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Khawla Bint Hakim & Uthman Ibn Madhun: The Righteous Couple | The Firsts
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Al-Shifa bint Abdullah (ra): The Healer and Scholar | The Firsts Shorts
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Shurahbil Ibn Hasana (ra): The Scribe and Commander | The Firsts Shorts
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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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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 Huraira (ra): The Preserver of Hadith | The Firsts
Abu Huraira (ra) was most prolific narrator of ahadith from our beloved Prophet ﷺ, and the heart that Allah chose to give us access to the Sunnah like no other.
The Firsts is a weekly video series that chronicles the lives of the sahabah during and after the time of the Prophet ﷺ.
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Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. A'udhu billahi minash shaitanir rajim. Bismillahir rahmanir raheem. Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen. wa la ilaha illa a'la al-dhalimeen. wa al-aqeebatu lilmuttaqeen. wa al-mubarakan abdika wa rasulika muhammadin salallahu alayhi wasalam. wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wasalam tasliman kathira. So I want to welcome you all back to the first, after we had a two week break for Eid, obviously. And the last person that we spoke about is usually only spoken about in the story of the man that we're covering tonight. It was Abu Huraira radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. We had a chance to talk about Tufail al-Dawsi radiAllahu ta'ala anhu in great detail two weeks ago. And to really treat his story for the blessing that it is on its own. And that gives us the opportunity to go into the story of Abu Huraira radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, understanding that background. So if you haven't watched it, then please do inshaAllah ta'ala go back and review your notes. Because it really is enriching to the story of Abu Huraira radiAllahu ta'ala anhu himself. So the man that we're talking about today is extremely difficult to cover in one hour. I cut a lot of notes out, tried my best to keep this to one biography. Because we could honestly spend five or six lectures with him alone. But inshaAllah ta'ala maybe in the future when this is written out, some of those extra details can be put in, bismillah ta'ala. And we can actually understand the person of Abu Huraira radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And his legacy and his history with the Prophet ﷺ and the companions a bit more. To gain a greater appreciation for him radiAllahu ta'ala anhu.
And his title, when you go to the great book of Sir al-Alam an-Nubula by Imam al-Dhahabi rahimahullah. His title is a long title. And the pages of people that narrated from him are longer than most chapters as a whole for other people. Meaning if you took the biography of someone else in the book of Sir al-Alam an-Nubula. And you just compared it to the pages of Abu Huraira radiAllahu anhu about who his students were. And the introduction of who he is. Those pages are longer than most biographies in the entire collection of biographies by Imam al-Dhahabi rahimahullah. His title, al-Imam al-Faqih al-Mujtahid al-Hafidh. Sahib al-Rasul Allah ﷺ. Abu Huraira al-Dawsi al-Yamani. Sayyid al-Hufadh al-Athbat. It's a beautiful title. The Imam, the Jurist, the Mujtahid, the Scholar, the Hafidh. Sahib al-Rasul Allah ﷺ. The companion of the Prophet ﷺ. Abu Huraira al-Dawsi from the tribe of Daws al-Yamani. From Yemen. Sayyid al-Hufadh al-Athbat. The leader of all of those who were firm in their memorization. Not just of the Quran, but of multiple other things as well. So this is the man who of course narrated the most ahadith from the Prophet ﷺ. Narrated more narrations from the Prophet ﷺ than any other human being in history. And there's this great discrepancy between the narrator and the person. What I mean by that is that Aisha radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anha, who narrates after Abu Huraira radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anhu, this great body of ahadith from the Prophet ﷺ. We know about Aisha radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anha as a person. You know her biography. Our mother, may Allah be pleased with her. But when it comes to Abu Huraira radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anhu, the average Muslim knows very little about his life. Yet when you read any book,
it is from Abu Huraira that you hear from the Prophet ﷺ. And so that's why I really want to focus on the person of Abu Huraira radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anhu in this lecture in particular. As for the defense of Abu Huraira radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anhu, that's a genre in and of itself. Why? Because anyone who wants to attack the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ will go for the easiest target, and he is the easiest target. If you discredit Abu Huraira, then you can discredit the entire hadith tradition. Then you can open up the Qur'an to whatever you want to with your interpretation. And then you can turn Islam into something entirely unrecognizable. And so I say this without any hesitation. And I'm not the type, as you all know, to refute this person, or refute that person, or start naming people. But I don't say this lightly because of the companions of the Prophet ﷺ. If you want to know someone who has deviated from Islam, that poses as a scholar or a thinker, look at whether or not they attack Abu Huraira. It's the easiest filter to say, this is a person who is going to take me away from the Prophet ﷺ. Because it is a gateway to attacking the Prophet ﷺ himself, and then questioning the entire process of recording history in Islam. All of the companions of the Prophet ﷺ agreed upon the integrity of this man. They narrated from him. All of the authors of the six books of hadith agreed upon the integrity of this man, and recorded his ahadith, and considered them the strongest chains. And then someone shows up in the 21st century and says, actually he's this, this, this, and that. And it's not a problem with the Prophet ﷺ, it's a problem with Abu Huraira. But that means there's really no such thing as the integrity of hadith sciences. And that means, how do you know how to pray five times a day? How do you know how to do wudu properly? How do you know how to fast, and the rules of fasting? And so it's important to familiarize yourself, I think, with that side of things, the defense of Abu Huraira ﷺ. There is a wonderful article that was written by Brother Abdullah al-Hallaq on Muslim matters just a few months ago in defense of Abu Huraira.
These are just small English resources. Mufti Muntasir Zaman, ma sha Allah, from Qalam, has done incredible research in defending the integrity of Abu Huraira ﷺ. So if you want to see that genre, it's easily found, ma sha Allah. But he is a filter, right? If someone's attacking him, that means that the next step is questioning everything that you know about Islam from the basic foundations that the average Muslim understands about Islam is going to be uprooted in some way. So let's talk about the person, okay? Now just a slight recap from At-Tufail ﷺ. He was from the tribe of what? What's the name of the tribe? At-Daws. And this tribe was famous for all the wrong reasons. Drinking, gambling, partying, everything wrong they were famous for. And Abu Huraira ﷺ was famous for all of the right reasons. Right? But if you remember, subhanAllah, there's just a few reflections I wanted to share. When At-Tufail was coming to Mecca, Abu Lahab went out to him to try to make sure he would not hear what the Prophet ﷺ had to say. And look at how Allah ﷻ would make history. It was the young man he would bring to the Prophet ﷺ that would cause more people to hear what the Prophet ﷺ has to say than any other human being in history. So look at how Allah ﷻ foils their plans. They go to At-Tufail to say, don't even look at the Prophet ﷺ. Don't listen to him. He's a sorcerer. He's a magician. He's going to possess you and mess you up. And it was the young man that he brought with him that narrated more on behalf of the Prophet ﷺ than any other human being in history. It's also in that slight interaction when At-Tufail gave up on his people and he told the Prophet ﷺ, make du'a against them. There is no good in them. I tried with them. I tried calling them to Islam. No good in Daws. And the Prophet ﷺ instead said, Allah mahdi Dawsa, or Allah guide Daws,
wa'ti bihim, bring them to me. And no one brings us to the Prophet ﷺ more than Abu Hurairah ﷺ, the young man who otherwise would have been destroyed by the du'a of the Prophet ﷺ against the tribe of Daws. And subhanAllah, look at what we benefit from today. And if you remember, when the Prophet ﷺ met Abu Hurairah, this young orphan boy who converted to Islam along with the chief of the tribe before the others did, and the Prophet ﷺ said, where are you from? He said, from Daws. The Prophet ﷺ said, ma kuntu ara anna fi Dawsin ahadan fihi khair. I thought there was no good in anyone in Daws. But here you are, this young orphan boy coming to the Prophet ﷺ to serve him and to learn from him with everything that he has. So let's talk about him bi'idhnillahi ta'ala. Now he said he is an orphan. There's a narration that his father was a man by the name of Umair ibn Amir ibn Dhushirrah, which was the name of one of their idols of Daws, of course. Umair ibn Amir. And At-Tabarani narrates the name of his mother, Maymuna bint Sabih. His mother is going to be an important figure in this story. Maymuna, another Maymuna. And can anyone remind me what the word Maymuna meant? Please, it will make me feel better about my teaching here. Blessing, mubarakah, right? So Maymuna comes with Abu Hurairah in this story. And we're going to learn about her as well. She has her own special story with the Prophet ﷺ. So as for him, his name, according to a narration from him, before Islam was Abd Shams, the slave of the sun. Ibn Sakhr, okay? Abd Shams. Now Zahbi narrates a bunch of possibilities about what his name was. He could have had multiple names in Jahiliyyah in the days of ignorance, or this was the strongest opinion, that his name was the slave of the sun. And the Prophet ﷺ, of course, changes that name to Abd al-Rahman. To Abd al-Rahman.
