Some Allah destroyed, some civil war, some flood, migration, etc. — and eventually they all became extinct. 2. The Remaining Arabs (al-Arab al-Baqiya / ‫ — )العرب الباقية‬they are composed of two categories: 2a) Qahtan (‫ — )قحطان‬he is considered to be the father of the Arabs. His son was named Ya'rab / Ya'rib (‫ ;)يعرب‬and Ya'rab is where the term Arab (‫ )عرب‬comes from. And it is said that Ya'rab ibn Qahtan (‫ )يعرب بن قحطان‬was 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 [‫ ]سام‬is 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 [‫ ]يافث‬is the father of the Roman race, the Caucasians. And [iii] his brother Ham [‫ ]حام‬is the father of the Africans. The Bible says this; and there is a 24  da'if hadith in al-Tirmidhi that supports this, so Allahu a'lam). 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 (‫ )هود‬AS — 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 (‫ )األوس‬and the Khazraj (‫ )الخزرج‬in Madinah were also Qahtanis. These are called the Original Arabs (al-Arab al-Ariba / ‫ )العرب العاربة‬because they invented / spoke Arabic. 2b) Adnan (‫ — )عدنان‬he is the ancestor of the Prophet ‫ﷺ‬. The Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬is Adnani, so we know a lot about Adnan. Who is Adnan? One of the descendants of Ismail AS. Now as we know, Ibrahim AS is originally from Ur (‫[)أور‬114], then his son Ismail AS is left as a baby with his mother Hajar 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, 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 (‫ )الطبري‬mentions 7 opinions 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 ‫ ﷺ‬is 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 seerah of the Prophet ‫ﷺ‬. 111 Da'if (‫ )ضعيف‬- weak. 112 Allahu a'lam (‫ )هللا أعلم‬- God knows best. 113 Ismail (‫ )إسماعيل‬- Ishmael. 114 An ancient city in Iraq. 115 Hajar (‫ )هاجر‬- Hagar. 116 So his children are a mixture of Ibrahim's AS and the Qahtanis' blood. 117 See episode 5. 25  004. Religious Status of the World Before Islam Today, we will shed some light upon the religious status of the Arabs and the world before the coming of the Prophet ‫ﷺ‬. We talk about this to appreciate the blessings the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬came with. When we understand pre-Islam, we will appreciate Islam. When we understand Jahiliyyah and their idolatry, we will appreciate the blessing of the sending of the Prophet ‫ﷺ‬. Pre-Islamic Arabia: The Monotheism of Ibrahim & Ismail 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 ‫[ﷺ‬119]. These include: 1. To consider Makkah sacred — And as we know, we Muslims call Makkah "al-Haram (‫ الحرام‬- the Sacred)," which comes from the same word as "haram (‫ حرام‬- forbidden)." Makkah is called al-Haram because many things that are halal (permissible) outside the Haram are haram (forbidden) inside the Haram. For example, you are not allowed to hunt animals and you are not allowed to pull a leaf of a tree inside the Haram — you cannot 'touch' natural things. Allah says in the Quran: ً ‫كان آمِنا‬ َ ‫َو َمنْ دَ َخ َل ُه‬ "Whoever enters the Haram is safe" [3:97]. And this is a ruling we still apply in our shariah. 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. 2. Showing respect to the Ka'bah (‫)كعبة‬. 3. Instituting the four Sacred Months (Dhu al-Qa'dah [‫]ذو القعدة‬, Dhu al-Hijjah [‫]ذو الحجة‬, Muharram [‫]محرم‬, and Rajab [‫ — )]رجب‬In these months, all hostility has to cease, and you are not allowed to engage in any warfare. Everybody must be at peace. 4. Hajj (‫ )حج‬with all of its rites and rituals — doing tawaf, doing sa'i (‫)سعي‬, the aspect of sacrificing animals around the Haram, the aspect of decorating animals that are assigned to be sacrificed, etc. 118 Jahiliyyah (‫ )جاهلية‬- the Age of Ignorance. 119 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 ‫ ﷺ‬adopted certain practices from paganism and then added his own two cents. But we say no, he ‫ ﷺ‬adhered to the original monotheism of Ibrahim AS, and he cleansed away the paganism. 120 Halal (‫ )حالل‬- permissible. 121 Haram (‫ )حرام‬- forbidden / sacred. 