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Life of the Prophet (seerah)

Loving the Ansar | The Firsts

February 17, 2022Dr. Omar Suleiman

What made the Ansar the most beloved of people to the Prophet ﷺ, and what is the history behind this blessed group?

Transcript

This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings.
I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Satan, the accursed in the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. No one is worthy of worship except against the wrongdoers. The righteous will be the victor. May Allah bless and bless His Prophet Muhammad and his family and companions. I want to welcome you all back. It's good to be back, to be living these moments once again and to be discussing the lives of those people that we often read about and we hear in the narrations, we hear their names in the khutbas, we hear their stories in these separated fashions. But at the same time, we don't get a chance often to really place ourselves in that blessed environment around our beloved Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, and those noble men and women that stood by him in his most difficult times. Before I start tonight, I do want to, subhanAllah, mention, you know, we lost a very special person this morning, Brother Nidal Hamad, rahimahullah ta'ala, a very good brother, a brother that was known to us, was actually praying isha in the masjid last night, was a regular in the masjid at Epic, and has a blessed family, and in fact, his sons would attend this halaqa quite regularly. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to have mercy upon him and to be pleased with him. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to care for his family and to grant them the reward as well. So please keep him in your dua inshaAllah ta'ala. Another brother that I want to mention is someone, one of my father's closest friends, well known to the community in New Orleans, Louisiana, Dr. Rashid Azzam Abu Amr, who is living out his last moments in hospice right now. Please ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to grant him husnul khitam, grant him a good ending with la ilaha illallah on his tongue and in his heart, and to enter him into jannatul firdaws. Allahuma ameen. And make dua for all of those ailing brothers and sisters wherever they are, and all of the oppressed brothers and sisters wherever they are.
Dear brothers and sisters, as we get into the story of the ansar, and the ansar represent this love story that is continuing until today. Because if you don't love the ansar, then you have a problem with your iman, you have a problem with your faith as we'll see from the words of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. But to start off with the story of the ansar, I want us to go to the darkest moment in the life of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. It's the moments after Khadijah radiyaAllahu ta'ala anha has passed away. His beloved wife, who would care for him, who would take care of him, who would comfort him when he received the revelation, and when he received persecution for his insistence upon the revelation. And he loses Abu Talib, who protected him in some of his most difficult moments. And now he goes to Ta'if, thinking that maybe, just maybe, there are people that will take him in. And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam is met with the worst forms of humiliation that a human being can be met with. He is cursed, he is mocked, he is kicked, he is punched, he is spit at salallahu alayhi wa sallam. He is made to walk between the narrow lines of children and what were called the sufaha, the thugs of Ta'if. As they did all that they wanted to do with him. And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam finds himself in a place where he doesn't even know anymore. He doesn't even recognize where he is after miles and miles of this humiliation, covered in blood, the stones in his shoes salallahu alayhi wa sallam, and he calls out to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in a predicament. And the essence of that predicament is twofold.
Number one, ila man takiluni? Where do I go from here? Who are you leaving me to? Who is going to take me in at this point? I don't know where to go. My family has rejected me, my people have rejected me, and the strangers are no better to me. Where do I go at this point, ya Allah? The spiritual component of this is, let this not be a manifestation of your anger, oh Allah. innam yakun bika ghababun alayya fala'u bali As long as this is not your anger with me, this hardship that I'm facing is not a manifestation of your anger, then I will be patient. So that's the spiritual component, but the very real predicament of who is going to take me in at this point. I can't think of who's coming. And subhanallah, the wisdom of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala having let the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam experience this unprecedented cruelty at the hands of these people, before he experiences this unprecedented love from another group of people. You see, the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam had a dream, and he saw in that dream, in his difficult moments, a place of greenery, and the landscape of Ta'if resembles Medina greatly. Ta'if was a place of royals, Ta'if was a place of leaders, Ta'if was a place of proud people. Medina, at that time Yathrib, was a place of a bunch of children, of chiefs who had all killed each other off. A place that didn't seem to offer any hope, and it was much farther away from Mecca than Ta'if. So the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam thought from that dream, let me go to Ta'if. How many of you have been to Ta'if? Raise your hands. How many of you have been to Medina? Raise your hands. Subhanallah, if only Ta'if took him in, right? If only Ta'if took him in.
Ta'if now is of course a civilization of Muslims too, that only a few people will go and visit. Either for its historical significance, or because of something else. Whereas Medina is one of the most regularly visited cities in the world. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam went to Ta'if first, and that was his usr. And then the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam went to Yathrib, and that was his yusr. He went to Ta'if, that was his usr, that was hardship, the greatest hardship. And then he would go to Yathrib, Al-Medina, which would of course be named Al-Medina, and he would find ease, salallahu alayhi wa sallam. And so after Ta'if, it's the days of Hajj. And I want you to actually picture the scene, because it's actually, this scene gives me goosebumps. There are a lot of scenes in the seerah of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam that give me goosebumps. But you know if you're watching like a really good movie, and they show you the makings of something, it's like this very ordinary exchange that's going to lead to something extraordinary. It's the 11th year after the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam has received revelation. Mecca really thinks that this is over, that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam is in his last days of this da'wah. He's really not going anywhere. We've cut off all the pathways for him at this point. Where's he going to go? And so here he is, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, and it's the days of Hajj. The Hajj of the days of ignorance, of course. And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam is walking, and who does he have with him? Does anyone know who the two people with him are? Abu Bakr radiyallahu ta'ala anhu, and Ali radiyallahu ta'ala anhu. The first man to embrace Islam, the first boy to embrace Islam. With the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, and the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam goes to these tribes. And I want you to think about it, all these people that are coming from around the world. Excuse me, I have something to say to you. Marhaban, can I talk to you for a bit?
Some tribes ignore him altogether. Other leaders will, out of courtesy, listen to him for a few moments and then move on. And some will try to make unreasonable conditions. But just like every single year past, the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam is facing rejection, after rejection, after rejection, after rejection. Then he sees these six young men, and they don't even have a senior amongst them. They're six youth, and they're from that really disturbed place in the middle of nowhere, known as Yathrib. Now, the advice of others would have been, don't even waste your time. Why even go talk to those guys? They're not going to be able to give you anything. Even if you convert them, what are they going to give you? They have their own problems to deal with. They have nothing they can offer you. They have nothing they can offer you. But our Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam never looks past people. So he goes to them, these six men, and it's in Mina, and he has Abu Bakr, and he has Ali. These six men, As'ad ibn Zurara, Auf ibn Harith, Rafi' ibn Malik, Qutba ibn Amir, Uqba ibn Amir, and Jabir ibn Abdullah. By the way, this is a different Jabir ibn Abdullah than the famous one. This is Jabir ibn Abdullah ibn Riyab, who's not well known in the seerah. But six men, six young men. And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam calls out to them and says, Will you sit down and listen to what I have to say? And they're not proud men. They say, of course. So they sit down, and the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam starts off with Khutba al-Hajjah. And Alhamdulillah, we praise Him, we ask for His help, we ask for His forgiveness, and we ask for His guidance. Or something of that variation, as the narration suggests.
