Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)- Part 3
The year of the elephant:
- Meanwhile, in Yemen. Abrahah (the governor) had a goal to build a church to rival the Kaabah. He said to his king, I’m going to build you a beautiful church that will actually divert the people while their on their way to the Kaabah.
- So he constructed this church.
- One of the Arabs vandalized the church, when abrahah found out about it he decided to go and destroy the kaabah.
- He collects a massive army and the began heading towards the Kaabah to level it. The army was led by an elephant.
- When they reached the kaabah, Abrahah asked them to speak to their chief. They had no chief though at that time so they chose to send Abdul-Muttalib.
- Abrahah is impressed by the way Abdul-Muttalib looks so he actually stand up for him. He explains to him that he’s not there to fight and that he only needs to level the Kaabah and leave.
- Abdul Muttalib says, on your way here there was a pasture and in that pasture there were two hundred camels which you took, can Ihave them back?
- Abrahah is shocked at this response and says that he lost all the respect he had for him.
- Abdul Muttalib said, I’m the owner of the 200 camels and so I’m worried about them. Allah is owner of the Kaabah and He will take care of it.
- Abrahah gives him bag the camels and says we’ll see what your Lord will do.
- Abdul Muttalib orders everyone to exit the city and so they head to the mountains. Abdul Muttalib makes dua at the Kaabah before he leaves “oh Allah protect your house”
- The next morning Abrahah wakes up and he decides to go ahead with the plan. The elephant however won’t move except when they turn him towards Yemen.
- They’re wondering what’s going and instead of turning back while they had the chance they kept forcing the elephant to turn back towards the kaabah. Allah of a sudden the sky turns pitch black and all these birds cover the entire sky and each bird had three pebbles… one in each claw and one in the beak. They start to drop the pebbles and the army starts to die… some died there, some died on the way to Yemen and some died in Yemen. Abrahah also died.
- The Arabs realized that there was a special characteristic about Quraish.
- It was referred to as the year of the elephant.
- Abdullah was not in Makkah during this time, he was in a caravan heading to Syria. Abdullah became sick in Yathrib on his way back and he passed away.
- Aamenah received news that her husband passed away and she was devastated. She was a pregnant newlywed.
- She had a special pregnancy though. She saw a light emanating from her womb. She had a very easy pregnancy.
- The Prophet was born in Makkah. Abdul Muttalib took the baby to the kaabah and made dua for him
- The custom among Quraish was to send the baby to the desert to be nursed, weaned , and then raised.
- This is because the desert is a very natural environment, and to teach their kids the purest Arabic language. Arabic was their pride… the ability to speak it in the most eloquent way. Someone who is eloquent is considered noble.
- Desert tribes would come to Makkah to seek babies they could take care of
- This was not done for money but for connection, the baby would become a link between them and a tribe in Makkah.
- One of the tribes that had the highest reputation for the ability to raise children was called bani saad.
- Aamenah wanted her son to be taken by the tribe of bani saad. However, all the women kept refusing taking her baby because her father died young… which means he had little to give as far as power…
- The poorest amongst the wet nurses was called Haleemah. She was so poor that as she traveled to makkah her own baby was crying all night because of hunger. She wasn’t even producing milk.
- She and her husband came on a donkey and the donkey was starving as well, it was thin and very slow. All the wet nurses got there before her and all the babies were taken.
- Aamenah then approaches Haleema to take her baby. Haleema refuses because the baby is an orphan, etc.
- After she says no, she realizes that there aren’t any other babies left. She tells her husband that they should take the baby because it’s better to go back with something than to go back empty handed.
- That simple decision changed Haleema’s life.
- As soon as Haleema takes the Prophet (pbuh) she becomes filled with milk. The Prophet would eat and sleep and she would be able to feed her own child as well.
- The milkless camel and donkey they had also had milk now…both her and her husband drank milk and went to sleep as well.
- Now they got on the donkey and donkey is twice the speed of a normal donkey, they were now faster than the whole tribe.
- When they got home it was barakah upon barakah for them.
- Her animals were always filled with milk…
- The story about the man, the dream and the 1000 dirhams (barakah)
- Anytime you carry on anything associated with the Prophet (his sunnah), there’s barakah.
- The Prophet grew up and he was a healthy baby, at 2 he was weaned and that’s when they usually return the baby to the mother. Haleemah asked Aamenah to keep the baby a little longer and she agreed.
- One day he was playing behind the tent with his foster brother. Haleemah’s son comes running to her and tells her that two men came to the Prophet, they took him and opened his chest. She got worried, ran to see what happened. She saw that he was ok… but there was an obvious mark on his chest.
- She asked the Prophet about what happened and he said the two men opened his chest and they seemed to be looking for something but he didn’t know what it was.
- Later on the Prophet tells us that those angels took out his heart, washed it, and removed a tiny black clot from it.
- After this Haleema got worried and wanted to return him to his mother. They go back and tell the mother, expecting her to panic. Aamenah reassures them, she says… don’t worry, this is a really special baby. She told them how a light that came out of her womb while she was pregnant allowed her to see very far distances. However, she still chose to keep him with her.
- At 6 yrs old he was taken to Yathrib to visit his relatives. There he learned how to swim and he learned how to fly a kite.
- On the way back, his mother died.
- Abdul-Muttalib was now taking care of the Prophet (pbuh).
- He had a very special place in the heart of his grandfather. He would take him with him to important meetings he would have with Quraish and he would ask for his opinion and take it into consideration.
- 2 years later his grandfather passes away.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
June 19th: Short halaqah and a special surprise! :)
Prophet Muhammad (salla Allahu alayhi wasallam)- Part2
Abdullah's Marriage:
- When Abdullah turned 25, Abdul-Muttalib started to arrange for his marriage
- Abdullah was very very handsome, people could see a certain nur on his face that they couldn’t place
- Abdul-Muttalib selected an honorable woman named Aamenah.
- Abdul-Muttalib and Abdullah were walking hand in hand on the day of the marriage towards the marriage ceremony.
- On their way they passed by Abdullah’s cousin Kutailah (the sister of Waraqah, he was one of the main representatives of the Hunafa.. the people who worshiped only one God).
- The hunafa believed that a Prophet would come to revive their religion.
- Kutaliah was very knowledgeable about this and she was always on the lookout for this coming Prophet.
- When they pass by Kutailah, she looks at Abdullah and sees this light on his face. She stops her cousin, she calls his name. Abdul_muttalib tells him to go and talk to her.
- Abdullah turns around and she says “Marry me and I will give you 100 camels that were offered to save you”
- Abdullah says “I cannot disobey my father, he already arranged for my marriage”. Again, this was one of the Arab’s key characteristics. Obedience and respect to their elders.
- He turned away and walked with his father towards the marriage.
- So Abdullah goes on and marries Aamenah. One day he sees his cousin Kutailah again and this time she acts differently towards him, so he wonders why and asks her.
- She says “On that day you had a nur that you no longer have”. That nur had been transferred to the womb of Aamenah.
Abdullah's Marriage:
- When Abdullah turned 25, Abdul-Muttalib started to arrange for his marriage
- Abdullah was very very handsome, people could see a certain nur on his face that they couldn’t place
- Abdul-Muttalib selected an honorable woman named Aamenah.
- Abdul-Muttalib and Abdullah were walking hand in hand on the day of the marriage towards the marriage ceremony.
- On their way they passed by Abdullah’s cousin Kutailah (the sister of Waraqah, he was one of the main representatives of the Hunafa.. the people who worshiped only one God).
- The hunafa believed that a Prophet would come to revive their religion.
- Kutaliah was very knowledgeable about this and she was always on the lookout for this coming Prophet.
- When they pass by Kutailah, she looks at Abdullah and sees this light on his face. She stops her cousin, she calls his name. Abdul_muttalib tells him to go and talk to her.
- Abdullah turns around and she says “Marry me and I will give you 100 camels that were offered to save you”
- Abdullah says “I cannot disobey my father, he already arranged for my marriage”. Again, this was one of the Arab’s key characteristics. Obedience and respect to their elders.
- He turned away and walked with his father towards the marriage.
- So Abdullah goes on and marries Aamenah. One day he sees his cousin Kutailah again and this time she acts differently towards him, so he wonders why and asks her.
- She says “On that day you had a nur that you no longer have”. That nur had been transferred to the womb of Aamenah.
Monday, June 16, 2008
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.
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.
June 5th: Prophet Jesus
Prophet Jesus
(please excuse any typos)
- Aya: “Indeed Allah chose Adam and Noah, the family Ibrahim, and the family of Imran above the worlds.”
- The family of Imran is from the descendants of Prophet Ibrahim, and Prophet Ibrahim is a descendant of Prophet Noah, and Prophet Noah is a descendant of Prophet Adam.
- Aya: “When the wife of Imran said: ‘My Lord! I have dedicated to You what is in my womb as a gift, so please accept this from me, indeed, You are the All-Hearing, All-Knowing’“
- Imran is the father of Mary.
- The family of Imran is from prophet David’s progeny.
- Imran and Hannah (the mother of Mary) were pious and righteous people.
- Zakariya was the prophet of that time and he was also married to Mary’s sister.
- Mary’s mother could not have children. One day she watched a bird feeing its young ones, so she desired a baby, and made a vow that if she had a son, she will dedicate him in the service of Allah and he would live in al-Masjid al-Aqsa.
- It was a custom at that time for men and boys to serve in the masjid. It was an honor for them.
- When she delivered it was a girl, she remembered her vow to Allah and said in disappointment:
- Aya: “My Lord! I have delivered a female, and Allah knows best what she delivered, and the male is not like the female, and I have named her Mary, and commend her and her offspring to your protection from Satan the outcast’” (3:33-36)
- Hadith: “No baby is born except that it is touched/stabbed by Satan at the time of its birth, and it comes out screaming from the touch of Satan, except Mary and her son Jesus”
- This is because her mother made dua that Allah would protect Mary and her progeny from Satan.
- Aya: “So her Lord accepted her with gracious acceptance, and made her grow in purity and beauty, and entrusted her to the care of Zakariya”
- When Hannah to her daughter to the masjid, she needed to entrust her in someone’s care.
- The men who served the masjid disputed over who would have this great honor. They agreed to cast lots among each other and Zakariya was chosen 3 times. (they were allowed to cast lots, we don’t need to do that as Muslims because Allah has replaced it with salat al-istikharah)
- Aya: “This is form the tidings of the Unseen which We reveal to you, and you were not with them when they case their lots with their pens, to decide which of them should be the guardian of May, and you were not with them when they disputed (with one another)” (3:44)
- They collected their pens and put them in a particular place, then they sent a child to go and bring one of them and the pen the boy brought was that of Zakariya.
- Aya: “Whenever Zakariya entered the chamber, he found her provided with sustenance. He said: ‘O Mary! Where did you get this from?’ She replied: ‘It is from Allah, surely, Allah bestows sustenance upon whom He pleases without measure’” (3:37)
- Zakariya built a separate room for Mary inside the masjid, which was forbidden for anyone else except her.
- She worshipped Allah day and night in her solitude, and looked after the masjid whenever it was her turn to look after it.
- Her piety became so known that people used her an example.
- Whenever Prophet Zakariya entered her chamber to see after her needs, he found special fresh fruits that were out of season.
- That is when Prophet Zakariya made dua to Allah to be blessed with a righteous child and Allah answered his dua immediately.
Allah chooses Mary out of all women:
- Aya: “When the angels said: ‘O Mary! Allah has chosen you and purified you, chosen you above the women of the worlds, O Mary! Pray to your Lord devoutly, and prostrate yourself, and bow down with those who bow down’” (:42-43)
- Allah tells us in the Quran that the angels came to Mary and gave her the glad tidings of being chosen by Allah from among all women of her time. It was about her being chosen for a very special purpose.
- Hadith: “The best women of the world are four: Mary the daughter of Imran, Asiyah the wife of Pharaoh, Khadjiah the daughter of Khuwaylid, and Fatimah the daughter of Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah” (ahmad, tirmithi)
- Aya: “When the angels said: ‘O Mary! Allah gives you glad tidings of a Word from Him, his name is the Messiah Jesus, the son of Mary, held in honor in this world and in the Hereafter, and of those nearest to Allah. He shall speak to the people when in the cradle and in manhood, and he shall be from the righteous.’”
- The angel informed her about the miraculous birth she will be giving, a baby born without a father.
- A baby who will speak in his infancy, calling people to the way of Allah.
- She was then asked to intensify her devotion and worship, as to pay her gratitude to Allah for this great miracle.
- Mary would go out from the masjid to get water or food. One day she went out for some of her needs, as she went further Garbiel appeared in front of her in the guise of a man.
- She was frightened to see him and said: “I seek refuge in the Most Gracious from you, if you fear Him”
- Gabriel comforted her not get frightened of him, as he was not an ordinary man, but he was Gabriel, the messenger of her Lord, and sent by Him. He told her that was to conceive a boy.
- Aya: “She said: ‘My Lord! How can I have a son when no man has touched me?’ He said (the angel): ‘Even so, Allah created what He pleases. When He decrees a matter, He says to it: Be.– and it is. And He will teach him the Book and the wisdom, and the Torah and the Gospel’” (3:47-48)
- She was thinking logically as a human being, how could I conceive without being with a man?
- However, the angel reminded her that Allah can do whatever He wills.
- Allah created Adam without a father or mother.
- Allah created eve from the rib of Adam, from a man without a mother.
- And now Allah was creating Jesus from a woman without a father.
- Aya: “And we shall make a him a sign to people, and a mercy from Us, and it is a matter which has been decreed” (12:21)
- Aya: “And Mary the daughter of Imran, who guarded her chastity, so We breathed into her through Our Spirit (The angel Gabriel)” (66:12)
The birth of Jesus the son of Mary:
- This was a great test for Mary because her piety and righteousness was known to every one, and she was aware of the fact that people would raise the finger of blame and slander her.
- Joseph the carpenter (Mary’s cousin) was astonished to find out that Mary is pregnant even though he knew her well and knew that she was pious. One day he said to her: “O Mary! Will a plant grow without a seed?” She replied: “Yes, who has created the first plant?”. Then he said: “Will a child be born without a man?”. She said: “Yes, Allah has created Adam with no man and woman”. He said: “Then tell me about yourself”. She said: “Allah has given me glad tidings of a Word from him, his name is Messiah Jesus the son of Mary, held in honor in the world and in the Hereafter, and of those nearest to Allah. He shall speak to people when in the cradle and in manhood, and shall be from the righteous”
- Mary went to see her sister one day, and her sister said to her: “I feel that I am pregnant”. Mary said: “And I feel as well that I am pregnant”. So both hugged each other. Then her sister said: “I feel that what is in my womb bows down to what is in yours” (referring to Yahya and Jesus).
- Yahya and Jesus were cousins and they were conceived at the same time.
- May was pregnant for 9 months.
- The news of her pregnancy spread far and wife, and some people slandered her of being pregnant from Joseph the carpenter
- Mary went to a far place and isolated herself from people.
- She cried of her pain and mental stress, she said: “Would that I had died before this, and become a thing forgotten!” (19:23)
- People didn’t believe her story, she was stressed and wished for her death.
- Aya: “But a voice cried to her from beneath” (19:24)
- Who’s voice was this? Some say it was Jesus and some say it was Gabriel.
- Aya: “But a voice cried to her from beneath: ‘Grieve not, your Lord has provided you a spring beneath you. And shake towards you the trunk of the palm-tree, and it will drop on you fresh ripe dates. So eat and drink, and be comforted, and if you see any human, say: “I have vowed a fast to the Most Gracious, and today I shell speak to no human”
- She was told to eat and drink and be comforted, and if someone spoke to her she should indicate that she was fasting. (in their shariah, fasting consisted of refraining from food and drink as well as speech)
- She came back to her people with jesus in her arms. “O Mary! Truly, a strange thing you have brought!” (19:27)
- She pointed to the baby to speak and respond to people.
- They said: “What! Are you telling us to speak to this suckling baby to tell us the truth about you? Do you think of us as mad people?” (19:29)
- When they were still arguing with her about the child, and thinking of it as a joke, the baby spoke to them miraculously.
- Aya: “I am indeed a slave of Allah; He has given me the Book and made me a Prophet, and He has made me blessed wherever I may be, and He has enjoined upon me prayers, and to pay the alms, as long as I live, and (He has made me) kind to my mother, and He has not made me insolent unblessed. And peace be upon me, the day I was born, and the day I die, and on the day I shall be raised to life’” (19:30-33)
- This was the first speech Jesus ever spoke. The first thing he said was that he is a “slave of Allah”.
- This is the only true story of the birth of Jesus, we refute the claims done by Christians and Jews.
- Aya: “Such is Jesus son of Mary, this is a statement of Truth about which they dispute. It is not befitting to (the majesty of) Allah that He should beget a son, Glory be to Him! When He decrees a matter, He only says to it: Be! And it is” (19:34-35)
- After this the jewish community was divided into 3 groups:
1) Jews who said Jesus was a child born out of wedlock
2) Jews who said that Jesus was the son of Allah
3) Jews who believed in the true message
- The Prophet described him to be of moderate height, and to be red faced.
Does God need a son?
- Aya: “O people of earlier Scripture! Do not go to extremes in your religion, nor say of Allah anything but the truth, most surely, Jesus the son of Mary was no more than a Messenger of Allah, and His word which He bestowed on mary, and a spirit created by Him. So believe in Allah and His Messengers, and do not say: ‘trinity’, desist, it is better for you, most surely Allah is One God, glory be to Him! High Exalted is he above having a son. What is in the heavens and on the earth belongs to Allah, and Allah suffices as a Trustee” (4:171)
- Aya: “Indeed they have disbelieved who say: ‘Allah is the Christ, the son of Mary’. Say: ‘Who has the power to prevent Allah if He chose to destroy Christ, the son of Mary, and his mother, and all the dwellers of the earth? And to Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens, the earth, and what is between them. Allah created what He pleases, and Allah has power over all things’” (5:17)
- Aya: “Most certainly they have disbelieved who say: ‘Allah is the Christ, the son of Mary’, but the Christ said: ‘O children of Israel! Worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord, whoever ascribes partners with Allah, Allah will forbid him the Garden, and the Fire will be his abode, and wrongdoers will have no protectors.’ Most certainly they have disbelieved who say: ‘Allah is one of Three’/ for there is no God but one God, and if they do not desist from what they say, surely, a painful chastisement shall befall the disbelievers among them” (5:17)
- Aya: “Will they not repent to Allah and seek His forgiveness? And Allah is All-forgiving, all-Merciful. Most surely Christ, the son of mary was no more than a messenger, many were the messengers that have passed away before him, his mother was a woman of truth, they both are food. See how we make Our signs clear to them, and yet see how they are deluded away from the truth” (5:74-75)
- Aya: “And when Allah will say: ‘O Jesus! Son of Mary, did you say to the people: take me and me mother as gods besides Allah?’ He will reply: ‘Glory be to You! It is not fitting for me to say that which I have no right to say. Had I said it You most surely would have known it, for You know what is in my inner self, and I do not know what is in Yours. Indeed, You are the all-knowing of the unseen. I did not say to them anything except what You commanded me to say, that: ‘Worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord’. And I was a witness over them while I lived among them. But when You took me up, You were the Watcher over them, and You are the Witness over all things. If You chastise them, they are Your slaves, and if You forgive them, indeed, You are the all-might, all-Wise” (5: 116-118)
- This conversation will take place on the Day of Judgment.
