The Life of Muhammadﷺ, The Madinan Period, Volume 1
By Imam Anwar Al_Awlaki,
اَعُوْذُ بِاللهِ مِنَّ الشِّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيْمِ۝
بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَانِ الرَّحِيْمَ۝
اَلْحَمْدُ لله ، وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلى سَيِّدِنَا محمد وَعَلَى اَلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَسَلِّمْ
السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاتهَ
Rasool Allah ﷺ tried to break the coalition that was part of his strategy.
So what he did?
He tried to negotiate a deal with Ghatafaan(غطفان),
Ghatafaan(غطفان) are these tribes from Najd(نجد),
who came and participated in the coalition with the force of 6000.
Now the entire coalition was 10,000, so they are more than half of the entire coalition.
So, Rasool Allah ﷺ was trying to work a deal with them.
Rasool Allah ﷺ met with their two leaders
and he proposed to them that they withdraw from coalition
in exchange Rasool Allah ﷺ is gonna pay them one third of the harvest of Madina.
They agreed and they wrote up a document
but they did not finalize it by bringing the witnesses.
Rasool Allah ﷺ calls Sa'ad Bin Muadh(سعد بن معاذ) and Sa'ad Bin Ubadah(سعد بن عبادة) who are the heads of Al-Ansaar(الانصار)
and he make Shura(شورى) with them.
And notice here that Rasool Allah ﷺ only made Shura(شورى) with them
and this shows you that Shura(شورى) is not done with everyone,
Shura(شورى) is done with the pertaining people to every situation.
Now since, Rasool Allah ﷺ is here offering one third of the harvest of Madina
which belongs to Al-Aos(الأوس) Wal Khazraj(ولخزرج).
He needs to seek their counsel.
So, he told them, what he proposed to Ghatafaan(غطفان),
they responded by saying;
Messenger of Allah, is this something that you wish to do
something Allah has ordered you to do and which we must put into effect?
Or is it something you are doing for our sake?
If it is something from Allahعَزّوجَلّ, we will accept it,
but if it's your opinion and you're doing it for our sake, let us know.
Rasool Allah ﷺ said, Yes, I'm doing it, for your sake.
Sa'ad Ibn Muadh(سعد ابن معاذ) said;
Messenger of Allah, We used to be disbelievers in Allah
and worshiped idols along with those people, not worshipping nor knowing Allah.
At that time they would never have dreamed of eating a single date of ours
except as our guests or after purchase.
Should we give them our property now,
after Allah has honored us with Islam led us to Him and given us esteem through you and through Him.
We will have none of this, by Allah.
All we will give them is the sword, until Allah decides between us and them.
Sa'ad Bin Muadh(سعد بن معاذ) and Sa'ad Bin Ubadah(سعد بن عبادة) are saying;
These people would not have dreamed of getting one date of us
except if they would pay the price for it or if we give it to them as our guests
and now we're just going to give it to them, for free so that they leave.
We don't want to have anything to do with this.
Rasool Allah ﷺ said; As you wish.
So, Sa'ad Bin Muadh(سعد بن معاذ) took the document from Rasool Allah ﷺ
and he erased the writing from it saying;
Now let them fight us, Now let them fight us.
So, brothers and sisters,
Again, you can see the Ansaar(انصار) and how they would approach matters.
Rasool Allah ﷺ was willing to negotiate this matter,
but the Ansaar(انصار) said; No, We're gonna fight, let's just fight.
May Allahعَزّوجَلّ has His mercies on them.
So, this is the issue with Ghatafaan(غطفان).
Obviously the whole thing didn't go through.
Now because the Muslims, through their Eeman(ايمان), qualified in the eyes of Allahعَزّوجَلّ, for victory
Allah was going to help them.
You know, you could be in a disadvantage compared to your enemy.
And from every angle you look at it, there's no way you can win.
But because you deserve to win, since you have fulfilled the requirements of winning in the eyes of Allahعَزّوجَلّ,
Allahعَزّوجَلّ is gonna find a way out for you.
وَمَنْ يَتَّقِ اللَّهَ يَجْعَلْ لَهُ مَخْرَجًا۝وَيَرْزُقْهُ مِنْ حَيْثُ لَا يَحْتَسِبُ ۚ
If you have Taqwa(تقوى) in Allahعَزّوجَلّ.
Allah will find the way out for you and will provide you from avenues, you never expected.
So, underline here the word you never expected.
I mean it's going to come from a place, a quarter that you didn't expect.
You looked at all of the various variables, you assess the situation.
There's no way you can make it.
But Allahعَزّوجَلّ knows, what you don't know.
A man came to Rasool Allah ﷺ, his name is Nuaim Bin Masood(نُعَيْم بن مسعود).
This man is from Ghatafaan(غطفان).
He comes to Rasool Allah ﷺ and says;
Messenger of Allah, I have accepted Islam, but my people do not know of this.
Give me whatever orders, you wish.
Here this man comes out of nowhere and says I'm a Muslim
and Subhan Allah(سبحان الله) it appears to be the wrong time to become a Muslim.
I mean the Muslims are under siege.
It appears that they are losing and you want to become Muslim.
Well that's because, he was a soldier of Allah.
Allah was bringing this man forward because he was one of the soldiers of Allahعَزّوجَلّ.
