Jurayj: The Worshipper - Shaykh Mustafa Abu Rayyan

Introduction

All praise is due to Allah. We praise Him, we seek His help and we seek His forgiveness. And we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and from the evil of our deeds.

Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide him, and whosoever He leads astray, none can guide him. And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, with no partner. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and His Messenger, and pure of heart, of His creation and of His companions.

Allah has sent him to all mankind as a bearer of glad tidings and a warner. He conveyed the message, fulfilled the trust, and advised the ummah. And He left us on the white path, its night is like its day, none can escape it but perish. So peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and upon his family and his companions, and upon those who were guided by his guidance, and waited for his sunnah, and called for his call to the Day of Recompense.

O you who have believed, fear Allah as He should be feared, and do not die except as Muslims.

O you who have believed, fear your Lord, Who created you from a single soul, and created from it a wife, and spread among them many men and women. And fear Allah in Whom you ask for help and mercy. Verily, Allah is ever watching over you.

O you who have believed, fear Allah and say the right words. He will correct your deeds and forgive you your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has won a great victory.

The purpose behind stories is for us to not just read them for leisure, but to take lessons from them. Every story that Rasulullah told us, and every story that Allah relates to us in the Qur'an, there are many lessons in them. And today insha'Allah ta'ala I want to share with you such a story.

The Three Infants Who Spoke

Rasulullah ﷺ mentioned in an authentic hadith that there were three children who spoke as infants. And the Prophet ﷺ proceeded to tell us about these three infants:

The first, the Prophet ﷺ said, was Prophet 'Isa ﷺ. You can find that story in Surah Maryam, where when Maryam was accused of zina — where else did she bring this child 'Isa from? —

She pointed towards her baby child, 'Isa ﷺ. And then they said, "Are you pointing to a child that cannot even speak? What's wrong with you?" And then he spoke. And of course Allah is able to do all things. Allah is the one that has given us the ability to speak, and can give anything the ability to speak. On the Day of Judgment, our limbs and skins and hands will speak and testify on our behalf. Allah is capable of doing all things.

Who Was Jurayj?

Then the Prophet ﷺ said, and the companion of Jurayj, who also spoke as an infant — the companion of Jurayj, the friend of Jurayj, if you will. And then the Prophet ﷺ spoke about who Jurayj was. He said that among the people that came before us was a man called Jurayj, who was a worshipper — Jurayj al-'Abid.

To be a worshipper is a praiseworthy thing — someone who is dedicated to the worship of Allah. In some of the longer narrations of the story, it is said that Jurayj wasn't always someone who dedicated himself to the ibadah of Allah. In fact, he was a tradesman, a businessman.

He would sometimes succeed in his business and sometimes he would fail. And one day he said to himself: "I will start working on a business that will never fail — and that is the worship of Allah." For every time you worship Allah sincerely, you are guaranteed a reward, if you are sincere.

Which is why he chose a life where he would seclude himself from dunya, and he built himself a place where he would worship Allah — a sanctuary, if you will — built on top of a tree. He would climb and sit there and worship Allah, and he would not mix with the people. This was his life. He would always dedicate himself to prayer and to the worship of Allah.

Seclusion: When Is It Permitted?

Ikhwani fillah, generally we learn from our traditions and from our Prophet ﷺ that it is not recommended within Islam, within our faith, that we seclude ourselves from everybody. In fact, the one who intermingles with the people, lives among them, has sabr when they bother him, and does khair for them, is better than the one who secludes himself from everybody else.

But there is an exception — and that exception is when there is so much fitnah, when there are so many issues in the community, when one is fearing for his religion and his faith. Then you are actually recommended to take a step back. Which is why the Prophet ﷺ said there will be fitnahs, especially towards the end of times, where you are advised to stay at home more than you are outside. But when things are fine, it is recommended to stay among the people.

The Mother's Call

So how did Jurayj's personal decision — to leave off dunya, to seclude himself, to build this little sanctuary where he would pray — affect those around him? Let's start with his family, his mother. His mother missed him. She wanted him to be around her. So she used to come to him, and she used to say:

"O Jurayj, speak to me." And he is worshipping Allah in his ma'bad — the place he was worshipping Allah. And while he was praying, he would ask himself:

"O my Lord, my prayer or my mother?" And every time he would choose to continue his prayer. Then his mother would go away and come back again:

And then he would continue on with his prayer, every time choosing his prayer to Allah. Now what's interesting is that some of the narrations mention that the Prophet ﷺ said:

"May Allah have mercy on Jurayj — he wasn't an extremely knowledgeable person, he wasn't someone that knew, he didn't carry a lot of knowledge; he was just sincere in his worship." Which is why he chose the salah over his mother.

