Lecture
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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
Reviving a Lost Sunnah: Adoption and Foster Care in Islam
Sh. Omar Suleiman, Yaqeen Institute Founder and President, presents a series of lectures on the topic of adoption and fostering in Islam. The lectures give an in-depth look at the fiqh and virtues of adoption.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful, All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon His noble Messenger and upon his family and companions, and peace and blessings be upon them all. I want to welcome you all on-site and online, alhamdulillah, for what I believe hopefully will be a completely perception-changing seminar in our community inshaAllah ta'ala that I hope will be looked up 50, 60 years from now inshaAllah ta'ala and be used as a tool and a basis for employing people to really take on this abandoned sunnah which is unfortunately leaving children abandoned, leaving Muslim children and other children in very difficult situations. And alhamdulillah, this is all to the credit of the brothers and sisters who have been really trying to push for this seminar for a very long time, I think the implications of it are very big indeed, and we're going to try to cover all aspects of it inshaAllah ta'ala, all aspects of this topic and really address it some ways that are spiritually enabling and some ways that are practically enabling inshaAllah ta'ala. And alhamdulillah we have with us Sister Sara Haydar from New Star Kafala Agency, and she will be able to give us sort of that logistical roadmap inshaAllah ta'ala to actually be able to go forth with this practice for those of us who are interested inshaAllah ta'ala, and if anything everyone leaves this room renewed and everyone leaves this seminar renewed with this sunnah inshaAllah ta'ala and we have changed our perceptions and even if we can save one Muslim child, one child that's in a difficult situation,
then I would consider it a success indeed. I have a PowerPoint, I'm not usually a PowerPoint type of person, but inshaAllah it makes it easy for those to follow along, to take notes, those that want to take notes inshaAllah ta'ala, but when we talk about adoption and foster care, just to sort of give you the way the seminar is going to play out inshaAllah, for the first hour to an hour and a half, we'll see inshaAllah how quickly I talk and how much I'm able to cover in the first session, we're going to focus on the virtues. And when I say the virtues, I want us to be spiritually enabled because I do believe, and I think it's part of our tradition, that if the heart is angled right, then everything else will fall into place, and I know that we've been to a lot of fundraisers about orphans and sponsoring an orphan overseas, and I'm not undermining that at all, in fact many of these ahadith do in fact talk about the reward of financially sponsoring an orphan, I think there's always room for that and we should grow in that, and I only hope that this seminar would only push you further towards that inshaAllah ta'ala, but hopefully by going in depth into the virtues of this entire subject, of taking on an orphan, of offering that service of adoption and foster care, inshaAllah ta'ala we feel more at ease with it within our hearts and we feel like we're enabled. Then we'll go into the fiqh aspects of it, the legal questions surrounding this particular issue, and then inshaAllah we will go into the practical aspects of it, where sister Sara will take over inshaAllah ta'ala, and there will be questions that will arise throughout the seminar, anyone that's online, the hashtag for this is adoption seminar, so any tweets with gems, reflections, lessons, questions, you can use the hashtag inshaAllah ta'ala,
which is adoption seminar, so again I'm not a powerpoint person but we're going to go through with it anyway, the big picture, what makes this subject so important from a philosophical perspective as Muslims, why is this so important and how do we fit it into the overall scheme of our religion? Number one, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam says, ابغوني في الضعفاء seek me out amongst the weak, seek me out amongst the poor, now typically speaking the word ضعفاء is translated as weak, but what it really means is vulnerable, it's not that a person is weak but rather a person is vulnerable in their society, and the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said seek me out amongst the vulnerable, you will always find me amongst the vulnerable of your society, فهل ترزقون وتنصرون إلا بضعفاءكم? are you granted victory or help or sustenance from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, except by the way that you treat the most vulnerable of your society, what that means is that we have as part of our philosophical understanding of the way the world works, what's embedded in our religion is this idea that Allah treats us the way that we treat our most vulnerable as an ummah, so if we are good to our most vulnerable then we who as a whole أنتم الفقراء إلى الله you are those that are completely dependent upon Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and in need of Allah, when you are in need of Allah, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will be in your service, and Allah is in the service of the believer as long as he is in the service of his brother, we also take this concept from the Qur'an, various concepts, various times in the Qur'an particularly when it comes to the orphan, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us in Surah Al-Fajr, he tells us about the whining and the complaining of an individual in their own life, about why life is giving them a bad end or a good end,
and how they are equating their sustenance or their measure of worldly success with their success in the sight of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala or whether or not Allah is pleased with them. فَأَمَّا الْإِنسَانُ إِذَا مَبْتَلَاهُ رَبُّهُ فَأَكْرَمَهُ وَنَعْمَ فَيَقُولُ رَبِّي أَكْرَمًا Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says that verily man, when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tests him, not with a stroke, not with losing his job, not with any family tragedy, when Allah tests you with sustenance, and Allah tests you with honor, and Allah tests you with a good reputation that you suddenly have to live up to, when Allah tests you with ease. فَيَقُولُ رَبِّي أَكْرَمًا This is what's called the prosperity doctrine. That person says, my Lord has been generous with me, my Lord has honored me, my Lord has made me dignified and noble. And he's not saying this in the context of وَأَمَّا بِنِعْمَةِ رَبِّكَ فَحَدِّثُ which is to say alhamdulillah and thank Allah for the blessings upon you. He's saying it in the context of boasting. Just like the man with two gardens in Surah Al-Kahf, who thinks to himself that because I'm doing well in this life, that is to be equated with the pleasure of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala with me. وَلَا إِن رُدِتُ إِلَىٰ رَبِّي And even if I meet Allah on the Day of Judgment, then I'll find even better than what I found in this world. So when Allah tests you with ease, you say, my Lord has given me dignity and honor and made me noble. وَأَمَّا إِذَا مَبْتَلَاهُ فَقَدَرَ عَلَيْهِ رِسْلًا فَيَقُولُ رَبِّي أَهَانًا That same individual, if Allah tests him by restricting his sustenance, by taking away his job, reducing his salary, by a little bit of hardship in regards to his or her reputation,
that person turns to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and says, رَبِّي أَهَانًا My Lord has humiliated me. In essence, they blame God for their misfortunes rather than blaming their own selves, and they become bitter and dejected towards religion and towards faith. وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَعْبُدُ اللَّهَ عَلَى حَرْفٍ There are some people that worship Allah on an edge. If things are good, they stay. If things are bad, they spiritually jump off the cliff. They leave the religion. So they equate their religion with their own measure of worldly success and worldly failure. What does Allah answer this person? كَلَّا بَلَّا تُكْرِمُونَ الْيَتِيمُ Allah says you don't deserve to be honored because you don't honor the orphan. You don't deserve honor and dignity in this life because you don't dignify the orphan. كَلَّا بَلَّا تُكْرِمُونَ الْيَتِيمُ And you do not seek out to feed the poor, to make way for the poor. So Allah says you don't deserve goodness in this life because you are not showing it to those that are vulnerable. Now realize it's very sequential in these ayat that Allah mentions rizq, sustenance, and dignity. Allah mentions that a person, when they're given money, they say alhamdulillah Allah is giving me money. And when they're given fame or success or reputation, they would say that Allah has honored me. Which one of the two is more important? Which one does Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala prefer? Which one does Allah say is more important? Before Allah says, وَلَا تَحَاضُونَ عَلَىٰ طَعَامِ الْمِسْكِينَ You don't feed the poor person, Allah says you fail to dignify and honor the orphan. Meaning ikram al-yateem, to honor the orphan. So Allah connected it to your own desire to be honored.
And Allah connected your own desire to be wealthy with your efforts or lack thereof of feeding people that are in far more dire need than you are. So we find this sequence in the Qur'an in Surah Al-Fajr. We also see that within the Qur'an Allah constantly mentions, in any sequence, ذَوَالْقُرْبَىٰ وَالْيَتَامَىٰ وَالْمَسَكِينَ Allah mentions the orphans before He mentions the poor. And the scholars say, and this is really really powerful because it's in every single sequence in the Qur'an, every single surah in the Qur'an Allah mentions yateem before miskeen, mentions the orphan before He mentions the poor person. That emotional support and honor is far more important than financial independence. A miskeen in the shariah is someone that possesses less than half of the wealth required for their needs. Meaning they are in poverty. That's literally, a faqir is someone that's over, that's still barely making it but they're over half the required amount necessary for their needs. A miskeen is someone who's very poor. And I'm not belittling feeding the poor or taking care of those that are in poverty. What I'm saying is that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives preference to the dignity of a human being. Because a human being wants to be dignified and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, وَلَقَدْ كَرَّمْنَا بَنِ آدَمٍ We have honored the children of Adam. Black, white, rich, poor, whatever it is, we have honored the son of Adam. So you need to maintain that dignity for the son of Adam. It's also something that we see that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam as a favor upon him. أَلَمْ يَجِدْكَ يَتِيمًا فَآوَى Didn't Allah find you, ya Muhammad salallahu alayhi wasalam, as an orphan? فَآوَى And he granted you refuge. Through who? Through Abu Talib.
