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 Jandal, Abdullah, & Suhayl Ibn Amr (ra) : Switching Sides | The Firsts
The story of Abu Jandal, Abdullah, and Suhayl Ibn Amr is one of the most unique stories in the Seerah with multiple twists in the lives of every member of the family all ending with the pleasure of Allah.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Bismillah walhamdulillah wa salatu wasalamu ala rasulullah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala. So inshallah ta'ala tonight, dear brothers and sisters, we are covering not just one of the most interesting characters of the seerah, but really a fascinating family where every person within this family has an incredibly unique story. And I want to start off with a conversation since we just finished with Sayyidina Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, that is narrated between Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu and Abdullah ibn Suhail ibn Amr radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhuma. And this conversation comes in some of the contemporary books to show you a story of how these people were trying to come to terms with their Islam. So the story is that Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu goes out one night and he finds Abdullah. That's not the story. He goes out and he finds Abdullah and he says to Abdullah, Ya Abdullah, oh Abdullah, ma akhrajaka sa'i ila hadha almakana wahdak waqad janna allayt. He says, oh Abdullah, what is it that brought you out to this place in the darkness of the night? So they're in the valleys of Mecca and he sees Abdullah ibn Suhail and he says, what is it that brought you out to this place in the middle of the night? So Abdullah says, ma kharujuka antas, what is it that brought you out, oh Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. Now everyone is kind of suspicious of each other in the early days of Islam. Who's hiding their Islam? Who is open about it? You know, they're trying to sort of figure each other out, scope each other out. So Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu was not a Muslim yet at this point. So this is pre-conversion Umar, who if you remember the story of Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, there were some mixed signals about where he stood.
His intentions, his motivations were very different from the motivations of Abu Jahl and Abu Sufyan and others at the time. So Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu says, daqa sadri fa ahbabtu an ajduwa bin nadhri ila al-samai wal-nujum. He said, you know, I was feeling some constriction in my chest. I was having a hard time. I wasn't feeling too good. And I went outside to look out to the skies and look at the stars at night. You know, basically I'm just trying to catch a breath of fresh air in the middle of the night and relieve myself from some anxiety that I'm feeling. Abdullah says, idhan faqad akhrajani alladhi akhrajak. He said, if that's the case, then I'm out here for the same thing. So both of us are hanging out in the valley of Mecca, looking out at the stars in the sky. So Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu says, mahmum, are you okay? What's going on? Mal ladhi ahammak? What is it that is causing you stress? And subhanAllah how these conversations are happening. So Abdullah says to Umar, ya Umar, hal ya'eesha alrajulu biqalbain ya Umar? O Umar, does a man live with two hearts? Wahidun linafsihi wa athirun lighayrihi? One for himself and one for the others? Meaning can a person have two personalities and two hearts? One where they really, you know, feel for themselves, think for themselves. And one that they have just to appease the people. Hal nuqli'u aba'ana wa na'asi af'idatana? So he's saying to Umar radiyaAllahu anhu now, he's getting very explicit. Should we follow our fathers, obey our fathers, and deny what our hearts feel? So the two hearts are what? The heart that I have for my family and my people, and the heart that I have for myself. How I'm really feeling about what's going on. Now he still hasn't said what it is, but he's speaking about this in a very clear way.
Hal ya'eesha alrajulu biqalbain? Can a man really live with two hearts? How am I supposed to live my life? So Umar radiyaAllahu anhu said, waylak, ahuwa al-islam yurawiduk? He said, woe to you, is it Islam that's causing you this confusion? But then listen to what he says. He says, in kana al-islam huwa ma yurawidu fu'adak? If it is Islam that is causing you to have this feeling in your heart. And he says, fa-ata'atahu wajaharta bihi wa tahammalta lahul magharim? And you follow it, and you bear the consequences, because you believe in it. You bear the consequences of obeying this message, following what your heart feels. He says, fa-anta khasimi aljadeeru bi-i'zaazi wa ta'adheemi? Then look, you're my enemy, you're going to be my opponent. I'm not going to like you, but at least I'll respect you. This is the mind of Umar radiyaAllahu anhu. So look, if you're going to follow your conscience, and you're going to follow this religion of yours, if this is really how you feel, and you bear the consequences of that, I'm probably going to be torturing you soon. But at least I'll respect you, because you're following your conscience. He says, on the other hand, ama in jabunta? He said that if you become cowardly, wa aatharta salamata ala ghayri ma ta'taqiduhu? And then you choose peace, you choose security over what you believe to be right. He says, fa-anta harifiyaljadeer bi-i'tiqari lahu wa zdirai? Then you'll be on my side, basically I'll be okay with you, you'll be one of us, but at the same time I'm not going to have much respect for you. SubhanAllah, you'll be little in my eyes for not following what you believe. The truth. He says, fa-la-adri kayfa ansahuk? So Omar says, look, I really don't know what to tell you. At the end of the day, I don't know how to advise you to go about your affairs, because, you know, we're friends. If you become Muslim, I'm coming after you with a whip next time.
But at the same time, don't be a coward. I'm telling you, follow your conscience and follow what you see to be right. Abdullah says, bala qad mansahtani, ya ibn al-khattab? He said to him, rather, oh Omar, you have given me the advice that I was seeking. So he goes home to his father. Who is his father? Suhaib ibn Umar. Suhaib, the chief orator, the chief negotiator of Quraysh, the most eloquent man of Quraysh, a man who is known for his speech, for his wisdom, for his wealth, a man who is admired by all of the tribes, and a man who had so much to lose with Islam in terms of worldly power, if he did not see the truth for what it was. So Abdullah says to him, and keep in mind here, Abdullah was about 16 years old when the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam received the revelation. So he's having this conversation with his father as an 18 or 19 year old. He's very young. And he says to his father, he says, ya abata, he says, oh my father, aturidu an yakuna waladu kadha wajhain? Do you want to have a son who's two-faced? And he said to him, of course not. And he said to him, do you prefer having a son who would be a loyal coward or a courageous opponent? Look what he's doing to his father. So wisdom runs in the family. So would you prefer a son who is loyal to you but was a coward, or would you prefer a courageous opponent, someone who stands up for himself and who's courageous, but he's also your opponent? So Suhayb responds and he says, I definitely prefer the courageous opponent, but why can't you be loyal and courageous? Like that would be better than the two options that you gave me, as if you were loyal and you were courageous. So he said to him, listen, I want you to know that I followed the religion of Muhammad ﷺ, and I have rejected al-latun al-uzzah, I've rejected your two idols. Suhayb says, la taf'al, don't do it. He says, I've done it.
He said, don't do it. He said, I've done it. He said, I'm going to kill you. Abdullah said, lan taf'al, you're not going to kill me. He said, I'm going to kill you, and then that threat didn't work. He said, listen, I am the richest man in Quraysh, and I'm not going to let you inherit any money from me. No wealth is going to come to you through me. Abdullah responded, maa'indallahi khayrun wa abqa. What is with Allah is better and everlasting. He said, then I'm going to put you in prison. I'm going to tie you up and imprison you for the rest of your life. And Abdullah said, you will not succeed in imprisoning me physically or mentally. So Suhayb says, get out of my house. You're not my son anymore. He disowns Abdullah. But at the same time, hoping that he'll come back to him. That is Abdullah ibn Suhayl ibn Amr, and he is the older brother of the two famous brothers, Abdullah ibn Suhayl and Abu Jandal. Abu Jandal, radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhum ajma'een. So you have Abdullah, who as I said was about 16 years old, when the Prophet ﷺ received revelation. And you have Abu Jandal, who we're going to speak about, who is the younger brother, and who probably was not even a teenager when the Prophet ﷺ received revelation, but he looks up to his brother Abdullah. Abdullah is his older brother. Abdullah is his role model, and he's heavily influenced by him. The father, as we said, is Suhayb ibn Amr. The mother, very interestingly enough, is Fakhita bint Amr ibn Nufayr. Now I'm going to go through a lot of names, and I'll try not to spend too much time on this part, but of course that would make her the sister of Zayd ibn Amr ibn Nufayr, radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhum, who was one of the first people that we spoke about. But I couldn't find any information on Fakhita. So Fakhita bint Amr ibn Nufayr, the mother, Suhayb ibn Amr, the father, and you have these two children, Abdullah and Abu Jandal, both who are considered from the earliest Muslims. Okay, Abdullah becomes Muslim.
