Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. A'udhu billahi minash shaitanir rajim. Bismillahir rahmanir raheem. Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen. Wa ala alwanwa ila ala al-dhalimeen. Wa ala ala ala al-aqiba tul al-muttaqeen. Allahumma salli wa sallim wa baraka ala abdika wa rasulika Muhammadin salallahu alayhi wa sallam wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallim. Tasneeman kathira. So inshallah ta'ala, before we get started tonight, just again a quick announcement. Those of you that were already here, you heard it. Over the next three weeks inshallah ta'ala, we're going to be having short biographies released of the three people that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam met on his way to Al-Madinah. It is of course the beginning of the new hijri year, and so we'll actually talk about the biographies of those people who only show up in the capacity of the hijrah, but there isn't much information about them. Suraqa ibn Malik and Buraida. So over the next three weeks, those will inshallah ta'ala be coming out, and then after that, inshallah ta'ala, four weeks from today, we're going to be releasing a documentary about the companions that died in the plague of Amwas. And these were of course some of the greatest companions of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, Mu'adh ibn Jabal, Abu Ubaidah, and other companions who maybe you didn't know about. I actually recorded this on-site in Jordan, so inshallah ta'ala we'll release that four weeks from now, and then the week after that, we'll get back to our full biographies, bi'ithnillahi ta'ala. Now, today inshallah ta'ala, we're going to be speaking about someone who is very similar to Abu Huraira radiyallahu anhu in his entrance to Islam, but who has a beautiful story and a beautiful trajectory, and I want to introduce him in the following way. If there was one person from the companions of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam
who recited the Qur'an so beautifully that everybody wanted to crowd around him constantly and listen to his recitation, it's this man. In fact, if you think about getting to paradise, may Allah azawajal make us amongst the people of al-jannah, Allahumma ameen, the companions reminisced and thought about listening to his recitation in paradise. That it is jannah-like, paradise-like to listen to this man recite the Qur'an, meaning if you had CDs, or you don't do those anymore, MP3s or whatever it is, if you could download the tracks, and you had one reciter, one favorite Qur'an reciter, if you asked the companions of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, who's your favorite Qur'an reciter, almost all of them would point to this one man, and there are many narrations to speak to that, and his name is Abu Musa al-Ash'ari radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, and Imam al-Dhahabi rahimahullah introduces him, sahibu rasulillah salallahu alayhi wa sallam, Abu Musa al-Ash'ari al-Tamimi al-Faqih al-Muqri. Abu Musa al-Ash'ari, who was from Tamim, the jurist and the great reciter, and his actual name is Abdullah ibn Qais, Abdullah ibn Qais, and his nickname, similar to Abu Huraira, is what we know him by, Abu Musa al-Ash'ari radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. Now why do I say he's so similar to Abu Huraira in how he enters into the faith of Islam? Abu Musa was a teenager in Yemen, when he heard from the people that were coming to do trade in Yemen, about the arrival of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, and as a teenager, he has the dedication and the commitment to go from Yemen to Mecca to meet the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam at about 14 or 15 years old, with the caravan, to see what the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam was like, who is this man, and what is he calling to? And when he meets the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, he immediately embraces Islam,
so he's one of those who actually technically embraces Islam in Mecca, and the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam sends him back to his people to await further orders, and he will call his people to Islam. So this young man, unlike Tufail ibn Amr al-Dawsi, who's the chief of al-Dawsi, the tribe of Abu Huraira, this young man is tasked with going back to his people in Yemen, and he's in a further part of Yemen, from Mecca, to call them to Islam. And these were the tribe of al-Ash'ariyun. So he goes there, and he's actually successful. His family converts to Islam, his tribe converts to Islam, and he waits with them, and periodically receives instructions on how to pray, on how to dedicate themselves to Islam, until the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam will give them the permission, and give them the command to move to Medina. Now here's what happens with him radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhum. He describes the situation. He says that about seven years after Hijrah, so this is around the time of Khaybar, about seven years after the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam migrated to Medina, he and 50 of his tribe, they board a ship from the southern part of Yemen, and they're going to make their way up to al-Medina. So they get on a boat, I don't know if you want to call it a ship or a boat, you know, but they get on a boat, and they decide that they're going to make their way up to al-Medina. And this is what he describes, he says, خرجنا من اليمن في بضع وخمسين من قومي ونحن ثلاثة إخوة. He said, we went out as 50, and we were three brothers, أنا وأبو رحم وأبو عامر. Where's Abu Amir, by the way, is he here? Oh, he's not here, so someone can say we mentioned him, finally, right? So Abu Rahm and Abu Amir are the brothers of Abu Musa, literally his siblings. So he says, we're three siblings, I called my brothers to Islam, they embraced Islam,
and I am the youngest of the three, and we made our way out to al-Medina. And in one, by the way, recorded narration, his mother also comes with him. So his father was not alive, his mother comes with him. And his mother has a very interesting name, her name is Dhabia, Dhabia bint Wahab, Dhabia bint Wahab. So she would actually go on to die in Medina as a Muslim, and she's buried in al-Baqir as well. So it's the family, and they're going out. Now I want you to look at this map for a moment, insha'Allah ta'ala. This is a modern map, there was no Ethiopia back then, there was no Saudi Arabia. There was Yemen, but it wasn't exactly along those borders, but at least it'll give you a picture, insha'Allah ta'ala. So Abu Musa says we're from the southern part of al-Yemen, and we get on this boat, and we start to make our way up to al-Medina. Now Medina is north of Mecca, so it's going to take you some time to pass through, pass Jeddah, and then get to al-Medina, at the northern part of what is now Saudi Arabia. And he says that the weather got so bad that the winds kept on blowing us in one direction. So what ends up happening is, they end up in what is now the coast of Ethiopia and Eritrea, which back then was called what, does anyone remember? Habesha, Abyssinia, right, Abyssinia, which is the first place that the Muslims fled persecution to, the companions of the Prophet ﷺ fled persecution to. So basically they find their boat steers off at the coast of Habesha, so he says that we found ourselves in the presence of al-Najashi, radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, the righteous ruler of Abyssinia, which is now Ethiopia, who had embraced Islam and who had given refuge to the early Muslims, to the followers of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, and they had Ja'far and his companions.