So Allah gave you the refuge of Abu Talib and strengthened you in that vicious society when you were an orphan. وَوَجَدَكَ ضَالًا فَهَدَى And Allah found you searching for guidance and Allah guided you. وَوَجَدَكَ عَائِلًا فَأَغْنَى And you were barely making it. You had meager wealth and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala enriched you. And that is through Khadijah radiyallahu ta'ala anha. So through Abu Talib the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam was honored by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, taken in as an orphan. Allah himself guided the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam when he was seeking answers and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala enriched the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam, made him financially independent through Khadijah radiyallahu ta'ala anha. What was the first one mentioned in the sequence from the favors of Allah? He found you an orphan. Not only that, what's the first thing, the only thing Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the only word Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions twice. When Allah mentions, so now you should repay society. فَأَمَّا الْيَتِيمَ فَلَا تَقْهَرُ Now when you meet an orphan Ya Rasool Allah, do not make that orphan feel repulsed. Do not make them feel despised. Honor them. Dignify them. You see subhanAllah, once again Allah is addressing this not as a financial burden. Allah is saying look at the way that you treat an orphan because look how you were treated as an orphan by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And it's the only thing. If you connect through the surah أَلَمْ يَجِدْكَ يَتِيمًا فَآوَى فَأَمَّا الْيَتِيمَ فَلَا تَقْهَرُ وَوَجَدَكَ ضَالًا فَهَدَى وَأَمَّا السَّائِلَ فَلَا تَنْهَرُ Allah found you looking for answers and He guided you. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says when someone comes to you asking, do not reject that person. So look at the way that you treat someone that comes to you seeking guidance. وَأَمَّا بِنِعْمَةِ رَبِّكَ فَحَدِّثْ وَأَمَّا بِنِعْمَةِ رَبِّكَ فَحَدِّثْ And ask for the blessing of your Lord upon you then speak of it. Praise Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for it. Say alhamdulillah for what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has provided to you.
So the only word mentioned twice in this sequence is يَتِيم. Some of the scholars say that of the honor of an orphan is that the only specified orphan in the Quran is none other than خَيْرُ خَلْقِ اللَّهِ None other than the best of all creation, Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wasalam. That's the honor of an orphan, of a يَتِيم. That the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam is the only one that is specified in the Quran as an orphan and he is the best of all of the creation of Allah. We also find this as a tradition of all of the prophets. It's a tradition of all of the prophets in our Abrahamic faiths. Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wasalam narrates that Dawud alayhi salam, and this is actually an authentic hadith in Adab al-Mufrad, that Dawud alayhi salam says, كُنَّ الْيَتِيمِ كَأَبِ الرَّحِيمِ That from the wisdoms of Dawud alayhi salam he said, Be to the orphan like a merciful father. كُنَّ الْيَتِيمِ كَأَبِ الرَّحِيمِ We also find that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam, one of the descriptions of him by his uncle Abu Talib, and this is narrated in Bukhari by Ibn Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. This is a non-Muslim praising the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam for his characteristics. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam was called, ثِمَالَ الْيَتَامَ عِصْمَةً لِلْأَرَامِنِ Which means that he was, ثِمَالَ الْيَتَامَ means he was the guardian of all the orphans of his society. He felt compelled salallahu alayhi wasalam his entire life, to take care of all of the orphans in his society, to be a source of emotional comfort for them. عِصْمَةً لِلْأَرَامِنِ And he was salallahu alayhi wasalam a source of refuge for the widows. So one of the defining traits of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam even before Islam, we know he had amazing khuluq, amazing character, was particularly the way that he honored the orphans, and the way that he honored the widows. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam mentioned in an authentic narration, when he praised the women of Quraysh,
the two qualities that he praised the women of Quraysh for more than anything else, he said that they are kind to their orphans, and that they are loyal to their husbands. That was how the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam actually praised the women of Quraysh. There's an interesting hadith from Abu Huraira radhiAllahu ta'ala anhu azwa. And it's an authentic hadith. I told you that du'afa, weak, means what? What does it really mean? The word du'afa linguistically translates into weak, but what does it really mean? Vulnerability. So a person is not necessarily weak, but they're vulnerable in a society, perhaps due to an unjust system. Perhaps due to an unjust system. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam said in this authentic hadith, and this was one of the last things he said to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, meaning he's testifying to Allah. He says, اللهم إني أحرج حق الضعيفين O Allah, bear witness that I have warned the people concerning fulfilling the rights of the two vulnerable ones, اليتيم والإمرأة, the orphans and the women. He wasn't saying women are weak. Women were vulnerable in that society because of the way they were mistreated. So the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam is actually testifying to Allah before he leaves this world, O Allah, I did my job, bear witness, I told the people to treat their orphans well, I told the people to treat their women well. Recognizing that these were two parties that were wronged in the society that they lived in. Now why does this become so important for us as an ummah? Number one, Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wasalam called this ummah أكثر الأمم يتامة. He said salallahu alayhi wasalam that the nation of Muhammad salallahu alayhi wasalam would have more orphans than any other ummah. So when we talk about the need to step forward for the sake of our children that are being lost, we as an ummah have more orphans than any other ummah,
and that was meant by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to give us a chance to stand up for them, to be a caring ummah, an ummah of empathy, an ummah that treats its vulnerable well, and by virtue of that is treated well by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Now, how do we define an orphan in Islam? The Arabic language is very, very, very rich. يَتِيم in the Arabic language actually means alone. So linguistically speaking, يَتِيم means alone. A lot of times these names actually convey something about how that person would be feeling. The last Jum'ah of the month is called الجمعة اليَتِيم, the alone Jum'ah. Rajab is called the يَتِيم month from الأشهر الحرام, from the sacred months. So يَتِيم means alone, isolated. Now, in the Arabic language, we also find that there are different categories for orphans. So, for example, يَتِيم for a human being means a child that lost their father. This is the meaning of يَتِيم in the Arabic language. For humans, it's a child that lost their father. For animals, it's a child that lost its mother. A child that lost its mother, a human... Now, this is probably all irrelevant, but for the most part, I'll just kind of give it to you guys quickly. A child that lost its mother is called من قطع, someone that is cut off. Or called عَدِي, which also carries the connotation of completely cut off. Because يَتِيم, losing a father, is not as great as losing a mother. So every one of these categories falls into being a يَتِيم, but not every يَتِيم falls into some of these other words. There's also another word which is لَطِيم. And لَطِيم in the Arabic language means that you've lost both of your parents. And you can go on and on and on. There are many definitions. There is لَقِيْت, which is very common. لَقِيْت is actually a child that's been abandoned by its parents. Sadly, it still happens in the Muslim world,
where some people will drop off their babies in front of a masjid, because they can't financially bear the responsibility, and they'll just hope that someone will pick up the abandoned child. The practice still exists in some countries, unfortunately. So there are many different ways that this is conveyed through the Arabic language. But يَتِيم, what does يَتِيم mean? Someone that lost their father. If someone lost their mother, they also fall into that category, because that's even a greater tragedy. But obviously that's something that's conveyed, again, linguistically, that it's someone that lost their father. We also have in our understanding in religion... أن شخصاً يمكن أن يكون مرحلةً لطفله حتى الوقت من تجول شخصاً يعني أنه حينما يصل شخصاً إلى زمن طفل لا يزال يتاماً، لا يزال يتين حتى لو كانت شخصاً تنكسر كي يتين، فعندما يصل إلى ذلك الوقت، لا يزال يعتبر يتيناً على الرغم من ذلك، في المعلومات، أذكر أنه في ديننا، كل شيء يتعلق بالنية والتفكير وكل شيء يتعلق بالروح والفلوس والفلوس من شيء واحد وحاول حقاً أن تأكد أنك تفعل نفس المهام التي كان لها النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم عندما أعلم أنه قد تفعل بعض الأعمال المعروفة في المجتمع، يتين أيضاً يتعرف بشكل عام لأشخاص أخرى، فإذا كان يتعرف بشكل عام لأولوى أحياناً، أحياناً يتعرف أولوى أحياناً يتيناً، أحياناً شخصاً لا يملك قبول لحمايتهم، مثل عبد الله بن مسعود رضي الله عنه، يتعرف بشكل عام لأحيان، لأنه بشكل عام، يتعرف بشكل عام، يتعرف بشكل عام، يتعرف بشكل عام، يتعر
ونجد أن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم، سبحان الله، حتى في عقده، في مطلوبه، هذا مذهل جداً، كان يتعرف بشكل عام لأطفال أبو طالب، لذلك النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم كان يتعرف بشكل عام لأطفال أبو طالب عليه الصلاة والسلام، وما كان هذا مثل عمل مميز لكل الأطفال، أن يتعرف بشكل عام لأطفال أبو طالب عليه الصلاة والسلام، حتى في عقده، سبحان الله، حتى في عقده، كان يتعرف بشكل عام لأطفال أبو طالب عليه الصلاة والسلام، لذلك النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم كان يتعرف بشكل عام لأطفال أبو طالب عليه الصلاة والسلام، حتى في عقده، كان يتعرف بشكل عام لأطفال أبو طالب عليه الصلاة والسلام، حتى في عقده، كان يتعرف بشكل عام لأطفال أبو طالب عليه الصلاة والسلام، حتى في ع So we're the nation that has the most yatama, the most orphans. Throughout history, what happened to these orphans? Were they just taken care of and put in shelters and people hoped for the best? What became of these orphans? So I actually just wanted to quickly run through some of the famous orphans. Probably the most famous one after the Prophet ﷺ is Abu Hurayrah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. Abu Hurayrah, the one who narrates the most hadiths from the Prophet ﷺ, he was an orphan and in fact he used to frequently say, he would tell his life story to the family members around him. He would say, I grew up an orphan, I made hijrah as a poor man, I was hired by the daughter of Ghazwan in return for some food and just a chance to ride her camel or ride her horse, just for a chance to get a ride basically somewhere. And he said, I used to gather firewood for them. And when they stopped to camp, he said that I would urge their camels along for them, I'd keep their camels going by singing to their camels. He's just trying to portray to you how humiliated of a life he had, how difficult of a life he had. He said, I used to have to serenade the camels to move along with that tribe.