122 Shariah (‫ )شريعة‬- Islamic law. 26  ______________ Pre-Islamic Arabia: History of the Introduction of Paganism Now if the Arabs had a prophet who was Ibrahim AS and he taught tawhid, then where did paganism come from? The Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬told us when and where and how it began. Sahih Muslim: The Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬said, "I saw Amr ibn Luhay al-Khuza'i (‫عمرو بن لحي‬ ‫ )الخزاعي‬wandering 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: َ ‫َما َج َع َل هَّللا ُ مِنْ َبح‬ ‫ِير ٍة َوال َساِئ َب ٍة َوال َوصِ ي َل ٍة َوال َح ٍام‬ "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 ibn Luhay is the one who began these superstitions. It is narrated that Amr ibn Luhay traveled to Syria where the Amaliq 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 a 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. Amr was the one who brought this idol back and put it in front of the Ka'bah, and this was how paganism started in Arabia. Amr ibn Luhay also changed the talbiyah (‫ )تلبية‬for hajj. The original talbiyah is, "Labbayk'Allahumma labbayk! Labbayka laa shareeka laka labbayk! (‫ لبيك ال شريك‬،‫لبيك اللهم لبيك‬ ‫ لك لبيك‬- Here I am, O Allah, Here I am! Here I am, You have no partner, Here I am!)" But Amr ibn Luhay changed it to, "Labbayk'Allahumma labbayk. Labbayka laa shareeka lak illaa shareekan huwa lak tamlikuhu wa maa malak (‫ تملكه وما‬،‫ لبيك ال شريك لك إال شريكا ً هو لك‬،‫لبيك اللهم لبيك‬ ‫ 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 ibn Luhay invented this new talbiyah and thus new religion. 123 Tawhid (‫ )توحيد‬- monotheism. 124 Amaliq (‫ )عماليق‬- Amalekites. 125 Tangent: This is why hundreds of years later, in the Battle of Uhud (‫)غزوة أحد‬, when Abu Sufyan (‫ )أبو سفيان‬thought 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 ‫ ﷺ‬said to Umar RA, "Respond back to him (Abu Sufyan)." Umar asked, "How do I respond back?" The Prophet ‫ﷺ‬: "[Say to him] Allah is our Protector and you have no protector!" 126 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. 27  When did Amr ibn 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. 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 ibn 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 (‫— )فهر‬the 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: 1. Inferiority complex Amr had towards the advanced Amalekites — these people were a powerful civilization who had history, writing, architecture, large buildings, and were known to be undefeated. So Amr ibn Luhay felt a complex and assumed that Amalekites must be correct in everything. He was so astounded he assumed surely the Amalekites must be upon guidance. So he took from them their theology. 2. Amr ibn Luhay was very influential among his people — he was the chieftain of Khuza'a (‫)خزاعة‬. He was one of the most respected: he had a lot of power, was a generous man, won lots of different battles — so the people followed him as he was prestigious and had high credentials. And the Khuza'a was in charge of Makkah for a certain period of time, so that's when the idolatry spread. 3. There must have been at least 2000 years between Amr ibn Luhay and Ibrahim AS — so there was a long time when there was no guidance. Thus ignorance prevailed. And there are even narrations that say shaytan inspired Amr ibn 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 (‫[ )نسر‬see 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 ibn 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. 127 Am al-Fil (‫ )عام الفيل‬- Year of the Elephant. 128 So we should take from this a lesson: simply because a nation is powerful and has technology, it does not mean they have the correct morality or the correct ethics or the correct theology. 28  ______________ Pre-Islamic Arabia: Various Paganistic Practices 1. We learn that in jahili times, whenever a caravan left Makkah, they would chip away a rock from the Ka'bah and take it as the equivalent of an idol, and they would worship it. 2. A sahabi mentioned, "Before Islam came, we worshiped rocks and stones, and if we found a rock that looked more beautiful than the one we were worshiping, we would throw the old one away and put the new one in its place. And if we were traveling in the desert and we couldn't find a rock, we would gather sand, put it into a pile, bring a goat, squeeze some milk out of it to make the sand firm, and then we do tawaf around that sand." 3. One of the most disgusting stories is that of Na'ila (‫ )نائلة‬and Isaf (‫إساف‬‎). They