The Firsts (Sahaba Stories) | The Forerunners of Islam
16 / 152
44
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Khawla Bint Hakim & Uthman Ibn Madhun: The Righteous Couple | The Firsts
52
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Al-Shifa bint Abdullah (ra): The Healer and Scholar | The Firsts Shorts
58
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Shurahbil Ibn Hasana (ra): The Scribe and Commander | The Firsts Shorts
125
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Khalid ibn al-Walid (ra): The Legendary Military General | The Firsts
126
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Amr ibn al-As (ra): His Wicked Father and “Better” Brother | The Firsts
146
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Tulayha ibn Khuwaylid (ra): From False Prophet to Shaheed | The Firsts
147
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Zayd ibn al-Khattab (ra): The Quiet Brother of Omar (ra) | The Firsts
Khabbab Ibn Al Aratt (ra) - Under Burning Hot Coals
The first to be tortured for the sake of Allah, and the first to make his Islam public according to some accounts. An inspiring story often lost in the midst of his peers.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Asalaamu Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh everyone. A'udhu Billahi Minash Shaitanir Rajeem Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Wa la a'udhu wa nillahi wa barakatuhu wa a'la al zalimeen. Wa ala aqeebatu lilmuttaqeen. Allahumma salli wa sallim wa barakal abdika wa rasulika Muhammadin Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa salamun taslimin kathira. Dear brothers and sisters, I want to welcome you back to another session of the firsts. And tonight I'm going to talk about someone who often does not get spoken about in isolation. And what I mean by that is that typically when you're reading about the mustada'afeen, the poor, the vulnerable, that accepted Islam early on, there are certain names that will come to mind, right? So the most famous one is Bilal radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu, who of course we had done a full session on less than two years ago, where we talked about the full life of Bilal radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu, and he will come up again inshAllah ta'ala in a very specific way with this series. You think about Sumayya radiAllahu ta'ala Anha and her family, there are names that come to mind. You might think of Ibn Mas'ud radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu. And the name Khabbab radiAllahu Anhu, Khabbab will show up, right? But he'll always be in a sentence with a bunch of other names. And in the process of that, you can really lose sight of how special and significant this sahabi was. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala be pleased with him. And so I wanted to talk about Khabbab radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu, a man who according to some of the scholars of the seerah was the first person to make his Islam public, the first person to actually publicize his Islam, and the first person to be tortured in Islam, the first person to actually face punishment for his Islam. So what is the story of Khabbab radiAllahu Anhu who usually falls in a sentence with, you know, Bilal and Suhaib and, you know, some of the other companions, the Sumayyas of the world.
What is the story of this young man? I want you to think about that slave market where Zayd radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu was purchased from, Suq al-Uqad, where you had many of the famous instance of the seerah take place. And I want you to think about this young man that is in that marketplace. In fact, he's not even a teenager yet, an enslaved young boy who is there. And a woman by the name of Umm Anmar al-Khuzaiyyah, not Umm Ammar, Umm Anmar al-Khuzaiyyah, is walking through the marketplace and she sees this young boy. And as she decides that she wants to purchase one of those who have been enslaved, she is looking for someone to not just help her with her chores, not just help her with her own things, but she's looking for someone that she can train to make money for her. So she wants to train one of these enslaved young boys to do something for her that would be a source of income for her. And so as she's looking through the market, the slave market, and she's looking at the faces of these boys, she notices this particular young boy who has clear signs of intelligence, clear signs of strength. He looks like he has something special. He's distinguished in his appearance. And she says, that one. So she purchases this young boy from the market. She starts to walk home with him and she asks him what his name is. And he says, my name is Khabab. She says, what's your father's name? He says, it's al-Arat. And she said, and where did you come from? He said, from Najd. So from Arabia. Now she assumed that he must have been Abyssinian because Khabab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was black, but he was a black Arab. And so she assumed that he's one of those that was enslaved from Abyssinia, from al-Habasha. But he said he's from Najd. So she said, so you're an Arab. He said, yes.