And then he used to cry and he used to say, الحمد لله الذي جعل الدين قواما وجعل أبه ريرة إماما. He said, الحمد لله, Allah made this deen prevail and He took a person like me and made him into an imam of the people. Like subhanAllah, my circumstances, I would have amounted to nothing in society had it not been for the advent of Islam. Anas ibn Malik radiAllahu ta'ala anhu also was an orphan. His father Malik passed away. And that's why Umm Sulaym, when he was a child, married Abu Talha. So Anas ibn Malik radiAllahu ta'ala anhu grew up an orphan. The disciple of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, and one of the Ten Promised Paradise, Az-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. He grew up as ibn Safiyyah, the son of Safiyyah, because he didn't have a father. Az-Zubayr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was an orphan. And look what he became through this religion. The disciple of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, he didn't marry just anybody. Who did he marry? Anybody know who Az-Zubayr's wife is? Asmaa' bint Abi Bakr. He married the daughter of Abu Bakr. Became the father of Abdullah ibn Az-Zubayr. I mean subhanAllah, you think about the honor that was given to him to society. He married the daughter of the best human being on the face of the earth after the Prophets. And he was elevated in this religion. He was put on the shura of Umar al-Khattab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. Considered for khilafah, despite the fact that he was an orphan growing up. And so you find amongst the sahaba this concept, even amongst themselves, that many of them were orphans themselves, and so they had a great sympathy towards the orphans. Aisha radiAllahu anha was not an orphan, but Aisha radiAllahu ta'ala anha was a woman that used to love to raise orphans. She actually used to bring orphans into her home and raise them. So for example, we find in fiqh al-zakah actually, it's interesting because in fiqh al-zakah, some of the most prominent narrations are from the children of
al-Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr. Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr was the brother of Aisha. And he died and he left behind four orphans. Aisha radiAllahu anha raised them all by herself. And she used to control their affairs of zakah. So they narrated what she took zakah from and what she didn't, and that became of the foundational text, the foundational narrations to understand the ahkam, the rulings of zakah. So you have this concept of taking in orphans amongst the companions, raising them, looking after their affairs. The companions, most of them were either orphans themselves, or they themselves raised orphans, or they were both. Az-Zubayr radiAllahu anhu, this is a lot of stuff, I'm just going to move on inshaAllah. But Az-Zubayr, this is the last one, he became a kafir, he became a caretaker for the orphans of seven other companions, including the children of Uthman ibn Affan radiAllahu anhu, his children, Az-Zubayr took care of them, he became their caretaker, he became their kafir. Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, when he passed away, Az-Zubayr became the kafir of his children. So he was an orphan, he got it, he understood it. So he took care of seven orphans himself. So it was actually a culture amongst the sahaba, that you either grew up an orphan, or you took care of an orphan, or you were both. Now what about in the other sciences? In fiqh, the founders of the madhahib, Malik, al-Shafi'i, Ahmad, al-Thawri, al-Awza'i, all orphans, all lost their fathers, either before they were born, or when they were very, very young. And were all considered yatama, were all considered orphans. So the fiqh that comes in that regard, obviously about orphans, is going to be very, very emphasized. And there is a soft spot there, because they themselves actually went through that. Hadith. Who's the most famous collector of hadith of all time?
Al-Imam al-Bukhari. Was al-Bukhari not an orphan? He was an orphan. Who's the most famous interpreter, explainer, the sharih of al-Bukhari, the one who explains sahih al-Bukhari? I teach it every Tuesday here. Who is it? Man, that's bad. I'm really doing a very bad job then. Who is he? Does anyone know what the most famous explanation of al-Bukhari is? By Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Fath al-Bari. Ibn Hajar was an orphan. So you had the collection of hadith, the most famous collector of hadith was an orphan in our religion. The most famous explainer, the most famous interpreter of that collection of hadith was an orphan as well. So within hadith, and the most famous narrator on the Prophet ﷺ, Abu Huraira, was an orphan as well. In Tazkiyah, how many of you knew Al-Imam al-Ghazali was an orphan, rahimahullah ta'ala? He was an orphan. Al-Imam Abu al-Tharaj ibn al-Jawzi, rahimahullah ta'ala. Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Jawzi was the most prolific writer possibly in Islamic history. He was an orphan as well. So our spirituality has great emphasis, the texts have great emphasis on taking care of them as a means of Tazkiyah. In Tafsir and obviously many other subjects. And Imam Jalal ad-Din al-Suyuti, rahimahullah ta'ala, grew up an orphan. Most of our scholars were in a situation like this. And so through all of the sciences, you have a great emphasis on this. And that's something that comes from the Prophet ﷺ. And of course even, you know, again, there was nothing that put them down. They were considered the most vulnerable in society. They were elevated in status. I mean, you think about the society of the Prophet ﷺ, where you were nothing more, or you amounted to nothing more than your name, your tribe. An orphan doesn't have anything to cling on to. But this was a religion that set the grounds for some of the greatest leaders,
not just in the scholarly sense, even in authority, to rise despite being orphans. How many of you have heard of Tariq ibn Ziyad, rahimahullah ta'ala? He was an orphan, right? Imad al-Din al-Zinki, rahimahullah ta'ala, the first warrior against the Crusaders, leader of this ummah, was an orphan. So we've had orphans throughout our history that not only were taken in and spent upon, they grew up in caring, loving households, they were empowered in society. Islam put them at the head of their societies, in the religious sense, in the political sense, in every way possible. So I just wanted to kind of give you an overview of that. Now about the rewards, about the rewards of taking care of an orphan, of becoming a kafir. The Prophet ﷺ says, this is the first hadith that I'll mention, الساعي على الأرمالة والمساكين كالمجاهد في سبيل الله أو كالذي يصوم النهار أو كالذي يقوم الليل The Prophet ﷺ said, the one who strives in the path of the widows and the orphans is like the one who fights for the sake of Allah ﷻ, who goes out in the path of Allah ﷻ. Or the one who fasts every single day, يصوم النهار. Another narration, the Prophet ﷺ said, لا يفطر, he never breaks his fast. أو كالذي يقوم الليل, or is like the one who spends the entire night in prayer without sleeping. Now the Prophet ﷺ never uses empty expressions. The most beautiful interpretations of this hadith that I read was that, what is the goal of الجهاد في سبيل الله except to secure a just society? A society where the most vulnerable are the most honored. And what is the goal of قيام الليل, of standing up at night in prayer, except to awaken consciousness inside of you? And that's why Allah, every single time Allah mentions قيام الليل in the Qur'an, the next ayah is ينفقون في النهار, they spend in the way of Allah during the day.
So what is the point of قيام الليل except to enable you to awaken your consciousness, to where you stand up and connect yourself to Allah at night and during the day you serve His creation. And what is the purpose of fasting except to teach you empathy, except to teach you about the great blessings that you have from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, so that you feel connected and you feel responsible for providing for those that don't have those things. So subhanAllah, this hadith is actually very profound because it says that all of the goals of the shari'ah are practically met when a person goes forth and strives for the most vulnerable in his society, being the widows and being the orphans. And that's why, by the way, I wanted to start off, I kind of tried to categorize all the hadiths about rewards. And I know that it would be very hard for you to believe me after I finish this entire presentation, but I actually skipped out probably an equal amount of hadith because I just wanted to give you a gist of what is mentioned in our tradition, in our turah, about taking care of the orphans in Islam. First we start off with the impact on society, then we start on the impact of your hearts. Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam says, إِنَّ فِي الْجَسَدِ مُضْغَةٌ There is a piece of flesh inside of you. إِذَا صَلُحَتْ If it is good, everything will be good. And if it is bad, everything will be bad. أَلَا وَهِيَ الْقَلْبِ Verily, it is nothing but the heart. There are numerous narrations where the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam encourages people to strive in the path of the orphan for the sake of their own hearts. It's not just to the benefit of that person you are helping, you will soften your heart. And a soft heart is all you could want on the Day of Judgment. مَنْ خَشِيَ الرَّحْمَنَ بِالْغَيْبِ وَجَاءَ بِقَلْبٍ مُنِيبٍ You come to Allah with a heart that is at peace, a heart that is tranquil, a heart that submits itself to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Being in charity and being in service is one of the greatest means to soften your heart. Because when you become greedy, you become disconnected from Allah and you become disconnected from the people. You become narcissistic, self-absorbed. So the only time you'll even engage in anything outside of your self, the realm of your self, is to get props for yourself to further enable you to grow your own self. The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, look at how he addresses this. Abu Darda radiAllahu anhu, he says that a man came to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam complaining of the hardness of his heart. I see some of you taking pictures of the slides, we'll provide it to everybody inshaAllah. So we'll get everyone's emails and we'll send them to everyone inshaAllah ta'ala. And of course the video will be recorded with the slides and everything like that. But a man came to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam complaining about his hard heart. There are numerous narrations of this sort. One of them from Abu Huraira, شَكَى رَجْلٍ لِلنَّبِي صَلَى اللَّهُ عَيُّهُ سَلَمًا بِقَصْوَةِ قَلْبِي A man came to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and complained that his heart was too hard. فَأَوْصَاهُ أَنْ يَمْسَحَ رَأْسَ الْيَتِيمِ In the narration of Abu Huraira, the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam told him to stroke the hair of an orphan, which means a company, an orphan. In this hadith, which is authentic, it's very beautiful, the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam said to the man, he says, أَتُحِبُّ أَنْ يُلَيِّنَ قَلْبِكِ وَتُدْرِكَ حَاجَتَكِ Do you want your heart to really be soft? And do you want to find that your needs will be fulfilled by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? He says, اِرْحَمِ الْيَتِيمِ First and foremost, realize this is spiritual and emotional. Show mercy to the orphan, be merciful to the orphan. وَمْسَحْ بِرَأْسِ And caress his hair. Now does this mean you should just start walking up to orphans and start playing with their hair? No, this means accompany them, laugh with them, joke with them, be friendly with them. It's from the shama'il of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, actually with children in general.