وَمَا يَعْلَمُ جُنُودَ رَبِّكَ إِلَّا هُوَ ۚ
Only Allah knows His soldiers, we don't know them.
So, he comes to Rasool Allah ﷺ and says; "Order me, Give me your orders."
The Messenger of Allah said;
You are only one man, use trickery to relieve us, of them, if you can, War is deception.
Rasool Allah ﷺ is telling Nuaim(نُعَيْم) that if you join us
we're going to be 3001, it doesn't really make a difference, you're just one man.
But since they do not know that you have become Muslim,
go back, go back and try to weaken them, because war is deception.
In other words, Rasool Allah ﷺ was saying that you can use deception
if that will support the cause of relieving us, of them.
Nuaim رضي الله عنه left and he went to the Jews of Bannu Quraidha(بنو قريظه).
Now the thing here with Nuaim(نُعَيْم), he had good relations with the Jews, good relations with Quraish(قُرَيْشْ).
And since he was from Ghatafaan(غطفان), he had good relations with his people.
Nuaim Bin Masood رضي الله عنه was a well known man, a trusted man.
So he went to Bannu Quraidha(بنو قريظه) and he told them;
You know me and I know you and you know our friendship
and you know that I would only give you a sincere advice.
What you have done is wrong.
You have decided to fight against Muhammadﷺ,
but you are living in Madina, your women and children and property are here,
while Quraish(قُرَيْشْ) and Ghatafaan(غطفان) are coming over to fight
but their women children and property or somewhere else.
Now Quraish(قُرَيْشْ) and Ghatafaan(غطفان) are going to try to seize the opportunity to defeat Muhammadﷺ
but if that opportunity doesn't arise they're going to pack up and leave.
And you know what will happen if they leave
Muhammadﷺ will attack you first, since you are right there with him, in Madina,
and you know that you cannot face off alone against Muhammadﷺ.
They said, Well, what you saying is true. What shall we do?
He said;
You want to make sure that Quraish(قُرَيْشْ) and Ghatafaan(غطفان), are willing to fight until the end
until you achieve the objective, not just try to win, if it doesn't work out, then they leave.
No.
you want to make sure that they will stay behind and fight with you and not betray you and leave.
They said, All right, well tell us how we can guarantee that.
He said; Ask them to leave some of their men with you, as assurance
meaning you take some of their men as hostages.
And this was a practice that existed in those days.
I mean you could borrow money, and then you could leave your child as a security.
So I mean, it wasn't something that was strange, it did exist in those days.
So Nuaim(نُعَيْم) here is saying;
Ask them to hand over some of their men both from Quraish(قُرَيْشْ) and from Ghatafaan(غَطَفَان)
and hold them with you as an assurance, as a guarantee that they're going to fight until the end.
They said; That's a good idea.
We agree, we'll do that.
Now Nuaim(نُعَيْم) leaves the Jews and he goes to Quraish(قُرَيْشْ) and he tells them
you know, how close our friendship is
and you understand, that I would be sincere in my advice to you.
And I would only tell you the truth
and I've come here because I have something to disclose to you
and I want you to keep this information classified.
They said, Yes, Nuaim(نُعَيْم) we trust you and we know that.
Go ahead.
He said;
The Jews have regretted the fact that they have abrogated their agreement with Muhammadﷺ
and now they are involved in negotiations with him to bring back the agreement.
And they have offered Muhammad(محمد)
to handover some of your men to him to be executed
as a sign of their sincerity and repentance of their deed.
So, Nuaim(نُعَيْم) is here telling Quraish(قُرَيْشْ) that the Jews are sorry that they have broken their agreement with Muhammadﷺ
and they are willing to make that up by handing over some of your men, to him.
So if the Jews come to you asking for hostages do not give them any.
And then he goes to the Ghatafaan(غطفان) and tells them the exact same thing.
Now, the siege was taking a long time and Quraish(قُرَيْشْ) are getting fed up
now remember Quraish(قُرَيْشْ) didn't come to Madina to lay siege to it.
They came in to fight and they were surprised to find this moat in front of them, the trench.
So, they did not come in with supplies to last for a siege.
They came in for a fast battle, get it over with and leave.
So, they weren't prepared to wait for a long time.
So, Ikrimah Bin Abi Jahal(عكرمه بن ابي جهل) was sent to head the delegation to go and meet with the Jews of Bannu Quraidha(بنو قريظه).
He went to them and said;
That we're getting tired of this long siege, our camels and horses are dying
and we want to wage an all out war on Muhammad(محمد), so get yourselves ready
and we shall attack today.
The Jews said, No, you know that we don't fight in the Sabbath(السابت).
And some of our people, who did fight in the Sabbath(السابت), this and this happened to them.
They went on talking about the history of staying away from fighting on the Sabbath(السابت).
And then they said, Plus
you know, we're worried that you might not stay the course
and to ensure that you are willing to fight until the end
we want you to hand over some of your men as a guarantee.
Iqrimah(عكرمه) goes back and conveys this information to Abu Sufiyan(ابوسفيان),
Abu Sufiyan(ابوسفيان) said, this is it, this is what Nuaim(نُعَيْم) told us
that the Jews have betrayed us and they want to hand over, our men to Muhammadﷺ.
So, Abu Sufiyan(ابوسفيان) answers back and said;
We're not going to hand over even one man, not one single person.
The jews said, this is exactly, what Nuaim(نُعَيْم) told us.
