The Leadership of the Sahabah by Shaykh Ammar AlShukry

Opening Praises and Testimony

Alhamdulillah, we praise Him, ask for His help, and ask for His forgiveness. And we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and from the evil of our deeds. Whom Allah guides, none can misguide him, and whom He misguides, none can guide him.

And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, with no partner. I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger, purest of His creation and His companion. He conveyed the message, fulfilled the trust, and advised the Ummah.

He left them on the white path, their night is like their day. There is no god but Allah. Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.

O servants of Allah! Allah says in His noble Book, after we seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan:

O you who believe! Fear Allah as He should be feared. And you will not die except as Muslims.

O you people! Fear your Lord, who created you from one soul, and created from it a wife, and spread among them many men and women. Fear Allah, through whom you ask one another, and fear the ties of kinship. Indeed, Allah is ever watching over you.

O you who believe! Fear Allah and say the right words. He will correct your deeds and forgive your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has won a great triumph.

All praise is due to Allah. We seek His guidance and we seek His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of ourselves and the whispers of our desires. Verily, whom Allah guides, no one can misguide, and whom He allows to be misled, no one can guide.

And I bear witness that there is nothing worthy of worship except Allah alone, having no partners, and that Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam is His slave and His worshipper.

The Importance of History

Allah in the Qur'an tells us the story of the prophets. And Allah says:

Allah says: and We relate to you the stories of the prophets from before, through which your heart is granted steadfastness.

And that is part of the benefit of studying history — through it you see the patterns that Allah has placed, the sunan of Allah. And I am aware that we are in Black History Month, and it is a month in which we are to study the history of millions of Africans that were brought from West Africa to the United States as slaves. And as you know, estimates of 15% to 20% — and even higher than that — of them were Muslim.

And so the story of Islam in America is not one that is peripheral. Islam's story in the United States goes way beyond even before the founding of this country or the establishment of this country. But that's not my topic for today — just the importance of history.

Some of the scholars have mentioned that a third of the Qur'an is stories — stories of the prophets. But not just stories of the prophets; Allah also mentions the stories of the wicked.

We have made clear for you the path of the wrongdoers, so that you can recognize the path of the wrongdoers.

Allah says: and We have made for every prophet enemies from the criminals, from the wicked. And so as you study the righteous so that you can embody them, you also study the wicked so that you can learn their tactics, learn the path of the criminals.

The Pharaoh of Musa — The Greatest Villain in the Qur'an

And so today, briefly inshallah, I am going to look at one of those. In fact, one of the most wicked that ever walked the face of the earth — and that is the Pharaoh of Musa. He is the villain in the Qur'an that is mentioned the most by name. There is no villain that is mentioned more than the Pharaoh of Musa.

Allah says: The Pharaoh was haughty in the land.

And he made its people — he divided its people. يَسْتَضْعِفُ طَائِفَةً مِّنْهُمْ — he used to marginalize a group of them. And this is a tactic of old: the divide and conquer, the marginalization of a group. And then Allah says, يُذَبِّحُ أَبْنَاءَهُمْ — he used to slaughter their sons. And he used to let their women live. إِنَّهُ كَانَ مِنَ الْمُفْسِدِينَ — he was of those who did incredibly wrong. He was of those who spread incredible corruption.

The First Attribute: Arrogance

Now what were some of the attributes of this man? The first, undoubtedly, is his arrogance. Allah says, عَلَا فِي الْأَرْضِ. And this is very important, because one of the things that impedes being able to recognize the signs of God is arrogance.

When you see that this Pharaoh is going to be given — that he is going to see signs from Musa, and that Moses is going to present signs to him, whether it's the staff that turns into a serpent, or whether it's his hand that glows bright white, or whether it's the signs that were sent to the people of Egypt — Fir'aun is not going to recognize any of those signs because Allah says:

Allah says: I will turn away from My signs those who are arrogant upon the earth without right, and if they should see every sign they will not believe in it. They will not believe in it. If they were to see the sun and the moon brought to them, if they were to see every sign that they claim, they still wouldn't believe — if a heart has arrogance.