were two idols — Na'ila was put on Safa (‫ )صفا‬and Isaf on Marwa (‫)مروة‬. And before Islam, the Quraysh would touch Na'ila and Isaf when they went back and forth doing sa'i. So when Islam came, the Muslims felt hesitant, "How can we do sa'i when it is meant to commemorate Na'ila and Isaf?" So Allah revealed in the Quran, "Safa and Marwa are from the signs of Allah" [see Quran, 2:158] even before Na'ila and Isaf ever came — meaning don't feel guilty, as Na'ila and Isaf have nothing to do with the holiness of Safa and Marwa. And Aisha RA says, "Since we were children, we were hearing the story of Na'ila and Isaf." The books of history say they were two lovers, and they could not find a place to be intimate except the interior of the Ka'bah, so they consummated their romance inside the Ka'bah. And as a punishment, Allah petrified them right then and there. But when the Quraysh found them, they took them as a miracle, and they put them on Safa and Marwa. 4. When the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬conquered Makkah, there were around 360 idols of various shapes and sizes around the Ka'bah. Some in the shape of full humans, some in the shape of animals, and most in the shape of half-human half-animal just like in children's fairy tales, i.e., humanoids. 5. The Quraysh had the theology that Allah had daughters who were His angels. So they worshiped the angels thinking they were the daughters of Allah. 129 Jahili (‫ )جاهلي‬- pagan. 130 Note: As Muslims, we do not consider the bricks of Ka'bah to be sacred and holy. The location is holy, but not the bricks of the Ka'bah itself, not the building itself. A lot of people don't know this, but Ka'bah is rebuilt every few decades just like any structure. The current Ka'bah is only 10 years old. There is nothing holy about the Ka'bah. It is the area and the land of Makkah that is sacred. But the people before the time of the Prophet ‫ﷺ‬ did not realize this, so they let paganism seep in. 131 It is mind-boggling that intelligent people would do this. But sadly, even to this day, in some Muslim countries, we see people bow to graves and do tawaf around it — and some do the same with saints & mausoleums. 132 See episode 79. 29  6. The Arabs did not have a creed — paganistic societies don't have creeds, unlike us Muslims that have Arkan al-Iman. (Side note: Hindus are the clearest example of the idolatrous religion; they don't have a unified creed, no aqida. One Hindu can worship one god and another worship another god, and you can have 6 million Hindus worshiping 6 million different gods, and each one has a different perception of what his god can or cannot do.) The same goes for the Arabs; there was no unified creed — many believed some things that others didn't. But they all agreed upon the fact that they needed to worship idols to come closer to Allah. ______________ Pre-Islamic Arabia: The Hunafa' History records that there are some exceptions to this paganism. The books of seerah mention there were a handful of people that were hanif (‫( )حنيف‬plural: hunafa' [‫ )]حنفاء‬which means "turning away from." They are called the hunafa' because they turned away from shirk to Allah. One hunafa' was Quss ibn Sa'ida (‫ )قس بن ساعدة‬from Banu Iyad (‫)إياد‬, an old man around the age of 80-90 when the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬saw 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.: ‫ وكل ما هو آت آت‬،‫ ومن مات فات‬،‫ إنه من عاش مات‬،‫ وإذا سمعتم شيئا فانتفعوا‬،‫ اسمعوا وعوا‬،‫يا أيها الناس‬ "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: ‫ أقسم قس باهلل إن هلل‬،‫ والظلم الذي لم ينكر‬،‫ أين المعروف الذي لم يشكر‬،‫ وأين اآلباء واألجداد‬،‫ أين ثمود وعاد‬،‫يا معشر إياد‬ ‫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 is never rewarded? And who will punish the one who does injustice but is 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 ‫ ﷺ‬asked the tribesmen, "Where is Quss ibn Sa'ida?" But they said he died a long time ago. The Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬said, "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 ‫ ﷺ‬liked what Quss had said. This shows there were some remnants of tawhid even in pre-Islamic Arabia. 133 Arkan al-Iman (‫ )أركان اإليمان‬- Pillars of Faith. 134 Aqida (‫ )عقيدة‬- creed. 135 Shirk (‫ )شرك‬- polytheism / idolatry.