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Life of the Prophet (seerah)
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Al-Shifa bint Abdullah (ra): The Healer and Scholar | The Firsts Shorts
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Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Khalid ibn al-Walid (ra): The Legendary Military General | The Firsts
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Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Tulayha ibn Khuwaylid (ra): From False Prophet to Shaheed | The Firsts
147
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Zayd ibn al-Khattab (ra): The Quiet Brother of Omar (ra) | The Firsts
Amr ibn al-As (ra): His Wicked Father and “Better” Brother | The Firsts
Before understanding Amr ibn al-As (ra), you need to know about his father who was a staunch opponent of the Prophet ﷺ, and his brother Hisham (ra) who was a companion long before him, with a legendary story of his own.
The Firsts is a weekly video series that chronicles the lives of the Sahaba (the companions of the Prophet ﷺ) during and after the time of the Prophet ﷺ.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. As-salamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh, a'udhu billahi minash shaitanir rajim, bismillahir rahmanir raheem, alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen, wa ala alwani wa ila ala adhalimeen, wa ala aqeebatu lilmatakeen, Allahumma salli wa sallim wa baraka la abdika wa rasulika Muhammadin sallallahu alaihi wasallam, wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wasallam, tasliman kathira. Welcome back to the first. Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen. We are continuing in the story of those that were on the other side of Uhud. And my intention tonight was actually to start talking about the seerah of Amr ibn Aas radiallahu ta'ala anhu. But I'm actually going to tell you from right now that tonight we're not going to talk about Amr ibn Aas. We're going to talk about his father and we're going to talk about his brother. And I'll tell you exactly why. SubhanAllah, when I first started this series, one of my main intentions for the first was to find sahaba that don't get the recognition that they deserve. People that are kind of buried in the stories of others. And Amr ibn Aas radiallahu ta'ala anhu has a brother named Hisham ibn Aas radiallahu ta'ala anhu who is worthy of his own biography. So what we're going to be doing tonight, where are all my Hishams in here? Where are the Hishams? No Hishams here? No Hishams in Valley Ranch? I don't know what's going on. I was going to make you guys proud. All right. So what we're going to do inshallah ta'ala is we're going to talk about the making of Amr ibn Aas radiallahu ta'ala anhu by really understanding the family that he comes from. And subhanAllah, the title for tonight is a wicked father and a better brother. And better is in quotation marks and it'll make sense at the end of our halaqa tonight and then inshallah ta'ala next week we'll dive into Amr ibn Aas radiallahu ta'ala anhu. But tonight we talk about his father who is one of the most wicked people in the history
of Islam. And when you say one of the most hated people to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, you're not exaggerating. He is associated with so many of the ayat of the Quran that we read in Juz Amma that we read throughout the Quran. Over 10 instances of tafsir in which he is the one that's being indicated according to the scholars in terms of an enemy of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the father of Amr ibn Aas radiallahu ta'ala anhu. And his brother Hisham radiallahu ta'ala anhu, an incredible sahabi, an incredible companion who embraced Islam before his brother, but did not get the same recognition in the books of history. And we'll talk about that tonight bi'idhnillahi ta'ala and what that did in terms of shaping the life of Amr ibn Aas radiallahu ta'ala anhu going forward. So let's start at the top. Now Amr and Hisham are the only two brothers. They don't have any brothers that are noted in their biographies, but they have different mothers. Okay. So Amr ibn Aas ibn Wael, Hisham ibn Aas ibn Wael. All right. They're half brothers. And tonight we're going to focus on Hisham. Now Amr ibn Aas ibn Wael, their father obviously is Al-Aas who we're going to talk about. Amr ibn Aas's mother was a slave girl by the name of Layla bint Harmala. Layla bint Harmala. And there's a story behind that that we'll talk about next week inshallah ta'ala. So his half brother is his younger brother and his mother is a woman by the name of Um Harmala bint Hisham ibn al-Mughirah. Um Harmala bint Hisham ibn al-Mughirah. Who is his mother? Um Harmala is the sister of Abu Jahl. Okay. The sister of Abu Jahl. Now if you remember, who remembers Abu Jahl's name, his actual name? Amr ibn Hisham. Okay.
Hisham ibn al-Mughirah. All right. Amr ibn Hisham ibn al-Mughirah. So his sister is the wife of Al-Aas and the mother of Hisham. So obviously Abu Jahl is the chief of Banu Makhzum. And he's also, by the way, of course, you know, Hisham ibn al-Mughirah is the brother of Al-Waleed ibn al-Mughirah, the father of Khalid radiyallahu ta'ala anhu. Right. So this would mean that Hisham ibn al-Aas is the first cousin of Khalid radiyallahu ta'ala anhu. Okay. The first cousin of Khalid radiyallahu ta'ala anhu, which makes this, you know, truly a family affair. When you start to talk about the dynamics, truly Khalid and Amr ibn al-Aas are so inseparable in their stories, both, you know, before they embraced Islam and then after they embraced Islam. There is a lifelong connection between those two brothers, may Allah be pleased with them. And in the situation of Hisham, he's actually a relative. He's actually the cousin of Khalid radiyallahu ta'ala anhu through his mother. So this gives him a power through Banu Makhzum. Right. You're situated in one of the most powerful tribes in Mecca, being Banu Makhzum, a competitive tribe to Banu Hashim, the tribe of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. Now let's talk about the father. And I'm going to go through how many ayat you've been reading. And inshallah ta'ala it will now give you a face to think about when you read these ayat. The father is al-Aas ibn Wael. Al-Aas is the chief of Banu Sahm, which is also a powerful tribe of Quraysh. He's a distant relative of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam, meaning they meet at one of the ancestors. So he's a distant relative of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam in Quraysh. But this man will go on to become one of the staunchest opponents of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. And you know when the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam says, that people are like precious stones. The best of you in the days of ignorance are the best of you in Islam.
Likewise, some of those who exhibited lowly characteristics carried those lowly characteristics in opposition to Islam and only became furthered in their tughyan, furthered in their transgression with those qualities. And so let's talk about al-Aas even before Islam. Al-Aas even before Islam. He is the catalyst for a very momentous episode in the seerah of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam before Islam. Remember Hilf al-Fudul, the League of Justice, the pact of justice that was taken in Mecca, where the tribes came together in Mecca and they said that we will protect the weak one amongst us, the one who doesn't have a tribe amongst us, that we're not going to let him be wronged economically just because he has no one to protect him. So al-Aas is the one who made that happen, but by being the transgressor. Okay, so I take you back to before Islam, there was a man from Yemen. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless the people of Yemen. Everyone say ameen. A man from Yemen, from the tribe of Az-Zubayd. So he was a Zubaydi man from Yemen. He came to Mecca to trade. Now this was in the month of Dhul-Qa'dah, right before Dhul-Hijjah, one of the sacred months. And he had some goods with him, and he's around the Ka'bah, doesn't have anyone to protect him. He sells some of his goods to al-Aas ibn Wa'al. The worst rich person is the one who's predatory and doesn't have to take advantage of the poor. You have no reason to steal, you have no reason to poke people, to take advantage of people. Al-Aas is one of the wealthiest men in Mecca, but he's a slime ball, you know. And I can call him that because Allah azawajal refers to him in so many different ways in the Quran. Complete slime ball, right? So al-Aas ibn Wa'al says, alright, give me the goods, I'll pay you.