Abu Jandal, even though he was a young boy, follows his older brother and privately becomes Muslim as well, and embraces Islam with the Prophet ﷺ in secret. You have Sahla, also who is their sister. Sahla was one of the first Muslims, and she was the wife of Abu Hudhaifah. If you remember when we talked about Abu Hudhaifah, radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhum, Sahla is the one who breastfed Salim Mawla Abu Hudhaifah. Famous companions, we already did an episode about them. So Sahla, Abdullah, Abu Jandal, and then you have another sister named Um Kulthum, who also became Muslim, and who was amongst those that made hijrah to Abyssinia as well. So all four of the children of Suhayb ibn Amr that are mentioned here became Muslim. Okay, and the two daughters both migrated to Abyssinia with their husbands to escape the persecution in Mecca. Abdullah also migrated to Abyssinia. Abu Jandal was still a young boy. He stayed with his father, and his father did not know that he became Muslim. So think about the life of Suhayb ibn Amr right now. And I'm going to emphasize the Islam around Suhayb for a reason, because his conversion is a very strange conversion story. Like how late it was for him to become Muslim. So his kids become Muslim. Three out of the four escape the persecution that he's partly responsible for with their spouses to Abyssinia. His son Abu Jandal, young boy, privately a Muslim as well. His brother, and this is where again, if you start thinking about the tree, all of his siblings also embraced Islam. So Suhayb's kids embraced Islam, and all of his brothers embraced Islam too. One of his brothers was As-Sakran ibn Amr, who was the husband of, and I don't expect anyone to remember this, but if you go back to her story, does anyone remember by any chance?
Saudah bint Zam'a, radiyaAllahu anha. So Saudah, the wife of the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, was first married to As-Sakran, the brother of Suhayb ibn Amr. He died in Mecca the same time as Khadijah, radiyaAllahu anha, which made it obviously convenient for the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, to then, at the advice of Khawla, propose to her. So she lost her husband. They migrated to Abyssinia as well to escape persecution. Then you find the other brothers of Suhayb. They also all embraced Islam, and they all migrated to Abyssinia to escape persecution. And their names are even not very well known. So we have As-Sakran, we have another brother that is named Salit or Sulayt, who also escaped persecution and went to Abyssinia. So basically the point is that Suhayb ibn Amr is the only person who is really holding out here. Everybody else around him becomes Muslim very early on. They're amongst the first. Children, siblings, they're all going towards the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam. But Suhayb is looked at as the pride of Quraysh. He's their spokesperson, he's their orator, he's their negotiator. And so subhanAllah, his sense of tribalism overtakes even not just his faith, but his family, his loyalty to his own immediate family. All of them are being persecuted as a result of his insistence upon jahliyah, upon the days of ignorance and upon the ways of ignorance. So what we know is that they go to Abyssinia, and Abdullah was one of those, as we said, who escaped persecution. When Abdullah came back from Abyssinia, on the rumor that the people of Mecca became Muslim, because there was a rumor that spread to the people in Abyssinia that the mushrikeen in Mecca, the disbelievers in Mecca, had become Muslim.
When Abdullah came back, this time Suhayb would not let him go. Suhayb takes him, and he, obviously this is a new stage in trying to persecute and break down the Prophet ﷺ as well, and he indeed imprisons him and he starts to torture him. So when Abdullah first became Muslim and for the first few years, yes, it was a bad relationship, it soured the relationship between him and his father, but his father did not make well on the promise of actually imprisoning him. But now he imprisons him, and this makes an example out of him for his younger brother Abu Jandal as well, who still has not told his father that he's a Muslim. So he's watching his older brother Abdullah be tortured for the sake of Allah ﷻ, and then as a result of that, Abdullah pretends to renounce Islam. So this whole story gets very interesting now. Abdullah pretends to renounce Islam, and so he escapes imprisonment, and he continues to aid the da'wah of the Prophet ﷺ, secretly being a Muslim. So now Abdullah and Abu Jandal are both privately Muslims. Abu Jandal is still too young for this to be consequential for him. Abdullah is actually helping the Prophet ﷺ while coming home and pretending to be a non-Muslim as his father had made well on actually imprisoning him. Now, Ta'if comes. The Prophet ﷺ comes back from Ta'if, and this is very important because it shows you how the Prophet ﷺ saw something in Suhail ibn Amr that was different. When the Prophet ﷺ sought permission to get back into Mecca after the torture of Ta'if, he sent Bilal ﷺ to two people. First he sent him to al-Akhnas ibn Shuraik. And al-Akhnas ibn Shuraik, he said, no, I can't do it. There's just no way for me to overcome all of the pressures of Mecca.
The Prophet ﷺ then sends Bilal ﷺ to Suhail to secure his entrance back into Mecca. And some of the ulama mention, they say, because Suhail did not oppose the Prophet ﷺ the way that Abu Jahl, the way that Abu Lahab, the way that Abu Sufyan did. You see, they're not all the same. Suhail was not one of those who physically laid hands on the Prophet ﷺ, who spit at him, but he sort of maintained a sort of dignity in the social arena. And so the Prophet ﷺ thought to try to tug at that in his heart, look, your fellow Meccan, your nephew, because Suhail is older, he's a respected elder, is seeking permission to come back to his hometown. Will you secure that permission for me? Suhail does not respond nastily to the Prophet ﷺ. As much as he hates what the Prophet ﷺ has done to his family, he sends a message back to the Prophet ﷺ with Bilal, and he says to him, look, if it was up to me, I'd let you back in. He said, I'm from Banu Amr, you're from Banu Hashim, our tribal relations do not intersect at the level that I could meaningfully offer you protection. So I'm sorry, but I can't offer you protection. Very interesting. He didn't tell the Prophet ﷺ, get out of here. He didn't tell the Prophet ﷺ, you're lucky I'm not coming after you. He actually apologized that he said, I can't bring you back to Mecca, even though he's one of his persecutors. So the Prophet ﷺ saw something in Suhail that maybe one day would come to pass. Maybe his affiliation or his strong ties to Quraysh and the idea of holding Quraysh together would bring the Prophet ﷺ back after Ta'if. So anyway, the Prophet ﷺ makes hijrah. Now this is where the story starts to take all sorts of twists and turns.
Suhail goes out with the chiefs of Mecca to fight the Prophet ﷺ in Badr. And of course, some of the chiefs of Mecca didn't really want to do it. They were really pushed by Abu Jahl. Abu Jahl was the chief insider, saying let's go out there and let's get rid of Muhammad ﷺ once and for all. Some of the others were like, no, let's not do it. It's not worth it. Do we really want to start to shed blood and go to war with our own sons and our own nephews? Abu Jahl insists, he pushes all of them to go out to fight in Badr. So Suhail goes out and he goes out with his son Abdullah, thinking what? That Abdullah was on his side. This whole time, these last few years, he thinks Abdullah has renounced the religion of Islam. And so here's one of the firsts and only that comes. They get to Badr and as they get close to the Muslim army, Abdullah at night takes off and runs and goes and joins the Muslims. So he switches sides at Badr. This is the only person that you could see doing that. And subhanAllah, pay attention that none of the Muslims who saw themselves outnumbered here, because Badr was supposed to be a massacre of the Muslims, right? None of the Muslims fled. None of the Muslims went back to their fathers and said, we're sorry, we messed up. Please forgive us the night before the battle. But Abdullah defects from the Mushrikeen and he runs to the Prophet ﷺ and he joins the Prophet ﷺ to actually fight on the side of the Muslims in the Battle of Badr. Abu Jandar was still a young man back home in Mecca. He was left back in Mecca, not yet of the age of battle. So Suhail sees this and obviously this enrages him. His own son. So Suhail goes forth. The battle goes on. Abdullah fights against his father. Suhail was captured in the Battle of Badr.
