“It is striking today that, we Muslims read so many books and still have no result of any revival, yet the Sahabas revived a great portion of the world by reading only One Book in their time; the Holy Quran. The fact is that they did not just read it, but practiced every bit of it. It was enough then, and is still enough today. [Shaykh Hasan Ali]”
COURAGE AND FEAR:
Taken from: Masharai al-Ashwaq Ila Masarai al-Ushaaq – Ibn Nuhaas
216. Abu Hurairah narrated: “The strong believer is more beloved to Allah than the weak believer” (Muslim)
217. The Messenger of Allah used to say: “O Allah I seek refuge in you from gloom and sorrow; from inaction and laziness; and from cowardice, stinginess and old age, and I seek refuge in you from the punishment of the grave” (Bukhari – Muslim)
Notice that the Messenger of Allah combined between seeking refuge in Allah from gloom and sorrow. For gloom is the fear of what is coming while sorrow is sadness on what has already passed. So the Muslim should not feel sorry for the past nor fear the future. And he combined between inaction and laziness for inaction is the state of the heart while laziness is the state of the body. He combined between stinginess and cowardice for stinginess is the unwillingness to give wealth for Allah while cowardice is the unwillingness to give the soul for Allah.
How to overcome fear:
Cowardice is the opposite of courage. Courage is the firmness of the heart. The heart is the essence of every good deed. The heart cannot be firm if the mind isn’t sound. If the heart is weak it leads to cowardice, and if the heart is too strong it leads to recklessness.
The coward needs to cure cowardice by eliminating its cause. If it is caused by ignorance then ignorance is cured by learning. The cause could be fear of the unknown and that is cured by experiencing situations. We find that the beginner in public speaking experiences fear in the beginning but after experience this fear is overcome. We find that when a person first meets a king they might fear the occasion and their tongue would be tied and their posture would change.
That is due to the anxiety of facing a new experience. But if that occasion is repeated many times the fear is eliminated. Original nature can be changed. It is sufficient as proof to see a Hawa child (children trained to care for snakes) grabbing a large snake that would make a brave man tremble while this same child could fear a frog because he is not exposed to frogs. Taming animals is a process of changing their original nature and it is done through training. A wolf could play with a sheep, a cat with a mouse, and a dog with a cat if they are conditioned to do so even though that is contrary to their original nature. Now if animals can change their characteristics can’t humans do the same?
Having a strong heart leads to victory. Ali was asked: “How do you defeat your enemies?” He said: “When I would meet my enemy I would believe with firm conviction that I would defeat him while he believes that I would defeat him so both myself and his self support me against him”.
Some have advised: “Believe in victory, you will be victorious”
Others say: “If you fear your enemy you have allowed an army to be sent against your heart”
We have found that the ones who died because of their fear are more than the ones who died due to their courage.
Al Tartooshi says:
Courage is of three types:
1. A man who stands in front of the army asking for a challenger from the enemy to come out and face him
2. A man who remains calm, concentrating, tranquil while the battle is ragging. And when others are succumbing to fear he has not lost his orientation and is not confused and acts in a way that proves he has control over himself.
3. A man when everyone else is defeated and is retreating remains firm calling them, and encouraging them to continue the fight.
Al Tartooshi says that the third man possesses the greatest form of courage.
The courageous of this Ummah:
The most courageous of all mankind is the Messenger of Allah.
He had the strongest heart of all.
He faced the toughest of situations. Heroes would scatter from around him while he is firm. The Messenger of Allah never turned his back in battle.
218. In Bukhari and Muslim Anas bin Malik narrates: “The Messenger of Allah was the best of people, he was the most generous and the most courageous.”
219. Ali said: “When the ferocity of combat would reach its limit and the eyes would turn red we would seek refuge next to the Messenger of Allah. He would be the closest of us to the enemy.” (Muslim)
220. A man asked al Baraa bin Aazib: “Did you run away during the life of the Messenger of Allah?” He said: “We did. But he didn’t.” (Bukhari – Muslim)
In Uhud Ubayy bin Khalaf, riding his horse, charged towards the Messenger of Allah. Some Muslims wanted to get in the way to protect the Messenger of Allah but he told them to move aside. The Messenger of Allah picked up a spear and threw it at Ubayy who was covered in iron armor from head to toe. Nothing appeared from him except his eyes and a small opening in his neck. The spear hit him right in the neck and he fell off his horse. Even though the spear only caused a minor bruise in his neck due to the protection of the armor, Ubayy rushed back screaming: “Muhammad has killed me!” The people of Quraish checked him and said we don’t find any major injury. You are fine! He said: “Muhammad claimed he would kill me, therefore it must come to happen!” Ubayy latter died on his way back to Makkah.
The courageous of this Ummah are too many to count. On top of the list are the Sahabah whom Allah praised in Quran:
Among the famous brave men of the Ummah are:
1. Abu Bakr:
The courage of Abu Bakr was witnessed by the hero of the Ummah Ali bin Abi Talib. When he was the Khalifah Ali asked: “Who is the bravest of men?” They said: “You are,” He said: “I have never dueled anyone and lost. But the bravest man is Abu Bakr. During the battle of Badr we built a shed for the Messenger of Allah and we asked who would be the bodyguard of the Messenger of Allah therein. Abu Bakr came carrying his sword and defended the Messenger of Allah for the entire day. In Makkah the disbelievers attacked the Messenger of Allah: One would pull him, the other would beat him and they would say: “Have you made the gods one God?” No one dared to go near the Messenger of Allah save Abu Bakr. He went and started fighting them and would say: “Are you going to kill a man just because he says: “Allah is my Lord!”““ Then Ali asked: “Who is better Abu Bakr or the believer of the family of Pharaoh? (His story is mentioned and praised in Quran)” The people remained quite. He said: “Why don’t you answer? In the name of Allah, one moment in the life of Abu Bakr is greater than the entire earth full of the likes of the believer of the family of Pharaoh! The believer of the family of Pharaoh was a man who concealed his faith while Abu Bakr was a man who proclaimed his faith”
Abu Bakr is the bravest man of this Ummah after the Messenger of Allah. One can note the strength of his heart during the battle of Badr, Uhud, the trench, al Hudaybiah, and Hunain. It is enough to note his steadfastness, firmness, and strengthening of the entire Ummah when the greatest disaster of all befell us: The death of Muhammad (saaws). That was when the hearts deviated, and the nation was shaken. When all the hearts where trembling the heart of the Siddeeq was firm. If the heart of Abu Bakr were placed on one side of the scale and the hearts of all the Ummah on the other, his heart would outweigh them all. The courage of Abu Bakr in his
decision to fight the apostates if distributed over the hearts of the cowards on the entire face of the earth, it would be sufficient to make them brave.
2. Umar bin al Khattaab
It is sufficient to point out that the courage of Umar was sufficient enough to make Shaytaan avoid him.
The Messenger of Allah told Umar: “O son of Khattaab: In the name of whom my soul is in His hands whenever Shaytaan sees you taking a route he would take another” (Bukhari – Muslim)
His Islam brought strength to the Muslims. Abdullah bin Masood said: “We used to not be able to pray next to al Kaabah publicly until Umar became Muslim.
3. Ali bin Abi Talib:
He was the lion of this Ummah. He never missed a battle with the Messenger of Allah except Tabook because the Messenger of Allah appointed him over Madinah in his absence. During the battle of Khaibar the Messenger of Allah said: “Tomorrow I will give the banner to a man who loves Allah and His Messenger, and Allah and His Messenger love him. He does not turn his back away in battle and Allah will make opening occur on his hands” All of the Sahabah desired that honor. The next day the Messenger of Allah called Ali and gave him the banner.
