Lecture
7 / 84
17
Social Justice
Islam, A Coherent Social Justice Tradition | Omar Suleiman | 16th MAS-ICNA Convention
22
Jurisprudence (fiqh)
Appreciating Scholarship: Intro to Islamic Law - Tesneem Alkiek | Yaqeen in NY
26
Islamophobia
How Yaqeen Heals Internalized Islamophobia - Dalia Mogahed | Making Principled Progress
29
Education
How Yaqeen is a Resource for Our Community - Sh. Omar Suleiman | Making Principled Progress
34
General Psychology
Spiritual Personality - Zohair Abdul-Rahman | 2018 Yaqeen/MAS Academic Conference
35
Social Justice
Conflict Resolution: The Line Between Justice and Peace - Sh. Omar Suleiman | Lecture
47
Identity
Keeping Masculinity from Trending Toxic - Dr. Jonathan Brown | Reframing the Gender Question
How Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) Dealt With His Enemies - Sh Omar Suleiman
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Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu. Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. As-salatu wa as-salamu ala Rasulina al-Kareem wa ala alanihi wa sahbihi wa salamu ala al-Fasihina al-Kafiha. It is very good to be here in France, mashaAllah, for the first time. Especially to be discussing such an important topic. Speaking about our Messenger, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, I'm going to drive Farooq crazy with trying to make him translate everything that I'm going to say. But inshaAllah, I hope that it will still be beneficial to everyone that is attending. Just a show of hands, how many of you understand English? MashaAllah, you can go home. InshaAllah. InshaAllah, tonight what we're going to do is we're going to look at the moral greatness of the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam. The way that the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, always was able to rise above, whether it was enmity, or it was insult, or it was mockery, the way that the Messenger, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, always lived the Qur'an. Now remember that Aisha, r.a, had described the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, as saying, that his character was the Qur'an. He was a walking Qur'an. So when you see a verse, for example, that responds to that which is evil with that which is better, and you would find that your greatest enemies would become your closest friends. The Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, is the greatest example of that, a.s. When you hear Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, say,
وَمَنْ أَحْسَنُ قَوْلًا لِمَّنْ دَعَا إِلَى اللَّهِ وَعَمِلَ صَالِحًا وَقَالَ إِنَّنِي مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ And who is better in speech than the one who calls to Allah? It's the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, who calls to Allah before anyone else. And it's the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, who exemplifies, who embodies that ayah of the Qur'an, represents that ayah in its perfection. Now, the way that I want to start off this topic, which is a very complicated topic that almost always goes to a few incidents from the seerah of the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, is to start off with a few basic foundational principles. Do you want to check? So, the sheikh said that he was honored to be here tonight, that he was delighted, and also that he thought that he would die in a few minutes, so I think he's getting ready. So, he said that it was an honor for him to talk about such a topic, to talk about the person of the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, who is the most important and dearest being for us, and the way in which he managed to overcome, in which he managed to overcome and to overcome the insults, the screams, the attacks that he subjected to. And he said, he also cited the very famous speech of Aisha, when she said, that her behavior was the Qur'an. It was the reality in which a person came to see Aisha and asked her, how was the Prophet? She said, don't you read the Qur'an? And he replied, of course I do. And she said, well, it's the Qur'an. And he said, in another speech, it's like a Qur'an that walks on earth. And the sheikh said, like a Qur'an that walks on earth. Then he cited a speech in which he said, So he tried to provoke, to give a better speech than the one who invites to the speech of Allah,
in another verse, he said, who has a better speech than the one who invites or speaks of Allah? And he said that the first one who put this verse into practice was the Prophet Muhammad, who was the first to speak of Allah. That was so good. I don't even understand French, but I understood him. This is going to be an easy night. So when we say the best of speech is that which is spoken for Allah. The first foundational principle when studying the Prophet, and his life, and his speech, and his actions, is that he taught us by his speech and by his actions, that if something is done for Allah, it will be beautiful. And if something is done for other than Allah, it will be ugly. Even if something is small, if it's done for Allah, it becomes beautiful. And even if something is big, if it's done for something other than Allah, it becomes ugly. An example, the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, mentioned to us a man that entered into Jannah for removing something harmful from the road. Imaatatul adha an al-tariq, to remove something harmful from the road, the lowest branch of imaat. It's a small action, but because it was for Allah, it became beautiful. In fact, even the man who when he was passing away, gathered his sons and told his sons that, when I die, I want you to burn me to ashes, to cremate me, to reduce me to ashes, because I'm afraid of Allah gathering me. That's a major sin. He didn't know that of course, but he thought maybe out of his genuine fear of Allah, that if I'm gathered into ashes, then Allah won't punish me. And the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, Allah gathered him back together and said to him,
why did you do that? He said, Ya Rabb khashaytuka wa anta a'lam, I feared you and you knew best. Fa ghafarallahu lahu bid'aari, Allah forgave him for that. Because Allah saw the beauty of something that was done sincerely for him. It was about Allah. Now on the other hand, think about the first three that would enter into hellfire and hellfire would be extinguished on them. A man who gave sadaq, a person who was known for his charity, but it wasn't about Allah, it was about him being called a generous person. A person who taught the Qur'an and taught knowledge, but it wasn't about the Qur'an or the knowledge or Allah, it was about him being known as the one who taught Qur'an and taught knowledge. A person who died shaheed, a martyr, can you imagine he gave his life for Allah and the sake of the people, but it wasn't for Allah, it was for his own glory. So even the best actions became ugly enough to drag people into hellfire to where hellfire is lit with them, whereas these small actions, a major mistake even, because it was for Allah, becomes beautiful. So what is done for Allah is always beautiful, what is done for other than Allah is always ugly. The Prophet said that one of the most important branches of faith is to say to Allah, Allah, remove something from the road. Why? Because it was done for Allah.