- Hadith: “No one is more tolerant with an insult which he hears, then Allah. They ascribe to Him a son, while He provides them with their provision and healing” (bukhari and muslim)
Miracles of Jesus:
- Some of his miracles:
1) He was begotten without a father
2) His spirit was breathed into the womb directly by Gabriel
3) He spoke to people in his infancy
4) He was given revelation and wisdom
The Gospel was given to Jesus when he was 30 years old, and he lived till he was taken up to the heaven at age 33.
5) He would create out of clay a figure of a bird, then breathe into it and it would become a real bird.
6) He would cure the ill. Curing the blind and people who had leprosy.
7) He would bring the dead back to life.
8)He walked on water.
- The miracle of every Prophet was in conformity with what their people of that time excelled in. In the time of Jesus, people excelled in medicine.
- Most people did not follow him, they rebelled against him and rejected him.
- A small group responded to his call and became his followers.
- Some of the Israelites viciously opposed him and plotted to kill him.
Prophecies of Jesus about our Prophet:
- Jesus was the last of Israelite Prophets. He told them of the coming of the last of all Prophets, after whom the Prophethood would be sealed.
- Aya: “And when Jesus, son of Mary said: ‘O children of Israel! Surely, I am the Messenger of Allah to you, verifying that which was revealed before me in the Torah, and giving glad tidings of a Messenger who shall come after me, whose name shall be Ahmad’. (61:6)
The Story of the Ma’idah:
- Prophet Jesus commanded his disciples to fast for 30 days. When they finished their fasting they asked Jesus to bring a table spread with food from heaven, so they may eat of it, and know that Allah has accepted their fasting.
- Jesus admonished them for their demand and feared that they might not show their gratitude or fulfill its conditions. But they persisted in their demand
- Jesus prayed to Allah to send a table spread with food for them from heaven.
- So Allah sent it down, and people watched descend from the sky.
- Jesus watched it coming and kept praying to Allah that He may make it a mercy and blessing of Him, and nor a punishment for them.
- It slowly came down, and was covered till it landed in front of Jesus.
- He uncovered the table, saying: “In the name of Allah, who is the best of providers”
- The table had fish, bread, and fruits.
- Jesus asked them to eat, but they refused to eat until he ate. So he fed the poor first.
- The table would come down everyday and everyone would eat from it. It was eventually restricted only to the poor. When the people complained and spoke against Jesus, Allah transformed them into pigs.
- Aya: “Allah said: ‘I will send it down to you, but if any of you disbelieves thereafter, I will chastise him with a chastisement with which I have chastised no one among all the people”
Elevation:
- Aya: “And when they (the disbelievers) plotted (to kill Jesus), Allah planned too. And Allah is the Best of those who plot. And when Allah said: ‘O Jesus I will take you and lift you up to Me, and purify you of those who disbelieve, and I will make those who followed you above those who disbelieved.”
- Aya: “And for their saying (in boast): ‘We killed the Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah’: but they killed him not nor crucified him. Only a likeness of that was shown to them.”
- The jews plotted to kill Jesus
- Jesus came to his companions, they were 12 people from among his disciples.
- He said to them: “There are those among you who will disbelieve in me after he has believed in me”
- Then he said: “Who from among you will take my likeness and be killed in my place, so will reach a high rank?”
- A youth came forward, but Jesus said to him “sit down”. He repeated the same question and the same youth stood up and came forward, and said: “I”. Jesus said: “you are the one”.
- And then he was made to look like Jesus. And Jesus was elevated up to the heaven.
- The jews came looking for him. They took the youth and killed him and then crucified him.
- After this many of believers disbelieved and many of them claimed that it was Allah who was amongst them and that he left the earth.
- Mary lived for 5 years after Jesus was elevated. She died at the age of 53.
- Prophet Jesus will return to earth before the day of judgment. He will kill the swine and break the cross.
- Aya: “And there is none of the people of the Book, but will believe in him before his death, and on the day of judgment, he will be a witness against them”
- Between Prophet Jesus and Prophet Muhammad is 600 years.
(please excuse any typos)
- Aya: “Indeed Allah chose Adam and Noah, the family Ibrahim, and the family of Imran above the worlds.”
- The family of Imran is from the descendants of Prophet Ibrahim, and Prophet Ibrahim is a descendant of Prophet Noah, and Prophet Noah is a descendant of Prophet Adam.
- Aya: “When the wife of Imran said: ‘My Lord! I have dedicated to You what is in my womb as a gift, so please accept this from me, indeed, You are the All-Hearing, All-Knowing’“
- Imran is the father of Mary.
- The family of Imran is from prophet David’s progeny.
- Imran and Hannah (the mother of Mary) were pious and righteous people.
- Zakariya was the prophet of that time and he was also married to Mary’s sister.
- Mary’s mother could not have children. One day she watched a bird feeing its young ones, so she desired a baby, and made a vow that if she had a son, she will dedicate him in the service of Allah and he would live in al-Masjid al-Aqsa.
- It was a custom at that time for men and boys to serve in the masjid. It was an honor for them.
- When she delivered it was a girl, she remembered her vow to Allah and said in disappointment:
- Aya: “My Lord! I have delivered a female, and Allah knows best what she delivered, and the male is not like the female, and I have named her Mary, and commend her and her offspring to your protection from Satan the outcast’” (3:33-36)
- Hadith: “No baby is born except that it is touched/stabbed by Satan at the time of its birth, and it comes out screaming from the touch of Satan, except Mary and her son Jesus”
- This is because her mother made dua that Allah would protect Mary and her progeny from Satan.
- Aya: “So her Lord accepted her with gracious acceptance, and made her grow in purity and beauty, and entrusted her to the care of Zakariya”
- When Hannah to her daughter to the masjid, she needed to entrust her in someone’s care.
- The men who served the masjid disputed over who would have this great honor. They agreed to cast lots among each other and Zakariya was chosen 3 times. (they were allowed to cast lots, we don’t need to do that as Muslims because Allah has replaced it with salat al-istikharah)
- Aya: “This is form the tidings of the Unseen which We reveal to you, and you were not with them when they case their lots with their pens, to decide which of them should be the guardian of May, and you were not with them when they disputed (with one another)” (3:44)
- They collected their pens and put them in a particular place, then they sent a child to go and bring one of them and the pen the boy brought was that of Zakariya.
- Aya: “Whenever Zakariya entered the chamber, he found her provided with sustenance. He said: ‘O Mary! Where did you get this from?’ She replied: ‘It is from Allah, surely, Allah bestows sustenance upon whom He pleases without measure’” (3:37)
- Zakariya built a separate room for Mary inside the masjid, which was forbidden for anyone else except her.
- She worshipped Allah day and night in her solitude, and looked after the masjid whenever it was her turn to look after it.
- Her piety became so known that people used her an example.
- Whenever Prophet Zakariya entered her chamber to see after her needs, he found special fresh fruits that were out of season.
- That is when Prophet Zakariya made dua to Allah to be blessed with a righteous child and Allah answered his dua immediately.
Allah chooses Mary out of all women:
- Aya: “When the angels said: ‘O Mary! Allah has chosen you and purified you, chosen you above the women of the worlds, O Mary! Pray to your Lord devoutly, and prostrate yourself, and bow down with those who bow down’” (:42-43)
- Allah tells us in the Quran that the angels came to Mary and gave her the glad tidings of being chosen by Allah from among all women of her time. It was about her being chosen for a very special purpose.
- Hadith: “The best women of the world are four: Mary the daughter of Imran, Asiyah the wife of Pharaoh, Khadjiah the daughter of Khuwaylid, and Fatimah the daughter of Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah” (ahmad, tirmithi)
- Aya: “When the angels said: ‘O Mary! Allah gives you glad tidings of a Word from Him, his name is the Messiah Jesus, the son of Mary, held in honor in this world and in the Hereafter, and of those nearest to Allah. He shall speak to the people when in the cradle and in manhood, and he shall be from the righteous.’”
- The angel informed her about the miraculous birth she will be giving, a baby born without a father.
- A baby who will speak in his infancy, calling people to the way of Allah.
- She was then asked to intensify her devotion and worship, as to pay her gratitude to Allah for this great miracle.
- Mary would go out from the masjid to get water or food. One day she went out for some of her needs, as she went further Garbiel appeared in front of her in the guise of a man.
- She was frightened to see him and said: “I seek refuge in the Most Gracious from you, if you fear Him”
- Gabriel comforted her not get frightened of him, as he was not an ordinary man, but he was Gabriel, the messenger of her Lord, and sent by Him. He told her that was to conceive a boy.
- Aya: “She said: ‘My Lord! How can I have a son when no man has touched me?’ He said (the angel): ‘Even so, Allah created what He pleases. When He decrees a matter, He says to it: Be.– and it is. And He will teach him the Book and the wisdom, and the Torah and the Gospel’” (3:47-48)
- She was thinking logically as a human being, how could I conceive without being with a man?
- However, the angel reminded her that Allah can do whatever He wills.
- Allah created Adam without a father or mother.
- Allah created eve from the rib of Adam, from a man without a mother.
- And now Allah was creating Jesus from a woman without a father.
- Aya: “And we shall make a him a sign to people, and a mercy from Us, and it is a matter which has been decreed” (12:21)
- Aya: “And Mary the daughter of Imran, who guarded her chastity, so We breathed into her through Our Spirit (The angel Gabriel)” (66:12)
The birth of Jesus the son of Mary:
- This was a great test for Mary because her piety and righteousness was known to every one, and she was aware of the fact that people would raise the finger of blame and slander her.
- Joseph the carpenter (Mary’s cousin) was astonished to find out that Mary is pregnant even though he knew her well and knew that she was pious. One day he said to her: “O Mary! Will a plant grow without a seed?” She replied: “Yes, who has created the first plant?”. Then he said: “Will a child be born without a man?”. She said: “Yes, Allah has created Adam with no man and woman”. He said: “Then tell me about yourself”. She said: “Allah has given me glad tidings of a Word from him, his name is Messiah Jesus the son of Mary, held in honor in the world and in the Hereafter, and of those nearest to Allah. He shall speak to people when in the cradle and in manhood, and shall be from the righteous”
- Mary went to see her sister one day, and her sister said to her: “I feel that I am pregnant”. Mary said: “And I feel as well that I am pregnant”. So both hugged each other. Then her sister said: “I feel that what is in my womb bows down to what is in yours” (referring to Yahya and Jesus).
- Yahya and Jesus were cousins and they were conceived at the same time.
- May was pregnant for 9 months.
- The news of her pregnancy spread far and wife, and some people slandered her of being pregnant from Joseph the carpenter
- Mary went to a far place and isolated herself from people.
- She cried of her pain and mental stress, she said: “Would that I had died before this, and become a thing forgotten!” (19:23)
- People didn’t believe her story, she was stressed and wished for her death.
- Aya: “But a voice cried to her from beneath” (19:24)
- Who’s voice was this? Some say it was Jesus and some say it was Gabriel.
- Aya: “But a voice cried to her from beneath: ‘Grieve not, your Lord has provided you a spring beneath you. And shake towards you the trunk of the palm-tree, and it will drop on you fresh ripe dates. So eat and drink, and be comforted, and if you see any human, say: “I have vowed a fast to the Most Gracious, and today I shell speak to no human”
- She was told to eat and drink and be comforted, and if someone spoke to her she should indicate that she was fasting. (in their shariah, fasting consisted of refraining from food and drink as well as speech)
- She came back to her people with jesus in her arms. “O Mary! Truly, a strange thing you have brought!” (19:27)
- She pointed to the baby to speak and respond to people.
- They said: “What! Are you telling us to speak to this suckling baby to tell us the truth about you? Do you think of us as mad people?” (19:29)
- When they were still arguing with her about the child, and thinking of it as a joke, the baby spoke to them miraculously.
- Aya: “I am indeed a slave of Allah; He has given me the Book and made me a Prophet, and He has made me blessed wherever I may be, and He has enjoined upon me prayers, and to pay the alms, as long as I live, and (He has made me) kind to my mother, and He has not made me insolent unblessed. And peace be upon me, the day I was born, and the day I die, and on the day I shall be raised to life’” (19:30-33)
- This was the first speech Jesus ever spoke. The first thing he said was that he is a “slave of Allah”.
- This is the only true story of the birth of Jesus, we refute the claims done by Christians and Jews.
- Aya: “Such is Jesus son of Mary, this is a statement of Truth about which they dispute. It is not befitting to (the majesty of) Allah that He should beget a son, Glory be to Him! When He decrees a matter, He only says to it: Be! And it is” (19:34-35)
- After this the jewish community was divided into 3 groups:
1) Jews who said Jesus was a child born out of wedlock
2) Jews who said that Jesus was the son of Allah
3) Jews who believed in the true message
- The Prophet described him to be of moderate height, and to be red faced.
Does God need a son?
- Aya: “O people of earlier Scripture! Do not go to extremes in your religion, nor say of Allah anything but the truth, most surely, Jesus the son of Mary was no more than a Messenger of Allah, and His word which He bestowed on mary, and a spirit created by Him. So believe in Allah and His Messengers, and do not say: ‘trinity’, desist, it is better for you, most surely Allah is One God, glory be to Him! High Exalted is he above having a son. What is in the heavens and on the earth belongs to Allah, and Allah suffices as a Trustee” (4:171)
- Aya: “Indeed they have disbelieved who say: ‘Allah is the Christ, the son of Mary’. Say: ‘Who has the power to prevent Allah if He chose to destroy Christ, the son of Mary, and his mother, and all the dwellers of the earth? And to Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens, the earth, and what is between them. Allah created what He pleases, and Allah has power over all things’” (5:17)
- Aya: “Most certainly they have disbelieved who say: ‘Allah is the Christ, the son of Mary’, but the Christ said: ‘O children of Israel! Worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord, whoever ascribes partners with Allah, Allah will forbid him the Garden, and the Fire will be his abode, and wrongdoers will have no protectors.’ Most certainly they have disbelieved who say: ‘Allah is one of Three’/ for there is no God but one God, and if they do not desist from what they say, surely, a painful chastisement shall befall the disbelievers among them” (5:17)
- Aya: “Will they not repent to Allah and seek His forgiveness? And Allah is All-forgiving, all-Merciful. Most surely Christ, the son of mary was no more than a messenger, many were the messengers that have passed away before him, his mother was a woman of truth, they both are food. See how we make Our signs clear to them, and yet see how they are deluded away from the truth” (5:74-75)
- Aya: “And when Allah will say: ‘O Jesus! Son of Mary, did you say to the people: take me and me mother as gods besides Allah?’ He will reply: ‘Glory be to You! It is not fitting for me to say that which I have no right to say. Had I said it You most surely would have known it, for You know what is in my inner self, and I do not know what is in Yours. Indeed, You are the all-knowing of the unseen. I did not say to them anything except what You commanded me to say, that: ‘Worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord’. And I was a witness over them while I lived among them. But when You took me up, You were the Watcher over them, and You are the Witness over all things. If You chastise them, they are Your slaves, and if You forgive them, indeed, You are the all-might, all-Wise” (5: 116-118)
- This conversation will take place on the Day of Judgment.
- Hadith: “No one is more tolerant with an insult which he hears, then Allah. They ascribe to Him a son, while He provides them with their provision and healing” (bukhari and muslim)
Miracles of Jesus:
- Some of his miracles:
1) He was begotten without a father
2) His spirit was breathed into the womb directly by Gabriel
3) He spoke to people in his infancy
4) He was given revelation and wisdom
The Gospel was given to Jesus when he was 30 years old, and he lived till he was taken up to the heaven at age 33.
5) He would create out of clay a figure of a bird, then breathe into it and it would become a real bird.
6) He would cure the ill. Curing the blind and people who had leprosy.
7) He would bring the dead back to life.
8)He walked on water.
- The miracle of every Prophet was in conformity with what their people of that time excelled in. In the time of Jesus, people excelled in medicine.
- Most people did not follow him, they rebelled against him and rejected him.
- A small group responded to his call and became his followers.
- Some of the Israelites viciously opposed him and plotted to kill him.
Prophecies of Jesus about our Prophet:
- Jesus was the last of Israelite Prophets. He told them of the coming of the last of all Prophets, after whom the Prophethood would be sealed.
- Aya: “And when Jesus, son of Mary said: ‘O children of Israel! Surely, I am the Messenger of Allah to you, verifying that which was revealed before me in the Torah, and giving glad tidings of a Messenger who shall come after me, whose name shall be Ahmad’. (61:6)
The Story of the Ma’idah:
- Prophet Jesus commanded his disciples to fast for 30 days. When they finished their fasting they asked Jesus to bring a table spread with food from heaven, so they may eat of it, and know that Allah has accepted their fasting.
- Jesus admonished them for their demand and feared that they might not show their gratitude or fulfill its conditions. But they persisted in their demand
- Jesus prayed to Allah to send a table spread with food for them from heaven.
- So Allah sent it down, and people watched descend from the sky.
- Jesus watched it coming and kept praying to Allah that He may make it a mercy and blessing of Him, and nor a punishment for them.
- It slowly came down, and was covered till it landed in front of Jesus.
- He uncovered the table, saying: “In the name of Allah, who is the best of providers”
- The table had fish, bread, and fruits.
- Jesus asked them to eat, but they refused to eat until he ate. So he fed the poor first.