So she said, where are you from? He said, from Banu Tamim. And Khabab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu would be the most distinguished member from the companions from Banu Tamim. Another famous person from Banu Tamim, by the way, Ahnaf ibn Qais radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. So she says, how did you end up then in the hands of the slave traders of Mecca? How did you end up in this situation? Why are you here? So he described a situation that as he was a child, two Arab tribes fought with one another, his tribe and another tribe. And he said, our tribe lost. They took all of our livestock. They took all of the women. They took all of the children. They killed the men. I was amongst the children that was taken. And he said, all I've known as a child is slavery. So I've been passed from master to master, traded from place to place. And all he does is he does what he what you know, what he's what he's known for his short existence on earth. So Umm al-Ma'ud, recognizing that this young man was special, she decided to have him trained by a blacksmith in Mecca to learn particularly the craft of making swords. OK, as he's there training and learning how to make swords with this blacksmith in Mecca, Khabab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu actually surpasses him. He becomes an expert in making swords, an expert blacksmith, an expert swordsmith, in fact. And he becomes famous for that. So he's still just a young teenager, but anyone who wants to come and have their sword made or to have their sword sharpened or whatever it may be, Khabab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu is the one who's who's well known for doing so. He had his own workshop. So if you were working in Mecca, imagine Khabab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu sitting in his own space. And all he does is he makes swords and he and he crafts them and he refines them. And so this is what his life is.
He is an enslaved young man who was taken unjustly as a child and who has no life ahead of him in terms of success and prosperity through the setup of the people of Mecca prior to Islam. And he's known for his good character. He's known for his integrity. He is known for his craftsmanship. But at the end of the day, all of his talents are being exploited for the sake of his master. He's not making any money as a result of this. He's making money for Umm Anmar and nothing is really happening for him as a result of the craft that he is perfecting. Then he hears the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam and his call. Now, what's really interesting is that I couldn't find and it might be there, but I couldn't find an exact incident, the moment where he met the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam or who guided him to the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam. But it's very telling that, you know, there are some scholars that say that, Anahu aslam as-sadisu sitta, that he was the sixth person to accept Islam. Awwalu man adhara deena, the first person to make his Islam known. And he was punished, Udhi ba'adhaban shadeedan fillah. He was punished for the sake of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. He was tortured like no other person. Some of the scholars say he's a seventh or eighth person, but you'll always find him amongst the first 10 to accept Islam. And the reason why is that the scholars say that when Khabbab radiAllahu anhu caught word of the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam privately, you know, just calling his family to Islam. He didn't wait for the nobles to debate this. He didn't wait for the news to spread. He didn't wait for it to become a trend. Even amongst the du'afa, even amongst the weak and the downtrodden of Mecca. He went straight to the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam and the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam's call to the oneness of God, to tawheed and rejection of idolatry and all that it represented in terms of not just creed, but the exploitation of people like Khabbab radiAllahu anhu. Immediately, it made sense to him. It clicked. It was his fitrah. SubhanAllah.
This was a person that had not been, you know, particularly learned in religion. He's not someone who would have been looking towards this from a highly theological lens, but it just made sense to him. The fitrah made sense to him. That oneness of God made sense to him and what tawheed represented made sense to him. So he went to the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam and he immediately said, extend your hand so I can give you bay'ah. I want to pledge myself to you. Before it started to spread and he accepted Islam and he made it known that he rejected the idols and that he accepted the Islam of the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam. He accepted the religion of Muhammad Sallallahu alayhi wasallam and Khabbab did not hide his acceptance of Islam from anyone. And so you can imagine that the young man who is famous for crafting the swords of the nobles of Quraysh and who has no protection in society whatsoever, that word is going to get out fairly quickly about his accepting of Islam. And so he's just saying it very freely and openly that he accepted Islam. And when Umm Anmar, his master heard about what had happened, she called her brother, a man by the name of Siba'a Ibn Abdul Uzza. And she told her brother what she had heard about Khabbab. So she told Siba'a to go and check and see if this was true and to take with him some of the young men of Quraysh to rough from the Khuza'a tribe in particular, actually to rough him up if that was the case. So Siba'a takes this group of young men. They go to Khabbab radiAllahu ta'ala, who was minding his own business, continuing to do what he does, making his swords. But now he's a muwahid, now he's a Muslim, he's a monotheist, he believes in Islam. And there is really no ritual practice at this point. He's a Muslim. He has tawhid.
