THE LIFE OF
MUHAMMAD
(Sallalahu Alayhe Wassalam)
THE MAKKAN PERIOD
IMAM ANWAR AL AWLAKI
CD -1: Transcribed by Javeria Aqeel
Recitation of Surah Al-Fatiha
The
Holy Quran:Chapter 1
The Holy Quran: Surah Al Ahzab
Chapter 33: Verse 33 & 34
O Prophet (MuhammadSAW )!
Verily, We have sent you as witness, and a bearer of glad tidings, and a
warner. And as one who invites to Allâh
by His Leave, and as a lamp spreading light.(through your instructions
from the Qur'ân and the Sunnah the legal ways of the Prophet saw ).
PREFACE
The life of Muhammad Sallalahu Alayhe Wassalam
(saw) introduces the Makkan Period of the Seerah of the Prophet Muhammad saw,
the final Messenger of Allah and the greatest human being to walk on the face
of the earth.
In this series, Imam Anwar Al Awlaki , author
of the best selling series The Lives of the Prophets, eloquently
presents the Makkan Period of the life of Muhammad (saw) in a detailed manner,
deriving valuable lessons from it, thus making it relevant to our modern times.
This series is primarily based on Ibn Kathir’s
book on Seerah. Imam Al Awlaki describes the stories of the golden era of Islam
in a dynamic style and installs in the listeners the deep love for the beloved
of Allah Subhana Wataalaa.
Imam Anwar Al Awlaki was born in New Mexico in
USA. His parents are from Yemen, where he lived for 11 years and received the
early part of his Islamic Education.
Imam Anwar Al Awlaki has served as in Imam in
Colorado, California and Washington DC. Currently he resides in Yemen.
INTRODUCTION
Duas
In
the Name of Allah, the Companionate, the Merciful.
O
Allah Open my heart, ease my task and remove the impediments from my speech so
that they may understand what I say.
We ask Allah Subhana Watala to bless this
gathering, We ask Allah Subhana Watala to benefit us from what we learn, we ask
Allah Subhana Watala to teach us that which will benefit us, we ask Allah
Subhana Watala to make us of those who follow the way of Rasool Allah saw and
love him and we ask Allah Subhana Watala to make us of those who will be with
him in Jannah.(Ameen)
Definition of Seerah
The word Seerah has a linguistic meaning which
means a path. Walking is called Sair, when you
walk from one place to another it is called sairtu Ful
an is walking.
So it is a path which a person takes during
his life time. The hans dictionary Gives the translation of Seerah as
conduct, comportment, demeanor, attitude, behavior, way of life, attitude,
position, reaction,. way of acting and biography, All of these are meanings of
Seerah. Seerah could be the biography of any person, not just prophet Muhammad
(saw), however we have used the word so much with Muhammad (saw), that when we
say Seerah, we almost all the time are referring to the life of Muhammad saw.
However, we can say the seerah of Abu Bakar , Seerah of
Omar (ra) and so and so. So Seerah is a
biography of a person, their life.
In this situation we are studying the life of
the greatest, Muhammad (saw)
Importance of Studying Seerah
What is the importance of studying Seerah?
No 1: History of Islam
The life of Muhammad (saw)is the history of
Islam. You are studying the concise history Islam. By studying the life of
Muhammad (saw). In his Seerah you would find situations and incidences that
would help us in everything that we would need to know in our life of dawah. So
we are not just studying the biography
of a person, we are studying the history of our religion.
Muhammad ibn saad ibn waqas, -Saad ibn Waqas is one of the ashra-e-mubasharah, he is one
of the 10 given glad tidings of paradise. His son Muhammad would say that our
father would teach us the battles of Rasool Allah, he would teach us the seerah
of Rasool Allah and he would tell us that these are the traditions of your
fathers, so study them. They used to refer to Seerah as maghazi. Maghazi
means battles. The latter part of life of Rasool Allah were spent in maghazi.
So they would use the word maghazi to refer to the whole life of Rasool Allah.