Now subhanAllah, I've always wondered why they took this trip to Ethiopia first, and Ibn Hajar, rahimAllah, actually writes in some detail about the weather being the cause of it, and of course Allah is the one who controls the weather, so imagine the coincidence of getting out on the water and thinking you're going to Medina, and then the wind keeps on pushing you in a way, and the conditions keep on pushing you in a way, that you end up in Abyssinia, where there's a group of the companions of the Prophet ﷺ. So what's happening in Abyssinia is that the sahaba in Abyssinia are also preparing to make hijrah to Medina. They're getting ready to make their migration to Medina as well. Now Najashi, and some of you might have forgotten this, it's been a long time since we spoke about him, Najashi radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu knew that his political situation was always a little unstable. So what he did was he actually prepared some boats for Ja'afr radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu and the companions, and he said, if anything ever happens to me, these are yours, get on the boat and go. So he already had their boats prepared for them to make their way out of Abyssinia, because the only reason the Muslims were protected in a Christian kingdom was because he had secretly embraced Islam, and he was protecting them. So Ja'afr radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, when he meets Abu Musa and these people that are coming from Yemen to make their way to Medina, he says to them, inna rasoolAllahi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam ba'athana ha huna, that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam sent us here to stay, wa amarana bil iqamati fa aqeemu ma'ana, and he told us to stay here until Allah makes a way out for us, so stay with us. So they stayed with them until they all boarded these two boats together to make their way to Al-Medina together. So you see now what's going to happen. You're going to Medina, and I want you to think about being on a boat, and the person that's going to receive you at the dock is the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. This is like the reverse of the hijrah, right, where the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
is coming to Medina and everyone's waiting in the trees for the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam to arrive. You have two boatloads of people, some of them like Ja'afr, the cousin of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, the family of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, some of the best companions who haven't seen him for years, and you have this group of people that are super excited to meet the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam for the first time, and they're on these two boats together, and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was excited about the people that were coming with Abu Musa. So what did the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam say to the companions? He said to the companions in Medina, يَقْدَمُ عَلَيْكُمْ غَدًا قَوْمٌ هُمْ أَرَقُّ قُلُوبًا لِلْإِسْلَامِ مِنكُمْ There's a group of people that are coming tomorrow, and their hearts are even softer, their hearts are even more attached to Islam than you. They've never met me, they didn't spend all this time in Medina, but when they show up you're going to see the love that these people have for faith, even though they didn't have your experience. And subhanAllah, Abu Musa says that as we were getting close to the coast of where we were going to meet the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, the people on the boat started to sing غَدًا نَلْقَى الْأَحِبَّةِ مُحَمَّدًا وَحِزْبَةٍ غَدًا نَلْقَى الْأَحِبَّةِ مُحَمَّدًا وَحِزْبَةٍ Tomorrow we will meet our beloved ones, Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and his companions. So imagine being on that boat, and the anticipation of meeting the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and the people are singing غَدًا نَلْقَى الْأَحِبَّةِ مُحَمَّدًا وَحِزْبَةٍ Which was of course the famous statement of Bilal radiyaAllahu anhu when he was dying. Tomorrow we will meet our loved ones, Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and his companions. And he says, and so when we got to Al Medina, when we got down, we started to greet the companions and in fact the narration says that this was the first time that Al Musafa, the shaking hands, was legislated as a group because they're introducing themselves to
the companions of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam for the first time and they're meeting the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam for the first time. And you can imagine the joy in Medina. They just thwarted off one of the worst attacks in Khyber. So they've just solidified the situation in Medina and now you have this group of companions that haven't been seen since Mecca and you have this group of new companions that are coming from the southern tip of Yemen to meet the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said they are even closer to Islam than the people that have been here the entire time. And he sees sallallahu alayhi wa sallam Ja'far radiyallahu ta'ala anhu and he kissed Ja'far radiyallahu ta'ala anhu on the forehead and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said ma adri bi ayyihuma ana afrah bi qudumi Ja'far an bi fathi Khyber. I don't know which is giving me more joy, the opening of Khyber or the coming of Ja'far radiyallahu ta'ala anhu. So this is the joy that is taking place in Medina and this is an episode in the seerah that's really really interesting because you suddenly have in one day the coming of Ja'far, you have Abu Musa and his people and guess who else showed up at that time, Abu Huraira. Remember Abu Huraira radiyallahu ta'ala anhu said I showed up at Fajr on the day of Khyber and he actually remembered what the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam recited that day in Salatul Fajr. One of the things that the scholars mentioned is look at how beautiful this entire episode is because the ship went left, right, because it didn't go straight to Al Medina, these people took on the great reward of being from Ashabul Hijratain, the people of the two migrations. The people of the two migrations who are a higher rank than those who fled with their faith one time. The people who fled to Abyssinia and the people who fled to Medina. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said to Al Ashariyoon, that group of people,
لكم الهجرة مرتين هاجرتم إلى النجاشي وهاجرتم إليّ. You have the reward of two migrations, the migration to Al Najashi radiyallahu ta'ala anhu as well as the migration to me here in Al Medina. So this is Abu Musa radiyallahu ta'ala anhu and his tribe of Al Ashariyoon. Now Abu Musa also says that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam gave the people of the two ships or the two boats a share of the spoils of Khaibar even though they didn't attend Khaibar. And that was also a means of solidifying their intention to be with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam even in his most difficult moments. And so in this mini hijrah all over again, you now have a new community in Medina. Now subhanAllah this tribe will be famous, and by the way when I say Al Ashariyoon I'm not talking about a Madhab, alright, so in case some of you mixed that up I'm talking about a tribe literally at the time, Al Ashariyoon come to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and they say can you read the Quran to us, okay, can you read the Quran to us. And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam reads the Quran to them and they all start to cry. Now there's a later incident subhanAllah that's very much so connected to this which is in the time of Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu, when a group of people came from Yemen to embrace Islam and I think it was in Amul Wafud in the year of the delegation or later on, but Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu said that they asked for the Quran to be recited to them and when the Quran was recited to them they started to cry right away and Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu said the famous words, that's how we used to be before our hearts became hard. What did he mean by that? The beauty of the person who hears the Quran the first time being recited, who connects to it, who opens it and reads it for the very first time. We've got our brother Damario mashaAllah who came back and you were talking about reading the Quran and you can't stop thinking about it.
We used to be like that when our hearts were a little softer like yours and we pray that our hearts can also be soft and united as well. But that was the feeling Abu Bakr said, you know I remember when we used to be like that. I remember when our hearts used to be soft, when we used to hear the Quran for the very first time. And this is basically what ends up becoming the reputation, Abu Musa's reputation as an individual and this tribe as a whole was the Quran. In one narration when the ayah was recited, فَسَوْفَيَأْتِ اللَّهِ بِقَوْمٍ يُحِبُّهُمْ وَيُحِبُّونَ that if you turn back on this mission Allah will bring about a people that love him and that are beloved to him. The Prophet ﷺ said to Abu Musa رضي الله تعالى عنه هُمْ قَوْمُكَ يَا أَبَ مُوسَىٰ This is your people, O Abu Musa. Now we know that the Prophet ﷺ also said this to Salman al-Farsi رضي الله تعالى عنه Right, and so that shows you that the verse applies to multiple contexts. The point is that if the people who initially have the Quran gifted to them don't take advantage of it and they don't connect to it in a proper way, Allah can bring about a different people that will connect to it in a way that it should be connected to. And so the Prophet ﷺ was praising the tribe of Abu Musa رضي الله تعالى عنه in this regard. And here there's a beautiful narration as well. So now you're living in Medina and you're amongst this group of people. And imagine walking the streets of Medina at night and hearing the Quran being recited from the different homes. The people up at night praying Qiyam al-Layl and reciting the Quran. And listen to what the Prophet ﷺ says. He says in this authentic hadith قَالَ إِنِّي لَأَعْرِفُ أَصْوَاتَ رُفْقَةِ الْأَشْعَرِيِّينِ بِالْقُرْآنِ The Prophet ﷺ said, I know the voices of the Ash'ariyyin, the tribe of Abu Musa with their Quran حين يدخلون بالليل. Whenever they stand up at night.
