The Prophet's First Madinah Message: A Recipe For Paradise

Opening

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. We praise Him, and we pray, and we salute His Noble Messenger, and we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls, and from the evil of our actions. After this, may Allah open my heart and ease my affairs, and grant me a time when my tongue will understand what I say.

Beloved brothers and sisters, youngsters and elders, esteemed and honorable guests of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

The Prophet's ﷺ First Address Upon Arriving in Madinah

When Rasulullah ﷺ migrated to Madinah Munawwara, as soon as he arrived, he spread a particular message. There was one message, and in fact, if you look at the ahadith, if you look at the various different chains of hadith for this particular narration, you'll find it is narrated from various different sahabah radiyallahu anhum. So it's something that many of them picked up on.

In fact, Rasulullah ﷺ was now going to a nation, he was going to a group of people, that for many of them, it was the first time that they were actually seeing Rasulullah ﷺ. For many of them, they had only very recently accepted Islam. So the advice that Rasulullah ﷺ gave at that time was extremely pertinent and very comprehensive. It was more or less a recipe to success.

Rasulullah ﷺ said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2485; Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 3251 — reported by 'Abdullah ibn Salam radiyallahu 'anhu)

"O People, O Mankind — spread the greeting of salam, feed food to others, maintain family ties, and perform salah at night whilst the rest of mankind is sleeping — and you will enter paradise very easily."

So there are four things that Rasulullah ﷺ mentioned, and the reward of those four things is that a person will enter into Jannah very easily. SubhanAllah, this particular version is reported by Abdullah ibn Salam radiyallahu 'anhu, and everything rhymes.

The First Ingredient: Spread the Greeting of Salam

The first thing is أَفْشُوا السَّلَامَ — to spread the greeting of salam, to greet one another. And this is such a thing, subhanAllah, that we Muslims are so blessed. We are so blessed that the instruction of giving salam has even been mentioned in the Qur'an itself. What other religion, what other nation goes to this extent that they even discuss various different etiquettes of one's social life?

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions in the Qur'an:

"Whenever someone greets you, then greet them with a better greeting, or at least return it."

The ulama mention from this that responding to the greeting is actually of a higher level than initiating it, because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala instructed that a person has to respond. And if a person is given salam and does not reply, then he is actually sinful.

So Rasulullah ﷺ said أَفْشُوا السَّلَامَ, and this is such a thing that we see throughout the world. But the Muslims, despite having a particular special greeting for which a person is rewarded multiple folds — just السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ earns 10 rewards, وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ earns 20, and وَبَرَكَاتُهُ earns 30 — for some odd reason, we meet hundreds of brothers and sisters meet hundreds of sisters, but we walk straight past one another. Our eyes even meet, but we just keep walking.

But if you go to any high school, any college, any public library, any store, anywhere in the world, you are going to find people who don't even have Islam in their lives, greeting one another so happily — "Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, how are you today?" — and they've probably never even met you once in their life.

Unfortunately, it has reached a point where we even have people who are constantly frequenting the masjid, meeting the same people every day, and we still walk right past one another. But this is something that we have to change. As a community, this is part of our — this is an ingredient to enter Jannah. This is an ingredient to success that Rasulullah ﷺ gave as one of the most important advices as soon as he entered Madinah Munawwara.

So this is something we should all do our utmost best, insha'Allah — that whenever we see our fellow Muslim brother, or when our fellow Muslim sisters meet one another, we should not shy away. In fact, my ustad used to say that when you are greeting, sometimes we do greet, but it's so soft that the other person doesn't even hear it. He said the greeting should be loud:

And likewise, the reply should also be equally audible:

That is the first advice that Rasulullah ﷺ gave.

The Second Ingredient: Feed Food to Others

The second advice that Rasulullah ﷺ gave was وَأَطْعِمُوا الطَّعَامَ — feed food, give food to others, as a means of charity, as a means of happiness. It was left general — give others food.

Mashallah, this is something that we see time and again in the Dar-ul-Salam community. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reward all of those brothers and all those sisters as well who constantly aid in this effort to feed others — whether it's the students, whether it's guests, whether it is the musallis. كَثَّرَ اللَّهُ أَمْثَالَكُمْ — May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala increase you in number, and also increase you in your sincerity and your ikhlas.

But this is such a thing that we can all do as well. At times one form of giving sadaqa is to give some actual money. But sometimes we can change up the type of sadaqa that we give — maybe one Friday, instead of giving a sadaqa to a particular cause, we can take that same money we wanted to give in charity and treat one of our fellow Muslim brothers or sisters to a nice meal. And that will also be a means of sadaqa for us.

My teacher also used to mention that in this hadith, Rasulullah ﷺ said أَطْعِمُوا الطَّعَامَ and did not restrict this to any human being. So he used to say, a person can also attain this reward if he even with purpose and intent gave another creation — maybe another animal, or an insect — something to eat as well. And there are different ahadith that many of us have heard, where certain people had entered Jannah just because they gave a dog that was dying of thirst a little bit of water to drink.