The one who wanted to be burned when he was a child, when I am going to die, burn me. Burn me in blood and in 1,100. Then when he appeared before Allah, everyone knows that dying burned is not good to ask for such things. When he appeared before Allah, Allah said to him, why did you do that? He said, I was afraid to appear before you and I was afraid to burn you so that I would never appear again. For this intention, for this, because it was done for Allah, even though it was a bad act, Allah forgave him and he entered paradise. On the contrary, the Sheikh speaks to us of the three famous people who will enter hellfire, the first ones, who are people on earth, we would never have thought they would enter hellfire. He spoke of the one who did the sadaqat, he made donations, donations, donations. He was very famous on earth to make donations profusely. Unfortunately, he did it so that people would say that he was making donations. And when he came to Allah, he said, I was doing it for you. Allah said, no, you gave so that people would say that you gave. People say that you gave, you got a reward on earth, so burn in hellfire. The second is a scholar who reads the Qur'an, he teaches the Qur'an, he recites the Qur'an. Then he appears before Allah and says, Allah, I did all this for you. Allah says, no, you learned science so that people would say that you are a scholar. You got your reward on earth, people say. So burn in hellfire. And the third is the one who is Mujarrid, he is on the battlefield with the conquerors. He is a martyr, his blood is shed for Allah in appearance, but when he appears before Allah, Allah says to him, why, you cannot ask the Prophet, I am dead and I fell for you on the battlefield. Allah says to him, no, you fell so that people would say that you fell. So burn in hellfire and angels will throw him in hell. So when the Prophet, peace be upon him, was in a position of hardship, or when the Prophet, peace be upon him, was in a position of peace, when the Prophet, peace be upon him, was in a position of oppression, or when the Prophet, peace be upon him, was in power,
or when the Prophet, peace be upon him, was angry, or when the Prophet, peace be upon him, was happy. All of that to the Messenger, peace be upon him, was for Allah. The description of him, for example, in his anger, He never once avenged himself. It was never about him. When he became angry, because sometimes he became angry, it wasn't about himself, peace be upon him, but it was when the boundaries of Allah, peace be upon him, were transgressed, then he would become angry for the sake of Allah, peace be upon him. By having that type of mindset, the Prophet, peace be upon him, was beautiful in his anger. Because even in his anger, because his anger was for Allah, the way he got angry for Allah did not contradict what Allah commanded. So I'll give you an example. If you say, I'm angry for Allah, but in your anger for Allah, you say and do things that Allah is not pleased with. How can you claim that your anger was ever for Allah in the first place? The way that your anger manifested itself, the way that it came out, is a proof that it was never for Allah, peace be upon him, in the first place. But the Prophet, peace be upon him, his anger was always for Allah. So it was always in the boundaries of what Allah, peace be upon him, legislated. And even in his angriest moments, he was beautiful. I'll give you an example. The time that Aisha, peace be upon her, described the Prophet, peace be upon him, as being the angriest she ever saw, when the Messenger, peace be upon him, kept on praising Khadijah, peace be upon her. The Prophet, peace be upon him, would not leave the home until he remembered Khadijah, peace be upon her,
and he would praise her. Every day, Khadijah, Khadijah, Khadijah, even though she passed away. And Aisha says, I never was jealous of a person the way I was jealous of Khadijah, and I never even met her, because of the way the Prophet, peace be upon him, adored her. And Aisha, peace be upon her, says that one time, I said, didn't Allah, peace be upon him, exchange the old woman of Quraysh with someone better than her, meaning her son? And she said the Prophet, peace be upon him,'s face became red. His hair stood. He was angry, peace be upon him. That was the angriest she saw. Did the Prophet, peace be upon him, insult her? Did he start to say, you this, you that, you this, you that? Or did the Prophet, peace be upon him, say, I swear that Allah did not give me better than her. Instead of insulting Aisha, what did he do? He started to praise Khadijah in his angriest moments. She believed in me when no one believed in me. She considered me to be truthful when everyone else considered me to be a liar. She spent on me when others would not spend on me. When Allah, peace be upon him, gave me children through her. When Allah, peace be upon him, did not give me children through other women. So even in his angriest moments, peace be upon him, his anger was for Allah. Therefore, it was beautiful and it observed the limits of a loss of anima-tana. All his feelings, all the situations in which he was, were in accordance with what Allah, peace be upon him, wanted.