Praises Allah, that we believe in one God, we beseech Him, we seek His help, we seek His guidance. And He bears witness to the oneness of Allah, and that He is the final messenger of Allah. While the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam is talking to these six men, the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam asks them about themselves and says, Where are you from? We're from Yathrib. He says, Oh, so you are the allies of the Jewish tribes. The allies of the Jewish tribes. Why? Because some prominent Jewish tribes have now settled in Yathrib. They said yes. So as the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam is talking to them, and he's gauging the way the message is resonating with them, they look at each other, and they say that, you know, those Jewish tribes have been talking about a Prophet that is to come. And everything that you're saying seems to line up with them. They are familiar with the spirit of the Abrahamic way. They're familiar with the concept of Tawheed, of the oneness of God, monotheism, and the hereafter, because they've heard it from those Jewish tribes that just settled. And so Mas'ad ibn Zurarah looks to them and he says, Why don't we perceive them in this good and embrace this Prophet first? Now, it seems like this is great, but pretty inconsequential, right? But then they go back and they bring another six with them. And they meet the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, and Ubadah ibn Samith radiyaAllahu ta'ala says, The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam said, بَاِعُونِي Give me your allegiance. Now, what did the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam take allegiance from them in regards to? عَلَىٰ أَلَّا تُشْرِكُ بِاللَّهِ شَيْئًا That you will not associate with God a partner. وَلَا تَسْرِقُوا That you will not steal any longer. وَلَا تَزْنُوا That you will not commit adultery or fornication. وَلَا تَقْتُلُوا أَوْلَادَكُمْ That you will not kill your children.
وَلَا تَقْتُلُوا أَوْلَادَكُمْ That you will not accuse the innocent. That you will not be disobedient when you are ordered to do a good deed. SubhanAllah, this is the essence of Islam that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam is giving to them. The commandments, the high level commandments. فَبَاِعْنَاهُ عَلَىٰ ذَلِكِ These twelve men, they take that pledge with the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam calls who? To send with them. I hope someone knows this. Mus'ab ibn Umair. Mus'ab, go with them to Yathrib, teach them the religion and come back next year. Mus'ab radiyallahu ta'ala anhu goes to Yathrib and the other Jabir ibn Abdullah radiyallahu ta'ala anhu, the famous one Jabir ibn Abdullah ibn Amr who we will have a very extensive biography on. He says that within a year, every single household in that city had learned the religion and believed in the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. All of us were ready for him. So another group comes the next year in Hajj. This time, 73 people come to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam to meet him and to take this pledge with him. So they have to secretly plan this meeting because if Mecca finds out that this large group of 73 is here to meet the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, then that's going to be a problem. So they have to sort it out. So they wait for the middle of Tashriq, after the 11th day of Hajj. And they meet in this place right behind the Jamarat, which today is Majlis al-Aqaba. You can actually still see it marked. And they gather with the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam is with his uncle al-Abbas. Al-Abbas radiyallahu ta'ala anhu looks at them and he takes the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam to the side, like, are you sure you want to do this? They're a bunch of kids, young people from this place.
Everything is scattered. And al-Abbas is saying to them, listen, if you guys aren't up for the task and you want to turn around and forget about this, it's okay. We can handle him. We're his family. We've got him covered. Al-Abbas felt a moment of pride, like, am I really giving up my nephew to these people? And they insisted that we will take him in and we will support him and we will aid him. And they say to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, As'ad ibn Zurarah standing up, Abdullah ibn Rawahah standing up, O Messenger of God, by taking you in, we're going to have all sorts of new enemies. The people that we have these fragile alliances with, those alliances will be broken. People will come after us. People of Mecca are going to come after us. The Persians will come after us. We're going to get attacked from all sides. Right? We're going to lose out a lot. And plus we're taking in this whole community of refugees. We're not just taking you in. We have to take in everybody from Mecca. What do we get in return? The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, that he say to them, One day you're going to have a really nice masjid and a great city and an amazing tourist destination. Lights, a great airport, people will visit you. You have a legacy ahead of you. You will go down in the books with great biographies. And from this city, you know, it will become the headquarters of this huge empire throughout the world. Did the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam say any of that to them? What was the one thing he said to them? He said, You get Jannah, Paradise. That's all I'm promising you. You don't get any other promise. Paradise. You're not doing this for worldly reasons. And so you're not seeking a worldly reward. So there's no point to even mention the worldly reward to you. So you're doing this for what? Paradise. You get Paradise. And what did they say?
That's a profitable transaction. We'll take it. Deal. We will take you in. We will follow you. We will support you. We'll give you our all. And the only thing we seek from you is nothing of this world. Subhanallah, there's something about these people. And it's actually very interesting because I want you to imagine now the setup in Medina, which was called Yathrib. Yathrib has these two tribes known as Al-Aus and Al-Khazraj. Al-Aus and Al-Khazraj, which will make up the two tribes of the Ansar. Al-Aus and Al-Khazraj are actually the names of two children of a man from Yemen by the name of Haritha bin Tha'laba. So they're originally Yemeni and they settled in that area. And these two tribes have almost exterminated one another. And the sub-tribes as well. Do you ever notice that sometimes the poorest and most devastated communities have the worst tribalism within? Subhanallah. They're about to wipe themselves off of the earth. So what did Yathrib look like? The description of it is that it was 46 encampments. It's like military bases. And the chiefs of them have all killed each other off and so there aren't many elders left in Yathrib anymore. In the meantime, you have Jewish tribes that have come and settled the area because they believe in a prophecy of a prophet that is soon to arise there. And so they're coming there, they've settled there, and then these two tribes have basically wiped each other off, the face of the planet, not just Yathrib. And now they are uniting around the prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam. And subhanallah, one of the most insightful narrations that I found about the Ansar is from Aisha radiyaAllahu ta'ala. Listen to what she says. She says,
يوم البعاث, the day of bu'ath refers to the war between the heads of the Ausun and Khazraj that killed off all the elders. It was a day that Allah gave to the prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam. Why did she say that? She said, because as a result of that, the people were divided, their chiefs had been killed, every single one of them, جُرِحُوا, they had wounds on them, they were tired, they were exhausted from war. And so, فَقَدَّمَهُ اللَّهُ لِرَسُولِهِ صَلَى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَمَ فِي دُخُولِهِمْ فِي الْإِسْلَامِ Allah presented that to the prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, because he made that region right for Islam. What does that mean? These people were a humbled people. They were a humbled people, they weren't proud. The pride had literally been beaten out of them through the wars that they've been through. They were sick of it, they were tired of it. At this point, they were just fighting because they were inheriting the nonsense of their fathers. They didn't want to fight anymore. They didn't want to kill each other anymore. They saw the impact of it. And because they were a humbled people, they could accept the prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, whereas the people of Mecca were a proud people, were a people who felt like they were invincible, who felt like they had the wealth, they had the centrality of the Arab world, that they had everything that they needed, and so they were unable to accept anything that they saw as a challenge to their dunya, to their worldly affairs. The people in Yathrib are like, yeah, you know what? There's nothing left of this dunya anyway. You know, what sweetness is there in this world, in this material world, if all we do is fight and it's just war and it's just death and it's just famine and it's just all of the impacts of battle. And so they were a humbled people, plus they were young. They were young.