He takes the goods. The man says, alright, where's the money? He said, what money? What are you talking about? And the man says, you just bought these goods from me. He said, alright, go find somewhere else and go claim your money somewhere else. Basically, get lost. What are you going to do about it, right? I'm al-Aas ibn Wa'al, I'm the chief of Banu Sahm. You're in Mecca, coming from Yemen, you think you have some power here? Get out of here, right? Get lost. So this was actually common in Mecca before Hilf al-Fudul. This type of behavior of exploitation, exploiting the slave, exploiting al-Mustada'afin, exploiting the weak and the oppressed ones, this is very, very normal behavior in Mecca. Now, obviously, the man starts telling people, like, do you guys see what just happened here? Aren't you going to do something? And those that are around al-Aas, they immediately take his side. Like, he's al-Aas ibn Wa'al, what do you want us to do, right? He's the chief of Banu Sahm. Then at that point, the man stands up in front of the Kaaba and basically embarrasses Mecca, right? He starts to author these beautiful words of poetry about the people of Mecca, and he strikes at their ego, their culture, right? What type of a people are you, custodians of the Kaaba, right? And this is how you treat the weak amongst you, this is how you treat the one who has no tribe, and he starts to shout out and author these words of poetry, and now it's embarrassing. See, these people don't do anything out of righteousness. It's embarrassing, right? So, the other tribesmen from Banu Mahzum, Banu Abduldar, others, they simply sided with al-Aas, but one of the uncles of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, whose name was Az-Zubayr ibn al-Muttalib, not Az-Zubayr ibn al-Awam radiyallahu anhu, an uncle of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, Az-Zubayr ibn al-Muttalib, he stood up and he was outraged. He said, isn't someone going to help this man? Like, is this how we're really going to treat the people when they come to Mecca,
the migrants when they come to Mecca, the tourists, the tradespeople? What type of reputation do we want? What type of people do we want? An argument breaks out, and Abdullah ibn Jud'an summons the people, and the long story short, because Hilf al-Fudhul is something we've covered in multiple lectures and in great detail in any seerah, long story short, the people of Mecca agree to this pact, and the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was the youngest person to be a part of that pact, to protect the one who was exploited, to protect the one who does not have a tribe, to protect him from economic exploitation, and al-'As signed onto it too, whatever. He's a chief of Banu Sahm. The powerful, the elites of Mecca can always find a loophole, but at least this was a notable move, a notable moment in the seerah of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, and this behavior from al-'As will show itself in Islam in a very nasty way as well. So he's a rich man, multiple slaves, multiple homes, all types of money, but he still pokes at the little man in Mecca, and messes with the little man. So when you think of al-'As ibn Wa'il, put him in the league of Abu Jahl, Abu Lahab, al-Walid ibn al-Mughira, Uqba ibn Abi Mu'ayt, and then al-'As ibn Wa'il. Put him in that league. The father of Khalid, Khalid radhiAllahu anhu's father, who of course multiple ayat came down about him, his arrogance with the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, the way he rejected Islam, this man falls in that category, and he has a unique way of oppression. His oppression is istihzab, mockery. So here's the thing, subhanAllah, Amr ibn al-'As radhiAllahu anhu will largely become successful in Islam because he was so smart, his wits, his intelligence. They call them the most clever, the most clever general in Islam. Like Khalid radhiAllahu anhu was a man who could map out the battlefield
and win every battle. Amr was a man who could use his brain and he can outwit, he was so clever. And he used that for the sake of Allah after being an enemy to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam himself for some time. In the case of his father, his father was also a brilliant man, very witty, smart elk. But he uses it to mock the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. So his oppression has the physical oppression to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, shutting the avenues of da'wah, but also pure istihzab of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, pure mockery with the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. So let's start to go through all of the ayat that you read throughout the Qur'an in which the scholars say he is the one who is implicated. First and foremost, when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, wa qaloo lawla unzila alaihi malak. They said, why doesn't an angel just come down? So al-'as was the one who said to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, you know what, we'll believe you if you get an angel that comes and stands next to you, bi surati malak, in the form of an angel, and then talks to us. But you, we don't believe you. But bring an angel next to you, maybe we will listen to that angel. walaw anzalna malakan la qudial amru, thumma la yunzarun. And Allah azawajal says, and if an angel would have came down, then it would have been over, and you would not have been granted any type of respite to repent. And of course Allah azawajal says again, using the istihza, walaqad istuhzi abirusun min qablika, fa haaqa billadhina sakhilu minhum ma kanu bihi yastahzi'un. Look, ya Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, prophets that came before you were mocked in this way. And Allah azawajal did with them what he did. Take comfort in this when you see the Zionists doing with our brothers and sisters in Palestine what they're doing. walaqad istuhzi abirusun min qablika. Look, people came before you, righteous people that were mocked in their lowest points. It hurts the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam because everyone treated the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam well before Islam. And, you know, al-aas can always bring a particular type of mockery to the discussion that puts the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam in a very awkward situation. So, he's one of those people. And he's the main one that always invents these claims with the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. And the spirit of his questioning of Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was not a su'ad. He wasn't genuinely inquiring about anything. So when he brings these challenges to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, it's purely to mock the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. The next surah that many of the scholars say was revealed about him, qul ya ayyuhal kafirun. Surah al-kafirun. You worship our God one day, we worship your God one day. Now, different people made this suggestion to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. You can actually find multiple elites of Quraysh that made this suggestion to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Because to them, it's like, look, if your God is just another idol, we'll make space. We got 360 of them anyway. Just make it 361. I mean, like, if that's really what this is all about, you worship your God, we worship our God, that's it. But listen to the way that al-'as puts it to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. He said, ya Muhammad, halumma fal na'bud ma ta'bud wal ta'bud ma na'bud. Oh Muhammad, come on and worship what we worship and we'll worship what you worship. If the good comes from your God, then we'll get it. And if the good comes from our gods, then we'll get it. But if we worship all of them, then we won't miss any of the hadh. We won't miss any of the fortune. Like, the good's going to come from one of them, right? You see the way he mocks the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam? So, qul ya ayyual kafiroon. Many of the ulama said was about al-'as. Like, this was the lowest of the mockery, istihzaat. Like, this is how seriously he takes God. This is what God is to him, a wish list. You know, just go ahead, fine. Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, come with me. Let's all worship gods together. One of them is going to answer our dua. One of them is going to make something happen. Another time, Surat al-Isra, keeps on going, subhanAllah.