Abdullah joins the ranks of the Prophet ﷺ and he will now go back with the Muslims in Medina. So Abdullah has defected not just from his father, but he's defected from Mecca as a whole. Suhail is captured. Now here's one of the very interesting things you're going to see throughout this biography. Umar was not a fan of Suhail ibn Amj. He really did not like him. He did not see the good in him that the Prophet ﷺ saw that there was something there. And Umar was also a very literate man, a poet, eloquent. He kind of knew the politics of Quraysh. And so Suhail particularly annoyed him because he was an insider at the end of the day. I mean his voice was a heavy voice. He was able to cut off alliances from the Prophet ﷺ. Like Amr ibn Aas ﷺ, he's able to effectively isolate the Prophet ﷺ with his tongue. And so when Suhail was captured in Badr, and this is actually mentioned in Dila'l an-Nabuwah, the Proofs of Prophethood by al-Bayhaqi, rahimahullah, Umar radiyallahu ta'ala anhu sees Suhail and he says to the Prophet ﷺ, he says, Ya Rasulullah, he said, let me knock his teeth out so that his tongue can stick out. I want to make an example out of this mouth of his that has done so much harm to you and harm to the Muslims. Let me just go ahead and knock his teeth out so that for the rest of his life his tongue will be out there and he won't be able to use his eloquence to incite against you. And the Prophet ﷺ, first he says, I will not mutilate him, lest Allah mutilate me. Subhanallah, the ethics of battle, we're not them. We don't mutilate our prisoners. So the Prophet ﷺ said, everything that happened, he said, I'm not going to mutilate him, lest Allah mutilate me. We don't mutilate our prisoners. We don't make examples out of people physically this way. Then he says to Umar radiyallahu anhu, he says, Da'aha fala'allaha anta surruka yawmin. Leave this mouth of his because one day this mouth is going to make you happy.
It may be that one day the mouth of Suhail will make you happy as it has angered you. And he says, wa la'allahu yaqoomu maqaman taghbituhu alayhi. And maybe one day Suhail will take a stance that you would envy him over. He's saying that to Umar radiyallahu anhu. Suhail, something is there. I see something there. Why does al-Bayhaqi mention this in Dalaa l-Nubu'a and the Proofs of Prophethood? Because no one else saw anything in Suhail. I mean, if he hadn't become Muslim, when's he going to become Muslim? All of his siblings have become Muslim, all of his children. I mean, he had every introduction to Islam that you could possibly need at this point. And he's still insisting on his ways. But the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, even in the heat of Badr, after capturing him, says, Umar, don't knock his teeth out. That mouth might please you one day. That tongue might please you one day. So Suhail is a prisoner and Suhail says to his captors in Badr, and of course the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, was deciding what to do with the captives. Suhail says that he needs to use the bathroom. So Suhail goes to use the bathroom and then he runs off and he escapes. Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, sends out the troops. They go and they capture him back and they bring Suhail back and his hands are tied to his neck and he's brought to the house of who? Saudah, radhiallahu anha, his sister-in-law, his former sister-in-law. And Saudah, radhiallahu ta'ala anha, she looks at him in this humiliated, you know, way and she says to him, she said, if only you would have died a noble death, like what a humiliating way for you to go. Like this, this is low of you, oh Suhail. And the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, got upset with Saudah. He said, are you trying to incite him against Allah and the Messenger, salallahu alayhi wasalam? And Saudah, radhiallahu anha, apologized. And the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, said, it's okay, leave him alone. Let him kind of just dwell in this place. And then the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, goes to each one of the prisoners and he's negotiating the release with the prisoners, right? So each one has a very unique circumstance. Some of them have money to give to themselves to ransom.
Some of them can only teach how to read. Everyone has a unique circumstance. Suhail is a rich man. Suhail is a rich man. Abdullah comes to the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam. And Abdullah, this was not easy for him. Like, think, you know, subhanAllah, if you go back to the story of Miqdad when they're talking about how hard it was for them to see their families in this way, Abdullah was hurt. He's emotional, seeing his father as a prisoner, knowing that he came out with his father and he loved his father a lot. So Abdullah is trying to negotiate his release with the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam. And Suhail, of course, was going to be released, just like the other prisoners in Badr. And so the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, comes to him and the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, says, what do you have to ransom yourself? He said to him, listen, you know the wealth that I have. I have many camels in Mecca and a lot of wealth, but I need to go get it from Mecca so I can bring it back to you. That's Suhail. The Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, actually accepts that. And it's a very interesting circumstance. There's a man by the name of Mikraz ibn Hafs, who's from the same tribe. Mikraz takes the place of Suhail in captivity. Suhail goes back to Mecca to get his ransom. He comes back to the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, gives the wealth to the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, and takes Mikraz out of captivity. Really interesting, right? So, subhanAllah, on one hand, he shows nobility. On the other hand, he's an annoying insider to Umar, radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, like this man's tongue is driving us crazy. Now, sometime along the way, sometime along the way, Abu Jandal's Islam clearly becomes known to Suhail as well. SubhanAllah, we don't have any of the story of Abu Jandal, radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, up until this point of Hudaybiyyah, six years after Hijrah, because who's narrating from him? Who's telling the story of when Suhail found out he became Muslim?
Who's learning about Abu Jandal's own plight? But this young man in Mecca, at some point, became exposed for being a Muslim to his father. And what did Suhail do? He did to him what he did to Abdullah. He put him in a chamber in his own house. But Abu Jandal, radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, had nobody around him. So he's a young man, spent no time with the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, did not get to grow up around the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, did not get to grow up around his brother, and he's in prison. So think about the location now. Suhail and Abu Jandal in Mecca. Suhail, still a chief enemy of the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam. Abu Jandal, a young man that has grown up, and without the Muslims in Medina even knowing, in prison, in a chamber, in the house of his father in Mecca. Abdullah, at this point, has settled in Al-Medina, and he's one of the companions of the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, around the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, taking part in the different battles, and a student of the Messenger, alayhi salatu wasalam, a noble companion, who gets to grow up in that Medina society. Then comes Hudaybiyyah. The Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, and the Muslims make their way out to do Umrah, and we know the story of Hudaybiyyah. This treaty takes place, this negotiation takes place, because the people of Mecca were in a tough spot. In their ethics, they allow even their enemies to do Umrah and Hajj. So either they're going to betray their own ethics and kill their own, or they're going to be humiliated by letting the Muslims come into Mecca and do Umrah and go back to Medina. So it's a really tough situation for the Meccans to try to figure out how to get themselves out of this predicament. So they're trying to figure out all sorts of ways, right? Uthman, radhiallahu anhu, goes to negotiate. They tell Uthman, radhiallahu anhu, how about you? They try to sweeten up Uthman, radhiallahu ta'ala, anhu, you know, or compromise with him and say, why don't you go ahead and do Umrah, right? And let's see if we can negotiate this another time for the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam. The Sahaba are ready to go. They are ready to go.