If you look at the Meccan period, the opposition to the prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, came primarily from the elders, right, who drove that opposition out of this insistence on the way of their forefathers. These people were young, they were willing to accept a change from the prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam. Now I move now to Sahih al-Bukhari. Sahih al-Bukhari, you have a chapter on Manakib al-Ansar, Kitab Manakib al-Ansar, the book of the virtues of the Ansar. But even before that, in the very beginning, in Kitab al-Iman, in the book of faith, there's the sub-chapter, Baab Halawat al-Iman, the chapter, chapter number 9, the sweetness of faith. Anas ibn Malik radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu narrates, and Anas radiyaAllahu anhu, is he from the Muhajireen or the Ansar? Is he from the people of Mecca or the people of Medina? Ansari. Anas radiyaAllahu anhu is from the Ansar. Al-Bukhari knows what he's doing, which narrator of the hadith he's choosing here, as he's putting this together. So, Anas radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu narrates that the Prophet ﷺ said, ثلاثاً من كن فيه وجد حلاوة الإيمان. That there are three qualities. If a person has these three qualities, then they have tasted the sweetness of faith. أن يكون الله ورسوله أحب إليه مما سواهما. That Allah and His Messenger ﷺ are more beloved to them than anyone or anything else. Their love of Allah and their love of the Messenger ﷺ completely overwhelms them to a point that they love their Lord and the Messenger of their Lord more than anyone or anything else. And the second thing, وأن يحب المرأة لا يحبه إلا لله. And that they love people and they only love them for Allah. They love people and they don't love them for any material gain. They don't love them for anything that they have to offer them, except for Allah.
They love that person for Allah ﷻ. And the third one, the Prophet ﷺ said, وأن يكره أن يعود في الكفر كما يكره أن يُقذف في النار. The Prophet ﷺ said, and they would hate to revert back to their ways, their old ways of disbelief, the way that a person would hate to be thrown into the fire. Not only do they have such a love for Allah and for His Messenger ﷺ, they are completely averse. They do not want to go back to their old ways. Now the very next sub-chapter, al-Bukhari uses this to proceed, باب علامة الإيمان حب الأنصار. The chapter, sub-chapter, that to love the Ansar is a sign of faith. To love the Ansar is a sign of faith. And the scholars say that what al-Bukhari is implying by this placement here is something very profound. That there is no one who matches this hadith of حلاوة الإيمان, of tasting the sweetness of faith, like the Ansar. Because their love of Allah and the Messenger ﷺ quickly surpassed everything else. And they loved who? Just for Allah. They loved the Messenger of Allah, not because of the Prophet ﷺ's eloquence, not because he was Meccan, not because of his genius, not because of his appearance, not because of his mannerisms. They loved him because they understood that he was sent by Allah. And they loved those that came with the Prophet ﷺ because they understood that Allah, who they love, and the Messenger, who they love, have ordered them to love them. So they loved the refugees as well. They loved the muhajireen as well. And they loved them deeply. And there is no way these people are ever going to go back on their ways. They have no interest whatsoever in reconsidering. And subhanAllah, look what happens in Medina.
I mean, over the rest of the seerah of the Prophet ﷺ, the instigating, the hardships, the trials, Uhud happens, Tabuk happens. All of these external forces to try to pull the Ansar away from the Prophet ﷺ, and it keeps on failing. They are not interested in going back to their old ways. And so these are the people, if you want to see what a community looks like, that has tasted حلاوة الإيمان, the sweetness of faith, may Allah ﷻ make us amongst those that taste the sweetness of faith. Allahumma ameen. You look at the community of the Ansar. Because they as a community tasted حلاوة الإيمان in a way that made them so beautiful. And such an example, a manifestation of a community. And so that's why the very next hadith, the hadith of Anas ﷺ once again, the Prophet ﷺ said, آية الإيمان حب الأنصار وآية النفاق بغض الأنصار. A sign of faith in a person is that they love the Ansar. A sign of hypocrisy is that they don't like the Ansar. And so if you have a lot of Iman, and you hear about the Ansar, you feel the Ansar, you go to Medina, you can smell the impact of the Ansar, you taste it. It's all around you. That's a sign of Iman. Your heart is beating with faith. You love them. You hear about them. And you pray for them. You make dua for them. You care about them. You want to be like them. So your love of the Ansar is a sign of faith. صراط الذين أنعمت عليهم. People that Allah ﷻ is pleased with. And so you love them because رضي الله عنهم. And of course this is true for all of the companions of the Prophet ﷺ. Here the Prophet ﷺ specified the Ansar. Why? Can anyone tell me why? Why would you love the Ansar so much?
We've been away from the first for too long. I don't answer questions quick enough anymore. Why do we love the Ansar? Why should we love the Ansar? Because the Prophet ﷺ loved them. True. Very true. There's a specific thing though that I'm looking for which is along the same lines. In another hadith in Abu Nu'aym, the Prophet ﷺ said, Whoever loves the Ansar, من أحب الأنصار, whoever loves the Ansar, loves them because of their love of the Prophet ﷺ. If you think about the most beloved person in the world to you, and let's say that you take your child or you take someone that you really, really love and you send them off somewhere. And this group of people take them in, help them out, give them everything that they need to survive and succeed. Give them the emotional support that they need, give them the financial support that they need, protect them from harm, do all of those things. Aren't you going to love those people even if you've never met them? Like you just hear about them and those people, that family took care of my brother, that family took care of my sister, that family took care of my daughter, that family took care of my son. I love that family, they did everything for someone that's beloved to me. And when I meet them, I'm just going to hug them and cry and embrace them and give them everything that I possibly can. I can never repay you. Who are you people, right? The ikram, the generosity that you showed. And so you know how desperate your Prophet ﷺ was and if you love the Prophet ﷺ, reading Ta'if hurts, it really hurts. Reading about that humiliation hurts. So those people that Allah sent to him, that loved him in a way that he had not been loved before, that took him in and supported him in ways that surpassed even the Prophet ﷺ's expectations. I mean they would make the Prophet ﷺ laugh because of their love for him. It was extraordinary, it was unbelievable and it was before he even met them.