Musaab al Zubairi said: “Ali was very cautious in battle. He was swerve terrifically from his enemy and whenever he charges his enemy he would protect all his sides and when he retreats back from his charge he would be even more protective of himself. No one could get to him. His shield was one sided. It only protected him from the front. When asked: “Don’t you fear an attack from behind?” He replied: “I never give my enemy the chance to attack me from my
back”
4. Talhah bin Ubaidillah:
He is one of the ten given the glad tidings of Paradise. During Uhud he shielded the Messenger of Allah with his own body causing over 70 injuries in his body. Whenever the Messenger of Allah wanted to look at the disbelievers Talhah would plead with him not to do so and would shield him with his body.
5. Al Zubair bin al Awwaam:
He is also one of the ten given the glad tidings of Paradise. He was the first Muslim to draw out a sword. During the early days of Islam in Makkah a rumor spread that the Messenger of Allah was kidnapped. Al Zubair drew out his sword and went looking for him. He ran into the Messenger of Allah who asked him: “What’s wrong with you Zubair?” He said: “I heard that you were kidnapped so I came out to fight them!” The Messenger of Allah prayed for him.
6. Saad bin Abi Waqqaas:
He is one of ten given the glad tidings of Paradise. The Messenger of Allah prayed for him: “O Allah make his arrow hit its target and make his prayer accepted” Umar appointed him to lead the army at Qadisiyah. The Muslims won and he continued leading them in Persia until he opened most of it and entered the capital, al Mada’in. Saad is the one who founded the two cities of Kufah and Basra. When he was dying he requested his body be rapped and buried in an old wool cloth. He said this was what I had on during the battle of Badr and I’ve reserved it for this day.
7. Abu Ubaydah bin al Jarraah:
He is one of the ten given the glad tidings of Paradise. Umar appointed him over the army opening al Shaam. He was the leader of the army during the great battle of al Yarmuk. He died in the plague of Amawas in al Shaam.
8. Hamzah bin Abdulmutalib:
He is the lion of Allah and his Messenger. After the battle of Badr Umayyah bin Khalaf who was captured asked AbdulRahman bin Awf: “Who was the man in your army marked with an ostrich feather on his chest?” AbdulRahman said: “That is Hamzah” Umayyah said: “He is the one who brought ruin to us!” He was killed during the battle of Uhud.
9. Jaafar bin Abi Talib:
He was ten years older than his brother Ali. He was the second leader in line at the battle of Mu’tah. When he took over after Zaid he carried the banner with his right hand which was cut off so he carried it with his left hand, which was in turn also cut off so he embraced the banner and continued fighting until he fell. They found in the front of his body over 90 injuries.
10. Muadh bin Amr bin al Jamooh:
He was the slayer of the Pharaoh of this Ummah Abu Jahl.
He said: I made Abu Jahl my target on the day of Badr. When I found him I charged at him and struck him with my sword and cut his leg in two. Then his son Ikrimah hit me on my shoulder until he cut off my arm. It only remained hanging to my body by the skin of my side. But
because fighting distracted me I remained dragging it behind me for most of the day. When it annoyed me I placed my foot over it and pulled it off.
11. Al Baraa bin Malik:
He is the brother of Anas bin Malik the servant of the Messenger of Allah. He was one of heroes of this Ummah.
Anas bin Malik heard his brother al Baraa humming poetry so he told him: “O my brother you are humming poetry? What if this is the last thing you speak?” [When Quran was revealed the Sahabah disliked reciting anything but Quran. Anas was warning his brother and saying that if you die this moment and the last words you spoke were lines of poetry, how would you face Allah? In another narration he told him to rather remember Allah] Al Baraa said: “No! A man like me won’t die on his bed. I’ve killed ninety nine of the nonbelievers and hypocrites!”
(Mussanaf ibn Abu Shaybah)
Umar wrote to his military generals to never allow al Baraa to hold any position of leadership in the Muslim armies. The reason: Umar said he is too hazardous for the Muslims! (Al Hakim)
During the battle against the forces of Musaylamah the liar, he sat on a shield and asked the Muslims to carry the shield on their spears and throw him over the walls of the enemy in order to open the gates! He did open the gates but after he received over 80 injuries. (Al Isabah) On the day of the battle of Tastur the Muslims asked al Baraa to make an oath to give them victory. Al Baraa said: “O Allah! I make an oath that you hand us over their shoulders (give us victory) and to make me follow your prophet (to die)” He charged the enemy and the Muslims followed him. The Persians lost, and al Baraa was martyred. Allah fulfilled his oath.
Anas narrated: When Abu Musa was appointed governor over al Basra he told al Baraa to choose any position of leadership in his government and he will be appointed to it. Al Baraa said: “I don’t want any. Rather I want you to hand me over my bow, horse, spear, sword, and shield and then sent me to jihad. He sent him in an army. Al Baraa was the first to die” (Ibn Abu Shaybah)
12. Sammaak bin Kharshah (Abu Dujaanah):
Before the battle of Uhud started the Messenger of Allah held a sword in his hand and said: “Who would fight with this sword and give it its due right?”
Some men stood up and offered to take it but the Messenger of Allah didn’t give it to them. And then Abu Dujaanah stood up and said: “O Messenger of Allah what is its due right?” He said: “That you strike with it the faces of the enemy until it bents!” Abu Dujaanah said: “I will take it O Messenger of Allah” and he gave it to him. Al Zubair bin al Awwaam said: “I felt saddened that I, the cousin of the Messenger of Allah, would ask for the sword and would not get it but Abu Dujaanah would. So I decided to follow Abu Dujaanah and see what he would do with it.
Abu Dujaanah pulled out a red bandanna and tied it around his head. The Ansar said: Abu Dujaanah has pulled out his bandanna of death! He then attacked enemy and whenever he would face anyone he would kill him!”
Before the battle he marched with pride before the enemy. The Messenger of Allah said: “This is a walk despised by Allah except in this situation”
During the battle of al Yamamah he threw himself over the wall surrounding the city and broke his leg. He continued fighting with a broken leg until he was martyred.
13. Khalid bin al Waleed:
He is the drawn sword of Allah. As soon as he became Muslim the Messenger of Allah was sending him to fight the enemies of Allah. Khalid never in his life lost a battle.
Khalid bin al Waleed said: “If I were to marry a beautiful woman whom I love, or if I were given the good news of having a newborn son, is less beloved and dear to my heart then to be in a cold icy night in an army waiting to meet my enemy the next morning. I advise you to go on jihad”
These were the words of Khalid before his death.
14. Salamah bin al Akwa:
We mentioned his story earlier when he fought the disbelievers alone.
The Messenger of Allah said about him that day: “The best of our foot soldiers today is Salamah bin al Akwa”
15. Ukashah bin Mahsan:
His bravery in war was well known. In the battle of al Ghabah he saw Amr bin Abaar along with his father riding the same camel. He threw his spear and killed both of them the same time.
16. Amr bin Ma’adi Yakrib:
He was a king from Yemen who was famous for his bravery. He later embraced Islam.