Surat al-Isra, verse 19. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was doing da'wah to the people of Mecca. Al-'as says to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, you know, ya Muhammad, if you want us to believe you, you know what we want. innaka ta'lamu ma nureed. You know what we want? Tell your Lord to push the mountains of Mecca apart, and then to start letting the springs come up, and some of the gardens come up. Let's see some gardens pop up here. You're talking about Jannah over there, and you're talking about al-anhaar in Jannah. You're talking about these rivers in Jannah, and these springs in Jannah. Just make it happen here, and we'll believe you. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions this mockery over here, verse 90 of Surat al-Isra, which is also Surat al-Bani Israel, right? So it kind of resembles. You realize the people of Musa A.S. mocked in this way too, right? He resembles Bani Israel in their worst form, when he says these types of things to the Messenger Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. The next ayat, they were recited today in Salat al-Isra. He said, O Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, why don't you tell us when the hour is, and then we'll fix ourselves right before the sa'ah. Let's go ahead and give us a timeline. We want to know the day of judgment. You keep talking about al-sa'ah, al-sa'ah, al-sa'ah, the hour, the hour, the hour. Go ahead and give it to us. Many of ahl al-ilm, the scholars say, is talking about al-asr bin wa'al. It goes on and on. Surah Yasin, verse 77 and verse 78. Al-asr brings a bone, a bone of an animal. He throws it at the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. He says, tell your Lord to bring it back to
life. Go ahead. Allah Azzawajal says what? Who knows the ayat? Subhanallah, it brings so much of this to life. This is talking about al-asr. When Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says, do people not see that we created them from a drop of fluid and then behold? Then, then they come and they start challenging us, like where did you come from in the first place? To start making these types of challenges against Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. And what does he say? Who's going to give life to these decayed bones? So imagine the image of al-asr coming to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and saying, here, make it happen. And Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says, قُلْ يُحِيِّهَا الَّذِي أَنْشَأَهَا أَوَّلَ مَرًّا وَهُوَ بِكُلِّ خَلْقٍ عَلِيمٍ Say that they will be revived by the one who produced them in the first place for he has perfect knowledge of all of his creation. It goes on. I don't even know how many verses I've mentioned so far. I literally, Subhanallah, was just perusing the books of tafsir. It's ayah after ayah after ayah. It's unbelievable how much this man's istihzaat was covered in the Qur'an, how much his mockery was covered in the Qur'an. But remember his incident before Islam with Hilf al-Fuḍūl? Now he starts to bring that type of mockery to the mustada'afīn, to the weak ones of the Muslims. So he goes to the marketplace and he, you know, purchases goods from one of the Muslims. And then the man says, aren't you going to pay me? He says, no. He said, what do you mean? He said, I'll pay you when we get to Jannah. I'll pay you when we get to Jannah. Subhanallah, look at the arrogance. He said,
what are you talking about? He said, we are more worthy of Jannah than Muhammad ﷺ. I'll give you your wages in Jannah. I'll pay you back later in Jannah. See the mockery? The ulama say, verse 63 of Surah Maryam. This Jannah is given to our servants who have taqwa, who are God conscious, who are pious. And subhanallah, it gets even deeper. You know Allah Azzawajal says in a hadith Qudsi, whoever takes one of my awliya, one of my righteous slaves as an enemy, then I wage war against that person. Right? So he does this, out of all people, he does it to Khabab ibn al-Arat, radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. Khabab, one of the best Muslims, one of the greatest of the sahaba. But he was a weak person in Mecca, right? He was a slave. Now if you remember what Khabab, radiyaAllahu anhu, used to do, he was a blacksmith. And he used to carve out the swords for the people. He used to make their shields, he used to make their swords. So he used to work with the coal. And that's why his master took the coal and started burning his back with it, right? So he told Khabab to make him a sword. So Khabab did his job, radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. So then when the time came and he gave him the sword, Khabab was expecting to be paid. He said, wallahi, laa usaddidu laka hatta takfuru ibn Muhammad. He said, I swear by Allah, I won't pay you a cent. A single dirham, until you disbelieve in Muhammad. Khabab, radiyaAllahu anhu, responds and he says, wallahi laa akfuru bimuhammadin sallAllahu alaihi wa sallam hayyan wa laa maytan wa laa hayna tub'ath. So I swear by Allah that I will not disbelieve in Muhammad sallAllahu alaihi wa sallam.
Neither when I'm alive, or even after I'm dead, or even the day that you're resurrected. Al-'Asr, oh, you're saying I'm going to be resurrected? So he starts to make fun of him. Ana ub'ath, I'm going to be resurrected. So Khabab said, you're going to be resurrected. He said, well, I have a lot of money. And I have a lot of people. So I'm not too worried about that. He said, innakum taz'amuna annakum mab'uthun wa fil jannati dhahaban wa fidlatan wa hariran. He said, you people believe that we're all going to be resurrected. And in Jannah, there is gold and there is silver and there is silk. He said, fa-ana akhtheek. He said, I'll pay you then. See, subhanAllah, the istihzaat, where it's going, the mockery, I'll pay you in Jannah, guys, don't worry about it. As if he's certain he'll get there, and as if he can get away with this. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reveals, verse 77. I can see something, your blood is boiling. Imagine living in that time, right? Imagine living in that time, being Muhammad sallAllahu alaihi wa sallam and his companions, and you have a man like this who constantly does this. Afara'ayta al-lazee kafara bi-ayatina wa qala la-ootiyanna maalan wa walada. Did you see the one who disbelieved in the signs of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and said, I am going to have plenty of wealth and children in the Akhirah. At-tala'il-ghayb. Did he see the unseen? Amatakhada'inda ar-Rahmani ahda? Or does he have a contract with the Most Merciful? Allah azawajal says what? Kalla sanaktubu maa yaqoolu wa namuddu lahu min al-adhali manda. Know by Allah, we're going to write what you say. SubhanAllah, these words will confront him on the Day of Judgment. And we are going to extend your punishment accordingly. So you're not just going to have anything to grant you that exemption on the Day of Judgment, but also those things that you're supposed to pay the people with is going to lead to a payment and punishment. And said, wa narithuhu maa yaqoolu wa ya'atina fa-ruda.
And we will inherit, we will take back from him what he boasts of, and then he will come back to us all by himself. SubhanAllah, so powerful, so powerful. Allah azawajal says, all that money, that which you earned halal and that which you earned haram, that which you stole, we're going to take it back anyway. And you're going to come back to us all alone. No one will be standing with you on the Day of Judgment when I resurrect you. Remember what Allah said about the father of Khalid and Waleed? What did Allah say about Al-Waleed? Right? Da'ni wa man khalaqtu waheedah. They used to call him Al-Waheed, the one. Allah says, leave me and him alone. Wait to see what I do to these people. So this is what's happening in Mecca. It goes on. Some of the scholars say, wailun li kulli humazatin lumazah. Woe to every backbiter and slanderer is Al-Aas ibn Wa'al. Some of the scholars say, the first three verses of Surah Al-Ma'un. Ara'ayta allathee yukathibu bid-deen. Fadhalika allathee yadu'u al-yateem. Wala yuhudhu ala ta'amil miskeen. Do you see the one who denies ad-deen? Ad-deen here means what? Easy tafsir lesson, by the way. Ad-deen here is yawm ad-deen, the day of judgment. Ad-deen is the day of judgment. Do you see the one who denies ad-deen, the return, the day of judgment, according to most of the mufassireen? Fadhalika allathee yadu'u al-yateem. That's the one who repulses the orphan. Wala yuhudhu ala ta'amil miskeen. Has no care for feeding the poor or taking care of the poor. So some of the scholars say, that's Al-Aas. That's the father of Amr, wadi allahu ta'ala anhum. And what strengthens that, that it's about Al-Aas, is that the next surah after surah Ma'un is the surah for which he is most famous for. And this was the most degrading insult that he had. And Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la truly makes him swallow it, like in history. And that is, inna a'taynaka al-kawthar, surah al-kawthar. Which came down as a result of him calling the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam al-abtar, the one who was cut off.