- The table would come down everyday and everyone would eat from it. It was eventually restricted only to the poor. When the people complained and spoke against Jesus, Allah transformed them into pigs.
- Aya: “Allah said: ‘I will send it down to you, but if any of you disbelieves thereafter, I will chastise him with a chastisement with which I have chastised no one among all the people”
Elevation:
- Aya: “And when they (the disbelievers) plotted (to kill Jesus), Allah planned too. And Allah is the Best of those who plot. And when Allah said: ‘O Jesus I will take you and lift you up to Me, and purify you of those who disbelieve, and I will make those who followed you above those who disbelieved.”
- Aya: “And for their saying (in boast): ‘We killed the Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah’: but they killed him not nor crucified him. Only a likeness of that was shown to them.”
- The jews plotted to kill Jesus
- Jesus came to his companions, they were 12 people from among his disciples.
- He said to them: “There are those among you who will disbelieve in me after he has believed in me”
- Then he said: “Who from among you will take my likeness and be killed in my place, so will reach a high rank?”
- A youth came forward, but Jesus said to him “sit down”. He repeated the same question and the same youth stood up and came forward, and said: “I”. Jesus said: “you are the one”.
- And then he was made to look like Jesus. And Jesus was elevated up to the heaven.
- The jews came looking for him. They took the youth and killed him and then crucified him.
- After this many of believers disbelieved and many of them claimed that it was Allah who was amongst them and that he left the earth.
- Mary lived for 5 years after Jesus was elevated. She died at the age of 53.
- Prophet Jesus will return to earth before the day of judgment. He will kill the swine and break the cross.
- Aya: “And there is none of the people of the Book, but will believe in him before his death, and on the day of judgment, he will be a witness against them”
- Between Prophet Jesus and Prophet Muhammad is 600 years.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
May 29: Prophets Sulaiman, Zackariya, & Yahya
Prophet Solomon
- Aya: “And Solomon was David’s heir, and said: ‘O people! We have been taught the speech of the birds, and we have been given from everything: indeed this is a manifest bounty’”(27:16)
- Solomon inherited David in Prophethood and kingdom. He didn’t inherit the wealth because the wealth of Prophets is not inherited.
- Solomon understood the language of all kinds of birds and ants and spoke to them in their language.
Solomon’s wisdom:
- Aya: “And remember David and Solomon, when they gave judgment concerning the tillage, when the sheep of the people had strayed there, and We did witness their judgment. And We inspired Solomon the right understanding of it, and We gave each of them wisdom and knowledge” (21:78-79)
- The story of the two neighbors, one had a flock of sheep and the other had a farm. One day the man who owned the sheep forgot to close the gate and the sheep went to the farm during the night and ate all the crops. The two men came to Prophet David for his judgment (this was obviously before Prophet David died). He ruled that the owner of the sheep should compensate the owner of the farm with an equal value to the lost crops. When Prophet Solomon heard this he interjected with his opinion. He said: “Were it I to be the judge, I would have decided to surrender the sheep to the owner of the farm, so they could benefit from the sheep until the owner of the sheep fixes the farm and returns it to its previous state”
- When Prophet David heard this, he canceled his previous ruling and ordered the new one.
- Another incident…
- This story is narrated in Bukhari and Muslim. Two women shepherds were tending to their flocks while they left their two newborn sons behind. When they came back they found that the wolf had attacked and eaten one of the boys. Both of them claimed that the boy who was still alive was hers. They went to Prophet David and he ruled that the boy belonged to the eldest of them. When they passed by Solomon, he said: ‘Bring me a knife and I will cut this boy into two pieces, a half for each of you.’ The younger woman said: ‘No, may Allah bestow His Mercy on you, this is her son.’ So Solomon changed the verdict in the favor of the younger woman.
- Allah gave both David and Solomon knowledge and wisdom.
Solomon is tested:
- Aya: “And we granted to David, Solomon, how excellent a slave, indeed he was penitent. When in the evening he was presented with horses of the highest breeding; and he said: ‘It seems I have preferred the enjoyment of the good things more than the remembrance of my Lord, until it (the sun) set behind the veil. Bring them back to me.’ And he began to stroke them on their necks and legs.”
- Solomon was presented one evening with horses of fine breeding, and he became distracted in admiring them that the time for asr prayer passed and the sun set.
- He asked for the horses to be brought back to him and he stroked over their legs and necks… this either means that he passed hand over the horses to honor them for jihad. Other scholars say that this means that Solomon slaughtered all the horses.
- Another test happened to Prophet Solomon…
- Aya: “Certainly We tried Solomon, and We cast upon his throne a mere body, and he repented”
- Hadith: “Once Solomon said: ‘I would sleep tonight with seventy women, who will all bear a child who will fight in the way of Allah.’ His companion said: ‘InshaAllah’. But he did not say so. So only one woman got pregnant and she gave birth to a child who only had half a body (deformed).” The Prophet (pbuh) said: “If he had said that (InshaAllah), all would have been born and fought in the way of Allah” (Bukhari)
- Prophet Solomon was tested here, he forgot to say “InshaAllah”. This is a reminder for us all to always say “inshaAllah”.
- Aya: “ He said: ‘My Lord! Forgive me and grant me a kingdom that will not be given to anyone after me, surely. You are the Giver.’ So We subjected the wind to his power which blew gently by his order wherever he desired. And the satans, every kind of builder and diver, and others fettered in chains. ‘These are Our Bounties, whether you bestow them or withhold them, no account will be asked.’ And he enjoyed nearness with Us, and a fair return.” (38: 35-40)
- Solomon asked for a kingdom to be his miracle. A kingdom that is different than any other. No other person was ever given a kingdom like the kingdom of Solomon.
- Allah subjected to him the wind, it blew gently to his order wherever he willed.
- He controlled wind for a distance of a month.
- Allah made the devils servants to Prophet Solomon. Some would dive in the oceans and some would build for him.
- Allah also taught him the language of birds and ants.
- Allah also made a fountain of brass to flow for him.
- The jinn also were his servants, they would build for him rooms, images, basins, cooking, etc.
- Our beloved Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) had the choice of being a kind Prophet or a slave prophet and he preferred to be a slave prophet.
- Aya: “And to Solomon We subjected the wing, its going was month’s journey, and its return was a month’s journey. And we made a fountain of molten brass to flow for him, and of the jinn there were those who roked for him by the Command of his Lord, and if any of them swerved away from Our Command, We made them taste the chastisement of the Blazing Fire. They made for him whatever he desired: arches, images, basis as large as wells, and fixed cauldrons: ‘Work thanks, O family of David, only few of My slaves are grateful”
- Notice that Allah says here “work thanks”, because thanking Allah is not just through our tongues but also through our actions.
- Hadith: “The Prophet once started the prayer. Then we heard him saying: ‘I seek refuge in Allah from you I curse you with the curse of Allah.’ He said that three times. And then spread out his hand as though he was trying to hold something. When he finished his prayer, we said: ‘O Messenger of Allah! We heard you saying something in your prayer which we had never heard you saying before, and we also saw you stretching out your hands.’ The Prophet replied: ‘The enemy of Allah, Iblis, came to me with a blazing fire, so that he may throw is in my face. So I said: I seek refuge in Allah from you three times, then I said: I curse you with the curse of Allah three times, but he did not go back. Then I wanted to capture him, but had it nor been for the prayer of our brother Solomon, he would have been fastened (to one of the pillars in the masjid), and the children of Al-Madinah would have played with him”
- The Prophet (pbuh) didn’t want to share one of the special miracles that Prophet Solomon had because he wanted his brother Solomon to be unique.
The valley of ants:
- Aya: “And for Solomon were assembled his hosts of jinn, men and birds, and they were ranged in order and rank. When they came to the valleys of the ants, an ant said: ‘O you ants! Enter your dwelling places, lest Solomon and his hosts trample you without noticing.’ So he smiled, amused at her speech, and said: ‘My Lord! Inspire me that I may be grateful for Your favors which You bestowed on me and my parents, and that I may do righteous deeds as may please You, and admit me by Your Mercy, among Your righteous slaves” (27:17-19)
- Solomon heard the ant and understood what she said to the other ants. He smiled at hearing what others couldn’t hear.
- When Allah blessed you with a special skill, use it to obey Him and be thankful for it.
Hoopoe and Belqis:
- Allah mentions the story of hoopoe, when it was found absent from the army.
- All sorts of birds in Solomon’s army had their commanders and leaders who would come to him to report to him regularly about everyday matters.
- The duty of hoopoe was to find out the source of water.
- Hoopoe has the ability to discover the water from beneath the earth and take the water out.
- When Solomon ordered it to come to his presence, it was found absent.
- Solomon said: “How is it I do not see the hoopoe bird? Or is he not here? I will punish him severely, or even slaughter him, unless he brings me an acceptable excuse”
- Solomon threatened to discipline it for its absence without any notice, unless it has an excuse.
- The hoopoe soon came back and said: “I have come to know something that you do not know, and I have come from Sheba with sure news for you. There I found a woman ruling over them, and she has been given abundance of everything, and she has a magnificent throne”
- The kingdom of Sheba ruled the lands of Yemen.
- The Queen has an abundance of everything that kings and queens typically possess.
- Her throne was adorned by all kinds of precious stones and pearls, and was made of gold.
- The hoopoe then mentioned that those people, though granted such vast bounties of Allah’s Mercy, did not worship Him. They worshipped the sun.
- After what Solomon heard from the hoopoe, he sent a letter to the queen of Sheba inviting her to the way of Allah and His worship, and to merge her kingdom in his kingdom.
- Aya: “Solomon said: ‘We will see whether you have told the truth, or whether you have lied. Go with this letter of mine and deliver it to them, then stand aside and see what answer they return’” (27:27-28)
- When the ltter was delivered to Queen Belqis by the hoopoe, she read it, and then summoned all her ministers and advisors for consultation regarding the contents of that letter.
- She said: “There has been thrown onto me (she didn’t even know who delivered it) an honorable letter (she called it honorable because it was from Solomon the most honorable of his time), it is from Solomon, and it is ‘In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Do not be arrogant, and come to me in submission (to the true religion)’”
- She sought their advice on the matter and said: “O chiefs! Counsel me on this matter, no affair have I decided before but after I had consulted you”
- They said: “If you require an army to fight against him, here we are in your service with all the might of his kingdom. Nontheless, we leave the matter on your discretion and will, and we will obey whatever you may command us to do”
- She said: “Surely, when kings enter a town, they ruin it, and make the noblest of its people abased, and thus do they behave”
- She told them in her opinion that is Solomon conquered their kingdom, they would be humiliated.
- She then said: “I am sending them a gift to see what my emissary brings back”
- She wanted to bribe Solomon and sway their attention away from her and her kingdom by sending a gift and establishing a friendship.
- She didn’t know that Solomon was a Prophet and he would never compromise.
- Aya: “So when her emissary came to Solomon, he said: ‘Are you sending us wealth? What Allah has bestowed on me is better than what he has bestowed on you. It is you who rejoice in your gifts”
- He commanded the emissary to go back and threatened to send a huge army that they would not be able to handle.
- When the emissary came to the queen with this threat, they did not find any option but to surrender themselves to Solomon.
- They went with their queen to meet Solomon.
- When Solomon came to hear the news of their coming, he addressed the jinn in his presence, saying:
- Aya: “’O congregation! Which one of you will bring me her throne before they come to me in submission?’ A cunning jinn said: ‘I will bring it to you before you rise from your council, indeed I have full strength and I am trustworthy.’ One who possessed the knowledge of the scripture said: ‘I will bring it to you in the wink of an eye.’ So when he saw it placed before him, he said: ‘This is from my Lord’s Bounty, to test me whether I am grateful or ungrateful. And whoever is ungrateful. Indeed my Lord is All-Sufficient, the Generous’. He said: ‘Disguide her throne for her, and we will see whether she recognizes it or if she is unable to’” (27: 38-41)
- Aya: “So when she came, it was said: ‘Is your throne like this?’ She said: ‘It just seems the same.’ ‘And we were given the knowledge in advance of it, and had submitted to Allah.’ And that which she worshipped other than Allah, had diverted her (from the Right Path), surely, she was from pagan people. It was said to her: ‘Enter the palace.’ And when she saw it, she through it was a pool of water, and uncovered her legs. He said: ‘It is a palace paved with crystal glass.’ She said: ‘My Lord! I have wronged myself, and I now submit myself together with Solomon, to the Will of Allah, the Lord of the worlds’” (27: 42-44)
- Then Solomon ordered the ornaments of that throne to be changed, so that it is disguised for her test whether she could recognize it or not.
- She didn’t think it was her throne because it was changed, and because she didn’t think it would be possible that her throne would be there, as she left it behind in her palace.
- Solomon had a grand palace built of crystal glass, and throughout the passages inside the palace, there were water streams covered with crystal glass.
- In those water streams there were kept fish and other water creatures, looking like an aquarium throughout the palace.
Building Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa:
- It was first built by Prophet Jacob.
- The first masjid to be build was the Kaabah (by Prophet Ibrahim), and the second was Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa.
- Prophet Solomon expanded the masjid. We don’t believe that he built it as the Jews do.
- After Solomon finished the building he made dua and asked for 3 things.
- Hadith: “When Solomon completed the building of Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa, he asked Allah for 3 favors, of which he was given only two, and we hope that the 3rd favor will be for us. Solomon asked for judgment that could correspond to the judgment of Allah (so that whatever he ruled would please Allah), and Allah accepted his prayer. He also asked for a kingdom which nobody could be given after him, and this prayer was also accepted. He also asked Allah that any one who leaves his home only for the purpose of prayer in his mosque, all his sins may be forgiven to become like the day he was born. We hope that Allah may grant it to us” (Ahmad)
The Death of Solomon:
- Aya: “Then when We decreed his death, nothing indicated to them that he was dead, except the worm of the earth which kept gnawing away at his staff, so when he fell down, the jinn realized that if they had known the unseen, they would not have abided in the humiliating chastisement” (34:14)
- After Solomon died, the wood worm kept eating his staff for one year till he fell down.
- Solomon ruled as a king for 20 years, after his death his son succeeded him as king and ruled for 17 years, then the kingdom of Israel disintegrated.
Prophets Zackariya and Yahya:
- Prophet Zackariya was a carpenter.
- He reached old age without having any children. His wife was barren.
- Aya: “This is a mention of the mercy of your Lord to his slave Zackariya, when he called upon his Lord secretly. Saying: ‘My Lord! My bones within me are feeble, and my head has gone grey, and in calling on you my Lord, I have never been unblessed. And now I fear for my near kin after I am done, and my wife is barren, so grant to me an heir from You; who shall be my inheritor (in Prophethood), and the inheritor of the House of Jacob, and make him, my Lord, one with whom you are well pleased’” (19: 1-6)
- He also made the dua:
- Aya: “My Lord! Leave me not without offspring, though You are the best inheritors.” –rabbi la tatharni fardan wa anta khayrul waritheen.
- Notice how Prophet Zackariya made dua to Allah secretly.
- Prophet Zackariya also mentioned how he never invoked Allah for any thing but He accepted his prayer.
- The reason he came to pray for a son was that whenever he entered the chamber of Mary, of whom he was a guardian, he always found fruits of various kinds without any season for them. It then occursed to him that Allah, the Provider, Who can provide fruits without seasons, can grant him a child in his old age and even though his wife is barren.
- Aya: “And she (Mary) was assigned to the care of Zackariyya, and whenever Zackariyya entered her chamber, he found her provided with sustenance. He said: ‘O Mary! Where did you get this from?’ She said: ‘It is from Allah, surely, Allah bestows upon whom He pleases without measure.’ Then Zackariya prayed to his Lord, saying: ‘My Lord! Grant to me from You righteous progeny, surely, You are All-hearing of prayers.” (3: 37-38)
- Allah accepted his prayer.
- Aya: “Then angels called to him while he was standing in prayer in the chamber: ‘Allah gives you glad tidings of Yahya, confirming the truth of a Word from Allah, and noble, chaste and righteous Prophet” (3:29)
- Aya: “O Zackariya! We give you glad tidings of a boy whose name is Yahya, no namesake have We given him before (no one else had this name before).’”
- Zackariya was very surprised at the good news, he was 77 years old at that time.
- Aya: “O my Lord! How shall I have a son, seeing that my wife is barren, and I have reached to the extreme old age” (19:8)
- The angel told him…
- Aya: “So shall it be. Your Lord says: ‘That is easy for me, and I have created you before when you were nothing’” (19:9)
- Allah healed his wife for him and granted him a righteous son.
- Zackariya asked Allah for further sin that he may really assure himself, so he prayed to Allah to make some sort of a sign to know that his wife has become pregnant.
- Allah said to him: “Your sign will be that you will not be able to speak for 3 days, except by signals and sign language. However, it will not affect your health or limbs. You will be perfectly healthy in all aspects”.
- Aya: “O Yahya! Take hold of the Book with firmness.’ And we granted him wisdom while he was yet a child”
- Now Allah addresses Yahya (John) and tells us that he granted him knowledge and wisdom in his childhood.
- He was also granted tenderness, especially with his parents.
- Aya: “So peace upon him the day he was born, and on the day he dies, and the day he shall be raised to life” (19:15)
- These are the three major stages of life, when one moves from one kind of world to another, totally different than the previous one.
- We are not sure how Prophet Zackariya died, though there is an opinion that Bani Israel sawed him in half.
- Hadith: “Allah commanded Yahya to fulfill five duties, and to command Bani Israel to carry them out as well. But Yahya held up for a while, so he was told by Jesus (his cousin): ‘You have been commanded to act according to 5 teachings, and to command them to Bani Israel. So would you tell them yourself or shall I convey it to them?’ yahya said: ‘My brother! I fear that if you do it, I may be punished or swallowed by the earth’. Then yahya gathered Bani Israel in the Masjid til the Masjid became full. Then he sat on the elevated place, praised Allah and glorified Him, and said: ‘Allah the Almighty has commanded me 5 things that I do them personally and that I shall command you to carry them out.
First: You should not worship other than Allah without associating with Him any partner. Because its similitude is like the one who bought a slave with the best of his wealth, silver or gold, but the slave started working for others. Tell me who will like his slave to act in this manner and serve other than him. Allah has created you and gave you provision, so worship Him alone, and do not associate any partner with Him.
Second: I command you to pray. Allah turns His Face towards His slave as long as the slave does not distract himself. So once you are in prayer, do not let yourselves become distracted towards other things.