Umar would count him as a thousand men. Al Tartooshi mentions in Siraj al Molook that Amr bin Maadi Yakrib went next to the river and told his people: “I am going to cross the bridge. If you follow me after a time equivalent to the time it takes to slaughter a camel you would find me with my sword in my hand fighting whoever is in front of me with the enemy surrounding me and I am standing between them. If you come later than that you would find me dead.” And then
he crossed the bridge over the river towards the enemy’s camp. A while later his people said: “O sons of Zabid! Are we going to leave our man alone? We might not even catch him alive”
So they crossed the bridge and found him without his horse while he was holding both back legs of an enemy’s horse and the horse failed to move. The fighter on the horse was trying to reach Amr behind him with his sword with no avail. When the fighter saw us attacking he came down from his horse and ran away. Amr then mounted the horse. He then told us: “You were almost going to miss me” They asked him: “Where is your horse?” He said: “It was hit by an arrow that killed and I fell off its back”
17. Ikrimah the son of Abu Jahl:
He was courageous before becommung a Muslim and Islam only added to his courage. During the battle of Yarmuk he fought ferociously. He was told to slow down and be cautious. He replied: “I used to fight to defend Allaat and al Uzza (two idols) and I would not take any care for myself. Now you want me to take caution when I am fighting for Allah and His Messenger!”
He then said: “Who is going to pledge to die!” Al Harith bin Hisham, Dhirar bin al Azwar along with 400 of the brave gave their pledge. They attacked the Romans and disappeared in their ranks. Ikrimah never came out. His body was found with more than seventy injuries.
18. Tulayhah al Azdi:
When Saad bin Abi Waqqaas asked the Khalifah Umar to send him reinforcement. Umar replied:
“I have sent you 2000 men: Amr bin Ma’adi Yakrib and Tulayhah al Azdi. Each one of them counts as a thousand”
Tulayhah, Amr, and Qays bin Makshooh went on a reconnaissance mission to the enemy’s army.
Both Amr and Qays kidnapped some Persian soldiers and brought them back to the Muslim camp for interrogation. Tulayhah went further until he was in the camp of the army’s commander. He hid until nightfall and then went straight to the tent of the commander and took away his horse -which was tied to the tent- and ran away. A Persian horseman saw that and followed him. Tulayhah killed him and took his horse along with his and the commander’s horse.
Another horseman pursued him and Tulayhah also killed him and took his horse. A third horseman attacked him but then surrendered. Tulayhah captured him and carried him away, along with a total of four horses in addition to his. The Muslim leaders gathered to question the Persian who turned out to be one of their leaders. He said: “I have fought numerous battles but I have never seen anything like this man! He crossed our camps until he made it to where even the brave would not dare: the camp of our army’s commander, which had over 70,000 soldiers. As if that wasn’t enough he went ahead and took the commander’s horse! The first of us to follow him was considered among us to be equal to a thousand men and he killed him! The second to follow him was killed and then I pursued him and I don’t think that there is anyone in the army equal to myself in strength and courage. But I saw death on his hands and surrendered! The man then accepted Islam and fought along side the Muslims.
19. Abdullah bin al Zubair:
He was the courageous and son of the courageous. His father was al Zubair bin al Awwaam. Abdullah participated in the opening of North Africa and killed Jarjeer, the king of the Berber.
20. Abdullah bin Abi al Sarh:
He was the opener of North Africa. He was the one to lead the first naval battle of the Muslims:
The battle of al Sawari against the Romans. He was appointed by Uthman to govern Egypt.
When the fitnah occurred he retired to al Ramlah in Palestine where he remained until he died.
21. Al Qa’qaa bin Amr
When the Messenger of Allah was consulting the Sahabah before Badr Al Qa’qaa said: “Go ahead and fight and we will not say what Banu Israel said to Musa: “Go and fight with your Lord, we will stay here” But we will say: “Go ahead and fight with your Lord, we are going to fight with you”
Abu Bakr said about him: “The voice of al Qa’qaa in battle is better than 1000 men”
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Sa’d ibn Abi Waqas radhiAllâhu ‘anhu sent a representative to speak with Rustum [the army general of Persian Empire]. Rabiah Ibn ‘Amir radhiAllâhu ‘anhu was one chosen by the Sa’d to go and meet with Rustum. Rabiah Ibn ‘Amir he was very poor man. He was riding a short-legged horse hairy horse and his sword was wrapped in an old piece of cloth. He didn’t even have a proper sheath for his sword. And his spear the blade was tight to the stick with also some cloth. So his all assortment of weapon was messed up. And he was wearing clothes that are very inexpensive modest. Now the Persians have prepared for this meeting. It’s a high level meeting with Rustum and representative of the Muslim army. So they had Persian rugs, they had the throne set for Rustum and this throne was gold plated or possibly it was even pure gold and he had a dress of brocade on it was threaded with gold threads all over. And they had the royal guards on both sides of the carpet which Rabiah Ibn ‘Amir was suppose to walk over. It’s the proper protocol of such a high level meeting and Romans were use to this and Persians were use to this. And these two nations were at each other’s throats. Though it was something customary for them to do. And now that they were dealing with Muslims they thought that protocol shouldn’t change.
So the proper way of coming in Rabiah Ibn ‘Amir should come on a very nice handsome horse dress in some expensive clothes. He should be accompanied by, guards or at least group of advisors with him. He shouldn’t come down of his horse and walk on the carpet in a formal way then come and sit under Rustum. Rabiah Ibn ‘Amir is coming on his short legged horse and he goes straight onto the rugs riding his horse. So they stopped him, he carried on he didn’t listen and then he goes on tear apart two pillows that were there and he ties his horse to those pillows. And then he is walking with his weapons so the guards stop him at the entrance to the place where Rustum is sitting. They said you are not allowed to go there with arms. He said well I didn’t come here on my own but you are the ones who invited me so either you let me in with my arms or I am going to leave. They went and told Rustum, so he said let him come in. Rabiah Ibn ‘Amir is walking with confidence and he is holding his spear with the blade pointing downwards and he is poking the rugs and he is making holes in them. So you can imagine that he is walking towards Rustum and Rustum is seeing this and Rabiah Ibn ‘Amir is stabbing his special Persian rug with every step that he takes. Because Rabiah Ibn ‘Amir didn’t want all of this pomp, he didn’t want this show and he was uncomfortable being there. They have done all those preparations to meet him. And here is the guest poking through the rugs with his spear. So that was the initial shock.
Rustum said, “ما جآء بكم” why did you come to our land? Rabiah Ibn ‘Amir said,
” ان الله عبت حسنة نخرج العباد من عبادة العباد إلى العبادة رب العباد ومن ضيق الدنيا إلى سعة الدنيا والاخرة ومن جورل العديان إلى سعة الاسلام” [Rectify Arabic text incase there is mistake in it]
There is more to what eyes can see don’t make an impression on Rabiah Ibn ‘Amir because of the clothes he has on or his short legged horse but wait until you see him speak, Rabiah Ibn ‘Amir said “Allaah Azza wa jal has sent us to deliver you from worshiping the creation to worshiping the Creator of the creation and to deliver you from the constriction of this world to the vastness of this world and the after life and from the oppression of the religions to the justice of Islam. Allaah Azza wa jal has sent us to save you from worshiping each others.” What you doing now this servitude that exist among you Rustum sitting on throne rest of you sitting on the floor, the slavery, the servitude, Allaah Azza wa jal has sent us to deliver you out of that, to save you from this, from worshiping creation whether this creation is a man or a stone, whether its an animal or a planet, Allaah has sent us to save people deliver them from that to worshiping the Creator of everything and Allaah Azza wa jal has sent us to deliver you from the constriction of this life. This Dunya [world] is narrow to the vastness of this life and the after life. As a Muslim you have a broad perspective. You start seeing things in a different light. See without Qur’an you are living for today. You eat to live and you live to eat. But when you recite Qur’an it starts from the time of Adam and it ends with people entering into Jannah [garden] and Naar [fire]. You have the entire time span of the creation in front of your eyes. It starts infect from before the creation of Adam. It starts with the ‘خلق السماوات والارض’ [creation of heavens & earth] then you go to the story of Adam then you move to the story of Idrees and Noah and then you go on to the “انبياء” [Prophets] of Bani Israel Mosa alaihe salam [Moses] Isa alaihe salam [Jesus] and before that Ibrahim alaihe salam and Ismael alaihe salam Ishaq. It tells you of nations before Fira’on [Pharoah]. Tell you about “قوم” [nation] Salih Qoum [nation] Hud Qoum Shoaib and then it tells you about the time Muhammad sallalahu alaihe wasalam and then it talks about the future. It talks about the Day of Judgment, death, ‘الحساب’, al-Hisab [the accounting the reckoning] and then it talks about Jannah and Naar. So you know everything. Just look at how broad your perspective is compare to somebody who doesn’t know Qur’an, somebody who is not a Muslim .So; Islam delivers person out of narrowness of this world.