Ali bin Hussain ibn Ali bin Abi Talib- the grandson of Ali ibn Abi Talib would say
we were taught the Seerah of Rasool Allah like we were taught Quran. That is how important Seerah was for
them. They would study it like they studied Quran.
And that makes sense, because if you want to
study the life of Musa (as) where do we go, where do we study It from? From
Quran! If we want to study the life of Isa (as) we go to Quran, but if we want to study the life of
Muhammad (saw), his life, even though there are bits and pieces of it mentioned
in the Quran, but we don’t have that many details about Muhammad (saw) in the
Quran as we have about Musa (as). So the life of Rasool Allah saw ,for us, to study it we go to Seerah. All of the
anbiya, their lives were recorded in the Quran
with the exception of Muhammad
(saw). So to study the life of Muhammad (saw) we go to Seerah. When we want to
learn about the anbiya, we go to the Quran. But when we want to learn about
Muhammad saw, we go to Seerah, again even though there are some references
about him in the Quran.
No 2: Love
The second reason to study Seerah is to
develop the proper love of Muhammad saw in our hearts. Loving Muhammad saw is Ibadah. Its part of our
religion to love Muhammad (saw)
Love for Muhammad saw
Muhammad saw says: “None of you will attain
true faith until you love me more than your parents, your children and the
whole world”
(Bukhari, Book of Belif, Hadith 14)
We don’t really become true believers until we
love Muhammad saw more than any thing else. So it is part of Islam to love
Muhammad (saw).
Omar bin Khattab
(ra) he came to Rasool Allah saw and said…. He was a very honest and a straight
forward person. So went to Rasool Allah saw and said O Rasool Allah I love more
than everything except my self” I love you more than anyone except my self”
Rasool Allah saw
told him “until you love me”, meaning you don’t really attain the complete
faith until you love me more than your own self. So Omar bin Khattab came back
and said” O Rasool Allah, Now I love you more than my own self” Rasool Allah
saw said “Al aan eman ” “ Now you have attained
the complete faith”
The Ummah today
loves Muhammad saw. If you ask any Muslims Do you love Muhammad saw, they would
say yes.
But the love can
not be very deep and sincere unless you know the person. If you have shallow
information about someone, you can’t really love them a lot. To love a person
you need to know them more. And this is especially true with Muhammad saw.
Because the more you know him, the more you would be impressed with his
personality, the more you would love him. So even though Muhammad saw, among
the Ummah today with the shallow information that the masses of Muslims have
about him, even though they still love him, but we can not truly have deep love
for Muhammad saw unless we know him. You know the Sahaba ra, the more they knew
him, the closer they were to him, the
more they would love him.
Amr bin Al As, for
example- He was one of the staunchest enemies of Muhammad saw. He was one of
the top plotters against Islam. Amr bin Al As, he later become a Muslim, and
when he was passing away, Amr bin Al As started weeping, he was crying on his
death bed, so his son Abdullah bin Amr told him Oh My Father, Dint Rasool Allah
saw give you the glad tidings of this, didn’t he give you glad tidings of that.
It is reported in the hadith that Rasool saw said “Aamana amr” That Amr bin Al
As has attained faith. So this is a witness from Rasool saw that Amr bin Al As
is a momin. Not only a Muslim, but he is at the higher level of Momin. So his
son was trying to give his father the glad tidings that you are a true
believer. Rasool Allah saw has given you all of these glad tidings, how come
you are crying now before your death.
Amr bin Al As- he turned around and said: I
have went through 3 stages in my life.
At the first stage, the most despised man to me was Muhammad saw. And my desire
was that I could get hold of him and kill him. That was my desire. That was my
wish, my aspiration- to kill Muhammad saw. He said that if I had died at that
time, I would definitely would have been in the hell fire. He said that then
Allah put the love of Islam in my heart
and I went to Muhammad saw and said O Muhammad , I want to become Muslim.
