40 Hadiths on Social Justice
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Hadith #15: Building a Coalition of Justice
Sh. Omar Suleiman describes the the Fiqh of Hilf-al-Fadool, its lessons, rulings, and what we can learn from it today.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Banu Umayyah abstained from Halfal Fudul. They dipped their hands in Hanna or some Tleib and then they put it on the Kaaba altogether and they pledged that they will stand together now for the support of those that are oppressed. Anyone that is wrong will collectively have their rights upheld by all of these tribes together. These powerful tribes and these powerful people. So it was a turning point in the history of Mecca. And you've got to understand, when you look through the history of Mecca and Medina, these are a people that would go to war for hundreds of years because someone killed somebody else's camel. I mean, literally. If you read about what started the Basus war or the Fijar, all of these different wars, Arab wars, it was something so silly, it would start off with a petty conflict that would just evolve into an all-out war between tribes. So this is a later on, as we all know, he said, لو دعيت إلى مثله في الإسلام لأجبت الدعي. If I was called to something similar to it in Islam, I would listen to the caller. I would respond to the caller.
Meaning, even if someone was to initiate هلف الفضول, this pact of justice now, I would respond to that call. Now that hadith, the Prophet ﷺ is indicating that if a similar pact is called, or if anything is invoked of the nature of هلف الفضول, that I will be the first to join it. In another narration, the Prophet ﷺ said, from Abdurrahman ibn Auf, شهدت مع عمامتي هلف المطيبين. He said that I witnessed with my uncles the pact of the perfumed, referring to هلف الفضول. He says, فما أحب أن أنكثه. He said that I would not want to sever it, ولو بحمر النعم, even if I was to be given red camels in exchange. Red camels, of course, were the most prized possession, the most prized assets of the Arabs. And the Prophet ﷺ said, I would not sever هلف الفضول, even if you gave me all the money in the world. There is nothing that would cause me to sever it. So that indicates what? That the هلف الفضول, the pact, was still intact. It still was upheld and to be maintained. The one that was taken that time, even after Islam. And even though many of the participants of the agreement did not become Muslim. Not everyone that was in that room or belonged to those tribes accepted Islam. The Prophet ﷺ said, he's still willing to uphold that pact with all of those people, even if they were rejecting him now as a prophet, so long as they were maintaining the principles that were agreed upon in that pact. And he continued to act upon it after Islam. Now what would make this hadith very powerful is to analyze when the Prophet ﷺ said this. Meaning what? If the Prophet ﷺ said this in Mecca, when he was still undergoing persecution, and the people came to him and said,
well, what do we do about هلف الفضول? And he's in a position of weakness. He's a minority in Mecca as Muslims, they're persecuted. And the Prophet ﷺ said, we'll still maintain it if they want to maintain it. Well, it's easy to say that when you're one of the oppressed, and when you're one of the persecuted. But when did the Prophet ﷺ say this? According to the majority of the scholars of hadith, it was after Fath Makkah. After the conquest of Mecca. Meaning when the Prophet ﷺ was at the height of his power. When he solidified power over Mecca and Medina. And the Prophet ﷺ says, you know what? That هلف الفضول, that pact is still intact, even with those that chose to remain upon idolatry. That's powerful. Because the Prophet ﷺ is saying that he will continue to be held accountable, because he now belongs to the ruling class. That we will continue to ensure accountability across the board, even though the Prophet ﷺ could have absolved it. The reason why many of the scholars of hadith say that this discussion took place after Fath Makkah, after the conquest of Mecca, is because after the conquest of Mecca, the Meccans, the Muslims were really confused about what was upheld and what was not to be upheld. Whether that was in theology, or whether that was in seemingly virtuous things that took place before Islam. So for example, in their theology, the Muslims did not know what to maintain of Hajj. Because there was a Hajj in the days of ignorance, some semblance of the Hajj of Ibrahim ﷺ and the Prophets, but it was way off. And the Muslims didn't know what parts of it would be upheld, and what parts of it would be disregarded. Prominently, Allah ﷻ discusses in the Qur'an, إِنَّ الصَّفَى وَالْمَرْوَةَ مِنْ شَعَائِرِ اللَّهِ فَمَنْ حَجَّ الْبَيْتَ وَإِعْتَمَرَ فَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْهِ أَنْ يَطَّوَّفَ بِهِمَا
That safa and marwa are from the rituals of Allah ﷻ, from the signs of Allah ﷻ. Whoever goes to Hajj or Umrah, then there is no blame on them if they perform the rituals there, because the Muslims didn't know. So does this mean now we only do tawaf and we do away with sa'i? What parts of Hajj are parts of Hajj? So Allah ﷻ affirmed the parts of Hajj that were correct, and the Messenger ﷺ disregarded the parts that were not from the original Hajj. Likewise now with their societal contracts. When the Messenger ﷺ stood up, and this is just to understand the spirit in which this hadith came. When the Prophet ﷺ stood up and he gave his farewell speech, his khutbat al-wada' in Mecca, his farewell speech in Mecca, the Prophet ﷺ condemned usury, he condemned interest in riba, and he said that whoever owes anyone else riba, it's abolished. It doesn't hold anymore. So the Prophet ﷺ clarified what pre-existing agreements held, and what pre-existing agreements were to be nullified, and the Messenger ﷺ maintained the integrity of this particular pact, which is very powerful and very beautiful, and it gives us many rulings to take into consideration. Number one, this pact gives Muslims a precedent for the moral responsibility of all citizens to protect the weak and to speak for them, to critique the powerful, and to establish groups and pacts that lobby for social rights. There is a precedent here that's given to us in this hilf, because the Prophet ﷺ upheld the original one, and the Prophet ﷺ said if I'm called to something like it, I will still respond to it.