These men are not serious and they're going to leave us alone to suffer the attacks of Muhammadﷺ.
And the same thing happened with Ghatafaan(غطفان).
And therefore one single man was successful in breaking up this coalition.
The coalition that was brought together by the Yahood(يهود)
headed by Huyaiye Bin Akhtab(حيئي بن اخطب) was now broken through one of many soldiers of Allahعَزّوجَلّ.
And as I said
this help, it appears as if it came out of nowhere, but it was part of the Qadar(قدر) of Allahعَزّوجَلّ
because the Muslims have passed the test.
The Muslims have passed the test of Eeman(ايمان) of perseverance, of endurance, patience, trust in Allahعَزّوجَلّ.
Since they are past all of these requirements.
Now Allah(عَزّوجَلّ) is going to find a way out for them.
Just like when Musa(موسى) and Bannu Israel(بنواسرائيل) were faced with the sea in front of them and Firoun(فرعون) from behind them
it was a test for them, to see, if they believe in the promise of Allahعَزّوجَلّ
that He will save them and protect them or not
many of them failed, some of them did pass.
And that is when after the test was over Allahعَزّوجَلّ told Musa(موسى)
all what you have to do is strike the sea with your stick and it'll split.
So, the whole thing was a test.
Nuaim Bin Masood(نٌعَيْم بن مسعود) single handedly brought an end to this coalition.
Let's talk about some lessons from these two incidents
the one with Ghatafaan(غتفان) and the one with Nuaim Bin Masood(نٌعَيْم بن مسعود).
Rasool Allah ﷺ made or negotiated with Ghatafaan(غطفان)
because they were there only for financial gain.
But the Jews and Quraish(قُرَيْشْ) were fighting a war of Aqeedah(عقيده),
their objective was to bring down Islam from its foundations
and therefore, he didn't even attempt to negotiate with them.
So, you need to know the objectives of your enemy.
Is the enemy fighting because of Aqeedah(عقيده)?
Or the enemy is fighting for another reason?
Or is it the combination of both?
See with Ghatafaan(غطفان), they were drawn into this because they're going to make money.
And if they can make money off Muhammadﷺ then be it, we'll leave And they agreed.
But Rasool Allah ﷺ never attempted to do that with the Jews or with Quraish(قُرَيْشْ)
because they were fighting from a standpoint of Aqeedah(عقيده).
Quraish(قُرَيْشْ) were fighting to defend their religion
and to take revenge of those men from Quraish(قُرَيْشْ), who became Muslim
and the Jews were also fighting from Aqeedah(عقيده) point of view.
So, it's important to know, to try to study the enemy.
Second lesson,
Rasool Allah ﷺ told Sa'ad Bin Ubadah(سعد بن عبادة) and Sa'ad Bin Muadh(سعد بن معاذ),
that the reason why he was making this offer is because
he saw that the Arabs are, as if they are shooting you, from one single bow.
Meaning that they have unified against you and I want to break up that coalition.
اِنِيْ رَاَيْتُ الْعَرَبَ رَمَتْكُمْ عنْ قَوْسٍ وَاحِدَة
So, the lesson here is that the Muslim leader needs to have Hikmah(حكمه)
and if it's possible to neutralize a particular party, and some of the enemies of Islam
rather than have them all face at once, that can be part of the strategy.
And the Muslims should not try to make enemies
but they should try to neutralize the enemy, as long as this is done without giving up some of our principles.
Why fight everybody at once?
That was where Rasool Allah ﷺ was coming from.
He was trying to break up this coalition Ghatafaan(غطفان), we can deal with them later.
Let's deal with the priority now which is Quraish(قُرَيْشْ) and Al-Yahood(اليهود).
Now one can argue that this was before the ruling of Allah
وَقَاتِلُوا الْمُشْرِكِينَ كَافَّةً
Now fight all of the disbelievers.
But even then, if the Muslims do not have the capability of doing that
they can strategize and ranked them according to how dangerous they are as enemies of Allahعَزّوجَلّ.
Next lesson, the leader should have the capability of taking advantage of the abilities of his soldiers.
So, Rasool Allah ﷺ here didn't invite Nuaim(نُعَيْم) to come over and just give him a sword, and give him a spear and tell him well go and fight.
No, Rasool Allah ﷺ knew where to use Nuaim Bin Masood(نُعَيْمْ بن مسعود).
So, the leader needs to know, the qualities of his followers
and put each person in the right place.
Put the right person in the right place, to do the right thing.
Rasool Allah ﷺ was using a powerful weapon against the enemies of Allahعَزّوجَلّ and that is Dua(دعا).
Rasool Allah ﷺ was saying,
O Allah, revealer of the book,
quick to take account
defeat the clans,
O Allah defeat them, and shake them.
Allahعَزّوجَلّ accepted the Dua(دعا) of Rasool Allah ﷺ and He assisted the Muslims with soldiers, they did not see.
Allahعَزّوجَلّ says,
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اذْكُرُوا نِعْمَةَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذْ جَاءَتْكُمْ جُنُودٌ فَأَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ رِيحًا
فَأَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ رِيحًا وَجُنُودًا لَمْ تَرَوْهَا ۚ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيرًا۝
O you, who have believed, remember the favor of Allah upon you,
when armies came to attack you and we sent upon them a wind and armies you did not see.