The Mother's Curse

But then the third time his mother came, he didn't reply — and she cursed him. She got angry at him and she cursed him.

Ikhwani fillah, as parents, be very careful of ever doing that. There was a story that I was told that happened — I believe it was in Saudi Arabia — where a mother asked her son, she thought he smoked, she could smell it on him. "Did you smoke? Were you with those bad people again?" And he said, "No mother, I did not smoke." She said, "If you did smoke and you're lying to me, may Allah break your neck." That same day he went out to swim with some of his friends, slipped, and broke his neck.

The Prophet ﷺ said in a hadith that the du'a of the parent, whether it is for or against their child, is always accepted.

(Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 3862; Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 1536)

So make abundant du'a for your children, and never make du'a against them — especially in moments of anger. But that's what Jurayj's mother did. What did she curse him by? She said: "May you never die until you see the faces of the prostitutes."

The Community's Reaction

While this was happening, the community that Jurayj lived in was also talking about him. He was the talk of the town. And what were they saying? "Jurayj thinks he's better than us. Look at him — not coming and mixing with us, not speaking with us. Does he think he's better than us? I bet he does such and such."

People do that today as well. People have a tendency to pull down those who are succeeding, or to think the worst of them. "You know that sister that's wearing hijab — I bet she does all sorts of things. That brother with the beard — Wallahi, trust me, those brothers wearing thobes are the worst." People do this all the time.

You do not know what's in the heart of a person. And similarly, no matter what the hal of the person is, don't make assumptions about them. Allah says in the Qur'an:

Leave off most assumptions, because assumptions lead to sin — they are ithm. A lot of times you're wrong about an individual.

The Plot Against Jurayj

Then a woman amongst them — among those who sell their body, those who were zunat, engaged in haram — said: "Trust me, I'll prove that he's not better than us. I'll show you all what he really is." And they encouraged her: "Yes, do this. Let's see. Let's see what Jurayj is made of."

So she went and she tried to seduce him. But Jurayj — what was he so busy with? Prayer. And what does Allah say about prayer in the Qur'an?

Indeed, the salah keeps you away from munkar and fahsha — shamelessness and sin. So when this woman tried to seduce him — and the narration mentions amazingly:

She was beauty personified — but that didn't matter. He did not even respond. He lowered his gaze and said: "I want nothing to do with you."

Now she was a woman on a mission, wal-'iyadhu billah. So she decided: well, if I can't get him to stoop to my level, I will do whatever I can. She found a man, a shepherd. She seduced him, and she got pregnant. And her plan was to tell the people: "This is Jurayj's child." Remember his mother's curse upon him — "May Allah show you the faces of the prostitutes." SubhanAllah.

When she gave birth to the child, people asked her: "Who's the father?" And she said: "Jurayj."

The Mob and the Miracle

Now the mob came out — everyone with their pitchforks. "Jurayj, we always knew — you're not high and mighty, you're just like everyone else. In fact, you're worse. You're a hypocrite thinking that you're a worshipper." And they started taking down the place where he used to worship Allah and destroying it. They got him down and started beating him:

And they said: "We're going to take you to the king — you're a zani and you're a hypocrite." He had no idea what was happening. What did I do? Then they told him: "You're the father of this child — you're a zani." He was shocked.

But then, while they were dragging him, SubhanAllah, he saw all the bad women folk that were engaged in this lined up looking at him. And he saw all their faces — the faces of the prostitutes. And he smiled. And he said:

"Now I understood — this is the du'a of my mother."

Then he asked, when he was brought to be tried: "Allow me to make wudu and pray." And from the benefit of this is that the people who came before us — because this happened at the time of the Banu Isra'il — also had wudu and prayer. It is not something specific to Rasulullah ﷺ. He said: "Allow me to pray two raka'at." He prayed. He made du'a in his salah.

And when he finished his prayer, he walked up to the child. What was the beginning of the story? What did the Prophet ﷺ say? There were three children who spoke in their infancy — and among them was the friend of Jurayj. So he walked up to the child and poked him: "Who is your father?" And Allah made the child speak: "The shepherd is my father."

Now everyone was amazed at what Jurayj had done:

They started now seeking barakah from him. You know the masses — how they change is amazing. A minute ago they were willing to hang him, and now they're seeking barakah from him. And they said: "We are so sorry. You are the best among us." And they actually offered to build him a new place to worship Allah made of gold and silver. And he said: "Just build it the same way as it was before, from mud and sand."

