The Quran: A Reminder And The Boundless Glory Of Allah

Opening Praise and Glorification

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الْخَالِقِ الْوُجُودَ مِنَ الْعَدَمِ وَجَاعِلِ النُّورِ مِنَ الظُّلَامِ وَمُخْرِجِ الصَّبْرِ مِنَ الْأَلَمِ فَنَشْكُرُهُ عَلَى الْمَصَائِبِ كَمَا نَشْكُرُهُ عَلَى النِّعَمِ وَنُصَلِّي وَنُسَلِّمُ عَلَى رَسُولِهِ الْأَكْرَمِ ذِي الشَّرَفِ الْأَسَمِّ وَالنُّورِ الْأَتَمِّ وَكَمَالِ النَّبِيِّينَ وَالْكِتَابِ الْمُحْكَمِ سَيِّدِي وُلِدَ آدَمَ الَّذِي بَشَّرَ بِهِ عِيسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ وَدَعَا لَهُ بِذَاتِهِ إِبْرَاهِيمُ عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ حِينَ كَانَ يَرْفَعُ قَوَاعِدَهُ بَيْتَ اللَّهِ الْمُحَرَّمَ وَالَّذِي بَارَكَ اللَّهُ بِهِ كَافَّةَ النَّاسِ الْعَرَبَ مِنْهُمْ وَالْعَجَمَ فَسُبْحَانَ الَّذِي لَمْ يَتَّخِذْ وَلَدًا وَلَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ شَرِيكٌ فِي الْمُلْكِ وَلَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ وَلِيٌّ مِنَ الذُّلِّ وَكَبِّرْهُ تَكْبِيرًا

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي أَنزَلَ عَلَىٰ عَبْدِهِ الْكِتَابَ وَلَمْ يَجْعَل لَّهُ عِوَجًا

Amma ba'd. Allah says in His Book, after seeking refuge in Allah from Shaytan the accursed, in the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful:

And the Prophet ﷺ said:

That you will not return to Allah with anything more virtuous than that which came from Him — meaning the Quran.

The Glorification of Allah

Respected audience, dear brothers and sisters, we start off with the glorification of Allah.

O Allah — the eyes cannot see You, and the thoughts cannot fathom You, and anyone attempting to give a description of Allah is unable to do so. He knows the weight of the weightiest mountains, and the depths of the deepest oceans, and the amounts of raindrops that fall down from the sky. Nothing can remain hidden from the sight of Allah.

Say, O Muhammad ﷺ, to your Ummah: that if you were to turn the oceans — all of the water from the oceans into ink, and all the trees of planet earth into pens, and you start to write down the glorification of Allah — the water from the oceans will finish and all the pens will perish, but the glorification of Allah will never end.

The Story of Dhul Bajadain — The Young Man from Ta'if

I would like to start off with the incident of a young man by the name of Abdul Uzza. He was an inhabitant of the city of Ta'if — the very city that Rasulullah ﷺ went to in hopes of spreading the message of Islam.

This young man happened to come across a caravan of strange individuals. As we know, Rasulullah ﷺ when he gave the description of Islam, he said:

Islam started as a strange affair.
(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 145)

And gharib in the Arabic language means strange — it does not mean a poor person, as we know it in Urdu. So when this young man from Ta'if saw a caravan passing by, he thought these individuals seemed different and strange. Just as when we go out in the attire of a Muslim — may Allah give us all the tawfiq to apply the sunnah attire upon ourselves — people think you're weird and they think you're strange, and naturally they're curious.

So similarly, this young man was standing on the side of the road and he saw the caravan passing, and he asked them: "Who are you?" Naturally, when someone asks us, we usually start by our name. But these were the companions of Rasulullah ﷺ. The answer they gave before their names was:

Verily, we are the companions of Rasulullah ﷺ.

The Description of the Companions

And as Abdullah ibn Mas'ud رضي الله عنه, when giving a description of his fellow companions, he states:

Whoever has a desire to follow the sunnah of anyone should follow the sunnah of an individual who has passed away.
(Referenced in Hayatul Sahaba by Shaykh Yusuf Kandhlawi, Vol. 1)

And Shaykh Yusuf rahimahullah, the author of Hayatul Sahaba and one of the elders of the effort of da'wah and tabligh, mentioned this hadith on the front page of his book. This is a very deep point, because:

One who has passed away — you have no fear of fitna over him.

He was able to protect his iman and hand himself over to the mercy of Allah. And then Abdullah ibn Mas'ud gives a description of the companions of Rasulullah ﷺ:

Those are the companions of Muhammad ﷺ — they have the purest and most righteous of hearts, the least artificial of all people, and the deepest in knowledge.

They are not artificial at all. They have the cleanest and the purest of hearts, and they are closest to Allah.

