The Prophets Sacrifices (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) - Shaykh Ahsan Hanif

Khutbah al-Hajah (Opening)

Amma ba'd: Indeed, the best of speech is the Book of Allah, and the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم, and the worst of affairs are newly invented matters, and every newly invented matter is an innovation, and every innovation is a going astray, and every going astray is in the Fire.

The Prophet's First Call and the Beginning of Sacrifice

From the very first moment that our Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم stood on the mountain of As-Safa and he called his people to the way of Allah and he proclaimed Tawheed amongst the people of Mecca and Quraysh — from that very first moment, for the next subsequent 13 years, if not 23 years of his prophethood, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم would sacrifice. He would sacrifice for us.

He would sacrifice for his ummah. From that moment onwards he would be prone to being oppressed, tortured, harmed physically, verbally, psychologically. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم would have to endure all of this — and this wasn't just from strangers or people that he didn't know. This was in what was, at that time, the very small community of Mecca, where the people that he was facing on a daily basis, the people that were opposing him, the people who would become his enemies, the people who would try to harm him and eventually to kill and assassinate him — would be people that were related to him. They were his family, his cousins, people related to him by blood or through marriage. People that he knew from childhood, that he grew up with, people that are from his community, people that perhaps he had dealings with in business and so on and so forth.

And that's not just for him, but even for his companions رضي الله عنهم أجمعين. If we were to just take a few moments and study and analyze the life of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and look at the amount and the number of sacrifices that he made, it would amaze you how much he had to go through on a daily basis — simply to hold on to this religion, or rather to convey this religion to us.

The Confrontation at the Hijr of Ismail

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, every single time that he would leave his house, someone or something would come and cause problems for him.

Abdullah ibn 'Amr ibn al-'As — in what is collected by Imam Ahmad in his Musnad — said that on one occasion the leaders of Quraysh, the nobility of Quraysh, they came and they gathered and they sat in the Hijr of Ismail, that semicircle that you see by the Ka'bah. They sat there and as they were sitting there, they were discussing the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and they said to one another: "No one has been as patient as we have been with this man" — meaning the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. "He curses our gods. He splits our families. He doesn't like the way of our forefathers. He's caused our youth to rebel against us. Our families have been split apart. No one can stand this type of tumult and difficulty within their community."

And as they were discussing this and having this heated conversation amongst themselves, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم came out of his house and he went to the Ka'bah and he started to make tawaf. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, despite knowing that he would be prone to these attacks, that they would speak about him, that they would do these things — it never stopped him from coming out and worshipping Allah. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم never hid in his home, never was embarrassed about his religion. Rather, he would stand up and he would be counted.

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم made tawaf and he went around the first circuit and the second circuit and the third circuit, and each and every single time in the circuit when he would come across the nobility of Quraysh — when he was going around that Hijr of Ismail — they would speak to him and shout at him and say things that were not befitting of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. After three times of doing this, on his third circuit, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم became upset and angry.

Abdullah ibn 'Amr ibn al-'As رضي الله عنهما, the narrator of this narration, says that when the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم would become angry, you could tell in his face. You could see it in his face. It was obvious that he was upset. He became angry and he stopped and he said to them: "Ya ma'shar Quraysh! O leaders of Quraysh! By the One in Whose Hand is Muhammad's soul — I have come with your destruction."

The Quraysh, when they heard this, knew that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was not a man who lied. He was not a man who made idle threats — and they were sitting by the Ka'bah, in what even they considered to be the holiest of places. So they went and they consoled the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and insisted that he carry on with his tawaf, and they would not disturb him anymore. The point being: in each and every single occasion that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم came out, something like this would happen.

Abu Jahl's Threat and Divine Protection

On another occasion — as collected in Sahih Muslim — the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم came out one day of his house and all of the leaders of Quraysh pounced upon him. They came and said: "Are you the one who says such and such about our religion, about our gods, about our way of life?" The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is one single man against all of these leaders of Quraysh. He stood his ground, was firm and polite, and said to them: "Yes. I am the one who says this about you. I do not approve of the way that you worship your gods. It is not from Islam." He told them what he thought.

Uqbah ibn Abi Mu'ayt, one of the leaders and nobles of Quraysh, went to grab the clothing of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, wanting to physically harm him. Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه saw this and came and pushed him away and said to him: "Would you kill this man simply because he says 'My Lord is Allah'? All he wants to do is worship Allah alone. You would fight him over this claim?"

Abu Jahl became angry and said: "If I ever see him come again in front of us and worship his God, I will stamp upon his neck." A short while later, as the Quraysh were sitting, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم came out — and I want you to just stop here and pause and reflect upon this. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم had just had this altercation. He had nearly been attacked physically, and they had told him not to worship out here, to do it somewhere privately. But the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم would still come out in the same day, more or less at the same time, a short while later, to come by the Ka'bah and worship Allah.