He's the one who originated this name about our beloved messenger, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Now it's really interesting, because like in every day and age now, you see like how the psychological warfare of nicknaming. Right, it's become common discourse, political discourse. Like a sukhriya, to put a nickname on someone. And these are the sifat of the kuffar of Mecca and the munafiqeen of Medina, are the nicknames. Right, la yaskhar qawmun min qawm, don't mock people and give them bad nicknames. You know, wa la talmizu anfusakum, wa la tanabazu bil-alqab, don't give people these nicknames. That is the trait of the kuffar of Mecca and the munafiqeen, the hypocrites of Medina. And unfortunately we see some Muslims that do this stuff too, right, even to each other. SubhanAllah, al-abtar, how did this come about? Whenever the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam came to address the royals, the elites of Mecca, and Abu Talib is standing next to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, he tells Abu Talib, you might as well cut him off, he's not going to give you anything, he has no children. He has no boys, no sons. So no one's going to carry the name of Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. And he da'ahu, inahu maqtoor, leave him alone, he's cut off. And then he turns around and he says to the gathering, da'uhu fa inahu abtar, idha mat, inqata'a dhikru. SubhanAllah. He said, leave him alone, he has no sons. When he dies, his name will not be mentioned anymore. Inqata'a dhikru, no one will mention his name anymore. That's how he responded to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, and he would say it in front of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, and of course, that is the worst of the insults. The worst of the insults. And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says, inna a'taynaka al-kawthar. First of all, you have al-kawthar waiting for you. Fa salli li rabbika wanhar. Focus on your prayer, focus on your sacrifice. And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala mentions, inna shaniaka huwa al-abtar. It's rather that one who is cut off.
That person who mocks you that is going to be cut off. Your opponent is the one who is going to be cut off. SubhanAllah. I don't need to tell you how the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam's name was not cut off. Right? That his name was not forgotten when he passed away. The most famous name in the world is Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Wa rafa'na laka dhikrak. And we have raised your mention. And imagine in Mecca, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam used to hear this man dismiss him and say, idha mata anqata adhikru. When he dies, no one is going to remember him anyway. Allahu akbar. So this is the man. And with all that, I mean, this one blows my mind. SubhanAllah. Some of the scholars say surah al-kahf. Fa la'allaka bakhi'un nafsaka ala atharihim. Ya Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. You're killing yourself. You're hurting yourself. Wanting them so bad to be guided. Some of them said that it's referring to al-'as. Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, even with these people who treated him this way, kept trying to give them da'wah. He kept trying to guide them. He kept trying to reason with them. He gives them more and more and more and more. He keeps investing in them. And they keep getting worse and worse and worse with their insults towards the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. But sometimes, there's a limit. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam rarely made du'a against people, right? But when he made du'a against you, you were in trouble. And so what's going to be the end of the father of Amr ibn al-'as? What's going to be the end of al-'as ibn Wa'il? One day, and this is in the most severe days of persecution, some of the scholars say during the boycott. I mean, they're starving. Think of Ahl al-Ghazlah, subhanAllah. They're starving the population. They're torturing them. And Abu Jahl and al-'as chase the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam down, and they're mocking him. Abu Talib is dead. He can't protect the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. It's just bad. It's a bad situation. And Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, after hearing their insults on this particular occasion, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam says,
اللهم سلط عليه شوكة من أشواك الأرض Very specific du'a. Oh Allah, let a thorn from the thorns of the earth overcome him. Place a thorn from the thorns of the earth over him, basically. Give it power over him. Now, there's something about this du'a, right? I mean, you can think about the nature of the taunts of al-'as was different. Calling the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam small. And he's saying, your religion is nothing. And he's saying, you know, who's going to bring you people from this? No consideration of the power of Allah. No consideration of the greatness of Allah. No consideration of the honor of Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. So the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam does not just make du'a against him to die. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam says, take him with a little thorn from the thorns of the earth. Let him be overtaken in a small way, like with something small. Really puts him in his place. SubhanAllah, the du'a of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was answered. And this is the last verse that the scholars say came down. إِنَّا كَفَيْنَاكَ الْمُسْتَهْزِئِينَ That we have dealt with the mockers for you. What happens is, Al-As steps on a thorn. His body gets infected in a really weird way. So first, he loses the ability to walk with his two legs. And then he develops like a skin disease. So he said, SubhanAllah, his face was rotting. His body was rotting. Like he starts decaying, basically. And he's completely bedridden. And look at the way that this all plays out. Amr ibn al-As, of course, Amr radiyallahu anhu is still not a Muslim. Amr ibn al-As basically is panicking. How do I save my father? He goes to Ta'if of all places. Because there is supposedly a doctor in Ta'if, a tabib in Ta'if, a specialist in Ta'if, that could deal with this infection that had gone through his body. They're basically trying to figure out what did he step on
that caused his body to react this way. So Amr ibn al-As goes towards Ta'if to find a doctor. By the time Amr gets back, al-As is dead. And they said his body was all swollen. Like, SubhanAllah, whatever struck him by the dua of the Prophet ﷺ, إِنَّا كَفَيْنَاكَ الْمُسْتَهَزِينَ Allah عز و جل dealt with this man after almost a decade of persecution, استهزاء, mockery. And this is the man you're reading about in all these verses, SubhanAllah. He's the primary target, of course, of the wisdoms of Allah ﷻ, not mentioning their names here, by the way. There are al-'asas in every single, there are usa' in every single generation. There are always people like this. In every generation, they just have a different manifestation. And also, it's part of the dismissal of Allah ﷻ of these people. He doesn't even mention their names. You're so low, so little, you just become of a category of evil people. And you become of the fuel of the fire, like those who mock before and those who come after you. Now, SubhanAllah, we go on now to the sons. Remember how he called the Prophet ﷺ al-Abtar, the one who's cut off because he doesn't have any sons? His only two sons, not only became Muslim, but became reasons by which Islam spread throughout the world. Amr and Hisham, both will become Muslim. And they will take Islam through different parts of the world, raising the name of La ilaha illallah Muhammad Rasulullah ﷺ, raising the name of Muhammad ﷺ. Look how it came back to him, SubhanAllah. And I tell you this, especially in a moment like Gaza. Don't lose faith in Allah ﷻ. Don't lose faith in Allah ﷻ. It bothers us when we see it. I mean, it bothers me. It bothers all of us when we see what's happening. Don't forget, that's your Rabb. That's Allah ﷻ. Allah ﷻ has a plan for the mockers and Allah has a plan for the mocked. Allah has a plan for the oppressors and He has a plan for the oppressed. So the Prophet ﷺ said,
Ibn al-'As mu'minan. The two sons of al-'As are two believers, Amr and Hisham. Amr and Hisham, may Allah ﷻ be pleased with them. SubhanAllah, he is the one who has cut off his own two sons, became followers of Ummah Muhammad ﷺ and took this deen far and far into the world. But we know now, Amr ibn al-'As is going to take a long time. Like Khalid ﷺ. Unfortunately, in the beginning days, Amr ibn al-'As will use the same type of wits, I mean, he has the brilliance of his father. And he will use it to try to outsmart, to try to harm the Prophet ﷺ. We know what Amr is going to do in Abyssinia. We know what Amr ibn al-'As ﷺ does against Islam for the beginning of it, until he becomes Muslim. He's following in the path of his father until Allah ﷻ guides him. However, let's talk about Hisham. SubhanAllah, this man is incredible. Hisham ibn al-'As is the younger brother of Amr, right? And as we said, his mother is also the sister of Abu Jahl. So Hisham became Muslim so early in Islam that he's one of those that was part of Dar al-Arqa. So the brother of Amr becomes Muslim way before him. And as a side note, by the way, and I don't want you guys to get lost, but there are many, I said, where are the Hishams here? There are actually three famous Hisham ibn al-'As in the Sira. There's Hisham ibn al-'As ibn Wa'il, there's Hisham ibn al-'As ibn Hisham, and there's Hisham ibn al-'As al-Amawi, who has a beautiful story, radiAllahu anhu wa ajma'in, that I'll talk about one day. So if you see Hisham ibn al-'As in the books, it's not always this one. There are three Hisham ibn al-'As, and different al-'As and different Hishams. But this one, Hisham ibn al-'As radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, the younger brother of Amr, precedes him in Islam. And he's a legend in his own right. So he becomes Muslim very early on.