Extend your hand so I can pledge allegiance to you. Amr bin Al As says Muhammad
saw extended his hand forward and I pulled my hand away. So Amr bin As, he had
Rasool saw extend his hand and when Rasool saw was ready to put his hand in
his, Amr bin Al As pulled his hand away. Rasool Allah saw told him “Whats
wrong” Amr bin Al as said, I have a condition to make. Rasool Allah saw asked
him,what is your condition? . He said, my condition is that you pardon me, you
give me clemency. Because Amr bin Al as knew, the things he had done in the
past, the great crimes he had committed against the Muslims, is sufficient for
his execution. So he wanted to make sure that Rasool saw would not hold him
accountable for what he did in the past.
So Rasool Allah
saw smiled and he said: Ya Amr “ Arabic”
Don’t you know that Islam erases everything before it and Hijrah erases
everything before it and Hajj erases everything before it.”
Amr bin Al said so
I became a Muslim. He said that at that stage, Muhammad saw, who was my worst
enemy, became the most beloved person to me in this world. He said that I loved
him so much, I respected him so much, I couldn’t even get a full glimpse of his
face. When ever I would see him, I would stare downwards. He said I had so much
love and respect for him that I couldn’t even get a full glimpse of his face.
And if you would ask me today to describe him to you…I couldn’t. He said that
if I had died during that stage, I would have hoped to be in Jannah.…There are
other parts of this hadith, but what concerns us now is that Amr bin As, when
he got to know Muhamamd saw, when he became close to him, Muhammad saw, who was
his worst enemy became his most beloved friend.
Sohail bin Amr was
sent by Quraish, to negotiate with Muhammad saw before Sulah Hudabiya. Sohail
bin Amr was an international negotiator; he had been to the courts of the
Persian emperor, the Roman emperor, the emperor of Abyssinia. He was a well
connected man. And now Quraish sent him to negotiate with Muhammad saw.
So he went into
Madina and he came in and he had first hand experience with how the Sahaba ra
treat Muhammad saw. So Sohail bin Amr went back to report to Quraish. He told
them, he said I have visited the Roman emperor I have visited the Persian
emperor, iv visited najashi(Negus), the king of Abyssinia, but I have
never in my life seen a leader that is
so loved by his followers , so much respected
by his followers, like Muhammad saw. I have seen nothing like it in the
world. The Roman emperor, the Persian emperor, Najashi of Abyssinia, even
though they have all the powers, strength and empires, I have never seen a
people love their leader so much like the Sahaba ra loved Muhammad saw. He said
I saw amazing things. Muhammad saw would be making wudu, and the Sahaba would
be watching, to grab the water dripping from his body. So he told them, do what
ever you want, these are the people who would never give up their leader. The
Sahaba, they would never give him up. They would give their lives first. They
would sacrifice everything for him.
So if we want to
love Muhammad saw, we need to learn more about him. I have already said that
even though, among the masses of Muslims, we know people don’t have much
information about Muhammad saw, they don’t know a lot about his Seerah, coz its
not part of the curriculum that schools in the Muslim world teach, never the
less even though, we are ignorant about him and his life, he is still the most
beloved figure that ever lived in humanity. His name is the most common name in
the world. How many people in the world are name Muhammad? There is no other
person that ever lived in history who had so many people named after him like
Muhammad saw.
When I was in
college in the US, we had an imam, he was from Nigeria. And he was a hafiz and
he was our imam in the small town in US. His name was Muhammad Al Ashr. The
word ashr means the 10th. So for a long time I assumed that Al- Ashr
is his last name. Muhammad Al Ashr. One day I went up to him and asked What is
Al Ashr? Is that the name of the tribe or the clan? He said No. He said my
father would name every male boy that was born as Muhammad. All of this
children, he would name Muhammad. So to distinguish between us he had to number
us. So there was Muhammad the first, Muhammad the 2nd, Muhammad the
3rd, I am Muhammad the 10th. So his father doesn’t want
to deal with any other name. All of his children are gonna be Muhammad. And in
Pakistan and India you would have Muhammad Haroon, Muhammad Suleman…every body
Muhammad. There is No one in history that had an Ummah love him so much, like
the Ummah loved Muhammad saw. He is the most beloved figure in history.
