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Omar Ibn Al Khattab (ra): The Opening of Jerusalem | The Firsts with Dr. Omar Suleiman
The momentous occasion of the first conquest of Jerusalem was one in which the ethics of Omar Ibn Al Khattab (ra) shined bright for all that would come after him.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. In the name of Allah, the most merciful, the most compassionate. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. Peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah and upon his family and companions. In the name of Allah, the most Merciful, the most Compassionate.
So please tune in to that. So with Omar as we speak about Jerusalem, I want to first and foremost talk about the political situation that was in Al-Quds at the time of the Prophet and some of the ways in which the Prophet was speaking about Al-Quds, may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala liberate it, Allahumma ameen in his time. Now we spoke a little bit about this when we actually spoke about Abu Bakr and the bet that he made over the surah that came down where Allah promised the victory of the Romans over the Persians. Allah mentions that the Romans will defeat the Persians between three and nine years and that was looked at as an impossible feat but Allah prophesied it on the tongue of the Prophet and it happened as it happened. Also we spoke about this a little bit with Abu Ubaidah Al-Jarrah who of course will also come up in this lecture. But the biggest city for those of you that are from Syria in particular and of course all of Ash-Sham includes Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine. The biggest city in Syria, what is modern day Syria at the time was what? Does anyone know? It wasn't Damascus. Damascus was second. We got some Halabi partisanship here. It was actually Homs. So all those jokes about Homs, you know you have to take them back. Homs of course a brilliant city, may Allah liberate the people of Syria.
Homs was the biggest city in Ash-Sham and second to Homs was Damascus. Now the Persians overtook Damascus in the year 613. This is when the Prophet ﷺ essentially began his public da'wah. So the Persian and Roman empires, their battle is heating up. And in the year 614, that is when the Persians took Al-Quds, when they took Jerusalem from the Romans, i.e. the Christians. And when the Persians took the city of Jerusalem, they have absolutely no regard for the city. Meaning what? They are not a people who see any value in Al-Quds. They were Zoroastrians. They were Majus. They didn't believe that there was anything holy about the Holy Land. They didn't have a place to connect themselves to. But what they did know was that this was the center of religious and cultural life for the Byzantines, for the Christians at the time. And so they wanted to truly make an example out of that city and out of the people. And they carried out one of the largest massacres of that entire century. They killed 90,000 people. Now think about without, you know, weapons of mass destruction that we have today, what does it take to kill 90,000 people in one occurrence? They killed 90,000 people, 90,000 Christians in Al-Quds, in Jerusalem. They desecrated all of the Christian holy sites and they even stole from the church of the Holy Sepulcher what is known as the True Cross. The True Cross is what Christians hold that Isa a.s., that Jesus peace be upon him, was crucified on. So imagine the destruction, imagine the message that was sent, imagine what this does to the Christians of the time and does to the Byzantine Empire when the Persians sack your most prominent
city and they desecrate your entire holy life. They even steal the cross that you believe that Isa a.s. was crucified on and they leave behind 90,000 corpses. I mean, how many people even existed in the world at that time? Over 90,000 people to be murdered in that sense. That was a test for the Roman Empire to where if you're looking at that situation, you're thinking there is no way they're going to come out of this. They are mentally, emotionally, physically broken down as an empire and as a people. And Kisra, who we know is a very arrogant ruler in Persia, he rubs it in. He doesn't care about religion. He sends a letter to Heraclius at the time, who was the leader of the Byzantines, and he basically says, I'm clearly God and whoever you worship couldn't defend Jerusalem. The arrogance. So he actually claims I must be God because of what I was able to do to Jerusalem. The sunnah of Allah with tyrants. Every tyrant eventually looks around and thinks I must be him and then Allah humbles them. May Allah make an example out of the current occupiers and tyrants. So he says I must be God and your God clearly could not defend Jerusalem. So this was a crippling moment. And that's when Allah reveals Surah Rum. Subhanallah, if you're a Muslim, are we sure about this? Yes, we are sure because it's Quran. Allah reveals Surah Rum at that time. Now, the Christians and the Persians were obviously at war. The Jewish population, the Jews of Jerusalem allied themselves with who in this battle? They have to pick a side, right? You're a smaller population, you have to pick a side. Which side did they pick? They actually picked the Persian side because of the animosity between the Christians and the Jews. And this will be important to understand when we come to the conquest of Jerusalem under Omar.