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم began to pray, and when he went into sajdah, Abu Jahl said: "Now I will go and stamp upon his neck." The leaders of Quraysh were watching. And as he went to approach the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, he put up his hands as if to shield himself and walked back. They said: "What's wrong with you, Abu Jahl?" He said: "I see a trench of fire, and I see wings, and I see torment and punishment." The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said: "By Allah, had he come any closer, the angels would have come and they would have taken him apart limb by limb."

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was not afraid, because he had this connection with Allah. But he wanted the Muslims to also know that if they had this connection with Allah, there is nothing in this universe that can stand before you or against you when Allah is with you.

The Divine Response to Abu Jahl's Arrogance

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم would sacrifice on another occasion as he came out and wanted to worship and pray. Abu Jahl said to him: "Didn't I tell you not to do this in front of us? Didn't I warn you not to do this in front of us?" The Quraysh, because of the way that they revered the Ka'bah, because of their honor for it — they never stopped anyone from worshipping. They had people making tawaf naked around the Ka'bah and they wouldn't stop it. But when it came to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم wanting to pray, Abu Jahl said: "Why are you doing this? I told you not to do this." The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم became upset and spoke back to him. So Abu Jahl said: "Do you think that you have more helpers than me? Do you think that you will have more people to come to your aid than I? If I were to call, all of Mecca would come. And if you were to call for help, who would come to your aid?" So Allah revealed the verses in the Quran:

Let him call his helpers — We will call the angels of punishment to take care of him.

Abu Lahab and His Wife — Persecution Within the Family

On many occasions, a man once entered into Mecca as a stranger and saw the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم going around to the people calling them to Islam, saying: "O people, لا إله إلا الله — and you will be granted success." As he saw the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم moving from group to group calling them to Islam, he saw behind him another man walking a few steps behind, going to those exact same people and saying: "Don't listen to him. He's crazy. Don't listen to him. He's an imposter. Don't listen to him. He's a compulsive liar." This man, being a stranger, asked someone: "Who are these two men?" They said: "The man calling the people to this religion — his name is Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم. And as for the man who is behind him — that is his own uncle, Abu Lahab." His own uncle, walking behind him, saying about his nephew: "He's crazy. He's a liar. Don't listen to him."

When Abu Lahab would warn people against the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, the wife of Abu Lahab — as we know from the Quran in Surah Al-Masad — was someone who would carry thorny wood. She would take nails and splinters of wood at night and place them outside the door of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم so that when he came out in the morning while it was still dark and he could not see where he was going, he would step on those nails. They would go into those splinters of wood. They would harm him. But none of these ever stopped the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم from teaching and calling the people to their religion.

These are just some of the sacrifices that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم made — for me and for you — so that today, in the UK, 1,400 and more years after the Prophet's صلى الله عليه وسلم death, we would know the meaning of لا إله إلا الله.

The Boycott of Shi'ab Abi Talib — Three Years of Sacrifice

Six or seven years into the Prophethood, one of the greatest sacrifices the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم made — something that we don't often hear or study or analyze — lasted three years in his life. When the Quraysh had tried everything and it wasn't working, they began to openly say that they would kill the Muslims. They openly said: "We are simply going to kill them." So the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم allowed a number of his companions — those who could do so — to migrate to Abyssinia.

The migration to Abyssinia wasn't because those companions didn't want to live in Mecca. It was because they feared for their lives and the lives of their children. So the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم told them to go to Abyssinia and they migrated. Some of them, many of them couldn't migrate — they didn't have the means to leave. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was from amongst those who stayed behind.

The Quraysh began to openly say to everyone: "Now we will kill even Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم." They weren't afraid anymore. They'd had enough. So when Abu Talib, the uncle of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم — who at this time was a non-Muslim — heard this, he gathered his family: the people of Banu Hashim and Banu Muttalib, his close family relatives, the clans that belonged to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. He gathered them together and told them what Quraysh intended to do to their relative, their cousin Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم. They agreed that all of them together would defend the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم.

So they went to a place called the Shi'ab of Abu Talib — a mountain pass between two mountains, a valley — so that they could go and fortify themselves within this area. When the Quraysh came out and saw that all of Banu Hashim, all of Banu Muttalib, all of the family had gathered to defend the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, they knew that it would amount to civil war. So they stopped — but instead they went by the Ka'bah and they drew up a boycott of these people, the whole of the family of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم.

The Terms of the Boycott

They wrote down a number of terms. We often hear of the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, and we've spoken about it from this minbar — the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah and its terms and how difficult it was for the Muslims to bear. But this is not a treaty. This is a boycott. Its terms include: no one from Quraysh will speak to those people — not even speak to them. No one from amongst Quraysh will sit with them. No one from among Quraysh will buy from or sell to them. No one from amongst Quraysh will marry into their families or that they would marry into theirs. These were the terms that they put down.