So what would be
the situation if we studied his life. I mean how much love would we have then
for Muhammad saw? His name was the most frequently mentioned names. Around the
clock, there will be minaret that is calling to prayer and is mentioning the
name of Muhammad saw. Around the clock. Coz muslims now are world wide. So in
every time zone you have Muslims. So every minute of the day, there will be a
Moaazan saying “Ashhadu La ilaha il Allah, Ashhadu ana Muhamamadar rasool
Allah” His name is mentioned around the clock.
And by the way,
the name Muhammad means the praised one. And there is no one who is praised
like Muhammad saw. I mean his name really fulfills its meaning. He is the
praised one, he is always praised. When ever we hear his name, what do we say?
“Sallalahu Alihe Wassalam”
So we want to
develop love for Muhammad saw, and the way we can do it is by studying his
life, we will love him more, the more we study about him.
Allah tala saya “Say:If your fathers,
your sons, your brothers, your wives or
your kindred, the wealth that you have
gained, the commerce in which you fear a decline, and the dwellings in which
you delight … are dearer to you than Allâh and His Messenger, and striving hard
and fighting in His Cause, then wait until Allâh brings about His Decision
(torment). And Allâh guides not the people who are Al-Fâsiqûn (the
rebellious, disobedient to Allâh) (Surah Taubah: 24)
So the
ayah is stating that our love for Allah and his messenger and striving in the
cause of Allah and his messenger should be paramount to everything else. Our
fathers, Our sons, Our brothers, our mates, our kindred, our wealth,
everything. To love our messenger and Islam should be the dearest thing to
every one of us.
No 3: To follow the Best Example
Ibn
Hajar says who ever seeks the preeminence of the
hereafter, the wisdom of this life,just purpose,and the embodiment of morality
and character, let him follow Muhammad saw the Prophet of Allah. So Muhammad
saw is the embodiment of “Khuluq”- The perfect character. And by studying his
Seerah, we will be more able to follow his way.
No 4: Understanding Quran
There are some ayats in the Quran that are
independent of the circumstances of revelation. Like for example, the ayats
about the Akhira, Ar-raqaik . These are independent of the circumstances. But then
there are some ayats that are dealing with events that were happening in the
time of Muhammad saw. So you would have some ayats revealed prior to an event,
some ayats revealed concurrent with an event and some ayats revealed after an
event.
Seerah would give us the
explanation of these ayats. Like for example Surah tul Ahzab. Manay ayats of
surah tul ahzab were revealed regarding the battle of Al-Ahzab. Many ayats
in surah Al Imran were revealed relating
to an event that happened in the time of Rasool saw. So you have a major
section of Surah al Imran, which was a dialogue between Muslims and Christians,
based on the Christian delegation that came from Najran to visit Rasool Allah.
These ayats were revealed to support Rasool saw in his dialogue with the
Christians. And the latter part of Ale Imran is dealing with Ghazwa e Uhud.
Now the details of the Ghazwa are not mentioned in the Surah. So how can we
understand these ayats? By going to the Seerah.
No 5: His life (Muhammad saw) illustrates the methodological steps of the Islamic movement.
Rasool Allah saw went thru stages;
he went through steps started by a secret dawah. And then it became public. And
then later on Jihad. So it went through stages. These stages are important for
Islamic movement to learn and study. Name missing He says.. “And we believe that this
methodological progression of the prophet’s life is divinely directed. For
Allah has guided his prophet and all of his steps, and it was not a result of a
reaction to an emerging circumstances. So these events that happened in the
life of Rasool saw were not haphazard. They were planned by Allah Subhana
Wataala. So that they would be a guidance for us, in our attempts to establish
Islam again. So it is very important for us to see the stages that rasool Allah
saw went through and the progression of his dawah.