So the Jews at that time allied with the Zoroastrians against the Christians in return for a promise that they would be able to establish their own religious life in Jerusalem because they were persecuted by Christians, right? It's just persecution going all around. So the Christians were persecuting them. So they chose the Zoroastrians because the Zoroastrians would give them at least some sort of guarantee that they would be able to establish some sort of religious life. This entire time, the Muslims are praying towards where? They're praying towards Jerusalem. The Qibla of the Muslims this entire time is Al-Quds. While this massacre takes place, the Muslims are praying in that direction. While all of the holy life in Jerusalem has been completely reduced to pieces, the Muslims are praying towards Jerusalem. And so it's important to understand them when Al-Israa wa-l-Mi'raj takes place, who ruled Jerusalem at the time? The Persians. So there was nothing of churches, nothing of any worship or anything that was taking place in the area of Al-Aqsa at the time that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam was taken to Jerusalem and he led the prophets in prayer in that night. It was a neglected area because the Persians had no need for it. They had no desire for it. They already made their example out of the Christians. At that point, they neglected it and let it be. And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, when he comes back to Mecca, the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, as he is questioned about Al-Israa wa-l-Mi'raj, he said, لقد رأيتني في الحجر وقريش تسألني عن مسرايا I'm seeing myself. You saw me in the hijr, in front of the Kaaba when Quraish was antagonizing me and asking me about my journey. And they're asking me, عن أشياء من بيت المقدس They're asking me about things in Bayt al-Maqdis and the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam
said that it was shown to me, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, رفعه الله لي أنظر إليه That Allah raised Al-Quds in front of me and I was looking at it. So imagine the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam was standing in front of the Kaaba and anything they ask the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam ما يسألوني عن شيء إلا أن بأتهم به The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam says that everything they were asking me about, I'm looking at the picture of Jerusalem and telling them about it. Which was a proof from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to the Messenger salallahu alayhi wa sallam that he was able to describe Jerusalem perfectly. To where when Quraish sent people to question about what the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam was questioned about, everything the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam described about Jerusalem was perfect. The roads to Jerusalem, the structures that existed and should have existed in Jerusalem, everything the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam was able to explain it as a miracle from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Now of course in the year 624, the same year as Badr, Heraclius fights back and the Romans defeat the Persians as Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala promised. And as we said Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala when he said that this is wa'ad Allah, that this is the promise of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, يَفْرَحُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ بِنَصْرِ اللَّهِ that that is the day that the believers will be pleased with the victory from Allah, it had a double meaning. It meant that the Christians who were closer to the Muslims would defeat the Persians and the Muslims would defeat Quraysh who were allied with the Persians. Okay, so it was in the year 624. What did Heraclius do? The leader of the Romans? He destroyed the birthplace of Zoroaster which was the key temple of the Majus, of the Persian Empire at the time. He destroyed that temple as retaliation for what they did to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and whatever remains of Christian life.
And on top of that the Christians did not have any idea of the sanctity of any of the area of Jerusalem outside of the churches that they had built. So what did the Christians do to the area where the Dome of the Rock exists now? The Jewish people called Temple Mount that Muslims of course refer to as Qubbat al-Sakhra and the area of the Dome of the Rock. You know what the Romans did to it? They turned it into the filthiest dumpster in Jerusalem. So the Christians had no need for the area of al-Aqsa or the area of the Dome of the Rock currently is. They turned it into the dumpster of Jerusalem and Heraclius instructed that when you throw your rotten corpses, throw them in that area. And there are other nastier details about what they would cast there that I don't care to mention because there are children here. But let me just say that they cast everything nasty that they could think of in that area because they wanted to humiliate the Jews who allied with the Persians. So they went back to persecuting the Jews and of course humiliating that area because to them, the Christians, this also had no meaning. Church of the Holy Sepulcher has meaning to us. This whole area over here, we don't care about. So it's a dumpster to us and that is the way that they treated it. Now the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is in Medina and when the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam would next see Jerusalem as far as we know is a very interesting place. Can anyone tell me a narration where the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam would see Quds in Medina in particular? Anyone know? What is it? When did the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam see a vision of Jerusalem again in Medina?
