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History and Seerah

Seerah Series | Part 2: Specialties of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) | Shaykh Yasir Qadhi

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And we all know the story of the Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) and Abu Bakr and Umar, the famous story reported in Tirmidhi, that Umar ibn Al Khattab did not have anything to eat, I’d just like to point out here that the sahabah lived very tough times in the early part of Madinah. Before the conquest began, before the money began pouring in, Madinah was a very difficult place to live in. And when you didn’t have dates, there’s only one season dates are there, once they run out, for the rest of the six months, you are living a very difficult life in the middle of the desert. And there are many stories of this nature. And so once, Umar ibn Al Khattab is walking in the streets and he sees the Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him), and this is at noon, and at noon nobody walks in the streets in the summer time, it’s too hot. So he says to the Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him), Ya Rasul Allāh, what are you doing outside? And the Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) knows that Umar is outside for one reason and that is he doesn’t have food at home. So he says, “The same reason as you.” Same reason as you, I mean I’m just sitting outside…there’s nothing to eat at home. As they’re sitting there Abu Bakr as well, he’s walking. Because you cannot sit at home and you’re hungry, you just want to walk around, just go outside. And the three of them, the three of them are sitting there just talking when one of the sahabah, Abul Haytham is rushing back to home from work. So he says, “Ya Rasul Allāh, what are you three doing at this time of the day?” and so Umar says, “Well we didn’t have anything to eat so we’re just sitting here basically talking.” So Abul Haytham says, “This is not possible,” that the three best people now, you’re sitting here. So he tells, he knows that he has an old goat at home. So he tells them, come to my house and I’ll give you food. I will prepare food for you. Come to my house. So he rushes home, he only has one goat that is past the age of giving milk, it’s an old goat, so he tells his wife, “By Allāh, we need to sacrifice this goat…we need to get rid of the goat. And you cook the food, I will knead the dough, we’re going to make some bread, so we will give him meat and bread.”

And so the Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him), Abu Bakr, and Umar, they came and they ate meat and bread which is of course the luxurious food item of that time and to this day, and then what was the response of the Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) when he finished all of this? After not having anything at home. He reminded Abu Bakr and Umar. He reminded them that they left their houses hungry and Allāh gave them this meal…Ya Abu Bakr and Umar…”thumma la tus alunna yawma idhin ‘anin na’eem”. Allāh’s going to ask you on that day about this food. What did you do with it, and did you thank Me enough for it?

SubḥānAllāh, I mean one of us ya’nee, three meals a day, we don’t even think about Allāh’s blessings…right? And the Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) is so conscious, that Allāh’s going to ask you about this na’eem. You’re going to be asked about this blessing that Allāh subḥānahu wa ta'āla (glorified and exalted be He) has given you.

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And as for his humility, the Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) frequently rode donkeys and even though he had the money to purchase a horse and a camel, and he had a camel, Al Qaswa…he had a camel, but the Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) had no problem riding a donkey, frequently and during the battle of Badr, the Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) had to distribute the camels amongst the entire group of people. How many people came to Badr? You all know, how many people were in Badr? Three hundred and fourteen/fifteen. And there were roughly seventy-five camels. Do the math. How many people per camel? Three or four people per camel. Now some people had horses…so roughly it came out to three people per camel, has to be divided.

And so the Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) assigned Ali and Abu Lubaba to himself with the camel. So the one camel with these three people. And everybody else has their own three per camel. Now put yourself in the shoes of Ali and Abu Lubaba. You’re supposed to share a camel with the Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him), what are you going to say? “Take it, it’s yours.” So Ali says, “Ya Rasul Allāh, both of us are young men…” He’s trying to make him feel as if we’re not doing you a favor. “Ya Rasul Allāh I am young I’m in my thirties, Abu Lubaba is also young, Ya Rasul Allāh we’re young, you go ahead and ride the camel.” Now, there are many things the Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) could have said, ok fine…and SubḥānAllāh, he is the leader by the way and wAllāhi forget everything aside, the leader deserves extra protection. Forget religiosity…the leader deserves extra respect, right? The commander, he’s not the person that should be treated like the private. The four-star, five-star general, he’s reached a level now you don’t treat him like the private, right? So he could have said, “Okay fine,” and nobody would have said anything. Or he even could have said, “No, no! Let’s all share it.” But he didn’t want to make them feel that I’m doing you a favor by doing this. What did he say? He smiled back at them and he said that, “Neither are the two of you any stronger than me and nor am I in any lesser need of the reward than you two.” I also need the ajr of walking. We’re going to share. SubḥānAllāh. “Neither are the two of you any stronger,” he couldn’t fight with “younger” I mean, Ali is younger. So he says “Neither are the two of you any stronger than me,” okay you might be younger but in terms of physical health, yes I am just as strong as you, “and nor am I in any lesser need of Allāh’s rewards,” for walking and struggling. So we’re going to share the camel. And so he was a man of his word and he shared the camel even though, truth be told, it was not necessary at all, right? He is the leader, he is Rasul Allāh and yet he shared the camel with them.