And Siba'a takes this group of young men to Khabbab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And he says to him, you know Khabbab, we heard some news, la yusaddaq, that there's no way it's true. But we heard some news about you that is unbelievable. There's no way that it's true. Khabbab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu said, what is it? They said, we heard that you have given up your religion and that you now follow the religion of the man from Bani Hashim. Talking about the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, not even saying his name. And of course, they didn't say Aslama, right? They would say Siba'a. So that was the one who rejected the religion of his people. So we've heard that you've given up, you've rejected your religion, and now you follow the man from Bani Hashim. So Khabbab radiAllahu anhu said, no, I haven't given up my religion. He said, but amantu billah wa kafartu bi alihatikum, I have believed in Allah and I have rejected your gods, your idols. And I believe that Muhammad SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam is the servant and messenger of Allah. SubhanAllah, and there's something in the way Khabbab responded, like, who are you to assume that your religion was my religion? And that I was worshipping these idols in the first place. I just, you know, I'm a slave in this society. You give me no value. You don't value my thoughts. You don't value my opinions. And now you're concerned about what I believe and what this has done to me. So he said, no, I have not, I'm not going to allow you to define me as someone who rejected his religion, but instead as someone who became Muslim. The same way Umar radiAllahu ta'ala anhu would say to the people that would call out using the same derogatory remark, he'd say, no, say Aslam. No, he became Muslim. So he said, amantu billah wa kafartu bi alihatikum, I have believed in Allah and I have rejected your idols. And subhanAllah in that, by the way, is implicit as well that I've always, you know, there are a lot of young people. There are a lot of people in Mecca that would, that as they became Muslim, they already felt at ease with Tawheed, right? They see the idol worship and it doesn't resonate with them fully. So I don't want to read too much into his statement.
But that was the answer of Khabbab to Siba'a and this group of young men that are clearly coming to rough him up from Banu Khuza'a. Now, when he said that, as soon as he uttered those words, they jumped on him. They beat him unconscious. They picked up iron bars, metal bars. They started to thump his head with some of the iron that he would use in his work. And he literally was laying right there in the streets of Mecca with the blood flowing from his wounds, completely unconscious. Right. And that is what some of the scholars say is the first time that such an incident took place. So they beat him to a point of unconsciousness. They used the iron that he would use to make his materials. And they did that knowing that there were no repercussions whatsoever for torturing a man like Khabbab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu who had no protection. How old was Khabbab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu? He was between 16 and 18 years old at the time. OK, so he is a teenager. He's a young man that is accepting Islam and that is going through this this torture. When Khabbab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu wakes up from this beating of his, they come back to him and they ask him again. And he said, amantu billah wa kafartu bi alihatikum, I believe in Allah and I've rejected your idols. And he said, isna'u ma tasna'u. He says, you know what? Go ahead and do what you what you're going to do. I don't care. Go ahead and do what you're going to do. SubhanAllah, they beat him. Then they starved him. They lashed him. They put him in the in the coats of metal, as we said, put him under the sun, burned him. They experimented in torture with him and nothing was working with Khabbab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And then in their rage, they decided to to include a particularly cruel punishment.
They took burning hot coal and they put it on the back of Khabbab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu until they said that it cooked the flesh off of the back of Khabbab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. I want you to think about this, subhanAllah. There's an incident from the life of Umar bin Khattab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu later on that would speak to how what this did to Khabbab long term. They took the meat, the flesh off of his back. They literally as they burnt his back, the pieces of flesh would come melting off of the back of Khabbab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And this young man would scream and he had no one, really no peer, no one to protect him. No one there that was from his tribe that could protect him. He screams as they torture him radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And, you know, in particular, by the way, you have this this this incident where Umar she caught Khabbab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu speaking to the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam. And as a result of that, she took a red hot iron. OK, and she actually started to comb his head with that iron, with that with that with that burning hot coal and with that iron. And so not only was the flesh taken from the back of Khabbab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, but he would be combed with iron on his head and the agony would cause him often to to lose consciousness and to faint. So this is a man, a young man, 16, 18 years old, that is going through the worst types of torture. And somehow he's surviving it. Somehow he's surviving it. But his body is being cooked as a result of him saying la ilaha illallah. This is without him knowing much about, you know, not the Qur'an. Barely any of it has been revealed yet. Allah knows how much of it he knew. This is without any anyone around him. You know, you think about ghuraba, strangers, right? There's no one that's sitting with Khabbab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu and teaching him.
