Angels In Their Presence | Season 2
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Jibreel (as) was known to take the form of the most beautiful human from a group of people. Amongst the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ, Jibreel (as) chose the form of Dihyah al-Kalbi (ra). What’s the story of the companion Dihyah (ra) aside from his beauty?
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Imagine being the man that Jibreel Alayhi Salaam takes the form of when he comes to your people. Imagine being married to the man that Jibreel Alayhi Salaam takes the form of when he comes to a people. Dihya radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu is a very interesting companion of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam because he's practically only known for this. Now, no one ever made the accusation that Dihya radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu was just playing the role of Jibreel Alayhi Salaam, not even the enemies of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Because when Jibreel Alayhi Salaam would come, he would take a form that resembled Dihya radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu deeply. But if you looked closely, it wasn't exactly him. Imam Zarkashi rahimAllah ta'ala, he explains this. He says that Jibreel Alayhi Salaam when he came, he would take the most beautiful form. And so when he came to the Arabs, he took the form, in human form, of the most beautiful amongst the men of the Arabs. And when Jibreel Alayhi Salaam went to Maryam Alayhi Salaam, in the form of a human being first, he went in the form of a very handsome man from Bani Israel. And anytime he went to a prophet or went to a people in the form of a human being, he took the form of who was noted to be the most handsome amongst them. So this happens to be amongst the Arabs, this man by the name of Dihya radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu. And there are several encounters where, you know, you looked at the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam talking to Jibreel Alayhi Salaam, and if you were blessed to be able to see the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam speaking with Jibreel Alayhi Salaam, when he came to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam in human form, you would have thought it was Dihya. And Umm Salama radiAllahu ta'ala Anha, she actually narrates that one time, you know, in her living room, suddenly she sees the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam is sitting with who she thinks is Dihya radiAllahu Anhu. So she looks and then she immediately sort of walks away and distances herself from the sitting of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam
and who she thinks is Dihya radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu. And then the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam goes to her and says, man hadha, who do you think this is? And she said, Dihya. So the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, he doesn't say anything. And Umm Salama radiAllahu Anha says, by Allah, I thought it was Dihya until the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam stood up on the minbar and he said, atani Jibreel, Jibreel alaihi salam came to me. And he said this, this, this and that. Aisha radiAllahu Anha has a similar story. She says that one time, the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam heard a man's voice outside and he got up quickly and he went outside to meet that man. So she said, I followed him out to see who he was talking to. And I saw a man from the distance and he was leaning against a very fine horse. And as far as I could see, it looked like Dihya radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu wearing his turban and the ends of the turban were behind his back. So the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam came back to the home and I said, Ya Rasulullah, I saw you get up quickly with a sense of urgency to respond to that voice and go speak to that man. But when I looked in the distance, it looked like Dihya radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu. So the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said, Ya Aisha, did you see him? So she said, yes, I saw him. And the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said, that was Jibreel alaihi salam. Now Aisha radiAllahu Anha mentioned that when she saw him, he was wearing clothes that he'd never worn before. So he was wearing a white turban. He had a white burd, a white scarf. So white garment. He had white sandals. And she said, I've never seen Dihya radiAllahu Anhu dressed in that way. So who is this man, Dihya radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu? What's his story beyond Jibreel alaihi salam looking like him when he came down in human form? First and foremost, they say about Dihya kana yudhrabu bihi al-mathab. That people used to write poetry and he would be the example, the standard of beauty amongst the Arabs. So when they would talk about someone and measure someone's handsomeness, they would measure them against Dihya radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu. And Ibn Abbas radiAllahu Anhuma, he says that Dihya was from Medina.
So Yathrib prior to Medina, obviously. And when he used to return home or when Dihya radiAllahu Anhu was out, there wasn't a single woman except that they would go out to see what Dihya was doing. And they would stare at him as he was walking through the street. So it was hard to lower your gaze from a person of that level of beauty, that level of handsomeness. So who is he? Dihya radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu was from Medina as we said. And he would become Muslim sometime after Badr. And he would witness every battle with the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam after Badr. And the role that the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam chose for him is significant. And it shows you the wisdom of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. Rasulullah SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam chose Dihya radiAllahu Anhu to be an ambassador to emperors around the world. So the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam sends him to world leaders with handwritten letters, calling them to Islam. And so the very famous story of Caesar, Heraclius, in Rome, receiving the message of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, Dihya radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu was the one who went out to Asham, to greater Syria, and hand delivered the message of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam to Heraclius. And this was the wisdom of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam because when Dihya showed up to a place, it attracted attention. And Dihya radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu used that attention, once again, to call people to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, as he did, as the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam commanded him. However, he also was a warrior. And we find Dihya radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu was someone that fought in numerous battles and fought in the famous battle of Yarmouk. So he wasn't just someone that the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam kept there just to go send here or there. He was actually someone that was taking part in a heavy way in some of the most notable battles in Islamic history. Now I said, imagine being the woman that's married to that man. And this is probably my favorite part of the story of Dihya, by the way, is who his wife was. Now, before I say who his wife was, a lot of times people, I think, fail to grasp the significance of Ikramah ibn Abi Jahl,
of all people becoming Muslim and becoming a great warrior and eventually becoming a Shaheed, eventually becoming a martyr. And the way the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam treated Ikramah radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu and said, you know, don't abuse him in regards to his father. Don't mention his father in a bad way. Even though his father was the Fir'aun of this Ummah, don't hurt him with Abu Jahl, in his presence at least. Right? We know who Abu Jahl is, but the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam took his feelings into consideration. But even Ikramah became Muslim much, much, much later. Now, who is the wife of Dihya? It's actually the daughter of Abu Lahab. And she is from the first to embrace Islam. Her name is Durrah bint Abi Lahab radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu. I mean, imagine her reciting the Quran and she recites, tabbat yada Abi Lahab bin Wattab. She recites the punishment of her father and her mother. The only person who has a whole Surah revealed about their punishment and fire. She is the one reciting that. She became Muslim early on with the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. And of course, she's the first cousin of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. And she was married already to a man by the name of Al-Harith ibn Naufal, who not only was a disbeliever, but who died fighting against the Muslims in Badr. Okay. So Durrah bint Abi Lahab radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu. I mean, you have to be a righteous woman to overcome all of those psychological hurdles, right? And spiritual hurdles. She overcame those hurdles. Her husband remained a disbeliever. He fought against the Muslims in Badr. She had children from him. And she made hijrah with the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. So she actually was part of the extended family of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam that was protected, but was in a very tricky situation. Now, when Al-Harith died fighting against the Muslims, that kind of seals all hope for her, right? She has kids and she's the daughter of Abu Lahab. And yes, in Medina, she had a hard time. There is an incident that's documented where some people mocked her for her father. And the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam became very upset.
Look what Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la gave to her. After the battle of Badr, when her husband passed away fighting against the Muslims, Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la made it so that Dihya radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu would marry Durra bint Abi Lahab. The great wisdom of this, by the way, as well, you know, remember Um Jameel, the wife of Abu Lahab said to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam that I think your devil has forsaken you, which is prior to Surat Al-Duha. Instead, SubhanAllah, we find that her daughter became one of the people of Iman and was married to a man who was so handsome. And of course, righteous that Jibreel Alayhi Salam would take his form.
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