Abdul Uzza's Journey to Madinah

So the young man by the name of Abdul Uzza said: "How can I be like you?" And naturally, the message they used to give to the people was أَسْلِمُوا تَسْلَمُوا — that you enter the fold of Islam, and you enter the fold of the protection of Allah.

So this young man went back and he narrated that incident to his uncle. His uncle was familiar with the message of Islam and said: "Be quiet. Don't you dare mention this or mention the account of Muhammad ﷺ in front of me ever again."

He tried to be patient, but he was unable to do so. And after six months, he went to his uncle and said:

Indeed my heart has been burnt due to the desire it has to see — to see a glimpse of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

His uncle threatened him and said: if you continue onwards with this desire, I will make sure that you are left with nothing — so much so that I will take the clothes that are on your back. And he fulfilled that threat. When the young man was leaving the city, his uncle took away everything, and he was left with a bajad — a thick, heavy woolen cloth. He had that over his head and it went all the way to his knees.

So he set out for the city of Rasulullah ﷺ — Madinatul Munawwara. And he entered the company of Rasulullah ﷺ. The moment the sahaba and Rasulullah ﷺ saw him, they asked: "Who are you, oh young man?" He gave his name — that I have come with the desire of accepting Islam, and my name is Abdul Uzza. And Rasulullah ﷺ gave him the name Dhul Bajadain — that no, indeed you are a person who is in shroud and covered in a sheet. And he accepted Islam.

The Burial of Dhul Bajadain

Abdullah ibn Mas'ud رضي الله عنه mentions an incident. He says that during the Battle of Tabuk, I was looking and searching for Rasulullah ﷺ, and I could not find him until I kept on searching and searching, and I found him where he was burying the dead. And I found that Rasulullah ﷺ was inside a grave, and he was saying to Abu Bakr and Umar رضي الله عنهما: "Hand over to me your brother, hand over to me your brother." And when he looked closer, it was that same young man Abdul Uzza from the city of Ta'if. He was handed over to Rasulullah ﷺ, and Rasulullah lowered him into his grave, and then faced him with his own hands towards the qiblah.

And Abdullah ibn Mas'ud رضي الله عنه said:

I wish that I was in his place — even though I had accepted Islam before that individual by 15 years.

This is a description of the companions of Rasulullah ﷺ.

The Desire to See Rasulullah ﷺ

Respected audience, each and every single one of us yearns to be in the company of Rasulullah ﷺ. And we all think and we imagine: how will we face Rasulullah ﷺ on the Day of Qiyamah?

It's the burning desire — just like that young man by the name of Abdul Uzza had the desire to see a single glimpse of Rasulullah ﷺ. Just like that, each and every single ummati of Rasulullah ﷺ has that desire within him to witness and to see the face of Rasulullah ﷺ. And may Allah give us all the tawfiq on the Day of Qiyamah that we're able to witness and take a drink from the Hawd of Kawthar from the hands of Rasulullah ﷺ.

But for us, the practice and the teaching of Rasulullah ﷺ was to follow his sunan. That is the implementation of the desire to see Rasulullah ﷺ and to be in his company. There is a hadith of Rasulullah ﷺ in which he mentions:

It is my desire that I am able to see my brothers.
(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 249)

The Sahaba رضوان الله تعالى عليهم أجمعين who were there in the company of Rasulullah ﷺ asked:

Are we not your brothers?

You said that you wish to see your brothers — we're here, are we not your brothers? Rasulullah ﷺ replied:

You are my companions. My brothers are those who believed in me but never saw me — they will be from amongst those who come after me.
(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 249)

That you are my companions. You have the special status and the special title رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمْ وَرَضُوا عَنْهُ given to you by Allah. But my brothers are those who have not seen me, but they will be from amongst those who come after me.

And there is that famous expression: لَحَمَلْنَاهُ عَلَىٰ أَعْنَاقِنَا — that if we were in the company of Rasulullah ﷺ, we would not have let his feet touch the ground; we would have carried him on our shoulders and on our necks.

But the answer that Hudhayfah رضي الله عنه gave is a very unique answer. He said:

What is with you people that you desire to see things and desire to be in a time which Allah took away from you?

Because if you were in the company of Rasulullah ﷺ, that company comes with great responsibility.

The Importance of a Muslim's Conduct

Just like when we label ourselves as Muslims in a land where nobody knows us — when you go out with the label of a Muslim, you are meant to behave in a certain way. To this day, I do not forget the advice one of my teachers gave me when I was in Pakistan. He was a muhajir from the country of Tunisia. Some of these countries do not have religious freedom, so there are a lot of people who migrate from them. We had a lot of teachers from countries like Tunisia, Morocco, and Egypt, because they were not able to practice their religion freely. They were not able to keep beards. Their wives and daughters were not able to cover their heads.