But he's famously known as Abu Hurairah. Now he had, according to Ibrahim al-Fadl al-Makhzumi, he had a bad nickname in Jahiliyyah as well. So he didn't just have a bad name, but he had a bad nickname as well. And the Prophet ﷺ changed both the name and the nickname. The name and the nickname. Because as Allah ﷻ says, وَلَا تَنَابَزُوا بِالْأَلْقَابِ Do not maim people with nicknames. Now subhanAllah, I don't want to go into a tangent here, but it is a beautiful reflection that you see some of the ulema mention. The Arabs had this habit with bad nicknames. Alright? Where they call you by something that you didn't like, but it was something that they remember you by. Okay? So if a person has a physical trait that they're not even happy about, everyone calls them by that physical trait from there on, and you like it or you don't like it, that's your nickname from now on. And the Prophet ﷺ did not just change people's names to good names. He hated bad nicknames too ﷺ. He said give people names that they like. Call people in ways that they like to be called. Look at the excellence of character from the Prophet ﷺ. Give people nicknames they like and call them by the names that they like to be called by most. So what is the story of Abu Huraira's nickname? He says about himself, قَالَ كُنْتُ أَرْعَ غَنَمًا لِأَهْلِ I was a shepherd for my people. So this is the first insight you get into him. He's an orphan and he's a shepherd. And the Prophet ﷺ mentioned that there are special traits about these shepherds, these unknown shepherds that tend to the sheep in nature. They tend to be introspective people, simple people, kind of looked down upon. But these people, subhanAllah, I mean think about how much they're interacting with the creation and just looking out to the sky and to themselves. And he accepted Islam very easily, right? So Abu Huraira was an orphan boy. He says, قُنْتُ أَرْعَ غَنَمًا لِأَهْلِ And I used to just tend to the sheep of my family. فَكَانَتْ لِي هُرَيْرَ And I had a kitten.
I had a huraira. A huraira is literally a kitten. قَالَ فَأَخَذْتُهَا فِي كُمِّي So he said, I used to keep it in my sleeve. So this little kitten he used to walk around with in his sleeve. He loved this cat and he kept it with him in his sleeve. قَالَ أَلْعَبُ بِهَا And I used to play with this kitten while I was tending to the sheep. So he loved cats and he had a particular little kitten that he would walk around with. So he said that the Prophet ﷺ called me Abu Huraira. In one narration the Prophet ﷺ called him Abu Huraira or his people started to call him Abu Huraira, right? So it's a nice nickname that he loves. And, you know, obviously that cat was going to grow up, right? And so there's a twist in the story with the Prophet ﷺ as well. But he keeps the nickname Abu Huraira, right? The father of the kitten. رضي الله تعالى عنه So if you don't like cats, are you a bad person? You're saying yes. I mean if it was like how I'd say, I agree with you. Because who doesn't love cats, right? But no, it's obviously something particular to this companion. But there is something good about treating cats well, inshallah ta'ala. And there is, you can use that story. If you have a cat in your house, tell them to treat the cat well. And maybe inshallah you can memorize some ahadith too. And hopefully it'll be like Abu Huraira. A true story. We used to call my mother, رحمة الله عليها, أم Huraira. Because she used to play with cats a lot. So maybe there's something about good people and cats. But I won't go too far into that tangent. And if you have allergies, there's nothing wrong with you. But this is definitely a companion who's famous for his cat as well. Now the Prophet ﷺ gave people nicknames that also showed a sense of importance to him. So if the Prophet ﷺ called you by a nickname, it became your favorite name. Because it showed a level of affection. So it's interesting with Sayyidina Ali رضي الله تعالى عنه Ali ibn Abi Talib, right? When the Prophet ﷺ was calming things down, when he had an argument with Fatima رضي الله عنها and he went to sleep in the masjid, then the Prophet ﷺ went and dusted him off
and he said, قُمْ يَأَبَى تُرَابُ Stand up, O father of dirt. Ali loved that name because the Prophet ﷺ was doing it in laughter. Right? It's a form of affection. Like, I'm not mad at you. Don't take this as a point of anger. I'm not insulting you. But then people later on in Islamic history who don't understand anything tried to use it to insult him. And it was his favorite nickname. Because the Prophet ﷺ said it to him in affection. Right? Remember in Hudayf ibn al-Yaman's story. Does anyone remember what he called him? Anyone remember? It was only a few weeks ago. نومان or نيمان. Sleepy head. Right? And Hudayf ibn al-Yaman loved that nickname. رضي الله عنه. Because the Prophet ﷺ said it to him from a place of affection. So Abu Hurayrah is a name that is beloved to Abu Hurayrah because the Prophet ﷺ called him that. And there is a mutual relationship here where Abu Hurayrah will frequently narrate from Abu al-Qasim. The Prophet ﷺ's name as Abu al-Qasim. Calling him by his kunya to reflect that he had a special relationship with the Prophet ﷺ. So this is Abu Hurayrah. His physical appearance was actually also very pleasant. He had a bronze skin. A reddish beard. And they said he had a very unique appearance. He was very handsome. رضي الله عنه. Very humorous. And very pleasant. And this is something that you'll love about his story. And again something about the guy that takes care of cats. Right? He was very funny. رضي الله عنه. Used to play with children. Used to make people laugh. And had a very pleasant demeanor about him. رضي الله عنه. So when does he get to come and be with the Prophet ﷺ? Now remember Tufayl did not bring his people to Medina until later on. Okay? They were part of Najran. So he brings them later on. Now when he brought them to the Prophet ﷺ, Abu Hurayrah mentions the morning he got to Medina. So this is where you already start to see the brilliance of the man's memory. He says,
خرج النبي ﷺ إلى خيبر وقدمت المدينة مهاجراً فصليت الصبح خلف سبع ابن عرفطة. رضي الله عنه. He said that I came to Medina the day the Prophet ﷺ left for Khaybar and I prayed Fajr and I prayed behind Siba' رضي الله عنه. كان استخلفه. And he said, فقرأ في السجدة الأولى بسورة مريم وفي الآخرة ويل للمطفثين. He said that he read in the first raka'ah سورة مريم and in the second raka'ah سورة المطفثين. So he even remembered the first two surahs he prayed in Medina with the companion the day that the Prophet ﷺ went out for Khaybar. So this will give him four years with the Prophet ﷺ. Four years where he's going to really attach himself to the Messenger ﷺ. He says that when I came to Medina he said I had one servant with me فَهَرَضَ مِنِّي and he fled from Abu Huraira somewhere along the way and he said so it was just me and my mother and my mother is a blind woman, old woman and I was taking care of her and she would go with me wherever I went. So his mom really doesn't know why they're moving. His mother's name was what? Maymuna. So his mother does not know why they're moving. And Abu Huraira رضي الله عنه initially sets up in Dhul-Hulayfa. Dhul-Hulayfa is where the station, the Miqat is now when you go for Umrah or Hajj. So in that area of Dhul-Hulayfa he sets up his mother over there and he attaches himself to the Messenger ﷺ and here you find one of the most beautiful aspects and elements of the life of Abu Huraira رضي الله عنه which is the story with his mother. When he comes to Medina with his mother to Dhul-Hulayfa his mom is asking these questions. Why are we here? What are we doing here? And he loved his mother tremendously. So when he tells his mother
that he embraced Islam and that they have moved to Medina and he's going to serve the Prophet ﷺ she cursed the Prophet ﷺ. She cursed Islam. She cursed Abu Huraira رضي الله عنه. She was extremely upset and she started to say all of these horrible things. Now listen to what Abu Huraira رضي الله عنه says and I'll take the narration in his own words. قَالَ فَأَتَيْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمْ وَأَنَا أَبْكِي I came to the Prophet ﷺ crying. So he's giving you his emotion. And I was walking to the Prophet ﷺ crying and I said يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ إِنِّي كُنْتُ أَدْعُ أُمِّي إِلَى الْإِسْلَامِ فَتَأْبَى عَلَيَّ فَدَعُوتُهَا الْيَوْمِ فَأَسْمَعَتْنِي فِيكَ مَا أَكْرَهُ It's very specific. He says I was calling my mother to Islam O Messenger of Allah and she was refusing to embrace Islam and today when I tried to give her da'wah she caused me to hear about you what I hate to hear. So basically he's telling the Prophet ﷺ she's insulting you. Keep in mind here historical context. This is Medina. Late in the seerah of the Prophet ﷺ the Prophet ﷺ has full control. Right? Does the Prophet ﷺ say go back home and do this to her? Does the Prophet ﷺ say bring her to me and then humiliate her and make an example out of her? What is the Prophet ﷺ going to do about this situation where Abu Hurairah is saying she's saying this stuff about you and it's bothering me. And subhanAllah he's worried about what? He's worried about first and foremost her situation in the akhirah. My mother is an old woman I don't know what's going to happen to her if she's cursing the Prophet ﷺ. So the Prophet ﷺ raised his hands and he said Allahumma hdi ummah Abu Hurairah O Allah guide the mother of Abu Hurairah