Third: I command you of fasting, because its similitude is like a man who has got a bad of musk among a multitude of people, of whom every one enjoys its fragrance. And the smell of the mouth of a fasting person is purer to Allah than the fragrance of musk.
Fourth: I command you to give out in charity. Because its parable is like the one who was captured by an enemy, and they tied his hand up with his neck, and then wanted to behead him. The man at this point asked his enemy: ‘Is it possible that I pay ransom and free myself?’ After they agreed, he starts paying his ransom with everything, small or big, till he has freed himself.
Fifth: I also command you to remember Allah frequently. The similitude of this is of a man whom his enemy chased him, but he found a fortified castle and entered it. The man is more protected from his enemy (Satan) when he is in Allah’s remembrance’” (Ahmad)
The murder of Yahya:
- Different reasons are given regarding his murder.
- Most popular reason: one of the kinds of that time in Damascus wanted to marry one of his close relative (and it was forbidden in their shariah to do so). Yahya forbade him from marrying her. The woman hid her resentment against Yahya. At some occasion, when the kind desired for her to fulfill his lust, the woman asked him the head of Yahya. The kind at once agreed to her demand, and sent soldiers to kill him and bring his head in a bowl.
- The woman died at once when the head of Yahya was delivered to her.
- There is a difference of opinion regarding where he was killed, some say he was killed in Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa and some say that he was killed in Damascus.
- Aya: “And Solomon was David’s heir, and said: ‘O people! We have been taught the speech of the birds, and we have been given from everything: indeed this is a manifest bounty’”(27:16)
- Solomon inherited David in Prophethood and kingdom. He didn’t inherit the wealth because the wealth of Prophets is not inherited.
- Solomon understood the language of all kinds of birds and ants and spoke to them in their language.
Solomon’s wisdom:
- Aya: “And remember David and Solomon, when they gave judgment concerning the tillage, when the sheep of the people had strayed there, and We did witness their judgment. And We inspired Solomon the right understanding of it, and We gave each of them wisdom and knowledge” (21:78-79)
- The story of the two neighbors, one had a flock of sheep and the other had a farm. One day the man who owned the sheep forgot to close the gate and the sheep went to the farm during the night and ate all the crops. The two men came to Prophet David for his judgment (this was obviously before Prophet David died). He ruled that the owner of the sheep should compensate the owner of the farm with an equal value to the lost crops. When Prophet Solomon heard this he interjected with his opinion. He said: “Were it I to be the judge, I would have decided to surrender the sheep to the owner of the farm, so they could benefit from the sheep until the owner of the sheep fixes the farm and returns it to its previous state”
- When Prophet David heard this, he canceled his previous ruling and ordered the new one.
- Another incident…
- This story is narrated in Bukhari and Muslim. Two women shepherds were tending to their flocks while they left their two newborn sons behind. When they came back they found that the wolf had attacked and eaten one of the boys. Both of them claimed that the boy who was still alive was hers. They went to Prophet David and he ruled that the boy belonged to the eldest of them. When they passed by Solomon, he said: ‘Bring me a knife and I will cut this boy into two pieces, a half for each of you.’ The younger woman said: ‘No, may Allah bestow His Mercy on you, this is her son.’ So Solomon changed the verdict in the favor of the younger woman.
- Allah gave both David and Solomon knowledge and wisdom.
Solomon is tested:
- Aya: “And we granted to David, Solomon, how excellent a slave, indeed he was penitent. When in the evening he was presented with horses of the highest breeding; and he said: ‘It seems I have preferred the enjoyment of the good things more than the remembrance of my Lord, until it (the sun) set behind the veil. Bring them back to me.’ And he began to stroke them on their necks and legs.”
- Solomon was presented one evening with horses of fine breeding, and he became distracted in admiring them that the time for asr prayer passed and the sun set.
- He asked for the horses to be brought back to him and he stroked over their legs and necks… this either means that he passed hand over the horses to honor them for jihad. Other scholars say that this means that Solomon slaughtered all the horses.
- Another test happened to Prophet Solomon…
- Aya: “Certainly We tried Solomon, and We cast upon his throne a mere body, and he repented”
- Hadith: “Once Solomon said: ‘I would sleep tonight with seventy women, who will all bear a child who will fight in the way of Allah.’ His companion said: ‘InshaAllah’. But he did not say so. So only one woman got pregnant and she gave birth to a child who only had half a body (deformed).” The Prophet (pbuh) said: “If he had said that (InshaAllah), all would have been born and fought in the way of Allah” (Bukhari)
- Prophet Solomon was tested here, he forgot to say “InshaAllah”. This is a reminder for us all to always say “inshaAllah”.
- Aya: “ He said: ‘My Lord! Forgive me and grant me a kingdom that will not be given to anyone after me, surely. You are the Giver.’ So We subjected the wind to his power which blew gently by his order wherever he desired. And the satans, every kind of builder and diver, and others fettered in chains. ‘These are Our Bounties, whether you bestow them or withhold them, no account will be asked.’ And he enjoyed nearness with Us, and a fair return.” (38: 35-40)
- Solomon asked for a kingdom to be his miracle. A kingdom that is different than any other. No other person was ever given a kingdom like the kingdom of Solomon.
- Allah subjected to him the wind, it blew gently to his order wherever he willed.
- He controlled wind for a distance of a month.
- Allah made the devils servants to Prophet Solomon. Some would dive in the oceans and some would build for him.
- Allah also taught him the language of birds and ants.
- Allah also made a fountain of brass to flow for him.
- The jinn also were his servants, they would build for him rooms, images, basins, cooking, etc.
- Our beloved Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) had the choice of being a kind Prophet or a slave prophet and he preferred to be a slave prophet.
- Aya: “And to Solomon We subjected the wing, its going was month’s journey, and its return was a month’s journey. And we made a fountain of molten brass to flow for him, and of the jinn there were those who roked for him by the Command of his Lord, and if any of them swerved away from Our Command, We made them taste the chastisement of the Blazing Fire. They made for him whatever he desired: arches, images, basis as large as wells, and fixed cauldrons: ‘Work thanks, O family of David, only few of My slaves are grateful”
- Notice that Allah says here “work thanks”, because thanking Allah is not just through our tongues but also through our actions.
- Hadith: “The Prophet once started the prayer. Then we heard him saying: ‘I seek refuge in Allah from you I curse you with the curse of Allah.’ He said that three times. And then spread out his hand as though he was trying to hold something. When he finished his prayer, we said: ‘O Messenger of Allah! We heard you saying something in your prayer which we had never heard you saying before, and we also saw you stretching out your hands.’ The Prophet replied: ‘The enemy of Allah, Iblis, came to me with a blazing fire, so that he may throw is in my face. So I said: I seek refuge in Allah from you three times, then I said: I curse you with the curse of Allah three times, but he did not go back. Then I wanted to capture him, but had it nor been for the prayer of our brother Solomon, he would have been fastened (to one of the pillars in the masjid), and the children of Al-Madinah would have played with him”
- The Prophet (pbuh) didn’t want to share one of the special miracles that Prophet Solomon had because he wanted his brother Solomon to be unique.
The valley of ants:
- Aya: “And for Solomon were assembled his hosts of jinn, men and birds, and they were ranged in order and rank. When they came to the valleys of the ants, an ant said: ‘O you ants! Enter your dwelling places, lest Solomon and his hosts trample you without noticing.’ So he smiled, amused at her speech, and said: ‘My Lord! Inspire me that I may be grateful for Your favors which You bestowed on me and my parents, and that I may do righteous deeds as may please You, and admit me by Your Mercy, among Your righteous slaves” (27:17-19)
- Solomon heard the ant and understood what she said to the other ants. He smiled at hearing what others couldn’t hear.
- When Allah blessed you with a special skill, use it to obey Him and be thankful for it.
Hoopoe and Belqis:
- Allah mentions the story of hoopoe, when it was found absent from the army.
- All sorts of birds in Solomon’s army had their commanders and leaders who would come to him to report to him regularly about everyday matters.
- The duty of hoopoe was to find out the source of water.
- Hoopoe has the ability to discover the water from beneath the earth and take the water out.
- When Solomon ordered it to come to his presence, it was found absent.
- Solomon said: “How is it I do not see the hoopoe bird? Or is he not here? I will punish him severely, or even slaughter him, unless he brings me an acceptable excuse”
- Solomon threatened to discipline it for its absence without any notice, unless it has an excuse.
- The hoopoe soon came back and said: “I have come to know something that you do not know, and I have come from Sheba with sure news for you. There I found a woman ruling over them, and she has been given abundance of everything, and she has a magnificent throne”
- The kingdom of Sheba ruled the lands of Yemen.
- The Queen has an abundance of everything that kings and queens typically possess.
- Her throne was adorned by all kinds of precious stones and pearls, and was made of gold.
- The hoopoe then mentioned that those people, though granted such vast bounties of Allah’s Mercy, did not worship Him. They worshipped the sun.
- After what Solomon heard from the hoopoe, he sent a letter to the queen of Sheba inviting her to the way of Allah and His worship, and to merge her kingdom in his kingdom.
- Aya: “Solomon said: ‘We will see whether you have told the truth, or whether you have lied. Go with this letter of mine and deliver it to them, then stand aside and see what answer they return’” (27:27-28)
- When the ltter was delivered to Queen Belqis by the hoopoe, she read it, and then summoned all her ministers and advisors for consultation regarding the contents of that letter.
- She said: “There has been thrown onto me (she didn’t even know who delivered it) an honorable letter (she called it honorable because it was from Solomon the most honorable of his time), it is from Solomon, and it is ‘In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Do not be arrogant, and come to me in submission (to the true religion)’”
- She sought their advice on the matter and said: “O chiefs! Counsel me on this matter, no affair have I decided before but after I had consulted you”
- They said: “If you require an army to fight against him, here we are in your service with all the might of his kingdom. Nontheless, we leave the matter on your discretion and will, and we will obey whatever you may command us to do”
- She said: “Surely, when kings enter a town, they ruin it, and make the noblest of its people abased, and thus do they behave”
- She told them in her opinion that is Solomon conquered their kingdom, they would be humiliated.
- She then said: “I am sending them a gift to see what my emissary brings back”
- She wanted to bribe Solomon and sway their attention away from her and her kingdom by sending a gift and establishing a friendship.
- She didn’t know that Solomon was a Prophet and he would never compromise.
- Aya: “So when her emissary came to Solomon, he said: ‘Are you sending us wealth? What Allah has bestowed on me is better than what he has bestowed on you. It is you who rejoice in your gifts”
- He commanded the emissary to go back and threatened to send a huge army that they would not be able to handle.
- When the emissary came to the queen with this threat, they did not find any option but to surrender themselves to Solomon.
- They went with their queen to meet Solomon.
- When Solomon came to hear the news of their coming, he addressed the jinn in his presence, saying:
- Aya: “’O congregation! Which one of you will bring me her throne before they come to me in submission?’ A cunning jinn said: ‘I will bring it to you before you rise from your council, indeed I have full strength and I am trustworthy.’ One who possessed the knowledge of the scripture said: ‘I will bring it to you in the wink of an eye.’ So when he saw it placed before him, he said: ‘This is from my Lord’s Bounty, to test me whether I am grateful or ungrateful. And whoever is ungrateful. Indeed my Lord is All-Sufficient, the Generous’. He said: ‘Disguide her throne for her, and we will see whether she recognizes it or if she is unable to’” (27: 38-41)
- Aya: “So when she came, it was said: ‘Is your throne like this?’ She said: ‘It just seems the same.’ ‘And we were given the knowledge in advance of it, and had submitted to Allah.’ And that which she worshipped other than Allah, had diverted her (from the Right Path), surely, she was from pagan people. It was said to her: ‘Enter the palace.’ And when she saw it, she through it was a pool of water, and uncovered her legs. He said: ‘It is a palace paved with crystal glass.’ She said: ‘My Lord! I have wronged myself, and I now submit myself together with Solomon, to the Will of Allah, the Lord of the worlds’” (27: 42-44)
- Then Solomon ordered the ornaments of that throne to be changed, so that it is disguised for her test whether she could recognize it or not.
- She didn’t think it was her throne because it was changed, and because she didn’t think it would be possible that her throne would be there, as she left it behind in her palace.
- Solomon had a grand palace built of crystal glass, and throughout the passages inside the palace, there were water streams covered with crystal glass.
- In those water streams there were kept fish and other water creatures, looking like an aquarium throughout the palace.
Building Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa:
- It was first built by Prophet Jacob.
- The first masjid to be build was the Kaabah (by Prophet Ibrahim), and the second was Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa.
- Prophet Solomon expanded the masjid. We don’t believe that he built it as the Jews do.
- After Solomon finished the building he made dua and asked for 3 things.
- Hadith: “When Solomon completed the building of Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa, he asked Allah for 3 favors, of which he was given only two, and we hope that the 3rd favor will be for us. Solomon asked for judgment that could correspond to the judgment of Allah (so that whatever he ruled would please Allah), and Allah accepted his prayer. He also asked for a kingdom which nobody could be given after him, and this prayer was also accepted. He also asked Allah that any one who leaves his home only for the purpose of prayer in his mosque, all his sins may be forgiven to become like the day he was born. We hope that Allah may grant it to us” (Ahmad)
The Death of Solomon:
- Aya: “Then when We decreed his death, nothing indicated to them that he was dead, except the worm of the earth which kept gnawing away at his staff, so when he fell down, the jinn realized that if they had known the unseen, they would not have abided in the humiliating chastisement” (34:14)
- After Solomon died, the wood worm kept eating his staff for one year till he fell down.
- Solomon ruled as a king for 20 years, after his death his son succeeded him as king and ruled for 17 years, then the kingdom of Israel disintegrated.
Prophets Zackariya and Yahya:
- Prophet Zackariya was a carpenter.
- He reached old age without having any children. His wife was barren.
- Aya: “This is a mention of the mercy of your Lord to his slave Zackariya, when he called upon his Lord secretly. Saying: ‘My Lord! My bones within me are feeble, and my head has gone grey, and in calling on you my Lord, I have never been unblessed. And now I fear for my near kin after I am done, and my wife is barren, so grant to me an heir from You; who shall be my inheritor (in Prophethood), and the inheritor of the House of Jacob, and make him, my Lord, one with whom you are well pleased’” (19: 1-6)
- He also made the dua:
- Aya: “My Lord! Leave me not without offspring, though You are the best inheritors.” –rabbi la tatharni fardan wa anta khayrul waritheen.
- Notice how Prophet Zackariya made dua to Allah secretly.
- Prophet Zackariya also mentioned how he never invoked Allah for any thing but He accepted his prayer.
- The reason he came to pray for a son was that whenever he entered the chamber of Mary, of whom he was a guardian, he always found fruits of various kinds without any season for them. It then occursed to him that Allah, the Provider, Who can provide fruits without seasons, can grant him a child in his old age and even though his wife is barren.
- Aya: “And she (Mary) was assigned to the care of Zackariyya, and whenever Zackariyya entered her chamber, he found her provided with sustenance. He said: ‘O Mary! Where did you get this from?’ She said: ‘It is from Allah, surely, Allah bestows upon whom He pleases without measure.’ Then Zackariya prayed to his Lord, saying: ‘My Lord! Grant to me from You righteous progeny, surely, You are All-hearing of prayers.” (3: 37-38)
- Allah accepted his prayer.
- Aya: “Then angels called to him while he was standing in prayer in the chamber: ‘Allah gives you glad tidings of Yahya, confirming the truth of a Word from Allah, and noble, chaste and righteous Prophet” (3:29)
- Aya: “O Zackariya! We give you glad tidings of a boy whose name is Yahya, no namesake have We given him before (no one else had this name before).’”
- Zackariya was very surprised at the good news, he was 77 years old at that time.
- Aya: “O my Lord! How shall I have a son, seeing that my wife is barren, and I have reached to the extreme old age” (19:8)
- The angel told him…
- Aya: “So shall it be. Your Lord says: ‘That is easy for me, and I have created you before when you were nothing’” (19:9)
- Allah healed his wife for him and granted him a righteous son.
- Zackariya asked Allah for further sin that he may really assure himself, so he prayed to Allah to make some sort of a sign to know that his wife has become pregnant.
- Allah said to him: “Your sign will be that you will not be able to speak for 3 days, except by signals and sign language. However, it will not affect your health or limbs. You will be perfectly healthy in all aspects”.
- Aya: “O Yahya! Take hold of the Book with firmness.’ And we granted him wisdom while he was yet a child”
- Now Allah addresses Yahya (John) and tells us that he granted him knowledge and wisdom in his childhood.
- He was also granted tenderness, especially with his parents.
- Aya: “So peace upon him the day he was born, and on the day he dies, and the day he shall be raised to life” (19:15)
- These are the three major stages of life, when one moves from one kind of world to another, totally different than the previous one.
- We are not sure how Prophet Zackariya died, though there is an opinion that Bani Israel sawed him in half.
- Hadith: “Allah commanded Yahya to fulfill five duties, and to command Bani Israel to carry them out as well. But Yahya held up for a while, so he was told by Jesus (his cousin): ‘You have been commanded to act according to 5 teachings, and to command them to Bani Israel. So would you tell them yourself or shall I convey it to them?’ yahya said: ‘My brother! I fear that if you do it, I may be punished or swallowed by the earth’. Then yahya gathered Bani Israel in the Masjid til the Masjid became full. Then he sat on the elevated place, praised Allah and glorified Him, and said: ‘Allah the Almighty has commanded me 5 things that I do them personally and that I shall command you to carry them out.
First: You should not worship other than Allah without associating with Him any partner. Because its similitude is like the one who bought a slave with the best of his wealth, silver or gold, but the slave started working for others. Tell me who will like his slave to act in this manner and serve other than him. Allah has created you and gave you provision, so worship Him alone, and do not associate any partner with Him.
Second: I command you to pray. Allah turns His Face towards His slave as long as the slave does not distract himself. So once you are in prayer, do not let yourselves become distracted towards other things.
Third: I command you of fasting, because its similitude is like a man who has got a bad of musk among a multitude of people, of whom every one enjoys its fragrance. And the smell of the mouth of a fasting person is purer to Allah than the fragrance of musk.
Fourth: I command you to give out in charity. Because its parable is like the one who was captured by an enemy, and they tied his hand up with his neck, and then wanted to behead him. The man at this point asked his enemy: ‘Is it possible that I pay ransom and free myself?’ After they agreed, he starts paying his ransom with everything, small or big, till he has freed himself.
