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History and Seerah

Seerah Series | Part 1: Specialties of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) | Shaykh Yasir Qadhi

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Lecture by Shaykh Yasir Qadhi  |  Transcribed by Zara T.

This is Part 1 of the Seerah series, click to read Part 2.

[The following is the video and transcript of Shaykh Yasir Qadhi’s Lectures on Seerah. The transcript includes slight modifications for the sake of readability and clarity].

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Today inshā’Allāh ta‘āla we will embark on a new series of lectures, a series of lectures concentrating on the life and times of the single greatest human being who has ever lived, ever walked, on the face of this earth. And in today’s lecture I wanted to begin by talking about some of the broad characteristics of our Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him). Some of the what, in Arabic, is called shamaa-il…some of the unique and specific characteristics that Allāh subḥānahu wa ta'āla (glorified and exalted be He) has given to our Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him).

Before we embark on the journey of seerah and why we study seerah, and what is seerah, that will be inshā’Allāh next week, and then we begin with the birth and the pre-Islamic Arabia, all of this will come. Before we even begin a little bit, a tantalizing tidbit if you like, of the characteristics, of the unique specialties that our Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) was blessed with. Because when we begin these series by talking about his specialties, even though all of us are motivated to study his seerah, when we study his specialties, we will be even more motivated and we’ll be even more eager to learn about the life and times, the lessons and morals, the incidents that occurred in the life of our Prophet Muhammad ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him).

And so where then do we begin when it comes to describing the one whom Allāh has chosen above the entire creation? How can we do justice to him when Allāh ‘azza wa jall Himself says “Wa rafa’na laka dhikrak”. Allāh says: We have raised up your mentioning and remembrance. Allāh has raised up his mentioning and remembrance and Ibn Abbas and other scholars of the ṣaḥābah, they said, Allāh has raised up his remembrance such that whenever Allāh is mentioned, the Prophet  ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) is mentioned right after that. And how true this is, whenever Allāh is mentioned, the Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) is almost always mentioned right after that. Even in our shahādah, “La ilāha illa Allāh Muhammadur Rasul Allāh”, in the athan, in the ṣalāh that we pray, in the Qurʾān itself, there is hardly a khutbah that we give except that we praise Allāh and we send salat and salaam upon the Prophet Muhammad ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him). When Allāh subḥānahu wa ta'āla (glorified and exalted be He) Himself has called our Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) a rahmat al lil ‘alameen-you are the mercy to the entire world. You are the embodiment of rahmah. Allāh has sent you and through you, you will be given rahmah, and you are rahmah, and you are the channel of Allāh’s rahmah.

So he is rahmah…the Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) is rahmah, and his sending is rahmah, and his message is rahmah, and his teachings is rahmah and believing and acting upon what he has come with is a rahmah. He is everything associated with mercy. That is rahmatal lil ‘alameen. So how then can we begin to do justice to the Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) when Allāh has praised him so highly?

However, even if we cannot mention all of those blessings and characteristics, then at least let us mention some so that they can be an indication for that which cannot be mentioned because of time and restrictions. And we begin by mentioning some of the names that Allāh ‘azza wa jall gave our Prophet Muhammad ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him), for our Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) had many names. Many of the names of our Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) were given to him by later people…the sahabah, tabioon, and the early scholars. And one of the famous scholars of the seerah has derived over 250 names of the Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) and if we were to give a class on this, we’d spend 3-4 weeks just talking about that list. But I wanted to mention some of the names that Allāh has given him. Because, you see, names come from Allāh and names come from the people. And obviously, the ones that come from the people, we can benefit from them. But the ones that Allāh has given our Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him), those are the primary names that have the deepest meaning.

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Sh. Dr. Yasir Qadhi is someone that believes that one's life should be judged by more than just academic degrees and scholastic accomplishments. Friends and foe alike acknowledge that one of his main weaknesses is ice-cream, which he seems to enjoy with a rather sinister passion. The highlight of his day is twirling his little girl (a.k.a. "my little princess") round and round in the air and watching her squeal with joy. A few tid-bits from his mundane life: Sh. Yasir has a Bachelors in Hadith and a Masters in Theology from Islamic University of Madinah, and a PhD in Islamic Studies from Yale University. He is an instructor and Dean of Academic Affairs at AlMaghrib, and the Resident Scholar of the Memphis Islamic Center.

19 Comments

19 Comments

  1. mg

    November 25, 2013 at 12:41 PM

    Thank you for transcribing this lecture. It is much easier to read than listen. Also it is a great review and motivation for reading more of the Seerah. One a personal note, this Speaker’s voice and style get on my nerves but the content is Amazing !!!
    Jazakum Allah Khayrun !!

    • amatullah

      December 12, 2016 at 8:26 AM

      Assalamu Alaykum jazakumullahu khairan Sheikh .
      Does anyone know where can i find the transcript for the following ?