I know their voices at night when they stand up to recite the Quran. وَأَعْرِفُ مَنَازِلَهُمْ مِنْ أَصْوَاتِهِمْ بِالْقُرْآنِ بِاللَّيْلِ I know which houses they live in because of the Quran that comes from their houses at night. وَإِن كُنْتُ لَمْ أَرَى مَنَازِلَهُمْ حِينَ نَزَلُوا بِالنَّهَارِ I don't see where they go in the daytime. Even if I don't know where they actually live, and even if I never saw them enter their home in the daytime, when I walk the streets at night, I know exactly which houses belong to the tribe of Abu Musa رضي الله تعالى عنه because of the way that they recite the Quran. Imagine being that tribe, those 50 or so people that are so distinguished that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم walks around and he says, that's one of them, that's one of them, that's one of them, because of the distinct way they recite the Quran at night. And in one narration they're praised if the Ash'ariyun go out on an expedition and they have only a little bit of food amongst them, then they take one cloth and they divide it equally amongst themselves, that they had these certain attributes, these characteristics that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم loved about them, their charity, their love for the Quran, the way that they used to protect one another. He loved this about them صلى الله عليه وسلم and he would praise them in this way. So the head of these people is this man, Abu Musa al-Ash'ari رضي الله تعالى عنه, a teenager when he embraced Islam, and I actually want to mention his physical appearance for a reason. Because you find that the companion's physical appearance when it's mentioned in certain ways, there's usually some meaning, some reason why the mention is there. Abu Musa رضي الله تعالى عنه is described as the following قصيراً خفيف الجسم. He was very short and he was very skinny. Why is that important? He didn't have this super physical imposing presence. That's not what made him the giant that he's going to become amongst the companions. Just like Abdullah bin Mas'ud رضي الله تعالى عنه did not have a giant physical
imposing presence. But he's going to become that man that if he's in a gathering, all of the companions turn towards him right away. And so a lot of the things that were superficial about that generation, not about that generation, about that society before Islam, all of that's being wiped out. And so when they mention this, that look he wasn't someone who was physically very big. He didn't have an imposing presence, but the man automatically commanded the entire gathering when he walked in رضي الله تعالى عنه. And what was the thing that made him so distinguished? That voice. His voice with the Qur'an. And Aisha رضي الله تعالى عنها, she narrates that one time I was walking with the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم at night in the streets. And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم stopped at a house and he started to listen to the Qur'an being recited from that house. He told Aisha رضي الله تعالى عنها, come here and listen with me. So Aisha says, I came and I listened with the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and they listened for a while. Imagine the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم at your door listening to you read Qur'an at night. And his pleasure with that صلى الله عليه وسلم. And then the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم left at night and afterwards, Abu Musa was told, you know, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was listening to you read Qur'an last night. And he said to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, قَالَ لَوْ أَعْلَمُ بِمَكَانِكِ لَحَبَّرْتُهُ لَكَ تَحْبِيرًا Oh, Prophet of Allah, if I would have known, right, then he would have given the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم a special sitting. He would have given him a special type of voice. I would have made it a lot better. And I would have made it only for you if I would have known that you were there listening to my voice. But the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, instead, saw something else special. There was a reason why the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم did not tell him that he was there. Buraidah رضي الله تعالى عنه has another narration. He says that one time, I went out at night and I saw the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم عند باب المسجد. He was at the door of the masjid.
And إِذَا رَجُلٌ يُصَلِّي There was someone inside the masjid that was praying. Now the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم's house was right next to the masjid. So here the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is at the door and he's listening to someone read the Qur'an in the masjid. So the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم looked at me. قَالَ يَا بُرَيْدَ أَتَرَاهُ يُرَأِي Do you think he's showing off? Do you think that man's showing off? I mean, think about the scene, right? The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is at the door of the masjid and he's listening to someone who's praying inside the masjid. And he's reading the Qur'an out loud in a beautiful voice. And he's got a flow to it. He has that beautiful تَرْتِيل, that beautiful recitation. So he says, بُرَيْدَ Do you think he's showing off? Do you think he's doing this just because of me? And بُرَيْدَ said, أَللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ أَعْلَمُ Allah and His Messenger know best. And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said, بَلْ هُوَ مُؤْمِنٌ مُنِيبٌ Rather, he is a believer, a repentant one, one who turns to Allah سبحانه وتعالى all the time. And he said, لَقَدْ أُعْطِيَ مِزْمَارًا مِنْ مَزَامِيرِ آلِ دَاوُودِ And this was the famous statement of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم about Abu Musa. He has been given one of the instruments of the family of David. One of the instruments of the family of David. Now I'm going to talk about that for a moment inshallah تعالى and then we'll get back to the story. What does it mean when the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said, he has been given one of the instruments. مِزْمَار is literally a flute, right? Did Dawood عليه السلام used to play a flute? What does that mean? Dawood عليه السلام, David had a beautiful voice. And Allah gave him the Psalms and he used to sing the Psalms. And what does Allah سبحانه وتعالى tell us about how beautiful his voice was? What used to glorify Allah with David, with Dawood عليه السلام? The mountains, the birds, everything used to sing along with him in the sense of glorifying Allah سبحانه وتعالى
with the revelation that came to Dawood عليه السلام. And in Jannah inshallah تعالى we will hear the Tasbeeh of Dawood عليه السلام, the recitation of Dawood عليه السلام. And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is saying about Abu Musa that you have a voice like the voices of the family of Dawood عليه السلام. You've been given something extremely special, but he's been given it with the Quran, not the Psalms but with the Quran. And he would say that frequently about him رضي الله تعالى عنه. May Allah allow us to hear that voice in Al-Jannah. Allahumma ameen. So the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said that about him. And as Abu Musa is reciting the Quran, he then starts to make du'a. He doesn't know that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is there and he starts to make du'a. And he says اللهم إني أسألك بأني أشهد أنك الله لا إله لا أنت الأحد الصمد الذي لم يلد ولم يولد ولم يكنه كفواً أحد. So it's a very famous du'a that you might have heard by the way in Qunoot. اللهم إني أسألك بأني أشهد أنك الله لا إله إلا أنت الأحد الصمد الذي لم يلد ولم يولد ولم يكنه كفواً أحد. Oh Allah, I ask you bearing witness that you are Allah. There is no God but you الأحد the one الصمد الذي لم يلد ولم يولد the self-sufficient who has not begotten nor was he begotten and there is nothing comparable to him and the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم swore by Allah that he had asked Allah with the name that if a person asks Allah سبحانه وتعالى in such a way that Allah will certainly answer that person's du'a. So Buraidah says, can I go tell him يا رسول الله about what happened and the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said you can tell him. So he said afterwards I went to him وأخبرته and I told him what happened. فقال لا تزال لي صديقة He said and you will remain a friend forever, like the person who comes to me and gives me this type of good news that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said your du'a was answered last night.
Is a very special friend, is a very special person to keep with you and this was his voice رضي الله عنه and his position, his closeness to Allah سبحانه وتعالى. Abu Uthman al-Nahdi رضي الله عنه says ما سمعت مزمارا ولا تنظور ولا صنجة أحسن من صوت أبي موسى الأشعري إن كان لي صلي بنا فنود أنه قرأ البقرة من حسن صوته. He said that I've never heard any instrument, a flute, a drum, any instrument that's ever been made in history that sounded sweeter than the voice of Abu Musa. When he used to lead us in Salah, we used to wish that he would read Surat Al-Baqarah. All right, like when Shaykh Yasir leads you, right? You guys need to tell him can you read Surat Al-Baqarah on Isha tonight, right? But we used to wish that he would read Surat Al-Baqarah because of how beautiful his voice was. I mean, imagine subhanAllah again, the Qari that the Sahaba wish that they could pray behind and that they want to hear over and over and over again. Anas رضي الله عنه says that one night Abu Musa was reciting and the wives of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم went out يستمعنا لقراءته to hear the recitation of Abu Musa رضي الله عنه. So this is kind of a tradition now that you're going to see happening throughout his entire life. Anywhere Abu Musa goes, he's that Qari that everyone wants to listen to. Everyone wants to come around. And the scholars say subhanAllah the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم particularly absolved him from what? Riyadh, from showing off because the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم mentioned that towards the end of times there will be plentiful reciters and it is of the things that can plague a person who is a Qari is Riyadh. And that's why you find entire chapters that are dedicated to it, showing off and ostentation and boasting, right? And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم particularly says this man is not reciting for people. This man is reciting for Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى. This man reads the Quran that way because he loves Allah because he's been given something special from Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى.