O Allah guide the mother of Abu Hurairah قال فخرجت مستبشرا بدعوة نبي الله ﷺ He said so I went back home and I had the glad tidings of the dua of the Prophet ﷺ. He'd already seen the miracle of the dua of the Prophet ﷺ when he said Allahumma hdi dawsa O Allah guide daws. So he knows that there's something special about the dua of the Prophet ﷺ and subhanAllah it pains him. You talk about the struggle of the converts the struggle of the companions it pains him to know that he has dedicated his life to the Prophet ﷺ and his mother might die cursing the Prophet ﷺ. You think about the fitna of the companions and the fitna of those people who call people to Allah ﷻ subhanAllah one of my brothers in da'wah you know who gives da'wah as well and he told me about how he talked about my own mother رحمة الله عليها and he said you know you can live your whole life as a tribute to your mother you can dedicate your da'wah to her. What about me? What about me? This is a serious fitna for people. May Allah ﷻ guide the mothers of all of those mashayikh and dua'at and all those people those that convert to Islam and give them the coolness of their eyes in that guidance. Allahumma ameen. So it's painful to him that he can't see his mother die this way. So he says I went back home and the door was shut and I saw the water running. I heard the water running and the water was coming from under the door as well. So as I was about to open the door it was closed and my mother shouted out and said مكانك يا أبو حريرة مكانك stay in your place يا أبو حريرة stay in your place and then he said that she finished taking a shower she got dressed she wrapped her head and she opened the
door and the first thing she said to أبو حريرة رضي الله عنه يا أبو حريرة أشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وأشهد أن محمد عبده ورسوله the first thing she said to him سبحان الله before anything else was the shahada. Imagine how happy he was رضي الله تعالى عنه قال فرجعت إلى رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم فأتيته وأنا أبكي من الفرح he said this time I came to the Prophet ﷺ crying but out of joy. The first time I came to the Prophet ﷺ crying out of sadness now I came to the Prophet ﷺ crying out of joy to give him the good news قلت يا رسول الله أبشر قد استجاب الله دعوتك وهدى أمي أبو حريرة Oh messenger of Allah glad tidings Allah answered your dua Allah guided the mother of أبو حريرة فحمد الله وأثنى عليه وقال خيرا The Prophet ﷺ praised Allah and he extolled him and the Prophet ﷺ said that's good news قال قلت يا رسول الله أبو حريرة doesn't stop he knows the power of the dua of the Prophet ﷺ I said oh messenger of Allah ادعوا الله أن يحببني أنا وأمي إلى عباده المؤمنين ويحببهم إلينا Oh messenger of Allah make dua to Allah ask Allah to make أبو حريرة and his mother beloved to the believers and to make the believers beloved to them so make the believers all the مؤمنين love أبو حريرة and the mother of أبو حريرة and let أبو حريرة and his mother love the believers So the Prophet ﷺ he raised his hands and he asked Allah Oh Allah make أبو حريرة and his mother beloved to all of the believers and make the believers beloved to them
قال فَمَا خُلِقَ مُؤْمِنٌ يَسْمَعُ بِي وَلَا يَرَانِي إِلَّا أَحَبَّنِي He said so no believer was born except that he saw me and he loved me he saw me or heard me and loved me so I saw the dua of the Prophet ﷺ even in the time of the fitna where sides start to break out أبو حريرة is loved by all sides except for the خوارج because they're a different story right those that are killing everyone and the extremists they're a different story but the believers وَإِن طَائِفَتَانِ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِ اَقْتَتَلُوا the believers on both sides both love أبو حريرة and أبو حريرة says no believer that I ever encountered or a believer that heard of me heard of me except that they love me so there's a question here just like when we talk about the Prophet ﷺ saying about أهل البيت about the people of his household Oh Allah love those who love them it's a part of إيمان to love أبو حريرة when the Prophet ﷺ said Oh Allah love those who love the أنصار or that to love the أنصار is a part of faith then loving أبو حريرة رضي الله تعالى عنه is a part of إيمان so we ask Allah to make us amongst those that love أبو حريرة and his mother and that are beloved to the one who made them beloved to us اللهم آمين so this changes the situation for him drastically أبو حريرة رضي الله عنه this orphan boy now has his mother ميمونة who's an old blind woman and they're both believers the beauty doesn't stop there of this relationship أبو حريرة رضي الله تعالى عنه every single day had this habit with his mother so his mother was in one room basically two separate doors to this singular structure but it was technically two houses or you know like a duplex of sorts whatever you want to call it right but the point is that he has to go to her door from the outside so every single day what would أبو حريرة do أبو حريرة رضي الله تعالى عنه إذا أراد أن يخرج
this is in الأدب المفرد by إمان بخاري every time he would leave his house وقف على بابها he would go and he would stand at his mother's door and he said السلام عليك يا أمتها ورحمة الله وبركاته so he'd give salam oh my dear mother and the mercy of Allah and His blessings and she would say وعليك السلام يا بني ورحمة الله وبركاته so he'd give back salam and he would say رحمك الله كما ربيتني صغيرا may Allah have mercy on you as you raised me when I was young and she would respond and she would say رحمك الله كما بررتني كبيرا and may Allah have mercy on you oh my dear son as you have shown me nothing but righteousness in my old age ثم إذا أراد أن يدخل صنع مثله and when he would come back home he'd go do the same thing so he wouldn't leave his house or come back home except that he'd stand in front of his door and greet his mother and make du'a for her and she would greet him and make du'a for him as well so Abu Huraira رضي الله عنه deeply loved his mother Maymuna رضي الله تعالى عنها and subhanAllah it's no coincidence that he is the narrator of the famous hadith that the women love the men sometimes feel a little slighted by it which is أمك ثم أمك ثم أمك ثم أباك your mother then your mother then your mother then your father Abu Huraira رضي الله عنه is the narrator of that hadith from the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم we have to accept it brothers and you know it's an authentic hadith but it's no coincidence that this is narrated from Abu Huraira رضي الله عنه and subhanAllah in one of the narrations Sahih Muslim in fact the narrator says and this is actually recorded in Muslim وَبَلَغْنَا أَنَّ أَبَهُ رَيْرَ لَمْ يَكُنْ يَحُجُّ حَتَّى مَاتَتْ أُمُّهُ لِسُحْبَتِهَا it's narrated that Abu Huraira did not even do Hajj رضي الله عنه until his mother passed away because he wanted to keep her company and he did not get married until she died so Abu Huraira had a special relationship with his mother
may Allah be pleased with him and be pleased with her and this is your first introduction to this orphan boy that comes to Medina that is now caught between what he's going to do in shadowing the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم while also serving his mother being her only child and not having anyone else in the house so this is the first introduction to this young man رضي الله عنه now that's one life of Abu Huraira رضي الله عنه which is the service to his mother the other side of his life in this regard in these four years with the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is of course the one that he's more famous for which is being the leader of Ahl as-Suffah رضي الله عنه now Ahl as-Suffah رضي الله عنه is a term that's used to refer to those people who are technically homeless they would come to Medina and they were Muhajireen they were people that were migrants from outside and they would sleep in the Masjid and the Sahaba the Ansar would particularly when they got their first batch of crops they'd go to the people of Suffah the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم when he would stand up in the Masjid he would say every one of you take someone from Ahl as-Suffah home and Allah عز و جل will make it so that one you know the food that amounts for one person will amount for two and two for three and so on so forth so the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم would encourage the Sahaba frequently go take someone from Ahl as-Suffah and care for them in your homes usually it's a temporary state you're not permanently from Ahl as-Suffah but these are young people or people that are single men that are dedicated to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and whose situation is still not settled in Medina and in and of itself is a beautiful state that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم puts them in the Masjid in the Masjid and this kind of shows you the discrepancy between how the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم thought of a Masjid and how we think of a Masjid right that this is Masjid Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم and he wanted to make sure that the poorest of the community were visible that they were not invisible to the rest of the community and he would make dua for those that would care for them