      Seerah of Prophet Muhammad 102 – The Mosque & Grave of Muhammad ~ Dr. Ya… https://youtu.be/2XbZRxcu2g0 via @YouTube

      wassalam

  2. Stranger

    November 25, 2013 at 1:12 PM

    JazakAllah khayr. Just curious, will you be transcribing his entire Seerah series? To have something like this series transcribed is extremely beneficial.

  3. Zaid Mohammad

    November 25, 2013 at 1:56 PM

    Assalamualikum
    Jazak’Allahu Khairan for this, I’ve been thinking of making notes on these lectures, but to think you’ve managed to write a transcript, Masha’Allah.
    This is very beneficial, but are you working on the entire series? If you did, it’ll be an understatement if I said that, that would be very beneficial.
    May Allah(Swt) accept and allow us to benefit.

  4. Ibrahim

    November 28, 2013 at 7:07 PM

    I started transcribing some a while back (up till part 10; with modifications of course); if they can assist in this project please let me know and Ill send the file over

    • abdur rahman

      December 13, 2013 at 10:51 PM

      Love the notes above but the only problem above is number two. The prophet’s being decreed before adam being something unique to him is something problematic to say. The prophet was saying that i was decreed at that point.

      We know from another hadeeth that everything has been decreed after Allaah created the pen. So i don’t believe this is something specific to the prophet. Allaah knew everything that was decreed way before Adam’s creation.

      I do not agree with shaikh yasir on that, if the hadith he quoted is even authentic in the first place.

      Allaah knows best.

    • Mohammad Ilyas Mir

      October 24, 2016 at 3:04 AM

      How many lectures have you transcribed?

  5. Riz Khan

    December 14, 2013 at 9:13 PM

    I like you Shaykh Yasir Qadhi… continue your amazing works . May Allah bless you !

  6. Redpen99

    February 9, 2014 at 10:40 PM

    salams. Where can I find the transcripts brother Ibrahim? I would like to use these notes for a lesson. JazakaAllah khair

  7. Sulastri

    March 31, 2014 at 1:14 AM

    I am very very grateful to Sheikh Yasir Qadhi and everyone involved in getting this lecture transcribed. I can print and read it offline or when I am on the move. Thank you so much. May Allah SWT bless you all.

  8. Safwan

    February 7, 2015 at 12:56 PM

    Jazak’Allah Khair for this.

    For anyone wanting more transcribed notes for the seerah lectures, please visit https://www.scribd.com/safwan9khan.

    I have (as of writing) completed notes for all the lectures up to lecture 61. The remaining will be complete within the next two months inshaAllah. Please share with others if you find them beneficial.

    • Mohammed Touaha Akbar

      January 5, 2016 at 1:44 PM

      Brother Safwan,

      Assalamu ‘alaikum,

      I am Touaha from Bangladesh. I have read your notes on Seerah from your scribd uploads. It was great and so much promising. I am an Islamic Studies teacher of an Islamic School. I was so much inspired from your notes that I talked to my school director about teaching seerah of grade 6 and 7 students, and got positive response. We are doing it for the sake of Islam. If you allow me I can use your notes for the preparation of doing the discussion with them, so that both of you and me can be benefitted as brothers of Islam in the Hereafter InShaAllah.

      If you are positive about this you can email me the MS Word files (doc files) of these notes, thus it will be convenient for me to print them and take them in the class to share with them. After the class I will provide them your awesome notes with some modification (I may summerize them a bit as they are little children), so they can read and remind themselves and also can share them with people, and talk to people from those notes if they want. I couldn’t copy-paste them from the site (scribd), thus asking for your kind help.

      I prayed to Allah for both of you and me for these notes thus we can benefit ourselves.
      My email id: touaha.geb.cu@gmail.com

      • amatullah

        December 12, 2016 at 8:46 AM

        assalamu alaykum,
        Can I ask where you found the notes please ?
        I am looking for the transcript of this lecture :

        Seerah of Prophet Muhammad 102 – The Mosque & Grave of Muhammad ~ Dr. Ya… https://youtu.be/2XbZRxcu2g0 via @YouTube

    • Waseem soomro

      January 13, 2016 at 4:09 AM

      JazakAllah kher for this. May Allah reward you.
      Also, i am searching a document in the for of timeline or a mapping so those of us who have watched all videos, can getback to the content for reference quickly. and use this valuable information.
      I am sure someone have already thought of it, and made available. ?

      But if not, I have some idea for this, if Allah will, i can build something.

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  11. Deborah Badour

    November 10, 2015 at 7:31 PM

    Thank you for offering such beneficial information

  12. Kamal

    January 18, 2016 at 6:10 AM

    Will be glad if you please send

  13. Mohammad Shafiuddin

    April 25, 2016 at 10:28 AM

    Mash allay,May Allah reward you highest,Amen

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