Allah introduces him. His kunya according to Ibn Hibban and others is Abu Tarif, meaning that's his nickname. But as Adh-Dhahabi calls him, Waladu Hatim al-Jud. He is the son of
Hatim, the generous one. And so this is his nickname and you really cannot understand him without doing somewhat of a deep dive on who his father was. As they say, Alladhi
yudrabu al-mathalu bijudi abihi. The one with whom his father analogies are drawn or examples are made about generosity. In fact if you read in Arabic poetry, one of the phrases
that you'll come across is Akram min Hatim. That he was even more generous than Hatim which refers to the maximum generosity that a person can have. So Alladhi yudrabu al-mathalu
bijudi abihi. The one for whom analogies are drawn or examples are made about the generosity of his father. Now let's talk a little bit about his father inshallah ta'ala so we can
sort of understand what exactly he was born into. So just like Thumama (رضي الله عنه), usually Thumama and Adi actually come together when you're covering the stories
of the companions. His father and what he inherited was the leadership of a tribe and the kingdom of sorts of a region. So his father is the chief of Tai as far as the tribe is
concerned. So Tai literally refers to the tribe. The area that they rule is known as Ha'il. An area called Ha'il which is northwest of Al-Madinah al-Munawwara. And basically
Adi grows up watching his father author poetry and spend of his wealth and gain the reputation and respect of his people and he grows up inheriting the love of his people. SubhanAllah
this is one of the things that we learn in the story of Musa (عليه السلام) and Al-Khidr. That sometimes the generosity of a father, the generosity of a mother, the generosity
of a parent can transfer into all sorts of rizq, all sorts of sustenance for those that come afterwards. And his father was so loved for his generosity that Adi would have had
to do a lot to lose the love of his people. All he has to do is follow in the example of his father and he will find that there are plenty of people that love his father.
And so there is a lot that physically surrounds the location of the house that he grew up in. And there's actually, subhanAllah, they've preserved still the home in Ha'il. This is
actually the remains of the home of Hatim al-Ta'i. It was a very famous house where charity was frequent out of that house northwest of Madinah. His father used to do a few things
and there are all sorts of legends and stories about him. Some of them not even found in the books of Seerah, they're actually found in the history of the Arabs. So there's secular stories of just generosity and charity from this man. For one, it's said that in front
of his home he used to always light a fire at night and signal to the travelers that at any point, and they were along a trade route, that at any point of the night that they could always come to that house and they would find that their sustenance, their provisions
would be there for them. So he would serve the travelers as they were on their way. So he was generous to the travelers at any hour and he would bring them into his home and he would take care of them. So Adi is growing up watching that. On another instance, his
own people were struck by a famine that hit the region around the 550s and 560s. And Hatim had basically given everything from his home to his people so that they could survive that
famine until he sacrificed every single one of his animals, including his riding camels for his own people. And his people saw in their leader a man that was willing to starve
while they were actually able to survive on his sustenance. In another instance, there was a traveler that came to his house unexpectedly and that wanted some food. He needed something
to survive the journey. And Hatim replied, he asked his servant, he said, what do we have in the home? He said, nothing. He said, what type of animals do we have? He said, the only thing that we have right now is your noble steed. So he had a particular horse
that he used to ride. He said, sacrifice the horse. He said, are you sure? This is your most famous horse. I mean, imagine your horse for battle, your horse for journeys. He says,
sacrifice it and give it to this group of travelers. And so they did so. So that's one of the stories as well about him. Another one where a poor woman came to his home asking
for help and Hatim had absolutely nothing except for his armor. So he gave away his armor, sold it, and then he gave her the proceeds to take care of her. Another time where his
own daughter was unable to dress in a way that was dignified, right, for someone of her status. And she said the famous words that the generosity of my father left us in
need. The generosity of my father left us in need. And perhaps, SubhanAllah, one of the most fascinating things about him is even in his death, even in his death, he said that when I die, I want you to take the inheritance that I have and put two big pots in front
of my grave and keep filling them with food and water so that when the travelers or anyone that comes to visit my grave passes by, they will find their provision. So basically keep
refilling the pots. And so what a beautiful legacy of sadaqah, what a beautiful legacy of charity. Now what's the hukm of such a man? What's the ruling on such a man? He's
one of ahlul fatrah, he's one of the people that died, as the Prophet (ﷺ) said, between Jesus peace be upon him and Muhammad (ﷺ), between Isa (ﷺ) and Muhammad (ﷺ). And so he
was not exposed as far as we know to a revelation that we pass a judgment on him and we leave people like this to Allah ﷻ. His fate is with Allah ﷻ. We don't say Rahimahullah
nor do we curse him or pass anything decisive in his fate, but we can praise the charitable nature of him as the Prophet (ﷺ) would after his death. So he dies about eight years after
the birth of the Prophet (ﷺ), 578. The Prophet (ﷺ) of course would not receive revelation
until later on. Now his son, Adi, takes over the position. And Adi (رضي الله عنه) enjoys the status
of his father, but reading into his biography to just paraphrase a little bit, he doesn't seem to have the same level of generosity and goodwill to his people that his father
has. I'm saying this gently in the reading of his biography until he becomes Muslim. After he becomes Muslim, there's a different story. But prior to that, he doesn't seem
to have that same level of generosity towards his father. So he inherits the wealth, not necessarily the generosity. The presence, the looks, the prestige, all of that is there.