I mean, it's just him. And he is enduring all of this torture for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala by himself. Eventually, Abu Bakr al-Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, who also, of course, would purchase the freedom of Bilal radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, would convince Umm Anmar to sell Khabbab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu and Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu would free him. And as we mentioned with Abu Bakr, you know, his father, Abu Quhafa asked him, why is it that you are freeing these people who don't bring you any benefits? Right? Why are you purchasing the freedom of these people who don't bring you any benefit? And he said, I'm freeing them for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. I'm not freeing them for anything else. So Khabbab was not freed or taken to Abu Bakr to become a sword maker. Khabbab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was freed for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and would live his life in freedom as a result of the freedom that was given to him and the generosity of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, who, when he would see someone tortured, he would do what he could with his wealth to take them out of that situation. And so Khabbab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu would accompany the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. And this would be the case for the rest of his life. Khabbab radiAllahu anhu would always be by the side of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. Now, the context of this really brings new meaning to a very famous hadith that took place with the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, a very famous incident with the Messenger salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. Khabbab radiAllahu anhu has been through all sorts of torture. The first person to be tortured publicly for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And he could have died as a result of the nature of the torture that was inflicted on him. Right? The burning coals on his back. He has no flesh on his back anymore. His head is burnt because of what his master would do to his head. If you looked at Khabbab, you saw a young man that had been through a lot.
And he's still in Mecca, even though he's technically freed. When there are going to be bouts or when there's going to be episodes of public harassment, who's going to protect Khabbab? Right? So when the mushrikeen would become aggressive, when Abu Jahl would decide to become aggressive, when they take out their abuse on the people who they knew they could without any ramifications, who's going to protect a person like Khabbab? And so all of the incidents that would take place afterwards, Khabbab radiAllahu anhu is still going to be harassed and still going to be punished and still going to face loss for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Now the incident that I'm speaking about is a famous incident where the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam was reclining against the Kaaba. And the narrator of this incident is none other than Khabbab himself radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. He said that we were suffering greatly at the hands of the mushrikeen in those days. And I saw the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam sitting with his back to the Kaaba in the shade of the Kaaba. And I went to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and I said to him, Ya Rasulullah, ala tad'u Allah, O Messenger of Allah, aren't you going to call upon Allah? What he means by that, tad'u lana, tastansir lana, aren't you going to ask Allah for us? Aren't you going to seek Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's aid for us? Aren't you going to ask Allah to make a way out for us? Aren't you going to, and of course there's an assumption and there's an impatience in what he's saying to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. Now this is not just a person who was inflicted with some sort of hardship, right? This is a person that's been inflicted with the worst type of hardship for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. That's asking the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, aren't you going to ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to make a way out for us? And the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, he sat up and his face became red. And the Messenger of Allah salAllahu alayhi wa sallam said that there were people that came before you who used to be combed with iron combs.
So that nothing of their flesh would remain on their bones. There were people that were tortured even worse than you, O Khabbab. And he said, and that would not make them, that would not make a person amongst them desert their religion. He said, and there was a person before you that was put into the dirt and sawed into two parts. Yet all that would not make him abandon his religion. He would still hold on to his religion for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Can you imagine a person put into the ground and sawed into two? And some of the scholars mention that this is the man from Ashab al-Muqtada. Al-Ukhdud or Surat al-Buruj, a person who taught the young man about the religion. And this person was sawed into two, right? By his oppressor for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And the Prophet SallAllahu alayhi wa sallam is saying, none of them would abandon their religion. Then the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam said, Allah will surely give victory to this deen so that a traveler will be able to travel from Sana'a to Hadhramaut, not fearing anyone except for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Walaakinnakum tasta'ajiloon. But you are hasty. You are hasty. Now subhanAllah, when the Prophet SallAllahu alayhi wa sallam is saying this to Khabbab radiAllahu ta'ala anhum. Is the Prophet SallAllahu alayhi wa sallam minimizing the hardship of Khabbab? No, the Prophet SallAllahu alayhi wa sallam is speaking to Khabbab radiAllahu anhum and reminding him that people have been through these things before. People have been through great hardship before. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala made a way out for them. And the Prophet SallAllahu alayhi wa sallam is telling him to remain strong. And the Prophet SallAllahu alayhi wa sallam when he says, tasta'ajiloon, that you're being hasty. He's talking about the victory from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And perhaps some of the commentators of this hadith mentioned perhaps Khabbab radiAllahu anhum seeing the Prophet SallAllahu alayhi wa sallam reclining in that way. You know, there is an assumption that the Prophet SallAllahu alayhi wa sallam is not suffering as much as him.