And they take this pledge with the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, towards death, that they are ready to die for the sake of Uthman, radhiallahu anhu, and they think that Uthman has been killed. The point is, is that the Sahaba are in a mindset that we're going to go do Umrah, or we're going to die in the process. But this is it, right? We're on our way to Mecca, no matter what. As the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, is sitting in Hudaybiyyah, the chief negotiator of Mecca comes, and it is Suhail ibn Amr. Now, the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, was an optimist, and he used to love atafa'ul. He used to love good omens, salallahu alayhi wasalam. So he didn't allow bad omens for us to say, you know, oh, well, this happened, so bad things are going to happen to me. But the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, loved atafa'ul. He loved good, good omens. So what does the name of Suhail mean? It means ease, right? It means ease. So the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, is sitting with his companions, and he sees Suhail ibn Amr coming, and he said, قَدْ جَاءَكُمْ سُهَيْلٌ قَدْ سَهُلَ لَكُمْ أَمْرُكُمْ He said that Suhail has come to you, and so your affairs have been eased for you. This is good news for us, that Suhail is the one that is coming forward. So Suhail comes, and he starts to negotiate these terms with the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam. Al-Bara' radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, he narrates, قَالَ صَالِحَ النَّبِيُّ صَلَى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَمَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ يَوْمَ حُدَيْبِيَةٍ عَلَىٰ ثَلَاثَةِ أَشْيَاءٍ He said that the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, made the treaty with the disbelievers in Hudaybiyyah on three conditions. He says, عَلَىٰ أَنَّ مَنْ أَتَاهُ مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ رَدَّهُ إِلَيْهِمْ وَمَنْ أَتَاهُ مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ لَمْ يَرُدُّوهُ He said that the first condition is that he should return the polytheists, or anyone from the mushrikeen that comes to the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, I'm sorry, anyone that comes to the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, from the mushrikeen, is basically protected.
And if anyone from the Muslim fugitives escapes to Medina, then they have to be returned. So this is a really unfair condition. Okay, it's an unfair condition. That basically, if one of the disbelievers in this battle or in this captivity escapes, then they're safely returned back and they have that security that's granted to them. But the Muslims, on the other hand, if one of the Muslim fugitives escapes from Mecca, then they have to be given back to their captors. That's a condition that they made with the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam. And then he said that he should enter Mecca only the following year, and he can only stay in it three years. So basically, the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, will go back with the Sahaba to Medina, and they'll do Umrah the next year, not that year, and they can only come for three days, and they do what they have to do, and then they come back. And that also that the weapons that they come with will be only the swords that are meant for sacrificing the animals, and they'll keep them in cases. So they're not going to come with their war swords to Mecca when they come for Umrah. Now, that's the conditions that are being made, right? There's also some things that Suhayb says to the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, which is obviously very famously known to us. When the treaty is being written, Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim, who's writing from the Muslims? Ali, radhiallahu ta'ala alam. The Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, is instructing Ali, radhiallahu alam, to write the treaty. So Suhayb and the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, are negotiating man to man. Ali is the one writing the conditions. So it starts off with Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim. Suhayb says, uh uh uh uh, we don't know ar-Rahman ar-Rahim. He said, say Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim, and just say in the name of Allah. We know Allah. We don't know these names ar-Rahman ar-Rahim. So Suhayb is even pushing in that regard. Okay? Then, from Muhammad, Rasulullah, salallahu alayhi wasalam, Suhayb said,
if I thought you were Rasulullah, I wouldn't be fighting you. He said, write in the name of your father, the son of your father, Muhammad ibn Abdullah. The Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, told Ali, radhiallahu anhu, erase it. Ali, radhiallahu anhu, his hand stopped. He's not going to erase Rasulullah. So the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, himself wipes it out. Scratches it out. He says, where is it? Scratches out Rasulullah. Muhammad ibn Abdullah. Fine. You got your treaty. In the name of Allah, you got Muhammad ibn Abdullah. You got these conditions. After all that we've been through, we're on our way to Mecca. You know, we're in our ihram. We're going to turn back. And we're going to come back next year after all that excitement. Who's the one who's burning on the inside the most? Umar, radhiallahu anhu. Umar, radhiallahu anhu. Wait a minute. Aren't we on the truth? Alasna alal haqq. The same thing when Umar, radhiallahu anhu, became Muslim and he took them out to protest. Right? Why are we making these conditions with them, ya Rasulullah? Let's go ahead and let's just go forth. Let's fight them. Who cares? Aren't we on the truth? Aren't they on falsehood? Umar, radhiallahu anhu, really wants to go forward and there's only one person, and this is why he remains superior with all of our love to Umar, radhiallahu anhu, only one person who sees things exactly as the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, and that was Abu Bakr as-Siddiq, radhiallahu anhu. Calms down Umar, radhiallahu anhu, and says to obey the Messenger, salallahu alayhi wa sallam. Now, in the case of Suhail, this is where another first happens, and I want you to think about the mindset of the Muslims. Put yourself in their position, the disappointment of not being able to make Umrah after all these years, and you were in Haram and you thought that you're going to be able to make Umrah. The feeling of humiliation that we had to accept these conditions, where we, you know, erased ar-Rahman ar-Rahim, we erased Rasulullah,
it's an unfair exchange with the Muslim prisoners and their prisoners, all in exchange for what? The ability to do da'wah for ten years in peace. Really, what the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam wanted was that we can secure our alliances, we can do da'wah for the next ten years, you secure your alliances, we secure ours. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam wants to spread the wings of the Ummah at that point, from the state that was established in Medina, right? But still, the emotional impact of this is too much. Now, put yourself in this position. The Muslims had never seen Abu Jandir. Abu Jandir was in a chamber, and Subhanallah, narrated by multiple people, by the way, al-Bara', Abu Jandir, knowing about Hudaybiyyah happening, his father going to Hudaybiyyah, and this treaty about to be negotiated, Abu Jandir managed to escape from the chamber. And he runs to Hudaybiyyah, which by the way is over a hundred miles. He goes to Hudaybiyyah, with his chains still on his hands and on his feet. Makes his way to Hudaybiyyah, and al-Bara', radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, said, we had never seen a sight like we saw that day. Can you imagine a man who had been in a torture cell all these years? And he said every part of his body was wounded, the hair all over the place, right? He doesn't look human at this point, right? But subhanAllah, he's coming out of a torture cell for all of these years, and the chains are still on his arms and on his legs, and he's running towards the Prophet ﷺ. This is a tough, tough, tough challenge. This is hard on the Prophet ﷺ, it's hard on the hearts of the believers, to see Abu Jandir, and he's crying out to the Muslims, Oh Muslims, help me, help me, save me.