And this is how Allah accepted the du'a of his mother but also protected Jurayj at the same time. Both things happened, SubhanAllah. His mother's wish came true — but Allah protected him from the accusation, because he was a sincere worshipper.

And there are many lessons that we can learn from this story.

أقول قولي هذا وأستغفر الله لي ولكم وإلى سائر المسلمين من كل ذنب فاستغفروه إنه الغفور الرحيم

Lessons from the Story of Jurayj

الحمد لله والصلاة والسلام على رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم

Lesson One: Constant Worship Brings Divine Protection

Among the things that we learn from this story — and there are many lessons — is number one: when someone is engaged in constant worship, Allah protects them. The more you worship Allah, the closer you are to Allah, the more protection you will get from Allah, and the more likely your du'a is accepted by Allah. And this is why there is a hadith of the Prophet ﷺ — a Hadith Qudsi — where Allah said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6502)

"My servant does not draw near to Me or seek My approval and pleasure with that which are the nawafil — the sunnahs — except that I will love him. And when I love him: if he asks Me, I will give him; if he seeks My aid and protection, I will give it to him; and if he asks Me forgiveness, I will forgive him."

So if you're someone that engages in constant worship, this is what you get in return.

Lesson Two: Know Your Priorities in Islam

Another benefit that we learn from this story is that you have to know which things are priorities in Islam. Jurayj didn't know this. This is why he carried on his salah when his mother was calling him — when he was supposed to respond to his mother.

Now the scholars break it down like this: if the salah is fard — if it's wajib — and your parents call you, so responding to your parents is wajib and the salah is also wajib — which one comes first? Here the salah comes first; it is a pillar of Islam. But then what are you supposed to do? You hurry your prayer — hurry your ruku and sujud, finish quickly, and respond immediately. That is for the wajib prayer, the five daily prayers.

If you're praying sunnah — tahajjud, tarawih, any regular sunnah — and your parents call you, then your parents come first, because this is a nafl, this is sunnah.

Interestingly enough, it is said that during the time before our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, and even a portion during his time, you were allowed to speak during the prayer. So Jurayj was actually allowed to speak but chose not to — which is another mistake. And in the beginning of Islam, the prayer that we know now wasn't exactly like this in the beginning — even with Rasulullah ﷺ — until Allah revealed the ayah:

"And stand in your prayer with humility" — meaning that you should be quiet. Before that, when the companions were praying with the Prophet ﷺ and they would hear a new verse, they would ask each other when it was revealed. That might sound very strange to us, but that was the case — until it was revealed that you have to be quiet. Which is why we are not allowed to speak in our prayer. So if we go with that interpretation, then Jurayj should have responded to his mother anyway, because it was enough that he was praying.

Lesson Three: Never Curse Your Children

Number two: never curse your children, never make du'a against them no matter how angry they make you. Always make du'a for them, because the du'a of the parent is not the same as anyone else's du'a.

Lesson Four: Support Those Who Do Good

Among the lessons that we learn is: as a society, we shouldn't bring down those people who are engaged in good. We should support them, try to be like them, and never bring other people down.

Lesson Five: Self-Reflect in Times of Trial

Also from the lessons of the story: look at the action of Jurayj when he was being dragged and humiliated — was he blaming them, or was he looking to himself inwardly? Because he realized this was all because of the mistake he made by not responding to his mother.

Ikhwani fillah, a lot of times what we do when we are going through trials is we try to blame anyone except ourselves. And it is extremely important that you self-reflect, because most of the things that are happening to us are a result of our own sins:

So always self-reflect, repent to Allah, and see what you have done wrong that you can perhaps rectify.

Lesson Six: Turn to Prayer in Times of Hardship

Another lesson we can learn from the story is how Jurayj prayed when he was in this predicament — he prayed to Allah. This is the sunnah of our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ:

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 1319; Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 23082)

When something would happen to the Prophet ﷺ, he would hurry to the prayer — and there he would find solace and comfort by making du'a to Allah. This is another sunnah that we must adopt.

And there are many other lessons, but I conclude upon this, insha'Allah ta'ala.

وَصَلَّى اللَّهُمَّ وَسَلِّمْ عَلَى نَبِيِّنَا مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَسَلَّمَ، اللَّهُمَّ لَا تُفَرِّقْ جَمْعَنَا هَذَا إِلَّا بِذَنْبٍ مَغْفُورٍ وَسَعْيٍ مَشْكُورٍ وَعَمَلٍ مُتَقَبَّلٍ مَبْرُورٍ، وَآخِرُ دَعْوَانَا أَنِ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ، أَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