The Third Ingredient: Maintain Family Ties

The third advice that Rasulullah ﷺ gave was وَصِلُوا الْأَرْحَامَ — to maintain family ties. This was also a time when many people had accepted Islam, but just as many people had accepted Islam, it started to create rifts amongst families — certain individuals had accepted Islam and left the religion of their forefathers, which definitely angered others. But the advice wasn't to separate from them and refrain from speaking to them. The advice was to maintain family ties.

And this is such a thing, subhanAllah, that in this day and age, many of us do not give much importance to. In fact, now it is throughout the entire world — everyone is starting to care more and more about themselves and less and less about others. We don't even care about many of our own family members. But this is against the spirit of Islam. Islam is such a religion that includes the entire family and promotes family ties.

The Rewards of Maintaining Family Ties

And this is something that Rasulullah ﷺ has mentioned various different rewards for. In one hadith, Rasulullah ﷺ mentioned:

"That person who would be pleased to have an increase in his wealth, to have barakah in his wealth, and that person who would be pleased to live a more wholesome life — to perhaps even live a longer life, meaning a life full of barakah and ease and happiness — then he should maintain his family ties."

So sometimes we break off family ties because we're worried about our wealth or our health — "How am I supposed to deal with these people? My mind is going to go insane. I can't deal with all the fighting. Just forget them." But this is the exact opposite. Rasulullah ﷺ is saying that if you want peace and contentment, if you want barakah in your wealth, then you have to do what is in your capacity to maintain family ties.

In another hadith, Rasulullah ﷺ mentioned:

(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 6499)

"That person who wants to have a longer life, a life full of barakah, and that person who wants to have an expansion and abundance of wealth, barakah in his rizq, in his sustenance, and he wishes to repel from him an evil death — then he should fear Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and he should maintain family ties."

No one knows when they are going to die, no one knows how they are going to die, no one knows in what condition one is going to die. And Rasulullah ﷺ is giving us the recipe to success — that if you want to live a life full of ease, contentment and pleasure, and you want to die in a respectful and honorable manner, then it's simple: maintain family ties.

What If Others Are Rude to You?

Some may ask: what am I supposed to do if I am maintaining family ties, but others — no matter how kind I am to them — are just so rude and so mean? Once a sahabi came to Rasulullah ﷺ and mentioned almost exactly that — "O Nabi of Allah, there are certain individuals in my family that I am so kind to, and I am very courteous with them, and I speak to them in an amazing manner, but whenever I deal with them, they are always rude to me." So Rasulullah ﷺ told him: if that is surely the case and you are speaking the truth, then you will continue to have an aid from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala until the time that you pass away. Meaning, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's assistance will continue to be with you so long as you do whatever you can to set things right and maintain family ties.

In another hadith, Rasulullah ﷺ gave the advice:

(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 17452; also reported in similar wording in Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 4910)

"Maintain family ties with the one who cuts off relations with you." This is where the true challenge is. It's not necessarily a challenge if everyone is together and everyone appreciates one another. The true challenge is when others cut off ties from you — now you have to do what is in your capacity to maintain family ties.

A Lesson from the Life of Shaykh Zakariyya رحمه الله

I generally say, if you want to see the etiquette of Rasulullah ﷺ being implemented in real life, then look at the lives of the muhaddithun. There was a great muhaddith, Hazrat Shaykh Zakariyya rahmatullahi 'alayh, whom many individuals know.

There was one time in his life where he had just recently visited one of his uncles in a particular town. He was eating food with his aunt and his uncle, and his uncle all of a sudden got up and left, seeming a bit irritated. So he asked his aunt, "What's wrong with uncle? How come he got so irritated and just left? What did I do to upset him?" She said, "No, there's nothing wrong with him — this is the time of the year where the mangoes are no longer growing, and he just cannot survive without mangoes. That's why he's irritated."

So he said, "Okay, no problem," and left to go back home to Saharanpur. When he arrived, someone brought a packet of mangoes. So without even opening the packet, without even looking at it, he took it and sent it through the mail to his uncle who resided in that other town.

The mangoes arrived. And at that time, another family relative was with his uncle, and they both ate the mangoes together. These mangoes were so sweet and so juicy — perhaps some of the best mangoes they had ever consumed. Now, this relative happened to own an entire orchard, entire farms where only mangoes were grown. So he was very interested. He sent a letter to Hazrat Shaykh Zakariyya rahmatullahi 'alayh with about 700 rupees — which at that time was a large sum of money — along with a servant, and said: "Wherever you purchased these mangoes from, I want you to purchase another box. Whatever amount you have to spend, I am prepared to spend it."

So he wrote back: "I'm so sorry, I don't even know where the mangoes came from. Someone gave them to me as a gift, and I cannot help you. I knew my uncle wanted them, so I just sent them to him."