And there are so many different narrations about this that we'll get to when it comes to other people as well. So Abu Musa رضي الله عنه talks about some of his incidents with the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم that are outside of the capacity particularly when it comes to the recitation. He mentions that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم sent myself and my brothers after Hunayn with Jaysh al-Tas. So they went out and this is a couple of years after they came and they joined the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and he and his brother went out and they fought in this particular battalion. And he says that my brother Abu Amr لقيا دريد ابن الصمة that my brother Abu Amr came into combat with Dureid. And he says so Dureid was killed and Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى هَزَمَ اللَّهُ أَصْحَابَ Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى destroyed that army, the opponents. But he says that my brother Abu Amr الأشعري رضي الله عنه was struck by an arrow. So he said that when he fell by that arrow and I'm paraphrasing the story. When he fell by that arrow he said, can you remove it from me? So he was on the ground and the arrow was deep inside of him. قَالَ فَرَزَعْتُهُ So he said that I went ahead and I removed the arrow and obviously what ended up happening was that the blood was flowing too quickly. So basically he says that my brother Abu Amr الأشعري رضي الله عنه was dying. And listen to what he said to me. He said, يَبْنَ أَخِي انطَلَقْ إِلَى رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَمَ فَأَقْرِئْ مِنِّي فَأَقْرِئْهُ مِنِّي السَّلَامُ When you go to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم give him salam from me. I'm not going to get to go back to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم so when you go to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم give him my salam وَقُلْ لَهُ يَسْتَغْفِرْ لِي and ask him to seek forgiveness for me. So when you get back to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم tell him what happened, give him my greeting and ask him to seek forgiveness for me.
And so he says that afterwards he passed away and he said when I came to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم I told the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم exactly what happened. فَقَامَ عَلِيْهِ السَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ وَتَوَضَّأَ The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم got up and he made wudu. ثُمَّ رَفَعَ يَدَيْهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم And then the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم raised his hands and he said اللَّهُمَّ اغْفِرْ لِي عُبَيْدْ أَبِي عَامِر Oh Allah, forgive Ubaid أَبِي عَامِر رضي الله تعالى عنه And he said حَتَّى رَأَيْتُ بَيَوْضَ إِبْطَيْهِ Until I saw his armpits صلى الله عليه وسلم the whiteness of his armpits صلى الله عليه وسلم meaning he was raising his hands to the sky making dua for his brother. And that's where he seized an opportunity. He said, Oh Messenger of Allah, what about Abu Musa? Can I get some of this dua as well that you're making for my brother? And he says اللَّهُمَّ اجْعَلْهُ About Abu Musa اللَّهُمَّ اجْعَلْهُ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ فَوْقَ كَثِيرٍ مِّنْ خَلْقِقْ Oh Allah. I'm sorry. He made this dua for his brother. Oh Allah, make him on the Day of Judgment above many of your creation. And then he said about Abu Musa اللَّهُمَّ اغْفِرْ لِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ ابْنِ قَيْسِ ذَنْبَهُ وَأَدْخِلْهُ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ مُدْخَلًا كَرِيمًا Oh Allah, forgive Abdullah Ibn Qais which is Abu Musa's name, all of his sins and enter him on the Day of Judgment or grant him on the Day of Judgment a high and praiseworthy station. And so you find that he's one of those companions who had the Prophet ﷺ make dua for him, supplicate for him by name that Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى would forgive all of his sins and that Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى would elevate him on the Day of Judgment. He also narrates a story of a glad tidings that took place around what is most likely Fath Makkah, most likely the opening of Makkah. He says that we were in Ja'rana which is an area outside of Makkah
and he says an Arabi man came, a Bedouin man came and the Bedouins had this way of talking where they were just straight to the point and sometimes they didn't really understand like the adab, the manners that they were supposed to have with the Prophet ﷺ. So he said to the Prophet ﷺ, أَلَا تُنْجِزُ لِي مَا وَعَتْنِي Are you going to give me what you promised me now? We became Muslim. So when does the promise happen? When does it all come true? So the Prophet ﷺ told him أَبْشِر glad tidings and listen to what he said. قَالَ قَدْ أَكْثَرْتُ مِنَ الْبُشْرَةِ Ya Rasulullah, you've given a lot of glad tidings. Like I'm ready for this to start happening, right? So the Prophet ﷺ turned to Abu Musa and Bilal. Abu Musa and Bilal and he said إنَّ هَذَا قَدْ رَدَّ الْبُشْرَةِ He said that this person just turned away the glad tidings. So he said come close to me. Both of you come close to me. So Abu Musa and Bilal came to the Prophet ﷺ وَدَعَى بِقَدْحِ The Prophet ﷺ called for a container. He washed his hands ﷺ. He washed his face within it and the Prophet ﷺ mixed his saliva with it ﷺ and he told them أَشْرِبَ مِنْهُ to drink from it وَأَفْرِغَ عَلَى رُؤُسِكُمَ and go ahead and put some of it on your heads as well. Pour it on your heads and on your limbs as well. And so they did so and obviously the blessing that came from that was significant. We know this from the Prophet ﷺ that this was one of his miracles as a Prophet of Allah that these things will be blessed through him ﷺ and Umm Salama رضي الله تعالى عنها called out and she said that the Prophet ﷺ has sufficiently blessed the two of you. So the Prophet ﷺ sent some of that water to Umm Salama رضي الله تعالى عنها as well. So he narrates that incident as well. And then finally one more which is specifically tied to the other companions but it kind of tells you about the relationship
that he's going to have with the Prophet ﷺ in Medina. He says that one day خَرَجْتُ أُرِيدُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ﷺ فَوَجَدْتُهُ قَدْ سَلَكَ فِي الْأَمْوَالِ فَتَبِعْتُهُ فَوَجَدْتُ He said that I went out one day looking for the Prophet ﷺ and I came to know that the Prophet ﷺ had kind of left everyone and he went to these gardens. So this was very interesting because every day if you wanted to find the Prophet ﷺ you looked for him in the masjid. Couldn't find him in the masjid, you looked for him in the baqir, in the graveyard. You looked for him in the marketplace and no one could find the Prophet ﷺ and Abu Musa says I'm going around I'm looking for the Prophet ﷺ and he said I found the Prophet ﷺ in this garden and he was sitting in a well known as Bi'r Aris, the well of Aris. This is a famous story and you can actually go to the location of Bi'r Aris in Medina today. And listen to the scene. He said that I saw the Prophet ﷺ sitting alone in this well and he had his shalwar lifted up ﷺ to where his legs were exposed and he was dangling his feet in the well ﷺ sitting all by himself. Abu Musa knows like I just got really really lucky finding the Prophet ﷺ you know in this particular situation. So he said so I told myself I'm going to be the one to guard the Prophet ﷺ today. I'm going to appoint myself as his guard today. So I stood in front of the garden and I said to myself that I'm going to be the one that protects the Prophet ﷺ today. I'm going to let him have his time, let him have his peace of mind, his dhikr. The Prophet ﷺ is sitting alone in this garden, doesn't want to be bothered today. So he said so I stood there and who comes first? Abu Bakr. So you might have heard the story but not through the lens of Abu Musa. And Abu Bakr ﷺ finds the Prophet ﷺ and Abu Musa says hold on let me go ask him.