But he's someone who, for example, and this comes up in his discussion with the Prophet (ﷺ) later on, he would take one-fourth of the spoils of war for himself. And this was the most that was recorded amongst the Arabs at the time of a leader that would take from
his people. The spoils of course meaning after a battle, he claims one-fourth of it for himself. And he lived a life of great wealth and not necessarily the same generosity towards his
people. So what happens when Islam comes? He immediately declares the Prophet (ﷺ) as an enemy. He never actually meets the Prophet (ﷺ) as his enemy, right? But he immediately
feels like the Prophet (ﷺ) is going to disrupt all that we have in this region. Now here's the thing. From a tribal perspective, he's someone that the Arabs love and he loves the
Arabs and he benefits from their tribalistic society. From a religious perspective, he's a Christian and he's a devout Christian and we'll actually find that he's someone who
loves his Christianity and who deeply interrogates the Prophet (ﷺ)'s call to Islam on the basis of that. So they were Christians and they practiced a very particular type of Christianity
from the Eastern sects. So they were not post-Nicene Creed, post-Constantine Christianity, right? The Western Christianity. He practiced one of those Eastern sects of Christianity similar
to how al-Najashi (رضي الله عنه) would not be practicing the Christianity of the Byzantines, right? Though he obviously has a richer tradition in Abyssinia at the time. So he practices some form of Christianity. So religiously he doesn't match up with the
Prophet (ﷺ). He also hears all the slander of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and he acts upon that slander. The narrative of Quraysh is that the Prophet (ﷺ) is destroying everything,
wreaking havoc on families, wreaking havoc on tribes, and all of this is so that ultimately the Prophet (ﷺ) can find his way to power because that's how they used to act. So the
way they were presenting this was a fitna, was tribulation, as a power grab. So when does he actually become an enemy of the Prophet (ﷺ)? It's really interesting because it says
in the books of Siyar, 20 years. 20 years. So even though he's geographically located closer to Medina, he actually starts hating the Prophet (ﷺ) from the very beginning,
even though he's not meeting him. There are some indications that perhaps he is financing some of the expeditions or some of the smaller skirmishes with the Prophet (ﷺ) and with the
Muslims. He's definitely acting like a hostile actor, right, near to the Prophet (ﷺ) in Medina once the Prophet (ﷺ) assumes his place in Medina. So even if he's not incredibly hostile, he
is nonetheless hostile to the message of the Prophet (ﷺ) and financing and participating, even if very indirectly, in the battle against Islam, okay, the attempt to squash this religion
of the Prophet (ﷺ) and the growth of the political state of Al-Medina Munawwara. So he's not even considering the Prophet, he's not taking the religious part seriously, that's basically
what I'm trying to get at. He's taking the political part seriously, right. I want to limit the political influence because I benefit from the current arrangement. Now what happens
is we're getting into the last few years of Islam, the Prophet (ﷺ) comes back to Mecca, there's Fath Mecca. So now he has Mecca and Medina (ﷺ) and those smaller towns are starting
to come to Islam as well. You have Ta'if, you have Al-Hawazin, you have all of these different areas around Mecca and Medina that are being consolidated and coming under Islam
after they once fought the Prophet (ﷺ). So as this is happening, there is an indication that a messenger would have come to him, that the Prophet (ﷺ) gave, sent a letter to him
at some point, which is normal for the Prophet (ﷺ) to send invitations to Islam to everyone around the area. And he's told, you know, negotiate or embrace the faith. And his response
is, I have no interest in his faith and I have no interest in negotiating with him. Right. I neither want to deal with the Prophet (ﷺ) from a religious perspective, nor do I
want to deal with the Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) from a political perspective. Instead, he calls his mawla, he calls his main servant. He says, listen, I'm gathering this caravan
for myself and my family. I want you to watch the movement around Medina. If you see that the Prophet (ﷺ), because now the Prophet (ﷺ) is politically strong, if you see that his
army is coming, (عليه الصلاة والسلام), then let me know. And at that point, I'm going to take my family and we're going to flee towards Ash-Sham. Why would he go to Ash-Sham?