And even in his anger, the anger of the Prophet, peace be upon him, was magnificent. By having this in mind, we can see the different moments of his life and we can analyze them. For example, when we, sometimes people get angry by saying, I am angry for Allah, but they do things that are contrary to what Allah wants. How can we say that this anger is for Allah, if after in this anger we do not act in accordance with the orders of Allah, peace be upon him? The Sheikh tells us an example with Aisha, may Allah forgive her. When she was full of jealousy, when the Prophet, peace be upon him, for a long time, was talking about his love for Khadija. He always said, she would not leave the house saying, ah Khadija, ah Khadija. Until one day she got tired and she used the term, Ayuza, this old woman, who breaks our heads with this old woman. And so the Prophet, peace be upon him, made her angry, but it was not anger for Allah, peace be upon him. So the Prophet, peace be upon him, was measured, he did not get angry. And the only thing he did instead of saying the words, she, he said, he simply praised Khadija in the best way, saying that, O Allah, I will never find a woman like this. And I will never find a woman like her. It was she who gave me children. It was she who was there when no one was there for me. It was she who gave me comfort when everyone left me. And he only did that to praise Khadija. And the Sheikh explains to us that when we get angry for a woman, automatically, when we are angry for ourselves, we act in a controlled manner and always with the consciousness of Allah. And he himself, peace be upon him, only considered with each of his actions, how do I do this for Allah? How do I do this for Allah?
So when, for example, the Prophet, peace be upon him, is in Ta'if, in the most defeated state that you can ever imagine a person being in. I mean, you know, we have reality TV shows, reality TV shows, you know, where they put, I'm sure you have them in France as well, you put these contestants in a room and you watch them with a camera for hours and hours and hours. And that it's about cooking or it's about something else. But at the same time, you know what they do to them is they deprive them of sleep. They don't let them sleep much and they ruin their schedules and they ruin their routines. Why? Because they want them to fight for the camera. They want people to do things for the entertainment of everybody else because you get irritated. Think about the Prophet, peace be upon him, he hasn't slept for two weeks. He's been rejected for a decade, 10 years of rejection. He lost his wife, he lost his uncle, and he had hope in the people of Ta'if that these might be the people that will accept him. And I know you've heard this story a hundred times, but think about it for a moment from a human perspective. Think about human psychology for a moment. After that rejection, I'm walking for 30 kilometers and people are stoning me and people are spitting at me and people are saying the nastiest words to me. I'm covered in blood. I am humiliated and I am completely deflated. And in that moment, even if I am the kindest person in the world, I've reached my breaking point. I've reached my breaking point. I've had enough of these people. Right? In that moment, even if you're the nicest person in the world, you're going to want revenge. You're going to want payback. The blood is still fresh on him, salallahu alayhi wasalam. Those stones are still in his shoes.
And Jibreel alayhi wasalam comes to the Messenger salallahu alayhi wasalam with the angel who moves the mountains and offers the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam to crush these people. What was his response? No, because maybe from their children, there will be people who will worship Allah. Notice he didn't even mention himself. In his language, salallahu alayhi wasalam, he didn't say maybe their children will believe in me. Even though believing in Allah means believing in the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. But his mindset was adjusted in a certain way. His heart was oriented in a certain way. That even in his dua, maybe from their children, there will be people who will come and they will believe in Allah. They will worship Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala without ascribing partners to Him. Shows you that he removed his own emotions from him, salallahu alayhi wasalam. He removed his ego. He removed his own personal self and he turned it all into Allah. And what's the effect of that? That when those people are in front of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam and stoning him and spitting at him and calling him names and insulting him in a way that it's hard for anyone who even loves the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam to even hear. Reading that story hurts you. But think about, you know, walking and people punching you and kicking you and spitting at you and throwing stones at you. He didn't even see them, salallahu alayhi wasalam. All he saw was, what does Allah want from me? That whole thing became irrelevant to him because he recognized that they were merely instruments and mediums by which Allah demanded a certain response from the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. So he didn't have anger for them, instead he looked to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala with the question, maada araad Allahu minhi?
