The Firsts (Sahaba Stories) | The Forerunners of Islam
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Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Khawla Bint Hakim & Uthman Ibn Madhun: The Righteous Couple | The Firsts
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Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Al-Shifa bint Abdullah (ra): The Healer and Scholar | The Firsts Shorts
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Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Shurahbil Ibn Hasana (ra): The Scribe and Commander | The Firsts Shorts
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Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Khalid ibn al-Walid (ra): The Legendary Military General | The Firsts
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Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Amr ibn al-As (ra): His Wicked Father and “Better” Brother | The Firsts
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Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Tulayha ibn Khuwaylid (ra): From False Prophet to Shaheed | The Firsts
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Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Zayd ibn al-Khattab (ra): The Quiet Brother of Omar (ra) | The Firsts
Anas ibn Malik (ra): In Service of the Beloved | The Firsts
The heartwarming story of the beloved servant of the Prophet ﷺ who became more like a son to him.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. You already made your friends in the masjid? Alhamdulillah. Alright, so Tristan, are you ready? Alhamdulillah. After you take shahadah, you're going to be taller than your mom. That's what happens. Okay? Alhamdulillah. So I want you to repeat after me. Alright, we're going to do it slowly. Say, Ash hadu an la ilaha illa Allah wa ash hadu anna Muhammadan rasulullah. I bear witness that there is only one God and that Muhammad is his final messenger. Takbir. Congratulations. Can I give you a hug? MashaAllah. Welcome to our community. Sister Kimberly, you just came in as well. We want to make a special du'a for you both. May Allah bless you both. May Allah enter you into the highest levels of paradise. May Allah bring you closer together and to Allah always. May Allah surround you with his mercy and his tranquility and his pleasure. May Allah allow you to grow up to be an outstanding man that carries this religion forward, that pleases your mother and pleases your Lord, and that becomes the pride of our community. Ameen. Congratulations, Sister Kimberly. Congratulations, Tristan. MashaAllah. Takbir. Alhamdulillah. He's already got like 20 friends in the masjid too. Walked right away from his mom. He said, I'm good now. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Rabbul Ameen. What a befitting way to start a halaqan, Anas radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, and continue from the great mother, Umm Sulaym radiyaAllahu anha.
May Allah make our sister Kimberly like Umm Sulaym and Tristan like Anas ibn Malik. Allahumma ameen. Alhamdulillah wa salatu wa salamu ala rasulillah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala. Last week we started off with the story of this mother that devoted herself to the Messenger salallahu alayhi wa sallam, that insisted on being present with every single step of the way, from the moment of taking allegiance to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, when a few companions met him, being one of the few women that was there, to being behind the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam in every one of his battles, to having her home right next to the home of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, and having the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam treat her with such reverence, and becoming one of the greatest women in our history. And subhanAllah, we spoke about her son, Anas ibn Malik radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, and there is no way that you can open a single book of tafsir, a single book of hadith, a single book of fiqh, a single book of any significance, and not come across the name Anas ibn Malik radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, and it started with a devoted mother that brought her son forward and said, O Messenger of Allah, I am dedicating my son to you. Anas ibn Malik ibn Nadir radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, his nicknames are few. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam called him Unais, which is Tasghir, which means little Anas, as a means of showing his love for him. He is also Khadim Rasulallah salallahu alayhi wa sallam. And he took great pride in that name, the servant of the Messenger of Allah salallahu alayhi wa sallam, who stayed by his side in every single moment of the biography of the Seerah of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, from the day he entered into Medina to the day that he died salallahu alayhi wa sallam.
He is also the one that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam would call Bunaid, my son, O my son. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam said, Ya Bunaid, O my son, in a gathering they knew that he was addressing Anas radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. He is also the one with two ears, and you're like, what does that even mean? The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam would mess with him at times, and obviously jokes don't translate well across culture, across language and history, but he said, Ya dhal udhunain, he held his two ears one time, and he said, O you with two ears, which might mean he had big ears, or the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam was just trying to comfort him, or show him some love on that day, and it became a beloved nickname of his, Ya dhal udhunain, the one with two ears. Also the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam called him Aba Hamza. When he was a young boy he started to call him Abu Hamza, giving him the kunya of Abu Hamza. So he is a person that we know will be close to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, and as we said it started off with one moment that would change the trajectory of his entire life. His mother, Umm Suleim radiyaAllahu ta'ala anha, coming to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam with her ten year old son, and saying, Ya Rasool Allah, O Messenger of Allah, lam yabqa rajul wala mra'atun minal ansar illa wa qad athafaka btuhfa. O Messenger of Allah, there is not a single man or woman from amongst the Ansar, except that they have given you some sort of gift. wa inni laa aqdiru ala ma uthifuka bihi. I don't have anything to give you, O Messenger of Allah, illa ibni hadha, except for this son of mine. Fakhudhu fal yakhdumka ma bada lak. Please take him, O Messenger of Allah, take my son and he will serve you for as long as you want. And she said, and O Messenger of Allah, thud'u lahu, make dua for him, please make a prayer for him. Please make a prayer for him. And the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said, Allahumma akthir maalahu wa waladahu wa atil umarahu wa akhthir dhanbahu. This is one narration where the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said,
O Allah, increase him in wealth, O Allah, increase him in offspring, O Allah, give him a long life, and O Allah, forgive his sins. That's as comprehensive of a dua as they come. Anas radiallahu ta'ala anhu became one of the richest companions. As we'll see, supernatural things would happen to his gardens throughout his entire life, and it would produce fruit in ways that no one else would be able to produce fruit from his bustan, from his gardens. He became a man who in his own lifetime lived to see over a hundred descendants. He said that he could count up to 200 descendants by the time he passed away. He was the longest living companion of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam from the major companions, from the well-known companions. He lived to be over a hundred years old, and he said, and I'm waiting for the last one, that Allah forgive my sins. I hope for that in the hereafter as well. So the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam comes to Medina, and Umm Sulaym radiallahu ta'ala anhu being again a maternal aunt of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam as well, through nursing, Umm Sulaym has a home that is right next to the hujurat of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. And as Anas radiallahu anhu says, the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam did not used to enter a home the way that he would enter the home of Umm Sulaym and Abu Talha, his stepfather, and he would stay there many times sallallahu alaihi wasallam. He would pray in that house, he would host in that house, and he would be a guest in that house. He would care for the orphans in that house, and he was always coming around. Anas radiallahu ta'ala anhu would wake up in the morning, go straight to the door of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, and let's start our day. His entire next ten years is going to revolve around the Messenger sallallahu alaihi wasallam. And some of the scholars say one of the reasons why the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam made that dua for him, for Allah to increase him in things of this world as well as the hereafter, is that a person might think that if I'm gifting my son this way, to the service of the deen, you know, what opportunities is he missing out on?
And the answer is absolutely nothing. He's not missing out on anything. He has the greatest opportunity of all. For ten years afterwards, every single day of his started off with being at the side of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, and ended with him leaving the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam in his home. Every single day, he comes out of his door, he's right at the door of the Messenger sallallahu alaihi wasallam, and he's ready to serve him and to be with him. If you want to know the greatness of a man, you look at the testimony of those that are closest to him. If you want to know the greatness of a woman, you look at the testimony of those that are closest to her. If there was anyone that would have been susceptible to exploitation and harm, it would have been Anas sallallahu alaihi wasallam. Right? Because he's an orphan, technically his father passed away, and his mother said, he's here to serve you. Anas sallallahu alaihi wasallam says, I have never seen a man, ahsan khuluqa, who had more beautiful character than the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wasallam. Qala khadamtuhu ashra seneen, I served him for ten years. Thama dharabani, wala sabbani, wala abasa fee wajhi. He said, he never hit me, he never cursed me, he never said any bad words to me, he said, he never even frowned in my face. Subhanallah. He never even frowned in my face. He never even gave me a look of dissatisfaction or disapproval. And there's the most famous story of Anas sallallahu alaihi wasallam. He says, by Allah, he had the best akhlaq of people, he had the best character of people. And he said, there was this one time he sent me on an errand. He asked me to go do something for him. And this is the most famous narration of Anas sallallahu alaihi wasallam. He said, and while I was on my way, there were some other kids there. So I started playing with some other kids. So on the way to carry out the errand of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, like other little kids, I got distracted. Allah knows what they were playing with.