and the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم would always take them and he would care for them and if someone invited the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم he'd bring Ahl as-Suffah with him so Abu Huraira رضي الله تعالى عنه is in this situation as well okay for some time he is part of the people of Ahl as-Suffah and I actually want to show you all an image because you can actually see where Ahl as-Suffah are today if it comes up there it is so right between or right after you enter from Bab Jibreel and this is typically where the women's section is now you'll see this elevated structure As-Suffah literally refers to an elevated structure so they were on an elevated structure in the Masjid of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and that structure is still marked by this here so this is where Abu Huraira رضي الله تعالى عنه and that group of people would stay Abu Huraira رضي الله تعالى عنه mentions the hunger the poverty and some of the scholars the writers mentioned that look, you know it's already hard enough as a shepherd that's barely living off of a few coins amongst your own people now you have to come situate yourself amongst the people and those types of jobs are already taken right, those are the first that's the first set of jobs that are taken and so Abu Huraira رضي الله تعالى عنه does not have a way to earn for himself yet and he is dedicated to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم to learn from the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and this is something unique only to the life of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم why, because it's condemnable for a person to inflict poverty on themselves after the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم so that they can be in the Masjid for example right, that's a condemnable state you'll find narrations from Sayyidina Umar رضي الله تعالى عنه in that regard to voluntarily inflict poverty on yourself but how many years do you have with the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم right, while he's on this earth and Abu Huraira رضي الله تعالى عنه wants to dedicate himself to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم so he's new to the community and he doesn't have tribesmen and he would suffer from extreme hunger so he says
and there are a few narrations قال أن الناس كانوا يقولون أكثر أبو هريرة people used to say that Abu Huraira narrates too much he has too many حديث and he explains وإني كنت ألزم رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم بشبع بطني he said that I used to accompany the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم with every single moment of my life even to the point that I wouldn't have enough to put food in my stomach now the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم would go days without food but he's different صلى الله عليه وسلم so Abu Huraira رضي الله تعالى عنه doesn't want to miss a moment with the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم so he would say I'd be with him and basically at the expense of my stomach so he said that I'd go days without having a loaf of bread or having any date or anything like that he didn't want to ask he's too dignified to ask anyone for food he doesn't want to tell anyone that he's hungry so he's hoping that someone will notice قال وكنت ألسق بطني بالحصبة من الجوع he said so I used to tie stones to my stomach out of hunger and this was something that we see even from the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم خندق tying a stone to your stomach as a means of dealing with your hunger he says وإن كنت لأستقر الرجل الآية هي معي كي ينقلب بي فيطعمني he said so I would say salam to someone and I would have an ayah of the Quran that I already know but I'd ask him about an ayah from the book of Allah hoping that they would notice me and they would feed me and he says وكان أخير الناس للمسكين جعفر رضي الله تعالى عنه he said Ja'far was the most generous of people رضي الله تعالى عنه he said كان ينقلب بنا فيطعمنا ما كان في بيته he said Ja'far would take us and he would feed us the people of Sufah with whatever was in his house رضي الله تعالى عنه he says until it would come to a point that we would just have the container
that the butter was left on and I would lick whatever I could get off of it because that was the most that we could have and Ja'far رضي الله عنه would give everything in his house until you know the only thing that you could get from him that shows you the extreme situation of poverty that they lived in the only thing that you could get from him was licking the can or the surface where butter had once touched so this is the hadith in Al-Bukhari and he mentions in another narration you know this is later on in his life when he wasn't in such poverty he says that I remember those days that I would pass out right outside of the house of Aisha رضي الله عنها meaning he'd stay with the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم until the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم got to the house of Aisha رضي الله تعالى عنها and he said that I'd pass out and he'd point to the pillar I remember passing out a few times out of hunger and I'd just sit there and hold my stomach and he said that a person would come فَيَجْلِسُ عَلَى صَدْرٍ he'd sit next to me and he would think that I'm a crazy person so I'd say to him لَيْسَ الَّذِي تَرَى إِنَّمَا هُوَ الْجُوعُ look I'm not sick it's just I'm not a crazy person or anything like that it's جوع it's hunger that's causing me to be in this situation I'm just hungry right so he's describing this situation that he had رضي الله تعالى عنه so the most famous hadith in this regard and it's a beautiful hadith Abu Hurair رضي الله تعالى عنه says in a long hadith in Bukhari and I'm going to just say it in English because it's very long he said that I swear by Allah that I used to lay on the ground and I used to press my stomach to the ground out of hunger at times and I used to bind a stone over my stomach and he said that one day I sat at the place that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم would pass by and the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and his companions would come out from this area so he said Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه passed by and he said وسألته عن آية من كتاب الله I asked him about a verse from the book of Allah and he said I already knew the answer so I asked him a question about tafsir what does this ayah mean what does this ayah mean and I was hoping that
Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه would take notice and he'd invite me to eat he said so I told him you know can you explain this verse to me and Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه explained the ayah and then he walked away then he said Umar رضي الله عنه came out he said سألته عن آية من كتاب الله I just asked him about a verse from the book of Allah hoping he'd notice but Umar رضي الله عنه answered the tafsir question and moved on as well he said so finally the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم comes out and he said he knew ما في وجه وما في قلبي he knew what was on my face and what was in my heart subhanAllah the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم recognized hunger because he was the hungriest of the people صلى الله عليه وسلم he used to go days without food صلى الله عليه وسلم so he said the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم looked at me and before I said anything to him he said يا أبهر oh father of the grown cat alright father of the grown cat so the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was joking with him and obviously Hurayra had become a big cat by now it's been years right the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was joking with him and this was a means of lightening the mood so he said يا أبهر so Abu Hurayra رضي الله عنه said لبيك يا رسول الله here I come O Messenger of Allah what is it? so the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said follow me so I followed him and I'm like الحمد لله the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم got it and this is all going to go well so the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم asks he enters into his home and he asked for permission from me and I enter with him as well and the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم finds a pitcher of milk so he says where is this milk from? and they say that someone gifted it to you يا رسول الله so this is one of his wives صلى الله عليه وسلم so the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم looks at me he's got this milk in his hands this is going great so far the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم says يا أبهر and he says لبيك the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said go call all of Ahl al-Sufa so Abu Hurayra رضي الله عنه says I went out to the masjid and he gives this context he said when the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم used to get any gift