Fifth: I also command you to remember Allah frequently. The similitude of this is of a man whom his enemy chased him, but he found a fortified castle and entered it. The man is more protected from his enemy (Satan) when he is in Allah’s remembrance’” (Ahmad)
The murder of Yahya:
- Different reasons are given regarding his murder.
- Most popular reason: one of the kinds of that time in Damascus wanted to marry one of his close relative (and it was forbidden in their shariah to do so). Yahya forbade him from marrying her. The woman hid her resentment against Yahya. At some occasion, when the kind desired for her to fulfill his lust, the woman asked him the head of Yahya. The kind at once agreed to her demand, and sent soldiers to kill him and bring his head in a bowl.
- The woman died at once when the head of Yahya was delivered to her.
- There is a difference of opinion regarding where he was killed, some say he was killed in Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa and some say that he was killed in Damascus.
May 22nd: Prophets Joshua, Samuel, and David
Prophets Joshua, Samuel, and David
Joshua
- He is from the lineage of Prophet Yusuf and Ibrahim.
- He was mentioned in Quran as a servant with Prophet Musa, his name is not mentioned in Quran however it is mentioned in sahih hadith.
- He was a righteous student of his teacher, Prophet Musa
- When Prophet Musa passed away Prophethood was passed along to him
- He became the leader of the children of Israel
- They were delivered to the holy land under his leadership, they were victorious
- The Prophet (pbuh) tells us why this victory was delayed
- Bani Israel were raised in servitude and slavery. when they left Egypt they were not fit to fight
- In the 40 years of wilderness, the elders died and the youth were raised by Musa and Harun.
- Musa was the most important and best Prophet sent to bani Israel, but victory did not happen on his hands
- Prophet Musa organized bani Israel according to their tribes, he was getting them ready to fight after they come out of the wilderness.
- Aya: “And Allah had taken the covenant from the Children of Israel, and We appointed from among them twelve chieftains. And Allah said: ‘I am with you, only if you establish prayer, pay the alms, believe in my Messengers and stand with them, and lend to Allah a good loan. So I will expiate your sins, and I will admit you to gardens beneath which rivers flow, so whoever of you disbelieves after that, surely, he has gone astray from the Right Way’” (5:12)
- Joshua was fighting with the people Jerusalem (al-jababirah). The sun was about to set while they were fighting, he knew that they needed more time.
- Joshua pointed to the sun and said “You are receiving orders and I am receiving orders so stop”
- Allah made the sun stop until they finished fighting the enemy and then it set
- If you have Allah on your side then that’s all you need
- Hadith: “The sun has never been held back for a human being from setting except for Joshua” (Ahmad)
- Hadith: “One of the Prophets went for a battle, so he said to his people: ‘No one should come with me who has just had a wife but has not yet slept with her, no one who has built a house but did not yet put its roof up, nor the one who has bought goats or pregnant camels and is waiting for them to deliver.’ So the Prophet went for the battle, and approached a town after he had prayed the Asr prayer. Then he said to the sun: ‘You are commanded and I am commanded. O Allah hold it back for a while.” So Allah held it back, till the conquered the town. Then they all gathered what they found as spoils of the war. The fire then came to eat the spoils, but did not eat it. The Prophet then said: There is some one who has cheated from the spoils. So he asked one man from every tribe to come forward and pledge to him. They all came to pledge to him, but the hand of one man stuck with the hand of the Prophet. He said: ‘The cheat is from among you, so now let every one of your tribe come forward and pledge to me.’ They came and offered their pledge to him, and so the hands of two or three people for stuck with his hand, and he said: ‘You are the cheaters, you took the spoils of the war.’ So they took out gold equivalent to the head of a cow. They put the gold together with other spoils, and the fire came and are it. The spoils of war were not allowed for anyone before us. This is because Allah saw our weakness and incapacity, so He purified it for us” (Ahmad)
- He wanted the people who came with him to have sincerity, and not to be distracted. Their hearts shouldn’t be attached to something else.
- They won and started to establish their nation under the banner of “la ilaha illa Allah”
- Bani Israel continued to fight many wars.
Samuel:
- Aya: “Have you not seen the chiefs of the Children of Israel, after Musa, when they said to a Prophet of theirs: ‘Appoint for us a king that we may fight in the cause of Allah.’ He said: ‘Is it not possible that if fighting is prescribed for you, you may not fight?’ They said: ‘How could we refuse to fight in the cause of Allah, when we have been turned out of our homes and separated from our children?’ Yet when fighting was prescribed for them, they turned away, except a few of them, and Allah is All-Knowing of those evildoers” (2:246)
- He said you’re asking for fighting, but when fighting is prescribed for you will you fight
- They said of course. But Allah tells us that when fighting was ordered for them, they turned away, except for a few of them
- Aya: “And their Prophet said to them: ‘Allah has appointed Talut (Saul) as a king for you.’”
- So their Prophet tells them, ok your wish has been granted but they were not pleased.
- Aya: “They said: ‘How is he entitled to be a king over us, when we are better fitted than him, and he is not even gifted with wealth in abundance?’”
- He was from a lower race or class, and he wasn’t wealthy. Their hearts were diseased: they were arrogant.
- Aya: “He said: ‘Allah has chosen him above you, and has gifted him abundantly with knowledge and bodily strength. Allah bestows sovereignty on whom He pleases, and Allah is Alla-Sufficient, All-Knowing’”
- Their Prophet gave them the answer “Allah commanded it”. He didn’t need to say anything else. But since they gave two reasons why they didn’t want Talut as their leader, he gave them two reasons why he should be their leader.
- He gave them two reasons: he had knowledge (this doesn’t mean knowledge of fiqh, but knowledge in what is appropriate in his case which is fighting), and he also had strength (he was physically strong).
- Aya: “And their Prophet said to them: ‘Indeed the sign of his kingship is that the ark (tabut) shall come to you, in it is serenity from your Lord, and the relics left by the families of Musa and Harun, carried by angels.’ Surely, in this there is a sign for you, if you are believers” (2:247-248)
- Allah wanted to appoint Talut as their king through a ceremony.
- Allah wanted to strengthen their hearts in order to accept him as their leader, so a miracle was going to happen.
- When Bani Israel were at work with the Philistines and were defeated, their “Ark of Covenant”, which they had brought to the battlefield, to bless the war in their favor, was captured by their enemy and taken away. Now Allah is promising the return of this treasure and it will be carried by angels which they will see.
- Now Talut was appointed as their king.
- Aya: “So when Talut went forth with the army, he said: ‘Allah will test you at the river, whoever drinks of its water will not be my companion, and whoever does not taste it, he is surely my companions, and he who takes but a mere sip.’”
- He left the children, women and elderly and took only the soldiers. They numbered 80,000.
- Talut is not looking for numbers, he knew that what they will face ahead needs an iron will. So he wanted to take them through a series of tests so only the strong soldiers will be with him.
- Weak soldiers will cause more harm than benefit.
- He told them about the test.
- He made them march in the desert, he made them thirsty, exhausted and tired.
- When they reached the river (it’s said that it’s the River Jordan), he told them not to drink from it. And whoever drinks from it cannot continue with them.
- If one drank a handful then they could still remain as part of the group (it’s probably easier not to drink than to take that one sip)
- 80,000 went through the test and only 4,000 passed the test.
- 76,000 were left behind.
- Aya: “But they all drank of it, except a few of them. So when he crossed it (the river), he and the believers with him, they said: ‘We have no power this day to fight against Jalut (Goliath) and his armies.’ Those who had firm belied that they will meet Allah, said: ‘How often has a small company overcome a big company by Allah’s Will, and Allah is with those who are patient’”
- They said we have no way of fighting Jalut, they were a small amount compared to Jalut and his army.
- The believers disagreed and told them that they could win by Allah’s will.
- The other didn’t believe in the unseen, so they also failed.
- In the end Talut was left with 314 soldiers, our of 80,000.
- Hadith: The companions said: “We the companions of the Propeht were discussing that the number of those who attended Badr Battle was the same number of those who participated with Talut”
- Aya: “And when they advanced against Jalut and his army, they prayed: ‘Our Lord! Pour out upon us constancy (sabr) and make our foothold firm, and help us against the disbeliever people.’ So they rooted them by Allah’s Will.”
- After we do our part in preparation, we put our trust in Allah and we make dua for Him to help us. That is what they did.
- They asked Allah to pour patience over them, because they knew that they needed a lot of it.
- The battle started, a huge army was fighting this small army.
- Jalut was the kind of the enemy, a powerful, huge, strong, arrogant man. He was challenging Talut’s army to fight him.
- Talut asked: who will go and fight him?
- A young, short man said I will go.
- Talut asked again when he saw the young man, but no one came forward except this young man.
- This young man had courage, he went up to Jalut with a sling shot.
- Jalut said: “Go back, I don’t want to fight you, I don’t want to kill you, send someone else”
- But the young man said: I want to kill you.
- The young man fired his sling shot and he killed Jalut.
- The young man was David.
- Now Bani Israel will enter into their golden age. Just like the Muslims entered their golden age after the battle of badr.
- This was the best era for Bani Israel, after that it was their downfall as the curse of the Prophets was over them.
Dawud:
- He was from the progeny of Ibrahim.
- David was short with blue eyes, of little hair.
- After David killed Jalut, he became a hero overnight, and Israelites loved him.
- David was now their king and it was the first time that Prophethood and kingship came together. Allah gave him a strong kingdom.
- Allah also taught him wisdom (good judgment and the ability to run the affairs of his people) and other things that he willed.
- Aya: “And David slew Jalut, and Allah gave him sovereignty and wisdom, and taught him of what he pleased” (2:251)
- Miracles of Dawud:
-He was given a very beautiful voice,
-He was able to interpret the speech of animals (this was also given to his son Sulaiman),
Aya: “And we bestowed upon David bounty from Us: ‘O mountains and birds, echo Allah’s praise with him’” (34:10)
-When he made dhikr the birds and mountains would make thikr with him,
-Iron would be soft in his hands (without fire or hammers),
Aya: “And We softened the iron for him”
-He improved the making of armor.
Aya: “Make coats of mail, and set the links in even measure (not too large and not too small)”
Aya: “and it was We Who taught him the making of garments (armor) for you, to fortify you in your wars, so will you then be thankful?”
- People had iron but it was hard for them to use it.
- Allah also taught him how to make armory in a new way. Before that they would make it in the form of iron plates (heavy solid plates, not flexible). Prophet Dawud would make armory out of rings of iron which was light and flexible.
- Hadith: “The best food a man could eat is what is earned by him, and the Prophet of Allah David are from what he earned from his own handwork” (Ahmad)
- Allah granted him extraordinary resolve for devotion.
- Hadith: “The best prayer to Allah is the prayer of David, and the best fasting to Allah is the fasting of David: he slept for the first half of the night, then woke up for one third and prayed, and then he slept for the rest of one-sixth. He fasted one day and broke fast one day” (Bukhari and Muslim)
- Hadith: “Recitation has been made easy for David: he would ask for his horse to be saddled, then he would start recitation of the Quran, and would finish before the horse is saddled. And David would not eat except from what he earned from his own hands”
- It is said that his book was revealed during Ramadan.
- Allah gave him decisiveness. Aya: “And We strengthened his kingdom, and bestowed on him wisdom and sound judgment” (38:20)
- Hadith: “Two people took their case to David about a cow. One of them claimed that the other person seized the cow from him by force. But the defendant denied the claim. So David postponed the case till night. When it was night, Allah revealed to him to kill the claimant. When it was morning, David said to him: “Allah has revealed to me that I should kill you, so I am going to kill you without any doubt. Now tell me what is the truth about your claim?’. He said: ‘By Allah, O Messenger of Allah, I am true in what I claimed, but I had murdered his father before it.’ David therefore ordered him to be killed. After this case, David’s authority was greatly recognized among Bani Israel, and they obeyed him thoroughly.”
- Allah tests Dawud:
- Aya: “Had the story of the disputant come to you? When they climbed over the wall of the private chamber: when they entered before David, and he was terrified of them, and they said: ‘Do not dear, we are two disputants, one of us has wronged the other, so judge between us justly, and do not do injustice, and guide us to the right way. This man is my brother, and he has ninety-nine sheep, and I have one sheep. But he said to me: Entrust it to me, and he prevailed over me in the argument’”
- Aya: “David said: ‘Surely, he has been unjust to you in demanding your sheep in addition to his sheep, and surely many partners do wrong to each other, except those who believe and do righteous deeds, and how few are they?’ And David realized that We had tried him, so he sought forgiveness from his Lord, and fell, bowing, and turned in repentance. So we forgave him that, and he has a place of nearness with Us, and a fair return”
- Aya: “Oh David! We have appointed you as a khalifah on the earth, so judge between the people with justice, and do not follow vain desires, lest it leads you astray form the way of Allah. Surely, those who go astray from the way of Allah, for them awaits a severe chastisement, as they forgot the Day of Reckoning” (38: 21-25)
- Allah is addressing David in this verse, however it is intended for the rulers and those who are in authority. Allah has commanded them to be just, and to be followers of the truth revealed from Allah, not the kind of truth based on traditions and personal opinions. Those who follow a path other than that are threatened with a severe punishment.
- Death of David:
- When Allah created Adam, He took out all his progeny from his back, and there were Prophets among them clearly distinct from others. Adam saw among them one who was glowing. Adam said: “O my Lord! Who is this?” Allah replied: “He is your son David.” Adam said: “what is the age of him?” Allah said: “60 years”. Adam said: “My Lord increase his age!”. Allah said: “No, except that I may take from your age and increase his age”. Adam’s life span was 1000 years, so he gave him forty years out of his own age. So when the age of Adam came to end, the angel of death approached him. Adam said: “Is not there 40 years left from my age?” So Adam forgot what he had granted his son David out of his age. So Allah out of His Mercy granted Adam his original age of 1000 years and to David 100 years.
- Hadith: “David took great care of guarding his family. So when he went out, he locked the door, so nobody could enter his house until he returned. One day he went out, and locked the door. Suddenly his wife came to see a man in the middle of his house, so she said to the members of the family in the house: ‘How has this man entered the house when the door was locked? By Allah! David is going to feel disgraced.’ When David came back, he saw the man standing in the middle of the house, so he asked him: ‘Who are you?’ He replied: ‘I am the one who does not fear any king, neither could be barred by any hurdle’ David said: ‘So you could not be but the angel of death, so welcome to Allah’s command’. Then he stayed till he took his soul out of his body. When he was washed, and wrapped in the Kafan, the sun came up shining. So Sulaiman said to the birds: ‘Provide shade to David’, so when they did, it became dark, Sulaiman commanded the birds again: ‘Contract one wing each’” (Ahmad)
Joshua
- He is from the lineage of Prophet Yusuf and Ibrahim.
- He was mentioned in Quran as a servant with Prophet Musa, his name is not mentioned in Quran however it is mentioned in sahih hadith.
- He was a righteous student of his teacher, Prophet Musa
- When Prophet Musa passed away Prophethood was passed along to him
- He became the leader of the children of Israel
- They were delivered to the holy land under his leadership, they were victorious
- The Prophet (pbuh) tells us why this victory was delayed
- Bani Israel were raised in servitude and slavery. when they left Egypt they were not fit to fight
- In the 40 years of wilderness, the elders died and the youth were raised by Musa and Harun.
- Musa was the most important and best Prophet sent to bani Israel, but victory did not happen on his hands
- Prophet Musa organized bani Israel according to their tribes, he was getting them ready to fight after they come out of the wilderness.
- Aya: “And Allah had taken the covenant from the Children of Israel, and We appointed from among them twelve chieftains. And Allah said: ‘I am with you, only if you establish prayer, pay the alms, believe in my Messengers and stand with them, and lend to Allah a good loan. So I will expiate your sins, and I will admit you to gardens beneath which rivers flow, so whoever of you disbelieves after that, surely, he has gone astray from the Right Way’” (5:12)
- Joshua was fighting with the people Jerusalem (al-jababirah). The sun was about to set while they were fighting, he knew that they needed more time.
- Joshua pointed to the sun and said “You are receiving orders and I am receiving orders so stop”
- Allah made the sun stop until they finished fighting the enemy and then it set
- If you have Allah on your side then that’s all you need
- Hadith: “The sun has never been held back for a human being from setting except for Joshua” (Ahmad)
- Hadith: “One of the Prophets went for a battle, so he said to his people: ‘No one should come with me who has just had a wife but has not yet slept with her, no one who has built a house but did not yet put its roof up, nor the one who has bought goats or pregnant camels and is waiting for them to deliver.’ So the Prophet went for the battle, and approached a town after he had prayed the Asr prayer. Then he said to the sun: ‘You are commanded and I am commanded. O Allah hold it back for a while.” So Allah held it back, till the conquered the town. Then they all gathered what they found as spoils of the war. The fire then came to eat the spoils, but did not eat it. The Prophet then said: There is some one who has cheated from the spoils. So he asked one man from every tribe to come forward and pledge to him. They all came to pledge to him, but the hand of one man stuck with the hand of the Prophet. He said: ‘The cheat is from among you, so now let every one of your tribe come forward and pledge to me.’ They came and offered their pledge to him, and so the hands of two or three people for stuck with his hand, and he said: ‘You are the cheaters, you took the spoils of the war.’ So they took out gold equivalent to the head of a cow. They put the gold together with other spoils, and the fire came and are it. The spoils of war were not allowed for anyone before us. This is because Allah saw our weakness and incapacity, so He purified it for us” (Ahmad)
- He wanted the people who came with him to have sincerity, and not to be distracted. Their hearts shouldn’t be attached to something else.
- They won and started to establish their nation under the banner of “la ilaha illa Allah”
- Bani Israel continued to fight many wars.
Samuel:
- Aya: “Have you not seen the chiefs of the Children of Israel, after Musa, when they said to a Prophet of theirs: ‘Appoint for us a king that we may fight in the cause of Allah.’ He said: ‘Is it not possible that if fighting is prescribed for you, you may not fight?’ They said: ‘How could we refuse to fight in the cause of Allah, when we have been turned out of our homes and separated from our children?’ Yet when fighting was prescribed for them, they turned away, except a few of them, and Allah is All-Knowing of those evildoers” (2:246)
- He said you’re asking for fighting, but when fighting is prescribed for you will you fight
- They said of course. But Allah tells us that when fighting was ordered for them, they turned away, except for a few of them
- Aya: “And their Prophet said to them: ‘Allah has appointed Talut (Saul) as a king for you.’”