When I was leaving, I went to him for advice. And he said: when you go back, the people will see you as a Muslim. It is very, very important that you leave behind a positive impression. Just like Rasulullah ﷺ — when he was in the city of Mecca, before he started preaching the da'wah of Islam, before he started calling people towards Islam, he was known as al-Sadiq al-Amin — the trustworthy, and the one who always told the truth. So naturally, when Rasulullah ﷺ started with the message of Islam, people were attracted towards him. Because he was a person with a clean personality, who was not labeled with any type of fraud, and had not cheated anyone his entire life.

The Account Before the Roman Emperor

Here I would like to mention an incident which unfolded before the Roman Emperor. When he was in battle with the sahaba of Rasulullah ﷺ — as we know, during the time of Umar رضي الله عنه, there was a northward expansion of the Muslims towards the Syrian lands, and the Syrian lands were controlled by the Roman Empire, which was a superpower of that time.

They were at times surprised with the power of the Muslims. There are people who don't have enough clothing, there are people who don't have enough weaponry, they don't have camels to ride on, they don't have horses, they take turns riding each other's rides. So they were surprised: what is with these people? How are they able to advance forward and defeat our armies?

So he summoned someone who could give him an account of the companions of Rasulullah ﷺ. He found a person who had been captured by the Muslims, stayed in their company for some time, and then was released and allowed to go back to the capital where the Roman Emperor resided. So he summoned him to his court.

When he asked him to give an account of the Muslims, that person became excited. He said:

I will be able to give you a description of these people — these strange people — as if I see them right before me, in front of my eyes.

So the Emperor said: why don't you give me a description of them? أَخْبِرْنِي عَنْ هَؤُلَاءِ الْقَوْمِ — tell me everything that you can about these people.

Warriors by Day, Worshippers by Night

And he replied:

They are riding on horseback during the daytime, and at night you will find them devoted to the worship of Allah.
(Referenced in Hayatul Sahaba by Shaykh Yusuf Kandhlawi)

The very first description that I can give you about these people is that they are busy with hard work during the daytime, and at night time, you'll find them devoted to the worship of Allah. During the day time, they're sitting on the backs of their horses. Night time, they're sitting on their musallas.

And this is a lesson that we draw from the early days of nubuwwah. When you look at the command given by Allah to Rasulullah ﷺ, the very first command is:

Read in the name of your Allah. So this is the aspect of learning and working hard and striving for the sake of the deen of Allah. And the second aspect is the aspect of ibadah — just like the sahaba were balancing between the two. During the daytime, they're working and striving for the sake of the deen of Allah. Night time, they're standing and engaged in the worship of Allah.

When you look at the life of Rasulullah ﷺ, during the day time he was going from tent to tent, from city to city, calling people towards Allah and taking every single difficulty that would come his way. When Aisha رضي الله عنها was crying and she said: how long are you going to go on like this? Rasulullah ﷺ replied:

A time will come that the religion of your father — the religion of Islam — will enter each and every single nook and cranny of the world.

And the second aspect — when we look towards Surah Al-Muzzammil:

That is the aspect of the worship of Allah.

Further Descriptions of the Companions

So the first description he gave of the companions of Rasulullah ﷺ was فُرْسَانٌ بِالنَّهَارِ رُهْبَانٌ بِاللَّيْلِ. They are on horseback during the daytime. And then:

They never mistreat anyone. They never take away the right of anyone.

They were given standing instructions by their Nabi ﷺ not to harm the older individuals of the city, not to harm the women and children. And if they owe something to someone, they make sure they fulfill that promise.

Then the third description he gave was: whenever they enter a locality or a dwelling, they enter with peace, and they never invade the privacy of someone. And then he said:

They are not the ones to initiate war. They call people towards Allah.

Wherever they go, their intent is not to attain personal benefit. Their intent is not to gain glory and to gain land. The intent is to give people the message of Islam. They remain standing and calling people towards Allah. If people accept their message, then they accept them as their brothers. And if they reject, that is when they initiate war itself.

Implementing Their Example in Our Lives

And this is a description of the Sahabah رضوان الله تعالى عليهم أجمعين. And it's something that we should aspire to be like. We hear their stories, but these stories should not be a form of entertainment for us. A lot of times, we're going to different kinds of lectures. The intention that should be there is the intention of implementing whatever is being taught into our lives — and to become just like them, a direct embodiment of Rasulullah ﷺ and the Sahabah رضوان الله تعالى عليهم أجمعين.

May Allah give us the tawfiq to implement their sunan and their practices within our lives.

أَقُولُ قَوْلِي هَذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ لِي وَلَكُمْ وَلِسَائِرِ الْمُسْلِمِينَ فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهُ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