And he nicknamed, or he took on the kunya, obviously the tradition is, even if you don't have a son, you take on a nickname of being the father of so-and-so, a son that maybe you have in the future. So he nicknamed himself Abu al-'As, right? Abu al-'As, which is after his father. He was, according to Amr al-'As, he was the more beloved of the two to his father. So this kind of gives you a little bit of, like the resentment, the poison in the heart of al-'As towards the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam. It drove these people mad, that their favorite children became followers of Muhammad sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam. So Amr says he was the more beloved of the two, and he attributed it, not just to his qualities, but he also said, because my mother was a slave woman, his mother was a royal woman, right? So he treated, he gave him more care, more attention, because there was more hope in Hisham ibn al-'As to sort of carry on the legacy, because these are a people who only find joy or pride in their lineage and in their wealth. So he's Abu al-'As, and Ibn al-Manzoor says in Tariqh al-Dimashq that, This is beautiful, because the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam used to change bad names to good names. What does al-'As mean? What does al-'As mean? It means the disobedient one. The name fits. The name fits the father. Al-'As is the disobedient one. Al-'Asi, this is the disobedient one. So because he doesn't actually have a son named al-'As, the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam changed his name to Abu al-Mu'ti'a, the father of the obedient one. So his kunya in the books is actually, his nickname is actually Abu al-Mu'ti'a Hisham ibn al-'As, but he never had any children. Okay, so this simply becomes his nickname, Abu al-Mu'ti'a. So he embraces Islam early on, and his father is deeply embarrassed.
So what the royals used to do in Mecca when their children will embrace Islam is they torture them more privately. They don't torture them like the mustad'afeen, they're not the weak ones like Bilal's and Khabab's and Sumayya's, no, no. We torture them in our own home, right? The dirty laundry literally is in our own home. So he was severely tortured, but never in public. Severely tortured by his father, and his father tried everything to get him to leave Islam. And Amr ibn al-'As was his older brother, took part in the torture, tries everything to get him to leave Islam. And eventually, he has to flee from Mecca amongst the muhajireen to Habasha. So he's one of those who migrated to Habasha, to Abyssinia, in the second migration. Now remember, when you read history, there was a small group of sahaba that did the first migration to Abyssinia, a much larger group that did the second migration to Abyssinia. He was in that group. And you know the famous dialogue between Ja'far radiyallahu anhu and Amr radiyallahu anhu, where Amr was trying to get Najashi to give up the Muslims? That's the second migration of Habasha. So it gives you a little bit more of a family context that when Amr ibn al-'As is going to Abyssinia to try to get these fugitives back the second time around, his own brother, his only brother, is standing amongst those Muslims. So this is really personal to him, right? Give them back to us. These are our fugitives. Ya Najashi radiyallahu ta'ala anhu. Oh Najashi, this is a domestic dispute, right? He's trying to use an extradition clause. This is a domestic dispute. Just give them back to us. We'll handle them. These are little kids that have run away and caused discord and then they're coming to you. So this is very personal for Amr. His brother is there. Hisham is there. And of course, by the grace of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
Amr failed to use his wits to overcome the justice of Najashi. Right? He failed this time. And he tried really hard. We'll talk about that next week. He tried really, really hard to play on whatever he could in Najashi's heart and mind to get him to give up those Muslims, including his brother. And he failed. However, there was a rumor that, of course, the Muslims in Abyssinia heard that some of the elites of Mecca had embraced Islam. Because when the Prophet ﷺ read Surat al-Najm and did the sujood, many of the kuffar as well, many of the disbelievers did sujood as well. They prostrated as well. They were moved, overcome by the moment and they prostrated themselves as well. The rumor reaches Abyssinia that many people have embraced Islam in Mecca. It's safe to go back now. So about 40 of the Muslims in Abyssinia decided to make the trip back to Mecca. And Hisham was one of them. So Hisham comes back to Mecca and unfortunately, immediately is grabbed and the persecution is worse than it was before. Now it goes on. Umar ibn al-Khattab, radiAllahu ta'ala, and not to go back into family ties, but Umar, radiAllahu ta'ala, this is also his tribe. He's related to Abu Jahl. So he is a cousin of Hisham. He's not a cousin of Umar. He's a cousin of Hisham through his mother. So Umar, radiAllahu ta'ala, now tells the story, right? A man who becomes a footnote but who is so significant. Umar, radiAllahu ta'ala, said, myself, Ayyash ibn Rabi'a, radiAllahu ta'ala, and Hisham ibn al-'As made a pact amongst each other that we will escape to go to this particular place, we'll meet there at Fajr, and we'll make the hijrah to al-Madinah, all right? Ayyash is the half-brother of Abu Jahl,
and Hisham, of course, is his first, his cousin, or his nephew, actually. Sorry, I'm losing myself at this point. It's better for me not to get caught into it now because it's gonna take me a while to process that, all right? So either his cousin or his nephew. How does this work? His mother was bint Hisham. So actually, no, he's the nephew of Abu Jahl, right? So he is the nephew of Abu Jahl. Umar, radiAllahu ta'ala, is his cousin. Ayyash is the half-brother of Abu Jahl. So Abu Jahl is the Fir'aun of the ummah, right? He's the pharaoh of the ummah. Al-'As is dead now. Du'a of the Prophet, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, has been accepted in regards to al-'As. So they're really worried about who? They're worried about Abu Jahl, the one who's also plotting the murder of the Prophet, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. So Umar, radiAllahu ta'ala, said, myself, Ayyash, and Hisham, we all agreed to meet at a particular spot at Fajr, on the outskirts of Mecca, and we said to each other that if one of us doesn't make it, then we just assume that they got caught. And the other two have to go. If two of us don't make it, then whoever is there at Fajr, just go. So, I mean, subhanAllah, think of the mindset, the khawth, the fear, that is in the hearts of people at this point, as they're trying to plot their escape. Like, look, it's unlikely that all three of us are going to make it. But if we do, alhamdulillah, and if not, then alhamdulillah, we just have to go. So Umar, radiAllahu ta'ala, is telling the story now. He says, so myself and Ayyash, radiAllahu ta'ala, who showed up at Fajr, and Hisham did not make it, so we knew that he was caught. We knew that he was caught, unfortunately, by his family, and at that point by his older brother, Amr ibn al-Aas, and some of the people from Banu Sahm, from his tribe. So he said, myself and Ayyash went forward. Now, if you remember, there's a very famous story where Abu Jahl tricked Ayyash ibn He was his half-brother. Abu Jahl came to him, and they had the same mother. He told him, your mom is