- So their Prophet tells them, ok your wish has been granted but they were not pleased.
- Aya: “They said: ‘How is he entitled to be a king over us, when we are better fitted than him, and he is not even gifted with wealth in abundance?’”
- He was from a lower race or class, and he wasn’t wealthy. Their hearts were diseased: they were arrogant.
- Aya: “He said: ‘Allah has chosen him above you, and has gifted him abundantly with knowledge and bodily strength. Allah bestows sovereignty on whom He pleases, and Allah is Alla-Sufficient, All-Knowing’”
- Their Prophet gave them the answer “Allah commanded it”. He didn’t need to say anything else. But since they gave two reasons why they didn’t want Talut as their leader, he gave them two reasons why he should be their leader.
- He gave them two reasons: he had knowledge (this doesn’t mean knowledge of fiqh, but knowledge in what is appropriate in his case which is fighting), and he also had strength (he was physically strong).
- Aya: “And their Prophet said to them: ‘Indeed the sign of his kingship is that the ark (tabut) shall come to you, in it is serenity from your Lord, and the relics left by the families of Musa and Harun, carried by angels.’ Surely, in this there is a sign for you, if you are believers” (2:247-248)
- Allah wanted to appoint Talut as their king through a ceremony.
- Allah wanted to strengthen their hearts in order to accept him as their leader, so a miracle was going to happen.
- When Bani Israel were at work with the Philistines and were defeated, their “Ark of Covenant”, which they had brought to the battlefield, to bless the war in their favor, was captured by their enemy and taken away. Now Allah is promising the return of this treasure and it will be carried by angels which they will see.
- Now Talut was appointed as their king.
- Aya: “So when Talut went forth with the army, he said: ‘Allah will test you at the river, whoever drinks of its water will not be my companion, and whoever does not taste it, he is surely my companions, and he who takes but a mere sip.’”
- He left the children, women and elderly and took only the soldiers. They numbered 80,000.
- Talut is not looking for numbers, he knew that what they will face ahead needs an iron will. So he wanted to take them through a series of tests so only the strong soldiers will be with him.
- Weak soldiers will cause more harm than benefit.
- He told them about the test.
- He made them march in the desert, he made them thirsty, exhausted and tired.
- When they reached the river (it’s said that it’s the River Jordan), he told them not to drink from it. And whoever drinks from it cannot continue with them.
- If one drank a handful then they could still remain as part of the group (it’s probably easier not to drink than to take that one sip)
- 80,000 went through the test and only 4,000 passed the test.
- 76,000 were left behind.
- Aya: “But they all drank of it, except a few of them. So when he crossed it (the river), he and the believers with him, they said: ‘We have no power this day to fight against Jalut (Goliath) and his armies.’ Those who had firm belied that they will meet Allah, said: ‘How often has a small company overcome a big company by Allah’s Will, and Allah is with those who are patient’”
- They said we have no way of fighting Jalut, they were a small amount compared to Jalut and his army.
- The believers disagreed and told them that they could win by Allah’s will.
- The other didn’t believe in the unseen, so they also failed.
- In the end Talut was left with 314 soldiers, our of 80,000.
- Hadith: The companions said: “We the companions of the Propeht were discussing that the number of those who attended Badr Battle was the same number of those who participated with Talut”
- Aya: “And when they advanced against Jalut and his army, they prayed: ‘Our Lord! Pour out upon us constancy (sabr) and make our foothold firm, and help us against the disbeliever people.’ So they rooted them by Allah’s Will.”
- After we do our part in preparation, we put our trust in Allah and we make dua for Him to help us. That is what they did.
- They asked Allah to pour patience over them, because they knew that they needed a lot of it.
- The battle started, a huge army was fighting this small army.
- Jalut was the kind of the enemy, a powerful, huge, strong, arrogant man. He was challenging Talut’s army to fight him.
- Talut asked: who will go and fight him?
- A young, short man said I will go.
- Talut asked again when he saw the young man, but no one came forward except this young man.
- This young man had courage, he went up to Jalut with a sling shot.
- Jalut said: “Go back, I don’t want to fight you, I don’t want to kill you, send someone else”
- But the young man said: I want to kill you.
- The young man fired his sling shot and he killed Jalut.
- The young man was David.
- Now Bani Israel will enter into their golden age. Just like the Muslims entered their golden age after the battle of badr.
- This was the best era for Bani Israel, after that it was their downfall as the curse of the Prophets was over them.
Dawud:
- He was from the progeny of Ibrahim.
- David was short with blue eyes, of little hair.
- After David killed Jalut, he became a hero overnight, and Israelites loved him.
- David was now their king and it was the first time that Prophethood and kingship came together. Allah gave him a strong kingdom.
- Allah also taught him wisdom (good judgment and the ability to run the affairs of his people) and other things that he willed.
- Aya: “And David slew Jalut, and Allah gave him sovereignty and wisdom, and taught him of what he pleased” (2:251)
- Miracles of Dawud:
-He was given a very beautiful voice,
-He was able to interpret the speech of animals (this was also given to his son Sulaiman),
Aya: “And we bestowed upon David bounty from Us: ‘O mountains and birds, echo Allah’s praise with him’” (34:10)
-When he made dhikr the birds and mountains would make thikr with him,
-Iron would be soft in his hands (without fire or hammers),
Aya: “And We softened the iron for him”
-He improved the making of armor.
Aya: “Make coats of mail, and set the links in even measure (not too large and not too small)”
Aya: “and it was We Who taught him the making of garments (armor) for you, to fortify you in your wars, so will you then be thankful?”
- People had iron but it was hard for them to use it.
- Allah also taught him how to make armory in a new way. Before that they would make it in the form of iron plates (heavy solid plates, not flexible). Prophet Dawud would make armory out of rings of iron which was light and flexible.
- Hadith: “The best food a man could eat is what is earned by him, and the Prophet of Allah David are from what he earned from his own handwork” (Ahmad)
- Allah granted him extraordinary resolve for devotion.
- Hadith: “The best prayer to Allah is the prayer of David, and the best fasting to Allah is the fasting of David: he slept for the first half of the night, then woke up for one third and prayed, and then he slept for the rest of one-sixth. He fasted one day and broke fast one day” (Bukhari and Muslim)
- Hadith: “Recitation has been made easy for David: he would ask for his horse to be saddled, then he would start recitation of the Quran, and would finish before the horse is saddled. And David would not eat except from what he earned from his own hands”
- It is said that his book was revealed during Ramadan.
- Allah gave him decisiveness. Aya: “And We strengthened his kingdom, and bestowed on him wisdom and sound judgment” (38:20)
- Hadith: “Two people took their case to David about a cow. One of them claimed that the other person seized the cow from him by force. But the defendant denied the claim. So David postponed the case till night. When it was night, Allah revealed to him to kill the claimant. When it was morning, David said to him: “Allah has revealed to me that I should kill you, so I am going to kill you without any doubt. Now tell me what is the truth about your claim?’. He said: ‘By Allah, O Messenger of Allah, I am true in what I claimed, but I had murdered his father before it.’ David therefore ordered him to be killed. After this case, David’s authority was greatly recognized among Bani Israel, and they obeyed him thoroughly.”
- Allah tests Dawud:
- Aya: “Had the story of the disputant come to you? When they climbed over the wall of the private chamber: when they entered before David, and he was terrified of them, and they said: ‘Do not dear, we are two disputants, one of us has wronged the other, so judge between us justly, and do not do injustice, and guide us to the right way. This man is my brother, and he has ninety-nine sheep, and I have one sheep. But he said to me: Entrust it to me, and he prevailed over me in the argument’”
- Aya: “David said: ‘Surely, he has been unjust to you in demanding your sheep in addition to his sheep, and surely many partners do wrong to each other, except those who believe and do righteous deeds, and how few are they?’ And David realized that We had tried him, so he sought forgiveness from his Lord, and fell, bowing, and turned in repentance. So we forgave him that, and he has a place of nearness with Us, and a fair return”
- Aya: “Oh David! We have appointed you as a khalifah on the earth, so judge between the people with justice, and do not follow vain desires, lest it leads you astray form the way of Allah. Surely, those who go astray from the way of Allah, for them awaits a severe chastisement, as they forgot the Day of Reckoning” (38: 21-25)
- Allah is addressing David in this verse, however it is intended for the rulers and those who are in authority. Allah has commanded them to be just, and to be followers of the truth revealed from Allah, not the kind of truth based on traditions and personal opinions. Those who follow a path other than that are threatened with a severe punishment.
- Death of David:
- When Allah created Adam, He took out all his progeny from his back, and there were Prophets among them clearly distinct from others. Adam saw among them one who was glowing. Adam said: “O my Lord! Who is this?” Allah replied: “He is your son David.” Adam said: “what is the age of him?” Allah said: “60 years”. Adam said: “My Lord increase his age!”. Allah said: “No, except that I may take from your age and increase his age”. Adam’s life span was 1000 years, so he gave him forty years out of his own age. So when the age of Adam came to end, the angel of death approached him. Adam said: “Is not there 40 years left from my age?” So Adam forgot what he had granted his son David out of his age. So Allah out of His Mercy granted Adam his original age of 1000 years and to David 100 years.
- Hadith: “David took great care of guarding his family. So when he went out, he locked the door, so nobody could enter his house until he returned. One day he went out, and locked the door. Suddenly his wife came to see a man in the middle of his house, so she said to the members of the family in the house: ‘How has this man entered the house when the door was locked? By Allah! David is going to feel disgraced.’ When David came back, he saw the man standing in the middle of the house, so he asked him: ‘Who are you?’ He replied: ‘I am the one who does not fear any king, neither could be barred by any hurdle’ David said: ‘So you could not be but the angel of death, so welcome to Allah’s command’. Then he stayed till he took his soul out of his body. When he was washed, and wrapped in the Kafan, the sun came up shining. So Sulaiman said to the birds: ‘Provide shade to David’, so when they did, it became dark, Sulaiman commanded the birds again: ‘Contract one wing each’” (Ahmad)
Thursday, May 15, 2008
May 15th: Prophet Musa (part3)
Prophet Musa (part 3)
Israelites after destruction of Pharaoh:
- Aya: “So We took Our vengeance on them and drowned them in the sea, because they had disbelieved in Our signs, and were heedless of them. And we gave heritage to those who had been abased, the eastern and the western parts of that land that We had blessed, and perfectly fulfilled the most fair Word of your Lord upon the Children of Israel, due to what they endured patiently: and We destroyed completely the works of Pharaoh and his people and what they had constructed. And We crossed the Children of Israel through the sea, and then they came upon a people devoted to their idols. They said: ‘O Moses! Make for us a god like the gods they have’. He said: ‘You are surely most ignorant people’” (7:136-138)
- Aya: “Surely, that which they are engaged upon shall be shattered, and false is that they have been doing. He said: ‘How can I seek for you a god other than Allah. Who has preferred you above the worlds?’ And when We rescued you from the people of Pharaoh, who afflicted you with the worst torment, slaughtering your sons, and sparing your women, and in this was a great test from your Lord” (7:139-141)
- Allah saved Bani Israel from the biggest tyrant that every existed.
- They saw the miracle of Allah infront of their own eyes: the sea split, Pharaoh and his army drowning, how Allah delivered them to safety.
- What was the first thing after they reached to safety?
- They found a group of people worshipping idols and wanted to imitate them.
- It was only part of Bani Israel who made this request, not all of them.
- This was clearly an ignorant demand after they had just seen Allah’s great signs.
- Bani Israel believed in Allah. But when they saw what the other people were doing they wanted to copy them.
- They thought that the idols would bring them closer to Allah.
- This action was an act of kufr.
- Musa excused them with their ignorance, he didn’t call them kuffar. He taught them.
- He told them that those people are in ignorance and what their doing is an act that they will be punished for.
- He reminded them of the favors of Allah upon them.
- He explained to them that no worship should be offered to anyone but Allah, without associating any partner with Him.
After this incident, Musa and Bani Israel travel in the direction of Jerusalem:
- When they reached Jerusalem, which was ruled by non-believers. Musa commanded them to attack those people so they can have the land that Allah has promised them.
- Aya: “And when Musa said to his people: ‘O my people! Remember Allah’s blessing upon you when He appointed Prophets from among you, and appointed you kings, and gave you such as He had never given to any of the worlds. O my people! Enter the sacred land, which Allah has prescribed for you, and do not turn back or you will become losers.’” (5:20-21)
- Retreating from the battle field is one of the biggest sins. Bani Israel didn’t retreat… they didn’t even want to fight.
- They refused to fight them, and disobeyed Allah’s command.
- Aya: “They said: ‘O Musa! Surely, there is a people of exceeding strength in that land, never shall we enter it until they depart from it, so if they depart from it, then shall we enter” (5:22)
- They said, those people are powerful and strong so we’re not going to enter it until they leave.
- How did they expect those powerful and strong people to leave without them fighting them first?
- They didn’t want to sacrifice or put in any effort.
- There was still some good amongst them so two men from them said:
- Aya: “Two men of those who feared Allah, whom Allah had blessed said: ‘March on them through the gate, so if you enter it, surely, you will have the upper hand, and put all your trust in Allah, if you are believers’”
- These two men told them, all you need to do is enter the gate. Was this another miracle that would happen? Allah knows best. But this was the advice they gave.
- Allah described these two men to have fear of Him. You cannot conquer the enemy if you are not afraid of Allah first not the enemy.
- Aya: “They said: ‘O Musa! We shall never enter it as long as they are there, so go you and your Lord and fight, surely we will be sitting here’.”
- They showed cowardice. They were afraid of those people when they just saw how Allah freed them from Pharaoh who was more powerful!
- When the Prophet (pbuh) asked the companions if they should fight in the battle of Badr, the companions said: “We are not going to say what Bani Israel said to Musa, we are going to say: Go and fight with your Lord we will be there fighting with you”
- This was a grim moment for Prophet Musa, he raised his hands and said:
- Aya: “Musa said: ‘My Lord! I control no one except myself and my brother, so separate us from these wicked people.’”
- Allah punished them.
- Aya: “Allah said: ‘So it shall be forbidden to them for 40 years, while they shall be wandering about in destitution in the land, so grieve not for those wicked people’”
- As a punishment Allah left them in wandering for 40 years in the desert (Sinai) with no destination, in a total state of bewilderment. They were lost in the desrt.
- Even though Bani Israel were being punished by their wandering in the desert. He is so merciful and he was answering their dua.
- He gave them food and shade.
- Aya: “And We shaded you with cloud and sent down on you [Al-Mann] and [Assalwa]”
- Mann is a kind of sweet or honey, salwa is a kind of bird.
- They needed water, so Musa made dua for them
- Aya: “And Musa prayed for water for his people, so We said: ‘Strike the rock with your staff’, whereupon twelve springs gushed forth, each tribe knew its own spring. ‘Eat and drink of Allah sustenance, and do not act wickedly, corrupting the earth’”
- So Allah gave them, food, shade and water.
- They went again to Musa and asked him to make dua, they said:
- Aya: “O Musa! We cannot bear one kind of food, so pray to your Lord for us to produce of that which the earth grows its herbs, cucumbers, garlic, lentils and onions’”
- Allah provided them with mann and salwa, special good. Yet they were still not pleased.
- They asked for lentils, onions, garlics, and herbs. They wanted vegetarian food, even though Allah blessed them with special meat.
- The issue here is not the particular type of food that they were asking for, the issue here is that they refused to sacrifice.. and now they’re not even willing to give up the type of food that they grew up with. The food they asked for was the food that they were used to eating in Egypt.
- Aya: “He (Musa) said: ‘Will you exchange the better for the worse? Go down to Egypt and you will find what you demand’. And disgrace and humiliation were stamped upon them, and they drew on themselves the Wrath of Allah. That is beccause they went on rejecting the Signs of Allah”
- Musa refused to fulfill their demans, he told them, go back to Egypt then… go back to your life of humility and disgrace.
- They weren’t willing to do anything for Allah’s sake. Not even sacrifice the type of food they liked.
- How about us? Do we give up the things we like for Allah’s sake? Do we break our habits for Allah’s sake?
Allah wanted to meet with prophet Musa and he gave him an appointment to meet after 30 days next to the mountain of Tur
- Aya: “And We appointed for Musa 30 nights, and added to them 10, this he completed the term appointed by his Lord, of 40 nights”
- Musa was commanded to fast for 30 days before the meeting, because fasting is purification.
- Because of the smell of his mouth Musa used miswak to change that smell and he went to he meeting.
- Allah told him: Don’t you know that I love the smell of the person who is fasting more than the smell of musk.
- So Allah added 10 more days. Which made is a total of 40 nights.
- Aya: “ Musa said to his brother Harun: ‘Stand in my place among my people and do right, and do not follow the way of the corrupt’”
- Musa left his brother Harun in charge after he left.
- Musa was “kaleemu-llah”. He spoke to Allah, not once or twice but many times.
- Musa wanted to reach a higher state or closeness to Allah so he made a special request.
- Aya: “My Lord! Show Yourself to me, that I may look upon You”
- Musa didn’t have any doubts or weakness of faith, he just wanted to be closer to Allah and desired to see Him.
- Aya: “Allah said: ‘You cannot see me, but look upon the mountain. If it remains firm in its place then you shall see Me’”
- Allah revealed part of Himself to the mountain while Musa was staring at the mountain.
- The mountain was destroyed, crushed down, and it turned into dust. It vanished.
- When Musa saw the mountain, he fell down in a state of shock unconscious.
- This happened to him just by staring at the mountain, what would happen to him if he has seen Allah.
- Aya: “When his Lord manifested Himself to the mountain, it crumbled to fine dust, and Musa fell down in shock. When he regained his consciousness, he said: “Glory be to You! I repent to You, and I am the first of the believers” (7:143)
- All mankind will lose their consciousness on the Day of Judgment.
- The Prophet said that when he wakes up after that state of unconsciousness he will find that Musa is already awake. He said it might be that Musa is not affected by this because he already was affected in this lifetime.
- Did anyone see Allah in this life? No, except for Prophet Muhammad.
- Will anyone see Allah on judgment day? Only the believers, after they enter jannah.