Back then, they didn't have Nintendo Switch or anything like that. They had pigeons. They would play with pigeons. But the point is that I was running around with a bunch of kids. I was playing and I forgot to go do what the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam asked me to do. So he said, then suddenly, the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, I saw him come and sit, just start watching me. And I was like, uh-oh. But he said, nathartu ilayhi wahuwa yadhak. I looked at him and he was laughing sallallahu alaihi wasallam. And he said, Ya Anas, little Anas, adhabta haythu amartuk? Did you go to where I asked you to go? Qala qultu naam, ana adhabu ya Rasulullah. I said, yes, I'm on my way, O Messenger of Allah. See, he didn't say no. Kids are kids, right? He didn't say, no, I didn't do it, ya Rasulullah. He said, yeah, I'm still going. I'm on my way. He just got paused for a bit of a detour here to play with the kids. That was the one time that he said that the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, that was his way of admonishing me after what I had done. It makes it very hard for us parents, right? Every time you read that narration, you're like, patience, patience, patience, patience. This isn't even his own son. Look how he's treating him. And Anas sallallahu alaihi wasallam, in another narration, he says, I served him for ten years. ما علمته قال لي شيء ان صنعته لما فعلت كذا وكذا او لشيء ان ترقته هل لا فعلت كذا وكذا Ten years, I never heard him say, why did you do this or that, or why didn't you do this or that? He never admonished me. He was never harsh with me, sallallahu alaihi wasallam. Now, Anas sallallahu alaihi wasallam, his entire, his narrations about the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, all sort of surround this similar theme. He didn't participate in the Battle of Badr. Why? What's the common sense answer? He was too young. Too young to participate in the Battle of Badr. Too young to participate in Uhud.
He actually narrates, as we said, about his famous uncle, Anas ibn Nadr, radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, after whom he was named, in the Battle of Uhud. But he himself was unable to participate because of his age. But he did participate in Bay'at al-Ridwan, in the pledge of the companions under the tree that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said that he is pleased with those who took their pledge with the Messenger sallallahu alaihi wasallam. So he never got to participate in any battle, in any significant way, in the presence of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. His incidents with the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam all revolve being with him. And giving us an up-close view of the Messenger sallallahu alaihi wasallam. And as you go through these narrations, you start to realize how much would be missing. It's sort of like when you think about Aisha radiyaAllahu anha in the house. Anas radiyaAllahu anhum from the moment that he left the house sallallahu baihi wasallam, the visits of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, the journeys of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, all those things primarily are narrated by Anas. So the house life of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam is primarily narrated by Aisha radiyaAllahu anha. The social life of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam is primary narrated by Anas radiyaAllahu alaihi wasallam because he is the only person who was with the prohet sallallahuualiih every single day years in Medina. SubhanAllah. So if you open up the book of Shama'il, the description of the Prophet ﷺ, and you read through the narrations of the physical description of the Prophet ﷺ, his height, his hair, his eyebrows, his teeth, his eyes, all of that, you find numerous narrations from Anas ﷺ, Anas ﷺ saying even the day that he died I counted 17 grey hairs in total in the hair and beard of the Prophet ﷺ. So that's the detail that he narrates to us about what he saw of Muhammad ﷺ being in his companionship. But then the character comes and all of those ahadith about his character. So where do we
see these narrations? One, we start to see the narrations of how the Prophet ﷺ treated his family. Anas ibn Malik radiyaAllahu anhu qal ma ra'aytu ahadan kana arhama bilAAiyal min rasoolillahi ﷺ. He said I never saw anyone that treats his children the way the Prophet ﷺ treats his children. Never saw anyone that merciful. So it wasn't just me that he was like this with. It was the iyal, it was the dependents of the Prophet ﷺ, it was the people in his household. He had such rahma, such mercy with them, such kindness with them ﷺ. And he is the one who narrates the moment that Ibrahim, the last son of the Prophet ﷺ passed away. That touching narration of the Messenger ﷺ holding his son Ibrahim who was a baby and died in his hands and the tears of the Prophet ﷺ falling on the body of Ibrahim and the dua of the Prophet ﷺ, the supplication of the Messenger ﷺ when he lost his son. Wa inna li firaqiqa ya Ibrahim, namahzoonoon namahzoonoon. We are grieving O Ibrahim over your death. Anas was with the Prophet ﷺ when he got the news. Anas walked with the Prophet ﷺ to the house where Ibrahim was being held and Anas is the one who says we entered upon Ibrahim and I watched the Prophet ﷺ hold his son and bid him farewell. That's how close these narrations get. The famous narration of the Prophet ﷺ seeing a woman in the graveyard that was crying over the loss of her loved one, presumably her son and the Prophet ﷺ tells her to be patient. Anas says we were walking. You see when you start to read these narrations, I and the Prophet ﷺ, we were walking and we came across
this woman in the graveyard that was crying and the Messenger ﷺ told her to be patient over her loss and the famous hadith, innama al-sabr, ainda al-sadmat al-ula, that verily patience is at its first strike. Anas ﷺ narrates how the Prophet ﷺ was with the orphans in his own home and Anas used to go with the Prophet ﷺ in all of his visits to the houses of the Ansar and he says, kana Rasool Allah ﷺ yazoorul ansar. He said the Prophet ﷺ used to go and visit the Ansar every day. He used to have a share of his day dedicated ﷺ to visiting the homes of his companions. Fayusallimu ala sibyanihim wayamsahu biruusihim wayad'ulahim. He said the Prophet ﷺ would always, when he walked into a home, he would start talking to the children. He'd give salam to the children. You know you think about the impact of that, the most important man in society and every time he walks into a house he says where are the kids at? And the kids come running to the Prophet ﷺ and the Prophet ﷺ jokes with them. The Prophet ﷺ used to joke with the brother of Anas as we said about his pet bird. He'd ask him ya aba umair ma fa'al an nughair, where's your pet bird? Tell me what he's up to these days and consoling him when he lost his pet bird. So he's saying I used to see the Prophet ﷺ and he'd say salam to the kids. He'd sit with them, he'd joke with them, he would caress their heads ﷺ and he would make dua for them, alayhis salatu was salam. The way that he made dua for Anas ﷺ. He is the one who narrates the narration of the Jewish neighbour of the Prophet ﷺ whose son was passing away. And the Prophet ﷺ used to treat this Jewish neighbour so well that when his son was passing away, Anas ﷺ is the one who the Prophet ﷺ said let's go visit when his son was passing away. And the Prophet ﷺ as he's consoling that young Jewish child and he says to him say la ilaha illallah. And the Jewish