So I go to the Prophet ﷺ because I appointed myself as his guard right now, right? And I said that Abu Bakr ﷺ is here. The Prophet ﷺ said give him permission and give him the glad tidings of paradise as well. So Abu Musa goes and he tells Abu Bakr go ahead and come in and you have the glad tidings of Jannah and he praises Allah for the glad tidings of paradise. And he goes and he sits right next to the Prophet ﷺ. He lifts up his pants and he starts to dangle his legs in the well also. SubhanAllah how much we would have loved to be in that particular gathering, right? In that particular sitting. So Abu Musa says I came back out and I stood there. And who comes next? Of course, Umar ibn al-Khattab ﷺ. It's only natural. And Umar ﷺ who asks me, Abu Musa, permission to come in and sit. So I go to the Prophet ﷺ and I tell the Prophet ﷺ what happened. And the Prophet ﷺ, he says go ahead and give him permission and give him the glad tidings of Jannah. May Allah give you the glad tidings of Jannah. Assalamualaikum. Waalaikumsalam. It's okay. May Allah give you the glad tidings of Jannah. You want to sit here Amr? Here you can sit right here. Assalamualaikum. What's your name? Yusuf. Everyone say may Allah grant Yusuf Jannah and his parents. Allahumma ameen. So the Prophet ﷺ says let him in and give him the glad tidings of Jannah. So Abu Musa, here's what he says next. He says at that point I said to myself, I hope the next guy that comes is my brother. Because he knows what's happening. The Prophet ﷺ is giving people the glad tidings of Jannah. So whoever is blessed enough to find this place is going to get the glad tidings of Jannah. And the Prophet ﷺ sitting in this well and he's got Abu Bakr and Umar next to him and they're dangling their feet in the well. And the third person that comes is who? Uthman ﷺ. It's so natural and blessed. So I come to the Prophet ﷺ I say it's Uthman ibn Affan. He's asking permission.
The Prophet ﷺ says give him the glad tidings of Jannah but ala balwa tuseebuhum. With a tragedy that's going to happen to him. It's not going to be easy for him. Right? He's going to be assassinated. Something bad is going to happen to him. And so Abu Musa comes back and he gives Uthman ﷺ that glad tidings but also that it would be after a difficulty a tragedy that you would have to endure. And Uthman ﷺ praises Allah ﷻ and expresses, affirms his patience. And he comes and he sits across from the Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr and Umar and of course As-Saeed ibn Jubair who narrates this from Abu Musa. He says that subhanAllah this was the way that they're buried. Like the Prophet ﷺ is buried next to Abu Bakr and Umar. Uthman was not allowed to be buried next to them. And so Uthman is in al-Baqi' but he's directly facing them even though he's not next to them. رضي الله تعالى عنهم So Abu Musa was that person who used to go out in search of the Prophet ﷺ and who was able to witness this beautiful situation that took place and to give Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman those glad tidings. We also find in multiple narrations the praise of Abu Musa's modesty and his charity. Now his haya, his modesty is something that the sahaba used to praise. They said that he used to wear extra clothes that he used to be very careful in terms of exposing himself. مخافةً أن يتكشف Out of fear that his awrah would be exposed. رضي الله تعالى عنه And that this was something that was praiseworthy that he was a very modest man, a very humble man. He used to wear some of the most humble of clothes, the most coarse of clothes. And of course, those that were closest to the Prophet ﷺ, they embraced a life of poverty because the Prophet ﷺ lived a life of poverty. So if you wanted to be around the Prophet ﷺ all the time, you likely were going to live in his most difficult conditions as well.
And that's one of the things that Abu Musa says. He says, لَوْ رَأَيْتَنَا وَنَحْنُ نَخْرُجُ مَعْ نَبِيِّنَا صَلَى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَمُ إِذْ أَصَابَتْنَا السَّمَاءُ He said, if you were with us, he's telling his son, if you would have seen us that day that we were walking, I and the Prophet ﷺ, and it started to rain on us. And because of the condition of their clothes, the wool that they were wearing, he says that the smell of that wool started to come out. And that was a description of the hardship that they lived in being around the Prophet ﷺ who chose not to live like a king, but who chose instead to live a life of poverty. He's also the one that narrates. So by the way, if you read in a hadith, Abdullah ibn Qais, it's Abu Musa. And sometimes he's referred to as Abdullah ibn Qais. He's also the one that narrates a hadith that we benefit from tremendously today, where the Prophet ﷺ said, Ya Abdullah ibn Qais, أَلَا أَدُلُّكَ عَلَى كَرِمَةٍ مِن كُنُوزِ الْجَنَّةِ O Abdullah ibn Qais, shall I tell you about one of the treasures of the treasures of Paradise? What is the dhikr that is a treasure of the treasures of Paradise? لَحَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ There is no power, no capability except that which is with Allah ﷻ. And so we get it from Abu Musa ﷺ as he narrates this from the Prophet ﷺ in a personal way that as you embrace this life of hardship being around the Prophet ﷺ, know that what the Prophet ﷺ is promising you is far greater than anything of this world. His status amongst the companions was that he was a faqih. Are you looking for your dad? He's not in trouble by the way. Is your dad here? Your mom? Where's your mom? I promise you're not in trouble. I'm just worried about it. There's your mom. Is that your mom? Okay. Yusuf was found by his mom. Alhamdulillah. Matches the name. And don't worry about it. He got a lot of du'a alhamdulillah from everybody. So may Allah ﷻ bless him. Inshallah to Allah ﷻ bless you as well.