What does Allah want from you? So it's a dark year because the Prophet was his protector and the Prophet found himself alone, completely abandoned and he therefore seeks alliances. He therefore went 30 km to Pa'if to ask for help. He was accompanied by a companion, there were only two of them. At that moment, the welcome he was given showed the story, unfortunately, of the stones, the swearing, the insults, the beatings. They both died in blood and they left from there. He says, now put it in context, we all know this story, but he says, put it in context. He is at the lowest point of his morality. He lost the two dearest beings he had. He lost the support of the tribe he had. He lost a moment of comfort, the support of some of his close relatives. Then he will walk for 30 km in the desert to reach the city in which he had almost all his hopes. No, because he had all his hopes in Andhra and that's where it's going to get interesting. Anyone who had been in the event of Pa'if would have done everything you can want to do in a state of revenge. But the Prophet, peace be upon him, when he saw the Sheikh, he didn't see the blows, he didn't see the stones, he didn't see the people. And he asked himself at that moment, but what does Allah expect of me? But what does Allah want me to do at the moment? What do I have to do now? So he left from there and after moving away from the city, in the worst state of revenge you can imagine. In any case, we should have imagined it as such. And no, that was not the case. When the Prophet, peace be upon him, went to the mountains and said to him,
if you want, I want, just on an order from you, to crush the city of Pa'if between the two great mountains. He said, no, maybe someone will come out of their descendants or people who will say, And he said, when we have conscience in our hearts and we do all our actions and we put trust in our hearts, we cannot act otherwise than as the Prophet, peace be upon him, said. As long as all of this, O Allah, is not a manifestation of your anger with me, I don't care. It's okay, I can take it. I can take the insults and I can take the praise. Some people are distanced from Allah by insults. Some people lose their connection to Allah by praise. Some people lose their connection to Allah by pressure. Some people lose it by power. And the Prophet, peace be upon him, his economic circumstances were always changing. Before the Wahi, when he was 40, the Prophet, peace be upon him, went from being very poor, a shepherd, someone who used to just be a shepherd of sheep, to being very wealthy. And after the Wahi, the Prophet, peace be upon him, loses all of that money. And then when the Prophet, peace be upon him, goes to Medina, he has a chance, after being in charge in Medina, to gather that money again. He doesn't do that, peace be upon him. So he goes poverty, wealth, just enough. Poverty, wealth, and then just enough to be able to survive, peace be upon him. He goes from being very much so praised, praised in a different way before Wahi. The honest, the truthful.
To being called Majnoon, Kahin, Sahir, all these different types of horrible names and insults. Right after that. And then going to Rasulullah, peace be upon him, and having an entire city, an entire Ummah, that's at his feet. The Prophet, peace be upon him, his economic circumstances, his political circumstances, all ways were in fluctuation. It was never stable. But you know what's amazing? The Prophet, peace be upon him, had a consistent personality. A consistent character. There isn't a Makkah Muhammad, peace be upon him, and a Medina Muhammad, peace be upon him. You don't hear Aisha, peace be upon her, saying that. You know, the Prophet, peace be upon him, used to be like this. But then after this happened, after Fatah Makkah, and after this happened, then he started to be like this. So even with extremely inconsistent circumstances, he had the same personality, the same character. Khuluq Al-Azeem, an amazing character throughout it all. Because his connection to Allah was consistent. So it doesn't matter how inconsistent the circumstances are. The world is meant to be a storm. So whether someone's insulting you or someone's praising you, you look to Allah. Whether people are giving you or people are forbidding you, you look to Allah. Whether you have power or whether you are powerless, you look to Allah. And his personality remained consistent because his relationship to Allah did not wither. And his da'wah in all of those circumstances was for Allah and not for himself, peace be upon him.
But if it was a manifestation of Allah's anger, then he said to Allah, If it's really anger, then I couldn't stand it anymore. So it's with this approach that the Prophet, peace be upon him, was ready to go through everything, to cross everything, from the moment it was for Allah, peace be upon him, with the current of Allah, peace be upon him. The Prophet, peace be upon him, also told us that he had very changing situations. He was first poor, a shepherd. Then he became rich with business. Then he became poor again after the revelation. Then he started again with enough wealth to be able to live honestly. Then he became rich again. So his situation was changing regularly. At one point he was at ease. At another point a little less at ease. At another point a little fairer. But he said, despite all these changes, all these fluctuations of life situations, in war, less war, in ease with the Sahaba, in other contexts, despite all this, his personality and his character was always constant. That's why I told you that the Prophet, peace be upon him, had a high morality. Sublime, supreme. And because of this morality, there was a consistency. Whatever the situation of life, whether it was difficult or not, the Prophet, peace be upon him, always had this consistency, this regularity in his personality, which was high and perfect. Why? Because he always kept consciousness in the heart of the Gospel. And as long as we keep this, it's like a compass. It allows us that whatever the context and the situations of life that we go through, we remain with the same personality and the same morality.
One of the things that Islamophobes have put forward about the Prophet, peace be upon him, is that in Mecca, he was humble. But once he got to Medina and he had power, then everything changed. So in Mecca, he tolerated the insults and he tolerated the bad behavior of other people because he had no choice. Once he got to Medina and he had the power, the Prophet, peace be upon him, no longer would tolerate any of those things that would come his way. Now, that is factually incorrect. I'll give you an example. When he was insulted in Mecca by the wife of Abu Lahab, and she started to call the Prophet, peace be upon him, the one who was humiliated, rather than Muhammad, which is the one who was praised. The Sahaba were angry. The Sahaba wanted to do something. The Prophet, peace be upon him, look how he responded. He said, don't you see how Allah is leading them away? They're cursing and insulting Muthamma. But I am Muhammad, peace be upon him. What a beautiful way to look at these things. What a beautiful way to remove himself from it. They're cursing Muthamma. Let them curse Muthamma. I am Muhammad, peace be upon him. That's in Mecca when the Prophet, peace be upon him, is oppressed. What about Medina? Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, says, we're walking together. Now, keep in mind, this is the head of state. This is the ruler of the city. And he's walking with Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, and a man, you know, someone calls out to the Prophet, peace be upon him, and they say, assalamu alaikum. You know, sometimes we say assalamu alaikum too fast.