Allah sent armies that they did not see, the Malaikah(ملائكه)
wind were all armies sent by Allahعَزّوجَلّ.
And we'll talk about wind, later on in the story of Hudaifah(حذيفة).
And ever is Allah of what you do, seeing.
So, Allahعَزّوجَلّ is now sending soldiers from His armies, to defend the Muslims.
The muslims, by the way also had battle cry in Khandaq(خندق) and that was,
حم لا يُنْصَرُوْنْ
They will not be victorious, they will not be victorious.
The story of Hudaifah(حذيفة);
And I'll read to you two narrations one is narration of Ahmed(احمد) and the other one is narration of Muslim(مسلم).
The narration of Ahmad(احمد) which is a bit more detailed.
A man from Kufa(كوفه) asked Hudaifah Bin Yamaan( حذيفة بن يمان) have you actually seen the Messenger of Allah
and you were you really a companion of his.
So this happened in the time of Taba'een(تابعين).
Hudaifah(حذيفة) said, Oh, yes nephew.
So, this Taba'e(تابعي) said, Then how did you get by?
How did you treat him, how did you deal with him?
Hudaifah(حذيفه) said, It was difficult for us, I swear by Allah, but we tried our best.
So, this man, this Taba'e(تابعي) said;
I swear if we'd lived at his time we'd never have let his foot, so much, as touch the ground.
We'd have carried him on our shoulders.
This Taba'e(تابعي) heard stories about how the Sahabah(صحابه) were with Rasool Allah ﷺ
and he felt that if Rasool Allah ﷺ came in their time
they would have treated him much better than the Sahabah(صحابه).
He said, we would have carried them on our shoulders
we wouldn't even let his feet touch the ground.
Now, Hudaifah(حذيفة) wants to teach this man a lesson
and let him understand that, it's easier said, than done.
You know Yeah, now because we brought Islam to you, it is the Sahabah(صحابه) who brought to Taba'een(تابعين).
And now because Islam was brought to you,
and you understand how great Rasool Allah ﷺ is,
and you see the fruits of his mission and you see the Khilafah(خِلَافَه), that he established.
Now you say, Well, if we were living then, we would have done so and so.
But this Taba'e(تابعي) doesn't understand that
these were men, who were living with Rasool Allah ﷺ, and they had to fight their fathers,
they had to fight their brothers, they had to fight their clans, they had to give up their wealth
they had to sacrifice their life, so it wasn't easy.
Yeah, it's easy now to say that we would have carried Rasool Allah ﷺ on our shoulders.
But if you were there you would have maybe act differently.
So, Hudaifah(حذيفة) he wants to give him an example of how the situation was
and how difficult it was, he's telling him about the reality.
He said;
Nephew, I swear, I see as now with the Messenger of Allah at Al-Khandaq(الخندق)
and after he prayed for part of the night, he turned to us and asked.
Who will volunteer to go and see what the enemy is doing and then come back.
The Messenger of Allah stipulated, that if the volunteer would come back
he would ask the Allah, that the man be his companion in paradise.
But so severe was the fear, cold and hunger, that not one person volunteered.
Rasool Allah ﷺ is asking for a volunteer, and this volunteer will be with him in Jannah(جنة),
all what you have to do is go and visit the camp of the enemy and come back.
Hudaifah(حذيفة) said, None of us stood up, none of us volunteered.
Why? Because we were so terrified, it was cold, we were so hungry.
And when you are in a situation like that, you can't think straight.
So, none of us stood up.
Rasool Allah ﷺ he then said;
Since no one had risen he called upon me
and once he had done so, I had no alternative, but to do so.
So, now Rasool Allah ﷺ was not asking for volunteer, he said Hudaifah(حذيفة) you go.
He then told me, Hudaifah(حذيفة) go and infiltrate the enemy
go and see what they are doing,
but don't cause any trouble, then returned to us.
Hudaifah رضي الله عنه said, so I did.
The Gale, an Allah's soldiers were greatly damaging them
leaving them no fire, nor pots, nor tents, upright.
The wind was so strong it was blowing everything.
Abu Sufiyan(ابوسفيان) arose and said, Quraish(ابوسفيان) every man check out the person sitting next to him.
Abu Sufiyan(ابوسفيان) was worried that in such a condition where the wind is blowing so fiercely
the enemy could possibly try to infiltrate us.
So, Abu Sufiyan(ابوسفيان) said, that everyone check the person next to him.
Hudaifah رضي الله عنه, he said, at this I took the hand of the man next to me and asked him, his name.
So, Hudaifah(حذيفة) acted very quickly rather than have somebody asked him, he asked the man next to him.
Very smart move, it saved him, his life.
He told me, who he was.
Abu Sufiyan(ابوسفيان) then said, We're not in a permanent camp.
Our horses and camels are dying, and Bannu Quraidha(بنوقريظه), are at odds with us.
And we've heard things about them that we don't like.
You can see what we've lost, due to the Gale.
How our cooking pots, won't stay upright.
And we can't keep fires burning and our tents standing,
you should leave, as I am about to do.
That's it, they're giving up.
He then went to his camel, which was hobbled,
mounted it, struck it so that it arose on three legs since he only on hobbled it, when it was standing.
If it had not been for the promise that the messenger of Allah, made me
make not to cause trouble
I could have shot him, with an arrow.