سبحان الله the first thing the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم would do is he'd call for Ahl al-Sufa so he said this was the habit of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم he finds something in his house but he was hoping something would be a little bit different right now like clearly I'm extremely hungry right now I need this myself and this is only going to delay it and he said that when the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said that I got upset so he's actually saying like on the inside I was like come on like I'm hungry clearly and he said I felt like I was more entitled to that milk than anyone else but the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم gave me a command so I wanted to respond to the command of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and I wondered what would remain from the milk if it was given to Ahl al-Sufa but at the same time I obey Allah and I obey the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم so I went to Ahl al-Sufa I called on them they all came and the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said أبهر I said لبيك يا رسول الله I said sit over here the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said take it and give it to them so he's taking it and he's serving the milk to all of them so he said that I would give it to someone and I was hoping the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم would say that and I was hoping the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم would say that and I was hoping the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم would say to me now your turn but the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said now that person now that person now call the next batch in so he said and I'm thinking to myself well there's not going to be anything left for me right so one by one the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم says admit the next batch admit the next batch and they're all drinking from the same pitcher of milk and then after all of it was done and Abu Hurayrah was wondering how is there still milk in this thing the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم says it's just you and me the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said it's just you and me he literally says that to him look it's just you and me now right so Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه says صدقت يا رسول الله you've told the truth O Messenger of Allah so the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said go ahead and drink now Abu Hurayrah didn't want to drink before the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم now it's awkward right like it's just me and the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and clearly
the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم needs to drink from it as well and so Abu Hurayrah says did you drink and O Messenger of Allah he said no you drink you drink until I drink and he said that I drank and Subhanallah I found it to be still full of milk and I drank and I drank and the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said اشرب drink more so he said I drank and I drank and the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said اشرب and I drank more he said until I got so full of the milk that I couldn't drink anymore so I told the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم Ya Rasulullah that case hand it over to me and the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم took from it and he praised Allah حمد الله he praised Allah سبحانه وتعالى and he said بسم الله and the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم drank from the milk himself صلى الله عليه وسلم at the end of أبو حرير رضي الله عنه and all of أهل الصفة drinking from this milk the amount of lessons from this it's in كتاب الرقاق by Bukhari and many other chapters Subhanallah you can literally spend an entire حلقة of the mannerisms by which you treat the poor from this hadith but I think the point suffices that this is the life of Abu Hurairah with the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم Subhanallah there is another riwayah it's not the one that's famously quoted he said Abu Hurairah رضي الله عنه says لقيت عمر رضي الله تعالى عنه وذكرت له الذي كان من أمري he said I saw Umar sometime after that and I told him what happened I was like you know I saw you outside the masjid and I was hoping you'd notice I was hungry so the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم came and he said that Allah عز و جل willed that someone who had more right than you would take notice of me and would would know better than you in that situation and Umar رضي الله عنه was so upset with himself because that's Umar رضي الله عنه and he said والله يا أبا هريرة لأن أكون أدخلتك أحب إلي من أن يكون لي مثل عمر النعم he said that I swear O Abu Hurairah
that if I would have noticed and given you something to eat that day it would have been better to me than a valley of red camels which was the most prized blessing that they had at the time from this world so he's like I wish I noticed and I wish I could have had the أجر the reward of feeding you that day but only the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم knew it in that day now I want to go through some of the stories of Abu Hurairah رضي الله عنه from the time of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم that are extremely unique one of them Abu Hurairah رضي الله عنه Abu Hurairah رضي الله عنه says that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم once in charged me or charged me with well it says Sadaqah here but Zakatul Fitr just to be very precise in Ramadan okay so the Sadaqah of Al-Fitr Zakatul Fitr as we know it So the Prophet ﷺ Gave Abu Huraira radiyallahu anhu Responsibilities with bayt al-mal And discharging to the poor And in and of itself Some of my teachers they mention That that is from the hikmah of the Prophet ﷺ In and of itself that the Prophet ﷺ Took a poor person and put him in charge of Delivering to the poor as well Because he will know the situation of the people So Abu Huraira is in charge of zakat al-fitr He can recognize things He can properly take that responsibility And do what he has to do So Abu Huraira radiyallahu anhu Said that when I went to bayt al-mal So obviously they are not delivering cash They are delivering grain They are delivering You know raw stuff He said I saw a robber A thief that was Taking from it So he said So I caught him And I said Wallahi I'm going to take you to the Prophet ﷺ And the man said to him And this is in the darkness of the night He said look I'm a poor man And I have a large family And I have great need So let me go Just let me off this time I'll put it back And I won't come back So the man put the stuff back And Abu Huraira radiyallahu anhu said In the morning I went to the Prophet ﷺ And Rasulullah ﷺ said Ya Abu Huraira What did your prisoner do last night? Abu Huraira said how did you know I had a prisoner? Right?
So he was surprised that the Prophet ﷺ Knew what happens So he said Ya Rasulullah the man complained about Being needy and having a large family So I felt sorry for him And I let him go So the Prophet ﷺ said He lied to you and he's going to do it again So Abu Huraira radiyallahu anhu said I knew he was going to come back Because the Prophet ﷺ said that So I stayed up at night And I watched and waited for the man to come back He said the man came back And he once again started to steal So I caught him again And I said this time I'm definitely taking you to the Prophet ﷺ You fooled me once But I won't let it happen again And the man started to beg me And he said look I won't come back I had a large family Let me go And so he said I felt sorry for him again And I let him go So the Prophet ﷺ saw me in the morning He said what did your prisoner do? So I said Ya Rasulullah he complained And he looked like he was in a lot of pain He was in great need I mean who has more empathy Than the Prophet ﷺ right? So this is what Abu Huraira is thinking This is just a situation of empathy So he said I let him go Ya Rasulullah The Prophet ﷺ said he's lying to you And he's going to come back again So Allah says a third night I waited I watched and the man once again came to steal So he said You know I caught him And I said I'm taking you to the Prophet ﷺ And this time I don't want to hear anything about your family I don't want to hear anything about how poor you are I'm taking you to Rasulullah The man said to him forgive me I won't come back He said I'll teach you some words That Allah will benefit you by And that will protect you So I said what are they? So he said when you go to sleep Recite Until the end of the verse And if you do so if you recite Allah will appoint a guard for you That will stay with you and no shaitan Will come to you until the morning So Abu Huraira Was kind of spooked by this incident Like this is a strange incident That happens