And that is why one of our most constant slogans that we say in the salah before we recite the signs of God is we say Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar. It's the slogan of the prayer. And of the reasons — and Allah knows best — why that is the slogan of the prayer, is because you are diminishing that ego that you have. You are killing that ego that you have. I am not Kabir; Allah is the greatest. So now when I'm reciting the verses, the signs of God in my salah, I'm able to benefit from them. I am not one of those who are diverted away from the signs of God.

And in fact, when you recite in Surah Al-Fatihah — the chapter that we recite in every unit of every prayer — one of those verses is:

You alone do we worship and You alone we seek for help. And Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah says that this verse resolves two debilitating diseases of the heart.

The first is إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ — You alone do we worship — and that resolves, it heals the spiritual disease of showing off for others, making your audience other than Allah. Riya'. I am saying: You are the one that I worship. Through my worship I'm not seeking anybody else's reward. I'm not seeking anybody else's attention. I'm not seeking anybody else's audience. It is You that I'm worshiping through this prayer of mine.

وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ — And You alone do we seek for help. And he says this cures the disease of arrogance. The greatest tycoon, the wealthiest man in the world, the most powerful individuals on earth — they still have to stand in front of God and say, I need Your help. That person who will not say that they need the help of anybody, who rejects the help of anybody, who would claim that they built themselves by themselves and don't give credit to anybody — they still have to stand in front of Allah and say, I need Your help. You are the one that I seek help from.

And so Fir'aun has this arrogance that impedes the signs of God from being visible to him. In fact, his arrogance was of such a unique nature that he claims not only to be divine but he claims to be God. He said:

He said: I am your Lord the Most High. And he said about Egypt, as if it is his personal possession:

Does not Egypt all belong to me? And these rivers flow underneath my feet? Doesn't all of this belong to me? And so we see the arrogance. We see the oppression as well of Fir'aun. And we see his ifsad — this corruption that he has — and this transgression.

That he would not just do what criminals do, but he does it in a way that criminals themselves would not do. He transgresses all bounds. People — criminals have always murdered, but even criminals, even murderers, might have limits. And they'll say, no, I don't kill children. One thing to kill adults. It's another thing to kill the helpless. It's another thing to kill those who are literal symbols of innocence — children. And yet we find that for Fir'aun, all of that was fair game.

The Story of the Hairdresser of Fir'aun's Daughter

And so you know the story of the Prophet peace be upon him while he was traveling on the night's journey — which Shaykh Kamal will be speaking about tonight on Friday Night Lights. But the Prophet ﷺ smelled a scent. And he asked the angel Jibreel and he said to him, what is this scent? He said, this is the hairdresser of Fir'aun. This is the scent that you're smelling.

Well, what's her story? The hairdresser of Fir'aun — she was the hairdresser of the daughter of Fir'aun. And when her comb fell, she said Bismillah — in the name of Allah. And the girl said, my dad? And she said, no. Allah is your Lord and the Lord of your father too. I know that Fir'aun is claiming to be God — that's not true.

So she said, I'm going to go and tell my dad if you're saying that. She said, go tell him. And so when that happened, Fir'aun had this lady summoned. And he had a vessel brought, and it was filled with a boiling liquid. He does not allow for anybody to believe in other than him — no matter their personal relationship. Even his wife Asya.

You know, the most wicked criminals — they'll give their families a green light. Their children will be able to talk back to them. Their spouses will be able to get away with doing things because of the love that they have. But we know that Fir'aun killed his wife Asya. We know that Fir'aun — this lady was the hairdresser of his daughter. She's brought forth, and one after one her children are thrown into that cauldron and they boil to death. Until finally the nursing infant that is in front of her — that she's carrying — is summoned. And she begins to hesitate. And the child says to her, be patient, mother. And she is killed as well. Fir'aun was one of the Mufsidin. He was an evil, evil tyrant.

The Tactics of Fir'aun

First Tactic: Distortion of the Truth

And when you read the Qur'an and you're trying to understand his psychology or his personality, you see that there are a number of tactics that he used. Of the tactics that he used is distortion of the truth. That's one of the ways that he held on to power. When Musa alayhi salam and Haroon come, they said:

To free the children of Israel from Egypt. And that is what they are commanded to say. And what does Fir'aun say when he receives that clear message — of we just want our people to leave Egypt, we just want to leave, we're not trying to overthrow your government, we're not trying to replace your people? What does Fir'aun say?