But the Prophet SallAllahu alayhi wa sallam would undertake enormous, enormous hardship, you know, for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and in the process of establishing this deen. And it would be long term and it would be in so many different ways inflicted upon the Prophet SallAllahu alayhi wa sallam. So the Prophet SallAllahu alayhi wa sallam is saying this to Khabbab radiAllahu anhum. There are people before you that were combed with irons. Nothing was left on their bones of flesh that were cut in half just for saying la ilaha illallah. I swear that Allah will give victory to this deen. So much so the Prophet SallAllahu alayhi wa sallam is mentioning a time of safety that a person could travel from Sana'a to Hadhramaut fearing no one but Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. But you are hasty. And some of the scholars also mentioned, by the way, that, you know, in the story of Ashab al-Ukhdud, the people of the ditch that are referred to in Surah al-Buruj. If you remember the young man who, you know, who the oppressor was trying to kill, he told them, look, you want to kill me? You say bismillah and you shoot at me and it's going to work. Right. And the man is sta'jala. He was hasty. He wanted to end this, not realizing that when he gathers the people and he says bismillah and he shoots the arrow and he kills the young boy, that he's going to prove the young boy's religion. He's going to prove the point which will lead to all of his people leaving him. Right. So the believer is deliberate. The believer is patient. The believer watches the plan of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala unfold, and they know that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will give victory to this deen. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will allow the plan to unfold. But sometimes we become impatient. And so that is something that we see from the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam and his advice to Khabab radiallahu anhu. He's not belittling his sacrifice. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam is telling him, look, it will come, it will come. Right. He's giving him a sense of confidence as well, a sense of certainty that that victory from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is coming.
And subhanAllah, beyond the victory of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala coming. You know, when we talked about Sumayya radiallahu anha. Remember, the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam just promised Jannah. And when we talked about the Ansar, when they came from Medina and they told the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam that they will take him in and they'll undergo the sacrifices needed to support the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam in Medina. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam said to them when they asked what they get in return, he just said Jannah. He didn't tell them about all the other things. And so what the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam is telling Khabab radiallahu anhu is that Islam, the religion that you are striving for, the religion you're being tortured for will succeed. You might not live to see success in the worldly sense. You might die in this way, right? You know, you don't know what's going to happen to you in regards to your physical being and if the torture will be increased, if you're going to die. But the deen that you were tortured for initially will thrive because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will see his promise through. That's what the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam says to comfort him. However, think about this, you know, Ammar ibn Yasir, may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala be pleased with him and his parents. He saw Abu Jahl killed in Badr and the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam knew that that meant something to him and it comforted him. Right. And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam went to him and told him that Allah has killed the one who killed your mother. Because all those years Ammar had to watch the man who subjected him to that torture and killed his parents. He had to watch him walk with arrogance through the streets of Mecca. And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam told him that. Bilal radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu would kill his own master, right, in the Battle of Badr. He would be the one to take the life of Umayyah to get his revenge back. So, you know, Ibn Mas'ud would stand on Abu Jahl.
Ammar would watch Abu Jahl killed. Umayyah would die at the hands of the one that he oppressed, Bilal radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. What about Khabbab radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu? SubhanAllah, what Allah allowed Khabbab to see in his own lifetime. Umm Anmar who would comb the head of Khabbab with that iron and burned flesh off of his head and off of his back. She had a sickness in her head as well. And she, you know, she went to a point of insanity where to try to deal with the pain, she tried to cauterize her head. So the same punishment that she inflicted on Khabbab, she would do it to herself. And she started to take and comb the flesh off of her own head. And Khabbab radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu could see that happening in front of his eyes. SubhanAllah, until she eventually perished, you know, as a result of her sickness and as a result of, you know, the insanity that she would encounter after what she had done to Khabbab radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. So Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala answered Khabbab radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu's dua. Khabbab saw it. And Sibaa'ah who tortured Khabbab initially and who would carry out the torture on behalf of Umm Anmar, Khabbab radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu recalled that on the day of Uhud, when Hamza radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu went out to duel, remember before the actual battle, there would be a duel. He saw Hamza radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu go forth and Hamza dueled with Sibaa'ah and he killed Sibaa'ah on the day of Uhud before Hamza radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu himself was martyred. May Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala be pleased with him. Allahumma ameen. So Khabbab radiyaAllahu anhu did see those that tortured him, what happened to them as a result. And he would live to see as well the victory of Islam as he would live all the way to the time of Ali radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. So he would live through Khulafa Ar-Rashideen and see the victory of Islam.