When he was in the ditch. When the Ahzab had gathered against the Muslims in Medina and they built the khandaq, when they built the trench and the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was hitting the stone and Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala showed the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam the palaces of the world and in one narration particularly, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam saw Quds. So he saw Yemen, he saw Abyssinia, he saw Persia, he saw Damascus, he saw Egypt, he saw all of these palaces around the world. And the munafiqun, the hypocrites made fun of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. He said, look, these people can't even, they can't even use the bathroom. This was the word that the hypocrites said amongst themselves. He said Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and his followers can't even use the bathroom without fearing for their lives and he's promising them what? He's promising them Jerusalem and Yemen and Abyssinia and he's making all these lofty promises to them. Allah was the one making the promises, right? Tammat kalimatu rabbika sidqan wa adlan. La mubadila li kalimatihi. Right? Allah's word will come true. Ya Rasulullah, your followers that are with you will all go to these places and indeed those that narrated the hadith, this is one of the things that Ibn Hajar Rahimullah mentions, it's very special. All of those that narrated the hadith about the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam seeing those places were amongst the sahaba that went to one of those places. So Salman radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu of course most famously of course would be the conqueror of the same place that he left seeking Allah's guidance. So the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam saw Jerusalem from the ditch of Al Medina when they were about to be massacred. He saw its palaces as well. The next incident that we see in the build up to Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu coming is when Heraclius sees a dream about the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and Heraclius had just, you know if you look in the biography of Heraclius, his most famous accomplishment
is that he brought back the cross. He rescued the cross and that was in the year 628. He brought back the true cross so he was hailed by Christians as the savior of the true cross. This is a pretty big deal, right? No sooner did he return to Jerusalem except that Abu Sufyan was in front of him because Fidei Biyya happened right after that and Heraclius is like, who are you people? And is there a prophet that came amongst you? Tell me about this prophet and the famous incident of Heraclius quizzing Abu Sufyan about the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam takes place literally right after he brought the true cross back to Jerusalem and that was a sign that this message that has spread in Mecca is on its way to Jerusalem as well and Heraclius knew it. He knew that in his lifetime he was going to have to confront this message. So the true cross was rescued literally the same year as Fidei Biyya where Abu Sufyan is in front of Heraclius and he sees the dream about the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and he questions Abu Sufyan about the spread of Islam and particularly about the ethics of Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam where Abu Sufyan was forced to tell the truth about the ethics of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. So this is sort of the build up to the historical part of this before the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam's death when it comes to Jerusalem, when it comes to Palestine and of course, Asham as a whole. By the way, just as a side note, if you read about the history of Heraclius, you'll actually see that he was someone who was considered to be at odds with the church at the time because he held on to certain theological views that made him sort of an outcast. So he had a tension with the church and that was, when you look into the history of that dispute it's very interesting because the Christians were still trying to figure out
now that the church had decided that Jesus and God were one, they had to work out all of these issues, verses in the Bible that suggest separate entities. So if Jesus and God are one, then what do we do about the verses in the Bible where Jesus clearly refers to the Father as other than himself? And this was a particular school of thought that was outlawed, it's considered the last of the issues that the Roman church shut down, right? Which was the issue of whether or not Jesus had his own human will or if there were two wills, the will of God and the will of Jesus, okay? The will of a human Jesus and the will of the divine or is there just one will? So Heraclius was actually at odds with the church as well at this time. And obviously finally the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam giving the Sahaba all of these narrations about going to Al-Aqsa and the ulama say this is very interesting because the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said to them, You take journeys to three masjids. You should undertake a journey only to three masjids. Mecca, Masjid al-Haram, the masjid of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and the masjid of Al-Aqsa. So the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam pushing them and prompting them to go and pray in Al-Aqsa and of course the narration which has some dispute in its chain where the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said in the narration of Maimunah bin Sa'ad, If you can't go there, then at least send some oil to light up its lamps but keep yourself connected to Al-Aqsa and make your way to Al-Aqsa. Now comes the time of Umar bin Khattab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And since we're talking about Umar radiAllahu anhu, I want you to appreciate for a moment how much of Islam spread in the time of Umar. Remember the dream we talked about last week? The water spreading throughout the world? So I'm going to name some countries for you, modern day countries. Iraq, Iran, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Bukhara
and even part of Pakistan. All of that came under Islam in the Khilafah of Umar radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. How many of you are covered in those countries that I just mentioned? Their ancestors. All of that in the time of Umar radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. SubhanAllah. What a man. What a blessing, what a prophecy of the dream of the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa sallam that the water would spread in the time of Umar radiAllahu ta'ala anhu throughout the earth. Muslims defeat the Persians. The most arrogant, brutal empire in the world. The Muslims were able to defeat them in one year. One year. The Persians did not even take the Muslims seriously. They thought it was a joke. When Ribi'i ibn Amir, the Bedouin, came standing in front of Rustum, these pompous rulers, they thought it was a joke. Like you Bedouins from the desert think that we should take you seriously? Tried to kill the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa sallam. Tried to make an example out of the Muslims. The entire Persian empire collapsed at the hands of the Muslims under Umar radiAllahu ta'ala anhu in one year. So this is after that. The Battle of Qadisiyyah. Multiple territories. Then the Byzantines, the Roman Empire. Okay. And particularly the most consequential battle with the Roman Empire that changed things was the Battle of Yarmouk. So if you read about the Battle of Yarmouk, once the Muslims won the Battle of Yarmouk, then it was a sign that the rest of the empire was going to fall to the Muslims as well. That this battle was also going to end with the Muslims in charge of all of the contested territories between them and the Romans. So the Muslims have defeated the Persians under Umar radiAllahu anhu. They are cutting in the heart of the Byzantines now where they've cut up the territories of the Roman Empire, of the Byzantines at this point. And Jerusalem in particular, Al-Quds, is now under siege from all directions. It's under siege from all directions. The Muslims have taken Damascus.
