From Ignored to Honored: The Transformation of the Companions | Mufti Abdul Wahab Waheed

From Ignored to Honored: The Transformation of the Companions

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, and to Him is the return of the righteous. Peace and blessings be upon the most honored of Prophets and Messengers, our Master Muhammad, the Prophet of the worlds, whose name is written in the Bible and the Torah.

Allah, the Exalted, said in His Noble Book, after seeking Allah's refuge from the accursed Satan, In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful:

And whoever desires the Hereafter and strives for it, and is a believer — those are the ones whose striving is appreciated.

And the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said to Abu Sufyan: "I have come to you with the honor of this world and the good of the Hereafter. Submit, submit." Or as the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said.

Two Types of Students

My dear brothers, sisters, friends, and elders — there are always two types of students in every classroom. Every classroom, regardless of the type of institution, regardless of the methodology of teaching, and the types of people that are there, there will always be two types of students.

There are those who succeed and are honorable students, who pass with flying colors and whose names are recognized by those who live after them. And then there are those who struggle to just get through, who barely pass. Getting a passing mark is a very difficult goal for them to achieve.

It doesn't matter if you're sitting in a Harvard or if you're sitting in a community college. Every single institution will have these two types of students. Those who make it and those who don't.

The only classroom in which every single student was an honorable student, every single attendee was an attendee that was passing with flying colors, was the classroom of the Sahaba, رضي الله عنهم أجمعين. A classroom in which the greatness of it was not due to its exclusivity but rather was due to its inclusivity.

The Inclusive Classroom of the Prophet ﷺ

Today, institutions are great not because of who they let in, but rather because of who they keep out. You are not allowed in because you will remove the type of prestige that we keep. So you remain out. We will only accept those who can add value to what we have.

The classroom of the Prophet ﷺ was such that everyone was accepted because our religion was not a concept that was there to take from you, but rather was a paradigm that was ready to give to people. Our Islam was never in need of people coming within it so it can take from us. But rather it was a system that was always giving to people.

It was not a classroom that wanted something from you. It was a classroom that was there to give you. It was inclusive in regards to ethnicities. It was inclusive in regards to the types of people. It was inclusive in regards to gender. But it was very exclusive in regards to ideals. It was very exclusive in regards to values.

Inclusivity was not something that was used to simply say that everyone is allowed to come. But rather it was a way of teaching people that these are ideals that make us inclusive. These are ideals that we will uphold. You could be Abu Bakr or you could be Bilal. You could be Fatima or you could be Umm Sulaym. Everyone is accepted — as long as they understand that the value that keeps us moving, the empowerment that we are able to feel, and the perseverance that we seek, comes from the ideals of:

A Community Drowning in Injustice

If we were to look back since the beginning of time in the history of humanity and we aimed to identify a community that was absolutely drowning in injustices, that was plagued with societal diseases, that was struggling with every goodness that a community could possibly struggle with — it would be difficult to find a community that was synonymous to this more so than the community that was present before the coming of the Prophet ﷺ.

Such were these people that it was the norm for them to disrespect their elders. Such were these people that it was the norm for them to take wealth from orphans:

It was the norm for them to fight and get into battles over the smallest of differences — where Aus and Khazraj were at war for 50 years — until:

It was the norm for them to bury their daughters alive. It was the norm for them to be plagued with every societal disease. But then something happened — that these same individuals, when the Persians and Romans were told, "Why don't you take over this land? Why don't you take over these people? They're just sitting there" — they would say: "These are not people worth ruling. These are not people that are worth the headache."

What Changed?

What changed? What transformed? That these same individuals that were not worth ruling became the rulers of the world. What changed? That those same individuals that were seen to be the lowest of the lows of society became such that the world revered them.

Was it their level of wealth that changed? They became wealthy, so people started to honor them. Was it their literacy rate that changed? Though we honor education, it was not their literacy that changed.

Ibn Hajar rahimullah says there were less than 35 people at the time of Hijrah amongst the Sahabas that knew how to read and write. It was not their literacy that changed. اقْرَأْ didn't stop at اقْرَأْ — it was اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ. It wasn't education that empowered our community — it was education about who Allah was. It was education about a lifestyle that is such that it can take someone from the lowest of the ditches and bring them to the highest peaks of mountains.

What changed was a realization of لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ.

The Story of Bilal

That same individual who had been persecuted under a rock, being dishonored and being called the names that today we cannot even say in front of the entirety of the community — Bilal — whenever the Prophet ﷺ faced a difficulty or calamity, he would say: "Bring us peace, oh leader of ours, Bilal." That same individual walks into Mecca and the Prophet ﷺ says, "You climb the Ka'bah and you call the Adhan." Same person, same background, same lineage, same ethnicity, same skill set, same talent. Everything has changed because Deen has entered into his life.

The world looks at him as a person of honor, such that when he finally left this world, the entire Sham was mourning his death. Not because of who he was before he became Muslim, but because of who he became after he accepted Islam.

The Blueprint That Changed the World

They say in English: "Don't fix what's not broken." If there's a system that works, we will live and die by it. There was a system, there was a blueprint that was initiated by our Habib ﷺ which became the source that changed the lives of these individuals and by extension the entirety of the world. Today, our struggles, our lack of ability, our lack of presence, our lack of light — is not by extension of anything else other than the fact that we need to re-initiate that same blueprint that brought light into the world.