Why would he go towards greater Syria? Can anyone tell me? Christianity. He says, I'll be with my people. Right. So if the Arabs have fallen, then I'll be with my religious
people. I'll go and I'll be with the Christians in Ash-Sham. So he says, listen, just let me know if you start to get an indication that he's coming and then we're gone. So
Adi ibn Hatim is waiting with his family to basically see what's going to happen. He's not in a political place to actually fight the Prophet (ﷺ) right now. So as he's waiting,
the main servant comes and he says, ya maulay, oh my master, I just saw that the scouts of the Prophet (ﷺ) are in the area. So I see that your time is soon. So if you're going
to make a run for it, now's the time to take your most precious possessions and to run. And indeed, Ali ibn Abi Talib (رضي الله عنه) was leading a battalion. SubhanAllah, by the way, I want you to remember the name of Ali (رضي الله عنه) here. Ali (رضي الله
عنه) was leading a battalion to that area and he was getting there right at the time that Adi was going to flee. So Adi ibn Hatim takes his wife, he takes his children, he
takes what he can from his family and then he flees to Ash-Sham to be with the Christians, who he calls his own people. But he says, I forgot my sister. I forgot my sister. So
in just the hurry of getting everyone together and trying to rush before Ali (رضي الله عنه) and that battalion got to us, I left my sister behind. What ends up happening?
He says, we got to Ash-Sham and I was more miserable there than I would have been amongst the Arabs. They didn't treat me like a real Christian is basically what he's saying. Because
our Christianity was very different, plus there was a racial component to Byzantine Christianity to Roman Christianity. So I didn't really fit in with them. So I didn't
get the type of brotherhood that I was looking for. And I was a foreigner away from my land and I wondered what happened to my sister. So, Ali (رضي الله عنه) captures
his tribe and he brings back the sister of Hatim, whose name was Safana (رضي الله
عنها). Safana (رضي الله عنها) bint Hatim Atta'i. And they come to Al-Madinah. And now the story kind of goes from her perspective rather than the story of Adi. Adi is in Ash-Sham
and he's like, oh man, I forgot my sister. I wonder what happened to my sister. And he also doesn't like Ash-Sham very much, but he doesn't really have the political ability to go back to Al-Madinah and to see what's going on. And he's afraid of what would happen
if he went to the Prophet (ﷺ) and approached him. So now we hear it from the perspective of the sister. Safana was amongst the captives that were brought
back to Al-Madinah Munawwara. And she was in the Masjid of the Prophet (ﷺ). And the Prophet (ﷺ) walks by. Obviously they brought the whole tribe back from Ha'il to Al-Madinah. The Prophet (ﷺ) walks
by and she calls out and she says, Ya Rasulullah, ma'ta al-walid wa ghab al-wafid, fa munna
alayya manna allahu alayka. O Messenger of Allah, my father is dead. My guardian is absent. So be gracious to me. May Allah be gracious with you. Now she calls out to the Prophet
(ﷺ). The Prophet (ﷺ) does not know who she is. And she does not actually introduce herself. She doesn't say who she is. She just says these words really quickly. The Prophet (ﷺ) keeps walking and basically
going about his business (عليه الصلاة والسلام) with what is to happen. So he keeps conducting his affairs. So he doesn't say anything to her (ﷺ).
He walks by her again. She says, Ya Rasulullah, ma'ta al-walid wa ghab al-wafid, fa munna alayya manna allahu alayka. O Messenger of Allah, my father is dead. My guardian is absent.
So be gracious to me. May Allah be gracious to you. The Prophet (ﷺ) still, second time, he didn't say anything to her. He heard her but he didn't say anything
to her yet. The third time, she stands up. So she makes her presence felt. And she says
it with more aggressiveness to the Prophet (ﷺ). Ya Rasulullah, ma'ta al-walid wa ghab al-wafid, fa munna alayya manna allahu alayka. The Prophet (ﷺ)
says to her, and who is your father? She says, my father is Hatim
al-Ta'i. Wa inna abi kana yuhibbu makani man akhlaq. And my father used to love noble characteristics. Kana yut'im al-ta'am. He used to feed people. He used to be generous to people. He used
to care for the traveler. He used to take care of his family and he used to take care of the guests and he was a noble man. As for my guardian, he is Adi ibn Hatim and he's
fled to Ash-Sham. The Prophet (ﷺ) says that your father indeed was a good man. And if your father was alive and had he died upon Islam, la tarahamna alayhi,
we would have said rahimahullah. We would have asked Allah's mercy for him. So indeed your father was a good man. And the Prophet (ﷺ) said to the sahaba,
he said, let her go. But the Prophet (ﷺ) said to her, but don't leave in a hurry. And subhanAllah you're going to see the makani man akhlaq, the good character of the Prophet (ﷺ) here. The Prophet (ﷺ)
said, don't leave in a hurry. Instead, wait for a group of travelers that you trust or some group that's going to Ash-Sham so that we can let you go with them so that you can ensure or we can ensure that you will get there safely.