They have taken Masr. They have taken Egypt. They have taken the land of Jordan. And they are now surrounding Jerusalem from all ends, but they don't want to spill blood in Al-Quds. The Muslims were not looking for the spilling of blood in Jerusalem. And so as they are surrounding it from all of these different directions, when the Muslims enter into the modern area of Arieha, of Jericho, the patriarch of Jerusalem, who is a very important figure, his name is Saffronius. Saffronius is considered a saint in the Catholic Church. He's a patriarch of Jerusalem who's mentioned in all the famous narrations with Umar radiAllahu anhu. Knowing what the Persians did to Jerusalem, what do you think he did? Smart man. He took the cross because that's their most sacred relic and he sent it secretly to Constantinople, Istanbul now. This is before Muhammad al-Fatih. So he wanted to save the cross in case they come in and do to us what the Persians did to us. Because we've heard about their adl, we've heard about their justice, we've heard about the ways that they have dealt with these different places. But just in case, let's protect our relics. And they have fortified Jerusalem so well after what happened with the Persians because they were so worried about what would happen to them should this type of situation arise. So Saffronius is stalling the conquest of Jerusalem and in the meantime trying to evacuate the relics of Christianity out of fear that maybe the Muslims will be treacherous and do to us what the Persians did to us as well. And in the meantime, the communication starts. How long were the Muslims camped outside of Jerusalem? SubhanAllah, they were a patient army. They didn't go in and just massacre people or kill anyone. Four months.
Four whole months the Muslims were camped around Al-Quds and the negotiations took place with the patriarch of Jerusalem in particular who was known as a noble man. Someone that wanted to secure more than anything else his religious heritage. Didn't care as much for the political dominance of the Byzantines as much as he cared for the church, the cross, the ability for Christians to be able to practice their faith. That's what he was concerned about. They didn't like the politics of the Byzantines anyway. So the communication begins between Saffronius and the Muslims and Saffronius feels throughout this conversation that the Muslims really don't want to kill anybody. They're not trying to spill blood in a place that's holy to them. They're trying to make this a bloodless transfer as well. And this communication is a fascinating communication. The Muslims send this message that we're willing to let you practice your faith. We're willing to let you have your churches. We won't touch any of your relics. You'll pay the jizya. You'll have our protection. The jizya is lower than the zakah. Subhanallah, think about that. The justice of Islam as it's being communicated to him as well. The tax that you will pay that exempts you from serving in the Muslim army and defending a religion and an empire now that you don't necessarily believe in or hold to be sacred. The tax that you will pay for that protection is less than what the Muslims pay in zakah. Sounds like a great deal, right? So Saffronius is communicating with Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah. Something very interesting here that happens. There is a companion whose name is Sharhabil, Sharhabil ibn Hassanah, who by the way is one of the first. He's one of the earliest Muslims, Sharhabil, and his seerah up until like after the death of the prophet is basically silent. He was a brilliant warrior, a brilliant commander.
He says, listen, you know, we're getting a little tired of some of these demands. And then the last demand in particular was we want the khalifa. Saffronius said, I want the khalifa of the Muslims to come and assume the keys of Jerusalem. Send me Umar ibn al-Khattab, radiyallahu anhu, this man who we have heard so much about, this man who he mentioned, this is very interesting. He said the one who is spoken about in our scripture should come and assume what is rightfully attributed to him. And what that means is that Ka'b ibn al-Ahbar, radiyallahu ta'ala anhu, became a Muslim. He was a Jewish rabbi that would become Muslim later. He said that in the scriptures it was said that the follower of the prophet to come would take the keys of Jerusalem with patched garments and high ethics. Patched garments and high ethics. So Saffronius interpreted that to be Umar, radiyallahu ta'ala anhu, rightfully. So he said send the one about whom we hear about his justice and we'll give him the keys. Sharhabil said, you know what, why don't we send Khalid ibn al-Walid, radiyallahu anhu? And tell him it's Umar. He's big. I mean he's physically the size of someone that could be, you know, you could maybe interpret him to be Umar. And he can go and he can just handle this affair for us. And, you know, he had a similar appearance apparently to Umar, radiyallahu ta'ala anhu. And that didn't work at all because by that point they said what, Khalid, radiyallahu anhu, became famous in the Sham. Why? The battle of, the battles. I mean he's this hero in all of these battles, Yarmouk included. So no, like this isn't going to work, right? So Saffronius didn't fall for it. The Byzantines didn't fall for it. They said listen, we want Umar, radiyallahu ta'ala anhu, to come. Some more context to this that the scholars mention.