Then, after eight months — he had a habit that every six to eight months he would go to Kandla, where he was originally from, born and raised. And there, he would make it a point to visit every family member that he had. SubhanAllah, we know when we go to India or Pakistan or Bangladesh or wherever, there are so many different relatives. So he would make it a point to visit every single one. And since it was very difficult and he would only spend one to two days, he would spend just one hour at every person's house, just to give them their right and bring happiness to them.

So he would do so. And then the time came to go to that one particular relative who owned the mango plantation. He went and extended his hands to greet him — "As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh" — and that particular relative just turned, not even his face but his whole body, completely away.

Now there was another relative who was there, and he got so upset. He said, "What is wrong with you? Can't you see he came from so far just to greet you, and you don't even want to reply? Shame on you!" But he didn't say anything. He had been holding this grudge in his heart for over six to eight months, and no one knew what was going on.

Then all of a sudden, Hazrat Shaykh remembered — "I think I remember why. I remember that one time I had mangoes and I sent them to my uncle. I think he was there at the time. I think maybe that is what has caused this anger, this grudge, this resentment." So he went to him and he apologized. He said, "I'm so sorry. I promise you, I assure you, I never even tasted a single bite of those mangoes. I don't even know where they came from." And he reiterated the entire story. He told him, "I am so genuinely sorry. Please forgive me."

And eventually that person came around. SubhanAllah, he mentioned that this relative became one of the closest family members to him — and this was all due to the barakah of Hazrat Shaykh Zakariyya rahmatullahi 'alayh. In fact, at that time, other family members told him, "Just leave him to rot." Some even asked, "How do you even have the courage to come back to him? He was so disrespectful." Then Hazrat Shaykh Zakariyya rahmatullahi 'alayh mentioned, "Don't you remember — Rasulullah ﷺ said, maintain family ties with those who have cut off relations with you. I'm only doing it because of this hadith."

Family Ties and Mental Well-being

Lastly on this point — the maintenance of family ties is extremely important, and we don't realize it, but many of the mental problems that are starting to arise throughout the world, which were not really prevalent before at this extent, at this rate — this was never before seen to this degree. And neither was this notion to care only about yourself. But we find that as people begin to break off family ties, just as the ratio of people no longer maintaining family ties has increased, the ratio of people now getting mental illnesses has also increased.

And this one hadith, when I was reading through it, struck me. Rasulullah ﷺ mentioned:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 5988; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2554)

"Indeed, family ties are a branch from Al-Rahman." This concept — that family ties and maintaining family ties is something which has come from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala — was given a special pedestal, a special rank, a special value by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

And in the same hadith, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala addresses family ties and says:

"That person who ensures to maintain family ties, then I will be with him, and I will maintain relations and ties of mercy with him. And that person who cuts off family ties, then I will completely cut off all of My mercy from that person."

Now it makes so much sense. If we look at those individuals who are facing these difficulties, or any difficulty for that matter, let us examine our lives. Have we done what is within our capacity? Was it within our ability to maintain family ties? Have we actually cared about it? Or have we disregarded it completely and actually cut off relations with others without even realizing it? No sooner, insha'Allah, do we start maintaining family ties and make it a point to do so, than we will find ease and comfort coming back into our lives.

May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us tawfiq.

The Fourth Ingredient: Pray at Night

So those were three points — giving salams, feeding food to others, and maintaining family ties. These three things have to do with communal rights; they are for the betterment of society at large. Imagine how happy we would be if all of these qualities were implemented by one and all.

And then lastly, there is one that is لِذَاتِهِ — for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala directly:

وَصَلُّوا بِاللَّيْلِ وَالنَّاسُ نِيَامٌ — The last ingredient to success, to entering Jannah with ease, is to perform salah at night whilst the rest of mankind is sleeping.

Nowadays, subhanAllah, we have a few weeks left — maybe even two or three weeks — where we can insha'Allah comfortably wake up for tahajjud salah, which is only ending around 5:47 or 5:48, with Fajr salah only coming in at 5:48. This is such a time that we will not have throughout the rest of the year. Especially as soon as daylight saving time comes in, then it is gone — it will become very difficult again to wake up.

So let us, insha'Allah, take advantage of this time and do our best to implement all of these four qualities into our lives. As the reward for such, Rasulullah ﷺ mentioned:

May Allah grant us all tawfiq to make amal on what has been said.

وَآخِرُ دَعْوَانَا أَنِ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ

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There is also a request for du'a of maghfirah for Hafidh Yasir's father, Brother Iqbal Laliwala, one of the respected teachers here, who passed away last Saturday. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala forgive him of all of his sins. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make his qabr a garden from the gardens of Jannah. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala elevate his status and grant him something far better than he ever enjoyed in this world. And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make the best day of his life the day that he meets Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Lastly, there is also a jamaat that has come from India. We are, subhanAllah, very happy to have them. Let us also benefit from them as much as possible.

Jazakumullah Khayran. As-salamu alaykum.