child looks to his father and he says ati' ab al qasim, listen to ab al qasim, say la ilaha illallah. He narrates that. He was with the Prophet ﷺ in those moments visiting that man and his child and the Prophet ﷺ coming out beaming with joy, so happy of what had just transpired. And he also narrates another incident of again one of the Jewish children of Medina that brought the Prophet ﷺ a glass of water and the Prophet ﷺ praying for that child. So he narrates all of these situations with the children, the Muslims and the non-Muslims in his own house and outside of his house. He narrates the incidents of the Prophet ﷺ with those who would come and ask for sadaqah, for charity. So most of the narrations about baytul maal, about the treasury, about people coming and asking for this and asking for that, go through Anas ﷺ. He says, كان نبي صلى الله عليه وسلم رحيما وكان لا يأتيه أحد إلا وعده وأنجز له. He said that the Prophet ﷺ was so rahim, so compassionate. And he said that there is no one that would come to him except that the Prophet ﷺ would make that person a promise وعده له وأنجز له and he'd find a way if he could to do something for him. And he said that there was one time, subhanAllah this is a narration in Adab al-Mufrad, he said the iqama was made and this man came and walked up to the Prophet ﷺ while the iqama was made and he grabbed the shirt of the Prophet ﷺ and he said, يا رسول الله help me, help me, help me. And Anas ﷺ said he was so loud and so abrasive that the wives of the Prophet ﷺ were scared. And he said the Prophet ﷺ left the musalla and said, Anas ﷺ fulfilled his need, came back and he prayed ﷺ, he led the people in prayer. Front row seat to greatness, the greatness of the Prophet ﷺ. Another narration
in Bukhari, he said I was walking with the Prophet ﷺ and he was wearing a Nadrani cloak with a thick border and he said an Arabi man came to him, a Bedouin came to him and he started to pull the cloak from his neck ﷺ and he said, يا محمد مرلي من مال الله الذي عندك, Oh Muhammad give me from the money that Allah gave you, meaning the charity, the treasury. And he said that he left marks on the neck of the Prophet ﷺ. Pulling away at his garment, Anas ﷺ was like what do I do? He said about the Prophet ﷺ, فالتفت إليه فضحك ثم أمر له بعطاء. The Prophet ﷺ smiled, he laughed and the Prophet ﷺ sent Anas to go and give him some charity from Baytul Mal, from the treasury. He says, كان رسول الله ﷺ أحسن الناس خلوقا. What a human being. He said he was the person who had the best character. I have never seen a man like the Messenger ﷺ. You can imagine, you hear these words, you hear these narrations and I've only scratched the surface. And you fall in love with the Prophet ﷺ. Imagine being the narrator. There are over 2000 hadith like this of Anas ﷺ saying I saw the Prophet ﷺ do this, I saw the Prophet ﷺ do that. I was with him when this happened, I was with him when that happened. And there is nothing that you read from Anas ﷺ that goes, whoa, that's a little harsh. No, no, every single hadith of Anas makes you love him more ﷺ. So imagine Anas ﷺ, how he's falling in love with the Prophet ﷺ every day of his life. What joy is it to be with the Prophet ﷺ every single day. He also narrates the miracles that he witnessed from the Prophet ﷺ.
He used to witness miracles from him. One of them we spoke about last week in the house of Umm Sulayman Abu Talha. When the Prophet ﷺ put his hands on the food and it increased and increased and increased and increased the food. Until they said that it lasted them for months after. It fed tens and tens of people that were coming into the house of his mother. And then it lasted for months after. So he witnessed the miracle of the Prophet ﷺ being able to take a certain quantity of food and increase it. And he said, and I remember I was with the Prophet ﷺ on Friday and he was delivering the khutbah. And a man stood up in the khutbah and said, Ya Rasulullah, there's no rain. Call upon Allah ﷻ to send down upon us rain. And he said, and I saw the Prophet ﷺ look up to the sky and there was not a single cloud in the sky. And the Prophet ﷺ lifted his hands up and he started to pray. And the clouds started to gather together instantly. And it rained on us until Medina started to flood. So he said that the next Friday Medina was flooded. And the Prophet ﷺ ascended the minbar. And I was sitting in front of the Prophet ﷺ and a man stood up and he said, Ya Rasulullah, we're drowning here. Ask Allah to hold the rain. It's too much rain. The rain keeps coming down on us. And the Prophet ﷺ, he said, I saw him raise his hands and say, Allahumma hawalayna walaalayna. Oh Allah, around us, not upon us. Meaning let it rain around us, but not upon us. Subhanallah. And he said that when that happened, the clouds disappeared from the sky and it became sunny. And the rain dried up, but the benefit to the crops had settled. And Anas ﷺ has got this front row seat sitting in front of the Prophet ﷺ when he's on the minbar giving khutbah and witnessing these miracles.
Anas ﷺ learned how to make dua from the Prophet ﷺ. And the Prophet ﷺ would teach Anas, tell him to hold up his hands. And he said, Ya Anas, Ya Onays, he said, constantly say, Ya Dhul Jalali wal Ikram. Ya Dhul Jalali wal Ikram. Ya Dhul Jalali wal Ikram. Oh Possessor of Majesty and Nobility. Oh Possessor of Majesty and Nobility. He said, constantly add this into your dua. So Anas ﷺ learned from the Prophet ﷺ when I'm making dua to say, Ya Dhul Jalali wal Ikram. Ya Dhul Jalali wal Ikram. He narrates the night dhikr of the Prophet ﷺ, the night remembrances of the Messenger ﷺ. And he said the Prophet ﷺ used to give him all of these nasaih, all of these advices about how to treat people. So it wasn't just an example that you witnessed where you just came away with, what an amazing man. But he would teach you the science of being great. So he said that the Prophet ﷺ said to me, طُوبَ لِمَنْ شَغَلَهُ عِيبُهُ عَنْ عِيُوبِ النَّاسِ Blessed is he who is occupied with his own faults over the faults of other people. Don't obsess with the flaws of others. Don't sit there and look into the flaws of others, Oh Anas. And one of the most beautiful advices, SubhanAllah I gave a khutbah about this last year. Anas ibn Malik ﷺ said the Prophet ﷺ said to me, قَالَ لِي رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ يَا أَبُنَيِّ Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to me, Oh my son, إِن قَدَرْتَ أَن تُصْبِحَ وَتُمْسِيْ لَيْسَ فِي قَلْبِكَ غِشٌ لِأَحَدٍ فَافْعَلْ Oh my son, if you can go to sleep at night and wake up in the morning and not have any hatred in your heart towards anyone, not have any spite, any malice in your heart towards anyone. He said, then do so. يَا أَبُنَيِّ Oh my son, وَذَٰلِكَ مِن سُنَّتِي
You talk about the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ, that is my sunnah. That's my sunnah. The sunnah is not just external appearance. The sunnah is internal refinements. That is my sunnah. وَذَٰلِكَ مِن سُنَّتِي وَمَنْ أَحْيَى سُنَّتِي فَقَدْ أَحَبَّنِي And whoever gives life to my way, loves me. You wanna love me, Oh Anas? You wanna love me, Oh follower of the Prophet ﷺ? Then you have to try to be like me. And that's the hard part. Every night when you go to sleep, you remove that spite and that malice from your heart. So he says, ذَٰلِكَ مِن سُنَّتِي وَمَنْ أَحْيَى سُنَّتِي فَقَدْ أَحَبَّنِي وَمَنْ أَحَبَّنِي كَانَ مَعِي فِي الْجَنَّةِ And whoever loves me will be with me in Jannah. May Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala make us amongst His companions in Jannah. Allahumma ameen. So you have the hadiths about social life, the hadiths about family life, the hadiths about how to treat people, the example of the Prophet ﷺ, hadiths where the Prophet ﷺ is visiting the sick and the dying, hadiths where the Prophet ﷺ is hosting or being a guest. And then you have Anas ﷺ trying to live what he was witnessing. And the most important thing that you could take from the Prophet ﷺ, the most important sunnah was his worship. Was his worship. The way he used to worship. And one of the most beautiful things about Anas ﷺ is that what the companions praised about Anas ﷺ was that they said if you want to see the prayer of the Prophet ﷺ, look at the prayer of Anas ﷺ. You want to see a man whose prayer resembles the prayer, the salah of our Messenger ﷺ, look at the prayer of Anas ﷺ. Abu Hurairah says, مَا رَأَيْتُ أَحَدًا أَشْبَهَ صَلَاتًا بِرَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَى اللَّهُ عَيْسَى مِنْ أَنَسٍ Abu Hurairah says, I have not met a single person whose prayer resembled the prayer of the Prophet ﷺ.