He flips it completely. They say, stop committing genocide against my people — and he says, you're trying to commit a genocide against us. He says, have you come to expel us from our land with your magic, O Musa? Complete distortion of the truth. And the word spreads.

The word spreads, so in Surah Taha, Allah says:

That these are two magicians. They have come to expel you from your land and to do away with your way of life. And this is a tactic that has been used again and again and again. And we've seen it be used against our community here domestically and against Muslim communities abroad — the distortion of the message.

Second Tactic: Using Favor as a Weapon

Of the tactics that Fir'aun uses is a very vile tactic. He says to Musa:

He says to Musa, didn't we raise you in our house? Moses was raised in the palace of Fir'aun — he was unique in that regard. He said, didn't we raise you in our house? And you lived amongst us for many years. وَفَعَلْتَ فَعْلَتَكَ الَّتِي فَعَلْتَ — and you did that thing that you did — talking about killing the Coptic man by accident. And you are from the ungrateful. You're ungrateful to us. We raised you, we took care of you. And here you are, responding to that favor with your ingratitude.

Musa alayhi salam responds with a number of things. But powerfully he says:

He says, this is a favor that you're counting against me — that you enslaved the children of Israel? Okay, so you raised me in your palace — who caused me that fear in the first place? Who caused my mother that fear, where she placed a baby in a basket in a river? That was you too. Who slaughtered my people to the point that I had to end up as a refugee in your house being raised?

And so what Musa alayhi salam is describing is something that is spoken on the tongue — or in the heart, even if it's not spoken on the tongue — of every person who grows up in privilege. Every person who goes to the greatest of schools. Every person who strikes off, leaves a developing nation and comes to a developed nation. But doesn't forget the destruction, doesn't reject the poverty, doesn't forget the difficulty, doesn't forget the obstacles that were placed on the people around them. Who put me in this position in the first place? Musa alayhi salam says.

Third Tactic: Distraction and Character Assassination

Allah also mentions — and the last thing that I'll mention inshallah ta'ala. But by the way, before I forget — Fir'aun, by casting these things in a conversation that he has with Musa alayhi salam, Musa alayhi salam continues to call him to the worship of Allah and he doesn't get distracted.

Fir'aun says:

What is the Lord of the worlds? He says, the Lord of the heavens and the earth and what is between them if you would be certain. And Fir'aun says to those around him:

Do you not hear? When Fir'aun can't respond to the argument of Musa, he looks around and he says, do you hear what he's saying? And then Musa says, your Lord and the Lord of your fathers from before. And Fir'aun says:

So he's again trying to distract, again he's trying to divert. He's saying, the messenger that was sent to you is crazy — he's accusing him of insanity now. And then Musa says:

The Lord of the east and the west and what is between them, if you have knowledge. And then Fir'aun — after he resorted to distraction, after he resorted to character assassination — then says:

He says, if you take a god other than me, I will make you of those who are imprisoned. And this distraction that Musa does not respond to — this distraction is a very powerful tool that is constantly used against us.

The Function of Distraction — A Lesson for Our Community

I want to read for you this quote by Toni Morrison. She says:

"The function, the very serious function of racism is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining over and over and over again your reason for being. Somebody says you have no language and so you spend 20 years proving that you do. Somebody says your head isn't shaped properly so you have scientists working on the fact that it is. Somebody says you have no art so you dredge that up. Somebody says you have no kingdom so you dredge that up. None of this is necessary. There will always be one more thing."

And when we look at our community over the past 20 years, so much has been thrown our way in the language of Islamophobia. All of our resources being used to combat Islamophobia diverts us away from teaching people what Islam is in the first place. Proving what we are not. And all of that is not necessary. All of that is not necessary.

Islam does not need to be proven. Islam does not need to be defended in that way. Islam needs to be shown and Islam needs to be presented. But that is the function of racism — it continues to distract you and distract you and distract you, and there will always be another thing.