really in pain, and she just wants to see you. She wants to be assured. Just come back, see your mom. We promise we won't do anything. And Ayyash, unfortunately, was guilted to go back to his mother. Abu Jahl caught him, beat him up, tied him up, and forced him out of Islam. Right? Forced him to utter words of kufr. So Ayyash was taken back as a captive to Mecca as well. So Amr was the only one who made it out from this group of cousins. All right? SubhanAllah, the trial. Hisham was imprisoned for about 10 years in Mecca. A whole decade. Torture, forcing him to utter words that he didn't want to say, starvation. He missed Badr. He missed Uhud. He missed Khandaq. And the Prophet ﷺ was grieved over knowing that these few companions were left behind in Mecca, and there was no way. I mean, the Muslims are trying to survive in Medina. There's no way to bring him. Can you imagine the bitterness that can set in, how jaded you can become, feeling abandoned for 10 years? So they had like a prison in Mecca, which was an abandoned home, and it was like a dungeon, basically. And he was left in there for 10 years, about 10 years, from that time before the hijrah all the way until after Khandaq. Abdullah ibn Abbas ﷺ, he says, they would beat a man and they would starve him until he couldn't even sit up on his own. Like, that's how beaten and tortured he was for all of these years. And then they'd ask them as they were beating them, الَّتْ وَالْعُزَّ إِلَىٰهَانِ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ الَّتْ وَالْعُزَّ إِلَىٰهَانِ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ Our Allat and Al-Uzza, two gods besides Allah. Our Allat and Al-Uzza, two gods besides Allah. And they beat them and beat them and beat them and beat them. And he said, Hisham cracked.
He said it, وَقَلْبُهُ مُطْمَئِنٌ بِالْإِمَانِ His heart was full of faith. But again, إِلَّا مَنْ أُكْرِهَ People were forced to say things. And the Prophet ﷺ told عَمَارُ بْنِ يَاسِرَ رضي الله تعالى عنه, إِنْ عَادُوا فَعُودُ If they do it to you again, and they make you say things, it's okay. Right? You're not bound by words that you say under force, under compulsion. But he said those words and then his spirit was broken too. And this is the psychological part of that as well. That both the Muslims in Medina, as well as Ayyash ibn Rabi'a, and this man, al-Hisham al-'As, thought that they were kuffar now. They thought they couldn't be forgiven because we uttered words of kuffar, even if we were forced. Allah عز و جل revealed what verse? قُلْ يَا عِبَادِيَا الَّذِينَ أَسْرَفُوا عَلَىٰ أَنفُسِهِمْ لَا تَقْنَطُوا مِن رَحْمَةِ اللَّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَغْفِرُوا ذُنُوبَ جَمِيعًا إِنَّهُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ Say, oh my servants who have transgressed against themselves, don't despair from the mercy of Allah. Allah forgives all sins. Allah عز و جل is all-forgiving, most merciful. وَأَنِيبُوا إِلَىٰ رَبِّكُمْ وَأَسْلِمُوا لَهُ Turn back to your Lord and submit yourself to Him. Umar ibn al-Khattab رضي الله تعالى عنه, he says, when that verse was revealed, قَالَ كَتَبْتُهُ بِيَدِي I wrote it with my own hands because Umar was one of the few literate people. He said, I wrote the verse in my own hands in a scroll. And he said, and I got someone to sneak it to Mecca to get the letter to them. So al-Hisham al-Aas says that the letter of Umar reached me with that ayah. So he said, so on one of the days, I went out to the valley of Tuwa, the Tuwa, which is on the outskirts. And, you know, it could be that he's using the restroom or whatever,
relieving himself because he's technically not a free man, but obviously whatever, right? He's gone out. And he said, I looked up and I said, اللهم فهمنيها Oh Allah, let me understand. Let me understand. Let me understand. Is it me? And then he said, then Ayyash and I, we understood that these verses were revealed about us. That Allah عز و جل was telling us that we could still come back. We could still come towards Islam. While this is happening, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is making dua for years in Medina. In the last rak'ah, his Qunoot, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم sometimes will mention the names of these Sahaba by name. اللهم أنجي اللهم أنجي سلمة Remember Salam al-Hisham, the brother of Abu Jahl. اللهم أنجي الوليد بن الوليد اللهم أنجي And he's going, المستضعفين في مكة The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم would make dua for them. Oh Allah, save them. Oh Allah, save them. Oh Allah, save them. So they're waiting in Mecca for a way out. Then after Khandaq, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and the Muslims were able to thwart off, obviously, a genocide in Khandaq. The Battle of the Trench. Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم says to the Sahaba, Who's going to go and save? Who's going to go and get these two men for us? Like it's been too long that we've been missing Ayyash and Hisham. Who's going to go get them? Who's going to go and volunteer? I mean, this is the most dangerous mission, right? You just have these people come and try to kill you. You've seen what they're capable of. At this point now, the Muslims have not just Badr, Uhud, Ma'una, Raji' and Khandaq. I mean, they've seen the worst types of behavior from the people of Mecca. So think about the bravery it takes to say, Ya Rasulullah, I'm going to do it. Guess who stands up and says, I'm going to do it. It's mind-blowing. Al-Waleed ibn al-Waleed, the brother of Khalid. So subhanAllah, we know Khalid and Amr
at this time, these two men are the worst enemies of Islam. Their lesser known brothers are plotting this mission to save themselves. And you can see that the brothers are similar in many ways. I mean, it takes a lot of courage to volunteer yourself. So al-Waleed ibn al-Waleed, al-Waleed radiAllahu anhu, the brother who preceded Khalid in Islam, radiAllahu anhu, the brother who became Muslim way before Khalid. Al-Waleed says, I am the one messenger of Allah who's going to bring them to you. The Prophet ﷺ says, So al-Waleed went out in a disguise. He basically disguised himself like a Bedouin or a person of Mecca. I mean, his brother is Khalid. And Khalid radiAllahu anhu is still a non-Muslim. Can you imagine if Khalid catches him in Mecca, what he's going to do to him at that point? Al-Waleed will be chopped up into pieces. But he goes out and al-Waleed says, So I went out to Mecca and he said, I looked around to see if there was someone that looked like they were taking like food for the prisoners. You know, like I was basically like tracking, you know, the movement of people in Mecca to see who's doing what. Like if someone looks like they're delivering to a prison, they're delivering to a home. So he said, I saw this woman that looked interesting. Like she looked like she was not doing what other people were doing. So I went to her and I said, Where are you going? And she mentioned, Oh, I'm just taking this food to the prisoners. I said, I got it. So I said, Oh, OK. So he said, basically, I, you know, I then spied and I followed and I saw where she was going. So I saw the place, like the dungeon, basically, that Hisham ibn al-As and Ayyash were in.