Ibn Taymiah were threatening him with jail and one time threatening him with execution Ibn Taymiah said, ”what can you do with me? My Jannah is in my heart. If you take me to jail I will make dhikr of Allaah, if you exile me out of my land I will make “تفكر” [Tafakur] contemplating creation of Allaah, if you execute me I would be a “شهيد”[shaheed]”. What can you do with me? ‘ما يفعلوا اذاء بى’ because I am not limited to this Dunya and living for Akhirah. Rasoolullah sallalahu alaihe wa salam said,
“عجباً امر مؤمن ان امره كله له خير إن اصابته سرآء شكر فكان خيرًا له و ان اصابته ضرآء صبر فكان خيراً
له وليس ذالك لى عهد الى المؤمن”[please check if correction is needed jazakallahu khairun]
Rasoolullah sallalahu alaihe wa salam says “I am amazed with the situation of the believer if something good happens to him he thanks Allaah and its good for him and if something bad happens to him, he is patient and that’s good for him and that happens to no one but to the believer”. It’s a win [win] situation you can never lose. Something good you say Alhamdulilah you rewarded for that. You are enjoying the good and being rewarded for that. If something bad happens you say Alhamdulilah and you are patient and you accept the “قضا” [Qadha] of Allaah. You accept something being ordained by Allaah Azza wa jal and you say Alhamdulilah e Rubil A’alameen and you move on and you will be rewarded for that patience.
However, if somebody who doesn’t have Emaan if something good will happen they will say because I am very intelligent, I am skilled, I am knowledgeable and I know how to do things right. If something bad happens I have a bad luck. This is because of you, [you did it to me]. So it’s a lose [lose] situation. ’”ومن جورل العديان إلى العدل الاسلام
“From oppression of religions to the justice of Islam” Rabiah Ibn ‘Amir is saying that every other religion is oppressive. Now ask Rabiah Ibn ‘Amir about the names of the religions of theirs he wouldn’t known that. Rabiah Ibn ‘Amir is a Bedouin coming out of Arabia; he doesn’t know other religions he wasn’t a student of comparative religions. But he has Emaan and Trust in Allaah Azza wa jal that Islam is truth, that Muhammad sallalahu alaihe wa salam is seal of Prophets so he is speaking on behalf of everyone. Every religion is oppressive except Islam, so we are here to deliver you that into the religion of Allaah Azza wa jal.
Rustum said, “and what are you?” he said, “use to eat dead animals, you were so hungry use to run after dogs in desert”. Rabiah Ibn ‘Amir said, “ we offer you three options, if you become Muslim we will leave you and your land and your people alone. If you refuse then you pay us Jizzya in a state of submission, if you refuse then the sword is between us and you”. Rustum said,” You need to give us time to think about it”. Rabiah Ibn ‘Amir said,” We will give you three days”. Rustum said, ”No, we need more than that”. Rabiah Ibn ‘Amir said,” The Sunnah, the way of Muhammad sallalahu alaihe wa salam is that we give our enemy three days to think about it and we will visit you during those three days, on the fourth day we will start fighting”. Rustum wanted more time to send letters to the Emperor to seek advice, from the noble men and elders of their Empire but he had only three days.
On the second day Mughira bin Shu’ba went to met with Rustum and he came in straight and he sat on the throne with Rustum. The throne was big so he sat next to Rustum so the guards came to pull him down, you are not suppose to sit on the same level as Rustum. Mughira bin Shu’ba said,’ that you are the people who worship each other but that is not how we Muslims do with each other but that’s not how we Muslims treat each other, we treat each other with equality”. See Sahaba radhiAllâhu anhum are giving the Kuffar lessons because they are living those meanings. See Sahaba were not talking talks, they were talking about things that they were practicing. They were practicing preaching their words had such a strong influence on the listeners. At-Tabari talks about how Rabiah Ibn ‘Amir and Mughira bin Shu’ba effected the low class that were there servants, soldiers and security guards when they heard the statements of Muslims and how the Muslims treated each other with equality and the fact that there are not here invade the lands of others, just for love of power they are doing it for the sake of Allaah Azza wajal, to save people from darkness to light. That left a strong impression on them. They were thinking about Islam even before the battle started. Why? Because when you practice something it has a stronger influence when you preach something when you are not practicing. It is said one of the Salaf [earlier scholars] people came up to him and said,” people are owning too many slaves and its becoming problem and we want to encourage freeing slaves”. So first Juma’ah came he didn’t talk about it, second Juma’ah he didn’t talk about it, third Juma’ah he didn’t talk about it”. They said, ”May be he forgot” but before they go and visit him on fourth Juma’ah he did talked about it. Then he encouraged people to free slaves and they say the people left the Masjid and they were freeing the slaves left and right so they told him how come they waited for fourth Juma’ah to give this Khutba? He said because I didn’t want to ask the people to do something that I am not doing myself.” So I gathered enough money to buy slave myself and then I freed that slave and that’s I stood on the pulpit told people to do it because I don’t want to be of those who ‘اتأمرون الناس بالبروتنسون أنفسكم’ “you command others to do good while you forget doing it yourself”. I want to be of those who do what others ask others to do.