When he comes to Medina, they're already out in the trees waiting for him for months and the hot sun singing for him, waiting for him, praying for him, they can't wait to see him. They've never even seen him and they're ready to give everything for him ﷺ. So as a believer, I love the Ansar. May Allah reward you all for taking care of our Messenger ﷺ because when we read those stories, we wish we could go back in time and we could protect him. Now we don't know for a fact that our faith would have been strong enough, that we would have been on the right side and we would have been amongst those protecting him. But when we read those stories, ya Allah, I wish I could have been there, I wish I could help my Prophet. I wish I could be there to support him. I wish I could hug him, I wish I could support him, I wish I could protect him. Here are the people that did so. So the Prophet ﷺ said, you love them for their love of me. You love them for their love of me and a sign of hypocrisy is that you dislike them. And of course the hypocrites, they disliked them, they didn't understand it. They're like, what is wrong with these people? Why are you getting all crazy about this man? Why are you gathering around this man? Because in reality they wanted to be loved the way that the Ansar loved the Prophet ﷺ. And there are multiple narration, من كان يؤمن بالله واليوم الآخر One narration, whoever believes in Allah in the last day, then he loves the Ansar, does not hate the Ansar. Multiple narrations, to love them is Iman, to hate them is hypocrisy. Now, who named them the Ansar? The Ansar of course means the helpers. What a beautiful name to have. They're the supporters, they are the helpers of the Prophet ﷺ. Ghilan ibn Jarir, he says, قَالَ قُلْتُ لِي أَنَسِ I asked Anas ibn Malik, أَرَأَيْتَ أَسْمَ الْأَنْصَارِ كُنْتَمْ تُسَمَّوْنَ بِهِ أَمْ سَمَّاكُمُ اللَّهُ He said, just name the Ansar that you have. Did you name yourselves the Ansar? Was that like a rallying call or did Allah name you that? And Anas ﷺ said, بَلْ سَمَّانَ اللَّهُ
Rather, Allah named us the Ansar. Allah called us the Ansar. And, subhanAllah, some of the scholars point out that the Prophet ﷺ, when he saw the twelve that came to him, he likened them in one narration to the disciples of Jesus ﷺ, the Hawariyeen, who supported Isa ﷺ, the twelve disciples. He likened them to them. And what is the last thing as Isa ﷺ is facing the difficulty of this world? Isa is having, ﷺ, a very Ta'if-like moment, isn't he? Right? His people have turned on him. His own people have turned on him. His enemies have turned on him. The Romans and the Israelites, the tribes, everyone around him has turned on him. And he's got a handful of supporters and Isa ﷺ is calling out to Allah. And what does he say? من أنصاري إلى الله Where are my Ansar? Where are my Ansar? قال الحواريون نحن أنصار الله And the disciples said, we are your Ansar. We are the Ansar. We are the ones that will support you in Allah's cause. So, the Prophet ﷺ is praising this small group of people that are his Ansar. Because Isa ﷺ, as he was being lifted from this world, Isa ﷺ looked around and said, where are my Ansar? And the Prophet ﷺ in Ta'if said, إلى من تكلوني Who am I being left to? And so, you have the Ansar. The scholars mention, and there's the hadith where the Prophet ﷺ, the greatest praise that the Prophet ﷺ could give to the Ansar was not just his love for them ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ said, Abu Huraira ﷺ narrates, لو أن الأنصار سلكوا وادياً أو شعباً لسلكت في وادي الأنصار The Prophet ﷺ said, if the Ansar took a direction, if they went to a mountain or a valley, wherever they went, I would follow the Ansar through that valley. ولولا الهجرة لكنتم رأى من الأنصار
And the Prophet ﷺ said, if it wasn't for hijrah, the fact that I am by my nature a refugee, a migrant from the Muhajireen, I would have certainly been from the Ansar. I would have called myself an Ansari. I would have been a part of a group that I would have loved to belong to, like this group of the Ansar. Abu Huraira who narrates this, is Abu Huraira one of the Muhajireen or the Ansar? He's from where? Abu Huraira is actually from Yemen. But he's not technically from the Ansar. He resembles the Muhajireen because he came from a different place. But he didn't come from Mecca. He came with Tufail ﷺ and embraced Islam from afar. And joined him from the tribe of Daud. So he's not really the Ansar or the Muhajireen. He's not in either of those categories in an exclusive sense. So Abu Huraira as he's narrating this hadith, Abu Huraira radiallahu ta'ala says, ما ظلم بأبي وأمي He said that the Prophet ﷺ was not unjust by this saying that I wish I could be from the Ansar. Which of course if you're not an Ansari and you heard the Prophet ﷺ say it, you're like, wow, that's high praise. I wish I could be from the Ansar. He said, you know, the Prophet ﷺ was not wronging the rest of us by saying that آوَهُ وَنَصَرُهُ آوَهُ, they supported the Prophet ﷺ. They took him in, they sheltered him and they helped him. So they deserve to have that praise from the Prophet ﷺ. Now what is the characteristic of the Ansar that is praised by Allah ﷻ? They are multiple. وَالَّذِينَ تَبَوَّأُوا الدَّارَ وَالْإِيمَانَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ يُحِبُّونَ مَنْ هَاجَرَ إِلَيْهِمْ وَلَا يَجِدُونَ فِي سُنُورِهِمْ حَاجَةً مِّمَّا أُوتُوا Allah ﷻ says that those Ansar that took in the Muhajireen, they loved them. They loved those that migrated to them. SubhanAllah, we live in a world where the refugee crisis is more defined.
I mean, you see the scenes and the hatred that is developed for them. Because they are always looked at as people who are coming to take our stuff, to take our resources. And so in Muslim countries, they shut the borders on other Muslim refugees. And if they come in, then there is a resentment that develops. They're taking the jobs, they're willing to work for less. The hatred that starts to develop. And so Allah ﷻ says about these people, the Ansar, يُحِبُّونَ مَنْ هَاجَرَ إِلَيْهِمْ They actually loved those people. The Muhajireen, and I want you to think about this, they just left their parents, their siblings, and in some cases their spouses and children, spitting on them, trying to murder them and doing all these things. And now they're celebrities. I mean, they come to Medina as celebrities. In Yathrib, you have all these strangers, they're like, you come here, you come here, they're trying to take them in. Come to my house, come to my house. And it's like, wait, what's happening here, right? يُحِبُّونَ And it wasn't staged, it wasn't fake. It was, come to our house, come to our house. Do you want something to drink? Do you want something to eat? Are you thirsty? Do you need shelter? I mean, they're going out of their way to take care of them and to show them that love. And you know what? وَلَا يَجِدُونَ فِي سُدُورِيَمْ حَاجَةٍ مَّمَّا أُوتُوا There's nothing in their hearts. It's not like this is just something that they're forced to do. Their hearts are full because they've tasted what? حَلَوَةِ الْإِيمَانِ They've tasted the sweetness of faith. So their hearts are full of love for the people of Iman. And so you have the individual stories. We talked about Abdurrahman ibn A'uf radiAllahu ta'ala anhu and Sa'd ibn Rabi' radiAllahu anhu. Abdurrahman ibn A'uf goes to the house of Sa'd ibn Rabi' and Sa'd ibn Rabi' says, Take half of everything, all of it, and take the better half of everything. And Abdurrahman ibn A'uf, I mean I'm paraphrasing, we remember the story. He's embarrassed. I mean, he's a proud man. Not in a bad way. I mean, he worked. He was a well-off merchant in Mecca. He knew how... لَا حَاجَةَ رِي فِي ذَلِكِ I don't need this. It's okay. May Allah bless you. May Allah bless your family. May Allah bless your wealth.
