June 12th: Prophet Muhammad pbuh-Part1

Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him

His noble lineage (the history prior to his coming into this life):
- Why is knowing this important?
B/c he (pbuh) mentions that he’s from a noble lineage. He’s from the best tribe, from the best house, and he’s is the best from his household.
Realizing the characteristics of these human beings that Allah chose for the Prophet to come from within them. What was special about Quraish?

- He was the result of the dua of Prophet Ibrahim

- The tribe of jurhum came to zamzam and populated the area of makkah. Jurhum worshiped Allah.

- After a while some of those people started to move away from the Kaabah… they would take something from them to remember the kaabah. This caused idol worship to be introduced to them. Slowly, idol worship surrounded the Kaabah…they still believed in Allah but they had idols that they claimed to represent Allah (the idol of rain, idol of the sun, etc).

- The more they worshipped idols, the ore sins they started to commit. Jurhum lost the barakah of Allah and they were defeated by the tribe of Khuza3ah. Khuza3a took over makkah and they brought in their own vice.

- Before Jurhum left Makkah, they buried the well of zamzam along with their treasure.

- Khuza3ah were content with the other wells available and they never tried to find zamzam.

- Zamzam became the hidden treasure.

- Khuza3ah allowed idol worship to surround the kaabah.

- Years later a man named Qusay from Quraish married the daughter of the chief of Khuza3ah. Quraish was not located in Makkah yet, they were a nomadic tribe in the dessert.

- The chief of Khuza3ah was so impressed by Qusay that he eventually made him the chief of Makkah and the kaabah. (note he was from another tribe and he was still given this honor).

- Qusay had a son named Abdu Manaf and a son named Abdu-Dar. Abdu manaf was loved by the Arabs, he had a great character, he was very noble, wise and generous. However, Qusay preffered his youngest son Abdu-Dar and gave him power after he passed away. Abdu manaf respected his father’s wishes and did not go against them.

- Note: The opinion of the elders had a lot of weight for them and they respected it. Keep this in mind.

- Abdu Manaf had a son named Hashem (he had many sons but Hashem was the imminent star). Hashem was popular and the people wanted him to become their leader. This caused problems with the clan of Abdu-Dar… the two groups split up and they were about to fight each other. The clan of Hashem dipped their hands in 3itr and wiped their hands on the kaabah before the fight. They made an allegiance to themselves saying that they would support Hashem and establish his leadership. They became called the scented ones.

- The elders stopped the fight and wanted to compromise. The clan of Hashem had the right of levying the tax, and the right of feeding and watering the pilgrims (two great honors-the pride of the Arabs was that they hosted the visitors of the kaabah). Hashem established new routes of trade to Yemen and Syria. He became very wealthy.

- During Hashem’s trade trips to Syria he would stop to rest at Yathrib where he married Salma, who was one of the most influential women in Yathrib. Her condition was that she had to remain in Yathrib, he didn’t mind. They had a son named Shaybah. Hashem died at a young age. His brother al-Muttalib took over his brother’s responsibilities in Makkah.

- When Al-Muttalib became old he gave the responsibility to Shaybah b/c he found him the most like his father. Shaybah goes back to Al-Muttalib to Makkah after Salma agreed.

- They go back to Makkah together, Shaybah sits on the back of the horse behind Al-Muttalib. They were sitting on the horse the way a master and his servant would sit on it. As they entered Makkah people assumed that Shaybah was the servant of Al-Muttalib because they had never seen him before, so they called him Abdul-Muttalib (servant of al-Muttalib).

- Abdul-Muttalib took the responsibility of levying the tax, feeding and watering the pilgrims. He becomes very well known between the Arabs as well.

- Abdul-Muttalib was very attached to the Kaabah. His habit was to sit on a chair and just look at the Kaabah, sometimes he used to fall asleep there.

- One night while sleeping infront of the kaabah, he has a similar dream 4 nights in a row and he is told to dig up the well of zamzam, and the dream leads him to the place.

- He takes his only son at the time (Harith) and they start to dig up the well of zamzam. People crowd around them and they say “how could you dig near our idols and disturb them, etc…”

- Abdul-Muttalib continues to dig even though the people were trying to stop him, all of a sudden the water starts to gush out and the people see the treasure… now they start to dig and they want to take the treasure.

- They draw lots to decide who keeps the treasure and they finally divide it between Abdul-Muttalib and the Kaabah.

- Next issue: who should control Zamzam? They agreed that Abdul-Muttalib should take that responsibility.

- After the incident of the well, Abdul-Muttalib felt lacking because he only had one son. AbdulMuttalib went to the kaabah and made dua. That Allah bless him with 10 sons. He says “Oh Allah if you give me 10 sons and those ten sons grow up to be mature individuals I will sacrifice one of them for your sake” (no one in the lineage of the Prophet worshipped idols).

- He did have 10 sons and they started to grow up he kept remembering his vow in the back of his mind. When his youngest son reached 6 years old, he gathered his sons and told them about the vow. As part of their good character the respected the vow. He takes all 10 sons at the kaabah… he took out his sword, they drew lots and the choice comes to Abdullah, his youngest and dearest.

- Abdul-Muttalib turns pale, b/c Abdullah is his favorite and he’s very young. As he walks towards his son with his sword, his mother and her clan stands up to defend him. The clan tells him to take all their wealth and give it for the sake of Allah but not to sacrifice his son. He refuses, now they convince him to see if he can exchange this sacrifice for something else.

- Abdul-Muttalib goes to Yathrib and he goes to ask this older lady who was known to be wise. He tells her the story and she tells him to come back tomorrow. He comes back and she tells him, put ten camels on one side and Abdullah on the other and draw lots between them. If Abdullah’s name comes out then ad 10 more camels, if the camels are chosen then sacrifice them. This is done several times until 100 camels are chosen (equal to 100 BMWs in our time). He wants to make sure that this is what Allah wants so he repeats it 3 times and the camels are chosen in all 3 times. (note how much commitment the Arabs had. That’s why after they became Muslims they truly committed to the deen and went into it all the way)

- Abdullah lives.