Because remember, Rasool Allah ﷺ told him don't cause any trouble just go gather information and come back.
Hudaifah(حذيفة) went on.
So, I returned to the Messenger of Allah
and found him, standing in prayer shrouded in a wrap belonging to one of his wives.
When he saw me, he asked me to come in, to sit, at his feet
and threw an end of the wrap over me,
he then bowed and prostrated, while I was under it
when he was finished, I related the news to him.
When Ghatafaan(غطفان) heard what Quraish(قُرَيْشْ) had done.
They hurried of home.
So, now everybody left.
This is the narration of Ahmad(احمد).
The narration of Muslim(مسلم) is narrated from Yazeed At-Taymi(يزيد التيمي), from his father who said;
We were with Hudaifah(حذيفة), when a man told him
if I had been alive with the Messenger of Allah, I would have fought alongside him, heroically.
So, Hudaifah(حذيفة) said: Would it you indeed?
Is that the case?
Now claiming that you would have fought fiercely with Rasool Allah ﷺ
and then Hudaifah(حذيفة) told him;
Once we were there at the Battle of Al-Ahzaab(احزاب) with Rasool Allah ﷺ
it was nighttime and there was a fierce cold Gale blowing.
He asked us;
Is there no man who will bring me the news of the enemy and be with me at judgment day.
When none of us responded, he asked the same question a second and a third time.
Then he said: "Hudaifah(حذيفة), you go and bring us, news of the enemy.
Since he had called upon me by name, I had no alternative but to get up.
He then said: "Bring me news of them, without giving them any cause for alarm about me."
So, I left and made my way to them
feeling as if I was walking through a public bath,
meaning here public baths, it's talking about the heat, he was feeling hot.
I found Abu Sufiyan(ابوسفيان) there, warming his back to the fire
I placed an arrow in the center of my bow and I was about to release it
when I remembered how Rasool Allah ﷺ had told me, not to give them any alarm about it.
If I had shot it, I would have hit him.
I then left to return to Rasool Allah ﷺ and again the feeling of walking in a bath overcame me.
When I arrived back, I felt very cold and chilled once again.
I told this to him and he put over me part of the cloak, he was wearing, as he prayed.
He slept right on, through till morning
when he spoke to me saying, up you get sleepy head.
So, Hudaifah(حذيفة) here is telling this man that, Well, this was our situation.
So, you need to ask yourself again, whether you would have fought alongside Rasool Allah ﷺ heroically.
Now, you're saying that years later
only Allah would know, what would happen if you were there at that difficult moment,
whether you would have been with the Munafiqeen(منافقين) or with the Momineen(مؤمنين).
So, we should try to avoid making all these big claims
of what we can do and how we're going to give victory to Islam,
Just do it, Don't talk about it, Do it.
That's our problem today, everybody is proposing a solution,
everybody's saying that I'm going to do this and do that for the religion and nothing gets done.
Now, Ghatafaan(غطفان) and Quraish(قُرَيْشْ), they just left that's it.
Rasool Allah ﷺ wakes up next day in the morning and takes a look at the empty campground.
No one is left.
Quraish(قُرَيْشْ) and Ghatafaan(غطفان) have left, as if there was no Ahzaab(احزاب)
So Rasool Allah ﷺ said;
لا إله إلا الله وَحْدَه، صَدَقَ وَعْدَه، وَنَصَرَ عَبْدَه، وَهَزَمَ الْأَحْزَابَ وَحْدَهَ
لا إله إلا الله
There's no one worthy of worship except Allah
صَدَقَ وَعْدَه
His promise came true.
وَنَصَرَ عَبْدَه
And he gave victory to His servant,
وَهَزَمَ الْأَحْزَابَ وَحْدَهَ
And He defeated the coalition alone.
It was Allah, Who defeated the coalition and He did it alone.
Miracles, we've been talking about miracles in the Ghazawat(غزوات)
what are the miracles that happened in Ghazwat Al-Khandaq(غزوة الخندق).?
When the Muslims were digging the trench
Jabir Ibn Abdullah(جابربن عبدالله) saw the condition of Rasool Allah ﷺ
People were tying one stone to their stomachs and he had two stones tied to his stomach.
So, he goes back to his wife
and he tells her, I've seen Rasool Allah ﷺ in an intolerable condition.
Do you have any food for him?
She said, All I have is some barley and a small goat.
Jabir(جابر) goes and slaughters the goat.
And he tells his wife to prepare some dough for baking bread.
And while the meat was cooking, and she was baking the bread
he goes to Rasool Allah ﷺ and tells him; I have some food for you.
So, you can come along with one or two of your companions.
Rasool Allah ﷺ told him, and how much food should you have.?
He told him,
Rasool Allah ﷺ said, Oh, that's plenty.
Tell your wife not to move the soup.
The meat was cooked in soup,
not to move the meat or soup, from its place, until I come.
And then Rasool Allah ﷺ stands up and to the amazement of Jabir(جابر), Rasool Allah ﷺ said;
O Muhajiroon(مهاجرون), O Ansaar(انصار), Jabir(جابر) has prepared some food for you.
Jabir(جابر) has told Rasool Allah ﷺ, to come along with one or two
and Rasool Allah has invited the entire camp.
All of you are invited to Jabir(جابر)'s house.
Jabir(جابر) runs back home very embarrassed.