So, he just inked the contract, and he sees Abu Jandir running, and subhanAllah, Abdullah is on the other side, and Abdullah ran off to Badr one day, right? So, Abu Jandir comes running, and everyone is just captivated by the sight. The blood dripping, the chains on his hands, the chains on his legs, his hair, his beard, everything. I mean, just an unkept, tortured human being, a person who's been subjected to all sorts of things, and they didn't know Abu Jandir like that, they'd never seen him. He didn't live in Medina with them. And as he comes, Suhaib slaps him, and Suhaib grabs him by the chain that was, there was a cuff on his neck, they say, subhanAllah, like a collar. He grabs him, and he says, and this is the first person in our treaty, you made a deal with me, he comes back with us. Now, if you were in the camp of the Prophet, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, what are you thinking at this point? No way. Tear up the treaty? Let's do what Omar, radiAllahu anhu, said, and punch this guy's teeth out. Send him back home somehow. I mean, how would you feel seeing Abu Jandir? Think about the test of Abu Jandir himself. I finally escaped, after all these years of torture, I found the Prophet, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, I found the Muslims, Suhaib is grabbing him by the collar, Suhaib says, this is the first person that's going back, the Prophet, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, is saying, yes, Suhaib, just give me this one. Just him. We didn't even finish this yet, we're still completing the treaty. Rasulullah, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, is pleading, just give me him. After this, the deal is sufficient. Suhaib says, no, no, conditions were made, we have a deal, this is the first person. I'm not letting him go. The Prophet, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, is in a pretty desperate situation. The Sahaba are already having a very tough time. Sahl ibn Hunaif, radiAllahu ta'ala anhum, and this was in the context of something else,
but he mentions the feeling of that day. He says, ra'aytuni yawma abi jandir. He actually called it, he said, you should have seen me the day of Abu Jandir. That was the moment that captured the day. It was that moment where Abu Jandir is in chains next to his father, covered in blood and torture, calling out to the Muslims to help. The Prophet, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, can't do anything. And the Muslims are watching, and they don't know what to do with themselves. He said, I remember myself on the day of Abu Jandir. He said, walaw astatee'u an arudda amran nabiya, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, la radattuhu, on that day I thought to myself, that would have been the one day that I would disobey the Prophet, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. The context of this was in another time where he's talking about the importance of following Allah and the Messenger, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. He said, look, that was the time where really my nafs, my heart, moved in a way like if I was ever going to disobey the Prophet, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, it was going to be that moment. Right? Where we're just going to attack Suhail. I mean, no, we're not sending Abu Jandir back, but the Prophet, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, has to honor the treaty. Suhail walks with Abu Jandir. Abu Jandir cries out. And he says, ya ma'shar al-muslimeen, he's not even addressing the Prophet, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, anymore. O Muslims, uraddu ila al-mushrikeen wa qad ji'tu musliman, you're returning me to the disbelievers and I came to you as a Muslim? What a test to this young man's faith. This is what I get? I escape a torture chamber to come to you, and you're sending me back to the disbelievers? ala tarawn ila ma laqeet? Do you not see what they did to me when I was with them? Are you really going to let me go back? He's crying out to the Prophet, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, and he's crying out to the Muslims. And the Prophet, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, can only say to him what he used to say to Sumayyah, radiAllahu anha, in those days in Mecca. Be patient. Allah is going to make a way out for you. But it's in the heat of the moment. Umar radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, he goes next to Abu Jandir, and he tries to give him his sword.
And hints to him, he says, kill your father. Like, Abu Jandir, take him out. And he's trying to actually give his sword to Abu Jandir to kill Suhayl. That way it's not on our hands. And Suhayl walks away with Abu Jandir. And the Muslims are left in Hudaibiyah. The Prophet, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, the Muslims, watching Abu Jandir, radiAllahu anhu, dragged away, screaming in pain, and wondering why no one is saving him. That's a test of faith. Like, faith is being tested on the Muslims. The wisdom of the Prophet, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, how are you letting this happen, ya Rasulallah? Aren't we on the truth? Are we really going to let this happen? We've moved beyond the days of Mecca. The heart of the Prophet, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, azizun alayhima anittum, harisun alaykum bil mu'mineena ra'ufun rahim. No one loved Abu Jandir more than the Prophet, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. No one loved him in that moment. Umar did not love Abu Jandir the way the Prophet, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, loved him. But the Prophet, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, has to submit himself to this. It's a test to Abu Jandir himself, of course, more than anything else. I mean, he could have went back to Mecca and said, what? Forget about these Muslims. You know, who is this Muhammad, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam? Who is this Prophet? Who are these people that claim to be on the truth? Look what happened to me. He could have gone back. He could have told his father, you know what? I made a mistake. Forget about them. I'm on your side now. But what does he do? He stays on his faith. That's yaqeen. That's certainty. His father puts him right back into a torture cell. Rasulullah, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, has to go back to Al-Madinah. SubhanAllah, when the Prophet, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, gets to Madinah and Hudaybiyyah has finished, another man escapes Mecca and he escaped with Abu Jandir. So Abu Jandir managed to escape again and he escaped with another man by the name of Abu al-Basir. Also someone, radhiAllahu anhu, who accepted Islam in Mecca and who never grew up around the Prophet, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam.
So Abu Jandir and Abu Basir get out of Mecca again. The Prophet, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, is back in Madinah. Abu Basir goes to Madinah to come to the Prophet, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. Abu Jandir waits on the outskirts. So he stays off of the radar. He knows what happened last time. He knows the conditions. Abu Basir wants to see if he can go to Madinah and be with the Prophet, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. Abu Basir comes. He gets to Madinah. Delegates from Quraysh come. They say, we have two fugitives. In accordance with Hudaybiyyah, Abu Jandir is gone. Abu Basir, he's here in Madinah. You have to send him back. Abu Jandir, the Prophet, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, doesn't know where he is. So he's not responsible at that point. He escaped you. He's somewhere. That's between you and him. Abu Basir, he's in Madinah. And once again, the Prophet, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, has to let him be taken back. Second fugitive. Okay? Second time. Abu Basir is going from Madinah. The delegates of two people from Quraysh, they basically tie him up. They arrest him to take him back to Mecca. Now, on their way out from Madinah, this one's interesting. Okay? This whole story, subhanAllah, just has so much to it. Abu Basir, he says to the man that's with him at night, they're basically camped out at night on their way back to Mecca. He says, wallahi inni la'ara sayfak hatha yaa fulan jayyidan. He said, that sword of yours is really nice. What a nice sword you have. Where'd you get that sword from? So he starts telling him about his sword. So he says, anini anthur ilayha. You mind if I look at it right quick? So Abu Basir, radiAllahu anhu, companion who we don't know anything about other than this incident, by the way, he looks at the sword and then he kills the man. The other man wakes up. He sees Abu Basir with a sword and he runs away. So Abu Basir comes back to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam with the sword in Madinah.
And, or actually before that even, before Abu Basir comes to him, the other man ran back to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. So this is very interesting. Two men came. Abu Basir killed one of them. He runs back. The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam is sitting in the masjid. And this other man is running towards the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. This was the second of the two that came to capture Abu Basir. And the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam says, laqad ra'a hatha du'ran. This man has seen something scary. He doesn't look normal. I wonder what's up with him. So he comes to him and he tells the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam what happened. And the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, he says to him, he said, listen, that's between you and him. Can't do anything. I sent him back. He killed your companion. I didn't keep him. So I didn't violate the treaty. Right. So my advice to you is to get back to Mecca. Abu Basir comes to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam says after that, he says, wayla ummihi mis'ara harbin law kana lahu ahad. Wayla ummihi mis'ara harbin law kana lahu ahad. What that means is basically, woe to his mother. This man could have been a warlord if he had an army. Like this man, Abu Basir, like the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam is praising him. So he could have raised the whole army by himself. So the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam sees Abu Basir. Abu Jandal is on the outskirts of Medina. Now look what happens as a result of this. Abu Basir basically can't stay in Medina. The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam is saying, listen, the same thing is going to happen if you're here. So he basically gives him a hint. Go. Go somewhere else. So Abu Basir goes to Abu Jandal. It gets even more interesting. Abu Basir and Abu Jandal coordinate with some of those that are still Muslims and being held in Mecca. And eventually they manage to free people out of Mecca that are in captivity. So they're going and they're sneaking fugitives out of Mecca that are being held for being Muslim.