Saffronius was aware of a pact that Amr ibn al-As made and was signed by Umar to the Christians of Egypt. The treaty with the people of Egypt was that this is what Amr ibn al-As gives to the people of Egypt in terms of al-amn, in terms of security. He guarantees the protection of their lives, the protection of their religion, the protection of their wealth, the protection of their churches, the protection of their crosses, the protection of their land, the protection of their sea. And the one who signs this treaty is protected by Allah, protected by the messenger of Allah, protected by Amir al-mu'minin, the commander of the believers, Umar radiyallahu anhu, and the believers as a whole, and the mu'minin as a whole. SubhanAllah, Egypt under the Muslims became a place in which Christianity thrived. Books about Christianity were written. Scholars of Christianity developed in Egypt under Muslim rule. Sophronius wants this type of a pact. He wants this type of a guarantee for Jerusalem from Umar radiyallahu anhu. So Abu Ubaidah, he tries his last hand, he meets with Sophronius, the patriarch, and he meets with the elders of Ash-Sham, and he tries to assure them. He says, listen, at this point now, he's the amir of Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, all of these different places. Did we destroy any churches? Did we take any crosses? Did we betray our covenants? No. So he's able to assure him with all these things, but Sophronius insists it's got to be Umar radiyallahu anhu. So anyway, Abu Ubaidah writes the letter to Umar bin al-Khattab radiyallahu ta'ala anhu, to come to Al-Quds, inviting him to come to Jerusalem, and saying the patriarch insists we will have a bloodless transfer, but you need to come take the key. You're written in their scripture. They know of your justice. They want your assurance. Here's a question that I have for you.
How many times did Umar radiyallahu ta'ala anhu leave Medina in his entire khilafah? Iraq, Iran, the Persian Empire, right? All the... Never. He only left for this occasion, for Jerusalem, and then he was on his way when the plague hit, when Amwas hits, and when Amwas hit, when the plague hit, he turned around radiyallahu ta'ala anhu because of the famous conversation between him and Abu Ubaidah bin al-Jarrah radiyallahu ta'ala anhu. There are other reasons for this in the political wisdom of Umar radiyallahu ta'ala anhu. Umar radiyallahu ta'ala anhu said I want to keep the senior sahaba with me in Medina. Medina needs to leave, to remain as the core of my ummah. So as Islam is spreading so rapidly, I need the senior sahaba around me, and he would only send the sahaba as generals, the senior sahaba as generals, to conquer certain lands or to open certain lands, or he would appoint them as governors, and even then Umar radiyallahu ta'ala anhu would summon them regularly to check upon them. So Umar radiyallahu ta'ala anhu wanted to maintain the core of the seniority of the sahaba in Medina around him. He wanted to keep that with him and that's his central command and that was part of his diplomacy. The other thing that the scholars mention, subhanAllah, which is that Umar radiyallahu anhu just really loved Medina. And if you think about Umar radiyallahu anhu, his greatest desire was what? Was to die in Medina as a shaheed. Wasn't that the dua of Umar radiyallahu ta'ala anhu that he used to ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for a shahada fi sabilik fi baladi nabiik? That Allah gives me shahada in the city of the prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam. People would say to Umar radiyallahu anhu, come on, hafsa radiyallahu anhu, come on dad, right? How are you going to die shaheed in Medina? The wars are taking place all over the place.
Nothing's happening in Medina. And he knew that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala would fulfill his intention if he was sincere enough. So Umar did not want to leave Medina because he wanted to die in Medina. He didn't want to go die in Persia or die in Hisham. He wanted to die in Medina and that was his wish and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala would answer his dua, of course. The last thing is that Umar radiyallahu ta'ala anhu is 60 years old now. He's not a young man anymore. To where, you know, it's easy for him to go out in these different places and these different journeys. So that's one of the things that the ulema mention as well. So it's the political instability as well as the personal connection that he has to Medina. And he wants to keep it. So what does he do? He consults Uthman and Ali. May Allah be pleased with them. A sign of the divine transfer to take place with Khulafa al-Rashideen. He brings forth Uthman and Ali and he consults them about what he should do. Uthman radiyallahu ta'ala anhu said, Ya Amir al-Mu'mineen, it's not a good idea. Don't leave Medina because that will leave Medina vulnerable. The enemies will take advantage of it and a plot will ensue on the inside of Al-Medina. And who knows what could happen from there. Umar radiyallahu ta'ala anhu asked Ali radiyallahu anhu what he thought. And subhanAllah, Umar radiyallahu ta'ala anhu's number one advisor, contrary to propaganda, his number one advisor was Ali radiyallahu ta'ala anhu. The person he asked for more details, for more consultation, the person he did shura with most was Ali ibn Abi Tarib radiyallahu ta'ala anhu. Multiple incidents of this. He asked Ali radiyallahu ta'ala anhu, should I go to Nahawan and fight against the Persians? Ali radiyallahu anhu said, I don't think it's a good idea. So he actually was going to go to Persia, fight the Persians, and Ali radiyallahu anhu was the one who held them back. The Hijri calendar that Umar radiyallahu ta'ala anhu established. He established that after asking Ali radiyallahu anhu, what do you think, when should we start the calendar from?