And as for his good manners, subḥānAllāh how much can we say about his good manners. Anas ibn Malik said, and Anas ibn Malik lived one of the longest of the sahabah, he lived until he was over 110 years old, Anas ibn Malik. He lived one of the longest lives. Why? Because the Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) made duaa for him, right. After all that he had done, one day his mother came, Anas,’s mother…and she said Ya Rasul Allāh your little servant Anas, he’s done so much for you…make duaa for him. That’s all the mother wanted, wasn’t it, right…she just wants the barakah from the Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him). Ya Rasul Allāh make duaa for him. So the Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) said, “Oh Allāh, give him barakah in his life and in his wealth and in his progeny.” One duaa, and Anas lived to see the results of this duaa. Give him barakah in his life – he was one of the last of the sahabah to die. And he lived to be over 110 at a time when the average death rate was what, 30..28, something like this. He lived to be 110. And he said give him barakah in his money...they used to say that if Anas turned a rock over, he would find gold underneath it. He was so rich that anything he did, just it’s as if it’s a gold touch, right? It was like that. And people would love to become business partners with Anas, right? And they would just say look, just sign the paper, we’ll do the money, everything, they just wanted to get the barakah [I mean, not sign the paper, you get the point.] Anything, just be a part of this. People would love to be business partners with Anas because they knew it would be successful. And he amassed a large fortune at the end of his life. And he had so many grandchildren and great grandchildren and great great-grandchildren, he couldn’t even count them. Could not even count them, in his own lifetime. Because the Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) said, “Baarik lahu fee ahlihi wa fee waladi… wa fee umurihi wa fee ahlihi wa fee maalihi…” and these three things, the Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) made duaa for and all three of them, he was given that barakah. This Anas ibn Malik, he says, “I served Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) for ten years. I served him…I didn’t just visit him. I lived with him for ten years, and not once did he rebuke me. Not once did the word ‘uff’ come from his mouth.”  Now “uff,” as you know, is the least word to express irritation. It’s not even a word of anger. It’s the word to express irritation. And the Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) never ever said the word “uff” and Anas said, “He never said to me, ‘why did you do this?’ and he never said to me ‘why did you not do that?’” and subḥānAllāh, as they say, by how a person treats his family, you know him. By a person’s treatment of his inner circle, that’s how you know him. What side we show to our family, to our spouses, to our children, that is the real us. It’s easy to be somebody else in the masjid. It’s easy to be somebody else in the work place. But who you are in front of your wife, in front of your kids, that is the real you.

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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.

13 Comments

13 Comments

  1. Melanie

    January 13, 2014 at 4:30 PM

    This was so beautiful, Jazaka Allah Khayr .

    *Name has been changed to comply with our Comments Policy*

  2. Omar

    January 13, 2014 at 9:53 PM

    MashaAllah, may Allah reward all who made this possible. Will the entire series be transcribed in the coming future?

  3. Muahammad

    January 14, 2014 at 12:58 AM

    Alhamdulillah, May He Guide us through amen.

  4. Mustapha Othman

    January 14, 2014 at 1:55 AM

    Jazzakallahu Khair !

  5. Bint Mohamed

    January 14, 2014 at 8:24 AM

    Shaykh, i absolutely love your lectures. Jazakallah khayr and may Allah swt bless you and all those connected with making this possible with the best in this world and in akhirah. Ameen.

  6. Riz Khan

    January 14, 2014 at 11:00 AM

    Jazakallah Khair ! This article is like a great gift at the event of Mawlid. Mashallah great work by brother Shaykh Yasir Qadhi. May Allah bless him. There are festivities. The people are sending sweet dishes to each other. This article is like a sweet dish.

    George Bernard Shaw – The Genuine Islam Vol.No.8, 1936
    “I believe if a man like him were to assume the dictatorship of the modern world he would succeed in solving its problems in a way that would bring much needed peace and happiness.
    I have studied him – the man and in my opinion is far from being an anti–Christ. He must be called the Savior of Humanity.
    I have prophesied about the faith of Mohammad that it would be acceptable the Europe of tomorrow as it is beginning to be acceptable to the Europe of today.”

  7. Maimon

    January 22, 2014 at 1:10 PM

    JazakiAllahu khyra for this beautiful lecture by shaykh … N for making this video into an article form mash Allah … R u guys goin to make the next lecture into an article form ??? .. I am really looking forward to it . This is very helpful . Alhumdulilah

    • Hena Zuberi

      January 22, 2014 at 7:23 PM

      wa alaykummassalam,
      Yes inshaAllah we plan on having the whole series of lectures by Sh. Yasir and by Sh. Abdul Nasir Jangda transcribed and posted.

      • Maryam

        January 3, 2015 at 7:03 PM

        Jazakallah khair…. Thank you sooooo much for transcribing these lectures. It took me hours to write down just one of his lecture by hand. You have made it so easy for me now. May Allah reward you immensely for helping out. :))))))))))))))))

  8. Pingback: Seerah Series | Part 3: Why Study Seerah, and the Pre-Islamic Arabia | Dr. Yasir Qadhi | MuslimMatters.org

  9. Umm ZAKAriyya

    March 23, 2014 at 4:33 PM

    This made my heart cry . How dearly our rasool (S.A.W) loved us and cared for us !.. Certainly , He is the Rahma of Allah send to us . Alhamdulillah . And how fortunate we are to be of his ummah .

    If the rasool is so kind and merciful , how merciful is his Rabb! Allahu Akbar .
    May Allah grant him The Maqaamam Mahmood in Jannah and the waseelah and fadheelah. Ameen .

  10. 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.

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