Assalam means peace. Assam means death and curse. So some of you have been cursing each other. You say, assalamu alaikum. Some of you are wishing the opposite. Now, these people would say that to the Prophet, peace be upon him, some of the non-Muslims of Medina. They'd say it too fast for you to be able to distinguish. So the Messenger, peace be upon him, used to respond, wa alaikum, and upon you. Now, Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, is walking with the Prophet, peace be upon him, and when they said, assalamu alaikum, the Prophet, peace be upon him, said, wa alaikum. Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, said, wa alaikum assam, and may the curse of Allah be upon you, wa la'na, and, you know, the damnation. She started to wish for the ghadr of Allah upon them. She was angry, not for herself, for the Prophet, peace be upon him. And the Prophet, peace be upon him, told Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, to calm down. Now, this is the head of state. Think about any president or prime minister walking the street to a king and people saying this to him. And he tells Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, Inna Allaha yuhibbu rrifqa fil amri. Allah loves gentleness in all of his affairs. Didn't you hear what I said? I said, wa alaikum, and upon you. So if they said, salam, then salam. If they said, sam, then sam. But Allah loves gentleness in all of his affairs. Still, he was thinking about, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, who? Allah. What does Allah want as a response to this? Allah loves gentleness in all of his affairs. But the Prophet, peace be upon him, took them back and said, no, no, no.
I am not Muhammad. She said, Muhammad, but I am Muhammad. So the Prophet, peace be upon him, stayed right in his box, as they say. And he didn't respond to insults and insults the way we know them today. Another example he took was when Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, was walking in the streets of Medina. So here we have two different examples. There is an example in Mecca and an example in Medina. Because the Islamophobes sometimes flee. But there is no Muhammad Makki. There is no Muhammad Madani. There is only Muhammad, the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, during the entire revelation. And so he was walking with Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, in the streets of Medina. Then someone comes up to them and says to them, As-salamu alaykum. That is, we have the impression that it is a quick salam. But al-salamu is poison, it is venom, it is death that we wish for someone. So here we are telling them that death is upon you. And so automatically the Prophet, peace be upon him, responds. Except that he responds very subtly, wa alaykum, and upon you as well. Except that Aisha, she said, but you did not hear what they said. And so it went up to her brain and she began to insult them. As-salamu alaykum, wa alaykum wa rahmatullah. She began to send them curses. And that you are here. And the Prophet said, stop, stop, stop, stop. Allah loves gentleness in everything. And so he said, did you not hear what they said? And he said, did you not hear what I said to them? I said, wa alaykum. Why do we always want to quarrel when someone has a bad word? It is enough to have the right answer, and his answer was the most perfect. He sent him something bad, and he received exactly what they sent him. No more, no less. And that is why he reminds them by saying, O Aisha, Allah loves gentleness in all situations. You know, when the Messenger of Allah was in Medina, was in Mecca, and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was under that oppression,
usually people resort to violence when they are a frustrated minority. Usually when people are frustrated, and they try to exhaust all other means, and they are a minority, and they are constantly being pressured, and beaten, and pressured, and beaten. That is when the frustration boils over. But the Messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam taught them what? To be patient. To have sabr. Not to be hasty with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Even when Khabab radiallahu anhu comes to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and shows to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam his back that is burned, and he says, Aren't you going to ask Allah to save us? Aren't you going to ask Allah to get us out of this situation? And he said, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, that there were people that came before you, that were buried halfway into the ground, and cut in half, only because they said, But you are hasty people. What did he do sallallahu alayhi wa sallam? He said, your sacrifice has to be for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And your sacrifice in that situation is bearing the consequences of saying la ilaha illallah and holding to that. You know, one of the ulama, he said that it's much harder to live for Allah than to die for Allah. It's much harder to live for Allah than to die for Allah. Constantly bearing the abuse, the pressure, for being a wahid, for being a person of la ilaha illallah, and willing to take that, and not becoming impatient for Allah. That's a sign of your sincerity to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He didn't lose his ethics. He didn't lose his principles. He didn't lose his morals because of that frustration. And even in the time of the bai'at al-aqaba, when the ansar came to take the pledge with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. In the second bai'at, the second pledge, they came to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam during the days of hajj. And they told the Messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam,
Ya Rasulullah, if you want, we will go out at night and we will take the people of Mecca by our swords. We'll stage a coup. We'll go after them. And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, We were not commanded to act in this way. He had a chance sallallahu alayhi wa sallam to do that. But he acted ethically. Because his frustration, his personal frustration, did not overcome the ultimate interest, which was the Deen of Allah. In khufr, when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is being beaten, and the people are driving his helmet into his face. And these are people that he did, that he showed nothing but goodness to, that he took care of. What does he say? Oh Allah, forgive my people. They don't know any better. Because he wasn't seeing them beating him. He was thinking about their akhira. He was thinking about the Deen of Allah. And ultimately what it meant to secure the Deen of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, which was for the goodness of them as well. So Allah forgive my people. They just don't know any better. And that is the peak. The peak of putting Allah above yourself. That's the peak of it. So much so that he could make du'a for the people that insulted him. He could ask Allah to guide them even as they insulted him. So subhanAllah, it wasn't just not becoming agitated and losing his ethics and principles. He still had the heart to make du'a. Allahumma Izzat Islam. Oh Allah, give victory to Islam. With one of the two Umars. Umar ibn al-Khattab. Abu Jahl. Oh Allah, give victory to the Deen through one of them. He had the heart sallallahu alayhi wa sallam to accept them into this Deen. Because he knew that that was for the interest of the Deen.