So it's the good character of the Prophet (ﷺ) that, okay, fine, you're free. But just wait until we have a group to send you with so that you don't go by yourself trying to travel to Ash-Sham. And then something bad can happen to you along the way.
So the Prophet (ﷺ) left. She was free. A group of people came by and they were relatives of her and they were passing through to Ash-Sham. So she said, Ya Rasulullah, I trust them. They're from our extended relatives.
Can I go with them to Ash-Sham? The Prophet (ﷺ) said, yes. Ali ibn Abi Talib (رضي الله عنه), he goes to her and he whispers to her, ask the Prophet (ﷺ) for a camel.
So she asked the Prophet (ﷺ) for a camel. So the Prophet (ﷺ) gave her a camel. And then the Prophet (ﷺ) gave her some of the finest clothes and he gave her a huge sum of money to basically serve as her provisions for the journey.
So he shows her all sorts of ikram (ﷺ), all sorts of generosity. (عليه الصلاة والسلام). And then she goes out. Prophet (ﷺ) said, who was it that whispered to her?
It was Ali (رضي الله عنه). So the Prophet (ﷺ) did not mind what Ali did. Ali (رضي الله عنه) knew the generosity of the Prophet (ﷺ) and Ali was indicating to her, just ask him and you'll see that the Prophet (ﷺ) will always give.
So now you go back to Adi ibn Hatim. He's sitting in Ash-Sham, worried about his sister. And he hears the news that some of the extended relatives have made it to Ash-Sham
and they have amongst them his sister. So when Safana arrives, Adi ibn Hatim goes to embrace her and she does not leave a single curse word.
This is literally what it says, except that she cursed him out with it. She said, you're a miserable man and she said, you forgot your family in pursuit of your own wealth. You fled like a coward and she went on and on and on and on and basically berated him, right?
Like how could you leave me, your own sister in that situation and you managed to get out with your wife and your kids. And he's like, you know, take it easy on me. It was a rush. Everything was happening very quickly. I was just trying to get out.
And then by the time she finishes, you know, cursing him out and telling him all these things and then he's apologizing to her and saying, I'm sorry. At the end of it, it's like, wait a minute. So the Prophet (ﷺ) sent you with a camel
and sent you with a bunch of clothes and a bunch of money. That's interesting. So he says to her, what do you say about, what do you think about Muhammad (ﷺ)? I'm like, we never met him before.
SubhanAllah, two decades of enmity and he was only a few miles away and we never met him before. And listen to what she says. She says, ilhaq bi hadha rajal. She said, go quickly to this man.
fa in kana nabiyan, fa qad taba'ta nabiyan. If he turns out to be a prophet, then you would have followed a prophet. wa in kana malik, and if he's just a king like other kings,
fa lan tajid minhu illa khaira, then you will not find from him except for good. So basically it's a win-win situation. If you go back to him, apologize to him because the Prophet (ﷺ) is forgiving everyone and the Prophet (ﷺ) is showing grace to anyone that comes to him,
even from his most severe enemies. It wasn't as bad between Adi and some of the others. Just go to him and you'll find him to either be a prophet or to be a noble king at the bare minimum. So he says, I made my way back to the Prophet (ﷺ).
And he said that as I got to Ash-Sham, and this is where you start to see the different narrations coming. The talk, the murmurs of Adi ibn Hatim arriving immediately started in Al-Madinah Munawwara.
So he says, I got to Al-Madinah and immediately everyone starts to murmur, Adi ibn Hatim is here, Adi ibn Hatim is here. And now I want to actually merge some of the narrations of Adi telling the story of his entrance into Al-Madinah
with the Prophet (ﷺ) because you have several conversations in one. Some of the narrations, by the way, just for the sake of documenting it, some of the scholars say that this was the seventh year after Hijrah in Sha'ban. Some of them say it was the ninth year after Hijrah.
And that seems to be the most correct opinion in this regard. So either seventh year or the ninth year, either after Hudaybiyyah or after Fath-Makkah. In any case, Abu Ubaidah ibn Hudhayfa, rahimahullah, he says,
كنت أسأل الناس عن حديثي عدي ابن حاتم. He said, I used to ask people about the story of Adi ibn Hatim. وهو إلى جنبي and he was right next to me. لا أتيه but I never really had it in me to ask him. So he's one of the Tabi'een.
He said, I used to ask people about this legendary story about how Adi ibn Hatim became Muslim. And he was right there, but I never asked him. So he said, one day I went up to him. فأتيته فسألته. I asked him, how did you become Muslim?
Can you tell me the story of your becoming Muslim? So he said, and Adi was an old man at this point.