What in the world are we going to do?
And you know, when you invite people and there's not enough food that's very embarrassing.
He goes to his wife tells her
you know what Rasool Allah is coming along with all of Ahl-Al-Khandaq(اهل الخندق)
everyone is coming, He was worried.
So she said;
Did he ask you, how much food we have?
He said, Yes.
And he told him, he said, Yes
She said, Allah and His Messenger know best.
Jabir(جابر) said those words comforted me.
He knows best, you already told him, how much food we have.
Rasool Allah comes in, and he would pour the soup and the meat
and then he would crush bread over it.
So, he was doing the dishing.
And he told the Sahabah(صحابه) to come in and not crowd each other
come in, in groups,
because they were very hungry you could have a stampede.
Rasool Allah ﷺ told them slow down, come in, in groups.
They would come in groups of 10
Rasool Allah would prepare the food for them and bring it to them
They would eat and then they would leave, another 10 would come in
Rasool Allah ﷺ would prepare the meal for them, and so on and so forth.
In one narration it says that 800 people ate from that meal.
And when they were done, Rasool Allah ﷺ went back and the pot was full as it was,
and the bread was still baking in the oven.
So, Rasool Allah ﷺ told the wife of Jabir(جابر) to feed her neighbors.
This was a miracle of Rasool Allah ﷺ, increasing the food.
كَثِيْرُ الطَّعَامْ
Another miracle, when they were digging the trench,
a boulder stood in their way and they couldn't move it or break it,
in fact it was breaking their axes.
So they came to Rasool Allahﷺ and told him about it.
Rasool Ullah went there, grabbed an axe
and said, Bismillah(بسم الله) and struck it.
A lightening came out and Rasool Allah ﷺ said Allah Ho Akbar(الله اكبر).
He struck it again, light came out and he said Allah O Akbar(الله اكبر),
he struck it a third time and then it disintegrated into dust
and Rasool Ullah said, Allah Ho Akbar(الله اكبر)
So, Salman(سلمان) asked him, O Messenger of Allah Why were you saying Allah Ho Akbar(الله اكبر)?
And what was that light coming out like, lightning from this Boulder?
Rasool Allah ﷺ said, the first time I struck it.
I was given the glad tidings of opening, of conquering the Roman Empire,
and I could see the red palaces of Syria from right here.
The second time I said, Allah Ho Akbar(الله اكبر)
I was given the glad tidings of conquering the Persian Empire
and I was able to see it's white palace from right here.
And the third time I said, Allah Ho Akbar(الله اكبر) is that
I was given the glad tidings of conquering Yemen
and I was able to see the gates of San'a(صنعا) from right here.
Now, notice here that Rasool Allah ﷺ is giving them these glad tidings in the worst of times,
when the morale was low, when you look around you and what you see is defeat
when you are besieged.
But that's the whole point of giving a glad tidings.
That is, when glad tidings should be given.
It is when you were weak when you're almost going to give up.
So now if the Ummah(امة) is weak, divided, defeated
we should give the glad tidings that Rasool Allah ﷺ has given us
سَيَبْلُغُ هَذَا الدِّيْنَ ما بَلَغَ اللَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارْ،
This religion will reach as far as night and day can reach.
إنّ الله زَوَى لِيَ الْأَرْضْ فَرَأَيْتَ اَن مُلْكَ اُمَّتِيْ سَيَبْلُغُ مَا زُويَّ لِيْ مِنْهَا
Allah has shown me the entire earth
and he told me that the kingdom of my nation will reach all of it.
So, victory belongs to this Ummah(امة), and it's coming.
The third miracle Rasool Allah ﷺ saw Ammar Bin Yasir(عمار بن ياسر) working hard.
And he told him;
يَا عَمَّارْ،تَقْتُلُكَ الْفِئَتُ الْبَاغِيَّهْ
Ya Ammar(عَمَّار), you will be killed by the aggressing party.
That's up.
You will be killed by the aggressing party.
Ammar(عَمَّار) lives through the time of Rasool Allah ﷺ,
lives through the era of Abu Bakr(ابو بكر), Umar(عمر), Uthman(عثمان).
And then in the time of Ali(علي), he joins in the army of Ali(علي)
and was killed by the army of Muawiya(معاويه).
So, this Hadith(حديث) tells us that the party of Ali(علي) was right,
while the party of Muawiya(معاويه) was wrong.
And this was news of Al-Ghaib(الغيب) that Rasool Allah ﷺ was given by Allahعَزّوجَلّ.
And he was told that Ammar(عَمَّار) will be killed by the aggressive party.
Now both of them are Muslim parties.
But one of them was right and one of them was wrong.
Let's just talk briefly about lessons from the story of Hudaifah(حذيفة) which we just mentioned.
First of all, the discipline is very important for the Muslim
who is working in a Jama'ah(جماعة), to have discipline.
Rasool Allah ﷺ told him, Don't cause any trouble.
So, Hudaifah(حذيفة) even though, he had Abu Sufiyan(ابوسفيان) in his sights
and he could have shot him and killed him.
He stopped because of the order of Rasool Allah ﷺ, that is discipline.
Now number two, he didn't feel cold throughout this journey.
And that's a Karamah(كرامة).
Number three, his fast response.
As soon as Abu Sufiyan(ابوسفيان) said that everyone check out the man next to him.