That this is something that is perfectly congruent with the teachings of Islam and the values of Islam, that people should come amongst themselves, and they should establish agreements and coalitions of this nature. And the spirit of those coalitions should be to speak for the weak, to speak for the voiceless, to raise their voices, and to lobby for their rights. So this is a precedent that we have from it. Now, we also see that the Prophet ﷺ acknowledged through this that Muslims could work with people that were not Muslims in such pacts and coalitions. That even though there were things that were hated to the Prophet ﷺ, that the Prophet ﷺ would still be willing to partake in these types of agreements with these people. Even if there are bigger issues, this is where the contemporary understanding has to come in. Even if there are bigger issues that are present, if a people are coming together to form a coalition to achieve a specific noble goal, they can all cooperate for that. What's the proof of that? The Prophet ﷺ, when the people came together to establish economic justice in this case, half al-fudul, was really because this man's money was not paid back to him. So the Prophet ﷺ stand back and say, you know what, you people bury your daughters alive, you people do hajj and talaf without clothes, you people have major, major, major issues, I'm not gonna touch any of you people or have anything to do with you people, because I can't stand your lifestyle. Worse than that, even before Islam, the Prophet ﷺ did not worship idols. The Prophet ﷺ did not say, you know what, you guys go deal with your shirk and deal with burying your daughters alive and deal with all the horrible things you're doing, and then we can talk about half al-fudul.
He didn't do that ﷺ, because the goal was very specific and it was a noble goal in and of itself, and so long as the pact is specific to that goal, and not a general alliance to where the presence in that alliance could be taken as an endorsement for the other actions of other tribes or other people in that alliance, it was fine, it was okay. That's where the line has to be drawn. And the Prophet ﷺ was still willing to affirm that. The same man ﷺ, when he walked into Mecca and he removed the idols from the haram, the Prophet ﷺ was still willing to work with these people that maintain their idolatry, so long as it was for a specific noble goal, even if he still hated some of their outstanding issues. Okay, do you guys understand that concept? Is it clear from this hadith? Kind of, sort of? Maybe in the question and answer we'll have some more. The pact also teaches Muslims to embrace anything that's for the betterment of humanity in this life or the next. And this is a very powerful ayah in the Qur'an where Allah ﷻ says, وَتَعَاوَنُوا عَلَى الْبِرِّ وَالْتَقْوَى To cooperate with one another in righteousness and piety. And many of the Mufassireen, they said, البر, righteousness, refers to well-being in this world. And تقوى refers to well-being in the hereafter. So تعاون should be based on one of the two things. And preferably for both. على البر, you either do تعاون, for بر, you either come together for the well-being in this world, the well-being of people in this world, or you come together for the well-being of people in the hereafter through تقوى. So the nature of these alliances is that they have to come together for one of those two things.
And this is something that Muslims often, we have to pay very close attention to because sometimes there is a seemingly just cause, but that just cause is being hijacked by a malicious agenda. And so Muslims have to look at the pros and cons of achieving that goal, and everything should be seen in the light of achieving البر والتقوى. One of the two or both, when these types of pacts and when these types of coalitions are taken. Number four, or number five, where am I? Who's taking notes? Four? All right. You don't want to be doing this sign on, you know. Number four, the pact doesn't only apply when Muslims are a minority and in a state of weakness. Rather, these types of pacts should and could be initiated when Muslims are in a position of power. Why do I mention this? Because there is this thinking that, you know what, Muslims have to settle for these types of things because right now we're weak. Once we get powerful, we don't have to worry about upholding the rights of anybody else. We just want to have our rights upheld. Once we get our rights upheld, Allah gives us power, then we don't have to worry about these types of pacts and coalitions and so on and so forth. No, the Prophet ﷺ affirmed that pacts of this nature could and should be initiated even when Muslims are in a state of power because usually the discussions of حلف الفضول take place only amongst Muslim minorities or in relation to Muslim minorities. That Muslim minorities would speak about this importance of upholding a pact of this sort for the sake of someone else. Number five, the ulema say that invoking this pact is not restricted to collaboration with people of other faiths only.