He accompanied the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam in every battle, serving honorably as he did from the very beginning. There are a few notable incidents that I want to mention with Khabbab radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. One of them is a narration in Bukhari that Khabbab radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu says, I went to Al-Asr ibn Wael and I demanded something that he owed me. So he owed me some money and it could have been for a job that Khabbab radiyaAllahu anhu had done for him, but he owed Khabbab some money. Now Al-Asr ibn Wael is a very powerful man. Khabbab has no one, right? And when I said to, when I demanded Al-Asr ibn Wael pay me, he said to him, he said, look, I'm not going to give you your money until you disbelieve in Muhammad Sallallahu alaihi wasallam. Right? Takfir bi Muhammad and I'll give you your money. Go ahead and disbelieve in Muhammad Sallallahu alaihi wasallam. I'll give you everything that you want. And Khabbab responded and he said, Wallahi, I will not disbelieve in Muhammad Sallallahu alaihi wasallam until you die and then you're resurrected. Meaning it's not going to happen, right? Until the day that we're resurrected in front of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Al-Asr ibn Wael, he says, will I die and then be resurrected? Are we resurrected after death? Remember, these were people that didn't just believe in idol worship. They didn't believe in Akhira either. They didn't believe in a hereafter either. So Khabbab radiAllahu anhu said, yes. Listen to the arrogance of him. And in his answer to Khabbab radiAllahu anhu, he said, well, I'll have wealth and children then and I'll pay you then. Okay. So if we're going to be resurrected, then I'll pay you your money then because surely I'm going to have wealth and children there as well. And that is when Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala revealed on behalf of Khabbab radiAllahu anhu in response to Al-Asr, Afara'ayta allathee kafara bi-ayatina wa qala la-ootayanna maalan wa walada
Have you seen the one who disbelieved in our signs and who says, I shall certainly be given wealth and children. Okay. The arrogance of Al-Asr ibn Wael in his response to Khabbab radiAllahu anhu. So that's actually the context of that ayah. There's another incident, which, you know, if you want to talk about up close and personal with the, with the, with the seerah and with one of the most famous incidents of the seerah. And this is where I regret not having you all in front of me so we can start to connect some of the dots. Fatima, the sister of Umar, Fatima bint al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with her, the sister of Umar bin Khattab radiAllahu anhu. Fatima bint al-Khattab was married to Sa'eed ibn Zayd ibn Amr. Okay. Remember we talked about Zayd ibn Amr radiAllahu anhu. His son, Sa'eed radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, one of the 10 promised paradise is married to Fatima bint al-Khattab. Sa'eed and Fatima secretly embraced Islam. Okay. And Zayd was of course tortured by the father of Umar radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, al-Khattab, for being a muwahhid, for being a monotheist before the revelation came. And we know what happened there. Sa'eed radiAllahu ta'ala anhu is the cousin of Umar radiAllahu anhu then. And he's married to the sister of Umar radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, he's married to Fatima bint al-Khattab. The very famous incident where Umar radiAllahu anhu was on his way to kill the Prophet SallAllahu alayhi wa sallam. And he was stopped on the way and told that you should handle the members of your household first. He said, what are you talking about? He said, don't you know that your sister Fatima has embraced this religion? And Umar radiAllahu anhu said, you know, detour, I'm going to go handle business at home first. And he marches to the home of Fatima and Sa'eed.
When Umar radiAllahu anhu got there, Khabab radiAllahu anhu was actually in the house teaching them the Quran. Okay. So it's Khabab, Fatima and Sa'eed. And when Umar radiAllahu anhu got there, Umar would kill Khabab, right? Again, what's going to stop Umar from killing Khabab? He's on his way to kill the Prophet SallAllahu alayhi wa sallam. What's going to stop him from killing Khabab? Maybe his sister, his brother-in-law because it's family. But what would stop him from killing Khabab? So when they knew that Umar was at the door, Khabab hid. Okay, Khabab radiAllahu anhu hid. So the incident where Umar radiAllahu anhu bursts into his home and he goes into rage and he hits his sister Fatima. And that's when he feels sadness at seeing what he's done to his sister Fatima. And then he sits and he reads Surah Taha, right? He reads the Quran and Umar radiAllahu anhu is moved. Guess what happens? Khabab radiAllahu anhu comes out from behind the curtain and he says to Umar radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, that I hope that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la has answered the dua of the Prophet SallAllahu alayhi wa sallam in regards to you, O Umar. And Umar radiAllahu anhu said, what are you talking about? And that's when Khabab reveals to Umar that he heard the Prophet SallAllahu alayhi wa sallam saying, Oh Allah give victory to Islam through one of the two Umars or the more beloved of the two Umars to you. And the Prophet SallAllahu alayhi wa sallam mentioned Umar bin Khattab and Amr bin Hisham, who was Abu Jahl, the two staunchest enemies of the Prophet SallAllahu alayhi wa sallam at the time, but they both had leadership qualities and strength. So the Prophet SallAllahu alayhi wa sallam said, Oh Allah give victory to Islam to the more beloved of the two, to you. And when Khabab told Umar radiAllahu ta'ala anhu and he said, I hope that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la has chosen you to be that one, that Lathi Khasabihi, the one that the Prophet SallAllahu alayhi wa sallam specified when he said Umar bin Khattab or Amr bin Hisham, that's when Umar radiAllahu anhu went up and made his way to the Prophet SallAllahu alayhi wa sallam to embrace Islam.