Rasheed rida says that were it not
for the education and training, verbal direction would not suffice. For the
Seerah taught them how to be guided by the Quran and trained them to be just
and moderate in all matters. So, we have Quran and Sunnah which are verbal
teachings, but how do we apply these verbal teachings? It is by looking at the
application of Rasool saw and the Sahaba (radiAllahu Anhum). So they took this
verbal teaching into action and that is something that only the Muslims have, I
mean the followers of all other anbiya have lost ____ of the Seerah of their
anbiya, but with us we know how the
Quran was being practiced, we know how the Sunnah of rasool Allah saw was being
practiced and applied.
There is an ayah in the Quran
which says that you can continue eating and drinking at night time of Ramadan
until the white string is distinguished from the black string. One of the
Sahaba, he took this literally. What he did was that he had a string under his
pillow… and he would eat and then he would uncover the string , he would pick
up the pillow, he wouldn’t see the string, so he continued eating … and he
would keep on doing that and then he went to Rasool saw and said this is what I
have done. Rasool saw laughed and he said that it doesn’t mean you take a
string in your room and you take a look at it. It means the white string which
is the first emergence of light in the horizon that is what is meant by it. So
Rasool saw taught this Sahabi how to apply that ayat, because I could get a
dark room with no windows alright and I have a string with me and it would be
noon time and I still can not see it and I continue to eat. So the application
of the ayats and the hadith of Rasool saw are shown to us in the life of Muhammad
(saw) and the life of the Sahaba.(RadiAllahu Anhum)
No 6: Studying Seerah is Ibadah
We are not doing this to entertain
our selves. This is ibadat. There is Ajr, there is reward in studying this. We
are worshipping Allah by coming together and studying the life of Muhammad saw.
This is the halaqa of zikr. This is the session of zikr where we come together
and talk about Muhammad saw , we are worshipping Allah Subhana watala. And we
expect that this is a gathering which is surrounded by angels, in which Allah
subhanawatla will shower us with his mercy and tranquility and we be mentioned
in a gathering better than this. So it is ibadat and Allah subhana Watala says
“Say if you do love Allâh then follow
me (i.e. Muhammad saw) Allâh will love
you and forgive you of your sins. And Allâh is Oft-Forgiving,
Most Merciful."(Ale Imran 3: 31)
No 7: Developing a Muslim Identity
There is a global culture that is being forced
down the throats of everyone on the face of the earth. This global culture is
protected and promoted. Thomas Friedman, he is a famous writer in the US, he
writes for the New York Times. He says, the hidden hand of the market can not survive without the hidden fist. Mc
Donalds will never flourish without Mc Donald Douglas- the designer of F15s.
In other words, we are not really dealing with
a global culture that is benign or compassionate. This is a culture that gives
you no choice. Either accept Mc Donalds, otherwise Mc Donald Douglas will send
their F15s above your head. It is very intolerant culture, that can not co
exist with anything else. It uproots every other culture on the face of the
earth. Just cuts the roots of it. And you have a quote here by Alexander Sofzen. He is a famous Russian Historian writer. He
says To destroy a people, you must sever their roots. So its really a
destruction of the people of the earth because every other culture is being
demolished. So this is not a global culture that will co exist with others, it
will replace others. And the only ideology that is standing up to this global
culture is Islam. But still, as Muslims and especially Muslims living in the
west, we are suffering from a serious identity crisis. I mean you would find
that even though the brother or the sister would be practicing Islam, but the
identity it self, the Islamic identity itself is lost. I mean person would have
more in common with the rock star or a soccer player then they would have with
the companions of Rasool Allah saw. You would find that our youth know more
about pop stars than they know about the Sahaba of Rasool saw . Infact even
sometimes more than the Anbiya. How many of our youth know the names of all of
the Anbiya of Allah? How many of our youth know the names of the Sahaba ra. But
ask the same person to name the soccer players on their favorite team or their
best basketball players and they would go down the list. So there is a serious
identity crisis that is going on among Muslims.