But a pact of this nature could also be initiated amongst Muslims to resolve disagreements amongst themselves or to uphold rights amongst themselves. And I'll get to a very strong proof for that, inshallah ta'ala, in a few minutes. But the point is, can these types of pacts be established amongst Muslims? Can Muslims amongst themselves come together and say, we're going to establish a coalition that will ensure that this takes place and that this takes place. I'll give you an example. If the masajid came together and they said, we're going to ensure that certain principles are upheld in all of the masajids so that people are not wronged. And if someone complains of something in one masjid, then all of the masajid would step in. Or if something happens here, then all of us would come together. Or if one masjid is struggling, all of us will come together to uplift that masjid. These types of coalitions are good. They're good. Any type of pact, and it can be binding Islamically. It can be taken as a contract of sorts where people come together and say, we will uphold the rights of so and so, even if it's purely amongst Muslims or used to resolve disagreements amongst Muslims, then we should do so. I'm on number six, right? Number six, the ulama say that the Prophet ﷺ, when he said, هل تُرزقون وتُنصرون إلا بضعفائكم Are you supported or given victory by Allah ﷻ except by how you treat your poor? The Prophet ﷺ was showing that barakah, blessings come to a society as a whole when they uphold the rights of the weakest. There's a very powerful point that we don't see in many books here. In Mecca, you know what Hilf al-Fudh did for them? Because we know that zulm ruins a society.
The presence of oppression ruins a society. It leads to a society being devoid of blessings and horrible things happening to that society as a whole because eventually that lack of accountability leads to everyone suffering. But you know what happened in Mecca? In Mecca, when these tribes came together and did Hilf al-Fudh, it actually led to a boom in their economy because people from other countries and other tribes were now less hesitant to do business with the people in Mecca. SubhanAllah. So particularly there was a boom. If you read in tarikh al-Arab, in the history of the Arabs, in the history of Mecca in particular, a boom in business from Yemen. Okay? Because there was an understanding that we're gonna get wronged if we go into business with people in Mecca. When they opened that up and when the news of Hilf al-Fudh spread, it led to more blessing in their economic transactions. Alright? So this leads to the betterment of society as a whole. When people come together and they do this, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala opens doors for that society even if it's not a Muslim society. If all non-Muslims came together in a society and said, you know what, we're going to uphold the rights of the weak, we're going to establish justice, Allah would place barakah, blessing in that society for that reason. And that's a powerful lesson that we take from the history of the Meccans in this situation. Lastly, was this pact ever invoked after Islam in effect? Okay? Was this pact ever invoked after Islam in effect? So we know that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam, by principle, he confirmed it in Islam and said, I would oblige if I was called to similar agreements and similar pact to do this type of stuff. But did it ever actually happen? This is a powerful incident that took place
not too long after the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. It took place about 70 years after the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. The Amir of Medina was Uthman ibn Abi Sufyan. And he wronged the man and he refused to pay him back his money. Now realize the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam particularly wanted to establish this type of accountability for leadership. He's saying that even now when I'm in power, Halfal Fudur should stand, these types of pact should stand. So Uthman ibn Abi Sufyan wronged this man, and he's the governor of Medina, he's the Amir of Medina, and he refused to give this man back his money. Al-Husayn ibn Ali, wadiyaAllahu anhuma, he stood up and he said, Wallahi, la in lam tu'id lahu maala, la unadiyanna bi half al-fudul. Al-Husayn was from Banu Hashim. And so he stood up and he said, I swear by Allah, if you do not give him back his money, then I will invoke Half al-Fudul. Guess who else stood up? Abdullah ibn al-Zubair. And he was from Banu Asad, the tribe of Khadija, wadiyaAllahu anhuma. Banu Asad. And Abdullah ibn al-Zubair stood up and he said, and I will invoke Half al-Fudul too. So the descendants of the people that ratified that original pact started to stand up. Abdur-Rahman ibn al-Harith, he stood up and said, wa ana ma'akum. Muhammad ibn Talha from Banu Zuhra, he stood up and said, and I am with you, wa ana ma'akum. And because they all stood up and they invoked Half al-Fudul, Uthman ibn Abi Sufyan gave the man back his money and he backed off. So not only was this a pact that could be invoked in principle or something similar to it, but it was something that the Prophet ﷺ invoked in spirit. And of course in conclusion, Rasulullah ﷺ of course was bothered by the practices of Quraysh,
even as a young man. He never was comfortable with their practices. He wasn't comfortable with their immorality. He wasn't comfortable with their shirk, with their polytheism. He wasn't comfortable with their injustice and dhulm. But the Prophet ﷺ was always eager to improve whatever conditions he was capable of improving. And as Muslims we should take a great lesson in that, that the dhulm, because it's very easy to get overwhelmed. Where do we even start in solving the problem of injustice? It's very easy for us to be overwhelmed. But the Prophet ﷺ teaches us that it is part of our deen that we join hands with people for very specific causes. And if we can do away with conditions of oppression in some capacities, then that slowly chips away at the spirits that allows oppression to be maintained and allows injustice to be maintained. We ask Allah ﷻ to use us to establish justice amongst our communities, both internally within the Muslim community and generally in our society as a whole. And we ask Allah ﷻ to bring ease to those who are suffering. Allahumma ameen. Questions?
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