So he said, I waited until the night. SubhanAllah, it doesn't get more like poetic than this, right? Because what was Khalid's distraction? What did Khalid used to do in war? Deflection. He said, I deflected the woman. Like I distracted her. I made some sort of a scene outside. He said, I jumped into the home. He said, I cut the chains of them. And he said, they were so weak. They were so weak. They couldn't even stand on their own. Al-Waleed said, I picked them both up. I put them on my animal and we rode back to Medina. So he comes back to Medina. The brave Al-Waleed ibn al-Waleed, the brother of Khalid, may Allah be pleased with them, SubhanAllah. He said, you know, he rode back into Medina on this brave mission with Hisham ibn al-As and Ayyash ibn Rabi'a. And he said, SubhanAllah, that when I did that, like the mission, he said, like I basically broke one of my fingers and it was like flowing with blood. And he looked at his finger and said, Aren't you just but a finger that bleeds and you found what Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala has promised you. You're seeking, it's only in the path of Allah. Like, it's okay. I'm glad to have lost a finger in doing this mission. And he brought back Hisham ibn al-As and Ayyash ibn Rabi'a to al-Madina al-Munawwara with the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Hence, Hisham ibn al-As becomes one of Ashab al-Hijratayn, one of the people who made the two hijras. He made the hijra to Abyssinia and he made the hijra to Medina, even though it was torture. And SubhanAllah, he suffered so much up to this moment and was so happy to be in the company of the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in Medina. And again, missing Badr, missing Uhud, missing Khandaq, like there's a history that you have to accustom yourself to now in Medina. And it just so happened that at the same time that this happens, similar to that time, that is when the Muslims came on the ship.
Now that I think about it, it's pretty funny because the Muslims that came on a ship, crossed on a ship through the Red Sea, obviously the Yemenis went to Abyssinia and they joined the Sahaba there and they came on a ship provided by a najashi towards the Muslims. Alhamdulillah, no one interrupted those ships. And they arrived at Medina. So people are arriving at Medina all at the same time, right? They're all arriving at the same time. And so he's arriving around that context. And then he says, eventually, obviously, my brother Amr became Muslim. And Amr ibn Aas, Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, joins Islam very close before Fatah, Mecca. Very few narrations from him in this regard about his time with the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. There's a narration that they both narrate. It's in Muslim Imam Ahmed. So on behalf of the two sons of Al-Aas. So there was no gathering that we sat with the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam that we felt better about, that we felt good about than this particular majlis, this particular city. He said, We came and there was a group of people that were sitting outside of the house of the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And they were debating. The context of the hadith is that, they were actually like debating on certain verses and what they meant. Doing like tafsir, ta'weel at that time, right? They're interpreting it in certain ways. And they're basically young people having a discussion about the Quran. But he says, When we saw them, we're like, this doesn't look like the type of gathering that the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam would be pleased with. You're supposed to be sitting and reflecting. But the way they're debating, the way that they're showing their differences of opinion,
we don't think it's a good one. So he says, When we did that, Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam came out and you could see the anger in his face, Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said to those people, Oh my people, this is how the nations before you went astray. Because of their disagreements and because of the way that they would respond to their prophets. And then they're comparing verses to verses of the book, right? So the way they started to use verses against verses. And the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, basically when he did that, Beautiful hadith by the way. The Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, So whatever you know of the verses, whatever you understand of the Quran, act in accordance with it. And whatever you can't understand, then believe in it. So he says, The Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam looked at me and Amr approvingly. So me and Amr were so happy. We were like, We escaped the anger of the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam looked at us as the only two people that understood that that's not what the Quran was sent for. He said that was the happiest day that we had with the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, that we escaped his displeasure in that moment. There's another very interesting hadith, which is Zunna Abi Dawud, and it's an authentic hadith. And it shows you sort of the complexities of the people of Mecca, right? Like Al-As, as terrible as he was, for whatever reason, he had in his will, and of course, it's easy to put things in your will. And that's why the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam people, you know, from trying to will away everything at the time of their death, and then deprive their own sons,
their own children. Here, Al-As had in his will to emancipate 100 slaves with his wealth. Very interesting. Al-As, who is Al-As, and the nasty person that he was, and the way he treated the poor in his own lifetime. But he had in his will to emancipate 100 slaves. So Hisham, with everything his father did to him, and with everything that he went through, Hisham, actually, on his behalf, emancipated 50 people, 50 slaves. And then he went to Amr ibn As, to his brother and said, you should emancipate 50 as well. And Amr ibn As was a little confused about the situation, like what's it going to benefit Al-As anyway, right? So it's one thing that we free slaves, which is good in Islam, but is it for our father? Or is it for something else? And this is where the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, Innahu law kana musliman fa a'taqtum anhu aw tasaddaqtum anhu aw hajajtum anhu balaghahu thalik. The Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, if he was a believer, then you're freeing slaves on his behalf, you're sacrificing on his behalf, you're donations on his behalf, you're hajj on his behalf would have reached him. But otherwise, you do this tatawwa, and you do this on your own. But it's not for him at this point, right? Al-As is done. But it shows you kind of the way that Hisham al-As was. So what happens, and what becomes of Hisham al-As? Hisham al-As goes on to basically serve under his brother in the Muslim army. So Amr al-As becomes one of the most key generals in Islam. And he's leading these armies across Ash-Sham under Abu Bakr and Umar, continues to do so with Egypt, which is obviously his biggest accomplishment, which we'll talk about inshallah ta'ala. So Hisham serves under his brother who was serving under Khalid bin Warid. SubhanAllah, the way that it all turns. His two persecutors are now his two commanders in battle. And Hisham is someone who is incredibly brave.