And then they form a band of over 70 Muslim fugitives, but they don't go to Medina. What do they do? Instead, the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam is not responsible for them under the treaty. Right. They're their own group of people. They're Muslims, but the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam is not violating the treaty. They formed this band between the trade route of Mecca and Asham, greater Syria. And basically what they do is they just keep attacking the caravans of the Meccans as they're going to Asham. And they crush the economy of Mecca because they scare away the tradesmen, the merchants that are trying to come from Asham. And then they attack the Meccans that are trying to go to Asham. So they mess up the trade route. So what ends up happening? Abu Sufyan sends a message to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. And he says to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, look, can you take those 70 people with you to Medina? And can we just scratch that part of the treaty out? We'd rather they go with you. Then they keep messing up our trade now because they're crushing our economy, because they're harassing all the trade caravans between us and Asham. So we scratch. We were the ones that wanted that condition there. Take Abu Jandal, take Abu Basir, take this group of 70, keep them with you in Medina. We don't want them from you. There's no violation of the treaty. The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam says, of course. So Abu Jandal, Abu Basir, and this group of people go and they now live in Medina with the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. See, subhanAllah, the twist of fate here, it continues. Abdullah and Abu Jandal now live with the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam in Medina. All of Abu Jandal's, all of Suhail ibn Amr's family, Muslim, either died as Muslims or they live in Medina with the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. Fath Makkah comes, conquest of Makkah. Suhail is still holding out on his Islam. Not only that, the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam names six people that are not included in the general amnesty in Makkah. Why? Because if the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam lets them go, then it's going to continue the war. So the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam names these six people.
Suhail is one of them. Three of them, by the way, out of the six would end up becoming Muslims. Suhail is one of them. Suhail knows that at this point, I need to hide. So Suhail says, When the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam came to Makkah, I hid myself away and I coordinated with my son Abdullah to go and plead to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam on my behalf. To let me go. The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam granted his amnesty. Abdullah came to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. He spoke to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam on behalf of his father. The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam accepted his amnesty. Abdullah and Abu Jandal, subhanAllah, they go back to their father. They call him to Islam. He's still not becoming Muslim. Look at the insistence on kufr, on disbelief. Suhail still refuses to become Muslim. When the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam comes into Makkah, you know there's this famous conversation, فَتَحْ مَكَّ يَا مَعْشَرَ قُرَيْشِ مَا تَرَوْنَ أَنِّي فَاعِلٌ فِيكُمْ O Quraysh, what do you think I'm going to do with you? Remember the people of Makkah, they responded, خَيْرًا أَخٌ كَرِيمٌ وَابْنُ أَخٍ كَرِيمٌ We expect from you good because you're a noble man, the son of a noble man. You know who said that? Suhail. This conversation, this famous conversation between the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and Ahlul Makkah was actually between the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam from the steps of the Kaaba and Suhail, who Suhail says to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam when he says, what do you think I'm going to do with you? And Suhail says, you're a good man, you're a noble man and you're the son of a noble man, so we hope from you good. So the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam responds and he says, لَا تَثْرِيبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْيَوْمِ يَغْفِرُ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ وَهُوَ أَرْحَمُ الرَّاحِمِينَ Then I will say to you what my brother Yusuf alayhi wa sallam said, there is no blame upon you today, may Allah forgive you, and Allah is the most merciful of those who show mercy. At that point Suhail became Muslim. When the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam said,
اِذْهَبُوا فَأَنْتُمُ الْتُلَقَىٰ Now I want you to pay attention, the opposite of the first, the first are the sabiqoon al-awwaloon, right? The opposite of the first are this group of people called al-tulaqa, those who the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam let go, the last people to become Muslim. I mean these are people for two decades who held out and fought the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, and after the final amnesty, they finally became Muslim. Now generally speaking, what does Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala say, لَا يَسْتَوِي مِنكُم مَنْ أَنْفَقَ مِنْ قَبْلِ الْفَتْحِ وَقَاتَلُ أُولَٰئِكَ أَعْظَمُ دَرَجَةً مِنَ الَّذِينَ أَنْفَقُوا مِنْ بَعْدُ وَقَاتَلُ Look, those that became Muslim before the Fath, gave their lives up, put their lives at risk, spent their wealth, they went through all these sacrifices, the Abu Jandas and the Abdullahs of the world, they're not like those that became Muslim after the conquest. They're different, they're at a different level. What does Allah say, وَكُلًّا وَعَدَ اللَّهُ الْحُسْنَةُ But you know what, everyone has their individual reward from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Perhaps someone becomes Muslim later on from the Tulaqa, from even this last batch, and they excel even the early Muslims. It may be, it's unlikely. Why? Because they waited all the way after basically they had a choice. The Prophet ﷺ did not force them to convert, but at the same time, you know, like, look, at this point now, if you're fighting for power, the power is gone. The Prophet ﷺ is in charge of Mecca. So, Hayl belongs to that class of Tulaqa, of that last batch of people. Even Khalid radiyallahu anhu, Amr bin As radiyallahu anhu, they preceded him. So, Hayl is with Abu Sufyan and some of those others, those last people to become Muslim. Now, why do I keep on emphasizing this? Because this story takes another turn that, subhanallah, you know, goes against everything you would think how the story is going to end. Now, after Fatah Mecca, the Battle of Hunayn happened.
The Prophet ﷺ united Mecca and they fought against Hunayn, the Hawazin who were plotting an attack from the outside of Mecca. The Meccans united, the new Muslims and the early Muslims, and they fought together against the Hawazin. The Prophet ﷺ gave an extra amount of the spoils of war to the new Muslims of Mecca. The wisdom of the Prophet ﷺ, he wanted to show them that he wasn't going to let them down, that he wasn't, you know, he wanted to soften their hearts to Islam. They were not accepting, even though in the sight of Allah, in terms of their reward, the first Muslims are better than the last Muslims. The Prophet ﷺ wanted to soften their hearts, and it worked. He gave Suhaib ibn Amr a hundred camels from the spoils of war. What was the share of the Ansar? What was the share of the Ansar? You get the Prophet ﷺ. Let the people go with their camels and their sheep. Tarji'una antum ma'a rasoolillahi ﷺ. We get to go back together to Medina and they say, that's what we wanted, ya Rasulallah. All the Ansar wanted was the Prophet ﷺ and Jannah with the Prophet ﷺ. But these new Muslims, the Prophet ﷺ gave them from the spoils of war, the worldly things, to try to secure the alliance at that point of these new Muslims. Now, when the Prophet ﷺ returns back to Medina, at this point now, this is where the hadith will make sense to some of you, la hijrata ba'd al-fath. There is no mandatory hijrah, migration after the conquest of Mecca, meaning those Muslims who became Muslim in Mecca, they don't have to migrate to Medina, they stay in Mecca. So Suhaib didn't move to Medina. Suhaib stays put in Mecca. What ends up happening to Suhaib? Suhaib becomes a distinguished Muslim.
This is very interesting. Known for his salah, known for his qiyam, known for his sadaqah, known for his buka'a min khashyatillah hawla al-ka'ba. He'd be seen in front of the Ka'ba begging Allah for forgiveness and the tears coming down. Suhaib is not like that batch that begrudgingly became Muslim at that point. He looks very different. He resembles the ibadah because those that became Muslim at the end, they weren't known for their ibadah. Their worship was very little. It was more of a political alliance for many of them. Of course, the Islam, we take it as it is. We don't question people's Islam. And some of them indeed became great companions of the Prophet ﷺ. But Suhaib, distinguished. And Abu Bakr says, I remember Hajjat al-Wada'ah. We came for Hajjat al-Wada'ah, Hajj with the Prophet ﷺ, the farewell Hajj. He said, I saw Suhaib ibn Amr coming to the Prophet ﷺ on the day of Hajjat al-Wada'ah, on the day of Eid, the sacrifice. And he's bringing the animals to the Prophet ﷺ so that the Prophet ﷺ can sacrifice. So he's like a submissive servant to the Prophet ﷺ. And he says, Then the Prophet ﷺ called for the barber to cut his hair. So the barber cut his hair. And I looked at Suhaib. Taking the hair of the Prophet ﷺ and putting it on his eyes and crying. So I'm looking at Suhaib. Abu Bakr remembers Hudaybiyyah.