So his status amongst the companions is he's a hafidh. And remember it wasn't that common or as common as we think for someone to memorize the entirety of the Qur'an as it's coming down to the Prophet ﷺ. He was one of those who read to the Prophet ﷺ. And he was considered aqra'u ahl al-basra. When he moves to Basra in Iraq, he's considered the greatest reciter amongst them. And he was also considered a jurist. He was considered a jurist. He was considered a faqih, a jurist, and a judge. And it is rare to find those things combined in one person, right? And subhanAllah when you think about the great names that are mentioned, perhaps his name is not always mentioned in the rank of those qudah, of those judges, of those jurists in the masjid of the Prophet ﷺ. In one narration, Abu al-Bukhtari says that we asked Ali r.a. about the companions of the Prophet ﷺ. So Ali r.a. said, عَنْ أَيِّهِمْ تَسْأَلُونِ Which ones of them are you asking me about? So first they said Ibn Mas'ud. So he said, عَلِمَ الْقُرْآنَ وَالسُّنَّةَ So he knew the Qur'an and he knew the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ. وَكَفَى بِهِ عِلْمًا Like the knowledge that he had was absolutely incredible. There were not many people that reached the rank of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud r.a. And so they then went on and they said, what about Abu Musa? So he mentioned that صُبِغَ فِي الْعِلْمِ صِبْغَ That it's like a person, subhanAllah, that was completely immersed in knowledge. And this is something that's obviously very beautiful about him. And they went on to ask him about some of the other companions of the Prophet ﷺ. There are other narrations of Aswad ibn Yazid. He said, لَمْ أَرَى بِالْكُوفَةِ أَعْلَمَ مِنْ عَلِيَّ وَأَبِي مُوسَىٰ I did not find anyone in Kufa, in Iraq, that was more knowledgeable than Ali and then Abu Musa. مَسْرُوق رضي الله تعالى عنه says,
كَانَ الْقُضَاءُ فِي الصَّحَابَةِ Or he says that there were six amongst the companions that were considered from the قضاء, from the judges. قَالَ عُمَر وَعَلِي وَابْنُ مَسْعُود وَأُبَي وَزَيْد وَأَبِي مُوسَىٰ So again, Umar, Ali, ibn Mas'ud, Ubayya ibn Ka'ab, Zayd ibn Thabit and Abu Musa al-Ash'ari رضي الله تعالى عنه And Safwan ibn Sulaim says, لَمْ يَكُنْ يُفْتِي فِي الْمَسْجِدِ زَمَنَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَى اللَّهُ عَلِيهِ وَسَلَّمَ غَيْرُ هَا أُلَىٰ عُمَر وَعَلِي وَمُعَاذ وَأُبَي وَأَبِي مُوسَىٰ He says that no one used to give fatwa in the Masjid of the Prophet ﷺ during his time like these four people, Umar and Ali and Mu'adh ibn Jabal and Abu Musa al-Ash'ari رضي الله تعالى عنه So he's considered one of the Muftis, one of the jurists of the companions as well. Now the other things that we take from him رضي الله تعالى عنه is the sunnah of tahniq, the sunnah of having the Prophet ﷺ basically rub the date on top of the mouth and then give it to the child. And Imam al-Nawwi رحمه الله I'm sorry, Imam Muslim رحمه الله puts this under the chapter باب استحباب تحنيق المولود عند ولادته وحمله إلى صالح that the recommendation or the blessing of having the tahniq done of a child by someone who is righteous, who would do the tahniq and the recommendation to name your children after the Prophets of Allah, after Abdullah or Ibrahim and other names of the Prophets. Why? Because Abu Musa says that a child was born to me and I brought him to the Prophet ﷺ when he was born to me and he gave him the name of what? Not Musa, actually Ibrahim. So his first child was actually Ibrahim.
You know sometimes a child is given a name when they're younger or someone takes on a name because they expect that they're going to name their oldest son and it kind of sticks that way. But the Prophet ﷺ actually named his first son Ibrahim and the Prophet ﷺ took a date and he did tahniq with it ﷺ, he rubbed it on his mouth ﷺ on the upper palate and he did so with the child as well. So Abu Musa is the one who encounters this with his child Ibrahim and he would go on to have children Ibrahim, Musa, the child that would narrate from him most was a child named Abi Burda and Abu Bakr ibn Abi Musa. So these were his four sons, may Allah ﷻ be pleased with them all, who would all go on to become narrators from Abu Musa al-Ash'ari رضي الله تعالى عنه. Now he narrates a lot of ahadith, a lot of them have to do with the Qur'an and if you're a hafidh you can relate to these ahadith in particular. The Prophet ﷺ says تعاهد القرآن تعاهد القرآن means that you keep on refreshing your covenant with the Qur'an, like it's not something you just read every once in a while, تعاهد القرآن and he said ﷺ فَوَالَّذِي نَفْسِ بِيَدِهِ that I swear by the one in whose hand is my soul that the Qur'an escapes a person the way that camels escape the flock. If you don't tie your camel it will run away. If you don't tie the Qur'an it's going to get away from you. And so he's saying تعاهد القرآن and Abu Musa is the one who narrates this from the Prophet ﷺ, this very famous example, to constantly renew your covenant with it and the greatest way to renew your covenant with it is to recite it in your qiyam, to recite it at night. He also narrates the hadith where the Prophet ﷺ says مَثَلَ الَّذِي يَذْكُرُ رَبَّهِ وَالَّذِي لَا يَذْكُرُ مَثَلُ الْحَيِّ وَالْمَيِّتِ that the example of the one who remembers Allah and the one who does not remember Allah is like the example of the one who is alive and the example of one who is dead.
So he narrates this set of hadith from the Prophet ﷺ. Now the Prophet ﷺ sent him away from Medina before he passes away. Now I want you to think about this and this is something that from a historical perspective shows you a little bit of the strategy and the wisdom of the Prophet ﷺ. The best person to go back to a people is someone that came from them in the first place. To go back to a people and to call them to Islam. And Abu Musa ﷺ, it's a lengthy narration, he says that a group of Ash'ariyoon came to the Prophet ﷺ and they were asking the Prophet ﷺ for positions. They're not doing it from a place of insincerity. They're asking the Prophet ﷺ to appoint them in different places. And he said that it's as if I'm looking at the Prophet ﷺ right now and he was brushing his teeth with the siwak ﷺ as he was listening to them. And then the Prophet ﷺ, he stopped using the siwak and he said that we do not appoint those who ask for it. But he says, Ya Abu Musa, I ask for you, O Abu Musa, ila al-Yaman. I'm sending you back to Yemen. I'm sending you back to Yemen. So Abu Musa had accepted Islam as a teenager in Mecca, gone back to Yemen. Now he came to Medina, he'd lived with the Prophet ﷺ, he had been one of his greatest companions and now the Prophet ﷺ is sending him back to al-Yaman. Now who else did the Prophet ﷺ famously send to Yemen? In fact, the most famous departure, Mu'adh ibn Jabal, radiAllahu anhu, if you read the chapter of Bukhari, you'll see the chapter of sending Mu'adh and Abu Musa, so they were actually both sent to Yemen. And this was common for the Prophet ﷺ to send two companions to a place. And we'll see that when the Prophet ﷺ sent the companions to, or rather when Umar, radiAllahu anhu, for example, sent the army to Persia, that it was Sa'd ibn Abi Waqas and then Salman
al-Farisi, who's from the people, a Persian like them. So the Prophet ﷺ sent Mu'adh ibn Jabal, radiAllahu anhu, and he's certainly the one who's in charge. And he sent as well Abu Musa al-Ash'ari, radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, who is from the people who understands their culture. And in fact, in the narration of Abu Musa, Abu Musa is asking the Prophet ﷺ about the different things that the people of Yemen do. So he's explaining to the Prophet ﷺ a particular type of drink that the people drink over there. And the Prophet ﷺ is saying, this is khamr, this is an intoxicant. And he's explaining to the Prophet ﷺ some of the games that they play. And the Prophet ﷺ is likening this to gambling. So he's asking the Prophet ﷺ very specific things now, because the shari'ah is solidified about how the people of Yemen are supposed to live their lives now, how they're supposed to interact with this. And the Prophet ﷺ gave advice to Mu'adh that we know, which is a long conversation, and one of the most emotional conversations that we find in the seerah. As he's sending him off to Yemen. And then he gives advice to Abu Musa. Now some of the things that he says to Mu'adh, he says to Mu'adh and Abu Musa together. So for example, Abu Musa narrates that the Prophet ﷺ said, yassira wa la tuassira wa bashira wa la tunaffira, right? So give people glad tidings. Don't run them away. Be lenient with the people. Be easy with the people. Be gentle with the people. Don't be harsh on them, right? So giving him a methodology of how he is supposed to treat the people of Yemen. And then you have some of the specifics to how the people of Yemen should now interact with the legislation, because the first time Abu Musa came to a small tribe, he was just coming to them with la ilaha illallah. Now we're going to all of Yemen, and we're coming with an entire religion, right? This is a complete way of life at this point that has rules and regulations and disciplines that the people have to get accustomed to.