بَتْ دُلَّنِي عَلَى السُّوْقِ Just show me to the marketplace. I'm okay. And as the Prophet ﷺ made mu'akha, as he paired off the families, like they didn't put the muhajireen in the basements, in the, of course, theoretical sense, right, or in the conceptual sense. They gave them the better part of the house. And they gave them the better part of their food. Sometimes they went hungry while their guests ate. And this was a characteristic. This was something they took pride in. And sometimes it's short-lived, right? It's just at some point you're going to get sick of this. No, they're not getting sick of it. This is something that continues with them at all time. Abu Hurayr radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anwi says that when the Prophet ﷺ came with the muhajireen, they said, أَقْسِمْ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَهُمُ النَّخْرِ They said, Ya Rasulullah, take our palm trees, give them half of our palm trees, and leave us half. And the Prophet ﷺ is saying, no, that's too much. No, no, like half and half? No, you don't have to give half of your palm trees to them because they were an agricultural people, right? You're taking them in, you're providing for them. And they're arguing with the Prophet ﷺ over what? They're saying, Ya Rasulullah, how about this? How about they then, they do the labor in the gardens, meaning they care for the trees, but then they get to eat half of the crops. And the Prophet ﷺ said, okay. They're arguing with the Prophet ﷺ to give more to the muhajireen. These are an unbelievable people. And the Prophet ﷺ has to temper that expectation. Now, love, of course, can lead to insanity in the negative sense, but love can also lead to profound ihsan and beauty and excellence. And when you love someone deeply, then you do the unexpected. You go above and beyond. You even do things for them that they would never ask. And so the ansar start to do what? They start to take note. Ibn Hajar Rahimullah points this out. Started to follow the Prophet's ﷺ habits to see what type of food he liked. So that they could give him that food. So if they saw the Prophet ﷺ liked a particular type of date, they made sure to save their ruta from their farms
and to give it to the Prophet ﷺ. If they saw the Prophet ﷺ liked a particular type of cloth, they gave the Prophet ﷺ that type of cloth for themselves. The Prophet ﷺ likes this type of honey, let's give the Prophet ﷺ this type of honey. They even to the point of what? They knew that the Prophet ﷺ loved being in the house of Aisha radiAllahu ta'ala anha, so they would wait to send their gifts to the Prophet ﷺ to when he was in the house of Aisha radiAllahu anha. That's the extent of detail that they were paying attention to with the Prophet ﷺ to shower the Prophet ﷺ with their love. And so all the narrations about people that love each other for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, what did the Prophet ﷺ mention? They come from far away lands. Far away lands. They have no family ties. There's no tie of kinship. The only thing that brings them together, that bonds them is faith. And they love each other for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The Ansar love the Prophet ﷺ for Allah. And they would prove that through risk after risk, through gift after gift. يُحِبُّونَ مَنْ هَاجَرَ إِلَيْهِمْ And the scholars say Allah could have described them with so many things. Allah could have described them with ikram, with their generosity, but Allah described them with love, with hubb, that they loved those who migrated to them. And so pay attention now to all the times I'm going to mention hubb, love, alright? Because the story of the Ansar with the Prophet ﷺ is indeed a story of love. It's a story of hubb. The Prophet ﷺ started to like to dress with the clothes of Yemen. And he said Yemen, iman is Yemeni, faith is Yemeni. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make it easy for our brothers and sisters in Yemen. May Allah liberate them and free them from those who bomb them, from those who oppress them, from those who harm them, from those who do not treat them with dignity. Allahumma ameen. From all directions, may Allah protect them. The Prophet ﷺ loved Ahlul Yemen. And some of the scholars say he did that because that was the origin of the Ansar too. So it was a sign that he would start to wear the clothes of them,
the Yemeni clothes. And the Ansar saw that the Prophet ﷺ was taking to their tastes as well. Also when the Prophet ﷺ made the dua, Allahumma yas'aluka hubbak, wa hubba man yuhibbuk. Oh Allah, I ask you for your love and the love of those who love you. The scholars say this is one of the greatest virtues of the Ansar. Because whether it's the love of the Prophet ﷺ for them, or it is the love of Allah for them, for their love of the Prophet ﷺ. Man yuhibbuk is the Ansar. Right? Allah chose them because Allah loved them. And the Prophet ﷺ was chosen by them because Allah loved them. And Allah loved the Prophet ﷺ. So Allahumma yas'aluka hubbak, wa hubba man yuhibbuk. Oh Allah, I ask you for your love and the love of those who love you. And guess what the Prophet ﷺ said? Ar-Risad man ahabbahum faqadr. Ahabbani. Whoever loves them, loves me. You want to love me, you have to love the Ansar. And then you have these narrations, which I absolutely love these narrations, because the Prophet ﷺ would just often, just tell them that he loves them. You know the Prophet ﷺ said when you love someone for Allah, you should tell them. There are numerous narrations where the Prophet ﷺ simply says to them, that I love you, oh Ansar. And so the Sahaba narrate that the Prophet ﷺ used to go out to them and say, marhaban bil ansar, marhaban bil ansar, welcome to the Ansar, welcome to the Ansar. And you know the narration of Eid where the Prophet ﷺ would go through the different routes? They said because the Prophet ﷺ knew that for the Ansar it wasn't Eid unless they got to greet their Prophet ﷺ. So he wanted to go to each one of their homes and see them and say salam to them because they loved him. And he knew that ﷺ. So he didn't just go to the Eid prayer and go home. He went around Madinah ﷺ and greeted them, marhaban bil ansar, marhaban bil ansar.
And Anas ﷺ, he says that one time the Prophet ﷺ saw the women and the children of the Ansar and the Prophet ﷺ stood up and he said, Allahumma antum min ahabbin nasi ilayya. Allah, he said it three times, oh by Allah you are from the most beloved of people to me. I love you people so much. Like the Prophet ﷺ is expressing it to them as a group. In another narration, Anas ﷺ says an Ansari woman came accompanied by one of her children and the Prophet ﷺ spoke to her and after the Prophet ﷺ finished speaking to her, meaning it's just a normal conversation, he says, wal ladhi nafsi biyadi innakum ahabbun nasi ilayya. So I swear by the one and whose hand is my soul, you are the most beloved people to me. I love the Ansar. If only the Ansar knew how much I love them. And you think the Ansar got sick of the Prophet ﷺ telling them that he loved them? Never. Right? It was an affirmation each time. You also see the Prophet ﷺ's dua for them, his supplication for them. Anas ibn Malik radiyallahu ta'ala anhu says, and this speaks to a trend, the Prophet ﷺ particularly felt bad when the Ansar suffered casualties in war. He hated it. He really hated it. That the Ansar would suffer casualties in war, and this is from his husn al-khuluk, his good character ﷺ, would say it's not fair. These people took us in, they gave us all their generosity and now they're being killed. He hated to see that ﷺ. So in Badr, they didn't technically have to fight alongside the Prophet ﷺ, they chose to be there with the Prophet ﷺ. This is on the outskirts, this is still a skirmish with the people of Mecca. They chose to be there. And then in Uhud, you know the Prophet ﷺ making the rukhsah, and this is actually interesting because it connects our jurisprudence to something. When you go to Uhud, the graves are stacked in Uhud. They're all buried in this one area. Some of the scholars say because the Prophet ﷺ saw them
getting ready to carry their dead bodies back to Medina. Right? And so this was a rukhsah for them, to bury them in one, you know, in this mass grave. To make it easier for them. And of course the shaheed is buried where he is killed. But the scholars say the Prophet ﷺ, he had this hanan for them. This grief for them when they suffered for him. And so there comes khandaq now, and Medina is on the brink of, you know, annihilation. All the tribes are coming from all over and they literally build a khandaq. They build the trents around themselves to protect themselves from being completely wiped out. Men, women and children. Those people that were coming did not have the intention of just killing them. They were going to kill all of them. Wipe out Medina once and for all. This was their version of nuking Medina. Right? We're going to come and we're going to completely wipe them all out. And the Prophet ﷺ and the companions, they build the trench to try to protect themselves from the onslaught at the suggestion of Salman al-Farisi, radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, Salman the Persian. And as they do that, and the Prophet ﷺ is in the ditch with the Ansar. And the hypocrites are calling out to the Ansar and saying that, look what he gave you, the Prophet, you know, this Prophet of yours has ruined your lives. He's given you nothing but delusion. You know what the Ansar were doing? They were singing. They were singing poetry. We are the ones who gave bay'ah to the Prophet ﷺ. We are the ones who have pledged to be with him until the very end. We are the ones. I mean, they're singing and you have multiple narrations about their dedication to the Prophet ﷺ. And they're covered in mud and they've got their axes and they're trying to, you know, build this trench out. And the Prophet ﷺ looks at them and they're starving. They're running out of food and drink. And the Prophet ﷺ says, Allahumma laa'eesha illa'eeshu al-akhira.