He knew that if they came into the religion that it would be for the goodness of the Deen. It would raise the religion of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Even if they insulted me. Even if Abu Jahl put camel guts on my back. Even if they called me all sorts of names. His point was how do we elevate the word of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. How do we raise the oneness of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Also in the battles of Razawat. Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. The Muslims experienced oppression. Like they experienced an absolutely unbearable oppression. Everyone was in a life constraint. The Muslims were tortured. They were killed, they were killed for free. And so, as he said, any human being in a normal situation. When he is oppressed, tortured, in a minority. The normal reaction of a human being when he is in a bad mood. Is to react aggressively. To be aggressive. Violent. Because he has no choice. He is pushed into his last retreat. He tells us about the event with al-Khattab. Especially when he came to the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And he said to him, look, my back is burned. What are you waiting for? What are you waiting for? Aren't you going to ask Allah for help? The Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam reminds him that before us. There were people just for the word of Allah. Who were buried alive. Who were put in holes to be burned. Who were tortured. Who were cut in two. All this for the word of Allah. So be patient. Be patient. Allah's help will come. And that's why when the word came to him, he said, In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. It was also to reassure the companions. Who were always impatient. And the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam always reminds them of impatience. Also, he said. There is a very beautiful word. He says, the easiest. The word is the most difficult. Harder. To live for Allah. Than to die for Allah. It is more difficult to live for Allah. Than to die for Allah. This beautiful word. Because to die for Allah. It can be something very brief. Very short. But to spend all his life for Allah. That is to say that on a daily basis.
We live problems. We are always impatient. For whom? For Allah. Also, he said. He never lost his patience. Or his temperament. When there was the oath of allegiance of the Medinans. There were many Medinans. They proposed him. So it was the period of Hajj. They said. If you want, Prophet. You can go during the night. Attack by surprise the Nequa. And eradicate them. The Prophet said. No, no. This is not ethical. No, no. It's not like that, brother. The morality of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. The Medinans wanted to end it. To get rid of it. The Prophet said. No, it's not like that. And the fact of acting in this way. Always this high nobility. This high morality. It always has. In fact. As Shirk explained. By elevating. By his actions. The Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Automatically elevates Islam. So we Muslims. If we rise in our actions. Automatically. We will elevate with us. The image of people. Of Islam. And he said. When people insulted him. Or attacked him. Oh Allah. Forgive me. They do not know. There is love. He said. Clearly. He said. To people. To people who hurt him. Instead of saying. No. Instead of saying. How to react. With love. Abujah. Abu Lana. All those who hurt him. And even when people. Who had done him the worst pain. The worst suffering. They came to convert to Islam. They did not say. Oh you have made me miserable. Oh you have made me miserable. Never. He accepted their conversion. As he forgot how to convert. He forgot. In fact. He is not. He can not. He can not. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. Et il effaçait ce qui était pour lui pour faire raveur à ce qui était pour Allah, rizqa wa jal. Et il disait, c'était ça l'animation du Prophète, alayhis salaatu wasalam, face aux animations. He's a better speaker than me, isn't he? I can tell you, your eyes get wide when he starts to speak. We can understand. They said they all understand English. So I want to share with you all a personal story on this topic. You know, in these last few years, we've seen the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam insulted. And it hurts us to see the Messenger salallahu alayhi wasalam insulted.