The way that the prayer of Anas ﷺ resembled the prayer of the Messenger ﷺ. Never seen anyone or anything that is like it. Was he just talking about where Anas placed his hands, the way he raised his hands, how he put them on his knees, or how he was in his prostration. Or was he talking about something deeper? Something deeper. Anas ﷺ, as Ibn Sirin narrates, he says, Anas ﷺ used to pray at night until his feet would swell. Who did he learn that from? He learned that from the Messenger ﷺ. And they said Anas's recitation was perfect. It matched the recitation of the Prophet ﷺ. When you prayed behind him, it was like you were praying behind the Prophet ﷺ. He had the perfect tune, the perfect amount that he would read. His ruku' was just as long. His sujood was just as long. How many times was he praying next to the Prophet ﷺ? In residence and in journey. And he lived that. رضي الله عنه, he lived that example in his own life from the Messenger ﷺ. قُلْ إِن كُنْتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللَّهُ فَاتَّبِعُونِي يُحْبِبْكُمْ وَاللَّهُ Say if you love Allah, you follow me. And Allah will love you back. This is Anas ﷺ following the Messenger ﷺ in every way. And Anas ﷺ would follow him not just in those ways, in the ways of worship and learning character. And as we'll see, Anas was known for his rahmah, for his ability to hold himself back when being insulted, which unfortunately he would be insulted later on in life and he would struggle in the times of fitna. He had a great character, رضي الله عنه. So he imitated the Prophet ﷺ's worship. He imitated the Messenger ﷺ in his character. And he even used to see what the Prophet ﷺ used to eat and drink and he tried to imitate the Prophet ﷺ in his eating and drinking. He says, I remember one time we went to the house of one of the Ansar
and the Ansari man brought forth some soup. And he had pumpkin seeds in it. Okay. الدباء, alright. Pumpkin seeds. And he said, I noticed that the Prophet ﷺ really liked pumpkin seeds. And he says, فلم أزل أحب الدباء من يومئذ. He said, from that day, I never stopped loving pumpkin seeds. Now, here's the thing. This is where we get this whole thing about like, alright, if I don't like pumpkin seeds, do I not love the sunnah? Like, am I sinful because I don't like some of the food of the Prophet ﷺ? No, the answer is absolutely not. But this shows you obviously that love. You know, when you talk about, subhanAllah, someone who makes an impression on someone else with their character. Talk about a child that wants to be like their parents because of the goodness of their parents. And they start to try to imitate their parents in every way. Anas ﷺ wants to imitate the Prophet ﷺ in every single way. Now, some of the most beautiful narrations in this context as well are narrations where Anas ﷺ is already thinking, what do I do when he dies? Or I die? I mean, 10 to 20, his entire life surrounds the Prophet ﷺ. Like, what do I do? How do I get to be with him? After this time that we have in this life. So, in one narration, if you watch the Judgment Day series, here's some context to the narration. He said to the Prophet ﷺ, Ya Rasulullah, I'm your khadim, I'm your khuwaydim, I'm your small servant. Ishfa' li, intercede for me, O Messenger of Allah. And the Prophet ﷺ said, I'll do so. Meaning on the Day of Judgment, Ya Rasulullah, can you intercede for me? He said, I'll do so. The Prophet ﷺ said, I've got you. I will intercede for you on the Day of Judgment.
Anas ﷺ, look how innocent, how beautiful the question is. He said, well, where do I find you? You know, you've got to think about his mindset. Every day, I go and I stand post. I'm right in front of the door of the Prophet ﷺ. From the moment he comes out, I'm with him. I know where to go with him. I know where to find him. I can be with him at every single moment. So, he says, Ya Rasulullah, where do I find you on the Day of Judgment? And you might remember from the series, the Prophet ﷺ says, find me at the Sirat. Anas ﷺ said, what if I don't find you at the Sirat? He said, then find me at the Meezan. Find me at the scales. He said, and what if I don't find you at the scales? He said, find me at the Haud. Find me at the river. May Allah ﷻ allow us to drink from the fountain, the Haud of the Prophet ﷺ. Allahumma ameen. And the Prophet ﷺ said, I will not be missed in these three places. Ya Anas, you will find me in one of these places on the Day of Judgment, and I will intercede for you. You don't have to worry. I will intercede for you. And he is the one who narrates the incident where man says to the Prophet ﷺ, you know, that I have not prepared anything for the Day of Judgment except for my love for you. And he mentions in one narration, my love for you, my love for Abu Bakr, my love for Umar. The Prophet ﷺ told him that you will be with those whom you love. Anas ﷺ is witnessing this, and Anas ﷺ said, I felt so good. I mean, I was put at such ease when the Prophet ﷺ said that because I said to myself, I love the Prophet ﷺ. And I love Abu Bakr, and I love Umar. So I'm good. I have prepared myself for that day of meeting Allah ﷻ and hoping to be with the Prophet ﷺ. And of course, you can imagine, subhanAllah, like with any of these companions,
the day of the death of the Prophet ﷺ hits all of them in different ways. But with Anas ﷺ, it's similar to the sentiments that are expressed by Bilal ﷺ. If you remember with Bilal ﷺ, Bilal was in such pain at the death of the Prophet ﷺ, he couldn't even be in Medina anymore because everywhere he looked, he remembered the Prophet ﷺ. And he was always with the Prophet ﷺ as well. Bilal ﷺ, we don't have the narrations from Bilal. Bilal ﷺ died early. He didn't live as long as Anas, and he separated himself. He left Medina early because he couldn't be there in that place because he always remembered the Prophet ﷺ. This is going to be very hard for Anas ﷺ, who was Khadim Rasul Allah ﷺ, who was a servant of the Prophet ﷺ. And so one of the most difficult narrations is that narration of the last smile of the Prophet ﷺ. Imagine for ten years, every single day, you get to see the Prophet ﷺ and be with the Prophet ﷺ. I want you to think about that and just try to fathom it for a moment. Every single day, my constant, I get to go out in the morning, and the first thing I see is the smile of the Prophet ﷺ in my face, and I get to be with him ﷺ. Sounds like Jannah. May Allah ﷻ make that our fate in Jannah. Allahumma ameen. So he's the one who narrates the last day of the Prophet ﷺ from the outside. You have the narration from the inside, from Aisha ﷺ, from inside the home, and you have the narration from Anas ﷺ, from outside the home. From Anas you get the community view, from Aisha you get the internal view, inside the home.