The battle of Qadissiya began and it was a long battle. Remember that the reputation of the Persians was that of very strong fighters. And they were putting up very stiff resistance in front of the Muslim forces. So the battle of al-Qadissiya lasted for few days [four days actually]. They start fighting in the morning and carries on fighting until darkness and they stop while its dark. First day was called Youm al-Armus and Sa’d bin Abi Waqas had some injuries and had a back problem. He had a sever back pain, so he was unable to participate in the fight himself though he was Amir of the army, so he had to stay in a high place where he can over see the background and give instructions but he himself was unable to participate. He told the Muslims to make four Takbiraat and to charge at the fourth Takbira. Before that he had a Qarai. Every army would have Qarai [a reciter of the Qur’an] and this Qarai would go around reciting Surat-ul Anfaal [Surat-ul Qitaal]. So he would go around recite the Surah [to every] obviously it was a large army so one person cannot recite Surah to every body. It would not be able to hear him so he would have to go around and recite the Surah and this would inspire the fighters to fight. Because this is the Surah of Qitaal [Surat-ul Anfaal]. So that prepared them emotionally, talks about jihad and talks about fighting, talks about the sin of retreating, it talks about the Ghana-em, it talks about the victories at the time of the Muslims Rasoolullah sallalahu alaihe wa salam at Badr and the fighting started. What the army of Faris [Persians] did was that they sent fourteen elephants to charge against one segment of the Muslim army. They didn’t attack Muslim army at once, they focused on one segment and they sent fourteen elephants. And with each elephant you have four thousand soldiers [so we are talking about huge numbers] and they charged against Badeela. Now the Muslim army was divided according to their tribe. So we had Banu Asad, Banu Tamim, Badeela, an-Nakha’a, every tribe would be separate. The reason why they were separated according to their tribes because: this will inspire them to fight. When they are separated according to their tribes, whenever there is weakness you could tell from where its coming from? So you will know that the weakness is coming from that tribe. This particular tribe is not doing their job and this way people could be held accountable. However, when you have an infantry or cavalry is mixed, then whom could you hold responsible for the weakness that occurs? But once according to the tribes every one of the tribes doesn’t want reputation to be destroyed. They will make sure that Muslims are not defeated because of that. However, here we have a huge army attacking one small tribe. And it was such a powerful strike that it just completely pushed them back. So Sa’d bin Abi Waqas asked some of the other tribes to rush to the support and rescue their brothers Banu Asad jumped in.
One of the leading members of Banu Asad Subhan Allaah and look at how things turn around was Tulaiha Azdi. Tulaiha Azdi was a well-known fighter at the time of Jahiliya. He was a strong fighter in pre Islamic era. However, out of nationalistic pride he claimed to be Prophet during the time of Muhammad sallalahu alaihe wa salam, he claimed to be a Prophet. And he was the leader of the army of Murtadeen. However, when Abu Bakr defeated him, he became a Muslim again and later on he will play a vital role in the Ghazwat in time of Umar ibn Khattab radhiAllâhu anhu. So here we have somebody who claims to be a Prophet but then turns around makes Tawbah and helps the Muslims. And this tells you the Allaah Azza wajal can forgive any sin [I mean what sin can be greater than claiming a Prophet?]. Tulaiha Azdi encouraged his men and told him you are called Azd [Azd mean lion]. You were given this name so you would be like lions. He would speak to them and encourage them. They were very helpful infect five hundred of them were killed. The day of Armus was over, the dead and the injured were carried over to the camp. And who is taking care of the hospital? If we call it so the women. The women were the ones taking care of the injured all of the casualties, they were the one who will administer the healing procedure, they are the one who would feed them, they are the one who would nurse the injured, and also the women did something else and that is burry the dead. They were the ones digging the graves, and burying the dead. So women in those days played a vital role with the Muslim Ummah. They were not secluded completely put on stand by they had a very important role [it even involved physical work digging graves and carrying the bodies] putting them its not something easy to do. But that role was delegated to the woman whether they were Sahabiyat or Tabeei’at.
Second day is Youm ar-*** Umar Ibn Khattab had asked for reinforcements to come from Ash-Sham. He wanted the army of Khaalid Ibn Waleed that went from Iraq to Sham to go back. For those of you who attended our series of talk on Abu Bakr you would remember we talked about a story of Khaalid Ibn Waleed rushing from Iraq to Syria to rescue the Muslims before the Battle of Yarmook. Now however, Umar Ibn Khattab was asking Abu Obaidah to send that army back and that army was about twelve thousand soldiers. Abu Obaidah did send the army back he kept Khaalid Ibn Waleed with him. He wants Khaalid Ibn Waleed to stay. And that army was sent and it was lead by Hisham Ibn Abi Waqas the brother of Sa’d bin Abi Waqas and was accompanied by a man. Whom Abu Bakr radhiAllâhu anhu said,” his voice alone is equal to one thousand soldiers” and this Sahabi is Al-Qa`qa` bin Amr. His voice in battle very deep and loud voice, his voice in battle Abu Bakr says its worth of one thousand soldiers. Al-Qa`qa` was the first one to arrive. He arrived in a small group hundred or so. So what he did in order to encourage the Muslims raise their moral he didn’t come with his hundred men at once, he split them into groups of ten and told them to go one after another Muslims keep on seeing those groups coming and they would think that we are receiving endless flow of reinforcements. So Al-Qa`qa` arrives and he just enters into the battleground and he is playing around with his spear and with his hands. He just immediately arrives goes to the battleground without taking any rest even though he came all the way from Syria to Iraq. He arrives when the battle was already ragging. And he enters into the battleground dancing with his spear in front of the Muslims. And then he challenges the enemy to send out Mubariza [its called dueling] one on one. So Al-Qa`qa` stands in front of the Muslim army and he calls enemy to send out al-Mubariz. So they sent out one of the five leaders because Al-Qa`qa` was an important leader among the Muslim army they sent out to them somebody of his equivalent status. Al-Qa`qa` killed him they sent the second one he killed him again, so he killed two of the five major leaders of the army. Al-Qa`qa` Ibn Amr carried on that day and he played very important role as an individual not as with reinforcement as an individual in weakening the enemy on the second day.
Al-Bab Ibn Jesh he also asked for al-Mubariza so both he and his opponent struck each other, he hit his opponent and open his chest then he cut his lungs so the man fell down dead while he was hit in the stomach, so his intestines came out, his gut just spilled out. So he fell down and he tried to put his intestines back. So he called down to Muslim soldiers to put my intestine back into my stomach please. So he put them in his stomach and he wraps something around his stomach and he stood up because he wanted to carry on fighting. He barely made thirty steps before he fell down dead. But Subhan Allaah even though he is in that extreme pain and just imagine [you know! I think some of few now feeling nausea] just because I am mentioning that. Its you know! Imagine your stomach [your guts] just spilling in front of you; you would want to be rescued nearest hospital as soon as possible. He said just put them back, I want to carry on. That tells you how attached they were to Allaah Subhana hu wa ta’ala and how attached they were to Shahaada. That why we keep on saying these men were on different level. Al-Khansa was the one of the greatest female poetess, she called her for son, men all of fighting age and she started narrating to them poetry encouraging them to give their lives for the sake of Allaah Azza wajal at the end of the day none of them came back. All of the four died and she was so happy making poetry praising them.
The third day Amwass the elephants only cure that Muslims were to cut down ropes that were holding down saddles, so the horses would be left without anybody on top of them. So what the enemy did is now they surrounded the elephants with security. Security guards because to protect the elephants will play the major role in the Persian army. So now that they were surrounded with guards becoming very difficult to cut down the ropes. Sa’d bin Abi Waqas went to Banu Tamim and said,” O Banu Tamim do you have a solution for this? There is anything that you could do? ” and he is going to the different tribes and telling them somebody come up with suggestion to get rid off this danger. We have been crushed because of these elephants. They just roll over the soldiers just crushing them under their feet. So one man said, “If you want to stop the elephants then strike their eyes and cut their trunks and lips that would completely neutralize these elephants”. So they decided to give it a try by started attacking the elephants the way they would do it is a group would attack some of them would get the security guards busy and then two of them would attack with his spears then hit the elephant in his eyes. They tried that and it did work. The elephant is obviously blind now and it doesn’t know in which direction it go though some of these elephants carried on killing Muslims and some of them carried on killing enemy soldiers. So there elephants went crazy but at least now it wasn’t all directed against the Muslims. Amir Ibn Ma’adia Ibn Maqrib another one who committed [Ridah] and was now allowed to join in the armies he told his people,” listen Banu Zabeed! I am going to leave right now, if you wait the time it takes to slaughter a camel you will find me dead, if you come before that you might find me alive fighting the enemy”. He said I am going go straight into the heart of the enemy army. So he went alone and after a short while they said, we need to go and find our man and if he is still alive? They went and they were amazed to see Amir Ibn Ma’adia Maqrib [Wallahu A’alim if this story is true [its from At-Tabaee]] but its amazing story and I am going to mention it, they said that he had a horse so his horse was killed. So what he did the man who was fighting against him killed his horse and he pursued him and he griped the leg of his horse and the horse couldn’t move. So Amir Ibn Ma’adia was holding the back legs of this horse and soldier sitting on the top is trying to hit the Amir but he cannot reach him. And when he saw reinforcement coming to help him so this soldier just ran away. So Amir Ibn Ma’adia Maqrib took out his horse and carried out fighting. But to have one man hold a horse not move its quite some power.