The leaders and nobles of Quraysh signed and stamped it. And to show how serious they were, they went inside of the Ka'bah and hung up that parchment inside to show that this is something they were very serious about.

Abu Talib, his family, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, the companions, the families of Banu Hashim and Banu Muttalib — all of these people gathered in the Shi'ab of Abu Talib. According to some books of seerah and history, only Abu Lahab and his family did not partake — they didn't like the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم anyway or the Muslims. They were the only exceptions. The rest of them gathered in this place. Many of them were not even Muslims — not all of the family of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم were Muslims. Abu Talib wasn't a Muslim. Many of the relatives of these companions were not Muslims. But they gathered there because they didn't approve of the oppression they saw being done towards the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم.

And this shows you an important lesson — how the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم dealt with people. Even the non-Muslims didn't think that they were all bad or evil. Just because someone doesn't believe in Islam doesn't automatically make him an evil person. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was living with these people. They were his family, and he was residing with them and taking help and assistance from them.

The Severity of the Hardship

They stayed in this area. The Quraysh held firm to their terms: "We're not going to speak to you. We're not going to sit with you." Now these people, who had very little food that they brought with them, were living off the wealth of Khadijah رضي الله عنها and the wealth of Abu Talib, the uncle of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. But very quickly that wealth ran out. Whenever traders and businessmen would come from outside of Mecca to sell, the Quraysh would buy all of their stock so that they would not be able to sell to the Muslims, to the family of Abu Talib. Even if they had to pay more, they were willing to pay more just so that the Muslims would receive nothing.

The Muslims began to experience extreme hunger — no food, no water. They were living outside in the open desert. This is Arabia. This is what they were undergoing. This is what they were enduring. In some of the narrations of history, it says that the children would scream and cry out of hunger, and Mecca is a small place. This is on the outskirts of Mecca. By the Ka'bah, it is said that the leaders of Quraysh could hear the screams of the children coming from the Shi'ab of Abu Talib — from that mountain pass — but they would ignore them. Three years. They did this for three years.

Only very little food was allowed in. Hakim ibn Hizam, who would later become a companion — the nephew of Khadijah رضي الله عنها — would sometimes go and secretly smuggle food to the Muslims because of his aunt Khadijah. On one occasion Abu Jahl found out and said: "I am going to expose you to all of Quraysh for what you've done." Another man came and said to Abu Jahl: "Leave him alone. Let him do what he wants — it won't make a difference." So Hakim ibn Hizam would continue to do this.

Another man, sometimes, from among the Quraysh would take a horse or a donkey and would pay for some food, load it on the donkey and go to the mountain pass and let the donkey go free, hoping it would reach the Muslims. That's all they were able to do.

Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas رضي الله عنه, one of the companions who was with the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم — to show you the extreme sacrifice that those people made for us, the lengths that they had to go to, the amount that they had to endure for us — he says: "I went once on one occasion to relieve myself. I went far away from where the Muslims were, and as I began to relieve myself, I felt that there was something below me. I could hear the sound of my urine falling on something." When he saw what it was — it was an old camel skin, a dried camel skin. He said: "I took that camel skin, I washed it, I cooked it, and I made from it a type of soup that I lived off for three days." That's all he had. That's how extreme the situation was. That's how little they had to survive on.

For three years — this is what the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was enduring. And I want you to understand the gravity of this. These people who had boycotted the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم were his own family. Quraysh is a tribe — everyone is related to one another. They all go back to the same forefather. They are all relatives. Many of them were married to one another, related to one another. And despite this, they were willing to see these people — simply because of Islam, simply because of this call of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم — they were willing to see them starve, willing to see them out in the desert without shelter.

And despite this, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was firm. Despite this, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was using this as an opportunity to call his family members who were non-Muslims in the area, calling them to Islam.

Abu Talib — to show the level of love that he had for the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم — would not allow the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم to sleep in his own bed every night. He would say to him: "You sleep in my bed" — and he would make one of his own sons sleep in the bed of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. During the night, he and his sons and his cousins would go and patrol the area around their camp because they were afraid that the Quraysh would come and attack them.

The End of the Boycott

For three years this continued — until Allah sent revelation to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, inspiring him that that treaty, that parchment they had written inside the Ka'bah, had been eaten by ants — devoured, everything taken from it, destroyed — except the name of Allah.

Many of the people of Quraysh were now beginning to feel uncomfortable that their own family members, people that they knew, people from their tribe, were living in this way on the outskirts of Mecca. All of Arabia was speaking ill of Quraysh, because the Arabs had this sense of tribalism, of family, of honor in these things: "How can you treat your own kinsmen in this regard?"