And Anas ﷺ says that it was a Monday, and he said Abu Bakr ﷺ was leading the prayer, and he said that as we were standing behind Abu Bakr ﷺ, kashafa an-nabiyu ﷺ sitra al-hujrah. The Prophet ﷺ suddenly moved his curtain. Think of one of these windows, and the Prophet ﷺ, his hujrah, his home, had a view of the masjid. So the Prophet ﷺ moved the curtain. Yanzuru ilayna. And he started to stare at us ﷺ. And he says, wahuwa qa'imun. He said the Prophet ﷺ stood up, with whatever strength he had left. Now remember in the last days of the illness of the Prophet ﷺ, it was very hard to stand up. I mean he had to be on the shoulders of people. But it's like he's standing up ﷺ, and imagine being in the masjid, and praying, and the Prophet ﷺ is looking through the window, and the Prophet ﷺ stands up and starts to look at them. And he says, fatabassama yadhaq ﷺ. He smiled, and he laughed. Ka'anna wajhahu waraqatu mushaf. His face was so bright, it looked like the page of a mushaf ﷺ. So we're seeing his face looking at us, and of all the smiles of the Prophet ﷺ, that was the most beautiful one. Those last moments, smiling and laughing, and his face is radiating. It's as bright as the page of a mushaf. Radiating, looking at us. The Prophet ﷺ proud of his ummah. Proud of the Muslims, praying, lined up,
even though he's sick, still continuing forward. Like a father who's bidding farewell to his children, that they're going to continue. They're going to keep this going. I worked my whole life to see this. This day. So Anas ﷺ said that while the Prophet ﷺ is looking at us. Hamamna annaftatina minalfarahi bi ru'yati nabi ﷺ. It was a fitna for us. Like we were tested because we started to get excited at the pleasure of seeing the Prophet ﷺ. So suddenly our heads were looking at him, our faces turned towards him. In salah. You can think about how human this is and what's happening to their hearts in this moment. That they're looking, they're all slowly starting to look towards him ﷺ. To try to catch a glimpse of his smile ﷺ. Fanaqasa Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, ala aqibayhi li yasir as-saf. So Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, he moved back from the imam position to stand in the first row. To leave the imam spot empty, hoping the Prophet ﷺ would come out. Because he's standing up and he's looking at us through the window. We're hoping that he will come out and that he will lead us in prayer. Fa ashara ilayna nabiyyu sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, an atimmu salatakum. The Prophet ﷺ, he signaled to us, to finish your prayer. And he said, he closed the curtain, and he said, that was the last time I saw the Prophet ﷺ. SubhanAllah. Think about that. His journey begins with this joy of the Prophet ﷺ coming to us, and his mom putting him forward
and saying, Ya Rasulullah, please take my son. And ana sadiyaAllahu anhu, not knowing who this man, or not knowing too much about the Prophet ﷺ, or what it was going to be like for these ten years. And the last time, he's in salah, and he's looking, staring at the Prophet ﷺ, and he sees that final smile of the Prophet ﷺ one more time. And he said, and that was the last time we saw him ﷺ. The last time we saw him alive. And Jibreel ﷺ came to the room of the Prophet ﷺ, and he took his soul. And ana sadiyaAllahu anhu, he has a pretty unique vantage point here, because he's family. He's family. And so he's also going to participate in the burial of the Prophet ﷺ, along with the Prophet's ﷺ actual relatives. So ana sadiyaAllahu anhu, saw the Prophet ﷺ every day of his life for ten years, and then saw the Prophet ﷺ in that last smile. Now ana sadiyaAllahu anhu has to be a part of the burial of the Messenger ﷺ. And he says, lamma kaana alyaumu allathee dakhala feehi Rasoolullah ﷺ al-Madina, a'dhaa minha kullu shayt. This is how he describes it. He says, the day that the Prophet ﷺ entered into Madina, everything in Madina lit up. It's like a light came into Madina. It's like the lights turned on in this place. And subhanAllah, you go to Madina now, and you still feel the light. You still feel that tranquility. You still feel that effect. But he says, falamma kaana alyaumu allathee maata feehi, a'dhaa minha kullu shayt. He said, the day that the Prophet ﷺ passed away, it was like someone shut the lights off in Madina. SubhanAllah, it was like the nur came into the city, the light came into the city.
And then the day he passed away ﷺ, it was like the lights all turned off. And ana sadiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu said, I went into the grave of the Prophet ﷺ. And he says, wama nafadnaa an rasoolillahi ﷺ al-aydi, wa innaa lafee dafnihi hattaa ankarnaa quloobanaa. He said, when we got in the grave with the Prophet ﷺ, he said, we did not remove our hands from him, except that our hearts became estranged. Couldn't feel it anymore, something happened, we felt the change in our hearts, like how did this just happen? SubhanAllah, the most difficult burials and the most difficult washings that you will do in life are the ones of people that you knew. I can't even imagine, begin to imagine what it was like for ana sadiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu to be there in the grave with the Prophet ﷺ and to bury the Messenger ﷺ. Ana sadiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu said that Fatima radiyaAllahu anha approached him. She said, how could you put soil on my father's face? How could you put a turab, how could you put soil on the face of the Messenger ﷺ? How did you bring yourself to do that? Like a daughter that is frustrated with the situation, hurt and in pain, like ya anas, how did you do that? How did you bring yourself to do that? Ana sadiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu was saying the hearts, ankarnaa quloobanaa. Like, we had to deny our hearts, we had to give our hearts no participation in this moment with the Prophet ﷺ. And ana sadiyaAllahu anhu says, Fatima looked at me radiyaAllahu anha and she started to cry and she left.
SubhanAllah, none of us would be able to capture that moment of ana sadiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu and how he is going to proceed after this. But ana sadiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu would be given a gift in that moment after burying the Prophet ﷺ. That very few people, in fact no one in history would be given to the extent that he was given. Ana says the one who narrates radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu that the Prophet ﷺ said, man ra'ani fil manam faqad ra'ani. Whoever sees me in a dream, then they have seen me. That to see the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in a dream is to actually see him because the shaytan cannot take his form. And subhanAllah, you live your life hoping for one of those dreams. Like, let me see him one time ﷺ. Let me see him two times. And those that have the blessing of seeing the Prophet ﷺ, they hold that moment so precious they never forget that dream. And they remember it so vividly and it's one of the signs of a true dream that you saw him ﷺ and you hold on to that and you keep that for your entire life. Ana sadiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu would live for over 80 years after the death of the Prophet ﷺ. Over 80 years. And al-Muthanna ibn Sa'id, rahimahullah, he says, sam'i'tu ana sadiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu yaqool, wallahi ma min laylatin illa wa ana arafiha habibi ﷺ. I swear that there is not a night that goes by except that I see my beloved one ﷺ. wa hu yaqoolu thalik wa tadma'u aynahu. And as he'd be narrating that, he would start to cry radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu.
Ana sadiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu would see the Prophet ﷺ in his dream every single night for over 80 years. What a gift. What a gift. Imagine what he would look forward to. I mean subhanAllah, if I'm ana sadiyaAllahu anhu, I look forward to the nights more than I do the day. At that point, life is going to sleep at night and seeing the Prophet ﷺ and wishing to be with him again ﷺ. What a gift. Over 80 years, every single night, I see my beloved one ﷺ. For 10 years, every day, I saw him at his door. For 80 plus years, every night, I saw him in my dreams ﷺ. Because you can't find that type of a narration about any other companion to that extent, you have to ask yourself what did Allah put in his heart and what did Allah put in his fortune to make him that person, radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, to see the Prophet ﷺ. And how much did he long for the hereafter, to be with the Messenger ﷺ as the Prophet ﷺ had promised him, that he would be with him. After the Prophet ﷺ passes away, he goes on to narrate over 2,000 hadith from the Prophet ﷺ. Many narrations that are only from him, radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, because they're incidents that only ana sadiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu witnessed in the proximity that he had to the Prophet ﷺ. He narrates from his closest family members, he himself is like a close family member. He narrates from Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali, Usaid, many of the close companions of the Prophet ﷺ.