Hudaifah(حذيفة) was the one, who took the initiative and did that.
And finally between theory and reality
you know, that Taba'ee(التابعي) was talking about theory,
while Hudaifah(حذيفة) was talking about reality
and there's a difference between the two.
So don't assume things, until they happen
and don't have too much confidence in yourself and in your Eeman(ايمان), until you are tested
because one cannot know the results, until after the exam is given.
Some lessons from Ghazwa Al-Khandaq(غزوة الخندق).
Number one, for the Jews to ally themselves with the Mushrikeen(مشركين) against the Muslims is contradictory.
You know, why would they ally themselves with the Mushrikeen(مشركين)?
When they are closer, in terms of similarity of religion to the Muslims,
but even though it is contradicting we shouldn't be surprised
and that is still repeating, until this day.
Contradicting theories, or political views will come together to fight the religion of truth.
Can't you see today that the West, the Democratic West, the West of the human rights,
the West that claims to be fighting for the sake of spreading democracy
is aligning itself with the most autocratic and oppressive regimes on the face of the earth.
For the sake of what?
For the sake of fighting Islam.
So, one shouldn't be surprised, it's number one.
Number two, make use of the available technology
a Muslim should make use of available technology.
Rasool Allah ﷺ approved the idea of Salman Al-Farisi(سلمان الفارسي)
bringing in a foreign idea an idea that belonged to the Kuffar(كفار) it belong to the Persians
but since it is not, in an issue of religion, it's a matter of strategy
Rasool Allah ﷺ adopted that idea, which was novel to Arab warfare.
Number three,
the example of leadership, given by Rasool Allah ﷺ.
He was digging the trench with them
not for the sake of bringing the TV cameras to show the leader as part of the people and make a big political propaganda out of it.
No, Rasool Allah ﷺ was doing it, Sincerely.
And to give us the example of how a leader should act.
He goes hungry like they did.
And when he finds food, he shares it with them.
He didn't just invite the one and two, that Jabir(جابر) said but he invited the whole camp, to go and feed with him.
Next lesson, He was raising the morale through Nasheed(نشيد).
They were chanting those words of poetry, to raise up the spirit.
So, the leader should have the highest spirit among the group,
because he is the person whom the followers, take refuge in when things get tough.
So, if they find that the leader is weak and the leader has already given up, they'll do the same.
The next lesson,
The reaction of Rasool Allah ﷺ to the news of Quraidha's(قريظه) treachery
we talked about when he sent out Sa'ad Bin Muadh(سعد بن معاذ), Sa'ad Bin Ubadah(سعد بن عبادة),
and Abdullah Bin Rawaha(عبدالله بن رواحة)
to go and check out if Quraidha's(قريظه) have broken their agreement with Rasool Allah ﷺ
and he told them, If you find that, to be the case then hinted to me without letting the people know,
don't weaken their morale.
Now, Rasool Allah ﷺ when the news was delivered to him
he said Abshiro'oo(ابشرو).
He said, receive the glad tidings.
So Rasool Ullah was optimistic,
even though at that moment and this would give confidence to the Sahabah رضي الله عنهم.
And finally, difficult times show what is in the hearts of men.
Ibn Is'haq(ابن اسحاق) said;
when conditions worsened, he was talking about Al-Khandaq(الخندق),
when conditions worsened, so did the attitude of many people and they began saying, ugly things.
So the attitude changed, under the stress.
And they started saying, ugly things
in terms of ugly things in Aqeedah(عقيدة), ugly things about Islam
ugly things that show weakness in the personality, weakness in the trust in Allahعَزّوجَلّ.
So, one needs to prepare themselves for difficult situations,
don't go by your conduct in terms of ease,
but you need to prepare yourselves for times of difficulty,
because that is when, the truth comes out.
We talked about the Munafiqeen(منافقين), and we recited the Ayat(آيات) relating to the Munafiqeen(منافقين).
What about the Mumineen(مؤمنين), what about the believers?
What did Allah say about them, regarding in the context of Al-Ahzaab(الاحزاب)?
Allahعَزّوجَلّ says, and these Ayaat(آيات) are in Surat Ul Ahzaab(سورة الاحزاب)
which is Surah(سورة) named after the coalition, Al-Ahzaab(الاحزاب) Allahعَزّوجَلّ said;
لَقَدْ كَانَ لَكُمْ فِي رَسُولِ اللَّهِ أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌلِمَنْ
لِمَنْ كَانَ يَرْجُو اللَّهَ وَالْيَوْمَ الْآخِرَ وَذَكَرَ اللَّهَ كَثِيرًا۝
وَلَمَّا رَأَى الْمُؤْمِنُونَ الْأَحْزَابَ قَالُوا هَٰذَا مَا وَعَدَنَا اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ
وَصَدَقَ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ ۚ
وَمَا زَادَهُمْ إِلَّا إِيمَانًا وَتَسْلِيمًاَ۝
مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ رِجَالٌ صَدَقُوا مَا عَاهَدُوا اللَّهَ عَلَيْهِ
فَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ قَضَىٰ نَحْبَهُ وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ يَنْتَظِرُ
وَمَا بَدَّلُوا تَبْدِيلاً۝
There has certainly been for you in the Messenger of Allah an excellent pattern, for anyone
whose hope is Allah and the last day and who remembers Allah often.