So he said I let him go again And the Prophet ﷺ said to him In the morning What did your prisoner do? So I said Ya Rasulullah I caught him And then he said to me Look I'll never come back if you recite These words So the Prophet ﷺ said What were the words? So I recited Ayatul Kursi And the Prophet ﷺ said the famous Words He told the truth but he's still A liar He told the truth but he's still a liar Ya Abu Huraira do you know who that was? He said no who was it? Ash shaitan Ok Ash shaitan It's an authentic hadith it's one of the great lessons That you can learn something from anybody At some point As the scholars mentioned subhanallah even the shaitan Could tell the truth sometimes when I say a broken clock Is right twice a day Even the shaitan was capable At that moment of telling the truth But he is a liar And this is one of those Unique instances that happened with Abu Huraira Radiyallahu ta'ala anhu Now the question becomes and I kind of have to Go through this a little bit quickly because of time How does he know so much From the Prophet ﷺ? How many hadith and what was that process like Of gaining knowledge from the Prophet ﷺ And I want you to actually think of yourself If you walked into Medina 20 years after the death of the Prophet ﷺ And you walked into Masjid al-Nabawi The largest halaqa in the Masjid of the Prophet ﷺ Was the halaqa of Abu Huraira radiyallahu ta'ala anhu By consensus There were more people in his halaqa than anyone else This is in the time of the companions And the tabi'een as we'll see He lived long after the Prophet ﷺ The largest halaqa in the Masjid of the Prophet ﷺ So what was that process like? And the first people To question the integrity of Abu Huraira Were the people of fitna That killed Uthman radiyallahu ta'ala anhu The beginnings of the khawarij The extremists of this ummah Why? Because Abu Huraira sided
With the companions against them obviously So they wanted to throw insults And make claims about him And they were the first people to question his integrity How does he memorize so many ahadith? How does he get so much from the Prophet ﷺ in four years? Where there were companions that stayed with the Prophet ﷺ For much longer And they didn't narrate as much as him So first and foremost The way he shadowed the Prophet ﷺ Ubay ibn Ka'b radiyallahu ta'ala anhu Says that Abu Huraira radiyallahu ta'ala anhu Would shadow the Prophet ﷺ When none of us would And he said And he would ask him everything لا يسأله غيره And no one else would ask the Prophet ﷺ But Abu Huraira radiyallahu ta'ala anhu would ask the Prophet ﷺ So he would ask the Prophet ﷺ questions And he shadowed him all the way And in one narration He said to the Prophet ﷺ يا رسول الله من أسعد الناس بشفاعتك O Messenger of Allah Who will be the happiest person with your intercession With the intercession of the Prophet ﷺ And he responded The Prophet ﷺ said لقد ظننت يا أبا هريرة لا يسألني عن هذا الحديث أحد أول منك That I knew, O Abu Huraira No one was going to ask me about this before you Or other than you in this regard لما رأيت من حرصك على الحديث Because of what I've seen of you Of your enthusiasm To learn from the Prophet ﷺ And the Prophet ﷺ said أسعد الناس بشفاعته يوم القيامة من قال لا إله إلا الله خالصا من نفسه The Prophet ﷺ said The happiest person on the Day of Judgment Is the person who said لا إله إلا الله sincerely from their heart That person is going to be so happy With my intercession on that day May Allah ﷻ grant us the intercession of the Prophet ﷺ And the Prophet ﷺ said In one narration In Al-Hakim Which has some slight weakness to him Abu Huraira Abu Huraira is a vessel of knowledge In an authentic narration
Abu Huraira says قدمت والله ورسول الله ﷺ بخيبر I came to the Prophet ﷺ from the time of Khaybar وأنا يومئذ قد زدت على الثلاثين And at that point I had reached 30 years So I was about 30 years old وأقمت معه حتى توفي ﷺ And I stayed with him until he passed away أدور معه في بيوت نسائه ﷺ أدور معه في بيوت نسائه ﷺ I would go with him even to the homes Of his wife ﷺ وأخدمه And I would serve him ﷺ وأغزو And I would fight alongside him ﷺ And I'd go out with him in Hajj وأصلي خلفه And I'd go pray with the Prophet ﷺ فكنت والله أعلم الناس بحديثه ﷺ And so I was the most knowledgeable Of people in regards to his hadith for that reason For his shadowing the Prophet ﷺ And that's why you find That those who narrate from him In this regard, he said Even Umar, Uthman, Ali, Talha and Zubayr سمع عشر مبشرين Ten promised paradise They narrate from Abu Hurayra Because of how close he was to the Prophet ﷺ And Talha ibn Ubaidullah رضي الله عنه Was with the Prophet ﷺ early on in Mecca He said لا أشكوا I have no doubt in anything Abu Hurayra narrates He said because he heard from the Prophet ﷺ What none of us heard Because we would come to the Prophet ﷺ At the beginning of the day And at the end of the day But Abu Hurayra never left his side He was a shadow to the Prophet ﷺ And Zayd ibn Thabit رضي الله عنه He describes that moment When Abu Hurayra first entered into the masjid And he starts to attend the halaqat Of the Prophet ﷺ and stay close to him And he's telling the tabi'in He says listen to Abu Hurayra He said because once three of us Were in the masjid of the Prophet ﷺ Waiting for the Prophet ﷺ نَدْعُوا اللَّهُ وَنَذْكُرُوا I mean this is such a beautiful scene Three companions, young companions And we were making du'a and we were
Remembering Allah عز و جل together And they're waiting next to the door Of the Prophet ﷺ إِذْ خَرَجَ عَلَيْنَا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَامًا حَتَّى جَلَسَ إِلَيْنَا And then the Prophet ﷺ came out And he sat with us ﷺ I don't hear you all making salawats by the way So they were ready to stop making du'a And the Prophet ﷺ saw they were in the zone So the Prophet ﷺ said Go ahead and continue, keep making du'a So now you're making du'a And the Prophet ﷺ is saying ameen Right? So they all started to make du'a And first Zayd went And then his friend went And Abu Hurairah waited till the end And look at the intelligence of Abu Hurairah Abu Hurairah said so I made du'a I said O Allah and grant me everything That my companions asked for An ilm la yunsa A knowledge that would not be forgotten And the Prophet ﷺ said ameen So he said I took their du'as as well And I took the du'a For knowledge that would never be forgotten And so then Zayd said We said to Rasulullah ﷺ make the same du'a for us The Prophet ﷺ said سَبَقَكُمْ بِهَا الْغُلَامَ الدَوْسِ That the young dowsi man beat you to it Some du'as have a window So this was a window And this is where you find Beyond just staying close to the Prophet ﷺ A miracle that happened With Abu Hurairah ﷺ But the Prophet ﷺ Or Abu Hurairah ﷺ Came to the Prophet ﷺ And he said Ya Rasulullah إِنِّي أَسْمَعُ مِنكَ حَدِيثًا كَثِيرًا أَنْسَاهُ Ya Rasulullah I hear so much from you and sometimes I forget So he's complaining to the Prophet ﷺ About sometimes forgetting things So the Prophet ﷺ said Give me your cloak Your rida And the Prophet ﷺ spread it out And the Prophet ﷺ made du'a And it was as if he was pouring something in it And then the Prophet ﷺ told him to put it back on And he held it close to his chest And listen to what Abu Hurairah ﷺ said He said ثَمَا نَسِيتُ شَيْءًا بَعْدَهُ
I never forgot anything after that Not even a harf, not even a letter from what the Prophet ﷺ said So this is from The miracles of the Prophet ﷺ That Abu Hurairah ﷺ Would remember everything he heard from the Prophet ﷺ With precision And he would narrate it and he wouldn't make a mistake Now subhanAllah One of the first tests of hadith Because this was a thing How does he know so much from the Prophet ﷺ Was about four decades later Marwan ibn Hakam wanted to test Abu Hurairah He was the governor of Medina So he told Abu Hurairah ﷺ To sit and he said He had people sit behind Abu Hurairah ﷺ Behind a curtain and write down everything he said And he said narrate everything that you know from the Prophet ﷺ And Abu Hurairah narrated Everything for the entire day From day to night he just kept on saying I heard the Prophet ﷺ say I heard the Prophet ﷺ say And he had them write it down And then he brought them back a year later And he said narrate everything that you heard He said wallahi he narrated everything Without anything even being out of order This was a miracle And that's why Imam al-Shafi'i ﷺ Says about Abu Hurairah That he is the person who has the greatest memory From the Ummah of Muhammad ﷺ In his time and he said Even until the Day of Judgment And so what was his halaqa like He would pray Fajr And then after At Dhuhr Abu Hurairah would narrate A hadith up until Dhuhr What a halaqa May Allah allow us to sit in those halaqas in Jannah Ameen I mean that's so beautiful Every halaqa I mean that's so beautiful Every day Fajr pray Dhuhr Then listen to Abu Hurairah In the masjid of the Prophet ﷺ Tell you everything you heard from the Prophet ﷺ And so people would gather around to hear from the Prophet ﷺ Or hear from Abu Hurairah About the Prophet ﷺ Some of the narrations have stories To them as well And you can hear them You can hear the affection
So for example He said To the Prophet ﷺ That my beloved one Gave me three advices He told me to never leave them He said To fast three days of the month And to pray And to pray And to pray And for me to pray Before I sleep So these three things He said the Prophet ﷺ gave them to me As personal advice To the Prophet ﷺ as well To fast three days of the month And to pray two rakahs of Dhuhr And to pray witr before you sleep Listen to this hadith I love this hadith so much The Prophet ﷺ was with Abu Hurairah And some of the companions And the Prophet ﷺ said من يأخذ عني هؤلاء الكلمات فيعمل بهم أو يعلم من يعمل بهم Who will take these words Of advice from me And act in accordance with them Or teach those who will act in accordance with them You understand the concept? Who's going to take these words from me And act upon them or teach people Who will act upon them May Allah make us amongst them So Abu Hurairah immediately said أنا يا رسول الله فأخذ بيدي So the Prophet ﷺ took Abu Hurairah's hand فعد خمسة So the Prophet ﷺ taught him five things And with each thing he said to him Look at this teacher So he said he took my hand And he gave me five advices He said اتق المحارن تكون أعبد الناس Leave off the haram Leave off the prohibited things You'll be the greatest of worshippers You think worship is praying so much And qiyamah, no no Leave off what Allah has prohibited تكون أعبد الناس وارضى بما قسم الله لك تكون أغنى الناس Be pleased with what Allah has given to you and you'll be the richest of people