And the way we can counter that, they way we
can develop the Muslim identity is:
Steps to Develop Muslim Identity
No 1:
By having a strong study of Islamic history. Which is made up of the lives of
Prophets of Allah. The life of Muhammad saw, the life of the Sahaba ra and then
learning in general, the Muslim history after that. So that’s No 1. You develop
an identity, by having an attachment with history. Because our history, is our
umbilical cord. This is our life line. We are an extension of an Ummah. We are
not separated; we are not severed from our roots. We are a part of a glorious
Ummah that we need to study about.
No 2:
By being part of the world wide Muslim Ummah. Our local identity should not
over ride our Muslim identity. So my identification with Britain or America or
Pakistan or Kuwait or any other country should not over ride my Islamic identity.
See this “nation/state” concept is something that Islam came to abolish. We
have our loyalty to Allah Subhana Watala and to our religion. And we are part
of a world wide Ummah. Therefore we need to study; we need to learn about our
Muslim brothers all over the world. What happens in Palestine should concern
every British Muslim. What happens in Kashmir should concern every American
Muslim. What happens in every part of the Muslim world, should concern me as if
it is happening within my own house. So these are the two important elements in
building an identity.
No 1: Having a deep understanding of your
History
No 2: Being part of the Ummah and caring about
the Ummah.
And again the saying of Alexander ________ “To destroy a people, you must first sever
their roots”
We don’t want our roots to be severed.We want
our roots to be deep. Studying the life of Rasool Allah saw is the most
important thing we can read in our history.
No 8: The Life of Muhammad saw is a Testimony of his Prophet-hood.
The greatest miracle of Muhammad saw is Quran
and Muhammad saw had many other miracles. But just studying his life in itself
is an evidence of his Prophet hood.
Here we have a man, who for forty years was
leading a normal life. The outstanding thing about the life of Muhammad saw in
the first 40 years was his morality and character. But Rasool saw did not show
any signs of aspiration to power or influence. None of that at all. Rasool saw
was leading a normal life and then suddenly after the age of 40, Rasool Allah
saw brings about the greatest change that the world has ever seen. That’s an
irony. That’s a miracle. Rasool Allah saw was illiterate. He could not read or
write. And then he presents the world with the greatest book, ever produced.
And we could go on and on… the list of ironies of things that are only
explained if Muhammad saw was a messenger of Allah. Who had divine help.
Otherwise its impossible. There is no
way to explain the Seerah , except to admit that he was a nabi from
Allah. It is impossible for a person to achieve, what Muhammad saw achieved
without being assisted by Allah Subhana Watala through revelation. So it’s a
testimony of his prophet hood.
There you have Muhammad saw leading a normal
life for the first 40 years. Then suddenly he becomes a political leader,
military leader, religious leader, head of a large house hold, law maker,
teacher, Imam and go on and on the list of the things that Prophet Muhammad saw
used to do. All of this was done within a span of 23 years. Impossible!
Which would lead to the next point that
No: 9 We are studying the life of the Greatest
We are studying the life of the greatest man
that ever set foot on this earth. Muhammad saw is the greatest. And what ever
bench mark you want to use for greatness, he would still come out the greatest.
Micheal Hart, he’s a US Author, he wrote a book called the The 100 Most
influential People that lived in history. After studying the lives of
leaders through out history, it became clear to him that Muhammad saw is the
undisputable greatest man that ever lived.
He is the greatest and in his introduction he
feels compelled to respond to what the readers of the book might think because
he is mostly writing for a non Muslim audience. So many people would question
his choice of Muhammad saw , so therefore in his introduction he writes, he
says “ My choice of Muhammad to lead the list of the worlds most influential
persons may surprise some readers and may be questioned by others. That he was
the only man in history who was supremely successful on both the religious and
secular levels.” And then he goes on to say that it is this unparallel
combination of secular and religious influence, which I feel entitles Muhammad
to be considered the most influential single figure in human history.”