We see it in France, we've seen it in the Netherlands, we've seen it in the United States. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam is constantly being insulted. And it pains us. And I remember a few years ago, some of you might remember Arnaud Van Doorn, the Dutch politician, who was part of that brigade of insulting the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. And people hated him, right? And that's how he became Muslim. And he's taking his first flight to the United States. And he's supposed to speak at an event, and I'm supposed to speak at that event as well. And what ended up happening was that they didn't let him board the plane to come to the United States. But all of the people came to that event, thinking they're going to see him. Now I got to the event, and they told me, by the way, he didn't make it. So I'm being put in a spot where I know they're going to hate me, and they're going to want, you know, why are you here? They want to see the other guy. They don't want to see me. And I have to explain to the people that, you know, he's not here. And obviously, you know, the moderator came on, and he explained that he wasn't going to be attending that night. And everyone was very sad. And you could hear, I mean, it was thousands of people who, you know, all the different anger and people rolling their eyes. And, you know, we felt like they got tricked and swayed. And then they put me on the stage. So now I have to go speak to these angry people, right? And I told them, I said, subhanAllah, one year ago, if you knew that this man was coming to your city before he was Muslim, you would be angry. And if you saw him, you'd want to spit at him. Now you're upset because you can't give him a hug. You're upset because you can't say salamu alaykum to him and embrace him. SubhanAllah, look at the way that the mindsets change. Look at the way that your hearts change. And this man goes to Medina, and he goes to the grave of the Prophet ﷺ. And the headline of the newspaper, I'll never forget it. He says, I'm sorry, O Prophet of Allah. How beautiful is that?
That's a real life example. How beautiful is that? Now, maybe, you know, when everything first transpired, we were angry, we were upset. But what was better for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? That Allah guided the man and made him a spokesperson for the Prophet ﷺ? Or if Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala would have destroyed him and something horrible would have happened to him, and a YouTube clip would have been around, and people start, what's happening, him falling off a cliff or something like that? What's better? What's better for Allah? What connects us more to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? The reason why I bring up this personal story, dear brothers and sisters, and this one is a point which I hope that our brother Farooq will understand inshaAllah and translate in an amazing way that he's been translating. When people get angry because the Prophet ﷺ is insulted, and people take to the streets and they start burning flags and breaking windows and things of that sort, are they angry because of their love for the Prophet ﷺ? Or are they angry because you insulted my religion? Pay attention. You insulted what's sacred to me. How dare you insult my Prophet? Is that what it's about? Or is it about the Prophet ﷺ? Because the same people might be disrespecting the sunnah all day long. They might not even pray. The same people will mock someone for having a beard or for doing something from the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ. But now, how dare you insult my Prophet? Now I'm angry. So is it about Allah? Or is it about Allah and His Messenger ﷺ? Is it about yourself? Is it about your insulted dignity? Or is it about Allah and the Messenger ﷺ?
And that's something that we have to ask ourselves in our own dergah. Arnavandu. He was quite famous for his bad publication, his bad press. He was very, very violent with his words with the Prophet ﷺ. He had the anger of the Muslim world. And subhanAllah, look at this. Look at Allah. SubhanAllah, Allah says who He wants. He wants to make a Muslim out of this person. On a global scale, when we look at the publications, people wanted to kill this man. That is, he was a man to be killed. He was the man who insulted our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. He was a man to be killed. They say that Arnavandu was invited to the United States to make a convocation. This time as a Muslim. And so he was invited to the USA and he was invited to this same conference. So he was delighted to meet this man. Unfortunately, the American security services did not let him get off the plane. So he stayed in the plane to go back to the other direction immediately. Unfortunately. And a conference with a room full of people waiting for the man in question. And he was terrified. And he, the Sheikh, said to him, I was afraid. The organizer, he was like a madman. He's not going to come, finally. We just took a moment. We're going to do everything we can for him. The room is full. Finally, the Sheikh ended up going on stage. In front of the crowd, he was a little bit afraid to say to himself, but what am I going to say to them? And he found the right formula. He said, today you are impatient to see this man. Finally, he's not going to come.