The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam would put his hand on their shoulder or he'd put his hand on their head. Most of the narrations, the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam put his hand on their head and he'd start to play around with them. He'd tickle them salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. That's what the meaning of وَمْسَحْ بِرَأْسِ الْيَتِيمِ To wipe the hair of an orphan. Don't make that person feel like a burden on your society. Don't make that person feel like they should apologize to you for being an orphan in your presence. Make that person feel special. So first, show mercy. Second, go beyond mercy, show ihsan, show excellence. Start to joke around with that person. Start to show them love. And the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam says, وَأَطْعِمْهُ مِنْ طَعَامِكَ Feed him from your food. Why? من طعامك, the emphasis on your food. Don't feed him your leftovers. Don't just put some stuff to the side. Feed him from the same food that you yourself would eat. Include that orphan in your own food and in your own drink. He says, يَلِنْ قَلْبُكَ Your heart will become soft. وَتُدْرِكَ حَاجَتَكَ And you will find that your needs are being fulfilled by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. In another narration, this is a weak narration, but it's used by Al-Bukhari rahimahullah ta'ala and others as supplemental evidence, because we do that with our virtuous acts, that the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam says, مَنْ ضَمَّ يَتِيمًا فَكَانَ فِي نَفَقَتِهِ وَكَفَاهُمَ أُونَتَهُ كَانَ لَهُ حِجَابًا مِنَ النَّارِ يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ وَمَنْ مَسَحَ يَدَهُ عَلَى رَأْسِ يَتِيمٍ كَانَ لَهُ بِكُلِّ شَعْرَةٍ حَسَنَةٍ So the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam said that whoever takes in an orphan, and he spends upon him and makes sure that all of his needs are fulfilled, that orphan will be a hijab, will be a veil for that person from the hellfire on the Day of Judgment. وَمَنْ مَسَحَ يَدَهُ عَلَى رَأْسِ يَتِيمٍ And whoever wipes the hair of an orphan, كَانَ لَهُ بِكُلِّ شَعْرَةٍ حَسَنَةٍ With every hair is a good deed. Every hair that you stroke, there's a good deed from Allah subHanahu wa ta'ala.
So it starts off with the impact of your heart, their society, your own heart. This is how you draw closer to Allah subHanahu wa ta'ala. And then of course the ultimate goal that a person could possibly want, which is, مُرَافَقَةَ نَبِيهِ صَلَى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمُ To be with the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam in Jannah. The very famous hadith, أَنَا وَكَافِرُ الْيَتِيمِ فِي الْجَنَّةِ كَهَاتَيْنُ I and the one who takes care of an orphan will be in Jannah like these two fingers. Now here's the thing, there are a few things to take from this. The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam أَشَارَ بِالْمُسَبِّحَ وَالْوَسْطَةَ This finger is called the Musabihah. You know why it's called the Musabihah? The one that glorifies Allah? Because it's your shahada finger. It's also called the Musabibah. Because you harm the shaitan with it. Because the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam mentioned that when you do your shahada, nothing is heavier on the shaitan than when you are doing your shahada. It's not a physical one, so you don't have to do this when you're in shahada, like take that. But by your insisting on La ilaha illallah, it's Musabihah and it's Musabibah. It's glorifying Allah and it's harming the shaitan. So the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam called this finger Al-Musabihah. And the other one is the middle finger, it's called Al-Wustah. I'm sorry, there's nothing profound about it. The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam said, I and the one who sponsors an orphan, who takes care of an orphan, كافر اليتين كهاتين في الجنة We are like this in paradise. Ibn Battal, who writes one of the famous shuruh of Bukhari, he says, حق على من سمع هذا الحديث أن يعمل به يكون رفيق النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم في الجنة ولا منزلة في الآخرة أفضل من ذلك He said, it is an obligation upon anyone who hears this hadith. Like this hadith should do something to you. That's what he's saying. And Ibn Battal is a scholar and he doesn't write emotionally, right? He just writes technical explanations of hadith.
He says, but listen, whoever hears this hadith should act upon it so that they could be the rafiq, they could be the companion of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam in jannah. And he said, what station is better in the hereafter than that? There's absolutely nothing more you could ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for on the day of judgment than to be the rafiq of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam in jannah. There are beautiful explanations of this hadith. Al-Hafidh ibn Hajar rahim Allah ta'ala, he said that what we learn from this hadith is that the difference, not only are you close to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam like this, but the difference in your daraja, the difference in your degree and your station in jannah is no greater than the space between your index finger and your middle finger. That there is no space in the daraja between you and the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam. Other scholars, they said that when a person wants to say that he's my best friend or she's my best friend, that's my rafiq, they'll say me and him are like this, me and her are like this. So the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam is conveying a mahabba, he's conveying a love to that person as well. That me and that person are like this, that is my close friend, that is my rafiq, even if I have never met that person. Now there are other ahadith that mention similar things, by the way. Other ahadith that we can take from that mention similar things. But every time the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam mentions this reward of being with the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam like this, there's a similar trend and you guys can identify it. It's not just with the orphan, who else is it with? The hadith is not just with the orphan, who else is it with? Your own children, your own children. The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam said there are two authentic ahadith,
من عال جاريتين حتى تدرك دخلت أنا وهو في الجنة كهاتين. Whoever raises two young daughters until they come of age, then we will enter Jannah like these two fingers. Another hadith in Sahih Muslim, من ربّى طفلتين whoever raises two daughters وأحسن تربيتهما and he excels in raising those two daughters. So you're an outstanding parent, an exceptional mother, an exceptional father. يكون معي في الجنة كهاتين. He will be with me in paradise like these two fingers. So ihsan to your own children, ihsan to the orphan, these are things that guarantee that you're this close to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam. There are other hadith as well. One other hadith the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam says, وَامْرَأَةٌ سَفْعَاءُ الْخَدَّيْنِ أَمَتْ مِنْ زَوْجِهَا فَصَضَرَتْ عَلَىٰ وَالَدِيْهَا كَهَاتَيْنِ فِي الْجَنَّةِ The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam said in this hadith which is from Auf ibn Malik, it's weak in al-adab al-mufrad, it's authentic in Muslim Imam Ahmed. The reason I say that is because if you went to sunnah.com or one of those websites and search engines, because a lot of people they do that, the hadith he mentioned was weak. It's authentic من جهة أخرى from another direction. It's authentic in sanad and matan in Muslim Imam Ahmed. So the chain and the text are authentic in Muslim Imam Ahmed. It's weak in the chain that's used in al-adab al-mufrad that the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam says, I and a woman who is widowed and is patient with her child, meaning a woman, a single mom that has to raise her child by herself, she's patient with her child will be like these two fingers in Jannah. There are other hadith that are like that. Why? In any case, you're raising young vulnerable children. You're in their cause. Whether they're yours or not yours.
Because in essence a single mom becomes the kafila in that way. She is the one, she's playing the role of mother and father for her child. She is getting that reward by virtue of doing that. There are other hadith and some of these hadith really need to be looked at through the lens of a cultural historian. You've got to understand what the culture was like at the time. Why? Because there's another narration where the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam mentions, So the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam mentions a woman of great beauty, great status. She held herself. What that means is that she stayed unmarried. So her husband passed away or she became a widow. She stayed unmarried and was patient with her children. The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam says, despite again being a beautiful woman and someone that would not have trouble getting remarried, she stayed patient with her child. That the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam says that she would be with me in Jannah like these two things. Now here's the thing. In that society, in that culture, there is a fear because everything works on lineage and how is this child going to work for me and how is this child going to honor his tribe and so on and so forth. There was an inherent fear that when a woman got remarried that the stepfather would mistreat that child. The child would not be treated like his own. It was actually common in the Arab world. That's why even in the ahkam of talaq, the rulings of divorce, the standard default ruling is that a woman takes care of the children unless she gets remarried. Then she forfeits that right. That's standard. Nuances there because the imam makes the ultimate decision looking at the circumstances where it's better for the child and so on and so forth. But the standard ruling was that. Why? Because it was common that the father comes in and because it's not actually his child, he will mistreat that child. So the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam was praising the women who because of that fear decided to stay patient and raise their children for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and did not get remarried.