So Micheal Hart is compelled by the facts. I
mean there is no doubt that Muhammad saw is the greatest.
But then he has to apologize to his readers, I
mean he has to say that this is out of my hands. I mean there is no way I could
put anybody else in front of him.
Muhammad saw is the greatest. In fact, if we take Muhammad saw as a military
leader, just that aspect of his personality, he would still come out the
greatest. If we only take Muhammad saw, only the religious aspect of his life.
He would still be the greatest. Muhammad saw as a political leader, he would
still come out to be the greatest. So even if you dissect the different aspects
of life of Muhammad saw and take them piece by piece, by just taking one piece
alone, he would still be greater than anybody else that ever lived. So we are
studying the life of Al-Mustafa. Mustafa means “the one who is chosen” Allah
subhanawatala chose him. Al-Mustafa al khalqi He is chosen out of all the creation of Allah.
There might be some other reasons,
why studying Seerah is important.
Sources for this Course
Seerah
of Ibn Kathir.
Ibn
Kathir, he did not write a book called Seerah. Ibn Kathir wrote an encyclopedia
of history. Called bidaya wan niaya. Called The beginning and the End. And it
is literally the beginning and the end.
He
started from the beginning of creation and went all the way until people enter
Jannah and hell. One of his volumes is about the life of Rasool Allah saw.
Another volume is about the Prophets and another is about Khalifa Ar Rashida.
Khilafa Muwaya , Khilafa Abbasia. And he
went all the way upto his times. The last volumes is called Al Fitan. Signs of
the day of judgment and then the day of judgment and Jannah and hell.
So we are going to be taking his part of
Seerah as a primary source. We will talk a little bit on why I have chosen ibn
kathir to be our primary source.
Sahiah
As Seerah ibn Nabawuya is the second book that
I have used in compilation of these notes by Ibrahim Al Ali .
Science of Seerah and Science of Hadith: The Difference
Traditionally, Seerah was a separate science
from hadith. Even though there are some areas where they cross each other,
there is over laying, over lapping between them. But traditionally Seerah had a
different set of rules compared to hadith.
Scholars of hadith were very stringent, very
strict in their rules. While scholars of Seerah, were more liberal, more
flexible. The reason is, when they were dealing with hadiths and drawing ahkam
and drawing rulings, they wanted to make sure they were basing the rulings on
hadiths that were sound. They do not want us to worship Allah based on weak
sources. So that’s why they applied very strict rules to hadith.
However, when it came to Seerah, they were
more flexible in their rules, because they saw this as history which does not
affect ahkam. It does not affect rulings. There is no ahkam based on it. So
imam Ahmed bin Hanbal, who is a scholar of hadith, he says when we talk about
history we are more flexible. So you would find that writers of Seerah would
accept narrations ,they wouldn’t normally accept if they were dealing with hadith. So that’s one track that was followed
by our early scholars.
The Seerah of Ibn Ishaq was written
according to these rules. The Seerah of Al Maqraizi, ibn Saad, all of these
early scholars of Seerah, they followed these flexible rules in narration.
Recently, there was a new trend among some of
our scholars. They wanted to apply the rules of hadith on Seerah. Why?
These scholars said now we are living in a
time when the history of Rasool saw is ahkam for us. In time of imam ibn
Hanbal, Khilafa was established, so when they studied the life of Rasool saw,
they were studying to learn general lessons from it, but it wasn’t to guide
them in methodology of a movement. Because Islam was already established.
But now we need to go through the Seerah and
learn rules from it. On how to do dawah and how to establish Islam again. So
it’s becoming similar to fiqh applied to us. Therefore they say we should apply
the same rules of hadith on Seerah.