قال بعث رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم حيث بعث فكرهته أشد ما كرهت شيئا قط. He said that the Prophet (ﷺ) was sent as a prophet
and I hated him more than I hated anything else in the world. Not even any other person. He was the most hated thing in the world to me (ﷺ) حتى كنت في أقصى أرض مما يلي الروم.
He said until I was in the furthest part of the land in the area of the Romans فكرهت مكاني ذلك. And I hated where I was living. So I didn't like where I actually had moved to. Christians didn't treat me like a Christian.
I didn't like where I was. فقلت لو أتيت هذا الرجل. He said, I said to myself, if only I go and I see this man فإن كان كاذبا لم يخفى علي. If he's a liar, I will immediately be able to tell.
So Adi ibn Hatim is saying, I'm a smart man. I can read people pretty well. And my sister said it's a win-win situation. He's either a prophet or a good king. So he said I'll go see him for myself. If he's a liar, it will become immediately obvious to me.
وإن كان صادقاً تبعته فأقبلت. He said if he turns out to be a truthful man, then I'll follow him and then it's going to be in my favor. قال فلما قدمت المدينة.
He said as soon as I got to Al-Madinah, the people started to say, جاء عدي بن حاتم. عدي بن حاتم is here. So he said the Prophet (ﷺ) was sitting in the masjid.
So I looked at the Prophet (ﷺ). I greeted him and he greeted me back and the Prophet (ﷺ) said, who is this man? They said, عدي بن حاتم. How did the Prophet (ﷺ) greet him? He said the Prophet (ﷺ)
stood up. He greeted me. He took me by his hand and he basically told the people that I'm going to take him and sit with him in my house. And by the way, this shows up under the hadith of the Prophet (ﷺ). إذا أتاكم كريم قوم فأكرموه.
If a noble man comes to you, then show him nobility, honor him. Right? And so many of the scholars say that the Prophet (ﷺ) just like how he treated Thumama (رضي الله عنه) and others, the Prophet (ﷺ) knew that, look, this is a noble man amongst his people
and he should be treated with nobility and that's the easiest way to soften his heart. I'm not going to try to make an example out of him and say, oh, how was Ash-Sham? How did Syria treat you? Did your sister tell you off the way that she said she was going to? None of that. Prophet (ﷺ) got up.
أهلاً, welcome to Medina. Grabbed him by the hand. Basically whatever he was doing (ﷺ), he said just wait. And he walked with him holding his hand (ﷺ) taking him to his house.
So this immediately already blows the mind of Adi ibn Hatim. Like I used to fight this man. I was an enemy of the Prophet (ﷺ) and I never even met him and look how he's treating me, right? Like, you know, you kind of feel dumb for waiting that long. Like I should have treated him better before
than I would have gotten this type of reception. Why did I have to wait till this? So on the one hand, you have the Prophet (ﷺ) treating a noble chief the way that he would treat a noble chief. But here's where Adi ibn Hatim says it gets interesting.
So he's kind of reading the character of Medina and the character of the people. He says that while we are walking to his house, so the Prophet (ﷺ) is holding me by the hand to take me to his house in a loving manner. While we're walking to his house,
this old weak woman comes to him (ﷺ) and she had a young child with her and she stopped the Prophet (ﷺ) and she started to talk to the Prophet (ﷺ) about some of her issues and the Prophet (ﷺ)
stopped everything he was doing, even with me. And he started to talk to that old woman and try to help her through her problem. So subhanAllah in this one episode already you're seeing like how the Prophet (ﷺ) treats a noble dignitary
but not at the expense of the downtrodden of his community (ﷺ). Right? So he's honoring Adi but wait a minute, this woman is important too. Even if she does not come from a powerful background, she's important too.
So Adi said, I'm watching this and I said to myself, قلت في نفسي والله ما هذا بملك I swear by Allah this man is not a king. It's not how a king acts. I've seen the way kings act. That's not how a king acts.
So then he says, after he finished with the woman, came back to me, he held my hand (ﷺ) then he took me to his home. I'm expecting to see the palace of Muhammad (ﷺ).
I'm expecting to see this humongous house. Instead I see the حجرات 9 by 4 this little mud chamber and that's the house of the most powerful man (ﷺ) So he says, wow. Then on top of that,
when he opened the door (ﷺ) what was inside his house was even more humbling than the outside of his house. Because what was inside his house? Nothing. So he said, we walk in
and the Prophet (ﷺ) had one cushion and the Prophet (ﷺ) takes that cushion and he puts it for me and he says, فضل, sit on the cushion. And he said فستحق, I was shy. I was like, no, you sit on the cushion.