And he becomes a bridge of sorts to the next generation, similar to Aisha, radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, in giving us that look at the Prophet ﷺ that only he would have. After the Prophet ﷺ passes away, he fights in the Hurub al-Ridda, the apostasy wars under Abu Bakr, radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. He is entrusted as a zakah collector under Abu Bakr and Umar. And other than that, he really does not want to get involved in any of the trials and tribulations or the politics that would start to come afterwards. Anas's joy is talking about the Prophet ﷺ. What's your life's purpose, your life's mission? He's going to spend the next eight decades reliving one decade. Over and over and over and over again, telling people about what he saw from the Prophet ﷺ. So when fitna, when trials and tribulations break out, Anas radiyaAllahu anhu retires to Al-Basra in Iraq. And Anas radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu in Al-Basra, he takes up small business, he sells some crops. And Allah keeps on blessing him with wealth and crops. And children and grandchildren and his descendants are growing. And Anas radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu takes up a position in Basra, sitting in the masjid every single day, teaching people about the Prophet ﷺ. And there is not a single one of the imams of the tabi'een, of the next generation, except that they narrated from Anas radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. And they sat with him in that halaqa in Basra, listening to him. Al-Imam Hassan al-Basri, Hassan al-Basri, Ibn Sirin, Al-Imam al-Zuhri, some of the greatest imams of that next generation, all of them, their fondest memories sitting in the masjid, listening to Anas talk to you about the Prophet ﷺ,
as if you're looking at him, as if you could see him ﷺ. Through the eyes of Anas radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, who was seeing him on a nightly basis in his dream. So, over 150 of the tabi'een, Umar ibn Abdul Aziz rahimahullah ta'ala, was a student of Anas ibn Malik radiyaAllahu anhu. In fact, many people were tabi'een just because of Anas, because to be a tabi'ee, to be from that next generation, you have to have met a sahabi, you have to have met a companion. And for a huge number of them, the only companion they ever met was Anas ibn Malik radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. So, many of them even get included in that category of tabi'een, of being the second generation of Muslims, just because they met Anas ibn Malik radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, and they sat in his halaqas. Now, Anas radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, and this is one of the sad things, of course, we talked about this in the khutbah, when we talked about Uthman radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu as well. Anas radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu would be tested. Even the most beloved people to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala are tested. And when Abdullah ibn Zubayr radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhuma, took up his leadership position in Mecca and Medina, and sought to take a strong position against the corruption that was coming out of the khilafah by that time, the umayyad khilafah at that time, Anas radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu took the side, clearly, of Abdullah ibn Zubayr, took the side of Ali radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, then he took the side of Abdullah ibn Zubayr radiyaAllahu anhu later on, not in a strong military fashion, he never participated, but he moved to Al-Hijaz, he moved to Mecca and Medina, where Anas radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu would be under the leadership of Abdullah ibn Zubayr. So basically, later on, I mean you're talking about, after most of the sahaba have passed away, Anas radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu was witnessing wars between people that, never got to live with the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, or meet the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam,
and all types of political corruption, that unfortunately takes place later, and so he goes and he lives under Abdullah ibn Zubayr radiyaAllahu anhu as rule. And while he's in Mecca, you have what's known as Waq'at al-Hara, which was the massacres of Medina, under Yazid ibn Muawiyah. Waq'at al-Hara, if you read about it, the way the zahabi wrote about it, they started with the ayah, yudhabihuna abna'akum, yastahiyuna nisa'akum, the way of the pharaohs, they kill your children, and they embarrass, they humiliate the women amongst them. Waq'at al-Hara was a tragic moment, where you had a tyrant enter into al-Medina, ironically, whose name was Muslim ibn Uqba, and they used to call him Musrif, or Mujrim, the criminal, ibn Uqba, instead of Muslim. For three days, he massacred multiple people in al-Medina. He killed over 800 of the companions of the Prophet ﷺ. Over 800 sahaba were killed. Anas radiyAllahu ta'ala anhu, many of his offspring were murdered in that tyranny that took place. And he told them, for three days, he told his troops, do whatever you want to the people of Medina. SubhanAllah, can you imagine the sin of that person? Do what you want to the people of Medina. And it was a massive fitna, and you can imagine what these troops did. They did similar to what the crusaders would do later on, and similar to what other armies that are not accountable to anyone start to do, unfortunately. Anas radiyAllahu ta'ala anhu narrates that over a hundred of his descendants were killed in that day. Waq'at al-Hara. Then, Mecca. Anas radiyAllahu ta'ala anhu was in Mecca. And al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, al-Hajjaj being the tyrant of the companions, who would kill Abdullah ibn Zubayr, kill Abdullah ibn Umar, was a ruthless military general, fire bombs Mecca.
Kills Abdullah ibn Zubayr radiyAllahu ta'ala anhu, and even crucifies Ibn Zubayr radiyAllahu ta'ala anhuma. Taunts many of the companions of the Prophet ﷺ. And Anas radiyAllahu ta'ala anhu is witnessing all of these fitna, and Anas radiyAllahu anhu is heartbroken to see how people can become, how can you be children of the Prophet ﷺ or be people who claim to be from his ummah and then start acting this way. Right? But the Prophet ﷺ said that you go back to fighting over gold and silver the way that tyrants and politics unfortunately corrupts people in this way. And Anas radiyAllahu ta'ala anhu returns to al-Iraq. Now, what I'm going to mention is a very disturbing thing that happened with Anas radiyAllahu anhu, but I'm going to say it because it shows you, when you talk about Prophets of Allah being tested, like Musa alayhi salam, Isa alayhi salam, Muhammad ﷺ, the humiliation and the hardships that they went through, and realizing it's not that they are not beloved to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, sometimes even the most righteous of people are tested in this way. Imagine Anas radiyAllahu ta'ala anhu as noble as he is, and he was summoned by al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf in al-Iraq to be publicly humiliated, because he sided with Ali and then Ibn Zubayr in these conflicts. So, Hajjaj summons him in al-Iraq and he says, إِهِنْ إِهِنْ يَا أُنَيسِ Come here little Anas. SubhanAllah, the Prophet ﷺ called him Anas to elevate him, and he's calling him Anas to humiliate him. Hajjaj being a small person, right, a tyrant, a young man, but a very arrogant man, arrogant military general who wants to make an example out of this person, who is so noble and beloved to the Prophet ﷺ, and Anas radiyAllahu ta'ala anhu at this point in his life being in his 80s, and he says يَوْمٌ لَكَ مَا عَلِي وَيَوْمٌ لَكَ مَا عَبْنِ الْأَشْعَثِ One day you were on the side of Ali, then on the next day you were on the side of Ibn Zubayr, then on the next day you were on the side of Abdurrahman ibn al-Ash'ath,
who led one rebellion and was killed by the tyrant. And he says to him, واللهي I'm going to crush you and humiliate you and put you in your place, the summary of which I'm going to humiliate you and put you in your place. By the way, this is a heartbreaking incident, but there is much to learn from it. That corruption can overtake a people, subhanAllah, to where they would dishonor someone of this stature. And Anas radiyAllahu anhu says, Me? You're talking about me? You're going to do this to me? And he said, Yes, I'm going to do it to you. And Anas radiyAllahu anhu says, إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ Simply responds with, To Allah we belong and to Allah we return. Hajjaj puts a sign on him that says, عَتِيقَ الْحَجَّاجِ Spared by al-Hajjaj. Until I deal with you, wear this sign out of humiliation. And people are watching this and they're disgusted. That this is a treatment of the servant of the Prophet ﷺ, this beautiful companion of the Prophet ﷺ. And Anas radiyAllahu anhu, and this is a great wisdom in this. He said, Why didn't you say anything? Why didn't you curse? Why didn't you throw something at him? Why didn't you call for people to throw something at him? Why didn't you make this a big deal? And he said, Wallahi, I could have said a word that would have ended him. But he didn't do so. He said, I held back out of fear of what that would unleash in terms of the consequences. You see, good people will follow in this sunnah of Cain and Abel, where the Prophet ﷺ said, Never become the oppressor. Never become the murderer. If you extend your hand to kill me, then I will not extend my hand to kill you. I'm not going to reduce myself to what you are. And one narration, Anas radiyAllahu anhu was talking about his own family. What's left of his descendants of al-Hajjaj could do this to companions of the Prophet ﷺ and have no regard even for the Ka'bah, right?