- Aya: “Allah said: ‘O Musa! I have chosen you above all people for My messages and to speak with Me, so take what I have given you and be grateful’ (meaning, don’t ask me for more than what I have already blessed you with). And we inscribed for him on the Tablets the admonitions and explanation of all things (and said): ‘Take them with strong will, and command your people to follow it according to their best sense. Soon I shall show you the abode of the wicked people’” (7:144-145)
- It was on the 10th of Dhul Hijjah (eid al-adha), when this meeting took place. It’s the same day that Allah completed the religion Islam for us.
- The tablets were made with precious jewels.
- Allah tells Musa about what’s going on in his absence from his people…
- Aya: “We have pur your people to trial in your absence, and Samiri has led them astray” (20: 85)
- Samiri was able to see something that no one else saw on the day that Pharaoh was drowned. He saw Jibril and picked up some dust from where Jibril’s horse was walking.
- He told the women of Bani Israel to bring the jewels they had (which they took from the Egyptian women), they felt guilty for having the jewels.
- He suggested they burn the jewels, they mixed it with the dust and he molded it into a calf. He made it hollow and is would make a sound when air would pass through it which sounded like a mooing cow.
- Aya: “And the people of Musa made in his absence out of their ornaments, a calf, which made a sound like a cow (mooing)”
- Samiri told them, this is your god so they started worshipping it.
- Musa had told his people that he would be gone for 30 days. However, the appointment was extended and Bani Israel didn’t know what was going on.
- They claimed that Musa couldn’t find his Lord because his lord is right there with them.
- Musa went back to his people, angry, upset, and sorry.
- As soon as Musa got there and saw them making sujood to the calf, he threw the tablets from his hand. He was in a state of shock that the tablets just fell from his hands.
- He already knew what was happening, but hearing is not like seeing.
- Aya: “And when Musa returned to his people full of anger and sorrow, he said: ‘Evil it is that you have done in my absence. Did you make haste to bring on the Judgment of your Lord?’ And he cast down the tablets, and took hold of his brother’s head, dragging him towards himself. Harun said: ‘O son of my mother! The people overpowered me, and almost killed me. So do not make the enemies rejoice over me, nor regards me as one of these evil doers’” (7:150)
- Harun had advised them, he told them that this is a trial, he reminded them that Allah is one, and he asked them to follow him. Yet they did not listen to him.
- This calf was so attractive to them that their “hearts absorbed it”
- They had told Harun: We will not stop worshipping the calf until Musa comes back.
- Musa grabbed Harun by his head and beard and pulled him towards himself. He wanted to know why Harun didn’t go and tell him what was happening..
- When Harun responded to him, first he reminded him that they’re brothers so he would have more mercy on him.
- Bani Israel had threatened Harun that they would kill him. Harun told Musa, don’t let those enemies rejoice because of this issue you have with me. (be private about your disagreements and personal matters)
- Harun explained to Musa that he didn’t want the problem to get out of hand in his absence and that’s why he chose to wait for him.
- Musa said: “O Allah! Forgive me and my brother and include us both in Your mercy because You are the Most Merciful”
- Musa then said to his people:
- Aya: “O my people! Did not your Lord make a handsome promise to you? Did the time seem too long to you? Or did you wish that Allah’s anger should alight upon you, and so you broke your promise to me?’. They said: ‘We have not failed in our promise to you of our own doing, but we were made to bear the burdens of the ornaments of the people, and we threw them into the fire as Samiri suggested” (20: 86-87)
- There’s two problems here: 1) They had guilt in their hearts because of having this gold even though Allah made is halal for them. Yet they didn’t have guilt for committing shirk with Allah. Their scales are reversed.
- Aya: “Did they not see that it could not return them a word and that it had no power to do them any harm or any good”
- Musa now addresses Samiri:
- Aya: “What then is your case O Samiri?”
- The Samiri said:
- Aya: “I saw what the people did not see, and I grasped a handful of dust from the track of the messenger, and threw it into it, thus my inner self prompted me”
- Musa punished Samiri by telling him to go, he cannot be part of their ummah anymore.
- Aya: “Musa said: ‘Then go away! Surely, it will be for you, in this life, to say: Touch me not. And surely, there is a threat for you that you cannot escape”
- Notice that Musa first spoke to his people, then to Harun, then to Samiri… even though Samiri was the cause of the problem.
- Then Musa said to Samiri: “And look at your god to which you have been devoted, we will certainly burn it and scatter its particles in the sea. Verily your God is only Allah, He has full knowledge of all things” (20: 97-98)
- Now Bani Israel realized their mistake and wanted to repent.
- Aya: “And when they repented, and saw that they had gone astray, they said: ‘If your Lord does not have mercy on us, and does not forgive us, we shall be among the losers” (7: 149)
- Not all of Bani Israel worshipped the calf but they ALL had to pay the price because it happened infront of their eyes and they did not stop it.
- Aya: “Musa said to his people: ‘O my people! Surely, you have wronged yourselves by your worship of the calf, so repent to your Creator, and slay yourselves, this will be better for you with your Creator and He will relent towards you’”
- Their punishment was to kill themselves. However, this wasn’t literal. It meant that the people who didn’t worship the calf would kill the ones who did. Which is like killing themselves because they were all related.
- 70,000 people were killed. This was the hefty price they had to pay for the big sin they committed.
- Allah accepted their repentance from them even though they committed shirk. This is out of His mercy.
- Musa chose 70 men from amongst the best of Bani Israel, their religious scholars. They went to meet with Allah along with Musa.
- They went to apologize for the sin that was committed.
- They were commanded to wash their clothes, have a bath, and perfume themselves.
- When they reached the mountain it was covered with a thick cloud. Musa entered it and went to speak with Allah.
- When Allah had finished speaking to Musa, the clouds scattered and he came back to his people.
- They said: “O Musa! We will not believe in you until we see God openly” (2:55)
- These are the BEST from amongst Bani Israel… they came to apologize for a sin and now they are committing one.
- As they demanded that, a thunderbolt seized them, and they all fell dead.
- Now Musa is in a dilemma. These are the best 70 people amongst his people. If he returns back without them, the rest of Bani Israel will be in a state of dispare.
- If Allah doesn’t accept from the best of them then how will the rest feel.
- Musa then prayed to Allah “My Lord! If it has been Your Will, You could have destroyed them and me before this. Would You destroy us for what the foolish among us have done?”
- He asked Allah to forgive them.
- Allah said: “My punishment I afflict with it whom I will, and My Mercy encompasses everything. And so I will ordain it (My Mercy) for those who are pious and pay the alms, and those who believe in Our Revelations. Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered Prophet” (7:156-157)
- This makes it clear that Prophet Muhammad was mentioned to the Jews and they were commanded to follow him when he came along.
- Aya: “Then we raised you up after your death so that you may be grateful”
- When Musa came with the Tablets that contained the Torah, he commanded them to receive it with firmness and good will. But they said: “Show them to us, if its injunctions and teachings were easy, then we will take it”
- Musa said to them: No, take it with all its injunctions.
- They repeated the same argument many times.
- Allah then commanded the angels to raise the mountain above their heads, until it was like a cloud over their heads, and then it was said to them: “There is no choice except to accept it, otherwise this mountain will fall upon your heads”
- So they accepted it, then they were commanded to bow down in prostration which they did. This story is known amongst the Jews as well.
- It’s said that they made sujood on their cheeks so they could look up at the mountain with one eye.
The Story of the Cow:
- A very wealthy man from among Bani Israel was murdered.
- He was very old and had nephews who wished he would die so they could inherit him
- One night someone murders him and his body is found in the middle of the way in the morning
- No one knew who killed him
- Bani Israel came to Musa and asked him to help them find the killer.
- Musa asked Allah and Allah commanded them to slaughter a cow.
- Bani Israel took it as a joke. “We’re coming you about a murder and we want you to help us find the killer, and you’re telling us to slaughter a cow?”
- They said to Musa: “Do you mock us”
- He said: “I seek refuge in Allah from being ignorant”
- It would be ignorance of him to attribute something to Allah which Allah did not say.
- This also shows the rudeness of Bani Israel, that they would question the truthfulness of their prophet.
- Had Bani Israel followed the order and slaughtered a cow it would have been accepted from them. But they kept arguing and their mission was made harder each time.
- They finally believed that this is a command of Allah.
- They said: “Ask your lord to clarify what kind it should be”
- They were commanded to slaughter a cow of middle age, not young and not old.
- They said: “Ask your lord to clarify what color it is”
- Musa told them that it should be a yellow cow, so deep and bright in color that it delights the people looking at it.
- However, these specification didn’t seem enough for them… they asked for more.
- They said: “Ask your lord to tell us what it is because cows look alike and we aren’t able to find it”
- Musa said: “He says it is a cow which does not plough the spoil, nor water the fields, sound without a blemish on it:
- They finally said: “Now you have told us the truth”
- The chances of them finding such a cow were very slim so it took them a while to find it.
- They finally found that it was owned by an orphan..
- They asked him to buy the cow from him, but he refused.
- They offered him a lot of money but he refused.
- They offered him gold in its weight but he refused.
- He finally agreed to a price of 10 times its weight in gold.
- Then they slaughtered it and Musa commanded them to hit the dead man with a portion of its meat.
- Allah brought the man to life, he stood up and Musa asked him: Who killed you. He said: My nephew and then he fell dead again.
- Aya: “This Allah brings the dead to life, and shows you His signs so that you may understand”
- This was another miracle for Bani Israel.
- Yet Allah says that after that their hearts were hardened… Allah says in the Quran that they were harder than rocks. Allah says that there are stone out of which rivers gush forth, and stones that water flows from them, and stones that fall down out of fear of Allah. Yet their hearts were harder than stones that did nothing.
- This story teaches us not to ask too many questions that have no benefit to us.
The Story of Qarun:
- Qarun was a cousin of prophet Musa.
- He was called “Munawwar”, the enlightened one, because he read the Torah with a beautiful voice.
- Allah mentions in the Quran the abundance of Qarun’s treasures.
- The keys for those treasures needed to be carried by a group of heavy-built men.
- He was very arrogant and some people admonished him for his behaviour.
- They would say: “Do not exult, indeed Allah does not love the exultant”
- Exult means: to feel triumphantly happy and powerful.
- They advised him to seek the hereafter, and said: “But seek, in that which Allah has given you the Home of the Hereafter” (28:76)
- They advised him to use his wealth and spend it in the ways of Allah
- They also told him that it’s ok for him to enjoy some of it in this life
- They said “Do good, as Allah has been good to you”
- Qarun was proud of his immense wealth and authority and he payed no attention to all the advise he was getting.
- He said: “All that I have is due to a knowledge that I possess”
- He claimed that the wealth he had was due to his knowledge, he wasn’t thankful for it.
- He claimed that he deserved his wealth.
- He claimed that if he wasn’t so dear to Allah, then Allah wouldn’t have granted him this wealth.
- Aya: “Did he not know that Allah had destroyed before him generations of people who were mightier than him in strength and greater in riches. And the sinners shall not be asked about their sins (they will enter hellfire without reckoning)” (27:78)
- Being wealthy is not a sign of Allah’s love. Allah gives dunya to the believers and the non-believers.
- One day Qarun came out in a big procession, displaying all the wealth and glitter he had.
- The people who wanted to be like him were looking and wishing they had the same.
- The religious scholars among them said: “Woe to you! The reward of Allah is better for the one who believes and does righteous deeds, and none shall attain it except the steadfast” (28:80)
- Allah punished Qarun by having the earth swallow him
- Aya: “So We caused the earth to swallow him and his dwelling place, and there was none to protect him from Allah, nor could he help himself” (28:81)
- Hadith: “While a man was walking, dragging his lower garment in arrogance, Allah caused him to be swallowed by the earth, and so he will be sinking into the earth until the Day of Judgment”
- When the one who were just desiring his wealth witnessed this horrific scene, they said: “And if Allah had not been Gracious to us, He would surely have caused us to be swallowed up also. Indeed, the ungrateful never prosper” (28:82)
- The life of there hereafter is the real life that will be a cause of celebration and pride
- Hadith: “Whoever was mindful of his prayer, it will be a light, a proof and salvation for him on the Day of Judgment, and whoever disregarded it, he will not have a light, a proof and salvation; and will be raised together with Qarun, Pharaoh, Haman, and Ubai bin Khalaf”
The excellence of Musa:
- 1) He will not lose consciousness on judgment day.
- 2) Allah spoke to Musa directly
- 3) He was very bashful and modest
- 4) He was so honorable before Allah that when he interceded for his brother to be made a Prophet, Allah accepted his prayer.
- 5) He was very patient with all the troubles and trials he was put through
- 6) He was there during isra and mirage when prayers were prescribed for us, he helped reduce the number of prayers from 50 to 5. And we still get the reward of 50.
- Hadith: “All nations have been shown to me, and I saw a Prophet and with him was only a small group, and another Prophet with only one or two people, and another Prophet with no believers at all. Then I came to see a great multitude of people, and so I asked: ‘Are they the people of my ummah?’ It was said to me: ‘No, it is Musa and his people. But look up in the horizon.’ And I saw a huge multitude of people. Then I was told: ‘Look this side’. And there I saw a huge multitude of people. Then I was told: ‘They are your ummah, and from among them seventy thousand who will enter the Paradise with no reckoning or punishment”
Musa and His Pilgrimage:
- Hadith: “When the Prophet passed by the valley of Azraq, he asked: ‘Which valley is it?’ They replied: ‘The valley of Azraq’. The Prophet said: ‘As though I am looking at Musa and he is descending from the mountain trail, praying to Allah with his talbiyah’”
- This is proof to us that Prophet Musa went and made hajj.
The death of Musa:
- Hadith: “The angel of death was sent to Musa. When he came to him, Musa beat him and pushed him away. The angel went back to his Lord and complained: ‘You have sent me to a slave who does not want to die’. Allah said: ‘Go back to him, and tell him to put his hand on the back of an ox, and whatever he covers with his hand, of the hair of that ox, he will be granted a year for every hair.’ Musa said: ‘O my Lord! Then what will happen?’ He replied: ‘Death’. Musa said: ‘Then why not now’” (Bukhari)
- The angel of death came to Musa in a form of a man and asked him if he’s ready to die… Musa slapped him in the face and knocked his eye out.
- Musa and Harum died before the Israelites were taken out of their wandering in the dessert.
- Musa requested that he would die near Jerusalem, which is an indication that they hadn’t entered it.
Israelites after destruction of Pharaoh:
- Aya: “So We took Our vengeance on them and drowned them in the sea, because they had disbelieved in Our signs, and were heedless of them. And we gave heritage to those who had been abased, the eastern and the western parts of that land that We had blessed, and perfectly fulfilled the most fair Word of your Lord upon the Children of Israel, due to what they endured patiently: and We destroyed completely the works of Pharaoh and his people and what they had constructed. And We crossed the Children of Israel through the sea, and then they came upon a people devoted to their idols. They said: ‘O Moses! Make for us a god like the gods they have’. He said: ‘You are surely most ignorant people’” (7:136-138)
- Aya: “Surely, that which they are engaged upon shall be shattered, and false is that they have been doing. He said: ‘How can I seek for you a god other than Allah. Who has preferred you above the worlds?’ And when We rescued you from the people of Pharaoh, who afflicted you with the worst torment, slaughtering your sons, and sparing your women, and in this was a great test from your Lord” (7:139-141)
- Allah saved Bani Israel from the biggest tyrant that every existed.
- They saw the miracle of Allah infront of their own eyes: the sea split, Pharaoh and his army drowning, how Allah delivered them to safety.
- What was the first thing after they reached to safety?
- They found a group of people worshipping idols and wanted to imitate them.
- It was only part of Bani Israel who made this request, not all of them.
- This was clearly an ignorant demand after they had just seen Allah’s great signs.
- Bani Israel believed in Allah. But when they saw what the other people were doing they wanted to copy them.
- They thought that the idols would bring them closer to Allah.
- This action was an act of kufr.
- Musa excused them with their ignorance, he didn’t call them kuffar. He taught them.
- He told them that those people are in ignorance and what their doing is an act that they will be punished for.
- He reminded them of the favors of Allah upon them.
- He explained to them that no worship should be offered to anyone but Allah, without associating any partner with Him.
After this incident, Musa and Bani Israel travel in the direction of Jerusalem:
- When they reached Jerusalem, which was ruled by non-believers. Musa commanded them to attack those people so they can have the land that Allah has promised them.
- Aya: “And when Musa said to his people: ‘O my people! Remember Allah’s blessing upon you when He appointed Prophets from among you, and appointed you kings, and gave you such as He had never given to any of the worlds. O my people! Enter the sacred land, which Allah has prescribed for you, and do not turn back or you will become losers.’” (5:20-21)
- Retreating from the battle field is one of the biggest sins. Bani Israel didn’t retreat… they didn’t even want to fight.
- They refused to fight them, and disobeyed Allah’s command.
- Aya: “They said: ‘O Musa! Surely, there is a people of exceeding strength in that land, never shall we enter it until they depart from it, so if they depart from it, then shall we enter” (5:22)
- They said, those people are powerful and strong so we’re not going to enter it until they leave.
- How did they expect those powerful and strong people to leave without them fighting them first?
- They didn’t want to sacrifice or put in any effort.
- There was still some good amongst them so two men from them said:
- Aya: “Two men of those who feared Allah, whom Allah had blessed said: ‘March on them through the gate, so if you enter it, surely, you will have the upper hand, and put all your trust in Allah, if you are believers’”
- These two men told them, all you need to do is enter the gate. Was this another miracle that would happen? Allah knows best. But this was the advice they gave.
- Allah described these two men to have fear of Him. You cannot conquer the enemy if you are not afraid of Allah first not the enemy.
- Aya: “They said: ‘O Musa! We shall never enter it as long as they are there, so go you and your Lord and fight, surely we will be sitting here’.”
- They showed cowardice. They were afraid of those people when they just saw how Allah freed them from Pharaoh who was more powerful!
- When the Prophet (pbuh) asked the companions if they should fight in the battle of Badr, the companions said: “We are not going to say what Bani Israel said to Musa, we are going to say: Go and fight with your Lord we will be there fighting with you”
- This was a grim moment for Prophet Musa, he raised his hands and said:
- Aya: “Musa said: ‘My Lord! I control no one except myself and my brother, so separate us from these wicked people.’”
- Allah punished them.