This is your house, you're Muhammad (ﷺ). I was a chief that fought you, right? Like I'm not in a position of power here. What do you mean I sit on the cushion and you sit on the dirt? No, you sit on the cushion. The Prophet (ﷺ) insists. You sit on the cushion. So he said that we went back and forth
until the Prophet (ﷺ) sat me on that cushion. And I'm saying to myself والله ما هذا بملك There's no way this man is a king. Like it's occurring to him the words of his sister throughout this. This is not a normal human being (ﷺ). Not what I expected at all.
I was expecting something else. 20 years of Islamophobia is being shattered with this one interaction. So then I'm going to bring in another narration. Adi says, I was wearing a big golden cross
which is common for the Christians. And the Prophet (ﷺ) as we sit down, he looks at the cross and he says, يا عدي اترح عنك هذا الوثن Remove this idol from yourself.
Then he read (ﷺ) اتخذوا احبارهم ورهبانهم اربابا من دون الله That they took their rabbis and their priests as lords besides Allah. And Adi holds his cross.
And he says, but we don't worship them. We don't worship our rabbis and our priests. And the Prophet (ﷺ) he says, was it not that they made for you
things that were halal, that were actually haram and made for you things that were haram that were actually halal. Didn't they actually interfere in the legislation and tell you what was halal and haram? Meaning make the lawful prohibited and the prohibited lawful.
So in that case, the Prophet (ﷺ) said, you've taken them as lords besides Allah (ﷺ) these priests and these rabbis as lords besides Allah (ﷺ) No one gets to change the revelation. Then he says (ﷺ)
يا عدي أسلم تسلم Oh Adi, embrace Islam. You will find Salaam, you'll find peace. And the Prophet (ﷺ) said,
ألست ركوسياً Aren't you? ركوسياً ركوسياً was the name of the sect of Christianity that he followed. If you look it up, it's one of the Eastern sects as we said
that at this point is considered obsolete. And it's one of the Jewish Christian sects meaning it still had a lot of the rituals of Judaism. A lot of the practices of Judaism, which was common from Eastern Christianity
because it hadn't been subsumed yet into Western Christianity. But at the same time they elevated Jesus Peace be upon him to a point of being divine himself (عليه السلام) Right? Being the son of God and being part of the Trinity.
So I said بلى I said yes, like how did you even know that? And the Prophet (ﷺ) said, تأكل المربعة And you were consuming one-fourth of the spoils of war.
So basically the Prophet (ﷺ) is shaming him. You're a Christian, right? He says yes. What business did you have taking one-fourth of the spoils of your people? فإن ذلك لا يحل لك في دينك Prophet (ﷺ) said,
that was not halal for you and your deen. So he said I was shook. And the Prophet (ﷺ) kept on asking me questions about my deen then and he clearly knew more about my religion than I knew about my religion.
I was like how does he know so much about Christianity? How does he know so much about my practices? So the Prophet (ﷺ) basically starts to interrogate him with his own beliefs and his own practices and to show where his practices don't fit his own beliefs.
I say how does he know so much? Then the Prophet (ﷺ) says to him, يا عدي ما يمنعك أن تقول لا إله إلا الله What's stopping you from saying لا إله إلا الله? What's stopping you from saying الله أكبر? What's stopping you from saying لا إله إلا الله?
What's stopping you from saying الله أكبر? You know the truth. You know that what I'm saying to you is truer of your faith than what you have professed all these years. And عدي says, he said to me again,
يا عدي أسلم تسلم Embrace Islam. You will find Islam. You will find peace. قال فأظن مما يمنعك أن تسلم
خصاصة تراها بمن حولي He said I think that what might be stopping you from entering into Islam is perhaps the poverty that you see around me. Meaning what?
Like you've witnessed now my community and this is a community of poor people. Community of the Prophet (ﷺ) was a humble community. I mean, he's sitting in the house of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and that's it.
And he says وَأَنَّكَ تَرَى النَّاسَ عَلَيْنَا إِلْبَنْ وَاحِدًا And you see that the people all around us are united front. Meaning at some point that poverty is going to catch up to us
and that power that's around us is going to consume us. Then the Prophet (ﷺ) says هَلْ أَتَيْتَ الْحِيرَةِ Have you ever been to the area of al-Hira?
So it's a faraway area. So he says to him لَمْ آتِهَا وَقَدْ عَلِمْتُ مَكَانَهَا Adi says, I said to the Prophet (ﷺ) I've never been there myself but I'm aware of its place.