That's two So he's teaching him this way Remember these five things I'm telling you O Abu Hurairah And act upon them and teach people that will act upon them وأحسن إلى جارك تكون مؤمنا Be good to your neighbor And you'll be a true believer You want to be a believer How do you treat your neighbor This is a very important lesson for us today So he put the third one down And then he said وأحب للناس ما تحب لنفسك تكون مسلما This is an authentic hadith by the way Love for people what you love for yourself You'll be a true Muslim Love for people what you love for yourself You'll be a true Muslim ولا تكثر الضحك فإن كثرة الضحك تميت القلب And don't be excessive with your laughter Because too much laughter kills the heart It's good to be humorous It's good to be funny It's good to show joy But when you laugh as if there's no concern in the world And you're never able to be serious You kill your heart So the Prophet ﷺ told him this With five things Put his five fingers down Memorize these things And teach people that will act in accordance with them والحديث صحيح عند الإمام أحمد والترمذي والتبراني May Allah ﷻ make us amongst those that act upon it اللهم أمين One of the stories as well The famous hadith where the Prophet ﷺ Was with the companions one day And he took them to Jumdan A mountain in Mecca that's all by itself And the Prophet ﷺ said سَبَقَ الْمُفَرِّدُونَ That the loners Have gone ahead The loners have gone ahead So they went with the Prophet ﷺ And they asked the Prophet ﷺ Who are these people And he said Those who remember Allah frequently From the men and from the women So this hadith is narrated by Abu Hurairah And what's narrated from him After that He would do Tasbeeh 12,000 times a day So his Wird was to say Subhanallah or do some form of Tasbeeh
12,000 times a day Now this was my Dhul Hijjah series But I found an interesting little tidbit as well Why the number 12,000 So some of the scholars say that the Diyah You know if you accidentally killed someone You know the compensation or if you accidentally hurt someone The blood money at the time was about 12,000 So Abu Hurairah رضي الله عنه Was considering this like a ransom of himself And he said أُسَبِّحُ بِقَدْرِ دَنْبِي That I do Tasbeeh in accordance With how many sins I need to expiate for the day Subhanallah This is a companion of the Prophet ﷺ Look at the fiqh, look at the understanding That he has in his mind and in his heart رضي الله عنه He didn't just memorize a hadith from the Prophet ﷺ He also was a Hafidh of Quran Which not all the companions were And he was one of the Muftis of the companions And so his fiqh was also a great school of fiqh And what was his household like So He got married when his mom passed away And I don't have too much time So I'm just going to ask you to go watch a previous episode He married a woman by the name of Busra bint Ghazwan Busra bint Ghazwan رضي الله عنها Was the sister of a famous Companion Utbah bint Ghazwan So you can go back and watch the episode we have on Utbah bint Ghazwan رضي الله عنه A great companion, one of the first Muslims And a great conqueror from the companions of the Prophet ﷺ So Abu Huraira رضي الله عنه has a story SubhanAllah in many ways it mirrors somewhat the story of the Prophet ﷺ with Khadijah رضي الله عنها So I used to tend to her sheep I was her shepherd, she was a wealthy woman And I was a shepherd And then when my mom passed away and I was ready to get married The proposal came for me to marry her So I married her And Abu Huraira would be heard saying after Salah sometimes, he'd lead the Salah and he'd say Alhamdulillah Allah عز و جل Blessed me So I married Abu Huraira and blessed him With a spouse like my spouse And then changed my situation from this to that Basically he went from being in poverty To automatically being in a good situation Because his wife was a wealthy woman رضي الله عنها
So this was his wife Now, the story continues And it's a beautiful one, what was that household like? So they had one daughter They had one daughter Uthman al-Nahdi who was a Tabi' He says that I Followed Abu Huraira رضي الله عنه And that I went to stay in his home for seven days And he said that He was the most noble of hosts That I'd ever seen, the most noble of hosts From the companions of the Prophet ﷺ And he said that he had a System in his house Where he, his wife, and one narration his Daughter and one narration his servant But they would divide Qiyam They'd divide the night by three And basically every one Of them would pray one third of the night and then Wake up the other and then go to sleep So he said it was the most interesting SubhanAllah thing, system he'd seen of Qiyam In a house, so Abu Huraira Will pray one third of the night and then He'll wake up his wife, she'll pray the second third And then she'll wake up her daughter or she'll wake up The servant, they'll pray The last third of the night and they'll switch it up For some nights, but imagine a Household where someone is praying Qiyam the entire Night How beloved is that household to Allah ﷻ So he said they did this for all seven Nights, may Allah ﷻ be pleased with them all And he said he used to This is another narration from Maymoon Ibn Abi Maysara, he says And when Abu Huraira would wake up Every day, the first thing he Would say is ذهب الليل وجاء النهار وعرض آل فرعون على النار SubhanAllah, the night is gone The day has come and the People of Firaun have been exposed to The fire عشي يقول ذهب النهار وجاء الليل وعرض آل فرعون على النار The same thing, it's very interesting And he said, so no one hears About the fire إلا استعاذ بالله من النار Except that they seek refuge in Allah from the punishment So he said, so I seek refuge in Allah from the punishment And of course this is referring to the Barzakh
The current state Of the people of Firaun that they are exposed to The fire, day and night Now of his virtues Ibn Umar r.a praised him, he said that he's better than me و أعلم بما يحدث He's more knowledgeable about that Which he says from the Prophet s.a.w. And we know Ibn Umar r.a loved the Prophet s.a.w. Was close to him Abu Huraira is the one who led the janazah Of the wives of the Prophet s.a.w. After they passed away And this was a sign of his status When Hafsa r.a. passed away Ibn Umar was still alive And he preferred Abu Huraira to lead the janazah of Hafsa When Aisha r.a. passed away Abu Huraira led the janazah When Umm Salama passed away Abu Huraira led the janazah May Allah be pleased with them all So this was a sign of his status r.a. That he was the chosen imam for the janazah Of the wives of the Prophet s.a.w. And we mentioned his great memory He was someone who was a great mujahid He used to fight in battle He fought in the battle of Yamama He fought in the battle of Yarmouk He was someone who was appointed as a governor And I'll just share two more stories inshaAllah ta'ala Then we'll go ahead and close out You know Umar ibn Khattab r.a. was tough on his governors For integrity purposes, right? And Umar had a particular love for Abu Huraira Because he knew he knew so much from the Prophet s.a.w. So when Umar would start the salah He would send Abu Huraira to go check on the straightness of the lines All right And Umar appointed him as a governor of Bahrain Now what was Umar's favorite Or not favorite What was he famous for when it came to the governors? He'd pop up in your city And then he'd ask the people about you And he'd see what's in your house See how much money you had And then try to measure every discrepancy This was the justice of Umar ibn Khattab r.a. You never wanted to get caught You know messing up by him, right? So once Umar ibn Khattab r.a. went to Bahrain Surprised Abu Huraira, right? He asked the people The people said great things that he's dealt with us With safety and security and goodness and justice Everything was traced But Abu Huraira had a little extra money So Umar ibn Khattab r.a. said