Oh Allah, there is no life except for the life of the hereafter. These young people, they gave up everything. Oh Allah, there is no life except for the life of the hereafter. Three narrations. Fa-akrim al-ansara wal-muhajira. So be generous to the Ansar and to the Muhajira, to the people of Medina and the people of Mecca. Another narration. Fa-aslih al-ansara wal-muhajira. So rectify all of the affairs of the Ansar and the Muhajireen. And of course, Fa-ghfir lil-ansar wal-muhajira. Forgive the Ansar and the Muhajira. So the Prophet ﷺ is looking at them and all that they gave up for him. And the Prophet ﷺ, his heart, I mean imagine the dua of the Prophet ﷺ, how sincere and his dua was always sincere, salallahu alayhi wa sallam. But the sincerity of that dua, the love of that dua, as he's seeing these people literally, you know, ready to die, but reaffirming their love to the Prophet ﷺ in the process. And he's making dua for them. All of that of course leads up to what? The incident after Fath-Makkah. The Prophet ﷺ was desperate. The Prophet ﷺ needed help. He got his help. Now he's gone back to Mecca. Now the Prophet ﷺ is victorious. Who doesn't want to come home and reestablish himself at home? Mecca is Muslim now. The Prophet ﷺ's old enemies are now his allies. They're fighting alongside him, salallahu alayhi wa sallam. His act of generosity and kindness to them and amnesty has been reciprocated with loyalty for the most part from the people of Mecca. The Prophet ﷺ could set himself up in Mecca. Jazakumullahu khayran, O people of Medina, I will visit you soon. Right? I'll come visit you soon. Subhanallah. Fath-Makkah happens. Immediately afterwards, Hunayn happens. The Ansar are so nervous. They don't know what the Prophet ﷺ is going to do. And they have too much modesty, too much shyness with him to ask him,
are you coming back or are you staying here? The place of Khadijah radhiAllahu anha. The place of your upbringing. The Prophet ﷺ spent his whole life there. And he loved Mecca. And he said, law laa qawmuqi akhrujuuni mink. If your people did not run me out, I would have never left you. So is he going to stay there? And then the Prophet ﷺ fights alongside those people in Hunayn. And he starts to distribute the spoils of war. And the spoils are not just going to people of Mecca. They're going to the recent converts of Mecca. They are so afraid of what this means. I mean, we took him in. We loved him. We still believe in him. They were not contemplating irtida. They were not contemplating apostasy. They were hurt. They were concerned. They were worried. And so they start to talk amongst themselves. And some of them even say, ghafarAllahu li nabiyyillah. May Allah ﷻ forgive the Messenger of Allah. Like may Allah forgive him for forgetting about us. And he gives them and he leaves us. And our swords are still covered with blood. We've lost our family members. We don't know what's going to happen. They're afraid. What's the indication here? So Sa'd ibn Ubadah, he comes to the Prophet ﷺ and he says, Ya Rasulullah, the Ansar are concerned. This is what they're saying. Rasulullah ﷺ says, Ya Sa'd, what about you? Where are you at with all this? He says, Ya Rasulullah, namana rajna min qawmi. He said, I'm a man of my people. Meaning I kind of have the same feelings. I'm being very honest with you. We're afraid. We don't know what to make of this. Giving spoils to the new converts of Mecca. And of course, why was the Prophet ﷺ doing that? Because their faith was weak. So they were afraid when they converted to Islam. Because they rejected the Prophet ﷺ for 20 years over worldly reasons.
So they were afraid that they were going to be humiliated and deficient. If they accepted Islam. And so their hearts needed to be softened a bit. So that's the wisdom of it. But the Ansar, they kind of feel like they're left in the dark. So the Prophet ﷺ says, Tasa'id, bring all the Ansar in one place. And don't let anyone in the tent except for an Ansari. This is an exclusive gathering for the Ansar. Now Prophet ﷺ is just coming off of an exhausting battle. Hunayn was exhausting. Absolutely exhausting. They were ambushed from multiple directions. These people tried everything on him. Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So he's exhausted. But he says to Tasa'id, get all of the Ansar in the tent. And I don't care how many times you read this narration. It's beautiful every single time. Subhanallah. Get them all in one place. No one else. So the Prophet ﷺ walks in. And the Ansar are crammed in. It's only them fitting in there. There's no space between them. Alright. And it resembles very much so that first moment on the outskirts of Mecca where they first came to embrace the Prophet ﷺ ten years before. But now some of those people are dead. And they've been through a lot. They've been through a lot for the Prophet ﷺ. And so the Prophet ﷺ gathers them. And they are looking at the Prophet ﷺ. And they're anxious about what he's gonna say. Now, if you're one of them, you might be anticipating that this is the farewell speech. This is the Jazakumullahu khaira. I'll never forget you. But, you know, it's time for me to go home. They're nervous. And in fact, the gathering itself is making them nervous. And the way the Prophet ﷺ is gonna start this gathering also makes them nervous. He says, Ya ma'sha' al-Ansar, O Ansar, ma qalatun balaghatni ankum? What am I hearing about you? What are these words that are being narrated to me? Anas radiyallahu ta'ala anhu, he says,
wa kanu la yakthibun? SubhanAllah, he's still praising them. He says, you know, the Ansar were incapable of lying. They didn't know how to lie. They could have easily said, Oh, nothing, we're just talking, you know. We love you, Ya Rasulullah. We just wanted to make sure you're okay. And we just wanted to let you know that we have your back and we will support you. Jannah. All of that, right? But they're hurt. And they couldn't lie. They were, you know, a bad liar. It shows in their face. They just couldn't say anything. So they expressed their hurt. And the Prophet ﷺ says, Ya ma'sha' al-Ansar, alam a'tikum dhulala fa hada'akumullahu bihi? Oh Ansar, didn't I come to you and you were lost, misguided? And Allah guided you through me. Wa'ala fa'ghnakumullahu bihi? You were needy, you had nothing, and Allah gave you wealth through me. Allah gave you independence through me. Wa'a'da'an fa'allafallahu bayna qulubikum? And you were enemies to one another. Allah united your hearts through me. So they responded. And they said that Allah and His Rasul amannu wa'afdal. Allah wa'a Rasul wa'a mannu wa'afdal. Like, yes, Allah and His Messenger ﷺ have every right upon us, every right to mention their favor upon us. You're right, Ya Rasulullah. We were nothing before you came to us. We were warring tribes. Our fathers killed each other off. We were nobodies. And now they're coming and they have hundreds of thousands of people coming from around the world to try to live in the city of Medina. That is full of light, the light of the Prophet ﷺ. You built us. You made us who we are. We were nothing without you, Ya Rasulullah. So, the Prophet ﷺ says, ala tujibunani? Aren't you going to say something back to me? I'm like, what do you mean? And they say, wa bima'adha nujibuk Ya Rasulullah? What are we going to respond to you, O Messenger of Allah?