So Khabab radiAllahu anhu was the one in the house when that all went down, that was observing it from behind the curtain and then came out and who informed Umar radiAllahu anhu. So he plays an integral role actually in the Islam of Umar radiAllahu anhu as well, because Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la used him as well to soften the heart of Umar and to direct him to the Prophet SallAllahu alayhi wa sallam. Now, later on, SubhanAllah, you see that Khabab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu lived alongside the Prophet SallAllahu alayhi wa sallam, became an honored man in the Ummah the way that Bilal radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was. So I want you to fast forward now years, and I'm talking about decades later, and now sitting in the assembly is Umar radiAllahu anhu and Bilal and Khabab and a bunch of people, and it's in the Khilafah of Umar radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. Now the Prophet SallAllahu alayhi wa sallam said, Bad'a al-Islamu ghariba, that Islam started off as something strange, Wasay'a'oodu ghariba, and then it will go back to being something strange the way that it started. Okay, so there is a period in between where Islam was not strange, where Islam was victorious, where the people of Islam were living in prosperity, and there was the growth of the deen, and it was spreading throughout the world. And this is that time. Umar radiAllahu anhu, who Khabab would have had to hide behind a curtain from to not be killed by him, is now the Khalifah of the Prophet SallAllahu alayhi wa sallam, the man who he was out to kill that day. And Islam is no longer something to be hidden, where Fatima bint al-Khattab, or Sa'eed ibn Zayd have to hide their religion. Islam is spreading throughout the world. And you have an assembly of these glorious Sahaba. Bilal radiAllahu ta'ala anhu is no longer a slave tortured in the desert under a stone. He's the mu'adhin, he is the master who was freed by our master, as referred to by Umar radiAllahu anhu and others. Our master freed by our master.
And so the Sahaba are sitting and reminiscing on the days in which they have been through the hardships they had been through. And Umar radiAllahu ta'ala anhu is praising Bilal and praising Khabab. Umar knows the suffering that these two men went through in particular for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And Umar radiAllahu ta'ala anhu expresses a preference to Khabab, says the only person, you know, the only person, you know, more worthy than you in this assembly would be Bilal, right? But he's talking to both of them and he's praising Bilal and Khabab, the two greatest people freed by Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiAllahu anhu, two of the greatest companions of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam in this ummah. And he's asking them about their days in Islam. And they talk about their days of torture. SubhanAllah, they recount their days of torture, now as they are in a place of victory. And Khabab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu lifts up his shirt to show Umar radiAllahu anhu his back. Now Umar radiAllahu ta'ala anhu has seen a lot of hardship in life. He's seen a lot of pain in life. He's seen a lot. But when he saw the back of Khabab, he was shocked because there was no flesh on the back of Khabab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. It was completely melted and burned off. And it had not healed fully. And Khabab radiAllahu anhu tells Umar bin Khattab radiAllahu anhu the full story of his torture. Decades later, as they're sitting in the Majlis of Umar radiAllahu anhu in the assembly of Umar bin Khattab, the Khalifa of the Prophet radiAllahu anhu. So SubhanAllah, you see the promise that the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam gave to him that Islam will succeed. And that they would go back and they would look at their moments and they would remember what they suffered for the sake of Allah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. One of the things about people that are tested and we see this even in our lives, that you see SubhanAllah, some people that are tested, Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala test them and test them and test them. And you think of the Hadith of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, you know that the most beloved of people to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala,
the tested ones, or when Allah loves a servant, he tests him. So he's going through test after test after test. You read about the life of Khabab radiAllahu anhu and it is a life of trial. It's a life of test. And Khabab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, there's a narration from Al-Qais that Khabab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu became so sick that he was cauterized on his stomach, on his abdomen seven times. So he was in extreme pain and went through another, you know, extreme difficulty due to his illness. And he said, law la anna nabi SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam nahana anna da'u bil maut, na da'utu bihi. He said, had the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam not forbidden us from invoking Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala for death, I would have certainly invoked Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala for it. And there's another narration, Mubawali says that we went to visit Khabab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu and Khabab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was, you know, this is the last days of Khabab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And he said, when we visited Khabab, Khabab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu said, we made hijrah for the sake of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala with the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. Some of us passed away without taking any of their rewards in this world. So some of us died as a result of the hijrah, as a result of our migration with the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, without taking any of the reward of this world. And Khabab started to cry, remembering Mus'ab ibn Umair radiAllahu anhu, he said, I remember Mus'ab ibn Umair in Uhud, a man who lost everything for the sake of Allah. And when he was killed on the day of Uhud, when we, you know, all we could find was his striped woolen cloak. When we would cover one half of his body, the top half of his body, the bottom half was exposed. If we covered the bottom half, the top half was exposed.