What Anas ibn Malik says:

That when the Prophet of Allah entered into Medina, it lit up the entirety of the community.
(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3618)

It lit it up. And the name changed — from Yathrib, which meant disease and sickness — the name changed overnight to الْمَدِينَةُ الْمُنَوَّرَةُ, الْمَدِينَةُ الطَّيِّبَةُ.

The infrastructure of the city didn't change. The economic opportunities did not change. The landscape of Medina didn't change. The people of Medina were there — the same people lived there. What changed was the presence of the life of the Prophet ﷺ.

Our homes are devoid of light, are devoid of peace — not because of the size of the home. Medina became Medina not because of the infrastructure of the city. It became Medina, the most beloved city to us, because of what was brought within it through the presence of our Prophet ﷺ. Similarly, homes can only become homes when there is peace within them, and there can only be peace through that which the Prophet ﷺ has informed us — a Sunnah that he has brought within our lives.

Strange to Whose Standard?

"Don't fix what's not broken." There was a system that took these people and made them the leaders of the world. That is the same system that will work for us.

And therefore when Umar رضي الله عنه was told by Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah, "Look at what you're dressed like — you look strange," we respond by saying: strange to which paradigm? Strange to whose frame of reference? Strange to whose definition of norms? Strange to whose standard?

Because the reality is, everyone is strange in reference to someone else's definition of what a norm is. A person that sees wealth to be the norm — a person of education is a stranger. A person that sees education to be the norm — a person that has no degree is a stranger. Every "ism" is an ism that has set a new reference of what is a norm, and Allah has already told us that the norm is what He has given us. So of course we will be strange — because there are too many points of reference to try to be inclusive of, and the only point of reference that really matters is that Allah loves us.

So are we strange? Yes. But to whose point of reference? And are we accepted? Yes — because we are recognized by Allah. We are recognized by those that truly matter. If we try so hard to fit in because we wish to assimilate so people can accept us, one day we will look in the mirror and say: who am I?

Allah says: don't become like that person who forgets who they are because they forgot who Allah was.

Falling in Love with Allah Again

We have all the opportunities. As Iqbal says — what is the point of all of these events? What is the point of traveling around the country and having long nights and long meetings? The point is that indeed one of us will leave having fallen in love with Allah once again. And then all of it becomes worth it. Because struggling for the sake of Allah is not seen to be a struggle.

Deen — A Burden or a Blessing?

My dear friends — and I'll end with this. Anything that we see to be a burden — whenever it increases, we get irritated. Because we see it to be a burden. So when we have more work given to us by our boss, we get irritated because work is seen to be a burden. Whenever we are given more work or homework from our teachers, the increase of that creates a slight irritation because we see it to be a burden.

And whenever we see something to be a blessing, the increase of it only brings fulfillment. It only brings comfort.

So either we see our Deen to be a burden — such that through the increase of it, there is a slight irritation — or we see it to be a blessing, such that through the increase of it, there is a complete sense of fulfillment and submission.

This is what made the classroom of the Sahabas unique. Today, classrooms are unique because of the buildings. Today, classrooms are unique because of the curriculums. Today, classrooms are unique because of who is left out, not who is allowed to come in.

Our Prophet's classroom was unique because of none of that. It was unique because they were able to unite upon one frame of reference. And that was لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ.

That Umar رضي الله عنه would say:

"Indeed, Allah gave us honor through Islam."
(Reported by al-Hakim in al-Mustadrak, and others)

All of the youngsters sitting here — Allah gave you a sense of honor just because you are Muslim. We never look at Deen in a way that it depreciates our value. We only look at Deen in a way that it adds value to our lives. And if we do that, adding more Deen into our life will never be a burden — because we see it as a form of adding more value, like we see with wealth, like we see with education, like we see with family.

May Allah make us among those for whom our Deen becomes a source of enjoyment. Just like those who say they don't consider work to be work because they enjoy it — may Allah make us amongst those who say: we don't consider Deen to be difficult because we enjoy it, and it brings value to us and to those around us.

وَآخِرُ دَعْوَانَا أَنِ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ

May Allah bless you all, reward you all. May Allah allow this gathering to be a gathering that can be there on the Day of Judgment as a form of hasanat for us. Forgive us for holding you hostage for so many hours without food. But they always say that when you have to wait for something, you enjoy it a little bit more — so inshallah, you enjoy the food a little bit more.

Make du'a for the staff, make du'a for what we're doing and all the great organizations. We have something called the Knowledge Retreat that starts on March 2nd to March 6th. All of you are welcome to come.

Before I leave — there are certain institutions and individuals from Chicago that are not here, but without their support of the work of Deen in Chicago, this event would not have been possible. There are great institutions in Darus Salam who are doing great work — Mufti Minhajuddin and Mufti Azeemuddin. We give them a shout out because without their effort, many of us would not be sitting here. We have great institutions in Darul Qasim — Sheikh Ameen, Sheikh Bilal Ansari. Without their work, many of us would also not be sitting here. They are not absent because they were not invited — they were just not available because of their schedules.

But we know that our unity is not dependent upon logos and labels. Our unity is deeper than that. And we want to thank all of those scholars in Chicago that allowed Chicago to be such a community that we don't have to plant seeds anymore — we just take from their fruits. Mawlana, Sheikh, all the mashayikhs — the elder mashayikhs of Chicago — we are just taking from their fruits. May Allah allow us to be amongst those that can also plant seeds so that others can reap from our fruits.

Jazakallah Khair. السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