wa lillahi wa li rasulihi almannu wa'afdal. Allah and the Messenger have every right to mention the favors upon us. We have nothing to say back to you. The Prophet ﷺ said, amma wallahi law shi'tum laqultum falasaddaqtum wasuddiqtum. The Prophet ﷺ said, I swear by Allah, you could have responded to me and you would be telling the truth and you would be acknowledged in your truth telling. You could say back to me, you came to us belied, fasaddaqnak. Ataytana mukadhaban, you came to us and people called you a liar. Saddaqnak, and we believed in you, we considered you to be truthful. wa makhdhulan, fanasarnak, watareedan, faawainak, wa a'ilan, faasaynak. You could have said to us, the Prophet ﷺ is saying, you could say to me, you came to us, mukadhab means people called you a liar and we said you're truthful. Your own family said this about you, the people around you said this, we said you are truthful. You came to us in need and we gave you everything. You came to us seeking allies and we gave you our heart and soul. We gave you everything, Ya Rasulullah, to fight back, to give you the support that you needed. And the Prophet ﷺ is telling them, you could also mention your favors upon me and I'm not gonna deny it. But they're too shy. So they don't say anything to the Prophet ﷺ. Rasulullah ﷺ mentions that and they simply acknowledge it. And the Prophet ﷺ says to them finally, أَفَلَا تَرْضَوْنَ يَا مَعْشَرَ الْأَنصَارِ أَن يَذْهَبَ النَّاسُ بِالشَّاتِ وَالبَعِيرِ وَتَرْجِعُونَ أَنْتُمْ بِرَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَامًا فِي رِحَالِكُمْ Aren't you pleased, O Ansar, that the people will go back with their sheep and with their animals and with their spoils and you get to go home and Rasulullah ﷺ is amongst you.
Ya Allah. Imagine being in that room. Over 10 years of giving all for him ﷺ and now worried that he's gonna leave you. This is it. And the Prophet ﷺ basically told them, I'm coming home with you. تَرْجِعُونَ أَنْتُمْ بِرَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّامًا They stand up and they are in such joy and they say, رَضِيْنَا بِرَسُولِ اللَّهِ قَسْمًا We are pleased with the Prophet ﷺ as our share. We are pleased with the Prophet ﷺ as our share. We are pleased with the Prophet ﷺ as our share. That's all we wanted, Ya Rasulullah. Forget about the animals. Forget about the spoils. We just wanted you to come home with us. That's it. And the Prophet ﷺ says, اللَّهُمَّ رَحَمَ الْأَنصَارُ وَأَبْنَاءَ الْأَنصَارُ O Allah, have mercy on the Ansar and the children of the Ansar and the children of the children of the Ansar. فَبَكَ الْقَوْمُ And everyone started to cry. The entire room started to cry until their beards were wet, were soaked with tears. Knowing that Rasulullah ﷺ was coming home with them. All they wanted was Jannah and all they wanted was the companionship of the Prophet ﷺ. And so imagine being among the Ansar when they ask Allah for Jannah al-Firdaws. Literally, they took the Prophet ﷺ in not knowing anything except that we're gonna take in this man we don't know yet for Jannah. And in a decade they fell in love with the Prophet ﷺ and put everything on the line for him. And now all they want is Jannah with the Prophet ﷺ. And the Prophet ﷺ prayed for them and prayed for their offspring and prayed for the offspring of their offspring. In one narration the Ansar said, يا رسول الله We followed you.
So make dua for those that follow us. And the Prophet ﷺ said, اللهم جعل أتباعهم منهم Oh Allah make the followers of them like them. Bless their offspring, bless their followers. And you know what subhanAllah, the Ansar never changed. They never changed. It's not like they were affected now by the victory of Islam. They never changed. Yahya ibn Sa'id he narrates that Anas ibn Malik radhiAllahu ta'ala said that the Prophet ﷺ called the Ansar in order to give them the territory of Bahrain. So he's putting them in charge, giving them a leadership position. He's giving them these new areas under Islam. And you know what they responded? They said, إلا أن تُقْتِعَ لِإِخْوَانِنَا مِنَ الْمُهَاجِرِينَ مِثْلَهَا Only if the Muhajireen get the same thing, يا رسول الله. They're still caring about the Muhajireen. It's no longer, the dynamics have changed here. But to the Ansar, no, no, our brothers, they need to be taken care of as well. So if they're going to be given something like that, then we're okay. But otherwise, we don't need leadership, ya Rasulullah. We don't need power. We're okay without power. We're okay just being the Ansar. We want to be the helpers in the background. And the Prophet ﷺ said, إِمَّا لَا فَاصْبِرُوا حَتَّى تَلْقَوْنِي Prophet ﷺ said, if that's going to be your attitude, be patient until you meet me. فَإِنَّهُ سَيُصِيبُكُمْ بَعْدِي أُثْرَهُ Another narration, أثره. The Prophet ﷺ said, after me, you're going to find people that will give preference, privilege to other than you. You're going to be left behind because of your selflessness. You're not going to have these positions of power because of your selflessness. And so that's why the Prophet ﷺ says to them multiple times, فَاصْبِرُوا حَتَّى تَلْقَوْنِي عَلَى الْحَوْضِ Be patient until you meet me once again at the Haud. May Allah ﷻ grant us that position. The Haud is of course the fountain of the Prophet ﷺ on the Day of Judgment. So be patient, O Ansar,
until you're gathered back with me then. Because you're going to be left behind in some of these leadership positions and things of that sort. I want to finish this off with a few of these Ahadith. The Prophet ﷺ comes back to Medina. Anas ibn Malik ﷺ says that, in the last days of the Prophet ﷺ, Abu Bakr and Al-Abbas passed by one of the gatherings of the Ansar and they were all weeping. So Abu Bakr and Al-Abbas said to them, why are you weeping? And they said, we're weeping because we're remembering the gathering. ذَكَرْنَا مَجْلِسَ نَبِيَّ صَلَى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ مِنَّا We remembered the Prophet ﷺ amongst us. And so we started to cry. So Abu Bakr went to the Prophet ﷺ, فَأَخْبَرَهُ بِذَٰلِكِ He told him about it. So the Prophet ﷺ came out and he could barely move at that point ﷺ. And he put a cloth on his head because of his fever ﷺ. And he ascended onto the manbar, onto the pulpit. وَلَمْ يَصَعَدْهُ بَعْدَ ذَلِكِ الْيَوْمِ And that was the last time the Prophet ﷺ stands on this pulpit. فَحَمِدَ اللَّهَ وَأَثْنَى عَلَيْهِ So he praised Allah ﷻ. And he extolled Him. And he said, أُوصِيكُمْ بِالْأَنْصَارِ I request you to please take care of my Ansar. And he says that they are amongst those. فَإِنَّهُمْ كَرِسِي وَعِيبَتِي And what that means is, they are my close companions who I used to tell my secrets to. These were people that were like family to me. The Ansar were my close ones that I used to share my closest secrets with. And he says, وَقَدْ قَضَوا الَّذِي عَلَيْهِمْ And they have fulfilled that which was upon them. They fulfilled their obligations. They exceeded them. وَبَقِيَ الَّذِي لَهُمْ And everything that still belongs to them of a favor still remains for them. فَقْبَلُوا مِن مُحْسِنِهِمْ وَتَجَاوَزُوا عَن مُسِيِّهِمْ So, accept the good of the good doers amongst them
and forgive some of the wrongdoings that might exist amongst them. And in one narration the Prophet ﷺ said, فَإِنَّ النَّاسَ يَكْثُرُونَ وَتَقِلُّوا الْأَنْصَارُ The people will continue to grow, but the Ansar will be a smaller and smaller and dwindling number. حَتَّى يَكُونُوا كَالْمِلْحِ فِي الطَّعَامِ Until they become just like salt in a meal. They're not detectable. They're just in the background. And by the way, subhanAllah, the scholars mentioned here. You know, in Medina, it didn't take long for Abu Bakr as-Siddiq رضي الله تعالى عنه to be elected the Khalifa. And for the Ansar to get on board and to follow suit. This was their town, this was their city. If there was going to be a rebellion, you would have expected it from them, right? Like, wait, this is our turn now. It's our turn to take this over. Quickly, subhanAllah, it took one visit. Abu Bakr and Umar رضي الله تعالى عنهم and Abu Ubaidah, may Allah be pleased with them all, to solve it. And that was it. They gathered under the leadership of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq رضي الله عنه. They immediately, immediately continued to fulfill that role. And that was because of the lack of the love of dunya inside of them. And so here's my final conclusion. As we make du'a for the Ansar, it's a question for you all. Who's better then, the Ansar or the Muhajireen? I'm going to drink water while you all try to figure out how to answer that question. Abu Amr, you're thinking about it. Who's better? The Ansar or the Muhajireen? I mean, one of you can just say the Ansar or the Muhajireen. No comparison, the same? What do you think? They never changed.