But now it gets really beautiful. Abu Musa continues the narration. And Abu Musa and Mu'adh at some point are traveling together. And Abu Musa was famous for reciting the Qur'an throughout the journey. The man never stops reading Qur'an. He reads Qur'an when he's riding, he reads Qur'an when he's standing, he's constantly doing muraja, he's constantly reviewing and reciting the Qur'an in that beautiful voice. So Mu'adh radiyaAllahu ta'ala says, كيف تقرأ القرآن Oh Abu Musa, how is it that you read the Qur'an? What's your regimen like? So he said, قائما وقاعدا وعلى راحلتي That I read it standing, I read it sitting, I read it even when I am riding. He says that sometimes I read it in piecemeal and sometimes I read it all together, but I'm always reading the Qur'an. But this is my life. My life is the recitation of the Qur'an, right? And Mu'adh radiyaAllahu ta'ala says, أما أنا And so it's interesting when you have these famous statements and you get the context. He said أما أنا فأنام وأقوم فأحتسب نومتي كما أحتسب قومتي Mu'adh says, as for me, he said, look, I don't read it as much. I read, but I also go to sleep at night. I take breaks, but I seek the reward from Allah of my sleeping just as I seek the reward from Allah of my standing up in prayer, meaning it's all part of that reward that we seek because it's all for the sake of Allah, the sleeping and the waking up. But it sort of shows you how Abu Musa was radiyaAllahu ta'ala عنه with the Qur'an when he was traveling and in any place, anytime you're around the man, he's reciting the Qur'an. And in fact, you find in every city that he went to, and we're going to talk a little bit about where he would establish himself in different parts of the world in his lifetime. Every city that he went to, he basically taught everyone Qur'an. And his habit was the following.
When he would go to a place, he would, after Salatul Dhuhr, after the Dhuhr prayer, he would ask, is there anyone who wants to learn the Qur'an? And then he'd teach people the Qur'an, usually until Asr, and sometimes if there were people left over, he'd stay all the way until Maghrib radiyaAllahu ta'ala عنه. So that's something we take from him. He wasn't just trying to sit there and recite and have people talk about how beautiful his recitation was. He would ask, does anyone want to learn the Qur'an? And he'd recite between Dhuhr and Asr, teaching the people the Qur'an. And the one advice we have specific to him from the Prophet ﷺ and Muslim Imam Ahmed is, oh Abu Musa, keep teaching the people the Qur'an when he's sent to Yemen. Don't stop teaching people the Qur'an. So the man is a walking Qur'an, who recites the Qur'an in a way that no one has ever heard, and who teaches the people the Qur'an constantly, which shows you the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ, خَيْرُكُمْ مَنْ تَعَلَّمَ الْقُرْآنَ وَعَلَّمَهُ. The best of you are those who learn the Qur'an and then teach it. So many people do the first part, right? We're trying to produce mass hufadh, right, hufadh, hufadh, hufadh, hufadh. Let's memorize, memorize, memorize. But how many people could you be teaching the Qur'an? Find a person that doesn't know how to read yet and say, look, I want to dedicate some time to you and teach you how to read a little bit. Let me teach you how to read with tajweed. Let me teach you how to read. Think about the blessing of that. And if we think we're too big for that, Abu Musa al-Ash'ari was not too big for that. This grand companion after dhuhr says, who wants to learn Qur'an? Let me teach you. And that's for brothers and sisters. You think about, you know, sisters teaching other sisters, especially people that convert to Islam. Brothers teaching brothers. Can I teach you Qur'an? Do you need help learning how to read? Or if you know some of the explanations, go over the explanation, the young and the old as well. And so this was his habit, radiyallahu ta'ala anhu.
And of course, anyone that lived in the time of Umar ibn al-Khattab radiyallahu anhu has a special relationship with him in this regard. Umar ibn al-Khattab radiyallahu ta'ala anhu, every time he used to see Abu Musa, he used to say to him, dhakirna ya Abu Musa. Remind us, O Abu Musa. And Abu Musa radiyallahu anhu would start reading the Qur'an to Umar ibn al-Khattab radiyallahu anhu. And Umar would sit and listen, and it was as if he wasn't here anymore. Now you think about that relationship, dhakirna ya Abu Musa. Can you remind us, O Abu Musa, and imagine sitting with him as he starts to recite the Qur'an over and over and over again. He was also a great warrior, radiyallahu ta'ala anhu. He was instrumental in many of the battles under Umar radiyallahu anhu with Asbahan, Nahawan, Tustar, all of these places. And Umar radiyallahu anhu appointed him as an ameer, first in Basra, and then later on he would be appointed to Al-Kufa under Uthman radiyallahu anhu. So al-Iraqayn, the two Iraqs at the time. And when he was in Basra, when he used to stand up and pray at night, Anas radiyallahu ta'ala anhu says that the people would surround the house of Abu Musa at night and they'd listen to him recite in his qiyam al-layl. So imagine he gets to Basra, and when he's in Basra, everyone's crowding his house at night to listen to him recite the Qur'an. And when Umar radiyallahu anhu asked Anas radiyallahu anhu about him, qala kayfa taraqt al-ash'ari, how did you leave Abu Musa al-ash'ari, qala taraqtuhu yu'allimu al-nas al-Qur'an. I left him and he's teaching people Qur'an, just like you thought, right? The governor is also teaching the people the Qur'an in Basra. And Umar radiyallahu anhu says, ana innahu kayyis, what an intelligent man he is. Like what a good man he is. And you know, all these weeks we've been talking about how rough Umar radiyallahu anhu was on his governors and like how he'd rotate people around because he didn't want anyone to have too much power over the people. One of the things that Umar radiyallahu anhu did with Abu Musa that he did with no one
else, that Umar radiyallahu ta'ala anhu said that I don't give people more than a year in one location. But he says as for Abu Musa al-ash'ari, give him four years there. Give him four years there. So he had a specific love and a trust and he saw a wisdom and a benefit particularly to Abu Musa al-ash'ari radiyallahu anhu being in Basra for longer than the governors that he would appoint in different places. And Abu Musa basically turns that place into a city of Qur'an radiyallahu ta'ala anhu. And his son, Abi Burda says that when he left Basra, he only had 600 dirhams. He left a poor man, that post of governor of Basra for four years. And that was the fear that Umar had, is bribery and governors becoming corrupt and amirs taking advantage of their people. So he left there with only 600 dirhams radiyallahu ta'ala anhu. Now one of the things that Abu Musa radiyallahu anhu did was that he also lived to see the fitna. He lived to see civil war break out and trials and tribulations. And he happens to be someone who narrates from the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam many of the ahadith, many of the narrations about al-fitn, about the trials and tribulations. And so he narrated from the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam, man shahra alayna al-silah falaysa minna whoever points a weapon at us is not from amongst us, salallahu alaihi wasalam. He also narrates the hadith when the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam was asked, who amongst the Muslims is best? And he said, man saliman muslimuna min nisanihi wa yadihi the one from whom other Muslims feel safe from their tongue and from their hands. He's the one who narrates the hadith where the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam said, al mu'min lil mu'min kal bunyan that the believers to each other are like a building. Each part of that building reinforces the other. He narrates the hadith of the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam and the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam said that when any one of you goes out of their home, do not let the head of
the arrow be exposed in a way that it could be pointed at one another. And Abu Musa radiallahu anhu said, wallahi we did not court death until we saw the days that people started to intentionally fling those arrows, shoot those arrows at each other. So he hated the fitna. He hated to see trials and tribulations. He hated to see people that were fighting against one another. And so he was one of those people who would not participate in fighting against his brothers and sisters. Okay. And in fact, he is the famous arbitrator on behalf of Ali radiallahu anhu in the battle of Siffin. He is the one who is sent to actually participate in arbitration as Abu Musa radiallahu anhu is someone who does not want anything to do with having that dhamm, with having that sin on his back on the day of judgment. We find later on that Muawiyah actually begged him to take a position when things settled down and he responded to Muawiyah radiallahu ta'ala anhu and he says that fa innaka katabta ilayya fee jaseemi amril ummah that you have sent to me in regards to a huge affair as it concerns the ummah. And he says, famatha aqoolu li rabbi itha qadimtu alayhi. What will I say to my Lord when I see, when I'm sent back to him and I have to present on behalf of this affair that's been presented, that's been given to me. And he says, so I have absolutely no need for this. Wasalamu alaykum and peace be on to you. So I'm not interested in being a governor again, I'm not interested in being in charge again, I'm not interested in participating in the politics of the situation again. And we also find the narration of Muawiyah radiallahu anhu going outside of his house in Damascus in Damascus, listening to his qira'ah at night and enjoying the qiyam that he had. Some of the other traits from this man Abu Musa al-Ash'ari radiallahu ta'ala anhu is that he was known to be an intercessor on behalf of the poor.
