Abdul Rahman Chao - 7-5-24

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ.

The Story of the Prophet in Ta'if

When the Prophet ﷺ visited Ta'if, he met with three brothers, Abd al-Yālīl, Mas'ūd and Ḥabīb. And the Prophet ﷺ went to Ta'if because his mother's side is from Ta'if.

And so he was hoping that with the rejection that he faced from the Meccans, that he could possibly find some success from his mother's side, from the people in Ta'if, from the people of Ta'if. So when he approached these three brothers, he asked them, he started inviting them to Islam and he requested that they keep this conversation private. So the first brother said, after he heard the message of Islam, he said, if Allah sent you, if it is true that Allah has sent you, then I shall go and tear the cloth of the Ka'bah to express his outrage and disrespect to the Prophet ﷺ. The second brother said, Allah couldn't find anyone else to send as a Prophet other than you? And the third brother said, لَا أُكَلِّمَكَ I shall not speak to you.

Because if you are a Prophet, then who am I to give a response to a Prophet? And if you are a liar, then I don't need to respond to a liar. The Prophet ﷺ left their gathering and these three brothers immediately started telling everyone in the town, here is a Prophet, come after him and start attacking him, stoning him, chasing him, abusing him. They totally disregarded the request of the Prophet ﷺ. As the Prophet ﷺ was being hit, he entered a grape orchard.

The Meeting with Addas

And it was owned by two of the most, or they were the two biggest enemies of Islam, Utbah and Shaybah, two brothers. And they happened to be in their farm at that moment. And they saw the Prophet ﷺ wounded, injured, being chased.

They felt sorry for him, even though they hated Islam. So they sent their servant, Addas. They said, bring him some dates so that he can relax and calm down, etc.

So when Addas, who was a Christian, he was Assyrian. He brought the dates to the Prophet ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ grabbed the date and he said, Bismillah. So Addas was shocked and surprised.

He said, you say Bismillah? The Prophet ﷺ said, yes. He said, no, I've never heard anyone around here say Bismillah. So the Prophet ﷺ immediately understood that Addas was not actually from Ta'if.

So he said, and where are you from? He said, I am from Nineveh, from Iraq, from Northern Iraq, Nineveh. And he was an Assyrian Christian. He said, you know Nineveh? He said, yes, that's from where Prophet Yunus is from.

He said, you know Prophet Yunus? He said, nobody around here knows who Prophet Yunus is. He said, I know who Prophet Yunus is. He was a Prophet and I'm also a Prophet of Allah.

The Importance of Historical Connection

From the vast life of the Prophet ﷺ, why are we focusing on this conversation between the Prophet ﷺ and Addas? Because what the Prophet ﷺ did beautifully in this example, is that he showed Addas the historical connection and the legitimacy of the Prophet ﷺ by connecting to one of the Prophets of the past. And brothers and sisters, last week we had spoken in depth about how our identity, the foundation of our identity is governed by al-ubudiyah lillah, the worship of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, understanding that you are a slave of Allah. Today we want to talk about one of those things that strengthens your identity, your worship and your connection to Islam.

And that is what the Prophet ﷺ did here. And that is by connecting Islam and Muslims, teaching them to connect it to all of the Prophets and the Messengers from the past, all of the righteous people from the present and the past, all of the people from the time of Adam ﷺ, all the way to today and into the future. So brothers and sisters, you look at what is going on in Palestine today.

There is an active campaign by the enemies of Islam to erase Muslims and their historical connection to the land of al-Quds. Why? Because when you cut off a group of people from their history, you are cutting off a part of their identity. So when you hear the argument that, oh, Palestine once upon a time was just an open barren land, there was nothing there, it was just a few Bedouins living in the middle of nowhere, and that this new fake country brought civilization to it like none other.

I'm not here to address that. I'm here to address the employment and the twisting of history to craft a narrative. And ironically, the enemies of Islam love to invoke history.

They want to talk about how God gave it to them thousands of years ago, and that their historical claim lives until today. But our historical claim means nothing. And that is why, brothers and sisters, it is so important to understand the history of Islam, the history of the prophets, the history of the messengers, the history and the seerah of the Prophet ﷺ, and all of the companions of the Prophet ﷺ. Because when you don't know your history, you're leaving it up for interpretation.