Is it encouraged for a woman whose husband dies to not get remarried? Umm Salama radiyaAllahu anha told her husband when he was passing away, she told him, I will never marry anyone after you. I swear by Allah I won't marry anyone after you. Abu Salama said I'm going to give you something and I want you to testify to it. She said what? He said, swear by Allah that you will remarry. So he forced her and subhanAllah what that materialized in was the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam. Who of course with the exception of Aisha radiyaAllahu anha, all of his wives were previously married, many widows, all of them again with the exception of Aisha previously had husbands. So it's not a general thing but the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam is talking about a very specific cultural context. There is another beautiful narration that the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam, and this one does in fact have a weak narrator but it's a very beautiful one and it's used again as supplemental in this chapter. That the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam says, ana awwalu man yaftahu baab aljannah, I'm the first one, yaftahu baab aljannah, to open the gate of paradise. fa idha amra'atun tubadiruni, there is a woman that would be racing with me. fa aqool man anti, I would stop her and I would say who are you? fa taqool ana amra'a, taayamtu ala aytaamin li, I am a woman that was left with orphans and I stayed patient with Allah and I raised them well. So that's something that existed. The only reason I mention these hadiths is to show you the reward of this is not limited to orphans, it's your own children as well, it's taking vulnerable young children and raising them. What's the wisdom of it? Because the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam never says anything out of just empty expression. What's the wisdom of it? The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam is essentially the orphan that adopted the world.
He adopted us. How did he adopt us? The role that the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam played for this ummah is that he cared for this ummah, he raised this ummah, and we are like flies trying to jump into a fire and the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam is holding us back, trying to stop us, just like we do with our children. Trying to stop them from running into tables and stuff like that. But the idea is that the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam spiritually cared for us, he spiritually, innama ana lakum bimanzeeratil abd, I am to you like a father, waAAallimukum, I teach you. So because the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam employed us spiritually, and without the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam teaching us our religion, we would have been spiritually forever vulnerable and handicapped. The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam is saying the same reward belongs to someone who strives in the way of someone else who is vulnerable and in need, and you stand for them, and you raise them, and you give them the tools to succeed in society. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala puts you with the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam together. Another narration the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam mentions, من ضم يتيما بين مسلمين في طعامه وشرابه حتى يستغنى عنه وجبت له الجنة البتة. The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam says, whoever joins an orphan amongst the Muslims in his food and drink, meaning you bring them to the table, you bring them into your home, you eat with them, you drink with them, until that person can provide for themselves, he is assured to enter paradise. There is nothing that that person would do that would cause them to fall out of paradise. You summarize that hadith with the hadith of murafiqah, with the hadith of companionship with the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam. The scholars mention here that all of the other ways, so you want to be with the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam? The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam said to one sahabi that you should support me in your cause by making lots of sujood.
So sajda, katratul sujood, constantly prostrating, is a way of having the companionship of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam. The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam says, ahabbul nasi ilayya wa akrabakum minni yawmul qiyama, the most beloved of people to me and those that are closest to me on the day of judgment are those who have the best character, the best khuluq. The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam mentioned katratul salawat, to constantly say Allahumma salli wa sallim ala nabiyyina Muhammad, that those that would be closest to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam in jannah would be those who constantly say salawat, those who invoke salawat on the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam. I'm not even hearing it from you all. SalAllahu alayhi wasallam would be closest to him in the afterlife. Some of the scholars mention here that all of those measures are not very tangible in the sense that you can fall short in all three of those. But the most sure way and certain way is to raise a yatim in your house, to actually bring a yatim in. Why? Because there's really no ifs and buts about that. You've actually taken an orphan in. It's the most tangible way and the most measurable fashion to gain the companionship of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam. And of course, as we said, raising your own children. He also mentioned to us salAllahu alayhi wasallam protection from hellfire in numerous narrations. And again, it's not just, I already mentioned one of them, which is that that yatim, that orphan would be a hijab for you from the hellfire. It would be a veil for you from the hellfire. There are numerous narrations in this regard. One of them, the very famous narration of Aisha radiAllahu anha, that a woman came to her asking for charity and she was given a date for herself. And her children were hungry for that date. So before she ate that date, she split it into two pieces and she gave it to both of her daughters.
She told the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam what she saw and the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam said, whoever looks after these girls in any way and is good to them, will have them as a hijab from the fire, will have them as a veil from the hellfire. They will serve as complete protection for that person from hellfire. Now, what is it about particularly bringing an orphan into the house? Why isn't this just financial? I already mentioned that if you notice, even the connotations of the Qur'anic ayat are far beyond financial support. They do move beyond that. They do go to kindness and dignifying and honoring and so on and so forth. And in fact, again, the very word yatim, which conveys loneliness, the scholars of the Arabic language, they say, faqidul abd, he doesn't have a father, yulaAAibuhu wa yuraAAeehi, to raise him and to play with him and so on and so forth. So it does indicate being with that child as well. There are a few narrations here in this regard of having a child in your house in particular. Or things that would be impossible without having a child in your house. One of them, Abu Bakr ibn al-Hafs, he narrates that Abdullah ibn Umar would not eat a meal unless an orphan ate with him. That's a beautiful trait to have. He refused to have a meal unless there was a yatim that was with him. In fact, al-Hassan al-Basri, he narrates that there was an orphan that used to always eat with Abdullah ibn Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. So one day, Abdullah ibn Umar came home and he wanted to eat but he couldn't find that yatim. So Abdullah ibn Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, he waited for a little bit, then he ate his food. And then when he saw that the child was coming, he called for some more food and eventually he was brought some sawiq and asad. So he was brought some honey and he was brought some light bread and some dips, basically just a very simple meal.
And Abdullah ibn Umar was panicking because he ate without that yatim and it wasn't his habit to do so. So he served the food to that orphan and he says, وَإِنَّكَ هَذَا فَوَاللَّهِ مَا غُبِنتُ He said, I swear by Allah that I didn't cheat you. Like he's afraid that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala would punish him. He said, here's my food for you. I swear by Allah you were not cheated. I swear by Allah you were not cheated. SubhanAllah, look at that fear and look at that awe. And al-Hassan, when he narrates this hadith, he says, وَإِنَّ أَنُوَا عُمَرُ وَاللَّهِ مَا غُبِنُ He said, I swear by Allah, Ibn Umar was not cheated by Allah. Meaning just as he did not cheat that orphan, Allah did not cheat him. The same kindness and love that he showed to that child, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala verily would show it to him. We also find from Nafi' radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And this hadith by the way is one of those other hadiths in Adab al-Mufrad. I actually put it here. It's weak in Adab al-Mufrad. It's sahih in the hiliya of Abu Nu'aym with the sanad in Abu Nu'aym. The next one is narrated by Nafi' he said that, عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بِنْ عُمَرُ Never turn down the request to be a kafir, to be appointed as a guardian. Meaning if anyone passed away and they wrote in their wasiyah, they wrote in their will, that Ibn Umar becomes the guardian of those children, Ibn Umar never turned that down. And this is the man of course who copied the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam, who emulated the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam with all of his actions, more than any other human being in history. Literally everything about him was an emulation of what the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam used to do. And he applied that in every way that he could radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. There's a hadith from Abu Hurayr radiAllahu anhu, in Al-Azab Al-Mufrad, where the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam says, خَيْرُ بَيْتٍ فِي الْمُسْلِمِينِ بَيْتٌ فِيهِ يَتِيمًا يُحْسَنُوا إِلَيْهِ The most beloved of homes, the best of homes to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, is a house that has an orphan that's being treated well. Not just has an orphan, has an orphan يُحْسَنُوا إِلَيْهِ
And he says that شَرُّ بَيْتٍ, the worst house, is the one that has an orphan that's being mistreated. And Ibn Battal said, if that's the case, if the worst house is a house that has an orphan that's being mistreated, what about a house that never had an orphan in it at all? If the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam is condemning a person who has an orphan and is not treating it with justice, not treating that boy or girl with justice, then what about a house that has never had an orphan within it at all? And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam says, أَنَا وَكَافِرُ الْيَتِيمِ فِي الْجَنَّةِ كَهَاتَيْنِ That I and the one who sponsors an orphan, the guardian of an orphan, will be in Jannah like these two things. Sense of responsibility upon society and as a community. I'm going to let Sister Sara talk about how much we lag behind as a community. It's not pretty. It really is not. It's actually quite embarrassing that this is our tradition and this is how far we lag behind in this subject. What's the sense of responsibility upon an entire community? Imam Hassan al-Basri was reminiscing. He said, I remember a time amongst the Muslims when the men would shout out to their families, meaning there were orphans amongst their families, and they would shout out to their families, يا أهلي يا أهلي يتيمكم يتيمكم Oh my family, oh my family, take care of your orphan, take care of your orphan. يا أهلي يا أهلي مسكينكم مسكينكم Oh my family, oh my family, take care of your poor one, take care of the poor one. And he said, يا أهلي يا أهلي جاركم جاركم Your neighbor, your neighbor, meaning this is what our community used to be like. He's reminiscing. And again I tell people this all the time that subhanAllah, every generation in our ummah, not even excluding the sahaba, thought that Yawm al-Qiyamah was around the corner. Like they all thought it because they saw traits in their society that they thought were so evil and unprecedented that it must mean Yawm al-Qiyamah is around the corner. And Hasan al-Basri is one of them, and who does he live with? The tabi'een.
And he's like, there are things that we do that are just so out of control. So he's saying, I remember this time, and he said that every single day, time has been swift, so time is moving quickly, and every day you become more disgraceful. As a community we become more disgraceful. We move away from the qualities and the values of ihsan that were taught to us by the messenger, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. And that responsibility is a responsibility that everyone in the community felt towards these orphans. It was not one family, it was everyone. It was literally what was in the mind of that mother when she lost her husband was, would I be better off raising my children alone and being patient? Or would I be better off marrying someone, and it better be a person of ihsan that's going to treat my children well? It was what was in their minds, how do we take care of the children of our ummah? The very famous hadith of Jabir ibn Abdullah radhiAllahu ta'ala anhu. Rasulullah salAllahu alayhi wa sallam came to Jabir radhiAllahu ta'ala anhu, and Jabir was a young man. He said, Jabir, did you get married? I heard you got married. Jabir said, naam ya Rasulullah, yes, O messenger of Allah. Usually this hadith gets cut off. A lot of hadiths do that. The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam said, did you marry a young woman or did you marry an older woman? He said, I married an older woman. The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam said, why did you marry an older woman? Wait a minute, the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam married Khadija radhiAllahu anha, and he married an older woman, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. He married, who knows what the second wife of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, what her name was? Saudah. He married an older woman, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, that had children. So if you read the hadith like that and you cut it there, you go, oh my God, what's going on here? And I've seen it passed off on websites with the deceiving dot dot dot, where the hadith is not continued. The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam said, why didn't you marry a younger woman that you could have fun with? You're still a young guy, she's a young woman, and so on and so forth.
You know what Jabir responded? Jabir said, that my dad was killed on the day of Uhud. You know my father died in Uhud. And he said, I have nine sisters. SubhanAllah, these aren't his children. He said, I have nine sisters. He said, I thought to myself, instead of marrying a woman that's going to be the same age as my sisters, and that's just going to play around with them and hang out with them, I thought to myself, why not marry an elderly woman that could help comb their hair and look after them as well? And the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam smiled and he said, asabt, you did the right thing. SubhanAllah. So that's the full hadith, if you ever hear that hadith cut off. The full hadith, the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam praised the action of Jabir and it shows you where his heart was. My sisters are orphans now. I wanted some help for them. Instead of me going and marrying someone very young, I wanted to marry someone that could help me with my sisters because they are now orphans. We also find the very famous hadith of Fatima al-Zahra radiAllahu anha, when she was struggling and she asked for some help, she asked for some servants. Ali radiAllahu anhu, he told her, why don't you ask your father for some servants, someone that can help you. One of the captives of Badr can come and give you a hand, they can help you, you can use them. She was too shy. When it came to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, one of the things the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam says, he says, sabqa kunna yatama badr. He said, before you were the orphans of Badr. Meaning those who had priority to be helped and to have those servants, which once again, there's a reason why I did that entire class on slavery and those types of things, once again it shows you what the purpose was and so on and so forth. Those servants, the prisoners of war, went to the orphans first to help them with their affairs. The orphans of Badr in particular. That was the justice of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. So there was an entire community responsibility. Everyone was thinking about the children. Everyone was thinking about what do we do with the children.
Whether it was an issue of marriage, whether it was an issue of war, whatever the issue was, what do we do about the kids. Now it's the opposite, right? Narcissism. We're self-absorbed. Now the kids are the last part of the equation. So as a community, we care for these children. Those are our children that are going into foster homes, where they're not going to be cared for. Those are your children. You're responsible for them. That's a sense of responsibility that we have. That each and every single one of us is supposed to have. Most of the ayat in the Quran, there are over 20. I don't remember the exact number, but there are over 20 ayat in the Quran about al-yateem. Are not only about taking care of the yatama. They're actually warning people not to wrong the orphans. Which shows you that this goes far beyond giving an orphan something to eat or drink or just to take care of things. So you actually have what's constantly mentioned, obviously financially one of the major sins, the seven destructive sins, al-mubiqat, are aklu maal al-yateem, to consume the wealth of an orphan. And the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam said in terms of treatment, he said, alayhi salatu wa salam, akrimuhum kakaramati awladikum, wa ataimuhum mimma ta'kuloon. Treat them with honor and love the same way that you treat your actual biological children. Which shows you that there is no separation between them. Give them the same level of ikram and generosity that you give to your own biological children. And feed them from the same food that you yourselves eat. So they should be fully integrated into your households. Where they are not going to be looked at in an isolated fashion or treated any differently. Ibn Abbas salAllahu alayhi wa sallam says, when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala revealed the ayah, wa laa taqrabu maal al-yateem illa billatihi ahsan hatta yablugha ashuddahu wa awfu bil-ahdi inna al-ahdi kana masoola. Surah al-Isra when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, when, and do not come near the orphan's property
except to better it, except to improve it. Until he attains the age of full strength and fulfill every covenant, verily the covenant is one that you will be questioned about. That's the 34th ayah of Surah al-Isra. Ibn Abbas salAllahu alayhi wa sallam said, and then Allah revealed in Surah an-Nisa, inna ladheena ya'kuluna amwala al-yataama dhulma Those who consume the property of an orphan unjustly. Ibn Abbas said when these two ayahs were revealed, those who had orphans in their homes, they rushed to their homes and they started to separate their food and separate their property from the orphans to make sure that they had a little bit more, that their food was not being taken from them, that their other kids were not taking any of their property, that the jugs, even the vessels that they used to eat and drink from, that the orphans had their own dedicated jugs and their own dedicated plates so that no one was going to mix with those things. And they mentioned that to Rasulullah salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. So it was an actual hysteria in the community. What do we do with our orphans? We're so afraid of being amongst those who have consumed wrongly the wealth of an orphan. What do we do, Ya Rasulullah? And so they came to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, and what did Allah reveal in Surah al-Baqarah? wa yas'aloonaka AAan al-yataama They ask you concerning orphans. I've actually heard a whole khutbah from Shaykh Salih al-Mughamsi, Hafidhah Allah Ta'ala, on yas'aloonaka AAan al-yataama, that they ask you about the orphans. Meaning it wasn't just yas'aloonaka AAan al-khamri wa al-maysir. They asked you about alcohol and gambling. They asked you about their orphans. They were concerned. Those were the concerns they were coming to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam with as well. How many of us bother to inquire, to ask, to try to see what we could do better? yas'aloonaka AAan al-yataama qul islahun lahum khayr Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said that if you mix your affairs with theirs, then it is okay.
wa'intu kharituhum fa-ikhwanukum And if you mix your property with them, as long as they are your brothers, they are your brothers. The meaning of the ayah is that as long as you're not wronging them and giving them less of the equation, you don't have to go to these extremes to separate them, make them eat separately, make sure that your other kid doesn't grab a chip out of his plate or her plate, or a fry or something like that, or don't touch his cup. You know, no. You can mix your wealth with them, mix your food with them, mix your drink with them, but the point is, ikhwanukum, they're your brothers, don't wrong them. They are part of your community as well, and don't wrong them. There are other narrations in this regard as well. I'm just gonna kind of move forward because of the time that we have. Asma'a bint Ubaid radiAllahu anha, this is in Adab al-Mufrad as well. She said, I said to Ibn Sirin rahimahu Allah ta'ala, I have an orphan in my care. What do I do? What's the context of the hadith? The companions feared wronging their orphans so much that they let them get away with not being disciplined. So they disciplined their own children, but they didn't want to touch the orphans. They didn't want to touch the yatama because they were afraid Allah would punish them on the Day of Judgment if they did. So they only disciplined their biological children, and this became a problem. That's why Aisha radiAllahu anha, this is another narration, she said that I have orphans and I discipline them until they start crying on the floor. Don't feel bad, they're your children, you raise them like your children. So she said, I asked Ibn Sirin rahimahu Allah ta'ala, what do I do? I have an orphan in my care, Ibn Sirin rahimahu Allah, he says, treat them as you treat your own child and discipline them as you discipline your own child. Now the ulama say that sounds, you know, you might think that sounds harsh. Why is it not harsh? Because the point of discipline is not to inflict pain or anything of that sort. The point of discipline is to protect them in the spiritual sense as well. And you also have to give them a good upbringing and a righteous upbringing, which is going to at times require a level of discipline. So you should not fear that if I say something
to my adopted child or to my foster child, that I'm going to go to hell for disciplining my child. I'm doing that child a favor just like I'm doing my other kids a favor. I'm trying to make sure that they stay protected. So this is actually a chapter in our books of fiqh and hadith about disciplining the orphan, being permissible because the companions feared the implications of that. Otherwise, you let them become corrupted. You might be protecting them in dunya, but you're ruining their akhira. You're ruining their hereafter. You don't want them to be spoiled brats. On the other hand, you want them to be normal, good, righteous children, just like all your other little angels in the house, mashallah. Right? I know that was sarcastic. Sorry. All right. But your goal is to protect that child in the worldly sense and protect them in the sense of the hereafter as well. And this is something that's narrated. We also find from Ibn Abbas radiyallahu anhu that the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam insisted that the guardian has no right to force the previously married woman into a marriage and an orphan girl should be consulted with her marriage. Why? Because obviously, sometimes if you have a charity case, another problem, you'll start treating that child like a charity case. So someone comes to ask for her hand in marriage and you say, you know, hey, so and so is here to ask for you. And she says, I don't like that person. You can't say get out of my house. I've had you for so long. You need to marry that person. Some people do that with their actual daughters. Right. SubhanAllah. So the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam is saying the orphan girl has a right. That's revolutionary in that time, by the way, because even the non-orphan girl did not have a right to choose who to marry. She didn't have a right to consent at the time of the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam. Forced marriage was the norm in the time of the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam. So the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam said the orphan girl has the right, just like your other daughters, to consent to who she wants to and who she does not want to marry. The last hadith here that I mentioned, subhanAllah, as we go on the conclusion of virtues, the constant charity in your homes.
Al-Imam Ibn Al-Jawzi rahimahu Allah ta'ala said that those that have orphans in their homes are never free from the mala'ika sending salawat upon them and praying upon them. Why? You're literally living charity. SubhanAllah. You are literally living sadaqah. Every moment that you feed that child, every moment you hug that child, every moment you kiss that child, every moment you say something, every moment you do homework with that child, every moment you are living sadaqah. You're living charity. And the mala'ika would not part from you, they would literally stay with you sending prayers upon you and praying for you as you're in that state of charity. So it's a beautiful way to really conclude that. I'll give you guys three stories inshaAllah. And I actually finished, alhamdulillah, on the virtues much faster than I thought I would. Believe it or not, I thought I was going to take two hours on virtues and I was like, man, I'm going to go fast. So we only have fiqh after this and then we have the practical side. So we're good on time inshaAllah. Three very beautiful stories that show you the way that society was changed through the Prophet ﷺ. How many of you have heard the story of Abu Dahda' in a fundraiser? Abu Dahda' the one who gave 600 palm trees, من ذا الذي يقرئ الله قرضا حسنا so on and so forth. Very common story, right? The extended version of that narration. Anas ibn Malik radiyAllahu anhu narrates, he says there was an orphan at the time of the Prophet ﷺ, يتين. And when his father passed away and they were sort of doing the divisions and trying to figure out their property, he determined that his bustan, his garden, which was connected to a much larger garden, was actually a very small area. So he wanted to build a fence to preserve that area because again, in that society people were vicious with the orphans, they didn't have tribes to protect them or fathers or so on and so forth to protect them. So when you read a hadith of an orphan building a jidar, building a fence, it was for a very real purpose that if a person walked into the garden of the bustan of an orphan and started to eat from it
and the orphan said, what are you doing? The person would say, what are you going to do about it? That's how society functioned. That's why there's such an emphasis on أكرمها لليَتين, consuming the wealth of an orphan. No one was there to protect them. So he started to build a fence around his bustan, around his garden. As he's building his fence, he realized there was a tree literally on the line. You know, any of you have ever had like a really rude neighbor when you tried to build a fence? I've had that experience. It's not fun trying to negotiate with that neighbor and explain where the property line is and you got to go pull out this, you know, the survey. It doesn't work that way back then. Right? The tree is in the middle of the line where he's going to build his fence. He's already built his fence for the most part up until that tree. He thinks to himself, well, this neighbor, mashallah, has all this area of trees and garden. I have a little tiny garden. He's not going to mind just giving me that tree in the first place. So he went to his neighbor and he's a yateem. So he's expecting some sort of compassion. The sharih of this hadith is a 10 year old kid, a 10 year old, subhanAllah. He has to take care of the situation. So he goes to his neighbor and he says to his neighbor, look, I'm building a jiddat, I'm building this fence. He said, would you mind giving me that tree? The neighbor says, can't have it. So he was shocked. He said, what's it going to hurt you? Like you've got, mashallah, hundreds of trees, you've got so many other trees. Why not just give me that tree? He said, no, I'm not giving it to you. He said, OK, well, fine. If you're going to be that way, can you at least sell it to me? He said, no, it's my tree. I'm not selling it to you either. He said, what about my fence? He said, that's your problem, not mine. I didn't tell you to start building a fence. Very cruel neighbor, subhanAllah. And this orphan goes to the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam, and he tells the Prophet, he's a 10 year old boy. He says, Ya Rasulullah, I was building a jiddat around my garden. I'm building a fence around my garden. There is a tree that belonged to my neighbor. And he said that I went to him, he has a huge garden. I said, can you just give me that tree? He said, no. I said, can you sell it to me?
He said, no. So the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam, he said to him, udu'uhu ilayya, tell him to come to me. Go call your neighbor and you guys both come to me. So the orphan goes and he calls the neighbor and he says that Rasulullah salAllahu alaihi wasalam wants to talk to you. Now you think at this point, like being summoned by the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam is like the principal's office, if not worse, right, as a child. Seriously, you're summoned by the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam for being cruel to an orphan. And he was an orphan salAllahu alaihi wasalam. This isn't going to go well for you, right? But the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam also recognizes huqook and rights. At the end of the day, it's his tree. So the neighbor comes, the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam says, he basically confirms the entire story with him. So he says the entire story as the orphan gave it to him. He says, is this true? The neighbor said, it's true. The Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam says, فَاعْطِي هَذِهِ النَّخْلَةَ لِأَخِي He said, just give him this one tree, it's your brother. Give this one tree to your brother. You know what he said? He said, لا يا رسول الله. He said, no, O Messenger of Allah. The Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam was shocked. He asked him again, he said, just give him the tree. The man said three times, no, O Messenger of Allah. It's my tree. The sahaba were just shocked that this man had this much stubbornness about his tree. Like he's trying to prove a point that I'm not going to be bullied out of that tree, even by the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam. And the orphan is sitting there, you know, this is very painful to watch. And for the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam, you can really see that he's not used to this type of response from a companion for such a simple request. So the man after saying that, the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam just kind of looked at him and everyone was quiet. Then he got up and left. The man went back home. End of conversation. The Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam felt so bad that he couldn't do anything about it. This is where Abu Dahda' comes in. RadhiAllahu anhu, he says, يا رسول الله أرأيت إن شريت النخلة هذا He said, يا رسول الله, do you see that if I manage to purchase that tree,
he says, ثم أعطيتها لليتيم and I give it to that orphan. He says, يكون عندي نخلة في الجنة it will be for me a tree in Jannah. Now why did he say that? I forgot to mention one narration the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam the second time he prodded him, he said to him, go ahead and give the orphan that tree, you will have a tree in Jannah. You know what the man said back to the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam? He said, I don't want the tree in Jannah, that's my tree. SubhanAllah. This is, by the way a Muslim from the narration. Probably a really stubborn Bedouin but he's a Muslim. Alright? So Abu al-Dahdah says to the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam, يا رسول الله, if I'm able to buy that tree, do I still get the tree in Jannah? Meaning does the offer transfer over to me as well? Like if I'm able to get that tree and give it to the orphan? The Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam says that نعم يكون لك نخلة في الجنة He said, you will have that tree in Paradise. If you're able to do it, you'll have that tree in Paradise. So Abu al-Dahdah went to the man's house and he said, listen, you know my bustan, you know my garden, 600 trees. The man said, who doesn't know your garden? Everybody knows your garden, 600 trees. Everyone knows the garden of Abu al-Dahdah is a huge, beautiful garden. 600 palm trees, you're talking about millions of dollars of investment there. That's not a small garden to have. That's humongous. You can imagine 600 healthy, you know, palm trees in that society. How many miles that stretches for, how beautiful that is. He said, everyone knows your garden, يا أبو الدهدح. Abu al-Dahdah said, would you exchange that one tree for those 600 trees? The man looked at him, he says, أتهزأ بي, are you making fun of me? Like, are you joking? Abu al-Dahdah said, no, I'm not making fun of you, I'm serious. He said, of course, he said, take it. The tree has no بركة in it anyway, the Prophet ﷺ, you know, argued with me over it, so it's probably not gonna grow anything anyway. Meaning this tree is done anyway, I'll take the 600 trees, of course. So Abu al-Dahdah said, fine. He got witnesses,
he literally exchanged his garden of 600 trees for that one tree. Then he went to the يتيم, he went to the orphan, and he said to the orphan, هذه النخلة مني إليك خذها هبة مني إليك لوجه الله العظيم. He said, this tree is from me to you, take it as a gift from me to you for the sake of Allah, I don't want anything from you. So he gave the tree to him. He went to the Prophet ﷺ and he told him, and the Prophet ﷺ said about that, he kept on saying to him, and this is really really really beautiful, as he constantly, the Prophet ﷺ looked at him and he said to him, that, you know, how many trees, how many palm trees in Jannah for Abu al-Dahdah? How many trees did Abu al-Dahdah just give himself in Jannah? Meaning it was not only one Jannah, كم من عذق رداح لأبو الدهداح في الجنة؟ How many gardens of palm trees are for Abu al-Dahdah in Jannah? Anas ibn Malik radiAllahu anhu said, he didn't say it two or three times, the Prophet ﷺ just kept on saying it. How many palm trees did Abu al-Dahdah just give himself in Jannah for that one act of kindness to the orphan? Of course he had to go home and tell his wife, that's the one that you do here at the fundraiser, that he had to go home and tell his wife, and when he went to his wife, they were truly eating from the dates of that tree, and he says, يا أم الدهداح, she said نعم, he said أخرجي, get out of the garden. She said, what are you talking about? He said that I sold it, بعتها, she said to whom? He said لله و لرسوله, to Allah and to his messenger. So she responded and she says ربح البيع يا أبو الدهداح. It's a profitable transaction then, Abu al-Dahdah, and she knocked the dates out of the hands of her children. Two more stories, and this was obviously talking more about the honor that was given to that one orphan