So I'm watching Suhaib, taking even the hair of the Prophet ﷺ and wiping his eyes and crying. And he says, I was remembering Hudaybiyyah. I'm watching, you know, look at Suhaib through the eyes of Abu Bakr. I'm watching Suhaib. And he said, I remembered Hudaybiyyah. That was the same man who didn't want to write Rasulullah ﷺ on the treaty. Like, wow. Abu Bakr, radhiAllahu anhu, is a Siddiq. He knows sincerity. Suhaib is not making a scene. He can tell that Suhaib is actually a devout Muslim now. Against, again, what anyone would have thought conventional wisdom would tell you, the guy held out for over 20 years. While his whole family became Muslim. But subhanAllah, the way he's around the Prophet ﷺ, the way he's clinging to the Prophet ﷺ. And then again, his distinction with his salah, with his ibadah. It goes on. He had a teacher of the Qur'an that lived on the outskirts of Mecca. And Suhaib was going out and studying the Qur'an. And this man was from Khazraj, one of the tribes of Ansar. Now realize the people of Mecca, they're new to Islam, right? So, they still had some of the tribal ways. Remember, those people that didn't socially live around the Prophet ﷺ, or adopt the new social norms of Islam, this was really a steep learning curve for them. Like, suddenly we're merging with the Bilaz and Amars and the people that have lived with the Prophet ﷺ for all these years, and learned in Medina, cultivated that tarbiyah within them, salallahu alayhi wa sallam. So, Suhaib is going out and there's an Ansari man, so just imagine Suhaib, a student of the Qur'an, going out to the outskirts of Mecca to learn Qur'an on a daily basis. Dara'a ibn al-Khattab, he tells him, he says, Ya Suhaib, why don't you have a Qurayshi teach you the Qur'an? We have people that can read Qur'an too, right? Ignorant statement. You know, you want to go learn Qur'an from a foreigner?
Why don't you learn Qur'an from one of us? From one of Quraysh? So, Hayle responds and he says, Ya Darar, I can still see you have some of the traces of ignorance to you. And he said, and Jahiliyyah did to us, you know what ignorance did to us? Ignorance did to us what it is doing to you, حَتَّى سُبِقْنَا إِلَى كُلِّ خَيْرٍ until we got beat out to every khayr. Other people beat us to every good because of our stupidity. That's what he's saying. We got held back by this Jahiliyyah, and all these other people beat us towards Islam. And he says, وَرَفَعَ أَقْوَامًا لَمْ يَكُن لَهُمْ ذِكْرٍ Allah raised people who otherwise their names were not mentioned. Allah elevated them while we got left in the dirt because of our stupidity, because of our insistence on this ignorance. And Suhayb said, لَيْتَنَا كُنَّ مَعَهُمْ فَتَقَدَّمْنَا كَمَا تَقَدَّمُوا I wish we would have been amongst them, so we would have been considered amongst those that went forward like they went forward. SubhanAllah, look at all this regret that's coming out. So it's like in this series of the first, you have in the story of Suhayb, the regret of not being from the first while his children were amongst the first. Suhayb radiAllahu ta'ala anhu continues to learn. Now, the Prophet ﷺ dies in Medina. If Suhayb radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was hypocritical, this was his time to show his hypocrisy. And indeed some of the people of Mecca who had just become Muslim right after the Fath, when the Prophet ﷺ died, they started to rumble and think to themselves, well now is our time to retake Mecca. He's dead in Medina, the Ummah is in chaos, now we can go ahead and we can retake Mecca. So some of the people in Mecca started to talk like that, like let's go back to Jahiliyyah. And by the way, the conversation became so strong that the governor of Mecca, Utab ibn Usaid radiAllahu ta'ala anhu,
he went into hiding because he thought they were going to kill him. So imagine, the person the Prophet ﷺ appointed in charge of Mecca goes into hiding because he fears essentially a coup at this point. Those bad elements in Mecca, even though the Prophet ﷺ tried to secure their hearts and their alliances, some of them see an opportunity now to take back Mecca to Jahiliyyah. And this is where Suhayb radiAllahu ta'ala anhu fulfills the prophecy of the Prophet ﷺ. This is why it's in the miracles, it's dhalal al-nubuwwa al-bayhaq, he considers it one of the miracles of the Prophet ﷺ. He told Umar radiAllahu anhu, he said, listen, one day that mouth that you want to mutilate, those teeth that you want to knock out, one day that mouth is going to make you happy and he's going to take a stance that even you would envy him for, ya ibn al-Khattab. In Medina, in the chaos, who stood in the masjid and calmed everyone down and brought them back to their senses? In Medina. Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, right? Abu Bakr stood up and Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu said, man kana ya'budu muhammadan fa inna muhammadan qad ma'at, salallahu alayhi wa sallam. wa man kana ya'budu Allah fa inna Allah hayyu la yamut. Listen, whoever used to worship Muhammad ﷺ, then Muhammad ﷺ is dead, but whoever used to worship Allah, Allah is ever living and Allah does not die. SubhanAllah, Suhayb, Suhayb radiAllahu ta'ala anhu stands up in front of the Ka'bah hearing these rumblings. And he says, ya ahla Mecca, oh people of Mecca, and everyone gathers around him. They gathered around Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiAllahu anhu in Medina. In Mecca now, this is the first time where, look, we're going to have a conversation about this. He's not the governor of Mecca, but he's Suhayb ibn Amr, he holds a position with them. He says, ya ahla Mecca, so he stands in front of the Ka'bah and they gather around Suhayb. He says, la takunu akhira man aslam wa awwala man irtad. Don't be the last people to become Muslim and the first people to apostate.
SubhanAllah, he's warning them, don't be the last people to become Muslim and the first people to apostate. And he said, man kana ya'budu Muhammadan fa inna Muhammadan qad mat, wa man kana ya'budu Allah fa inna Allah hayyun la yamut. He said the exact same words as Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu. SubhanAllah, like Allah guided him to use the exact same words. If you became Muslim for Muhammad ﷺ, Muhammad ﷺ is dead, but Allah is still alive. Inna Allah hayyun la yamut. And when Suhayb did that, it was as if there was never any rambling in Mecca. Everything went back to its way. Usayyid came out of hiding, Mecca stayed upon Islam. SubhanAllah, through that standing of Suhayb ibn Amr, like warning the people, hey, listen, I used to fight the Prophet ﷺ. If there was anyone that was going to benefit from a worldly perspective of trying to overthrow the Prophet ﷺ, it would be me, and I'm telling you people, don't do this. Don't be the first people to leave Islam when you were the last people to enter into it. That was the prophecy of the Prophet ﷺ. So Abdullah, Abu Jandal and Suhayb are now reunited in Islam. And SubhanAllah, at this point now, Suhayb decides that since the Prophet ﷺ has died, he wants to join the ranks of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala anhu and go out and fight Fi Sabilillah alongside his two sons. So Suhayb goes to Medina, he joins Abdullah and Abu Jandal, the two boys that he once tortured for being Muslim. This story, SubhanAllah, and says let's fight Fi Sabilillah together. They go out in the battles Fi Sabilillah. And Suhayb, as he is fighting alongside his sons, Abu Jandal and Abdullah, the first test comes to him in that regard in the battle of Yamama.