Then we have Lailut al-Hareer this is the fourth day the fight carried on until nighttime, the fighting carried on until midnight. It was the toughest day of al-Qadissiya and that is the one armed the enemy was putting up a last attempt. At the end Al-Qa`qa` Ibn Amir felt that they are pushing themselves to the limits and that they are going to almost break. So he and a group of strong men decided to charge and just slice the enemy and go straight to the camp of Rustum. They did that and they reached to the camp of Rustum the actual camp and when Rustum saw them he ran away but then one of the Muslim soldiers pursued him and was able to kill him, and that was the end of the Battle of al-Qadissiya.
The enemy was Hundred and Twenty Thousand [120,000] strong the Muslim army was Thirty Thousand [30,000] and out of those Eight Thousand Five Hundred [8,500] died as Shaheed. So we had huge number of Shuhadaa in al-Qadissiya. It was one of the toughest battles that the Muslims fought. Sa’d bin Abi Waqas sent a letter to Umar Ibn Khattab to give him the good news. He said,” now that Allaah has granted us victory over the Persians and treated them in the way in which he treated his co-religions who preceded them. Victory came after a long and violent people they confronted the Muslims with an army such as has never been seen before. Allaah didn’t allowed them to benefit from this but rather He deprived them of it and gave them to the Muslims. The Muslims pursued them on the canals, on the edge of the thicket and on the edge of the road. Sa’d bin Obaid the Qur’an reader and so and so and so and so were killed among the Muslims. Qarai of Qur’an was killed and also killed those whom we do not know but Allaah knows them when might fell they were whispering the Qur’an humming like bees they were lions among men and the real lions doesn’t resemble them Those who died among them were not superior to those who survived except by the virtue of martyrdom which has not been decreed for the later.”
The Muslims immediately after that went for Madain and al-Madain was the capital. Al-Madain was opened they carried on and they fought the battle of Jalola and then they went to Tastur, they opened Tastur. The battle of Tastur was a tough battle, so the Muslims went to al-Bara’ bin Malik and they told him to make a Du’a [supplication] for them because al-Bara’ bin Malik was [مستجاب الدعوة] Mustajabi da’wah [his du’a was accepted]. Al-Bara’ was companion of Rasoolullah sallalahu alaihe wa salam he was a very poor man, very simple. He was very decent, truthful and honest and had so much love for Allaah Azza wajal Messenger sallalahu alaihe wa salam said,”
رب اشعف ادبر إذا أقسم على الله ابراح
“There is a man with unpainted hair and he has dust over his clothes but when he makes an oath Allaah would fulfill that oath.“ so for example he says in the name of Allaah this is going to happen Allaah Azza wajal will make that thing happen because He loves him so much. Rasoolullah sallalahu alaihe wa salam said, “ one of them is al-Bara’”. One of these men is al-Bara’. Al-Bara’ was such a strong fighter with no fear in his heart. However, he had so much courage that it becomes dangerous. Umar Ibn Khattab when send al-Bara’ to join an army he would sent a letter with him to the leader of the army he would say,” I am sending you al-Bara’ Ibn ‘Azzib but I am telling you do not appoint him as a leader upon anyone because he would destroy them.” [ فإن هما اهلك كما مهلك] they will perish under his leadership [if you appoint him on anyone they are all dead]. In the Battle of al-Hadeeqa against Musailmah al-Qazzab [مسيلمة الكذاب] the Muslims were surrounding this fortress and they were unable to get in and the enemy was hitting them from above. The archers were striking Muslims al-Bara’ said just throw me in. Throw me! just throw me in. So they put him on a shield [he was sitting on the shield or standing on the shield] and they raised him up with their spears until he reached over the wall. He just jumped [and what he is jumping over?] an ocean of soldiers as far as he could see. But Subhan Allaah when he came down they saw a bird falling from the sky they just ran away. He succeeded in opening the gates, he opens the gates and Muslims get in and that is how they won. That is how they won! But he came out with eighty injuries in his body. Eighty injuries, so al-Bara’ was a man nothing could stop him.
So Muslims went to him on the day of Tastur and ask Allaah to give us victory. So it was getting so tight so difficult that they wanted Allaah to give them victory so al-Bara’ make a du’a for us. Al-Bara’ said, “O Allaah! Grant us victory and give me Shahaada, Grant us victory and grant us Shuhadaa and Allaah accepted both”. They were given victory and he was granted Shahaada.
The Persian Empire had an emperor Kisra and then under him would be kings. So he had different states this was a huge empire. And each state was ruled by a king. One of these states or kingdoms was ruled by Hurmazan. Al-Hurmazan was captured after the battle of Tastur. Al-Hurmazan before he gave himself up placed a condition on the Muslims that only Umar Ibn Khattab decides his fate. Otherwise, I am not going to give myself up. So they agreed, so they carried him to Madina and they had him wear clothes that you would wear as a king. So they take him to Madina with his crown full of jewelry gold and they were looking for Umar Ibn Khattab. They said where is Umar Ibn Khattab? So they said he was in the Masjid meeting a delegation that came from Kofa. They went to the Masjid they didn’t see anyone so they came out. And they went around so some kids playing in the Madina said, “What is wrong with you looking right and left as if you are lost?” they said where is Umar Ibn Khattab? They said he is in the Masjid sleeping. They go back to the Masjid and they find him sleeping in a corner of the Masjid alone. Wrapped in his clothes. So they walked up to Umar Ibn Khattab al-Hurmazan said,” where is Umar Ibn Khattab?” they said this is Umar Ibn Khattab. And they said be quiet as he is a sleep. He couldn’t held back and asked where are his guards? They said he doesn’t have any guards. He said he doesn’t have any clerics the chamberlains, advisors they said no. And by now people start together not to see Umar Ibn Khattab but to see al-Hurmazan. Because of the clothes that he was wearing and came from Persia. While Umar Ibn Khattab the Khalifah is sleeping in the Masjid no body goes there. The kids are playing in the streets, so they all came in and because of the commotion Umar Ibn Khattab woke up. And when he saw the Hurmazan he said is that the Hurmazan? They said yes. Umar Ibn Khattab said,” o Hurmazan what made you do what you did? Al-Hurmazan would make an agreement and then break it. Make an agreement then break it. Umar Ibn Khattab said what made you do what you did? Deceiving us one time after another. Al-Hurmazan responded by saying,” O Umar Ameerul Mo’mineen! I fear if I speak you would kill me. He said no I won’t carry on speaking. He said,’ O Ameerul Mo’mineen I am very thirsty. Umar Ibn Khattab said bring him some water. So they brought him some water in a cup. He held the cup in his hand and said,” even if I were to die because of thirst I wouldn’t drink out of that thing? Umar Ibn Khattab said bring him a better cup. So they brought him a better vessel. Vessel brought was made up of some wood or something, it was something that he saw very cheap and how could you drink out of this I would rather die to drink out of this thing. So they brought him a better container or cup or whatever, alright drink from this. He held in his hands and his hands were shaking he said Ameerul Mo’mineen I fear that you would kill me. He said,’ I am not going to kill you until you drink that water’. Al-Hurmazan held the cup in he spilled all the water in it. Umar Ibn Khattab asked bring him some more water he said,’ don’t bring me any water because I am going to drink anymore water, so Ameerul Mo’mineen has given me your words or peace, you have granted me security .’ Umar Ibn Khattab said, ”No I didn’t”. He said, ‘yes you did’ he said you are not going to kill me until I drink the water and I am not going to drink it. Umar Ibn Khattab said you tricked me but I am not going to be tricked by a non-Muslim. [Anas Ibn Malik radhiAllâhu said,’ O Ameerul Mo’mineen] Actually no Umar Ibn Khattab said no I didn’t no I will kill you. I will kill you. Anas Ibn Malik radhiAllâhu said, ’No Ameerul Mo’mineen you did grant him security. You did say that you are not going to kill him until he talks and you said you are not going to kill him until he drinks, so you did actually give him security.” Umar Ibn Khattab said I am not going to be deceived by him this is the person who killed al-Bara’ and al-Majda’ah. The Muslims said [Ya] Ameerul Mo’mineen you have granted him peace. Umar Ibn Khattab said I am not going to be the one who is tricked by non-Muslim. Al-Hurmazan said then I would become a Muslim ‘أشهد الله اله الا الله و أشهد أن محمد رسول الله’ Umar Ibn Khattab said,” You are free”. He lived in Madina and he was receiving a salary of two thousand Dirhams from the Khalifah. So this was one of the kings of Persia who has deceived the Muslims killed many of them played games with them but they kept to their words and Umar Ibn Khattab had to let him go.