- Aya: “Allah said: ‘So it shall be forbidden to them for 40 years, while they shall be wandering about in destitution in the land, so grieve not for those wicked people’”
- As a punishment Allah left them in wandering for 40 years in the desert (Sinai) with no destination, in a total state of bewilderment. They were lost in the desrt.
- Even though Bani Israel were being punished by their wandering in the desert. He is so merciful and he was answering their dua.
- He gave them food and shade.
- Aya: “And We shaded you with cloud and sent down on you [Al-Mann] and [Assalwa]”
- Mann is a kind of sweet or honey, salwa is a kind of bird.
- They needed water, so Musa made dua for them
- Aya: “And Musa prayed for water for his people, so We said: ‘Strike the rock with your staff’, whereupon twelve springs gushed forth, each tribe knew its own spring. ‘Eat and drink of Allah sustenance, and do not act wickedly, corrupting the earth’”
- So Allah gave them, food, shade and water.
- They went again to Musa and asked him to make dua, they said:
- Aya: “O Musa! We cannot bear one kind of food, so pray to your Lord for us to produce of that which the earth grows its herbs, cucumbers, garlic, lentils and onions’”
- Allah provided them with mann and salwa, special good. Yet they were still not pleased.
- They asked for lentils, onions, garlics, and herbs. They wanted vegetarian food, even though Allah blessed them with special meat.
- The issue here is not the particular type of food that they were asking for, the issue here is that they refused to sacrifice.. and now they’re not even willing to give up the type of food that they grew up with. The food they asked for was the food that they were used to eating in Egypt.
- Aya: “He (Musa) said: ‘Will you exchange the better for the worse? Go down to Egypt and you will find what you demand’. And disgrace and humiliation were stamped upon them, and they drew on themselves the Wrath of Allah. That is beccause they went on rejecting the Signs of Allah”
- Musa refused to fulfill their demans, he told them, go back to Egypt then… go back to your life of humility and disgrace.
- They weren’t willing to do anything for Allah’s sake. Not even sacrifice the type of food they liked.
- How about us? Do we give up the things we like for Allah’s sake? Do we break our habits for Allah’s sake?
Allah wanted to meet with prophet Musa and he gave him an appointment to meet after 30 days next to the mountain of Tur
- Aya: “And We appointed for Musa 30 nights, and added to them 10, this he completed the term appointed by his Lord, of 40 nights”
- Musa was commanded to fast for 30 days before the meeting, because fasting is purification.
- Because of the smell of his mouth Musa used miswak to change that smell and he went to he meeting.
- Allah told him: Don’t you know that I love the smell of the person who is fasting more than the smell of musk.
- So Allah added 10 more days. Which made is a total of 40 nights.
- Aya: “ Musa said to his brother Harun: ‘Stand in my place among my people and do right, and do not follow the way of the corrupt’”
- Musa left his brother Harun in charge after he left.
- Musa was “kaleemu-llah”. He spoke to Allah, not once or twice but many times.
- Musa wanted to reach a higher state or closeness to Allah so he made a special request.
- Aya: “My Lord! Show Yourself to me, that I may look upon You”
- Musa didn’t have any doubts or weakness of faith, he just wanted to be closer to Allah and desired to see Him.
- Aya: “Allah said: ‘You cannot see me, but look upon the mountain. If it remains firm in its place then you shall see Me’”
- Allah revealed part of Himself to the mountain while Musa was staring at the mountain.
- The mountain was destroyed, crushed down, and it turned into dust. It vanished.
- When Musa saw the mountain, he fell down in a state of shock unconscious.
- This happened to him just by staring at the mountain, what would happen to him if he has seen Allah.
- Aya: “When his Lord manifested Himself to the mountain, it crumbled to fine dust, and Musa fell down in shock. When he regained his consciousness, he said: “Glory be to You! I repent to You, and I am the first of the believers” (7:143)
- All mankind will lose their consciousness on the Day of Judgment.
- The Prophet said that when he wakes up after that state of unconsciousness he will find that Musa is already awake. He said it might be that Musa is not affected by this because he already was affected in this lifetime.
- Did anyone see Allah in this life? No, except for Prophet Muhammad.
- Will anyone see Allah on judgment day? Only the believers, after they enter jannah.
- Aya: “Allah said: ‘O Musa! I have chosen you above all people for My messages and to speak with Me, so take what I have given you and be grateful’ (meaning, don’t ask me for more than what I have already blessed you with). And we inscribed for him on the Tablets the admonitions and explanation of all things (and said): ‘Take them with strong will, and command your people to follow it according to their best sense. Soon I shall show you the abode of the wicked people’” (7:144-145)
- It was on the 10th of Dhul Hijjah (eid al-adha), when this meeting took place. It’s the same day that Allah completed the religion Islam for us.
- The tablets were made with precious jewels.
- Allah tells Musa about what’s going on in his absence from his people…
- Aya: “We have pur your people to trial in your absence, and Samiri has led them astray” (20: 85)
- Samiri was able to see something that no one else saw on the day that Pharaoh was drowned. He saw Jibril and picked up some dust from where Jibril’s horse was walking.
- He told the women of Bani Israel to bring the jewels they had (which they took from the Egyptian women), they felt guilty for having the jewels.
- He suggested they burn the jewels, they mixed it with the dust and he molded it into a calf. He made it hollow and is would make a sound when air would pass through it which sounded like a mooing cow.
- Aya: “And the people of Musa made in his absence out of their ornaments, a calf, which made a sound like a cow (mooing)”
- Samiri told them, this is your god so they started worshipping it.
- Musa had told his people that he would be gone for 30 days. However, the appointment was extended and Bani Israel didn’t know what was going on.
- They claimed that Musa couldn’t find his Lord because his lord is right there with them.
- Musa went back to his people, angry, upset, and sorry.
- As soon as Musa got there and saw them making sujood to the calf, he threw the tablets from his hand. He was in a state of shock that the tablets just fell from his hands.
- He already knew what was happening, but hearing is not like seeing.
- Aya: “And when Musa returned to his people full of anger and sorrow, he said: ‘Evil it is that you have done in my absence. Did you make haste to bring on the Judgment of your Lord?’ And he cast down the tablets, and took hold of his brother’s head, dragging him towards himself. Harun said: ‘O son of my mother! The people overpowered me, and almost killed me. So do not make the enemies rejoice over me, nor regards me as one of these evil doers’” (7:150)
- Harun had advised them, he told them that this is a trial, he reminded them that Allah is one, and he asked them to follow him. Yet they did not listen to him.
- This calf was so attractive to them that their “hearts absorbed it”
- They had told Harun: We will not stop worshipping the calf until Musa comes back.
- Musa grabbed Harun by his head and beard and pulled him towards himself. He wanted to know why Harun didn’t go and tell him what was happening..
- When Harun responded to him, first he reminded him that they’re brothers so he would have more mercy on him.
- Bani Israel had threatened Harun that they would kill him. Harun told Musa, don’t let those enemies rejoice because of this issue you have with me. (be private about your disagreements and personal matters)
- Harun explained to Musa that he didn’t want the problem to get out of hand in his absence and that’s why he chose to wait for him.
- Musa said: “O Allah! Forgive me and my brother and include us both in Your mercy because You are the Most Merciful”
- Musa then said to his people:
- Aya: “O my people! Did not your Lord make a handsome promise to you? Did the time seem too long to you? Or did you wish that Allah’s anger should alight upon you, and so you broke your promise to me?’. They said: ‘We have not failed in our promise to you of our own doing, but we were made to bear the burdens of the ornaments of the people, and we threw them into the fire as Samiri suggested” (20: 86-87)
- There’s two problems here: 1) They had guilt in their hearts because of having this gold even though Allah made is halal for them. Yet they didn’t have guilt for committing shirk with Allah. Their scales are reversed.
- Aya: “Did they not see that it could not return them a word and that it had no power to do them any harm or any good”
- Musa now addresses Samiri:
- Aya: “What then is your case O Samiri?”
- The Samiri said:
- Aya: “I saw what the people did not see, and I grasped a handful of dust from the track of the messenger, and threw it into it, thus my inner self prompted me”
- Musa punished Samiri by telling him to go, he cannot be part of their ummah anymore.
- Aya: “Musa said: ‘Then go away! Surely, it will be for you, in this life, to say: Touch me not. And surely, there is a threat for you that you cannot escape”
- Notice that Musa first spoke to his people, then to Harun, then to Samiri… even though Samiri was the cause of the problem.
- Then Musa said to Samiri: “And look at your god to which you have been devoted, we will certainly burn it and scatter its particles in the sea. Verily your God is only Allah, He has full knowledge of all things” (20: 97-98)
- Now Bani Israel realized their mistake and wanted to repent.
- Aya: “And when they repented, and saw that they had gone astray, they said: ‘If your Lord does not have mercy on us, and does not forgive us, we shall be among the losers” (7: 149)
- Not all of Bani Israel worshipped the calf but they ALL had to pay the price because it happened infront of their eyes and they did not stop it.
- Aya: “Musa said to his people: ‘O my people! Surely, you have wronged yourselves by your worship of the calf, so repent to your Creator, and slay yourselves, this will be better for you with your Creator and He will relent towards you’”
- Their punishment was to kill themselves. However, this wasn’t literal. It meant that the people who didn’t worship the calf would kill the ones who did. Which is like killing themselves because they were all related.
- 70,000 people were killed. This was the hefty price they had to pay for the big sin they committed.
- Allah accepted their repentance from them even though they committed shirk. This is out of His mercy.
- Musa chose 70 men from amongst the best of Bani Israel, their religious scholars. They went to meet with Allah along with Musa.
- They went to apologize for the sin that was committed.
- They were commanded to wash their clothes, have a bath, and perfume themselves.
- When they reached the mountain it was covered with a thick cloud. Musa entered it and went to speak with Allah.
- When Allah had finished speaking to Musa, the clouds scattered and he came back to his people.
- They said: “O Musa! We will not believe in you until we see God openly” (2:55)
- These are the BEST from amongst Bani Israel… they came to apologize for a sin and now they are committing one.
- As they demanded that, a thunderbolt seized them, and they all fell dead.
- Now Musa is in a dilemma. These are the best 70 people amongst his people. If he returns back without them, the rest of Bani Israel will be in a state of dispare.
- If Allah doesn’t accept from the best of them then how will the rest feel.
- Musa then prayed to Allah “My Lord! If it has been Your Will, You could have destroyed them and me before this. Would You destroy us for what the foolish among us have done?”
- He asked Allah to forgive them.
- Allah said: “My punishment I afflict with it whom I will, and My Mercy encompasses everything. And so I will ordain it (My Mercy) for those who are pious and pay the alms, and those who believe in Our Revelations. Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered Prophet” (7:156-157)
- This makes it clear that Prophet Muhammad was mentioned to the Jews and they were commanded to follow him when he came along.
- Aya: “Then we raised you up after your death so that you may be grateful”
- When Musa came with the Tablets that contained the Torah, he commanded them to receive it with firmness and good will. But they said: “Show them to us, if its injunctions and teachings were easy, then we will take it”
- Musa said to them: No, take it with all its injunctions.
- They repeated the same argument many times.
- Allah then commanded the angels to raise the mountain above their heads, until it was like a cloud over their heads, and then it was said to them: “There is no choice except to accept it, otherwise this mountain will fall upon your heads”
- So they accepted it, then they were commanded to bow down in prostration which they did. This story is known amongst the Jews as well.
- It’s said that they made sujood on their cheeks so they could look up at the mountain with one eye.
The Story of the Cow:
- A very wealthy man from among Bani Israel was murdered.
- He was very old and had nephews who wished he would die so they could inherit him
- One night someone murders him and his body is found in the middle of the way in the morning
- No one knew who killed him
- Bani Israel came to Musa and asked him to help them find the killer.
- Musa asked Allah and Allah commanded them to slaughter a cow.
- Bani Israel took it as a joke. “We’re coming you about a murder and we want you to help us find the killer, and you’re telling us to slaughter a cow?”
- They said to Musa: “Do you mock us”
- He said: “I seek refuge in Allah from being ignorant”
- It would be ignorance of him to attribute something to Allah which Allah did not say.
- This also shows the rudeness of Bani Israel, that they would question the truthfulness of their prophet.
- Had Bani Israel followed the order and slaughtered a cow it would have been accepted from them. But they kept arguing and their mission was made harder each time.
- They finally believed that this is a command of Allah.
- They said: “Ask your lord to clarify what kind it should be”
- They were commanded to slaughter a cow of middle age, not young and not old.
- They said: “Ask your lord to clarify what color it is”
- Musa told them that it should be a yellow cow, so deep and bright in color that it delights the people looking at it.
- However, these specification didn’t seem enough for them… they asked for more.
- They said: “Ask your lord to tell us what it is because cows look alike and we aren’t able to find it”
- Musa said: “He says it is a cow which does not plough the spoil, nor water the fields, sound without a blemish on it:
- They finally said: “Now you have told us the truth”
- The chances of them finding such a cow were very slim so it took them a while to find it.
- They finally found that it was owned by an orphan..
- They asked him to buy the cow from him, but he refused.
- They offered him a lot of money but he refused.
- They offered him gold in its weight but he refused.
- He finally agreed to a price of 10 times its weight in gold.
- Then they slaughtered it and Musa commanded them to hit the dead man with a portion of its meat.
- Allah brought the man to life, he stood up and Musa asked him: Who killed you. He said: My nephew and then he fell dead again.
- Aya: “This Allah brings the dead to life, and shows you His signs so that you may understand”
- This was another miracle for Bani Israel.
- Yet Allah says that after that their hearts were hardened… Allah says in the Quran that they were harder than rocks. Allah says that there are stone out of which rivers gush forth, and stones that water flows from them, and stones that fall down out of fear of Allah. Yet their hearts were harder than stones that did nothing.
- This story teaches us not to ask too many questions that have no benefit to us.
The Story of Qarun:
- Qarun was a cousin of prophet Musa.
- He was called “Munawwar”, the enlightened one, because he read the Torah with a beautiful voice.
- Allah mentions in the Quran the abundance of Qarun’s treasures.
- The keys for those treasures needed to be carried by a group of heavy-built men.
- He was very arrogant and some people admonished him for his behaviour.
- They would say: “Do not exult, indeed Allah does not love the exultant”
- Exult means: to feel triumphantly happy and powerful.
- They advised him to seek the hereafter, and said: “But seek, in that which Allah has given you the Home of the Hereafter” (28:76)
- They advised him to use his wealth and spend it in the ways of Allah
- They also told him that it’s ok for him to enjoy some of it in this life
- They said “Do good, as Allah has been good to you”
- Qarun was proud of his immense wealth and authority and he payed no attention to all the advise he was getting.
- He said: “All that I have is due to a knowledge that I possess”
- He claimed that the wealth he had was due to his knowledge, he wasn’t thankful for it.
- He claimed that he deserved his wealth.
- He claimed that if he wasn’t so dear to Allah, then Allah wouldn’t have granted him this wealth.
- Aya: “Did he not know that Allah had destroyed before him generations of people who were mightier than him in strength and greater in riches. And the sinners shall not be asked about their sins (they will enter hellfire without reckoning)” (27:78)
- Being wealthy is not a sign of Allah’s love. Allah gives dunya to the believers and the non-believers.
- One day Qarun came out in a big procession, displaying all the wealth and glitter he had.
- The people who wanted to be like him were looking and wishing they had the same.
- The religious scholars among them said: “Woe to you! The reward of Allah is better for the one who believes and does righteous deeds, and none shall attain it except the steadfast” (28:80)
- Allah punished Qarun by having the earth swallow him
- Aya: “So We caused the earth to swallow him and his dwelling place, and there was none to protect him from Allah, nor could he help himself” (28:81)
- Hadith: “While a man was walking, dragging his lower garment in arrogance, Allah caused him to be swallowed by the earth, and so he will be sinking into the earth until the Day of Judgment”
- When the one who were just desiring his wealth witnessed this horrific scene, they said: “And if Allah had not been Gracious to us, He would surely have caused us to be swallowed up also. Indeed, the ungrateful never prosper” (28:82)
- The life of there hereafter is the real life that will be a cause of celebration and pride
- Hadith: “Whoever was mindful of his prayer, it will be a light, a proof and salvation for him on the Day of Judgment, and whoever disregarded it, he will not have a light, a proof and salvation; and will be raised together with Qarun, Pharaoh, Haman, and Ubai bin Khalaf”
The excellence of Musa:
- 1) He will not lose consciousness on judgment day.
- 2) Allah spoke to Musa directly
- 3) He was very bashful and modest
- 4) He was so honorable before Allah that when he interceded for his brother to be made a Prophet, Allah accepted his prayer.
- 5) He was very patient with all the troubles and trials he was put through
- 6) He was there during isra and mirage when prayers were prescribed for us, he helped reduce the number of prayers from 50 to 5. And we still get the reward of 50.
- Hadith: “All nations have been shown to me, and I saw a Prophet and with him was only a small group, and another Prophet with only one or two people, and another Prophet with no believers at all. Then I came to see a great multitude of people, and so I asked: ‘Are they the people of my ummah?’ It was said to me: ‘No, it is Musa and his people. But look up in the horizon.’ And I saw a huge multitude of people. Then I was told: ‘Look this side’. And there I saw a huge multitude of people. Then I was told: ‘They are your ummah, and from among them seventy thousand who will enter the Paradise with no reckoning or punishment”
Musa and His Pilgrimage:
- Hadith: “When the Prophet passed by the valley of Azraq, he asked: ‘Which valley is it?’ They replied: ‘The valley of Azraq’. The Prophet said: ‘As though I am looking at Musa and he is descending from the mountain trail, praying to Allah with his talbiyah’”
- This is proof to us that Prophet Musa went and made hajj.
The death of Musa:
- Hadith: “The angel of death was sent to Musa. When he came to him, Musa beat him and pushed him away. The angel went back to his Lord and complained: ‘You have sent me to a slave who does not want to die’. Allah said: ‘Go back to him, and tell him to put his hand on the back of an ox, and whatever he covers with his hand, of the hair of that ox, he will be granted a year for every hair.’ Musa said: ‘O my Lord! Then what will happen?’ He replied: ‘Death’. Musa said: ‘Then why not now’” (Bukhari)
- The angel of death came to Musa in a form of a man and asked him if he’s ready to die… Musa slapped him in the face and knocked his eye out.
- Musa and Harum died before the Israelites were taken out of their wandering in the dessert.
- Musa requested that he would die near Jerusalem, which is an indication that they hadn’t entered it.
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