And it was Ali's opinion that Umar went with, may Allah be pleased with them, in which you have the Hijra, the calendar that was established at that time. So he takes him very seriously. Multiple things. And Ali radiyallahu ta'ala anhu, he said to him, ya ameer al mu'mineen, this is a special opportunity, this is a place that our Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam had great ambitions for. It's worth the risk. Inshallah ta'ala we will take care of things here. Go out and receive the keys of Jerusalem, especially if there's something scriptural to this, right? Like go out and receive the keys of Jerusalem. And guess who Ali radiyallahu ta'ala, or guess who Umar radiyallahu anhu appointed in charge of Medina? Ali radiyallahu anhu. So Ali actually stepped in at the command of Umar as the substitute khalifa while he went out to Jerusalem to receive the keys. So Ali radiyallahu ta'ala anhu was placed in charge of Al Medina by Umar radiyallahu anhu, and Umar radiyallahu anhu makes his way out to Jerusalem. Now here comes the most interesting part. Weren't they worried about political instability? So shouldn't he take like a really strong posse, a really big army with him to go out to Jerusalem? Umar radiyallahu ta'ala anhu decides to make this entire journey, the man who would sleep out in the open on his shoes, he makes this entire journey with one camel and one servant and no army with him. He goes out carrying his sword and he has the sandals and he has one camel and one servant. And Bismillah, let's make our way to Jerusalem. No one else follow me. SubhanAllah. He goes out to Jerusalem. And I want you to imagine the description of how he looked. Umar radiyallahu ta'ala anhu did not wear a turban. Umar radiyallahu anhu did not wear a helmet. His head was bare and yes, by the way, Umar radiyallahu anhu was bald. Okay.
So Umar radiyallahu anhu left his head exposed. Which of course, you know, for a royal occasion at the time, I mean, subhanAllah, these were things that were significant, right? But this was the humility of Umar radiyallahu ta'ala anhu. It came naturally to him. The garment that he wore, remember we talked about that incident between him and Salman radiyallahu ta'ala anhu about the garment that he had where he merged them together. The garment that Umar radiyallahu ta'ala anhu was wearing was a white garment and it had 17 patches on it. Patches meaning these were places in the garment that ripped. It was a wool garment that ripped and he patched it together in those places. And the description of it, subhanAllah, the description of it is it was disproportionately on his left side. Umar radiyallahu anhu did not even care about the color of the patching. You know, usually when you want to patch your garment, you patch it with the same color, right? It wasn't in fashion to just be random with your colors. Umar radiyallahu anhu patched it with whatever colors he could find. So his garment was beat up. He's not wearing a turban or a helmet. He has absolutely nothing to suggest royalty and he goes traveling in the desert alone. The most powerful man in the world takes a trip from Medina to Jerusalem by himself with a servant. With no army, fearing no one but Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And without any of the appearance of a dignitary of the time. To go assume the keys of Jerusalem. Think about that. It gets better. Umar radiyallahu anhu, he tells the servant, he says, listen. You and I are going to take turns. We're going to split this trip 50-50. You ride the camel 50% of the time. I ride the camel 50% of the time. So for half of this trip, Umar radiyallahu anhu is going to pull in the desert. The reins of this camel while the servant sits on top.
And they're going to take turns because that was the justice of Umar radiyallahu anhu. Subhanallah, one of the du'as that he used to make, radiyallahu anhu. He used to say, Allahumma tahir thawbi min amwala almuslimin. He said, oh, Allah, purify my thawb from being made of any of the money of the Muslims. Meaning that, you know, you talk about amanah here, like the trust here. Like let it be purified of any cheating in it, any deception in it. And they make this journey. As they are making this journey, Umar radiyallahu anhu to Jerusalem. Him and the servant. They start to get closer to Palestine. The servant, it's his turn to get on the camel. And Umar radiyallahu anhu to pull based on the way that it was divided. Umar radiyallahu anhu says, get on the camel. We're about to enter into Palestine. It's the big moment, right? They wake up that morning and Umar radiyallahu anhu says, your turn. And he says, ya amir al-mu'minin, they're not waiting for me. They're waiting for you. They're not waiting for me. Like, come on, like, it's okay. I understand. I'm already generous of you enough that you split this 50-50 for this entire journey. Umar radiyallahu anhu insists. He says, get on the camel. I'm going to pull the rein. It's 50-50. We agreed, half-half. And he said, al-izzah liman adda al-amana. He said, honor is to the one who fulfills their trusts. Again, a man of amana. And you wonder where Umar bin Abdulaziz radiyallahu anhu would get it from. Subhanallah, his grandfather. He says, no, izzah, honor, is to the one who fulfills his trust. I don't care if people are waiting on me and they see me pulling a camel. Who cares? It gets worse. They're walking into Palestine, and Umar radiyallahu anhu falls in a puddle of mud. Allah decreed it that way.