So if someone is poor and someone is in debt and you can't pay it off yourself, then advocate for them. And he narrated something from the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam in that regard as well. So if you were poor or if you were in need and you went to him and he couldn't fulfill your need himself, then he would go radiallahu ta'ala anhu himself and he would argue on your behalf. There's also a hadith where, that we constantly quote, Abu Musa radiallahu anhu went to visit al-Hassan ibn Ali radiallahu ta'ala anhuma when he was sick. And Ali radiallahu ta'ala anhu or al-Hassan radiallahu ta'ala anhu said to him, that are you coming to visit because of some need or is it for something else? He said, no, it's just for the sake of Allah, I'm just visiting a sick brother. So finding that time to visit someone who's sick. And that's when the narration comes that I heard the Messenger of Allah salallahu alayhi wa sallam say, that no believer visits another believer except that they are accompanied by 70,000 of the malaika, 70,000 of the angels that are sending their peace and blessings upon him until the evening and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grants that person a stream in al-jannah as well. So this is a hadith that's narrated in Muslim Imam Ahmed as a result of a visit that a brother is paying to another brother at the time. He's also known to fast constantly radiallahu ta'ala anhu. And those of you that watched Angels 2, there's an episode there called Abu Musa and the Sea. And I'll paraphrase it here because of the sake of time. That Abu Musa radiallahu ta'ala anhu was once traveling on a safina, on a boat with a bunch of people. And suddenly there was a voice that cried out at sea, ya ahl al-safina, oh people of the ship, stop as I will give you the news. News of a glad tidings from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that he has placed upon himself. So the people looked around right and left and they heard the voice seven times.
And finally Abu Musa radiallahu ta'ala anhu, he said, man ant, ayna ant, who are you? Where are you from? Where are you? I can't hear you. And he said that the person then shouted out, or the voice then shouted out, inna allaha qada ala nafsihi innahu man ta'attasha lillahi fee yawmin haar, saqaahullahu yawmin a'tish. So the voice said that Allah has made a judgment upon himself. That whoever experiences the thirst of fasting on a hot day, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will nourish them on a day when people are dehydrated, when people need their thirst quenched more than any other day, which is the day of judgment. And Abu Musa radiallahu ta'ala anhu said, ever since that day, he said, I never missed fasting even on a hot day. And he narrates the hadith of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam in that regard of the virtue of fasting one day for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. As we get close to his death, I wanted to mention another narration about his du'as. One of the things that you find about him radiallahu ta'ala anhu is that he used to make these beautiful du'as when he would recite. And Masrook radiallahu ta'ala anhu says that one day we were traveling with Abu Musa, and he stood up to pray qiyam al-layl, and then he made this beautiful du'a. So this is when he's in his older age. And he said, Allahumma anta al-mu'min tuhibbu al-mu'min, wa anta al-muhaymin tuhibbu al-muhaymin, wa anta al-salam tuhibbu al-salam, Allahumma anta al-mu'min, oh Allah, you are al-mu'min. Al-mu'min, of course, in regards to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, Allah azawajal is the protector, and you love al-mu'min, the believer, wa anta al-muhaymin tuhibbu al-muhaymin. And you are the guardian, and you love the one who is a guardian. But a guardian of what, right, in our situation?
When a person becomes a guardian of their own faith, wa anta al-salam, and you are peace, and you love peace, tuhibbu al-salam. And that was one of the beautiful narrations about him, radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. And when he was passing away, he actually was fainting. And he was in the lap of his wife, Umm Abdillah bint Abi Duma radiyaAllahu ta'ala anha. And he told her that, I am free from those who would wail, or who would shave their heads, or tear their clothes, and beware of the actions that cause harm to the deceased. So he was telling her, please, you know, as she's crying, not to do too much, not to wail, not to act in a way that the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa sallam would not be pleased with. And he passes away, radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, in the lap of his wife. And he passed away at the age of 63 years old, which was the same age as the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa sallam, when he passed away, in the month of Dhul Hijjah, in the year 44. And Imam al-Dhahabi, rahimAllah, he says about Abu Musa, you know, commenting on his biography, he says, qad kana Abu Musa sawwama, qawwama, rabbaniyan, zahidan, abidan, mimman jama' al-ilma, wal-amala, wal-jihada, wal-salamat al-sadr. That Abu Musa, radiyaAllahu anhu, was one who was distinguished by his fasting, distinguished by his prayer, distinguished by the way that he was devout, and his asceticism, and his ability in battle, the way he used to struggle in battle. And salamat al-sadr, the way he didn't hold any ill feelings towards any other person, the purity of his heart. And he says, lam tughayyirhu al-imara, wala akhtarra bid-dunya, that leadership did not change him, nor was he ever deluded by the material things of this world, radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu.
And so he leaves behind a great legacy, and there are hundreds of ahadith that are narrated from this man. Almost all of them have his children, to some extent, linked to it. And so the majority of the ahadith from Abu Musa are narrated by his son, Abi al-Burda. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala be pleased with Abu Musa and his family, Allahumma ameen. InshaAllah ta'ala, as I said, we're going to be covering, over the next three weeks inshaAllah ta'ala, the short biographies of those that were there with the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam on the hijrah. We ask Allah to be pleased with all of the companions of our beloved Messenger salallahu alayhi wa sallam, and to join us with them. And may Allah allow us to hear the voice of Abu Musa reciting the Qur'an in Jannah. Say ameen. And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam as well. Ameen. And I'll take maybe two questions inshaAllah ta'ala, and then we'll go for Salam.
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