The second book which is Sahih Seerah ibn nabawiya is based on the rules of
hadith. So what these scholars did, they went into Bukhari, they went into
Muslim, they went into Sunnan Abi Dawood, they went into these books of hadith
and they gathered the bits and pieces that were referring to Seerah. And they
constructed the Seerah of Rasool Saw based on Hadith. So rather than going to
the book of Ibn Ishaq, they would go to Bukhari. Rather than come to Maqrizi or
other earlier scholars or ibn Hisham, they would go to Muslim. Saeed Hawa has written a book based on hadith, its
called the asas ul Suna. This book we mentioned by Ibrahim Al Ali which is
called Sahiah Seerah ibn Nabawiya. And there are few other books also following this line.
Now the reason why I chose ibn Kathir as our
primary source is because ibn kathir, he combined both in one book. So he would
draw information from the books of Seerah and he also draw information from the
books of hadiths. So you would find him narrating from Bukhari and narrating
from Ishaq. That’s why you would find the Seerah of kathir unique.
Just one draw back with the Seerah of Ibn
Kathir is that it is a bit complicated and cumbersome to use, because he would
mention all of the chain of narration, sometimes he would not stick to a
chronological order and some times he would bring in information that seems to
be contradicting. But it is an excellent source and Alhamdulilah, it is now
present in the English language.
It has been recently translated by MC
Gothic. A professor in the us and it is
a very good translation. Other books we might not be using, some of them , I have got
quotations from them.
We have Manhaj Al
haraqi by Moid Al Ghabban. The
thing about this book is that the author
tried to draw movement lessons
from Seerah. So he would divide it into Secret stage, public stage, then he
would go through the Hijrah and then different stages of Jihad. So he tried to
construct a movement work line from Seerah. It is a recently written book.
Then you have Fiqh as Seerah by Muhammad
Ghazali. (rahimullah) This book has tarbiya lessons.
There is another book by the same name Fiqh
As Seerah by Al Buyti. Muhammad saeed
Ramadan Buyti. And Al Buyti emphasizes on fiqh. He draws many fiqh lessons from
Seerah.
And then there is a book called Al Ghuraba by
Sheikh Salman Auda. And it is dealing
with Hadith of the Strangers. And he tries to draw co relation with the
strangers in the time of Rasool saw and the strangers now. Al Asas al sunna, we
talked about this by Saeed Hawa and then
At Tariiq Il Al Madina by Muhammad Al Abda, which is lessons drawn from Seerah
and Fiqh As Seerah by Al Buyti.
Arabic Terminologies
Sallalahu
Alihe Wassalam: means May the
peace and blessings of Allah be on him. This is what we say when we hear
the name of Muhammad saw. Now the Hukum of saying it : It is mandatory to say
it the first time you hear the name of Muhammad saw. Any other time after that,
it is recommended. So in this lecture, the first time you hear the name of Muhammad
, it is mandatory to say Saw. Any other time after that as long as we are in
the same gathering, it is recommended. So this is the hokum of Salat salam ala
Muhammad saw.
Rasool Allah: The word Rasool Allah means the Messenger of
Allah.
Jahiliya: Is
the ignorance of the Pre Islamic era. So Jahiliya is a time period but it is
also conduct. Whenever you have a time that resembles the pre Islamic era, it
is called jahiliya. And you will find that Syyed Qutub uses this word a lot in
reference to the times that we are living in. he says that there is a lot of
resemblance between it and the early jahiliya. So jahiliya comes from the root
word Jahal, which is ignorance. So it is the time of ignorance. The absence of
the message. Even if the message is there
and the people are not following it, it is a jahiliya.
Eman:
Faith
Jannah:
Paradise
An Naar:
Hell fire
The last section is discussing the difference
between hadith and Seerah scholars. We talked about this. Hadith scholars more
stringent in their narrations coz of basing their rulings. Seerah scholars less
stringent coz they want us to get the stories, so they were flexible in their
narrations. We mentioned that we are using a combined approach. So I will use
hadith and in the situations where there is no hadith, we will fill in the gaps
by referring to Seerah.
So this is the introduction to the series.
Inshallah o Tala the next session will start talking about some background
history.
Sallalahu
Alihe Wasalam Ala Muhammad waashabihe wasalam