True. But you're getting deeper. Going a little further. So we have a vote for the Ansar. Everything that I have just said, as a group, the Muhajireen remain superior. As a group. As a group of people, the Muhajireen remain superior. But of course, some of the individual Ansar are better then some of the individual Muhajireen. What is the proof of that? The ulema mention, first of all, that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala always mentions the Muhajireen first. لَقَدْ تَابَ اللَّهُ عَنَ النَّبِيِّ وَالْمُهَاجِرِينَ وَالْأَنصَارِ الَّذِينَ تَبَعُوهُ فِي سَاعَةِ الْعُسْرَةِ Allah has certainly turned in mercy to the Prophet, then the Muhajireen, then the Ansar who stood by him in the time of hardship. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala also says, لِلْفُقَرَاءِ الْمُهَاجِرِينَ الَّذِينَ أُخْرِجُوا مِنْ دِيَارِهِمْ وَأَمْوَالِهِمْ يَبْتَغُونَ فَضْلًا مِنَ اللَّهِ وَرِضْوَانَ وَيَنْصُرُونَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ أُولَئِكَ هُمُ الصَّادِقُونَ Allah says, and the poor migrants, the Muhajireen, who were evicted from their homes and lost all of their wealth, seeking Allah's pleasure, and يَنصُرُونَ اللَّهَ they supported Allah and His Messenger ﷺ, verily they are the truthful. And so the scholars mentioned Allah combined for those Muhajireen, whether they were the Abu Bakr's of the world, or the Bilal's of the world, or the Umm Ayman's of the world, that these people were still as a category, the best of the best. Because they were evicted from their homes and they supported Allah, so Allah أَثْبَتَ لَهُمْ Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala كَتَبَ لَهُمْ الْهِجْرَةَ وَالنُّصْرَةَ Allah wrote for them both the reward of the Hijrah as well as the supporting of the Prophet ﷺ. So, that's the praise of them in this regard. Those people that were evicted from their homes, persecuted, killed in this way,
that they still have a certain category, right? That the Muhajireen still have a certain category. And they prove their sitq, their truthfulness to the Prophet ﷺ in those multiple ways. Then Allah says, وَالَّذِينَ تَبَوَّأُوا الْدَارَ وَالْإِيمَانَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ يُحِبُّونَ مَنْ هَاجَرَ إِلَيْهِمْ وَلَا يَجِدُونَ فِي صُدُورِهِمْ حَاجَةٍ مِّمَّا أُوتُوا وَيُؤْثِرُونَ عَلَىٰ أَنفُسِهِمْ وَلَوْ كَانَ بِهِمْ خَصَاصًا وَمَنْ يُوْقَى شُحَّ نَفْسِهِ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ SubhanAllah, if you notice here, Allah praised the Ansar for their shukr, for their gratitude, and their times of ease. They technically didn't have to incur the headache. So they were praised for their selflessness, their ithar in shukr, in gratitude. The Muhajireen were praised for their sabr, for their patience, with all that they endured at those times. And we have one category left for us. وَالسَّابِقُونَ الْأَوَّلُونَ مِنَ الْمُهَاجِرِينَ وَالْأَنْصَارَ Anyone know the rest of the ayah? وَالَّذِينَ تَبَعُوهُمْ بِإِحْسَانٍ Allah mentions, السابقون الأولون, the first amongst the Muhajireen, amongst those people, those migrants, those blessed people, the Khadijas, the Sumayyas, Abu Bakr, the Umars, those blessed people. And then Allah mentions, وَالْأَنْصَارَ and the Ansar, can we be from the Muhajireen? We can't be. Can we be from the Ansar? We can't be. And so there's only one more category left for us. وَالَّذِينَ تَبَعُوهُمْ بِإِحْسَانٍ And those who follow them in those excellent qualities. Those who follow them
in their excellent qualities. رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمْ وَرَضُوا عَنْهُمْ وَأَعَدَّ لَهُمْ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي تَحْتَهَا الْأَنْهَارِ خَارِدِينَ فِيهَا أَبَدَىٰ ذَلِكَ الْفَوْزُ الْعَظِيمُ That Allah is pleased with them and they are pleased with Allah and Allah has promised them a paradise from beneath which rivers flow and they will reside therein forever and that is the great success. I end with the ayah وَالَّذِينَ جَاءُوا مِنْ بَعْدِهِمْ يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَا اخْفِرْ لَنَا وَلِإِخْوَانِنَا الَّذِينَ سَبَقُونَ بِالْإِيمَانِ وَلَا تَجْعَلْ فِي قُلُوبِنَا غِلًّا لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا رَبَّنَا إِنَّكَ رَؤُوفٌ رَحِيمٌ Allah mentioned one of the praiseworthy characteristics about the Ansar is that they actually used to pray for the Muhajireen, they would make dua for the Muhajireen. Like it's their love for the Muhajireen was beautiful, they used to seek, make dua for them, they used to ask Allah to forgive them for preceding them in faith and they didn't have ghil, any hardship, any ill feelings in their heart towards their brothers or their sisters. And so the scholars mentioned one of the constants here is that you don't have any ill feelings, any ill will towards your brothers and sisters, past, present or future, you make dua for them. And so again, the Ansar are this supreme love story with the Prophet ﷺ. وَكُلًّا وَعَدَ اللَّهُ الْحُسْنَةُ And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has promised everyone their individual reward. حُبُّ الْأَنصَار مِنَ الْإِيمَانِ Loving the Ansar is from Iman. Oh Allah, we bear witness to you and if we are not fully living up to this, we ask you to make this true of us. Oh Allah, we bear witness that we love the Ansar. Oh Allah, we bear witness that we love the Ansar and we love our Prophet ﷺ and we love the Ansar for the love that they had towards our Prophet ﷺ and that we ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to make us amongst those that love him, that are beloved to him, that love those who love him and that are beloved to those that love him. And we ask Allah to gather us with the Prophet ﷺ and our brothers and sisters that preceded us.
Allahuma Ameen.
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