And Mecca and just the sanctity of those companions and do this to them. And what's he going to do to me and what's he going to do to the people? So Anas radiyAllahu anhu said, I could have said something to him in the public arena in that moment that would have started a battle right then and there. But he did not want people to start shedding blood as a result of him. Take a step back. When Uthman radiyAllahu ta'ala anhu, when he was being oppressed by these little people that didn't know who he was and Uthman radiyAllahu anhu said, I don't want blood being spilled in the name of Uthman. These are people who lived for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala not for themselves. I don't want this to start happening out of Anas because my ego was bruised because of the mistreatment towards me. Then he goes home and Anas radiyAllahu ta'ala anhu writes a letter to Abdul Malik ibn Marwan who was the Khalifa at the time. Abdul Malik ibn Marwan, one of his greatest flaws was that he had a military general named al-Hajjaj who he would frequently denounce because of his tyranny but at the end of the day you put him in that position. And Umar ibn Abdul Aziz was very upset about that with him as well. Anas radiyAllahu anhu wrote a letter to Abdul Malik ibn Marwan and he said to him, I want you to know what happened, that this publicly happened, that your general summoned me and said this and this and this to me and treated me in this way. And basically, is this the legacy that you want to have? Is this really what you want to leave behind? Is this how you want to go down in history as having treated someone who served the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam for all of these years? So he just wrote him a letter, not asking for any particular action, but look, this is your little pharaoh who's going around and who's doing these things to people and this is what he did to me. So Abdul Malik ibn Marwan, he got this letter and he wrote two letters and he told the messenger, he said, go to Anas first and go to Hajjaj second, give Anas this letter and then give Hajjaj that letter.
So the letter to Anas said, yaa aba Hamza laqad katabtu ila al-Hajjaj al-mal'oon. He said, I have written a letter to the cursed Hajjaj and when he reads it, he's going to come to you and apologize. Then he sends another letter to al-Hajjaj. And this is what he says to al-Hajjaj. It's a long letter, by the way, that Abdul Malik ibn Marwan wrote to him. The first half of it is just cursing al-Hajjaj, basically. I'm not even going to read the whole letter. But it starts off with, la'anaka allahu abdan akhfash al-aynayn manqoos al-ja'iratayn. I mean, it curses him. And just puts him, you know, all sorts of stuff that's not worth me talking about here. But I want you to listen to what he said about Anas, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. He says, wallahi law anal yahooda wal nasara ra'at rajulan khadama uzair wa isa ibn maryam la'adhamatuh wa sharrafatuh wa akramatuh. He said to him, imagine if the Jews found someone who served Uzair, or the Christians found a man who served Jesus, the son of Mary. How would they treat a disciple of Christ? How would they treat a companion of Uzair? These are not even Muslims. How would they treat these people? And he said, wahadha anas ibn malik khadim rasool allahi, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. This is Anas ibn Malik, the servant of the Prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. wa li'uhu ala sirrihi, wa yushawiruhu fi amrihi. The Prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, would share secrets with him and consult him in his affairs. wa humma huwa ma'a hadha baqiyatun min baqaya ashabihi, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. And he's what's left of the companions of the Prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, with us. fa idha qara'ta kitabi hadha, fa kun atwa'a lahu min khuffihi wa na'lihi, wa illa ataaka minni sahmun muthkalun bi hatfin qaat. wa li kulli naba'in mustaqarrun, wa sawfa ta'lamun. So basically he threatens him with death. He says, listen, once you get this letter from me, go to him, apologize, put yourself, I mean lower yourself even to where you're beneath
the man's shoe. Tell him you're sorry for what you did to him and undo this damage that you've done treating this man this way. wa diya'allahu ta'ala anhu. And he said, if not, then basically the next letter that comes to you is going to be an arrow with your death. So Hajjaj, being the tyrant that he is, he goes to Anas, wa diya'allahu ta'ala anhu, and he apologizes to him in a very insincere way. He says, I'm going to leave you alone because Abdul Malik said so, but you should still be grateful. And he says, and by the way, I just did that. This is the mind of a tyrant. We talked about the insecurity of a tyrant. He said, I did so because if the people saw me putting Anas ibn Malik in his place, then no one else would dare challenge my authority. Right? So you see the mindset of Hajjaj. This is really a low mindset to treat Anas ibn Malik, wa diya'allahu ta'ala anhu, that way because he says that would put the other people in their place. Anas, wa diya'allahu ta'ala anhu, he moves on from Hajjaj. He goes back to the masjid, goes back to teaching the people about the Prophet ﷺ. He returns to Iraq and he lives the rest of his life once again teaching people about the Prophet ﷺ. Still challenging the tyranny with the voice that he has, but living his life and teaching about the Prophet ﷺ. So when you talk about people that were tested, noble people that lived their lives afterwards and are tested. This is a man, wa diya'allahu ta'ala anhu, who had the best of that, companionship with the Prophet ﷺ, but then a tyrant also tested him, wa diya'allahu ta'ala anhu. And he had a difficult moment, a difficult trial as well. He lived a long life as we said. He had many children, many grandchildren. Allah blessed him with much barakah, with much blessing in his wealth. They said that Anas, wa diya'allahu anhu, could lift a stone and he would find gold. Everything that he ever was given was blessed. And subhanAllah from the dua of the Prophet ﷺ, they said he had the only gardens that would harvest twice a year. It didn't make sense. His gardens would harvest twice a year. No one else's
garden would harvest twice a year. Anas, wa diya'allahu anhu, it's not like he was in the marketplace doing all types of stuff. He just had a few gardens and they kept on producing and producing and producing and harvesting and harvesting and harvesting. And he couldn't even keep up. And at some point they said that, you know, Anas, wa diya'allahu anhu, became neglectful as well of his gardens. He even stopped going and putting water, watering his trees and stuff. Because he just kept on producing. Remember the Prophet ﷺ said, barak lahu fee maalihi wa waladihi, bless him and his wealth, bless him and his children. Keeps on producing, producing. Thabit al-Bunani, rahimuhullah, he said, and I witnessed this from Anas, wa diya'allahu anhu, I came to him in the masjid one day. Thabit was a tabi'i, was one of the great tabi'in. And I said to him, your crops need water. You haven't watered your trees for a very long time. Your crops need water. He said, Anas walked out of the masjid, lifted his hands to the sky, he made dua, and he said, the clouds went right over his gardens and started to rain on his gardens and the crops started to produce again. Went back to the masjid and started, kept, you know, just resumed his teaching. Subhanallah. This was the amount of barakah, the amount of blessing that he had. He lived, as we said, to be over a hundred years old, hundreds of children, grandchildren, subhanallah, two thousand ahadith, some of the asanid, some of the chains of Anas, wa diya'allahu anhu, there's no one else like this, by the way, will have five descendants of Anas narrating. So you're going one by one, five descendants of Anas, wa diya'allahu anhu, narrating, the child narrating from the parent, from the parent, from the parent, from the parent, from Anas, wa diya'allahu ta'ala anhu. And of course this was his blessing that he left behind with us being the last of the major companions to pass away. There was no known companion. There were some companions, one or two, that may have passed away after him, but he was the last major sahabi to pass away. And here's how he used to identify himself. He says, ana aakhiru man sallal qiblatayni feekum. I'm the last person that prayed to