So this white garment that already had 17 patches on it is now covered in mud. Because Umar radiyallahu anhu accidentally stepped into a puddle of mud. Okay, now this is getting embarrassing, right? Just so you don't blame the sahaba with the famous incident that we know is coming up. You can imagine the scene. By the time Umar radiyallahu anhu gets there, the people have lined the streets to watch the reception of the key given from the hand of the patriarch, Sophronius, to Umar radiyallahu anhu. They have lined the street for miles. People are sitting in their balconies. They are looking on to see who is this great man that never leaves Medina, that we've heard about now. Because Islam has spread to all of the areas around us. Who is this great man that we're going to see? So the sahaba, they go out to meet Umar radiyallahu anhu. And he arrives first and foremost in the area of Al-Jabiya. Does anyone know where Al-Jabiya is today? It's actually the Golan Heights, illegally occupied. Subhanallah, may Allah liberate it. Also stolen from the Muslims. He arrives in Al-Jabiya, which is modern day Medina. The Golan Heights. And this is right as he is about to make his entrance into Jerusalem. Some of the sahaba come to meet him as he's about to come in. Abu Ubaidah al-Jarrah radiyallahu anhu sees him. And he says, Ya Amir al-Mu'minin, can you change? Can we get you some armor? Can we go buy you something? Can we put a helmet on you? He's starting to argue with him to say, you know, why don't you wear something that's more befitting of Amir al-Mu'minin, right? The Khalifa of the Muslims. That's going to come and receive the keys of Jerusalem. Now, by the way, does he have a point? Yes, he has a point. There's a good intention and he has a good point. But subhanallah, Allah has created different people for different times.
Umar radiyallahu anhu responds with the most famous answer that we have ever heard. نحن قوم أعزنا الله بالإسلام وإن ابتغينا العزة لغيره أذلنا الله We are a people who Allah has honored through Islam. When we seek it through anything else, Allah will humiliate us. That statement, you wonder what Umar radiyallahu anhu would say to us today if we presented our condition to him, if you would seek his advice. The same man that told Sa'ad radiyallahu anhu when he assumed the governorship of Iraq, حافظ على الصلاة, the first order for you is maintain your prayers because if you lose that, then you lose everything else. What does he tell the Muslims? He says, we're a people that Allah honored through Islam. You're worried about their perception? You're worried about the way they're going to see us? If we seek honor through them, Allah will humiliate us. Now, by the way, Abu Ubaidah radiyallahu anhu, if you remember his seerah was one of the poorest of the sahaba, was the commander of the Muslims, the ameen of this ummah and had absolutely no personal desire himself. In fact, Umar radiyallahu anhu used to kiss his hands and Umar radiyallahu anhu told Abu Ubaidah, if you remember, he said, let me visit your home. You know, you're in Asham, you're the ameer of Asham, this entire area, let me come visit your home. Abu Ubaidah laughed and he said, you want to come cry? You want to come see my house and cry? He said, come on over. And what happened, Umar radiyallahu anhu walked into the house of Abu Ubaidah and he started to weep. Because he said, you know, where is your food? Where are your pots? Where are your pans? Don't you have anything? Abu Ubaidah radiyallahu anhu lived in a little tent and he had nothing with him. And he said, I told you you were going to cry. And Umar radiyallahu anhu said, ghayaratna al-dunya kullana ghayraka ya Abu Ubaidah. Dunya changed all of us except for you, O Abu Ubaidah.
So this is not personal. This is a methodology issue. Umar radiyallahu anhu is making a point here to the sahaba that we're not going to give in to their pompous nature. We're going to be ourselves. And I'm coming into Jerusalem this way. So after they argued with Umar radiyallahu anhu, and there were other people, by the way, Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan, Amr ibn Aas, others that tried to get Umar radiyallahu anhu to change his appearance and he said, nope, I'm going in like this. Come with me or stay back. And there comes Umar radiyallahu anhu walking into Jerusalem, still with the servant on his camel, with a white garment with 17 patches, covered in mud. And the people are just looking and saying, what in the world is this? Who is this man? What is this religion? What are these ethics? And subhanAllah, whoever humbles himself for Allah, man tawada'a lillah, wafa'ahullah, Allah elevates them. Immediately, all of the people started to praise the humility of Umar radiyallahu anhu. Like this man is different. This is the most powerful man in the world and this is the way that he carries himself. And Sophronius, the patriarch, he says, li mithli haza tu salamil quds. To a man like this, Jerusalem is handed over. He's happy, subhanAllah, I mean this is incredible. Look at this man. Look at his humility. Look at his justice. And Sophronius, the patriarch, he said to Umar radiyallahu anhu, and he wasn't just praising him, he said, with a leader like you, your people will never be defeated. SubhanAllah, sadaq, told the truth. He said, with a leader like you, your people will never be defeated in anything. And Umar radiyallahu anhu enters in,
and that was a momentous day of the entrance of Umar radiyallahu anhu. The people are watching now this entire ceremony that is to unfold. Now before anything is handed over, the first thing that is done is that Umar radiyallahu anhu and Sophronius have to sign some paperwork. And that is the pact of Umar radiyallahu anhu, what's known as al-shurut al-umariyya. The pact of Umar radiyallahu anhu between the Muslims and the Christians. Now by the way, the way that it's introduced, subhanAllah, Bismillahirrahmanirrahim, Hadha ma'ahada alayhi abdullah. In the name of Allah, the most compassionate, the most merciful. This is a promise, a covenant that is given from the slave of Allah, Umar ibn al-Khattab radiyallahu anhu, the commander of the Muslims, amir al-mu'minin. Even subhanAllah, the way he's writing the pact is not one of any type of pompous nature. And the pact has been brought together by numerous historical sources, but the gist of that pact is obviously one where there are concessions that are going to be made by the Christians in Jerusalem, in exchange for the protection of their lives and the protection of their churches and the protection of their crosses, and their security, right? So you can have bits and pieces of this document that are construed. There is a wonderful paper on it that we have at Yaqeen, alhamdulillah, that was written by Dr. Tasneem al-Qeek, which is religious minorities under Muslim rule, where she dissects this document a bit. But at the end of the day, it's a pact between Umar radiyallahu anhu and the patriarch of Jerusalem at the time. And subhanAllah, this should be mentioned, one of the conditions that the Christians put on the Muslims was that Umar radiyallahu anhu would not allow the Jews that they expelled to come back. Why? Because they, again, they were at war, the Christians and the Jews were at war with one another.