The Persians were now gathering in another location in Nehwund. Nehwund is not a plan land it is a city surrounded by mountains. So its very well protected. But now they are mobilizing the army similar to the army of al-Qadissiya. An-Nuaman Ibn Makrum was appointed by Umar Ibn Khattab as his governor over Cuscar. An-Nuaman Ibn Makrum sends a letter to Umar Ibn Khattab saying,” there is a young man standing next to the prostitute who is very beautiful and she is putting on perfume and she is trying to seduce this man to commit zina. That young man is myself and the prostitute is Cuscar.” What he meant by that is you put me in such a situation that I am governor over this place it’s a Fitnah, it’s a Dunya and I don’t want any thing to do with it. And he said in the letter please remove me from my post and sent me out fi Sabeelillah to fight and jihad. I hope its clear what he said don’t want to have wrong understanding of what he meant. Analogy that he was giving, this town Dunya is like a prostitute and you have a young man and this woman is trying to seduce him so he is saying to Ameerul Mo’mineen to remove me out of this I don’t want to be part of this Dunya. A leader of the people and he doesn’t want all these send me fi Sabeelillah. Umar Ibn Khattab appointed him to lead the army that will fight now want to go fi Sabeelillah here you are the leader of the army that would fight against the Persians in Nehwund. The Muslims fought that battle and they won An-Nuaman Ibn Makrum because of his sincerity Allaah Azza wajal choose him and make him die as a Shaheed. Because Shahaada is not that something easily you can get, it is something that Allaah Azza wajal chooses this [ويتخذا منكم شهداء] Allaah Azza wajal says in Surah Ale-Imran “He chooses among you” it’s a selection process and Allaah Azza wajal selects because it’s a such a great honour.
They sent a letter to Umar Ibn Khattab saying that Shuhadaa are so and so and the others you do not know. Umar Ibn Khattab cried and he said,’ Allaah Azza wajal knew them so well that he choose them to die as Shuhadaa, so what does it matter if Umar Ibn Khattab doesn’t know.” Why would they need Umar Ibn Khattab to know that? If Allaah Azza wajal knew them so well and love them so well he choose them for this. This was the battle of Nehwund. Now Rasoolullah sallalahu alaihe wa salam says, “
فارس نطح او نطحتان ثم لا فار صبات و روم ذات قرون ما هلك منكم قرنٍ ظهرالها قرنٌ اخرة اصحاب سخر و بحر ايهات ايهات هم الناس هم اصحابكم ما ضام فى الايشاء خير [Please correct text for errors ]
Rasoolullah sallalahu alaihe wa salam said with: Persian Empire it would be one knock or two knocks and then there would be no empire of that but with the Romans whenever you break their horns another horn will grow in its place. [Whenever you break one of their horns another horn will grow in its place]. They are people who can fight on land and on sea and in mountains and they will carry on fighting you until the Day of Judgment.” According to this Hadith with the Persian Empire there would be two knocks two major battles. There are many other skirmishes other battles two major battles al-Qadissiya and Nehwund and then the Empire is over. So even though the fighting carried on before Qadissiya and after Qadissiya and after Nehwund but the Empire fell apart. It was Qadissiya then Nehwund and then Empire ceased to exist. However, with Roman Empire we would see whenever Muslim defeat them in one place they would show up in another and that’s why battle with the Romans carries on till the Day of Judgment. So after Nehwund what happened was Umar Ibn Khattab allowed his armies to go into the lands of Persian Empires [now that we talk about Persian Empires i.e. All Persian people]. The Persian Empire included many nationalities the Kurd lived under it, the Turks lived under it and the Turks are different nations. So it was very vast empire. And probably some of the nations of India lived under Persian Empire. So now its called [الانسياح العجم] the spreading in the land of al-‘Ajam and a you have battles like [حمدان] Hamadan and this was the first time Muslims fight at ***** they were also tough fighters Umar Ibn Khattab was so eager to hear the news. He received a letter saying that we are fighting against *****[49:54] Umar Ibn Khattab was so worried about that he was waiting for some news, so when a messenger came Umar Ibn Khattab asked him [اي بشير] are you coming with good news? Now are you Basheer? [Basheer means good news] that’s what Umar Ibn Khattab said, “Are you Basheer?” [but the thing is Basheer can also be a name of person]. So the man said,’ No I am not Basheer’. And he mentions his name. Umar Ibn Khattab says,’[ ابشيرٌا ام] are you coming with good news? And then the man goes straight and said yes [yes] I have a good news we have won against them. But it shows that Umar Ibn Khattab was so eager to know what was happening? And then Khurasan was opened. Its also a great land. Hirat is in Afghanistan and then [بلاد الاكراد] the land of Kurd. All of those lands were opened the result of battle of Nehwund.