من أين لك هذا? Famous statement Where'd you get that from? Abu Huraira explained He said listen I was homeless for years I used to barely eat anything So he said it's just the frugal lifestyle that I have That I end up saving money So he said this little bit of extra money Is because I really don't do much with that money When I get it, right? So I don't eat the way that normal people eat I don't have the same clothes that normal people have So Umar ibn Khattab r.a. said But you may have gotten this money Because the people, you know Saw you in a particular way You know basically was grilling him on the discrepancy So he told him you should donate at least half of it For the sake of Allah Abu Huraira r.a. donated all of it to بيت المال And then he made dua for Umar r.a. Because he didn't want the trouble Umar r.a. went home Now Umar had the habit of what? Rotating governors Why? Because he didn't want someone to stay as governor For too long in a place And then the power The grip of power would be too much So he'd take people from different places And put them in different places, right? So eventually his term ended And Umar r.a. wanted to appoint Abu Huraira as a governor again And Abu Huraira said no way I don't want to be your governor again And Umar r.a. said why? He said I don't want that position He said someone who is better than you Took that position Yusuf a.s. He said Yusuf was a prophet and the son of a prophet I don't want to be your governor So Umar r.a. said Why are you leaving this affair just to me? Why are you putting this just on my back? He said listen He said being your governor entails these three things He said أخاف أن يشتموا عرضي He said I'm afraid that they're going to dishonor me ويأخذوا مالي Or they'll take my money And he said ويضربوا ظهري Or I'll get flogged So he said people talk about you when you're in power So I'm either going to get dishonored Or my money is going to get taken somehow Or I'm going to get end up If someone puts out an accusation and it holds I'm going to end up being flogged And he said وأخاف أن أقول بغير علم وأن أقضي بغير حلم And I'm afraid to speak without knowledge
Or to judge without gentleness So leave me alone Omar Leave me out of this So Omar رضي الله عنه let him go And he did not serve as governor under Omar Again, he served as a governor of Medina Or in charge of Medina later on And we find that in the time of Uthman رضي الله عنه He was one of those who defended Uthman رضي الله عنه He also was known And this is important subhanAllah For his humor with the people Abu Hurair رضي الله عنه was a funny man And he was a humble man And those two things went hand in hand Humor and humility with him رضي الله عنه Because he would joke with everyone Including the kids So he used to play with the children of Medina And he basically played hide and seek with them All right So he touched them, hide And when they would catch him When they would touch him He would act like he was dead All right And then how do you wake him up? You read Quran on him And then he wakes up and says لا إله إلا الله Then he falls back down if he gets caught And they have to read Quran on him to wake him up And then he says لا إله إلا الله So he was teaching the kids to read Quran To wake him up Even in the game that he was playing with the children And he said that Abu Hurair رضي الله عنه When he was the Amir of Medina Because he always wanted to work with his own hands And not take any privilege He would carry the wood on his back And sometimes just to mess with people He'd carry longer pieces of wood And then he'd walk through the marketplace and said افتحوا الطريق للأمير Make way for the governor And people would laugh And they'd go all the way to the sides And he kind of poke you to the side Right and left رضي الله عنه So he had a very pleasant demeanor with the people And this was from his حسن الخلق From his good character and from his humility رضي الله عنه As I mentioned He's one of those who defended Uthman رضي الله عنه When Uthman was being killed He's one of those who withdrew from the fitna After the assassination of Uthman رضي الله عنه So he defended Uthman رضي الله عنه And he defended his own credibility with hadith But when Uthman was killed And things became confusing And you had Sahaba on both sides Abu Huraira was one of those who said
I want nothing to do with this And subhanAllah as we said From the dua of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم Everyone loved him But he didn't take sides He withdrew himself رضي الله عنه From the fitna altogether And this is one of And this is so pertinent to our times One of the recorded context of the story Where he came to the marketplace And he started to say to the people Everyone to the masjid ميراث رسول الله The inheritance of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم Is being distributed The inheritance of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم Is being distributed Everyone to the masjid So people left the marketplace And they went to the masjid And they found these circles of fiqh These circles of Qur'an These circles of hadith And they told Abu Huraira Are you messing with us? And he said no He said that's the inheritance of the Prophets And subhanAllah the scholars mentioned That when fitna grows The circles of knowledge shrink And that's exactly what was happening The circles of knowledge started to shrink Less people were taking interest in deen More people were taking interest in drama And Abu Huraira رضي الله عنه Was trying to remind them and calibrate them Come back to the masjid of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم And sit and learn Where he would sit there And he would recite the hadith of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم All the way from fajr until dhuhr He would pass away رضي الله تعالى عنه About 60 years after the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم And subhanAllah as I said It was kind of like these youth From the people of fitna They poke at him They'd say you narrate so much from the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم Trying to implicate him And saying that he lies On behalf of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم And he said رضي الله تعالى عنه That if I told you all that I knew You would throw me into a ditch and kill me If I told you all I heard from the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم And what he meant by that are the hadith About the characteristics of the people of fitna Right Which he would narrate رضي الله تعالى عنه When he would pass away When he was sick رضي الله تعالى عنه And the people were still visiting him And they were asking him multiple questions And they were asking him questions about the fitna About the trials and tribulations Abu Huraira رضي الله عنه would answer
And then after some time he looks up And he smiles and he says اللهم إني أحب لقائك فأحب لقائي Oh Allah I would love to meet you So love to meet me Oh Allah I would love to meet you So love to meet me And he said رضي الله تعالى عنه لا تضربوا على قدري أسطاطا ولا تتبعوني بنار He said look don't make a ceremony when I pass away Don't put stuff on my grave Don't follow me with fire Don't light these torches And don't make a whole scene when I pass away He says فإذا حملتموني فأسرعوا فإن أكن صالحا تأتون بي إلى ربي He said if I'm a righteous person When you're carrying me to my grave Then be quick Because if you're being quick with me You are hastening my meeting with my Lord فإني سمعت رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم يقول إذا وضع العبد الصالح على سريره قال قدموني قدموني وإذا وضع الرجل السوء قال ويلكم أين تذهبون بي He said I heard the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم say That when the righteous person passes away And they're being carried on the shoulders That they say hurry up with me Hurry up with me They're excited to meet Allah سبحانه وتعالى And when a wicked person has passed away Then he says woe to you woe to you Where are you taking me to And he passed away رضي الله تعالى عنه Like I said close to 60 years After the death of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم And so many people praised him سبحان الله بن عمر رضي الله عنه عنه ما قال كان يحفظ على المسلمين حديث النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم That he was the one that used to preserve The hadith of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم For this ummah until today All of the hadith that you hear from Abu Huraira رضي الله عنه He gets a share of the reward One last tidbit رضي الله تعالى عنه As I said the students are too many Their companions, their Tabi'een It's literally about 40 pages In As-Seerah Alam An-Nubulat
Longer than most people's biographies How many people narrated from him One of the greatest Tabi'een If not the greatest of them Was Sa'eed ibn Musayyib Sa'eed ibn Musayyib Remember that daughter of Abu Huraira He married her And he was a great student of Abu Huraira And by marrying her He got an extra level of access Of the strongest chains of hadith And one that is present in SubhanAllah Almost all of what you Or much of what you will read Is from Abu Huraira To Sa'eed ibn Musayyib To Imam Al-Zuhri And then to Sufyan ibn Uyayna Or other great scholars of the Tabi'een and others So SubhanAllah it's a family affair even That this Tabi'een marries this righteous daughter Of Abu Huraira May Allah be pleased with them all And then narrates to us about the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم May Allah be pleased with him May Allah be pleased with all of the great companions And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala be pleased With the family of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم May Allah عز و جل raise us with them And forgive us for our shortcomings Allahumma ameen As I told you all This is a longer topic But I did my best InshaAllah ta'ala We'll continue next week Jazakumullahu khair Wassalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh
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