Imagine now that last year, when he held the speeches he gave, and if you had known that he was going to speak at a conference like this, in what state would you have expected this man? Would you not have wanted to spit on him? Would you not have wanted to kill him? Would you not have wanted to hurt him? And today you are there, waiting for him and impatient to see him. What I want to say to Sheikh, and this is where he asked, and I'm going to tell you, is that the reason why people get angry, burn and break things in the streets, is it really the reason we think? Because people do things, acts. We saw people burn flags, we saw people break things, burn, break windows, all by saying, we insulted our Prophet, so we eat in the street. But Sheikh said, now let's analyze the situation. Are these people angry because we insulted their Prophet? Or are they angry because we insulted their religion? That is, to them. And that is, they are the intermediary, and it is by passing through them that they take the thing for themselves. And it is because they have kept themselves that they get angry, that they get angry, that they become violent. While the Prophet, peace be upon him, never took things for himself. I allow myself to add a word that the Sheikh did not say, but it is like the verse, when in a battle, a man, at the beginning of the battle, the man spat on his face, and Ali stopped fighting this man. And we said, why do you stop fighting when you take him on? He said, because at the beginning I fought for Allah, but when he spat on me, I wanted to kill him for me. And it is all this wisdom and taste that the Sheikh brought us to reason, that is, for what reason are we angry and rebelled when we hear the insults of the Prophet? Is it because we insulted the Prophet himself? Or is it because we insulted our Prophet? There is a big difference between the Prophet and our Prophet. The Prophet, peace be upon him, did not kill him. You know why he didn't kill him? Because the Prophet, peace be upon him, said, even though he'd be justified by all means,
the Prophet, peace be upon him, said, I don't want them to say, laa yaqoolan, I don't want them to say, anna Muhammadan kaana yaqtulu asran, that Muhammad, peace be upon him, used to kill his companions. Can you imagine the Prophet, peace be upon him, saying, I don't want to give the Islamophobes material. I don't want them to be able to use this against us, even though he deserves it. But the Prophet, peace be upon him, was thinking about us. And he was thinking about what the callers, the messengers of the Messenger, peace be upon him, would have to undertake in the process. So we ask Allah to make us competent messengers of the Messenger, peace be upon him, to make us amongst those who have leela for his sunnah and for his honor, to make us amongst those that are joined with him in Jannatul Firdaus, and to allow people who don't know him, but know us, to love him through loving us. Allahumma ameen. Ameen. So, the Shia said that unfortunately, it's his feeling that life will get worse and worse, and will get more and more intense with time. So he said, there may be a period of better, but he said, know this, brothers and sisters, life will get more intense with time. And so, we have to prepare ourselves. We have to ask ourselves, but what does Allah expect from me? What does Allah expect from us? Islamophobes take pieces of the Sira and say to us, why this? Why that? And we don't understand, because in fact, it's them who set the rules of the game by taking chosen pieces. And we try to learn these pieces and try to answer them. The Shia says that this method is bad, for two reasons. There are already two questions to ask. The first is, if the thing is authentic, the event is authentic, then it is contextualized, it happened at a precise moment, what we call a spell of Guru, that is, it happened at a very precise moment, in a given time, in a given situation. Or, the second thing is that the story is authentic,
and in this case, we must then understand what the context is, and analyze it in the light of the words of the scholars who interpreted these events. So he says, that's why with the Institute, there was a Sheikh, Romain Suleiman, who did a work called the 70 moments of high morality, that was the title of the conference, against adversity, the Prophet Muhammad, against adversity and insults. And in fact, he says that this is the first research of this type. He said, you can look for it in Arabic, in French, in English, in any language, it has never been done. This is a first, this work there. And he said, and we were able to review 70 moments of high morality of the Prophet Muhammad, while the Islamophobes, he said, I asked them to find, there would be only 5 or 6 events, very serious or problematic, concerning him. He said, by looking well, maybe they would find one or two, and even that would be typical. But he said, we managed to find 70 moments where the Prophet Muhammad, he was above the law, he was above everything we could imagine in terms of morality. And so he says that this work, Insha'Allah wa Ta'ala, I, your humble servant, I will be in charge of translating this in French, so that we can benefit from it quite quickly. Then he says, here, two great things, he added one last word before finishing, one last point. He spoke of the Abundai Nubay Sahloun, who was known as the leader of the hypocrites in Medina. You know that the hypocrites did not appear in Medina until the Mecca. There was no logic to be a hypocrite, since those who were not Muslims did not say their names. So, Abundai Nubay Sahloun, why was he a hypocrite? Quite simply because he had big political and financial interests in Medina, and the arrival of the Prophet Muhammad, he destroyed his entire market and his political business. So, discreetly, he was a Muslim, but from the inside, he was starting to destroy. And everyone knew that. The Prophet Muhammad, had the name of the hypocrites, he knew who was a hypocrite or not. And so some asked him to kill him,
since he was known to be a hypocrite. But the Prophet Muhammad, look, he thought, he went further, and that's what Sheikh is bringing us to. He said, do you want people to think that I am a hypocrite? Because people do not know that he is a hypocrite. They will say, the Prophet kills his own Sahaba, he kills his own companions, and we will say, what kind of concept? And so, he wanted to bring us to that, Sheikh, by telling us that we, we must not give up the stick to be hit. We must be vigilant and always pay attention to how our actions and how our words are interpreted as a result of what we say, our allegations. This is what Sheikh Fedora is trying to do. So, we will now have questions and answers. Thank you. Yes? Muhammad, there is no question. I would like to thank Sheikh Morsi-Taiman for this rich introduction. Very rich. And on this occasion, I thank you for the good translation. Another question, please. It is one of the most frequently asked questions that come to mind. The question of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him talking about Pemper, is the deadliest death possible for a man. All other things withoutSon of Man which are very, many, were impossible for a man. the Muslims, the Arabs, and the Shia.
But the Prophet, may Allah be pleased with him, does not kill, because he is a beautiful man, so he does not kill. So we are people who are disobedient. We are just at another level, we are killing each other, but in a moral way. So, if a person is suffering from the Muslims, before he suffers from the Prophet, he should suffer from the Muslims and non-Muslims. So, the Qur'an says, do not kill yourself. We leave the Shia to their own devices. We are just people. Sorry.
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