So the last two mentions we have of him, subhanAllah, actually tie into the last two battles of Khalid bin Warid that we were talking about last week. The first one was Ajnadin, which was in Palestine. And we said that Ajnadin was in Wadi As-Sunt, the valley of Sunt, which the valley of Sunt, which some of the scholars say is where David defeated Goliath. And the Muslims had about 30,000 troops against 90,000 Romans. And this is the first real battle between the Muslims and the Romans, like a big battle between the Muslims and the Romans. And what is said about Hisham in this battle is that there was a time when the Muslims got exhausted in this battle. It was a heavy battle between the Muslims and the Romans. And Hisham took off his helmet and he turned around and he addressed the Muslims. And he said, يَا مَعْشَرَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ إِنَّ هَا أُولَٰئِ الرُّومَ لَا يَصْبِرُونَ عَلَى الصَّيْفِ He said, Oh, Muslims, these people, these Romans, لَا يَصْبِرُونَ عَلَى الصَّيْفِ They're not patient with the sword. Just keep on going, keep on fighting. And then he plunges into the battle and he starts, I mean, taking out warrior after warrior. And he's calling out, يَا مَعْشَرَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ إِصْنَعُوا مَا صَنَعْتُوا Oh, Muslims, come and do what I'm doing. And then he said famous words that became attributed to him. He said, يَا مَعْشَرَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ أَمِنَا الْجَنَّةِ تَفِرُّونَ So he starts shouting out to them, Oh, Muslims, are you running away from Jannah? Are you fleeing away from Jannah? أَمِنَا الْجَنَّةِ تَفِرُّونَ Are you running away from Jannah right now? Come forward the way that I'm going forward. And when he did that, a large group of the troops kind of got re-energized. And some of the books of history say that was actually a turning point. Like there are moments in the battle where you get weak. That was that turning point
that eventually led to victory. How often are you going to hear the name of Hisham, the brother of Amr, having anything to do with the victory of Ajnadin. Khalid, رضي الله عنه, always gets the credit as he should for devising the plan. But it's those brave soldiers in the middle of it, right? And he is that person. Then comes the battle of Yarmouk, which is his final battle. And the battle of Yarmouk, which was obviously in Syria, in Ash-Sham, and it was the most famous battle of Khalid, رضي الله عنه, that Khalid led. Hisham ibn al-As plunges forward and he fights bravely. And he was protecting a large group of his own cavalry. And he's martyred in that battle. So he's actually a shaheed in Yarmouk. There's a story there that as he was a shaheed in the way things are processing, where his body fell, the way that the pace of the battle is going and the way that his body is placed. If the Muslims were to get down from their horses in battle and try to pick up his body, then it was actually going to compromise the battle. But they saw Hisham and they know he's a noble sahabi of the Prophet ﷺ. He's a noble man. And it was Amr, رضي الله عنه, who was looking at his brother and he said, his soul is already in Jannah. His body doesn't mean anything right now. Go. Keep fighting. Like you think about Ahl al-Ghaza, the bodies, that's not what it's about. It's about the soul. It's about the soul. So what is it about the body? It's about the soul. So keep on going. Keep on going. Keep on going. Don't worry about the body. He would want you to keep on going. And so they continued forward and his body was actually in multiple pieces. SubhanAllah. And Amr, رضي الله عنه, after the battle concluded and Yarmouk, Allah عز و جل, gave them victory. Amr, رضي الله عنه, went around the battlefield and he had to collect the parts of his brother to bury it in one grave.
He was so emotional. His only brother, the brother that preceded him in Islam. And when the news reached Umar ibn al-Khattab, رضي الله عنه. Remember, he was supposed to be the companion of Amr in the hijrah. Amr, رضي الله عنه, said, رحم الله أخي هشام. May Allah have mercy on my brother Hisham. What a great supporter he was to Islam. What an incredible supporter he was to Islam. And here's the story that makes the title of this lecture make sense before we talk about Amr ibn al-As. Amr, رضي الله عنه, years later is making tawaf around the Kaaba. And there's a group of young tabi'een, young second generation Muslims that are sitting around talking, like, that's Amr ibn al-As. That's Amr ibn al-As. You see a lot of these narrations, especially in hajj, where you got these young people that are from the next generation, like, that's Abdullah ibn Umar, that's Abdullah ibn Masroor, that's Amr ibn al-As. These are the celebrities of the next generation. So Amr is making tawaf and he hears these young people in a halaqa and they're talking about him. That's Amr ibn al-As, that's Amr ibn al-As, that's Amr ibn al-As. And they're having a conversation amongst themselves. Amr ibn al-As finishes, رضي الله عنه, his tawaf. And then he goes and he sits amongst them. Sufyan ibn Uyayn is the narrator of this narration. He goes and he sits with them. And he says to them, oh, young people, what were you talking about? And so they were kind of shy a bit to say exactly what they were talking about. And he said, I think I have an idea what you were talking about, but it's better if it comes from you. What were you talking about? So they said to him that we were talking amongst ourselves and we said amongst ourselves, is Amr ibn al-As better or Hisham ibn al-As?
That's the conversation we were having. We're trying to figure out. We were basically having a debate amongst ourselves, من أفضل? Who's better, Amr ibn al-As, the famous Amr ibn al-As or his lesser-known brother who became Muslim before him and who did all this before him? Who's better, Amr or Hisham? أنت خير أم أخوك؟ Hisham. Who's better, you or Hisham? So Amr ibn al-As puts his head down. He starts to tell this story. And he says, subhanallah, I mean, it's hard to think about this outside of Gaza right now. But he says that the day before Ya'muq, he said, my brother, we're making dua together. That Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala accept us as shuhada. So he says, عَرَضْنَا أَنفُسَنَا عَلَى اللَّهِ We presented ourselves to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. فَقَبِلَهُ وَتَرَكَنِي Allah accepted him as a shaheed and he left me behind. So he's better than me. Subhanallah. He's better than me because Allah accepted him as a shaheed and Allah did not yet accept me as a shaheed. Amr was so emotional thinking about this brother and the moment of making dua. مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ رِجَالٌ صَدَقُوا مَا عَاهَدُوا اللَّهَ عَلَيْهِ فَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ قَضَى نَحْبَ وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ يَنْطَضِرُ وَمَا بَدَّلُوا تَبْدِيرًا These are the sincere believers, dear brothers and sisters, who were truthful with the covenant they made with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And Hisham ibn al-As was not seeking the glory of this world. He wasn't seeking to be mentioned in halaqas. He wasn't seeking to have his name in the history books. He was seeking his name with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And Allah azawajal accepted him as a shaheed, as someone who did the hijrah twice, as someone who is from the sabiqun al-awwalun, the muhajirun, the people who were tortured in Islam, tortured for a decade almost in Islam. A person who went out in battle, strove for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
and died as a shaheed, even before his brother in one of the most consequential battles in the history of Islam. فَرَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ وَعَنْ أَخِهِ May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala have mercy on him and be pleased with him and his brother, Amr al-As. So next week insha'Allah ta'ala we'll talk about Amr al-As رضي الله تعالى عنه وإن شاء الله تعالى And now you can have the background of who his father was and who his notable brother was. May Allah have mercy on him. جزاكم الله خيرا وصلى اللهم وصلى مبارك على نبينا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين والسلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته
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