The Prophet (ﷺ) said that there will come a day that a woman will be able to travel from that area coming all the way
to perform tawaf around the Ka'bah fearing no one but Allah ﷻ. And the Prophet (ﷺ) said, and the treasures, the kunus of Kisra ibn Hurmus, the most powerful man in Persia,
the treasures of the emperor of Persia will be in our hands. Adi says, I said to him, Kisra ibn Hurmus, that Kisra, like okay, now this is getting a little
out of hands. Mecca, Medina, fine. Kisra, the most powerful man in the world, one day his treasures will be in your hand. The Prophet (ﷺ) said it again, and I said it again, and he said it again, مَرَّتَيْنَا أَوْ ثَلَاثَةَ
Three times. That Kisra, his treasures will be in our hands. And the Prophet (ﷺ) said, وَلَيَ فِي ضَنَّ الْمَالُ حَتَّى يُهِمَّ الرَّجُلُ
مَنْ يَقْبَلُ مِنْهُ مَالُهُ يَنِي مَالُهُ صَدَقًا The Prophet (ﷺ) said, in a time will come where a man will have so much wealth that he will have a hard time finding someone to give charity to.
Meaning equity will be established in a state of Islam to a point that we will not find anyone to accept sadaqah, to accept zakah. Adi ibn Hatim, looking at the conviction
of the Prophet (ﷺ), he says, أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ اللَّهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّكَ رَسُولَ اللَّهُ I bear witness that there is only one God and that you are the Messenger of Allah. And he goes on to say, subhanAllah, that the conviction of the Prophet (ﷺ),
the certainty of the Prophet (ﷺ), like I knew that he knew what he was talking about. Like it was as if the Prophet (ﷺ) was seeing the future right in front of his eyes. And he was describing it (ﷺ) with such confidence as if it was happening
in the present. And you know what Adi says? Because he's narrating this to a young man. He's an old man. By the way, I'm going to give you a, you know, an early preview. Adi ibn Hatim lived to be how old? 120 years old.
So he's sharing this way after and he's saying, I lived to see two of these three things. Not only did I live to see the woman traveling all the way to Mecca fearing no one but Allah ﷻ.
He's saying I was part of the army that entered into Persia and that had the wealth of Kisra in our hands. And he said, and I'm waiting for the third. And the third was shortly after he died. It was the era of Umar ibn Abdul Aziz, rahimahullah, where Umar ibn Abdul Aziz
established such equality in the Ummah that they couldn't even find recipients in zakah in some areas. Entire lands could not find anyone to accept sadaqah because of the justice of Umar ibn Abdul Aziz,
rahimahullah. So Adi says Islam entered into my heart. And subhanAllah, he became like his father in terms of his generosity. But except now he's a Muslim. And the Prophet (ﷺ),
he says that the Prophet (ﷺ) told to me that if your father would have died a Muslim, latarahumna alayhi. We would have said rahimahullah. We would have invoked Allah's mercy for him. Like what a good man he was.
And now Adi develops that love for sadaqah as well. So Adi basically now takes Islam and his people back to the area of Ha'il. He settles them there and he leads them in Islam and he becomes distinguished for his righteousness.
Distinguished for his sadaqah, distinguished for his salah. And by the way, Safana (رضي الله عنها) became Muslim as well. And so she's also in the dictionary or in the encyclopedia of narrators by Ibn Hibban, rahimahullah ta'ala.
What are some of the characteristics of Adi ibn Hatim? One of them is that he develops an extreme love for salah. So he said, ma dakhala waqtu salatin hatta ashtaqa ilayha.
He said that the prayer never enters upon me except that I am longing for it. In another narration, Adi (رضي الله عنه) said, ma uqimatis salatun mundhu aslamtu illa wa ana ala wudu'i.
He said that the iqama for salah has not come a single time since the day I became Muslim, except that I was already in my wudu'. What does that mean? Like I was ready for it. So subhanAllah,
all these deep practices, spiritual practices, and he was a spiritual man before Islam. Now he's
finding its true taste in religiosity alongside the Prophet (ﷺ). Now he only got to see the
Prophet (ﷺ) a few times because he basically embraced Islam right before the Prophet (ﷺ) died. In the time of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (رضي الله عنه), his people were fresh on Islam. There's a
man that comes to their area and who claims prophethood. And he was about to take pretty
much all of his tribe from Ha'il to join his army, and that man was Tuleyha al-Asadi, who at that
time was a false prophet. So Adi ibn Hatim had a chance, if this was a power grab for him, to join Tuleyha (رضي الله عنه), who at that time was a false prophet, had a chance to join the army
of Tuleyha and attack Medina. Instead he becomes one of the most loyal chiefs of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (رضي الله عنه), protecting the Arabian Peninsula from the fitna of Tuleyha and from the
fitna of Musaylimah, holding his people in Islam and joining forces with the forces of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (رضي الله عنه) to keep the people within al-Islam. And then there are a few narrations
about him, subhanAllah, afterwards. If you go back to the story of Khalid ibn Walid (رضي الله عنه), Khalid (رضي الله عنه) made that difficult trek from Iraq to Ash-Sham when Abu Bakr (رضي الله
عنه) sent the news. So they were fighting the Persians and then Abu Bakr directed them to Ash-Sham to fight the Romans, and Khalid had to take this impossible trek. Adi ibn Hatim was one of the men
who was with Khalid ibn Walid (رضي الله عنه) on that impossible trek. And we find subhanAllah some of the incidents where the Khulafa would see him. Umar ibn al-Khattab (رضي الله عنه),
one time after Umar had not seen Adi ibn Hatim for a long time, Adi ibn Hatim entered upon Umar (رضي الله عنه) and he said, Amma ta'rifuni? Do you recognize me? Umar (رضي الله عنه) said,
Arifuka? I remember you. Qala a'mantu or a'manta idha kafaru. You believed when they disbelieved.
