Angels In Their Presence | Season 2
6 / 29
Distinguished in his eloquence, in battle, and in his recitation of the Qur’an, Abu Musa al-Ash’ari (r) (also known as Abdullah ibn Qais (r)) was a beloved Companion of the Prophet ﷺ from Yemen. On a ship out in the expansive sea, Abu Musa (r) heard the resounding voice of an angel in an unforgettable moment that elevated his worship and taught us about the virtues—and the beautiful reward—of fasting on a long, hot day.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. So we covered one chief from Yemen that came to Medina to embrace Islam, Jareed ibn Abdullah radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu. The most famous companion, arguably though, from Yemen is Abu Musa al-Ash'ari radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu. His name was actually Abdullah ibn Qais radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu. This was a man who came to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam early on, before Amul Wafud, before the year of the delegation to embrace Islam and went back to his people and brought a bunch of them back to Medina with him and accompanies the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and becomes not only a beloved companion to him, but distinguishes himself in his fiqh, meaning his scholarship and his knowledge. So becomes a person who is looked to by the companions of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam for his fiqh, becomes distinguished in his eloquence, becomes distinguished in his ability in battle. So he was a Mujahid fi sabiLillah and that's something that he would carry forward. And he was also a diplomat, a general, and also becomes distinguished for his recitation of the Quran. The Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam praised the recitation of Abu Musa radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu in many different ways, said to him, he has been given the Zabur of Dawud alayhi salam. So he is someone who the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam loves deeply and who excels in recitation, excels in remembrance and excels in knowledge and in so many different ways. The story of Abu Musa radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu though, when it comes to an angel, is a story that he narrates about himself and a group of companions. And he says that we were traveling by sea and they were clearly out in jihad fi sabiLillah. So this was for the sake of battle. And as the ship was sailing, it was going fast towards its destination. He said, suddenly there was a voice that was heard by all of us. And the voice said, Ya Ahlul Safina, Oh people of the ship,
Qifu, ukhbirukum bi qadha in qadha hullahu ala nafsihi Stop and let me tell you of a judgment that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la or a decree that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la has placed on himself. So he said, I looked to the right, I looked to the left. I did not find anyone and the voice repeated the exact same thing consecutively seven times. So subhanAllah, imagine the people on the ship are like, where is this voice coming from? That let me tell you of a decree that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la has decreed. So he said, finally, when I looked around and I couldn't find where the voice was coming from, I called out and I said, man ant, ayna ant, who are you? Where are you? And he said, the answer came, inna allaha qadha ala nafsihi innahu man ta'atasha lillahi fiyawmin haar saqaahullahu yawmil a'tash SubhanAllah, beautiful. He said that the voice responded and said that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la has decreed upon himself that whoever fasts for the sake of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la on a hot day, Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la will nourish him on the day of great thirst, which is the day of judgment. So SubhanAllah, if a person fasts for the sake of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la on a difficult day, a day where it is hot, a day where people will be thirsty, Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la will make sure that that person is nourished on the day of judgment, a day of great thirst. Abu Musa radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu said, ever since the day that that angel shouted that, I never missed fasting on a hot day. Now I want to contextualize this a bit because it's very interesting because you find many narrations from the companions praising the easy fasts. Fasting in the winter, for example, it's the spoils of the believer. Why? Because it's so easy to fast in the winter, right? The days are short for fasting.
The nights are long for prayer, but there is a unique reward as well to fasting on a long, hot day. Now the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said in general, Man saama yawman fee sabili Allah ba'daAllahu wajhuhu AAan alnaari sabAAeena khareefa. The Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said whoever fasts one day for the sake of Allah, Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la will distance that person's face from the fire. The distance of a journey of 70 years. And another narration, the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said, bayna al-mashriqi wal-maghrib, the distance between the east and the west. And another narration, the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said, the distance bayna al-sama'i wal-arw, the distance between the heavens and the earth. So fasting one day for the sake of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is a great deed that brings about a great reward. But here you find the sweetness of struggle. The sweetness of doing the hard deeds, doing the deeds that will require a greater amount of effort and leaving that gap of the struggle between the easy deed and the hard deed to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. And you're not encountering a deed just because it's hard. You're not encountering a deed because you think that, you know, there should be unnecessary difficulty that's placed upon yourself. But you are consistently acting upon deeds, even when there will be difficulty because of the circumstances. And that is the blessing of fasting on a long, hot day.
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