So Allah's messenger SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam ordered us to cover his head and to put some grass on his feet and to use the rest of the cloth to cover him. And Khabab radiAllahu anhu cried and he said, some of us have had their fruits ripened in this world and are collecting them. He was saddened radiAllahu anhu because Khabab would actually become very wealthy. He'd become very wealthy. And he was saddened by that because he said he was afraid of the ayah, adhhabitum tayyibatikum fi hayatikum wad dunya wa istamta'atum biha. That you have exhausted or used all of the fruits, all of the goodness, all of your rewards. You've taken your rewards in this world for your good and there's nothing left for you in the hereafter. So he was worried that it was a form of istidraj, a form of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la putting the blessings forward and the only thing left in the hereafter would be punishment, which is Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la amazing considering what this man had been through for the sake of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. And that's a lesson in staying humble. If Khabab radiAllahu anhu did not feel entitled to the blessings of this world for all that he went through for the sake of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, who are we to feel entitled and to feel good? To talk to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la about Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la as if he owes us. Khabab radiAllahu anhu did not feel like Allah owed him anything. Everything he went through was for Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la and he didn't have that sense of entitlement. So even as he, as time went on and his wealth had accumulated but he was extremely generous with his wealth, he was afraid because if you are witnessing the beginnings of Islam, Khabab is not supposed to make it out of the first few days of his torture, right? Khabab radiAllahu anhu for all practical purposes is probably going to be killed in the first batch of those murdered for the sake of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. Being a person of his status that comes out with his Islam like that and is tortured that way, he's not supposed to make it longer than all of these other people,
but he ends up outliving all these companions, these great companions, living all the way through to the Khilafah of Ali radiAllahu ta'ala anhu and Khabab radiAllahu anhu felt a sense of fear that maybe it was his companions that rushed and took the rewards of the hereafter while he was left behind and he was only gathering the rewards of this world. Of course, that's an expression of his humility and that's what we learn from in this situation. And I end with a very beautiful saying from Ali radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, Imam al-Tabarani rahimahullah. He says that when Ali radiAllahu ta'ala anhu had come back from the battle of Siffin, he said he passed by the qabr, the grave of Khabab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, he passed away in his Khilafah. And Ali radiAllahu anhu as he went to visit his grave, he said rahimallahu khababah, may Allah have mercy on Khabab, he said aslama raghibah, he embraced Islam with everything wholeheartedly. wahajara ta'i'ah, and he performed the hijrah in full obedience. He didn't hesitate with his Islam, nor did he hesitate with his hijrah, wa'asha mujahida, and he lived his whole life as a mujahid, striving for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And he said, wabtulia fee jismihi ahwalan, wala yadhiAAallahu ajra, and he suffered in his body, in his physical body, for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, in ways that no one else had suffered, and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will not let the reward of Khabab radiAllahu anhu go to waste. So surely his reward is assured with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to be pleased with Khabab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, and those companions, the sumayyahs of the world, the bilaz of the world, the suhaibs of the world, those that struggled and strove in the way that they did, we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to be pleased with them and to gather us with them around our beloved Sallallahu alayhi wasallam in Jannatul Firdaus, Allahumma ameen,
jazakumAllahu khayran, wa salamualikoum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.
Welcome back!
Bookmark content
Download resources easily
Manage your donations
Track your spiritual growth
1 items
1 items
1 items
25 items
50 items
9 items