And when the believers saw the companies, they said;
This is what Allah and His Messenger had promised us
and Allah and His messengers spoke the truth.
And it increased them only in faith, and acceptance.
Among the believers are men, true to what they promised Allah,
among them is, he who has fulfilled his vows to death
and among them is, he, who awaits his chance.
And they did not alter the terms of their commitment by any alteration.
There are certainly being for you and the Messenger of Allah an excellent pattern for anyone whose hope is Allah
and the Last Day and remembers Allah often.
This Ayah(آية), What was the context of it?
See, this is Ayah(آية) is saying,
لَقَدْ كَانَ لَكُمْ فِي رَسُولِ اللَّهِ أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ
You have a good pattern of conduct in Rasool Allah ﷺ for you to emulate, for you to imitate in your life.
So, this is Ayah(آية) is asking us, to follow the Sunnah(سنة)
this is the Aayah(آية) in Qur'an that tells us to follow the Sunnah(سنة)
we have an example in Rasool Allah follow it.
Now was this Ayah(آية) revealed because one of the Muslims did not use the Maswaak(مسواك)?
Was this Ayah(آية) reveal because one of the Muslims did not have their soab(ثوب) above the ankle?
Was this Ayah(آية) revealed because one of the Muslims, did not grow a beard?
All of this is part of Sunnah(سنة).
But was this the reason why the Ayah(آية) was revealed?
The reason why the Ayah(آية) was revealed according to Ibn Jarir At-Tabri(ابن جريرالطبري) is,
Allah was reprimanding the believers, who stayed behind
and didn't go and joined the camp, that was right next to the trench.
So, Allah was telling them
you should follow the Sunnah(سنة) of Rasool Allah ﷺ and go and be with him.
And Ibn Abi Hatim(إبن ابي حاتم) narrates that As-Suddi(الثدي) said,
As-Suddi(الثدي) one of the Mufassireen(مفسرين) said that it means here.
مُعَاسَافِ الْقِتَالْ
You should be standing next to him in fighting, in Qitaal(قتال).
This was the context in which the Ayah(آية) was revealed.
So, nowadays it's unfortunate to hear people talk about Sunnah(سنة)
but they completely neglect the issue of Jihad(جهاد) Fee-Sabeel-Lillah(فِي سَبيل الله)
as being part of the Sunnah(سنة) of Rasool Allah ﷺ.
We should not overemphasize some parts of Sunnah(سنة) and neglect others.
Sunnah(سنة) should be taken as a whole package.
And then we prioritize among the Sunnah(سنة)
so we say all is important but some is more important than others.
And since the Ayah(آية) was revealed in this context, definitely, this will be the most important Sunnah(سنة) of all.
The next Ayah(آية);
And when the believers saw the companies they said,
This is what Allah and His messenger had promised us.
See the Munafiqeen(منافقين), when they saw the coalition.
They said;
Allah has lied to us, Rasool Ullah has lied to us
he's telling us that we're going to conquer the Persian Empire and the Roman Empire,
we can't even feel safe going to the toilet.
So, they were having doubts in the promise of Allah.
What was the reaction of the believers?
They said; This is exactly what Allah and His Messenger promised us,
what does this mean?
Allah says in Surat Ul Bakarah(سورة البقره)
أَمْ حَسِبْتُمْ أَنْ تَدْخُلُوا الْجَنَّةَ وَلَمَّا يَأْتِكُمْ مَثَلُ الَّذِينَ خَلَوْا مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ
مَسَّتْهُمُ الْبَأْسَاءُ وَالضَّرَّاءُ وَزُلْزِلُوا
وَزُلْزِلُوا حَتَّىٰ يَقُولَ الرَّسُولُ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مَعَهُ مَتَىٰ نَصْرُ اللَّهِ
أَلَا إِنَّ نَصْرَ اللَّهِ قَرِيبٌ۝
Do you think that you will enter into paradise
without going through what the nations before you went through?
They were tested by fear and hunger, by difficulty
until they and the messenger said;
When will we receive the victory of Allah?
So it test them to the limit, until they start asking O Allah
when are you going to give us victory.
So they said, This is what Allah promised us.
Allah spoke about this in Surat Ul Bakarah(سورة البقره) and here it's happening
it's happening just as we were promised.
So it's only added to their Eeman(ايمان)
because they saw the promise of Allah being fulfilled in front of their eyes.
So you can see how the same event brought forth different reaction from the believers
and a different reaction from the Munafiqoon(منافقون)
and it increased them only in faith and acceptance.
So, this was the reaction of Al-Muminoon(المؤمنون).
In sha Allah ho Ta'ala(اِنْشَاءالله تعالى), tomorrow we'll talk about Ghazwat Bannu Quraidha(غزوة بنوقريظه)
and that should be our final talk in this series of lectures on the Seerah(سيرة) of Rasool Allah ﷺ.
أَقُوْلُ قَوْلِي هَذَا وَأسْتَغْفِرُ اللهِ الْعَظِيْمْ وَلِيْ وَلَكُمْ فَاسْتَغْفِرُوْہ اِنَّه’غَفُوْرُ الرَّحِيْمْ
وصَلَّى الله عَلى سَيَّدِنَا محمد وَعَلى اَلِهِ وَ صَحْبِهِ وَسَلِّمْ تَسْلِيْمًا كَثِيْرًا
والسلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاتهَ