The Firsts (Sahaba Stories) | The Forerunners of Islam
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Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Khawla Bint Hakim & Uthman Ibn Madhun: The Righteous Couple | The Firsts
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Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Al-Shifa bint Abdullah (ra): The Healer and Scholar | The Firsts Shorts
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Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Shurahbil Ibn Hasana (ra): The Scribe and Commander | The Firsts Shorts
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Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Khalid ibn al-Walid (ra): The Legendary Military General | The Firsts
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Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Amr ibn al-As (ra): His Wicked Father and “Better” Brother | The Firsts
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Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Tulayha ibn Khuwaylid (ra): From False Prophet to Shaheed | The Firsts
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Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Zayd ibn al-Khattab (ra): The Quiet Brother of Omar (ra) | The Firsts
Abu Darda (ra): The Scholar Who Wouldn't Sleep | The Firsts
He was the man who the companions used to say was the most sincere amongst them in combining knowledge and action. Dr. Omar Suleiman talks about Abu Darda (RA) and a legacy of scholarship, spirituality, and wisdom that spanned Madinah to Syria and beyond.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Satan, the accursed in the name of Allah, the most Merciful, the most Gracious. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. No title except for the wrongdoers, and the end is for the righteous. O Allah, bless Your servant and Messenger Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him and his family and companions. So, last week we talked about Salman al-Farisi radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. And we said that tonight we are going to continue with the brother of Salman al-Farisi radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu as far as the Ansar are concerned. And the man that we're talking about tonight is actually an extraordinary human being who you may have heard me quote multiple times in my own khutbah, in my own jama'a khutbahs. He is the scholar of the companions, and I don't use that term lightly when I say the scholar of the sahaba. That in and of itself should give you quite a bit of pause as to what the status of this man is. And many of the narrations about the virtues of ilm, the virtues of knowledge, are actually narrated by Abu al-Darda radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. Now by the way, if you actually go online and you search for a lecture on Abu al-Darda radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, you're not going to find much. In fact, you'll often find his name will get confused with Abu al-Dahda, the man who donated his gardens for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. But Abu al-Dahda radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu is the hadith narrator of some of the most fundamental ahadith, some of the most fundamental narrations in Islam. And so sort of like how we did Salman al-Farisi radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, you walk into Medina and you've got this old Persian man, and Ibn Abbas radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhumah sitting at his feet, learning from him, hearing his whole story. One of the most beautiful ahadith narrated by Abu al-Dahda radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu is the following. Kathir Ibn Qais radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu says, كنت جارسا مع عبد الدرداء رضي الله تعالى عنه في مسجد دمشق.
I was sitting with Abu al-Darda radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu in the Masjid of Damascus. So the end of the story is that Abu al-Darda is the Mufti of Damascus, the Mufti of Damascus. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make it easy for the people of Ash-Sham. Allahumma ameen. So the glorious center of Damascus, Abu al-Darda is the clear unrivaled scholar and Mufti of Damascus. And Kathir Ibn Qais says, I'm sitting with him. فجاءه رجل, a man came to him. فقال يا أب الدرداء إني جئت من مدينة رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم. ما جئت لحاجة. He said, Oh Abu al-Darda, I came to you all the way from the Medina, from the city of the Prophet ﷺ. I did not come to you for anything that is worldly. Abu al-Darda radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, he said, you did not come for anything? Are you sure? ما جئت لحاجة? You had no other motive for coming to Damascus except for this? He said, the only reason I came was to meet you. He said, أبشر. Glad tidings to you. فإني سمعت رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم يقول, I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, من سلك طريقا يطلب فيه علما, سلك الله به طريقا من طرق الجنة. Whoever seeks out a path of knowledge, Allah will facilitate for him a path to paradise. And he continued on saying that, وإن الملائكة لطضعوا أجنحتها رضا لطالب العلم. And verily the angels spread their wings out of pleasure for the one who seeks knowledge. وإن العالم يستغفر له من في السماوات ومن في الأرض. والحيتان في جوف الماء. And verily the scholar, everyone in the heavens and the earth,
seeks forgiveness for the scholar, even the fish in the sea. Every single creation of Allah ﷻ seeks forgiveness for the scholar. وإن فضل العالم على العابد كفضل القمر ليلة البدري على سائر الكواكب. And verily the virtue of a scholar over a worshiper is like the virtue of the moon, a full moon on a clear night over all of the stars, the prominence of the moon over the rest of the stars. وإن العلماء ورثة الأنبياء. And verily the scholars are the inheritors of the prophets. وإن الأنبياء لم يورثوا دينار ولا درهما. And verily the prophets do not leave behind any dinar or dirham. And instead وإنما ورثوا العلمة. The only thing that they leave behind is knowledge. فمن أخذه أخذ بحظٍ. So whoever takes a portion of that inheritance of the prophets has taken a great share. This one hadith has so many books written about it breaking down every single sentence. In fact one of the most famous treatises on knowledge is from Al-Hafidh ibn Rajab ﷺ who breaks down every single portion of this one hadith which when you are studying this is the hadith that is used to encourage you to seek knowledge. May Allah ﷻ include all of us today amongst the seekers of knowledge. Allahumma ameen. At the very minimum that you're sitting in the masjid learning and this is the man who narrates this hadith. And so you're talking about the Mufti of Damascus, the scholar of the companions. Al-Imam al-Dhahabi ﷺ introduces him in his chapter of Seerah A'lam an-Nubulat. He says,
الامام القدوة القاضي وصاحب رسول الله ﷺ أبو درداء The Imam, the example, the judge, the Mufti of Damascus, the companion of the Prophet ﷺ أبو درداء رضي الله تعالى عنه. Now what is his actual name? Abu Darda is not his actual name. His actual name is Uwaymir. So this is my shout out to Dr. Uwaymir Anjum. People call him Ovamer. His name is Uwaymir. Alhamdulillah. And I always tell them, many people don't know that you're named after Abu Darda رضي الله تعالى عنه. Uwaymir ibn Amir or Uwaymir ibn Zayd or Uwaymir ibn Malik. So there's some difference of opinion as to what his father's name was. However, he's from the tribe of Al-Khazraj. The tribe of Al-Khazraj. So the bigger of the two tribes of the Ansar of the Prophet ﷺ. From Banu al-Harith, from the sub-tribe of Al-Harith. So it's a prominent group of people amongst Al-Khazraj. But Abu Darda رضي الله تعالى عنه is not a politician and he's not someone who gets involved in the conflicts that exist before. Rather he's someone who shuns the conflicts, the internal disputes amongst the people of Yathrib at the time. So he's not someone who gets involved in many of the things that divided the Ansar at the time. Now, why is his name Abu Darda رضي الله تعالى عنه? I spent way too much time trying to figure that out. And I still don't have an answer. Some of the scholars said that he has a daughter named Darda رضي الله تعالى عنه. A daughter named Darda رضي الله تعالى عنه. And you know, amongst the Arabs, obviously it's common that you're named the father of your son. Right? Amongst the Arabs, if the daughter, if a person only has, for example, a daughter, then that might be a reason why they'd be named the father of their daughter's name. Or if their daughter had a particular striking prominence or beauty
or something that was extremely distinguishing. So some of the books say that he had a daughter named Darda رضي الله تعالى عنه. So his wife, also by the way, is Umu Darda رضي الله تعالى عنه. Some of the scholars say that Darda رضي الله تعالى عنه was a word that denotes hikmah, that denotes wisdom. So Abu Darda رضي الله تعالى عنه, he was called Abu Darda رضي الله تعالى عنه because he was the father or because he possessed some sort of great intellect. It seems to be the case that he actually has a daughter named Darda رضي الله تعالى عنه. And there is no way to say that for sure, to say for sure if that is indeed the case. Now, I'm going to say this from now, so that you're not confused at the end. When you say Umu Darda رضي الله تعالى عنه, which is his wife, there are two Umu Darda رضي الله تعالى عنه. There is Umu Darda رضي الله تعالى عنه الكبرى, the older one, literally, his first wife. And then at some point she passes away, and the wife that he remarries is Umu Darda رضي الله تعالى عنه الصغرى, the younger Umu Darda رضي الله تعالى عنه. So at some point, Umu Darda رضي الله تعالى عنه becomes Umu Darda رضي الله تعالى عنه الصغرى rather than Al-Kubra, and that's relevant to the end of this particular story of Abu Darda رضي الله تعالى عنه. So what's his story and how does he come to Islam? Abu Darda was a man who was beloved to his people, who was non-confrontational, who was very wealthy, he owned multiple businesses around Yathrib, and generally speaking, you know, was someone that the people used to speak highly of. But again, someone who did not used to get involved in anything that was political at the time. So he avoided the Bu'ath wars. He used to dress with the best of clothes, he was noted for his handsome appearance. And when Islam came, Abu Darda was not hostile to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم or to Islam in particular, but he was deeply devoted to his idol. So this is actually very interesting because when you talk about the Meccans,
and you talk about their idol worship, they were really insincere. They didn't really love their idols. They saw their idols as a utility to power. And they were pretty unapologetic about that when they were sitting together, that the only reason they honored these idols was because these idols gave them access to power and prominence in Mecca at the time. It's very rare that you find a sincere abid, a sincere worshiper of the idols. Abu Darda actually fits that category. Uwaymar ibn Malik has his own idol at home. He used to be extravagant in adorning that idol. So he would actually dress that idol with the best of what he had in terms of garments and cloths. He would perfume that idol with the most expensive of perfume. And he would devote himself to that idol for a very long time. So the ulema say there's already something very different about him, that he actually seems to be a devoted worshiper of his idol, which is not the case for most people. In fact, rarely do you find that in the seerah of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam with some of those companions. So what ends up happening is his best friend converts to Islam early on. And his best friend is a man by the name of Abdullah ibn Rawaha. Abdullah ibn Rawaha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And I'm going to do an episode on him later on inshAllah ta'ala. So I'm just going to introduce him briefly here in the context of Abu Darda. This is his best friend and they were closer than blood brothers. They used to live with one another at times, travel with one another. They used to share from each other's wealth. And Abdullah ibn Rawaha was one of the very first people to embrace Islam from Medina. So he actually was from those who went to al-Aqaba and took the pledge with the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Now when he comes back to Abu Darda and he tells him about what happened, Abu Darda's reaction is, good for you but I'm happy with my religion. Like I'm not interested, it's okay for you to be that way.
But I'm happy with my idol and I'm going to stick to my idol and I'm going to stick to my business. I'm going to kind of ignore this whole religion business. You know the attitude is sort of like Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam seems like a nice man. I'm happy that you found something meaningful. I'm okay, you go your way. And subhanAllah they say that Abu Darda radiAllahu anhu even supported Abdullah ibn Rawaha in his being Muslim. And when he went to Badr, so he missed Badr, Abu Darda missed Badr. Abu Darda out of concern for Abdullah ibn Rawaha went out and started asking the sahaba as they were coming back if Abdullah ibn Rawaha was okay. So he's even checking up on him. So they are extremely tight. Abu Darda radiAllahu anhu still not a Muslim. And Abdullah ibn Rawaha is losing patience. Why? Because Abu Darda is basically going to become the last of the Ansar, the last of the major Ansar to convert to Islam. That's not an exaggeration subhanAllah. The last Ansari, prominent Ansari to accept Islam is actually Abu Darda radiAllahu anhu. So Abdullah ibn Rawaha is like look, this is getting out of hand. I've waited for you. You're my brother. I went to Badr. He's still not Muslim. He's busy with his businesses. He's got his money here or there. All he's doing is he's coming home and he's spending time and worshipping this idol. So one day Abdullah ibn Rawaha goes to his house, goes to Abu Darda's house. Knocks on the door. Umm Darda answers the door. He says, is Abu Darda home? She says, no, actually he's out working in his business. Abdullah says, can I come in? She said, sure, come on in. He goes to the idol and he starts breaking the idol. And he says, أَلَىٰ كُلُّ مَا يُدْعَ مَعَ اللَّهِ بَاطِلُ He said, everything that's called upon besides Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is falsehood. And Umm Darda is screaming at him, what are you doing?
He breaks the idol and he says bye and he leaves the house. Please do not go into your friends' homes and like break crosses and stuff like that. All right. This is a relationship. Abdullah ibn Rawaha knew how to test it a bit at this point. He's at a particular point with Abu Darda. He said, I'm going to go to his house and just do this and let's see what happens. So Abu Darda comes home and Umm Darda is crying in front of this broken idol. And he goes, what happened? She says, your brother Abdullah ibn Rawaha came. He shattered the idol and then he just left. And so Abu Darda starts talking to the idol and he says, وَلِحَكَ هَلْ لَمْ تَنَعْتَ أَلَىٰ دَفَعْتَ عَن نَفْسِكَ Woe to you. Why didn't you stop him from breaking you? Couldn't you defend yourself? And Umm Darda says to him, لَوْ كَانَ يَنفَعُ أَوْ يَدْفَعُ عَن أَحَدٍ دَفَعَ عَن نَفْسِهِ وَنَفَعَهَا If he could protect anybody or benefit anyone, he would have done that to himself. He would have protected himself and he would have benefited himself. So Abu Darda goes, أَعِدِّ لِمَاءً فِي المُخْتَسَنِ So, you know, can you get some water and put it in the bathtub? And he goes and he does ghusl. He takes a shower. He wears his best clothes. لَبِسَ حُلَّتَهُ ثُمَّ ذَهَبَ إِلَىٰ نَبِيِّ صَلَىٰ اللَّهِ وَسَلَامًا And then he goes to the Prophet ﷺ to become Muslim. Now it's really funny here, subhanAllah, because when he went to the Prophet ﷺ, the Prophet ﷺ was sitting with Abdullah ibn Rawaha. So Abdullah ibn Rawaha saw him coming and Abdullah ibn Rawaha said, يَا رَسُولُ اللهِ هَذَا أَبُو دَرْدَاءٌ وَمَا أُرَاهُ إِلَّا جَاءَ فِي طَلَبِنَا Ya Rasulullah, this is Abu Darda and I think he's coming to get us. I think he's coming after me. I think he's really upset about what I did. I did something to his idol and he's coming to get me basically. And the Prophet ﷺ said, إِنَّمَا جَاءَ لِيُسْلِمُ
He's coming to become Muslim. إِنَّ رَبِّي وَعَدَنِي بِأَبِ الدَّرْدَاءَ أَنْ يُسْلِمُ Verily, my Lord promised me that Abu Darda was going to become a Muslim. So this was a special promise that Allah gave to the Messenger ﷺ that this beautiful man with good character is one day going to become Muslim. Now by the way, Abu Darda used to laugh about his idol worship with Abdullah ibn Rawaha later on. But in the moment, that was a pretty risky move. And subhanAllah, he used to reflect. I mean, how is it that we actually used to devote ourselves to this? And subhanAllah, it's something that really makes you think that sometimes the brightest and the best can be carried away in these ways and you shouldn't make assumptions. And there's hikmah to what Allah says not to curse and not to insult their gods because then they'll curse and insult your gods. Give it a chance. Give him some time. And he opened up to the idea and he came to embrace Islam with the Prophet ﷺ. So he is considered the last of the Ansar, the last major Ansari figure to embrace Islam. But what ends up happening with him is that he ends up somehow surpassing all of the Ansar in knowledge, which is really interesting about him, radhiAllahu ta'ala anhu, because he missed out on some critical time with the Prophet ﷺ. But his embracing Islam was so sincere that you immediately saw the impact on him. So he missed Badr. But then when it came to Uhud, they said at Uhud that there were only a handful of people that stayed around the Prophet ﷺ, right? I mean, most people fled the Battle of Uhud at the end because they thought that first they thought the Prophet ﷺ was dead. And then when the army attacked from behind, most people just instinctively ran from the battlefield.
There were a few of the Ansar and a few of the Muhajireen that stayed around the Prophet ﷺ. Abu Darda'a, radhiAllahu ta'ala anhu, was one of those people that stayed close to the Prophet ﷺ in the Battle of Uhud. And the image of him is that he used his sword and then he dropped his sword. He didn't have a sword anymore. Then he picked up arrows and he threw arrows. Then he ran out of arrows, he picked up stones and he threw stones. Anything that he could find to fight, he kept on going with the Prophet ﷺ and trying to fight off the people from killing the Prophet ﷺ, risking his life and suffered multiple wounds in that process. And the Prophet ﷺ looked at him and said, who is that? And they said, that's Abu Darda'a. Rasulullah ﷺ said, ni'ma al-farisu uwaymir. So the Prophet ﷺ praised him. What a great warrior uwaymir is. And the Prophet ﷺ said, hakeem wa ummati uwaymir. In one narration the Prophet ﷺ said, the wise man of my ummah is uwaymir Abu Darda'a, radhiAllahu ta'ala anhu. Some of the scholars said, subhanAllah, Abu al-Hakam, who was of course, and this fits into the narrative of Salman, radhiAllahu ta'ala anhu, about how you never know where faith is going to fall and how faith is going to change the fate of these people. Abu Jahl, the father of ignorance, was known as Abu al-Hakam, the father of wisdom. And had a lot of potential, but his ego got in the way and he became one of the most hated and despised people in the history of Islam, the fir'oon of this ummah. Here you have Abu Darda'a, radhiAllahu ta'ala anhu, who was devoted to his idol and who waited for a long time to embrace Islam. And he goes on to be called by the Prophet ﷺ, the hakeem, the wise man of this ummah, radhiAllahu ta'ala anhu. So what's his personality like and how does he get ahead?
Abu Darda'a immediately wanted to catch up. So he starts to memorize the Qur'an. And he immediately becomes amongst those that memorize everything that's been revealed to the Prophet ﷺ up to that point. So he devotes himself to the memorization of the Qur'an. He is in the front row of the salah. For every single prayer. He's sitting close to the Prophet ﷺ in all of the halaqat. He's asking the sahaba, the companions, about what he missed during his time when he was still in business and still in worshiping his idol and not devoted to the Prophet ﷺ. And he becomes this incredible zahid, this incredible ascetic, someone who really goes from, you know, caring too much about the dunya to caring nothing about it. So you're seeing the build up to that incident with him and Salman al-Farisi, radhiAllahu ta'ala anhu, where Salman radhiAllahu ta'ala anhu has to tell him to tone it down a bit because of how much he's worshipping and loses complete interest in this world. And one of the most insightful things about him, subhanAllah, is actually a statement that he made about his own struggle with trying to balance initially. So, you know, it's rare that you see someone admit that they couldn't balance in the very beginning. He says, kuntu tajiran qabla al-maba'ath. He said that I used to be a well-known merchant before Islam came. Falamma ja'a al-Islam, jama'atu al-tijara wa'l-ibada. When Islam came, I tried balancing out being a merchant and being a devoted worshipper. I tried to balance between the two. Falamma ya'jtami'a, and I was unable to figure out how to balance my commitment to my work, to the businesses that I had, and my commitment to my ibadah. Fataraktu al-tijara wa lazimtu al-ibadah.
So he said I had no choice but to give up my businesses and focus on worship. Now here's the thing, Imam al-Zahabi rahim Allahi comments on this and he says that that's actually not the ideal way to approach things, right? He's actually saying this not from a place of self-praise, because the better option, this is al-Zahabi rahim Allahi ta'ala's commentary, was Abu Bakr al-Siddiq radiyaAllahu anhu and Abdurrahman ibn Auf radiyaAllahu anhu, that there were companions who perfected ibadah, perfected their worship, and were still pretty successful merchants. Abdurrahman ibn Auf is praised for that, and he was never distracted by his business. But he's saying that Abu Darda is basically admitting that he had a conflict where he could not figure out how to continue to be successful with his business, and achieve his purpose and passion with the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. So he said that I made the decision to sell off my businesses, so I could devote myself to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, so I could devote myself to ilm. This shows you that the sahaba are not all the same personality. They have different approaches to these things, and al-Zahabi rahim Allahi is saying that for himself, he admitted this weakness, and he took that option, and subhanAllah he has this really insightful statement. He said, a'udhu billah min tafriqatil qalb, I seek refuge in Allah from a shattered or a scattered heart. A heart that is scattered into a bunch of different pieces. I seek refuge in Allah from a shattered or a scattered heart. So they said, what is tafriqatil qalb, what is a heart that is scattered? And he said, an yu'udha ali fi kulli wadi maal, that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave me a business in basically every valley. So I'm thinking about my money here, and I'm thinking about my money there, and I'm thinking about my money here, I'm thinking about my investment here, I'm thinking about my business here, I'm thinking about my business there.
Again, some people like Abdurrahman ibn Auf radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, were able to find that balance between the two. Abu Darda radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu was saying, I could not do so, so he chose to sell off his businesses, and to devote himself to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, and to devote himself to basically becoming a scholar amongst the companions of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. And then you go back now to that story of when Salman al-Farisi radiyaAllahu anhu enters into the picture, and Salman radiyaAllahu anhu moves in with him, and what does Umar ibn Darda say about her husband? She says, أخوك أبو درداء لا حاجة له في الدنيا Your brother Abu Darda does not care about this world. He has completely lost interest in the material world. And so his nickname, his position becomes the zahid, the ascetic of the Ansar. And you find that Abu Darda radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, as he is trying to make up for lost time, and dedicating himself to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, immediately starts to flow with wisdom about the nature of this world and the nature of the hereafter. And I'm saying this without exaggeration. I literally, if you look at Aqwal Abu Darda radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, just his sayings, every single one of them is a khutba tul jum'ah. Every single one of them is a sermon. Because they're deep, poetic, you know, meditations on the nature of this world with the akhira. And he becomes this person who, in the process, is basically seeking that balance from the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. So the famous narration about the Ansar, who were poor, asking the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam about the rich companions, that the rich companions have run off with all of the good deeds. Why? Because they pray like we pray, they fast like we fast, but they also have charity that they can give, and we're not giving charity.
And one of those narrations, Abu Darda radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, is the questioner. And then you find the majority of the ahadith that he narrates fit themes. And one of those themes is character, good character. So Abu Darda radiyaAllahu anhu is the one who narrates the hadith from the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. ما من شيء أثقل في الميزان من حسن الخلق Nothing is heavier on the Day of Judgment in the scales of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala than good character. A famous narration that we have. من رد عن عرض أخيه رد الله عن وجهه النار يوم القيامة Whoever responds on behalf of his brother when his brother is being backbited, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will protect that person's face from the fire on the Day of Judgment. إن الله يبغض الفاحش البذير Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala abhors the one who is foul and who curses. The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam is saying, إبغوني في الضعفاء هل ترزقون وتنصرون إلا بضعفائكم Seek me amongst the poor. Seek me amongst the weak. Are you given support from Allah or sustenance from Allah except by the way that you treat your weak ones? And there are numerous ahadith like this. One of the most famous ahadith, of course, we talk about it in the Angel Series. إذا دع الرجل لأخيه بظهر الغيب قالت الملائكة آمين ولك بمثر That the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam said, Abu Durda narrated that the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam said to him that whoever prays for their brother or sister behind their back, the angel responds, آمين, and for you is the same. And so if you take the ahadith about good character and worship and seeking knowledge, you're always going to find Abu Durda narrating from the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. Abu Durda narrating from the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam because he's always asking the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam for how to elevate himself in the sight of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And then you see how he applies these lessons and he applies these ahadith from the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam in the most beautiful of ways. The scholar is not the one who simply can quote these narrations, right? It's someone who actually lives up to them. And the majority of these narrations are from his wife, Umm Darda radiAllahu anha. So she says, قام أبو درداء ليلة يصلي that Abu Darda, my husband, stood up one night and he was praying. فجعل يبكي. And so he kept on crying ويقول اللهم أحسنت خلقي فحسن خلقي. Oh Allah, you have beautified my outer appearance. So beautify my character. Remember Abu Darda is the one who narrated what? That the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam said that no deed is heavier on the scale on the day of judgment than good character, right? So Umm Darda says, he was crying and he was saying, Oh Allah, you have perfected my outside, beautify my inside. You've beautified my outside, my khalq, beautify my inside. And she said he kept on making this dua حتى أصبح. Until Fajr came. So he literally spent the entire night praying to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for good character, for beautiful character. فقلت له يا أبو درداء ما كان دعاوك منذ الليلة إلا في حسن الخلق? Oh Abu Darda, you spent the entire night and you did not make dua for anything except for good character? Like you found nothing else to ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for than good character the entire night? فقال يا أم درداء إن العبد المسلم يحسن خلقه حتى يدخله حسن خلقه الجنة. Said, Oh Umm Darda, a Muslim servant of Allah will keep on working on their character,
bettering their character until Allah enters them into Jannah by their good character. و يسيء خلقه حتى يدخله سوء خلقه النار. Or a person will become wicked in their character until their bad character will enter them into the fire. والعبد المسلم يغفر له وهو نائم. This is a beautiful part he says. He says, and a Muslim slave of Allah is being forgiven even while he is sleeping. So again, he says, a Muslim, even while they are sleeping, they're being forgiven by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So she said, قلت يا أبا درداء كيف يغفر له وهو نائم? Oh, Abu Darda, how is it possible that he's going to be forgiven even while he is sleeping? And you know what he said? He said, يقوم أخوه من الليل فيجتهد فيدعو الله عز وجل فيستجيب له ويدعو لأخيه فيستجيب له فيه. It's beautiful. He says that that person would have basically shown good character to other people. If Allah made your character beautiful and you showed good character to other people, what's going to happen? Your brother Muslim or your sister Muslimah will stand up at night and make dua for you because of the good character that you showed to them. And then you'll be forgiven throughout the entire night. So basically what he's saying is if Allah gives me good character, then I'm covered for the entire night whether I'm sleeping or whether I'm awake. Because if I treat people with حسن الخلق, they'll make dua for me. And the greatest example of that, and this is subhanAllah another hadith which he narrated. He narrated the hadith that if you make dua for your brother or your sister in their absence, the angel says, آمين, and for you as well. Right? He narrated that dua. Umar Darda'a radhiAllahu ta'ala says, كان لأب الدرداء ستون وثلاثمائة خليل في الله. Abu Darda'a had 360 friends
for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. يدعو لهم في كل ليلة. And he would make dua for them every single night. By name, he would take all 360 of his friends. And in one narration, وَلِأَبَائِمِ, he'd even make dua for their parents. He'd sit there and he'd make dua for them and he would make dua for their parents. فَقُلْتُ لَهُ فِي ذَٰلِكِ. I mean Umar Darda'a is basically witnessing this man's worship. So she said, I asked him, إِنَّهُ لَيْسَ رَجْلٌ. Or what is it that's causing you to do so? فَقَالَ لِي إِنَّهُ لَيْسَ رَجْلٌ يَدْعُ لِأَخِيهِ فِي الْغَيْبِ إِلَّا وَكَرَ اللَّهُ لَهُ مَلَكَيْنَ يَقُولَانَ وَلَكَ بِمِثْلٍ أَفَلَا أَرْغَبُ أَن تَدْعُوا لِيَ الْمَلَائِكَةِ. I asked him, why do you do that? And he responded and said, because Allah appoints two angels to say ameen and for you as well, every time you make dua for your brother. And what's better for me than throughout the night the angels making dua for me? So SubhanAllah, she's witnessing from him two of the most famous hadiths in Islam, one of them about Husnul Khulq, playing out in his qiyam, playing out in his night prayer, and the other hadith about the angels making dua for you, playing out in his night prayer. And by the way, SubhanAllah, this is a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful example that we have from a companion here. How many times do you make dua for someone in your night prayer without telling them? Right? I mean the fact, what a friend, what a great companion, that he goes through the list of these people and he makes dua for them at night. Have you ever prayed for someone at night in your qiyam without telling them? You want someone to become Muslim really badly? Pray for them at night. You want someone to have their trial alleviated? Pray for them at night.
Make dua for people by name in the middle of the night and Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala will send you angels that will be making dua for you in the middle of the night. So all the while, Abu Darda is saying, all the while I'm going through the names of these people, the angels are calling out to Allah in the last third of the night when Allah is closest to the earth in a way that suits him, ameen wa laka bi mitr, ameen and for you as well. How beautiful and how profound is that? He narrated the hadith about reconciling between people. The Prophet ﷺ saying there is no greater charity than islah, than reconciling between people. And he would go and he would seek out the disputes of people, relationships that were broken, so he could reconcile between people. And he would encourage the one who was wrong to apologize and he would encourage the one who was wronged to forgive. So SubhanAllah, there are multiple narrations about him going out and encouraging people to reconcile, encouraging the one who committed the wrongdoing to seek forgiveness and encouraging the one who was wronged to forgive for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Numerous narrations, you know, even SubhanAllah, they have a narration about a man who got into a fight and his tooth was broken and the man refused to forgive because he said I don't look right because this guy broke my tooth in the fight. And Abu Darda going to his house and pleading with him until he forgave the man for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So he would take everything he learned from the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam and he would apply it in his life in the most beautiful of ways. And this is how he rises in the sight of the companions as this unrivaled scholar, this unrivaled sage and this person who deeply understood everything he was learning from the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam and was finding a way to apply it. SubhanAllah, there is one narration about him, which just shows you the way and you'll find what the scholars say, subhanAllah, how he understands the Quran. When Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala revealed,
إِنَّهُ كَانَ لَا يُؤْمِنُ بِاللَّهِ الْعَظِيمِ وَلَا يَحُضُّ عَلَىٰ طَعَامِ الْمِسْكِينَ When Allah talks about the person being taken to hellfire and says, verily he refused to believe in Allah the Almighty and refused to participate in the feeding of the poor. Abu Darda heard that, he memorized it and then he went home and told his wife, we got the first part of the ayah, الإيمان بالله العظيم We got the first part of the ayah, so every day from now on we're going to feed a miskeen. We're going to feed a poor person so that we don't fall into that category of people that are dragged to hellfire. Right away, that's how it clicked in his head. إِنَّهُ كَانَ لَا يُؤْمِنُ بِاللَّهِ الْعَظِيمِ Okay, اؤمن بالله العظيم, I believe in Allah the Almighty. وَلَا يُحُضُّ عَلَىٰ طَعَامِ الْمِسْكِينَ And they don't encourage or support or participate in the feeding of the poor. Okay, I'm going to feed the poor every single day in my life. And so he and his wife, every single day would feed a miskeen person ever since Abu Darda radiAllahu ta'ala anhu heard that ayah. So this is truly the example of a person who hears knowledge, who memorizes it, and then who practices it in a way that's exemplary for everyone that is around him. And he's one of the few people who becomes a hafidh right away as we said. One of the very few people who memorized the entire Quran in the lifetime of the Prophet ﷺ and recited it to the Prophet ﷺ. Okay, realized the Quran was being revealed over time. Many of the sahaba memorized large portions and then in the years to follow through being around each other, they memorized the rest. Right, they filled in the gaps. He was one of the few people who memorized the entire Quran in the lifetime of the Prophet ﷺ and who mastered all of the Islamic sciences. Considered the mufti of the Ansar, mastered the science of hadith,
mastered fiqh, mastered poetry, mastered every single field of knowledge in the time of the Prophet ﷺ. And he said, رضي الله عنه, لو انسيت آية لم اجد احدا يذكرنيها الا رجلا ببرق الغيمات رحلت اليه. He said, if there was an ayah that I forgot, and he's saying this in Damascus in Syria, where I had some doubt about the way I was reciting it, and there was only a man in Barq al-Ghimat, which is the furthest part of Arabia towards Abyssinia at the time. He said, if this was the only place I could go to get that one ayah down right, I would take an entire journey to that man to make sure that I'm reciting the ayah properly. So he loved the Quran, and he mastered the Quran, and he mastered the sciences in every way that he possibly could. Anas ibn Malik رضي الله عنه, he mentions that when the Prophet ﷺ مات النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم ولم يجمع القرآن غير أربعة that there were only four people, or when the Prophet ﷺ passed away, there were four people who memorized every ayah with the Prophet ﷺ. Abu Darda, Mu'adh ibn Jabal, Zayd ibn Thabit, and Abu Zayd. So he said that he's one of the four people that memorized every ayah with the Prophet ﷺ, and recited it back to the Messenger ﷺ. Now when the Prophet ﷺ passes away, you're going to find that his place in Ash-Sham, which he becomes famous for, is from a similar place, if you go back to the lecture about Ubadah ibn Samit رضي الله عنه. Umar ibn Khattab رضي الله عنه, has sent this letter from Mu'awiyah in Ash-Sham, that so many people are becoming Muslim, and there aren't enough people to teach them the Quran, and teach them this religion properly.
So I need you, Ya Amir al-Mu'mineen, to send me the people that would teach the Quran properly. Umar رضي الله عنه, gathers five people, Ubadah ibn Samit, Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, Mu'adh ibn Jabal, Ubayy ibn Ka'b, and Abu Darda. And he said, listen, the people of Ash-Sham are asking for someone to come and teach them the Quran, and teach them the halal and the haram. So I need three of you to volunteer. We'll map them out, map out the area. I need three of you to volunteer, and if you need to, you cast lots. And amongst the five, they said, we don't need to do that, because Abu Ayyub is an elderly man رضي الله عنه, so we're not going to teach him the Quran. Trouble Abu Ayyub al-Ansari. And as for Ubayy ibn Ka'b, he's sick رضي الله عنه, so we're not going to burden him while he's sick. So basically, Ubadah ibn Samit, Mu'adh ibn Jabal, and Abu Darda, take the region of greater Syria, of Ash-Sham at the time, and divide it amongst themselves to teach the people the Quran, and to teach them halal and haram. And there are numerous narrations about the knowledge of Abu Darda رضي الله عنه. When Mu'adh ibn Jabal was passing away رضي الله عنه, he said, التمس العلم عند أربعة, seek knowledge from four people, from Uwaymr ibn Darda, from Salman, from ibn Mas'ud, from Abdullah ibn Salam, الذي كان يهودياً فأسلم, the one who was a Jewish rabbi and then became Muslim. So this is the fourth that we are looking at. We already covered Abdullah ibn Salam, and then Salman, and now we cover Abu Darda رضي الله عنه. Abu Dharr al-Ghifari رضي الله عنه said to Abu Darda, ما حملت ورقا ولا أظلت خضراء أعلم منك يا أبا دردا that there is no man on the face of the earth carried by any part of the earth or shaded by any tree that is more knowledgeable than you, O Abu Darda. So just grasp that for a moment.
In a world where tens of thousands of companions are alive, to some of the companions, the most knowledgeable man that was alive amongst them was this man Abu Darda رضي الله عنه. And the sahaba praised him particularly, they said أتبعنا للعلم والعمل أبو دردا, the person who perfected knowledge and acting according to knowledge amongst us was Abu Darda رضي الله عنه because his greatest fear was being a hypocrite. With all that he combined, with the closeness that he had to Allah سبحانه وتعالى, his greatest fear was that he learn or teach something that he does not apply. One time he said to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, يا رسول الله بلغني أنك قلت إن قوم من أمتي سيغفرون بعد إيمانهم. I've been told that you said that some of your ummah will disbelieve after faith has come to them. And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said, أجل يا أبو دردا ولست منهم. Yes, Abu Darda رضي الله عنه but I promise you you're not amongst them. Putting him to ease that you are not amongst those that would relinquish faith after it has come to you. Jubair بن نفير, one of the students of Abu Darda, he said, I entered into him one day while he was in his place of prayer. يتشهد جعل يتعوّذ بالله من النفاق. He was bearing witness to the oneness of Allah and then he started to ask Allah to protect him from hypocrisy. It's really weird for you to see a companion of that stature worried about being a hypocrite. Right? So he said, I saw him seeking refuge in Allah from hypocrisy. So I told him يغفر الله لك يا أبو دردا may Allah forgive you Abu Darda. How far are you from nifaq? Where are you and where is hypocrisy? And Abu Darda رضي الله عنه said من يؤمن البلاء من يؤمن البلاء من يؤمن البلاء أعوذ بالله من النفاق. Who will be protected? Who will be protected? Who will be protected? I seek refuge in Allah from hypocrisy. I don't want to become a hypocrite. I've seen people who reach a certain level with Allah سبحانه وتعالى
and then they go back on their promise with Allah سبحانه وتعالى. In another narration, he said إنما أخشى من ربي يوم القيامة أن يدعوني على رؤوس الخلائق فيقول لي يا عويمر فأقول لبيك ربي فيقول لي ما عملت فيما علمت. He said the thing that I fear most is that my Lord would resurrect me on the day of judgment and he would bring me in front of all of Allah's creation and he would say, Oh, Uwaymir what did you do in accordance with what you learned? What did you do in accordance with what you learned? So it's a lesson for us obviously to learn about the خشية to learn about the fear of Allah سبحانه وتعالى that these people had that you never feel and we just talked about حسن ظن بالله having a good expectation of Allah. You always feel like you can do more. You never become complacent with your situation. If people like this were not complacent with their situation, then what about us? Now, what was some of his private عبادة like? What was some of his private worship like? Umm Darda'a رضي الله تعالى عنها was asked by some of the Tabi'een أي عبادة أبو درداء كانت أكثر؟ What was the most prominent act of worship that Abu Darda'a would do? قالت التفكر والاعتبار Most of his worship was sitting and contemplating and reflecting. It was actually sitting in silence contemplating and reflecting. And she said that I once heard him say تفكر ساعة خير من قيام ليلة that to contemplate for an hour is better than praying at night. To sit for an hour by yourself and contemplate, isn't the big thing meditation now? Right? Add ذكر to that and put Allah سبحانه وتعالى as the focus. But sitting with yourself for an hour and contemplating is greater than praying at night. This is from, you know,
one of the most knowledgeable companions of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. So it holds some serious weight that he's saying this. That you have to take time out of your schedule to sit and think, sit and reflect. And there is no substitution for that. And by the way, if you add that to your schedule, people that complain about the khushu' of their salah, we all need khushu' in our salah. And complain about, you know, not being able to reflect and feel a connection to Allah سبحانه وتعالى, not feeling motivated towards qiyam. Forget about an hour, 10 minutes a day, 20 minutes a day of just sitting by yourself, put your phone away, put your computer away and think, reflect. She said that's what Abu Darda would do. He had a lot of time where he would sit and where he would think. Now this next narration that I'll share is, by the way, something that could be demotivating. So I'm going to say from advance, when you read these types of narrations, you take the instructions to worship and you don't get demotivated. But Abu Darda رضي الله تعالى عنه was once asked, how long كم تسبح في الله كل يوم? How much tasbih do you do in a day? قال مئة الف إلا أن تغطي الأصابع. He said a hundred thousand tasbihs unless my fingers, you know, get it wrong. So now you're all like, man, I'm terrible. Believe me, I don't do a hundred thousand tasbihs a day either. The point is, is that the man would spend his time doing tasbih with Allah سبحانه وتعالى. If you had that counter, you know, back then, he would spend his day, سبحان الله والحمد لله ولا إله إلا الله والله أكبر. So he spent his time in dhikr as well. So he moves on to Damascus and he becomes the main Qur'an teacher in Homs and Damascus. And then you have all these narrations that about people meeting him in Damascus. One of these narrations is from one of the most prominent students of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud. In fact, probably the most prominent,
which is Alqama رضي الله عنه. Alqama says قدمت الشام فصليت ركعتين. I got into Damascus and I prayed two raka'as. ثم قلت اللهم يسر لي جليسا صالحا. Oh Allah, facilitate for me a righteous companion. Let a righteous companion come next to me. So he said that a group came and I sat with them فإذا شيخ قد جاء حتى جلس إلى جانبي. Said that as I was sitting, an old man came and he sat right next to me. So I looked at him and I said من هذا? I asked the people who is this? They said Abu Darda. He'd heard about Abu Darda, he'd never met him. Abu Darda is a legend. You hear about him in Iraq, but you never actually meet him. And now he's sitting right next to him after he made this dua. So I told him إني دعوت الله أن يسر لي جليسا صالحا. فيسرك الله لي. That I asked Allah to give me a righteous companion and then you came and you sat next to me. So Abu Darda رضي الله تعالى عنه welcomed him and then he said ممن أنت? Where are you coming from? قلت من أهل كوفة. He said I'm coming to you from Kufa. So Abu Darda says أليس فيكم صاحب السر الذي لا يعلمه غيره? Don't you have amongst you the secret keeper of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم? Who has secrets that no one else knows? Who's he talking about? Does anyone know? Hudhaifah بن اليمان رضي الله عنه. He's like wait a minute, you left Iraq. You had Hudhaifah بن اليمان there, right? And he said yes. And then he said أليس فيكم الذي أجاره الله على لسان نبيه صلى الله عليه وسلم من الشيطان? Don't you have the person amongst you there in Iraq who Allah has protected from the shaitan according to the tongue of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is protected from the shaitan? I don't expect you all to know this.
He's talking about عمار بن ياسر رضي الله تعالى عنه. عمار, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said Allah has spared him from the shaitan. So he said didn't you have that person there in Iraq? So I told him yes. And then he said أليس فيكم صاحب السواك أو السراء? Don't you have صاحب السواك the one who used to carry the siwak of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم? He used to carry his belongings with him and accompany him everywhere? That is عبد الله بن مسعود رضي الله تعالى عنه. The great one عبد الله. So he said yes. And basically I mean the implication is you're coming here looking for جليس صالح, a righteous companion. You left all these people behind in Iraq. Then he asked him كيف كان عبد الله يقرأ والليل إذا يغشى والنهار إذا تجلى؟ So he said I want you to read to me the way that عبد الله بن مسعود would read سورة الليل. So he said I read to him the way عبد الله بن مسعود taught سورة الليل. And he said and that's the way I heard it from the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. Meaning look at the beauty of the Quran. SubhanAllah, this is before the digital age. Islam has spread within a decade to all of these places in the world. And a man could come to you thousands of miles away and recite to you the Quran the same way you were reciting it before Quran apps existed, before even the Mus'hafs were being distributed in wide distribution. And he's saying that's the way I heard it from the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. In another narration, معدن بن أبي طلح, he said I came to أبو درداء رضي الله تعالى عنه in the masjid. And he asked me where do you live? And I told him in a town on the outskirts of الحمص, also in Syria. And he said to him, you know, make sure that even if there are just three of you, that you establish the salah amongst yourselves because if three people live in a town and they don't establish the salah amongst themselves, then Shaytan will take control of them. And he quoted this from the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. So make sure, عليكم بالجماعة,
keep close to each other and establish the prayer amongst you. فإنما يأكل ذئب القاصية, verily the wolf attacks the stray sheep. So he's telling him, even if it's just a few of you that are living on the outskirts of الحمص, then gather amongst yourselves and start to establish صلاة الجماعة amongst yourselves. SubhanAllah, a lesson for us, right? That the wolf attacks the stray sheep. But then the most beautiful narration about Damascus. So Abu Darda' رضي الله عنه basically establishes the first Quran halaqa system in Islam. I'm going to say that again, the first Quran halaqa system in Islam. What does that mean? Abu Darda' رضي الله عنه in the masjid in Damascus had 200 Quran halaqas. So if you went to Fajr and there are multiple narrations about this site. If you went to Salatul Fajr in Damascus and Abu Darda' was there, he had 200 Quran halaqas. Okay? Each halaqa had 10 people. And Abu Darda' رضي الله عنه would teach one of them the Quran in the most proficient way and then that person would teach the rest of them. So each of the 200 halaqas had a direct student of Abu Darda' رضي الله عنه managing the Quran halaqa. And he said Abu Darda' رضي الله عنه used to lead the salah and then he would sit and he would remember Allah and then he would read his portion of the Quran and then he would sit in the corner of the masjid and he would watch all 200 halaqas. And then they would come to review with him one at a time, meaning each halaqa at a time. And he would review not all 200 a day, but he basically was supervising all of the hif, all of the recitation of the Quran going on in Damascus at the time. So subhanAllah you have multiple narrations where people walk in and this is a shocking sight. I mean, it's a beautiful sight where you have all of these people
memorizing the Quran and Abu Darda' رضي الله عنه the mufti of Damascus sitting in the corner of the masjid. May Allah سبحانه وتعالى restore Damascus to its most beautiful manifestation in this way and listening to the Quran buzzing from all of these circles and then going and testing people from the Quran. So basically once you were ready, you got tested by Abu Darda' and what's it like to sit with Abu Darda' رضي الله عنه and to have Abu Darda' review your Quran when he reviewed the Quran with the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. This is the beauty of the sanad, the beauty of the chain that we have when we recite the Quran. That, you know, the hufadh amongst us, may Allah سبحانه وتعالى make us all from the people of Quran. Allahumma ameen. Your history could go back to that masjid in Damascus in one of these halaqas and then go back to Medina with the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. But even if you're not a hafidh, it reached you this way. It reached you and I this way and it was recited with precision this way. And then he had this beautiful habit. SubhanAllah. This was a narration that I actually learned for the very first time that his students Yazid ibn Malik, he narrates that Abu Darda'a رضي الله عنه كان يصلي ثم يقرأ ويقرأ Abu Darda'a would pray his duha in the masjid. He would read and he would have read to him. So basically he studied the Quran for some time. حتى إذا أراد القيام And then once he was done, he spent his morning in the masjid with his students. He said to his students, هل من وليمة أو عقيقة نشهدها؟ Is there a waleema today or a aqiqa that we need to go witness? Anybody have a child? Is anyone getting married? This is the beauty of this teacher, subhanAllah. So if they said yes, then he said let's go. So basically he goes to students' waleemas and to their aqiqas.
Alright, but all the waleemas were halal. Let's just be very clear here. The weddings in the time of Abu Darda'a رضي الله عنه no questionable stuff happening in those weddings, right? So he goes to the waleema, he goes to the aqiqa, right? But this is the beautiful part. If they said no, no one's getting married today, no one's got a aqiqa going on today, there's no gathering for you to attend, then he would say, اللهم إني أشهدك أني صلاعم Oh Allah, I bear witness that today I'm fasting. He would basically make it a day of voluntary siyam. So he would decide, of course the Prophet ﷺ said with voluntary fasting, this is fiqh, you could make the intention after fajr. With an obligatory fast, you have the intention prior. So if you haven't eaten yet, and it's 10 o'clock, 11 o'clock, right? You could decide to fast for the day. So Abu Darda'a would decide whether or not he was going to fast during the day based upon if he had to go to a waleema or a aqiqa that day, and if not, then he said I'm fasting today. And that was his habit. رضي الله تعالى عنه الليث رحمه الله He narrates, رأيت أبا درداء دخل مسجد النبي ﷺ He said, I saw Abu Darda'a رضي الله عنه walk into the masjid of the Prophet ﷺ ومعه من الأتباع مثل السلطان And he was walking and he had followers like a king. Talk about, you know, a celebrity at the time and someone that everyone wanted to be around. He said Abu Darda'a was being followed by people from all over. سائل عن فريضة وسائل عن حساب وسائل عن حديث وسائل عن الشعر One person's asking him a question about fiqh. One person's asking him a question about hadith. One person's asking him a financial question. One person's asking him a question about poetry. And he's answering each one of them. And they followed him. And he looked like a king رضي الله تعالى عنه Which shows you the value that those people placed in ilm, in knowledge and the position that Abu Darda'a رضي الله تعالى عنه had amongst the companions.
And then what happens is that he gets appointed as the governor of Damascus. So all of his students come to him to celebrate with him. Okay. They came to him to celebrate with him. And Abu Darda'a رضي الله تعالى عنه was upset. And he said, why are you upset? He said, are you congratulating me on this amana that Allah سبحانه وتعالى, this trust that Allah سبحانه وتعالى throws people into the fire for? And he says, والله لو يعلم الناس ما في الأذان if people knew the virtue in the adhan لأخذوه بالدول رغبة فيه حرصاً عليه People would line up and they would compete over the adhan instead of worthless stuff over here. I mean people would compete over the good deeds. They wouldn't compete over this stuff. I'm not interested in al-qadha. I'm not interested in salah. And being a zahid, being an ascetic, Abu Darda'a رضي الله تعالى عنه did not like seeing too much of the prosperity and the wealth change people. And he was worried about that. Very similar to Abu Dhar رضي الله تعالى عنه. In fact, Abu Dhar Al-Ifari and Abu Darda'a were very close. And so if you go back to the halaq on Abu Dhar, they had a very similar view of what was happening with all the wealth and the prosperity that was coming into the dunya. Ummah Darda'a رضي الله تعالى عنها She says that one time دخل علي أبو درداء وهو مغضب That one time Abu Darda'a came home and he was upset. And I said ما أغضبك؟ What is it that's upsetting you? And he said والله ما أعرف من أمر أمة محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم شيئا إلا أنهم يصلون جميعا He said the only thing I recognize from the Ummah of Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم now is that they still pray in jama'a. Like I'm disappointed. I'm not seeing what I wanted to see from them. The ethics, the ibadah, the worship, the character. We're getting distracted. And that was sort of his overall view towards, you know, when he saw prosperity taking people away from Allah سبحانه وتعالى.
And Umar رضي الله تعالى عنه was sending him because he was the qadi, he was sending him his salary for the month. And people were reporting back to Umar رضي الله تعالى عنه that Abu Darda'a was still not, you know, he wasn't living in these mansions. And he was, not that that was the expectation, but he didn't seem to be okay in terms of his wealth. So Umar رضي الله تعالى عنه sent him and he said to him, I send you your allowance every month. Why is it that I'm hearing that you're not piling up or that, sorry, not that you're not piling up, that you're not taken care of, that you don't have what you need? And Abu Darda'a رضي الله تعالى عنه said, don't you remember that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم told us, يا Umar رضي الله تعالى عنه, that the dunya would open up and do not take excess of what you need as a traveler. And he said that I make it so that all of my belongings could fit on a camel. Anything that's an excess of a camel, I don't want. And he said, the one who has the most of it, he's the one who has the most of it. Because the least burdens will ascend quicker. Meaning the one who's khafif, who's lighter, will ascend quicker in the sight of Allah سبحانه وتعالى. This, of course, again, it's halal to have money, it's halal to earn in permissible ways. But this was a man who really saw this connection to Allah and we can learn from that, that you continue to see your wealth in perspective of those things. There's so many narrations about him, subhanAllah, I know that Isha is coming. But one of the things that we also see is that he turned down the proposal from Muawiyah for his daughter because he did not want his daughter to go into the palaces of Muawiyah رضي الله عنه. And we also find the narrations about the way he would narrate the hadiths from the Prophet ﷺ. The companion said that if you wanted to see how the Prophet ﷺ would narrate to us, you looked at the way that Abu Darda'a رضي الله عنه would narrate to us. And Abu Darda'a رضي الله عنه used to narrate a hadith, he used to say, اللهم إلا هكذا وإلا فكشكله. Oh Allah, if it's not exactly as I said on behalf of the Prophet ﷺ, then let it be as close as possible, ya Allah.
I don't want it to be anywhere near or anywhere that's distant from the Prophet ﷺ's actual words. Oh Allah, make it as the Prophet ﷺ said, let it be accurate. My favorite thing about him in this regard when it comes to hadiths, Umma Darda'a رضي الله عنها, and almost all the narrations are from Umma Darda'a رضي الله عنها, she said, كان أبو درداء لا يحدث بحديث إلا تبسم. Abu Darda'a رضي الله عنه did not narrate a hadith of the Prophet ﷺ except with a smile on his face. So she said to him, she said that I said to him, that I'm afraid that people will make fun of you, or people will start to think something's wrong with you because he was so obvious that when he started saying the Prophet ﷺ said, he smiled. So she said, إني أخاف أن يحميقق الناس. People are going to say things about you, people are going to say what's wrong with him. Every time he says the Prophet ﷺ said, he starts to smile. This is what he said. He said, كان رسول الله ﷺ لا يحدث بحديث إلا تبسم. He said, the Prophet ﷺ never narrated to us except that he was smiling. And so this shows you, and this is a hadith by the way, Muslim Imam Ahmed, so this shows you the way that this man was holding on to the Qur'an and the way he was teaching it and the way he was trying to emulate what he learned from the Prophet ﷺ in the most beautiful of ways. SubhanAllah, multiple narrations from him, from his wife Umm Darda'a, from Bilal, his son, the only child that we know from him is actually a son named Bilal, Abu Idrees Al-Khawlani, Sa'eed Ibn Musayyib, Ata'a Ibn Yasar, many of the most prominent of the companions and the Tabi'een narrated from him, رضي الله تعالى عنه. Now I mentioned that Umm Darda'a means two different people, right?
Umm Darda'a Al-Kubra, the older wife of Abu Darda'a, رضي الله عنه, passed away, her name was Khayra bint Abi Hadrad. She passed away رضي الله عنها and she was a Sahabiya soon after the Prophet ﷺ. As for the wife that he married after, her name was Hujayma bint Huyay, and her nickname is Umm Darda'a Al-Sughra, the younger Umm Darda'a. This Umm Darda'a became one of the most famous Muhaddithat, female narrators of Hadith. She became a great scholar in Damascus, she used to give large halaqas in Damascus and in Al-Aqsa by the way, and it was said that everyone used to attend her halaqas, even the Khalifa Abdul Malik Ibn Marwan, towards the end of her life, Abdul Malik used to attend her halaqa and she was known as one of the most knowledgeable people of her time. She took the knowledge of Abu Darda'a and the knowledge of multiple Sahaba. She herself was not a Sahabiya, she didn't meet the Prophet ﷺ, but she lived with Abu Darda'a, she learned from many of the companions and she became one of the greatest scholars, which is a testimony to how this house was generating ilm. And this Umm Darda'a is the one who narrates most of the Hadith from Abu Darda'a. So it's beautiful because you're reading the Sanad, you're reading the chain often, Umm Darda'a narrating from Abu Darda'a from the Prophet ﷺ. And there are also narrations about their life together. And Umm Darda'a said that my husband Abu Darda'a said to me, this is good marriage advice by the way, he said to me, إذا غضبت فرضيني وإذا غضبتي رضيتك فمتى ما لم نكن هكذا فما أسرع ما نفترق.
He said, listen, if you see me upset, if I'm upset, then try to make me happy and if I see you upset, I'm going to try to make you happy. Otherwise this marriage is not going to work. It's good marriage advice. If you see me upset, try to make me happy and if I see you upset, I'm going to try to do the exact same thing. Otherwise the marriage is not going to last very long. So trying to bring joy to one another and to increase one another in khair. And SubhanAllah we're already at Salatul Isha' but I have to share this and paraphrase it. It's probably one of the most beautiful parting narrations about a husband and a wife. When Abu Darda was dying, Abu Darda said I came to him and I said to him at his bedside, I said, listen, when you wanted to marry me in this dunya, you asked for my hand from my father and Allah blessed you with me in this dunya and blessed me with you in this dunya. So I'm asking you now to ask Allah for my hand in Al-Jannah. I want to be your wife in Jannah. I don't just want this. This has been a beautiful life together. I don't want it to end here. SubhanAllah. And you know what makes it so poetic and so beautiful? Because the first story about Abu Darda is Salman Al-Farisi seeing Um Darda neglected because Abu Darda went so far into this worship mode that he forgot about his household. But the man has shown his wife such beautiful character, such good character, such Ihsan that his wife is saying when you die, please ask Allah that I get to be your wife in Jannah as well. I want you to propose to me for Jannah as well. Ask Allah SubhanAllah to let me be your wife in Jannah as well. Some people are like if I get to Jannah, I don't want to see my spouse on someone else
over there, right? She's like if we die, I want you to be my husband in Jannah. So Abu Darda radiAllahu anhu basically accepts the proposal. And as he's dying, SubhanAllah, he calls his students and he says to his students, still a teacher, man ya'malu li mithri yawmi hatha, who's going to prepare themselves to be in this day like I am in this day, meaning who's going to prepare themselves for this day of death. Telling his students, look, I'm your teacher and I'm dying, you also need to be prepared for your moment of death. And then he died of a natural death radiAllahu anhu from sickness. Complete sakinah, with complete tranquility, with no grudges. And that's one of the beautiful testimonies about him is that no one had a debt or a grudge to settle with Abu Darda radiAllahu anhu. And they say that it was rare when a person dies that was a qadi, that was a governor or a judge, that was of that prominence that no one had a complaint against him. Not one person came forth with a complaint against him. So when he used to ask Allah every night for husnul khuluq, for good character, Allah granted him that. And he leaves this world in complete peace. And then when he passes away, Umm Darda is a wanted woman in the sense that subhanAllah she's a prominent woman of scholarship, of beauty, of intellect, of wisdom. And so the person that proposes to her is Muawiyah radiAllahu anhu. So now you get a proposal from Muawiyah, wealth, palaces, prominence, right? And he told Abu Darda when he was passing away that I want to be your wife in paradise, that I want you to ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for my hand in al-jannah. And she rejects the proposal of Muawiyah and she says I can't marry you because I'm already
engaged to Abu Darda in al-jannah. SubhanAllah. So it is a beautiful testimony to the character, to the akhlaq of a man who wanted so badly to be pleasing to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and who sought every pathway to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and did not let this dunya become a distraction for him in any way possible. He was the last of the ansar to embrace the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and he became the most knowledgeable of the ansar, which is in and of itself also a lesson by the way, that a person should not feel like they are behind, a person instead should try their best to get ahead inshaAllah ta'ala and to exert themselves towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. May Allah be pleased with Abu Darda radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And I actually wanted to pull up an image for you by the way. This is the grave, the tomb of Abu Darda and Umar Darda together in Damascus. Shows you subhanAllah how much ilm came from these two people that continue to benefit us today. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala be pleased with Abu Darda, may Allah reward them for those who recite the Quran and recite the words of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam as narrated to them from those that narrated from them and may Allah gather us with our beloved salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. And for those al-a'la, Allahumma ameen. Wa salallahu wa sallam wa baraka wa ala nabiyyina Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma'in. Wa salamu alaykum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh.
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