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم told Abu Talib. Abu Talib went to the Quraysh and said to them: "That parchment that you have inside of the Ka'bah — it has been eaten. All of it is devoured, except the name of Allah. That is what my nephew told me. If he is truthful, then you must lift this boycott. And if he is untruthful — if he is lying — then I will give him to you."

The Quraysh became happy. Finally, they could take the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. They agreed and went inside the Ka'bah and found that the parchment was indeed destroyed, except for the name of Allah. And thus they had to lift the boycott.

Shortly after this — by a few months — Abu Talib and Khadijah رضي الله عنها, both of them, would pass away.

Lessons from the Sacrifice

This period of history — this period of the seerah known as the Shi'ab of Abu Talib, or the boycott of the family of Abu Talib — is something which we don't often hear about. But if you think about the sacrifice that was made by the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, by those early Muslims, by the companions رضي الله عنهم أجمعين, it is something which astounds the mind, something which is awe-inspiring — that they would go to such lengths simply to preserve for us this religion. And then when we look at the challenges that we face, the difficulties that we have, the trials within our community and in our society at large, they pale in significance when you compare them to what they had to endure and the sacrifices that they had to make.

This is from the greatest lessons that you will learn from the seerah of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم — the sacrifice that he made so that today we would know Allah, today we would know the sunnah of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, today we would know the meaning of true Islam.

We ask Allah that He gives us firmness upon this religion, and that Allah makes us steadfast — us and our families — and that Allah showers His mercy upon us and upon our families.

What Were They Sacrificing For?

When people sacrifice, they sacrifice because what they're sacrificing for is something precious. Anyone who makes a great sacrifice does so because they're trying to build or preserve something which they consider to be precious — and they're trying to pass that thing on to someone else.

You hear these stories of migrants who leave from Africa and other places. They travel in overcrowded boats, and sometimes those boats capsize. They travel with their families, with their young children, with everything that they carry — all of their possessions — just to reach the shores of Europe. That's a sacrifice they're willing to make: to leave all of that behind, with the real possibility of everyone drowning and dying. Many of us here, we are here today because of the sacrifice that our parents made for us. They left behind their families. They left behind their homes. They left behind the countries that they were born in. They left behind everything that they were familiar with, because they wanted to make a sacrifice for their families and for their children.

Every time someone makes a great sacrifice, it's because they consider it to be something worthwhile. They're trying to do something precious and pass that thing on to someone else. So we have to ask this question: what was the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم sacrificing for? Every sacrifice that you can think of — our parents, other people, businessmen, anyone who makes a sacrifice — it is nothing like the sacrifice that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and the companions made. This is an important lesson for us to take, something that we need to understand.

What were they sacrificing for? What was so precious that they were willing to go to those extreme lengths to preserve it for us? We all know the answer as well. It is our religion. It is the Tawheed of Allah. It is that statement of لا إله إلا الله. Sometimes we treat it so lightly, with so much insignificance — but look at how much it meant to those people, that they were willing to endure those sacrifices.

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم didn't just do this for himself and his family and his companions and the people of his time, but he wanted this to last and to continue — to be passed on from generation to generation. This is what we need to do. We have many of our younger brothers and sisters here in the audience today. This is what is so precious to us in our religion — that symbol of Tawheed, of لا إله إلا الله, the essence of Islam, knowing your religion, knowing Allah.

What kept the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and the companions steadfast and firm — by the permission of Allah — for three years in those extreme circumstances? It was their relationship with Allah. It was the strong connection that they had cultivated with Allah. And even when you think about those three years, look at the character of the Muslims. You don't have a single narration of any of the Muslims going and doing something crazy. There is no narration of them doing anything extreme, harming people, blowing things up, doing anything of that nature. Three years they endured this. Surely if there was a time that such things were going to be legislated, it would have been at that time and at that place. But the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was steadfast, and with his amazing character and the way that he taught the companions, they rode out this difficulty and this trial.

They wanted to preserve for us something precious — and that thing which is precious is how to build our connection to Allah, to know the true meaning of لا إله إلا الله.

Our Responsibility — Taking Up the Inheritance

Today it is our responsibility collectively to take that legacy — because as the Prophet told us صلى الله عليه وسلم, the inheritance of the prophets is not money. It is not gold or silver. It is not dirhams or dinars. It is the knowledge that they leave behind. It is the religion that they leave behind.

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 3641; Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2682)

It is now our role to take that inheritance on and to sacrifice for it — to keep it just as precious and to pass it on to the next generation. And through that, through following the path of Allah, following the example of our Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, we can overcome all of these difficulties and challenges and trials that we face.

We ask Allah that He allows us to see truth and to distinguish it from falsehood, and that Allah makes us from those people who, when they read the Quran and they read the sunnah, they follow the best of it in action. We ask Allah that He guides us and our families and keeps us steadfast upon this religion. We ask Allah that He showers His mercy upon us and that He keeps us safe from the evil of all trials.