both qiblahs amongst you. Out of all the ways he identifies himself, I am the last person who prayed towards Jerusalem, that still lives amongst you because the Muslims, of course, in Medina, an Anas, wa diya'allahu ta'ala anhu, Anas narrates that the Muslims prayed towards Jerusalem for 16 or 17 months until Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala turned the qiblah towards Makkah. He said, I am the last person that resides amongst you, that had the blessing of praying towards both qiblahs. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala liberate them. Allahumma ameen. Give us al-Aqsa once again to pray in it as well. Allahumma ameen. So he passes away at the age of either 103 or 107. And subhanAllah, his janaza. You have so many people that come out from around the world to pray in his janaza. The last sahabi, major companion, the servant of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, and they're coming from all over to pray his janaza. And Imam Ibn Sirin, rahimahullah ta'ala, he led his salah. And Anas, wa diya'allahu ta'ala anhu, as we said, used to see the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam every single night. Anas had one last request, his final request, wa diya'allahu ta'ala anhu, he used to keep what he had of the belongings of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. So he had a little stick, he had some hair from the Messenger salallahu alayhi wa sallam, he had a little cloth from the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, he kept it in his home. And Anas, wa diya'allahu ta'ala anhu, asked, he said, when I pass away, I want you to bury me with the belongings of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. So Ibn Sirin, rahimahullah ta'ala, he said that when Anas passed away, we put in his kafan, the stick of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, so it was directly on his body under his kafan. Subhanallah. And the hair of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, on the top,
and whatever belongings were placed with him in his grave, wa diya'allahu ta'ala anhu, and that was of the largest janazahs that they had ever seen of the people praying upon him, wa diya'allahu ta'ala anhu. May Allah be pleased with him. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us to see him and to see our companions, our Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, in the highest level, in the highest level, may Allah gift us with the vision of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam in this life, with the ability to follow his guidance in this life, and with the vision of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam in the next, and his companionship in the next. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to allow us to drink from his hand salallahu alayhi wa sallam, and to see him every single day in paradise with the Prophets and the righteous ones, and to gaze up at the throne of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala amongst those that he is most pleased with. Allahumma ameen. Jazakum Allah khayran. Inshallah ta'ala I'll take a few questions. Start with the sisters, or the brothers. Bismillah. Multiple children of his became scholars, multiple grandchildren became notable ilm al-ilmah. If you read in the Isab of Ibn Hajar, in Tabaqat Ibn Sa'd, you'll find the ranks and how it broadens with every single generation of children and grandchildren that became scholars from Anas radiyaAllahu ta'ala. Thank you. Jazakum Allah khayran. My question was that how does one fix their personalities to, or enhance their personalities
to match the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam or Anas radiyaAllahu ta'ala? Because, you know, what I think is, you know, the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam was purified at a young age and then he was also shown the hellfire and Jannah. So someone like that would definitely be more calm and more peaceful. Whereas the Sahabas that have spent time with them also has that influence. But as we have like influence of Instagram and TikTok and we don't have that kind of pure, you know, relationship and it's really hard to establish that in this day and age. How does one enhance their personalities to that level? So how do you, how do you allow yourself to, you know, connect to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam and to establish your character? One of the things that we learn from these companions is number one, we can't be like them, but we can try. And they couldn't be like the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, but they could try. And jihad al-nafs is that journey, that striving against the soul to become more like that. And the more difficult some of those qualities come to you, like someone who's got a hot temper that's reading those narrations about Anas al-Dilaw and when the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam is going, I'm in trouble. I mean, every parent who yelled at their kids today, you know, my kids are here. So I don't, I'm like afraid. All right. Every parent who ever yelled at their kids, you know, like any, it's like, man, I wish I could be like the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. Everyone who reads these ahadith wishes and wishes and wishes and wishes. So first and foremost, wanting that is an intention. Secondly, trying to live that is
the next part of that. And so following the prescriptions then that we find from the books of Tazkiyya to try to do so inshallah ta'ala is definitely part of that. And, you know, developing a love for the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam is reading about the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam and then trying to bring the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam into your life. And that's also a lifelong journey. Allah knows best. Yeah. Is it possible to see the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam in a dream and how? It's a gift that Allah gives to some people. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam said that whoever sees me in a dream then they have seen me. And if you see the Messenger salallahu alayhi wa sallam in the way that he's been described then you've seen him. So if someone could show up in your dream and like not look like the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam at all, say I'm Muhammad salallahu alayhi wa sallam and that doesn't mean anything. But if they match the description of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam then you've seen the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. It's important to say that it is not the indicator of a person's righteousness or lack thereof of whether or not they've seen the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam in a dream. It may be that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala holds that from, it's a gift. It may be that Allah holds that from a person for some time so that they could long more for it and Allah rewards them with it sometime at the end of their life. Or Allah azzawajal holds it back so they don't become too confident because what if someone sees the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam and says I'm good now, I saw the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. Like you know I must be good, I must be a follower of the sunnah, I must be going to the Firdos al-A'la. So Allah and his wisdom gives and withholds that gift from certain people but you certainly can ask for it and make dua for it and certainly of the ways is to bring them into your life salallahu alayhi wa sallam with practice and
to increase in salawat on the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam as much as you can. Can you repeat it on the microphone, I'm sorry. As one of the helpers of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, what were some of the other tasks that he would do for him? What were some of the other tasks that he would give to Anas? You know when Umm Sulaym said take him to serve you, the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam was honoring her request but you actually don't find like a narration of like Anas go make dinner, like Anas salallahu alayhi wa sallam talking about like a two hour dinner for all these sahabah of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam or doing anything that's really hard in terms of a task. He would go with the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, he would maybe go get the wudu' of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, he might carry his belongings, he might you know try his best but at the end of the day the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam is described as being fi khidmati ahlihi, he would serve the people of his household. So it's hard because he used to salallahu alayhi wa sallam do his own stuff and so you don't really get that element from these narrations of anything that was really trying or tasking with the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam in that regard. So Uday I'm going to need like some, we're going to enact the game here right quick. Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. So what team are you all with? What's the name of the team? Mississippi? Missouri, mashallah. So this is Canadian, there's nothing Canadian
here. And Uday of course offensive lineman mashallah. So if you all ever wanted me to look small, alhamdulillah, this is a very humbling experience for me today. No one ever meet me and say you're very tall. But we want to say mashallah welcome to our brothers. Where's the coach? Come on up coach mashallah. No coach makes me feel better alhamdulillah. We're very happy to have our brothers mashallah. What are your names? Omar, Tariq, Ayub, Uday mashallah. So we welcome them to our community mashallah as well. So don't feel bad when you meet me anymore. Be like you're too tall. I'm not very tall as you can see alhamdulillah. Welcome to the community brothers. Inshallah ta'ala we ask Allah to bless you all with success in this dunya and in the akhira. Allahumma ameen. Coach you gotta get some height on you man. May Allah bless you and bless the team.
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