They're all fighting together against Musaylima al-Kaddhab, the false prophets, who had killed many of the Muslims, many of the Hifadh of Qur'an. Suhayb with his two sons, Abdullah and Abu Jandal, and his son-in-law, Abu Hudhayfa. And remember the story, SubhanAllah, of Salim mawla Abu Hudhayfa, who the day of Yamama was really his day, SubhanAllah. An incredible story on that day. Abu Hudhayfa, Salim, both died, radiAllahu ta'ala anhuma, next to each other on that day. As for Suhayb, Abu Jandal and Abdullah, the only one who was martyred was Abdullah. Suhayb and Abu Jandal, they walk together after the battle, and they find Abdullah laying there. And they both hug each other and start to cry. So they're weeping over the death of Abdullah. And Suhayb tells Abu Bakr, radiAllahu ta'ala anhuma, he says, Ya Abu Bakr, waqad balaghni ana Rasool Allahi salallahu alayhi wa salama qal, yashfa'u al-shaheed li sab'ina min ahlihi. He said, I heard that the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, said that the martyr gets to intercede for 70 of his loved ones. And I hope that my son will consider me to be the first of those that he intercedes on their behalf. So Suhayb and Abu Jandal continue. And Suhayb goes out fighting the Byzantines. He goes out in battle, and he was a brave warrior, even though, subhanAllah, by that time he was already in his late 60s. But in every battle, front lines alongside Abu Jandal fighting for the sake of Allah, fighting against the Byzantines. And then there is a story that takes place in the Khilafah of Umar, radiAllahu ta'ala anhuma, subhanAllah, at that point, where Abu Bakr, radiAllahu anhuma, dies, and Suhayb is back in Medina. Suhayb is in Medina, and he's with Abu Sufyan and Al-Harith ibn Hisham.
And they have to visit Umar, radiAllahu ta'ala anhuma, and they're standing outside the door of Umar, radiAllahu ta'ala anhuma. So we're back in Medina, and Umar is the Khalifa. They said there was always a line in front of Umar, radiAllahu anhuma's door, and Umar, radiAllahu anhuma, would come out, and he'd arrange the line. How do you think Umar would arrange the line? I actually want to hear from you all. So Umar would come out, long day of work, the Khalifa of the Muslims, I've got to hear all these cases, I've got to take care, listen to all these complaints, listen to, you know, gift from bayt al-mar. How do you think Umar, radiAllahu anhuma, is going to arrange the line when he comes outside? I want to actually hear from you all. What do you think? Who or what? The poor people in the front. No, but a good answer. I can't hear you. The first people to become Muslims. So Umar, radiAllahu anhuma, went outside, and he would see who became Muslim first, and he arranged them in order of the firsts, literally. So you became Muslim last, back of the line. That's Umar, radiAllahu anhuma, right? He always wanted to show the veterans of Badr and the early sahaba, sabiqun al-awwalun, that you'll always be first with me. So who ends up in the front of the line? Bilal, Ammar, Khabbab. It just naturally becomes that way because, radiAllahu anhuma, they were the first people to become Muslim. So, subhanAllah, this is a narration actually in the books, one of the few narrations of Suhail after becoming Muslim, that he's standing with Abu Sufyan and Harith ibn Hisham. Umar came out, Umar, radiAllahu anhuma, set them in line, put them all the way in the back, and he put Bilal and Ammar and Suhaib up front. So Suhaib al-Rumi, Bilal ibn Rabah, and Ammar ibn Yasir, may Allah be pleased with them. Umar radiAllahu anhuma put them up front, he put them all the way in the back. And Abu Sufyan starts to mumble and he gets upset. And he says, what is it with Ibn Khattab, he's trying to humiliate us. la yurtafitu ilayna, he's not even looking at us.
And Harith ibn Hisham says, yeah, you know, what's up with that? Why is Umar radiAllahu anhuma treating us this way? And Suhaib radiAllahu anhuma, he says, ala anfusikum faghdibu. He said, be mad at yourselves. fa du'ya alqawm wa du'ina fa asra'u wa atta'na. They were called to Islam and we were called to Islam. They hastened and we held back. It's our fault. Let's not get mad at Bilal and Ammar and Suhaib or blame Umar. They were called to Islam at the same time we were called to Islam. They were quick and we were slow. We dragged our feet. And the next part that he says, fa kayfa bina idha du'u ila abwabil jannati wa turikna? He said, you know, what we should really be worried about, how will it be if on the day of judgment they're called to the gates of Jannah and we're told to get in the back? He says, ama wallahi hadha a'adhumu minallathee tatanafasuna ilayhi. He said, wallahi, that's so much more severe than what you're trying to compete for now. You're trying to compete to get in front of the khalifa's door? How will it be when they're in the front of the gates of Jannah and we're all the way in the back? That's what you should be worried about. This is the mindset of Suhaib now. Subhanallah, look at the turn in this man's mindset. RadhiAllahu ta'ala anhum. He's warning them. He's saying, that's what you should be upset about. Don't be upset about being put in the back by Umar radhiAllahu ta'ala anhum. And he said, wallahi, the only way we can catch up with them is by spending the rest of our lives in striving for the path of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wal istishad. And if Allah grants us martyrdom, that's it. Otherwise, they deserve to be up front and we will spend the rest of our lives in this way. Abu Sa'id ibn Abi Fudala, he says that I was with Suhaib in Ash-Sham when he was in the battlefield with Abu Jandal. Him and Abu Jandal together, subhanAllah, the father and son fighting together for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for their whole lives.
And I heard him say, sam'a'tuhu yaqool, sam'a'tu rasoolAllahi salallahu alayhi wa sallam yaqool, maqama ahadukum fee sabeelillahi sa'atan min umrihi khayrun min amalihi umrahoo fee ahlihi. He said that for one of you, he said, I heard the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam say, that to stand in the path of Allah for one hour is better than spending an entire lifetime with one's family. And he says, wallahi, laa ad'a'u mawqifan waqaftuhu ma'al mushrikeen illa waqaftu ma'al muslimeena mithla. He said, I swear by Allah, I will not take a single time of my life that I stood with the disbelievers against the believers, except that I will stand with the believers against the disbelievers in the same way. wala nafqatan anfaqtuhu ma'al mushrikeen illa anfaqtu mithla ma'al muslimeena. And not a single penny, a dirham that I spent in the path of disbelief, except that I will spend it in the path of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. fal wallahi laa abqiyanna murabitan fee sabeelillah hatta uqtala shaheedan aw amoota ghareeban. He said, I will stay the rest of my life as a troop, as a soldier for the sake of Allah, until I am either killed as a martyr or I die as a stranger. You can see the eloquence of Suheil, by the way, subhanAllah, these few sentences that reach us from him. You see the brilliance and the eloquence that comes from him, radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. And this is the ending of it all. And I hope now that you kind of, subhanAllah, can appreciate after COVID, the pandemic. Remember, first halaqa we had, coronavirus and the sahaba. And as we're going through the story of these first now, how many people died in the plague of Amwas? Bilal, Abdurrahman ibn Auf, Abu Ubaidah, Mu'adh ibn Jabal, Suheil and Abu Jandal, and their entire families all died in the plague of Amwas in Jerusalem under the khilafah of Umar, radiyaAllahu anhu.
SubhanAllah, it wiped out their entire families, including all of their descendants, radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. So they did die, bi'idhnillahi ta'ala, as shuhadaa, because the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, mentioned that whoever dies in ta'oon, whoever dies in that plague, will be a shaheed. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala accept them as shuhadaa and accept those that have passed away in such manner in our times also as shuhadaa. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala be pleased with this family, with Abu Jandal and Abdullah from the first and from Suheil, who teaches us what it's like to live a life of redemption. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala be pleased with the sahaba, all of them, the family of the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala not make us amongst those who hold back. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala not make us amongst those who are put in the back of the line at the gates of al-jannah. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us from the forerunners, make us from as-sabiqoon al-awwaloon on the day of judgement, make us from the first that are called to the gates of al-jannah, and unite us with the Prophets, the martyrs, the righteous ones, the truthful ones, wa hasuna ulaika rafiqa, and what a blessed company that is. Allahumma ameen, wa salallahu wa sallamu ala nabiyyina Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma'een. JazakumAllahu khayran, inshaAllah ta'ala I will see you all next week.
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