for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, that he was literally put in this situation where he's forgiven, where he's given trees in Jannah just for making it easy for that orphan. There is an emotional impact here as well, this wasn't just about the tree. There's an emotional impact that that orphan should not feel like no one's going to stand up for him, and that's one of the reasons why that story is so significant. That the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam is actually stressed out over that orphan not feeling like society is going to get away with mistreating him. Two more stories inshaAllah ta'ala and then we'll break. The first one, the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam after Islam. And by the way, the next two stories I'm going to give you both have fiqh implications as well. They have legal implications as well. How many of you have heard of the story of a young child on the day of Eid, orphan, and the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam went and comforted him? Not many of you? Okay, usually with those types of stories they get into books, they get expanded, exaggerated and all types of things of that sort. But there is actually a child that fits a description that could be that child. This child, his name is Bashir ibn Aqraba. Bashir ibn Aqraba. Interesting story. Bashir ibn Aqraba says that my dad accepted Islam when I was like a little infant, I was a little child. So he said when we went to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam to accept Islam, he said the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam smiled at me and he said, come forward. He said, فَوَضَعَ النَبِيَ صَلَى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَمَ يَدَهُ عَلَى رَأْسِي The Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam put his head on my hand and he started to play with me and he said, مَسْمُكْ What's your name? I said, my name is Bahir. So the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam said, no, your name is Bashir. Bashir is a bearer of glad tidings. And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam used to love to change people's names to something beautiful, something with a good meaning, especially if the meaning was bad. Bashir ibn Aqraba says an authentic narration,
which is narrated by Bukhari in Tarikh al-Kabir. So it's not in Sahih al-Bukhari, it's in Tarikh al-Kabir because Bashir is a narrator, he's a rawi. He said that my dad died in the Battle of Uhud. My dad passed away in the Battle of Uhud, he was killed. And he said, and I was a young child. And I used to cry a lot, subhanAllah. I would literally be seen, I just sit outside and I'd cry because he used to love his father. And it's very clear subhanAllah from the context that his father used to include him in everything, right? Taking him to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam when he went to accept Islam and so on and so forth. So I had a good dad, a dad that loved me and used to take me out and those types of things. So he said, I used to frequently cry. And he said the Prophet... came to me one day while I was crying. He quieted me down. So he went to Bashir and he quieted him down. And he said... ... Wouldn't you love that I be your father and Aisha be your mother? ... He said, of course, may my mother and my father be sacrificed for you, O messenger of Allah. And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam said, so from now on it is as such. I'm your father, Aisha is your mother. SubhanAllah, the compassion of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam seeing this young boy out in the streets, right? Crying, knowing that his father passed away, quieting him down, not telling him, come have a meal with me. Saying, you know what? From now on, you can call me your father and you can call Aisha your mother. Which is madani, this is an incident in Medina, later on in Islam, it has fiqh implications, which I will talk about inshaAllah. And because of that, Bashir ibn al-Aqra became a narrator of hadith, because he obviously interacted with the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. And his biography is in At-Tariq al-Kabir, which is the collection of Imam al-Bukhari, of the biographies of narrators. The last one is one that's before Islam.
But it also has fiqh implications. Zayd ibn al-Harithah radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhum, the beloved one of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam, hibbu rasulillah, the beloved one of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. They used to literally call him the beloved one of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. Tragic story. He was kidnapped as a child, sold into slavery, from Suq al-Uqqad, which was the marketplace. He was purchased, and the person that purchased him eventually was Hakeem ibn Hizam. It went to Khadijah, Khadijah radiyaAllahu anha had Zayd when the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam married her. And Khadijah gave Zayd as a gift to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. So Zayd at that point, again this is before Islam, all pre-Islamic, Zayd was considered a slave by all means. His father was looking for him for two decades, and his father did not give up the search. SubhanAllah, that's really something significant. For 20 years his father searched for him, trying to see what happened to his son Zayd, and he authored a very famous poem, بكيت على زيد ولم أدري ما فعل أحي فيرجى أم مات دونه الأجل فوالله لا أدري وإني لسائل أغالك بعد السهل أم غالك الجبل Which means, بكيت على زيد ولم أدري ما فعل, I'm crying over Zayd, I don't know what's happened to him. أحي فيرجى أم مات دونه الأجل, Is he still alive? And I can still hope for him? Or am I just delusional? Has he already passed away? فوالله ما أدري وإني لسائل, I don't know, I swear by Allah, I don't know what's happened to him. أم غالك بعد السهل أم غالك الجبل If I accept that you've died, I want to know how you died. Were you crushed by a mountain? Or did you die a natural death? What happened to my son? So his father used to cry over him, and ask about him, and so on and so forth. The entire time Zayd was being raised in the house of the Prophet ﷺ.
And finally, Al-Haritha heard from some of the people from Banu Kalb, which was their tribe, they saw the Prophet ﷺ with Zayd, they heard that Zayd was found. So Al-Haritha goes to the Prophet ﷺ at the Ka'bah, this is all before Islam, and he tells the Prophet ﷺ, is it true that you have Zayd? And the Prophet ﷺ said, yes, I have Zayd. And Al-Haritha says, he started to cry out of happiness, I'm his father, I want to take him back. And the Prophet ﷺ went and he got Zayd. When he got Zayd, he brought Zayd back to his father. And he easily recognized his father, even though he was a kid, he actually recognized his father. And when his father saw him in that situation, and Zayd saw him, he embraced him. And then the Prophet ﷺ told Zayd, you can go, if you want to go with him, you can go back to your parents now, it's okay. He'd been with the Prophet ﷺ for so long, he said, you can go back to your parents now. Zayd said, bal uqeemu ma'ak, no, I want to stay with you, ya Muhammad. I don't want to go back to my parents. Not because he was abused, not because something was wrong, but because the Prophet ﷺ showered him with such love and treated him indeed like his own child, that he said, ya Rasulullah, I want to stay, it's not even Rasulullah ﷺ at that time, it's just ya Muhammad, I want to stay with you. Zayd's father, who's been looking for him for two decades, he says to him, ya Zayd, atakhtar al-ubudiyat alal hurriyat? Are you going to choose slavery over freedom? You want to remain a slave in his house instead of being freedom? And he says, wa'ala abika wa ummika wa baladika wa qawmika? And you choose this over your father, your mother, your tribe, your land, you choose all of this? And Zayd radiyaAllahu ta'ala says, inni qad ra'aytu min hathha rajuli shay'a, wa ma ana bil ladhi ufariquhu abada. He said, I've seen something special from this man, and I don't know what it is yet,
but I've seen something special from him. He said, I'm not going to be the one to leave him. Meaning if he gets rid of me, that's fine. I'm not going to be the one who's going to leave him. The Prophet ﷺ recognized the tension that was going on, so the Prophet ﷺ made a suggestion. He said, how about I free Zayd, officially, and I make him my son, I adopt him. Al-Harithah was happy with that. He just wanted to make sure his son was safe, he saw that his son was in good hands. So the Prophet ﷺ took Zayd to the steps of the Ka'bah, and at that time that's where the legal contracts used to take place. And he called out to the people, ishhadu anna hatha ibni, everyone bear witness, this is my son, wa arithan wa mawruth, he inherits from me, I inherit from him, he is my child just like anybody else. And Al-Harithah was at peace with that. So that was the way they solved the problem at that time. So Zayd came into the house of the Prophet ﷺ first as a slave, but in reality he was never treated that way by the Prophet ﷺ even before Islam. Before Islam, the Prophet ﷺ adopted him and he was called Zayd ibn Muhammad. Now the question that's asked here as we go into the legal rulings, did anything, when the prohibition of tabanni came, which tabanni is to make someone your son or your child, did anything change with Zayd other than legal rulings and technicality? And the answer is absolutely not. Did the Prophet ﷺ treat him with any less love? Did he come into the Prophet's ﷺ house less? Did the Prophet ﷺ treat his son Usama any less now because he's not technically his grandson anymore? Because he's Zayd ibn Harithah now? No. In fact the Prophet ﷺ still included Usama ibn Zayd even on the last hajj, the last year. The Prophet ﷺ had him with him and al-Hasan and al-Husayn. And the Prophet ﷺ appointed him in charge of the Muslim army. So there was a change in the technicality and the legalities, but the behavior towards Zayd did not change.
And that's an important thing to note as we move into inshaAllah ta'ala the fiqh rulings after our break.
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