Wa wafayta idha ghadaru. And you stayed loyal when other people betrayed. Wa aqbalta idha adbaru and moved forward when others moved back. Meaning you proved yourself in Islam after the Prophet
(ﷺ) died. There was a lot of skepticism about Adi ibn Hatim (رضي الله عنه), but you proved yourself in Islam after the death of the Prophet (ﷺ) that indeed this had entered into your heart. Adi ibn Hatim (رضي الله عنه), there's an
incident with him and Uthman (رضي الله عنه) as well, later on, that one day Adi ibn Hatim came to the door of Uthman (رضي الله عنه) while he was the Khalifa. This is narrated by
Na'id who was a freed slave of Uthman (رضي الله عنه). So he said that Adi ibn Hatim came to the door while I was there. I didn't know who he was, so I stopped him from entering.
So when Uthman (رضي الله عنه) came out for Salat al-Dhuhr, Uthman (رضي الله عنه) saw him
and Uthman (رضي الله عنه) greeted him so generously and was so happy to see him. So Adi ibn Hatim (رضي الله عنه) said,
he said that I came to your door and I was forbidden but other people were let in. So he pointed to me and he said this one stopped me from you. So he said that Uthman (رضي الله عنه) looked at me and Uthman (رضي الله عنه) started to scold me and he said,
don't stop this type of a person from entering upon to me and in fact make him the first person to enter upon me. So he says,
he said because I swear by Allah, we know his right upon us, his virtue upon us and the way that the two khalifas that preceded me used to see him as well as how his qalb
saw him, as well as how his own people saw him, and he has come to us with his charity and he is driving it forward for the Muslims and he started
to say (رضي الله عنه) and we remember that when the people apostated, that it was Adi that stood up and stopped the people from Ahl al-Ridda, that stopped the people from apostasy
and held them in al-Islam. So this is a narration of him with Uthman (رضي الله عنه) and then finally subhanAllah we find with him, it was Ali (رضي الله عنه) who led the battalion
that initially sent him fleeing to Ash-Sham. But Adi ibn Hatim basically would take the side of Ali (رضي الله عنه) and Adi (رضي الله عنه) would fight every single battle next to Ali
for the rest of Ali's life. The battle of Siffin, the battle of al-Jamal, so when the civil wars broke out he had a loyalty and a partisanship to Ali (رضي الله عنه) and he even lost his
eye (رضي الله عنه) defending and being with Ali (رضي الله عنه) and after that subhanAllah after the fitna had finished he still was alive. So what did he do? He went to his own
quiet space in Kufa in Iraq, he remained remembering Allah ﷻ recounting the Prophet (ﷺ)'s life. He didn't have any children that had survived him at that point
and the only narrations we have about him, this chief, this king that existed around the Prophet (ﷺ) was a man that was always in the masjid early on and the last to
leave. SubhanAllah you know I often think to myself like if you're 60-70 years after the Prophet (ﷺ) and you're somewhere in the Muslim world and you walk in and you've got
someone that's praying in the first row who's just an old man that seems totally insignificant and quiet to everything else like what the history of that old man actually is and in this situation
Adi ibn Hatim was that man that was first in the masjid that was last and there's a narration about him that when he became very old he used to have to pray you know sitting up and reclined
and he used to have to sit on something and he used to say he said that I would hate for one of you to think that I believe that I'm better than any one of you
he said but I've gotten old and my bones have become weak and he would remember that incident with the Prophet (ﷺ) where the Prophet (ﷺ) who was the most powerful man in the world right is with him in his room (ﷺ) in his palace and the Prophet (ﷺ)
his palace in quotation marks the Prophet (ﷺ) had one cushion and he would tell Adi ibn Hatim (رضي الله عنه) to be the only one that would take that cushion
(رضي الله عنه) as we said he lived to be 120 years he passed away 66 years after hijrah (رضي الله عنه) may Allah ﷻ be pleased with him we ask Allah ﷻ
to allow us to be with our Prophet (ﷺ) in his noble palace in his noble presence