Final lessons to go back to Rabiah Ibn ‘Amir and whole approach of the Muslims to da’wah and Jihad Fi Sabeelillah you see I received few questions asking whether Islam was spread by the sword? There is that other question “there is no compulsion in religion then why were the battles fought?” I think this is the issue that you should have a clear understanding. Non-Muslim say didn’t Islam spread by the sword, true or not? Lets talk about what happened and then we will make judgment. The Islamic governments spread by force. The expansion of Islamic empire is done by force there is no question about that. The Sahaba went and fought took over other people land and that’s how Islamic Khilafah grew. However, when they take over land they would not force people to become Muslims so ‘there is no compulsion in the religion’ so they wouldn’t go to the people and would say, ’you must become Muslims’ because that’s something that we don’t have authority to do. Religion is in the heart and the person need to be convinced so that its spread by force or not it could be debated both ways. Khilafah was spread by force other lands were taken by force why? Because Sahaabah radhiAllâhu anhum the way they saw it the land belong to Allaah and only the rule of Allaah should be applied over it. So no non-Islamic system has the right to exist according to this so sahaabah and their understanding of the religion because Rasoolullah sallalahu alaihe wa salam says امرت عنه قاتل الناس اشهد الله اله الا الله] ] “I was instructed to fight the people until they say وان محمد رسول الله اشهد الله اله الا اللهestablish Salah and pay Zakah if they do that they have protected themselves from me”. Now we sometimes Muslims try to for the sake of da’wah we try to give an impression that there is no violence used whatsoever sahaabah were not involved in any fighting force anybody to give up there land and freedom or whatever. And sometime we could say things against the Sahaabah things that if the Sahaabah heard they wouldn’t be happy. Now I want to look at it as follows:
To see you are Muslim now and I am Muslim now how do we become Muslim? If the Sahaabah radhiAllâhu anhum went to the lands of our forefathers and they had stall and giving out pamphlets asking us to become Muslims [I am just telling an example] think about it. And saying please become Muslim, Islam is beautiful religion and it’s a religion of peace and they are trying to convince our forefathers to become Muslims. Most likely the response of our forefathers would have be pick up tomatoes and throw out on there faces and go back home. But the Sahaabah radhiAllâhu anhum did not do that. Sahaabah radhiAllâhu anhum went with armies and they went with dignity and respect of themselves. They didn’t humiliate themselves when they were giving da’wah. They were not knocking on every body’s door and saying please become Muslim. No the Sahaabah radhiAllâhu anhum would take over the land, take over the government and then they would go to the Masjid and if someone is interested in learning the Islam would find us in the Masjid. The Sahaabah radhiAllâhu Anhum would not run after begging people to become Muslims. That wasn’t what the Sahaabah did. And some of the stories mentioned about Rasoolullah sallalahu alaihe wa salam are untrue. There is story that said the once there was very stormy night lightening and raining thunders in Mecca no body was on the streets of Mecca except Rasoolullah sallalahu alaihe wa salam went knocking on the door of Abu Jahl and Abu Jahl said no one would come to me with this hour except there is great need. Abu Jahl opens up the door and find Prophet sallalahu alaihe wasalam soaked in rain and he is saying لا اله الا الله and then Abu Jahl shuts the door its not true.
Rasoolullah sallalahu alaihe wa salam respected himself, he had dignity, Rasoolullah sallalahu alaihe wa salam would not put himself in such a situation. Rasoolullah sallalahu alaihe wa salam would go and speak to the leaders of Quraysh with dignity. He would say لا اله الا الله تفلحوا you will be successful. Rasoolullah sallalahu alaihe wa salam didn’t want to be abused, not want to be cursed. Sometime you think in da’wah you have to humiliate yourself and no Rasoolullah sallalahu alaihe wa salam didn’t want that Rasoolullah sallalahu alaihe wa salam was very sensitive man. And when the Kuffar of Quraysh speaks against him that would affect him. And that is why Ayah of Qur’an came all the way to comfort him. And what happened in Taif was very upsetting to Muhammad sallalahu alaihe wa salam. So Rasoolullah sallalahu alaihe wa salam would never belittle himself. Never put himself in situation to be humiliated. And if that ever happened it happened without his wish or desire. It happened because he didn’t have the strength but later on when he had the strength in Madina he never did that. And the Sahaabah radhiAllâhu the way they do the da’wah they would open up the land of the enemies and would give them three choices: become Muslims or pay us Jizzya or we will fight you. And if you don’t want to become Muslim you have to pay Jizzya in the state of submission [subdued]. And sahaabah radhiAllâhu anhum would open the Halaqas in the Masajids. People would come to them actually, sahaabah doesn’t need to go around the people to become Muslims, people would come to them and the people would say, ”How can we become like you?” why? Because Sahaabah radhiAllâhu anhum had the upper hand Sahaabah radhiAllâhu anhum practiced what they preached they lived it and that attracted the people to them. So that was the way of Sahaabah radhiAllâhu anhum. Sahaabah radhiAllâhu anhum were not the missionaries traveling from one land to other land with loud speakers talking in the streets and people are just passing by and not listening to them. Sahaabah wouldn’t not put them in such a situation.
A person doesn’t have to humiliate oneself for the sake of da’wah you don’t have to do that. Why? Because our role is not to convert others. Hidayah is in the hands of Allaah Azza wajal He will give it to Whom He wants. Your role is to give da’wah in very respected, dignified way and your role is to deliver the information and that’s it. And then you leave rest of it to Allaah Azza wajal Rasoolullah sallalahu alaihe wa salam was not able to convince his own uncle Abu Talib. However, he had people coming from far away like Abu Dharr coming to give him daya’ Rasoolullah sallalahu alaihe wa salam asked him where was he from? “Ghaffar” reputations of Ghaffar were gangsters. They raid caravans in the desert. Rasoolullah sallalahu alaihe wa salam said Subhan Allaah, Allaah give life after the death. [يهدى لمن يشآء] He gives Hidayah to Whom He wants.
So Rabiah Ibn ‘Amir when he was talking to Rustum he was delivering the message as it is. You want to become Muslim that’s good for you , you don’t these are the consequences so I am presenting to you the way of the Sahaabah don’t think that what I am saying is we don’t do the da’wah the way we are doing it now. You should carry on the da’wah they way you can do it because that’s the only way you can afford it at this particular time. But the thing is I don’t like when people give a wrong impression what the sahaabah did. The way of Sahaabah was not like that and the best way and successful way we do whatever we are able to do. We might not be able to do the way Sahaabah did it because of some circumstance now but we have to have the right understanding of their approach and their method that we don’t end up talking against them. Then why I am saying that because, you know I am very proud if that is the case with my ancestors Sahaabah went by the sword killed whom ever my ancestors not wanted to become Muslims and told the rest to become Muslim otherwise pay the Jizzya and you have no future I am very proud of that. Because that saved me. If the Sahaabah went that other missionary way may be my ancestors wouldn’t have become Muslims and now I would have been in the Hell fire. I would rather have my ancestors killed, humiliated and have them been slaves for the Sahaabah and have one of them clean the shoes of Khaalid Ibn Waleed then be a free man ended up in Hell fire. We need to be happy and proud for what the Sahaabah radhiAllâhu anhu did for us and the way they did it, it was by their swords. That how they did it. Rasoolullah sallalahu alaihe wa salam says on the day of Judgment the poor Muhajirin will knock on the gates of Paradise five hundred years before anybody else. So the angels will open the gates and ask how did you get here? The reckoning is still going on. The poor Muhajirin would say and what will Allaah ask us about? All our life we have been fighting fi Sabeelillah carrying our swords on our shoulders. We didn’t do any business we didn’t have any money spend or make what would Allaah Azza wajal ask us about? Our life was spent fighting fi Sabeelillah.
So we owe it to Sahaabah we need to thank them for what they did we pray for them for what they did for us Rasoolullah sallalahu alaihe wa salam says ‘some people would enter Jannah in chains’ what does that mean? That means some people would are brought as prisoners of war [PoW] dragged in chains until they become Muslims. They are saved from Hell fire but they are dragged Jannah in chains. That’s how they came to it.
صلى الله على سيدنا محمد وعلى اله وصحبيه وسلم كثيرَا كثيراً
29 Rabia II 1430
Friday April 24, 2009