You're leaving it up for someone else to come and twist it and to delegitimize it. Allah tells us how we are connected in our belief in a historical way to the prophets and messengers of the past. Allah says in the Qur'an:

We have not sent before you, O Muhammad, from amongst the messengers, except that we reveal to him what? That there is no God worthy of worship, except me. Allah, so worship him. So when Allah is revealing this Qur'an to Muhammad ﷺ, filled with stories from Adam and Qabil and Habil, the two sons, talking about Nuh, talking about Thamud, talking about Ad, talking about Ibrahim, and all the prophets. It's not for the sake of Sunday school style, or just talk about some stories.

It's to connect the Prophet ﷺ, to give him emotional support, to lend legitimacy to the Prophet ﷺ's message, that your message is not a new thing, it is a continuation of the message of La ilaha illallah. Yes, the laws for different prophets and messengers differed, but the essence of the message is that there is no God worthy of worship except Allah. And so that's why brothers and sisters, when you look at your daily salah, Allah reminds us about history.

In Surah Al-Fatiha, what does Allah say? What does Allah tell us to say?

Guide us to the straight path. The path that you have bestowed your favor upon those, upon them, who's them? Who are they? The previous prophets, the previous messengers, the previous believers, the righteous people.

Defending the Sunnah and History

And that is why brothers and sisters, one of the key things that orient to us and those who don't like Islam in the academic world, what do they love to attack? They love attacking the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ. They love delegitimizing the hadith.

They'll say, well, hadith is made up. Hadith is something that Muslims came up with later on and they attributed to the Prophet ﷺ. They won't attack the Qur'an, but they'll attack the sunnah. The same companions who brought you the Qur'an are the same companions who brought you the sunnah.

But why are they delegitimizing the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ? Because when they delegitimize the history of the Prophet ﷺ, we become an ummah stripped away from context, stripped away from what the Prophet ﷺ did. And that is why brothers and sisters, learn the seerah, learn the history of the prophets and the messengers of the past. Because when you learn their stories, it will connect you with what you are undergoing.

It will make you realize that you are not just part of the ummah of Muhammad ﷺ, but you are part of the ummah of the believers, of the mu'mineen of the previous generations. From the very beginning, when Prophet Muhammad ﷺ received the message of the Qur'an from Jibreel, and Khadijah took Muhammad ﷺ to Waraqa bin Nawfal, a Christian, one of her relatives. What did he say to him? He connected, he wanted Muhammad ﷺ to understand that you are connected to a previous prophet.

What did he say? That angel that came to you is the same angel that came to Musa ﷺ. When Allah took Muhammad ﷺ to Al-Quds, to Masjid Al-Aqsa, it wasn't just for a trip, it was to connect Muhammad ﷺ to all the previous prophets. That's why Allah had Muhammad ﷺ lead the prophets in prayer. That's why Allah raised him up to the heavens, and he met all those different prophets, and he saw them.

Why? To connect him to the message of La ilaha illallah. That's why Muhammad ﷺ had this back and forth conversation with Musa ﷺ during the establishment of Salah.

The Final Test of Abu Talib

Brothers and sisters, I want to close off with an emotional story from the life of the Prophet ﷺ, and that is when his uncle Abu Talib took care of him from the age of 8, all the way until Muhammad ﷺ was 50.

I want you to think, 42 years, Abu Talib shielded Muhammad ﷺ from persecution, from harm, from what the Quraysh wanted to do to him. And on his deathbed, Abu Jahl was right near Abu Talib, like a Shaytan. And there were others as well.

Muhammad ﷺ was on the other side, telling him to say, La ilaha illallah. And another narration, Oh my uncle, Say La ilaha illallah. A sentence, that I can intercede for you on the Day of Judgment to Allah.

That I can bear witness for you on the Day of Judgment to Allah. What did these Ibalis, and these shayateen, Abu Jahl and them, what were they doing? They were invoking history to sway him from the truth. And this is what we want you to learn.

But not all history is to be taken. But the history that leads you to the truth. Because what did they say? Abu Talib, are you turning away, are you rejecting the religion of your father, Abdul Muttalib? In other words, the forefathers and all of them before that? And it's the same tune that they would sing to the entire time.

And that is, Islam came and Muhammad ﷺ is rejecting the traditions, the history, the precedent of all of his forefathers. And the Prophet ﷺ kept saying, Say La ilaha illallah. And towards the end, at the very end, Abu Talib still decided that he was on the wrong side of history.

Be on the Right Side of History

And so that is why brothers and sisters, be on the right side of history. The right side of history is La ilaha illallah. Since the time Adam ﷺ came to this earth, that is the right side of history.

Because when you are on the side of La ilaha illallah, that is the key to paradise.