Umar radiyallahu anhu allowed them to have free access to visit their place of worship, and he returned, according to most of the sources, about 70 Jewish families to Jerusalem at the time. The justice of Umar radiyallahu anhu doesn't disappoint. The appearance of Umar radiyallahu anhu doesn't disappoint. The relationship between him and Sophronius is on display for everyone. So if you're in Jerusalem at the time, you're watching the leader of the Muslims walk now with the patriarch of Jerusalem, and he's literally giving him a tour of al-Quds. He's showing him around Jerusalem. He takes him to where? The Holy Sepulcher. The holiest site in Christianity. Now at ease of who this man radiyallahu ta'ala anhu is. Sophronius gives Umar bin al-Khattab radiyallahu ta'ala anhu, remember this was the man that tried to get the cross out of Jerusalem because he just wondered, maybe, just maybe, they'll treat us the way the Persians treated us. Sophronius actually gives him the keys to the church. Umar radiyallahu ta'ala anhu gives it to the Muslims, and Umar radiyallahu anhu gives him a promise of its amana. This is one of the most beautiful things, subhanAllah, that till today, one singular family, a Muslim family, has held the keys to the holiest site in Christianity. They're actually known as al-Nusaybah. Who's Nusaybah? Nusaybah bint Ka'ab. Um Ammara radiyallahu anhu, her son, Abdullah, was one of those that entered into Jerusalem with the Muslims, and his family assumed the keys of the church of the Holy Sepulcher, until today, every morning, a man from that family goes and opens that church for the Christians. You can actually, it's, there have been documentaries about this. The man today, his name is Adib Judah, who literally, a Muslim man, goes every day and opens the church of the Holy Sepulcher for the Palestinian Christians to go and to access that church.
And by the way, one of the things that historians mention is that this solved a lot of inter-Christian dispute. Why? Because the denominations would fight over who gets to hold the keys to the church. SubhanAllah, the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, in Fatih Mecca, one of the first things the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam solved was that only one family is in charge of the keys of the Ka'bah, no one else gets to take it. There's something symbolic about who holds the keys, right? That was the wisdom of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. Here, the wisdom and the amanah of the Muslim shines that the Muslims would never betray that amanah, of the keys of the church, of the Holy Sepulcher, the holiest site in Christianity. Till now, as we said, Adib Judah and that family, Al Nusaybah, holds that key. Then, of course, the famous incident takes place, where the Adhan of Dhuhr comes in, the time of Dhuhr comes in, the patriarch, in an act of friendship, right? They are now bonding. This is, subhanAllah, a momentous occasion. And, you know, if you think about it, even from a political perspective, the more that Umar radiAllahu anhu likes him, the easier life is going to be for his community, which is now assuming a secondary status. They're no longer going to be in charge here. So when the time of Salah comes, what does he say? He says, why don't you pray in our church? Great symbol, right? Go ahead and pray in our church. Amir al-Mu'mineen, the leader of the Muslims, praying in the holiest site of Christianity. Did Umar radiAllahu anhu respond and say no, because this is a place of kufr and, you know, absolutely not, and forget you, and... No, Umar radiAllahu anhu said, listen, hear me out. There are people in the Ummah of the Prophet, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, that were what? Muhaddathun, spoken to people, divinely inspired. SubhanAllah, their vision is incredible. Umar radiAllahu anhu said, if I pray here, the Muslims are going to turn this place into a masjid one day. Years later, Muslims are going to come and they're going to say, Amir al-Mu'mineen prayed here,
therefore, this is our place. This is a masjid. This is not a church anymore. So Umar radiAllahu anhu said, let me step out and pray outside, so that people can't claim your religious place later on. So my community doesn't steal your church later on. And Umar radiAllahu anhu knows how much we love him. Because what happened, he goes outside and literally the place that he prayed is now masjid Umar. A masjid was built 100 feet away from the Holy Sepulcher called masjid Umar. And every day, subhanAllah, may Allah, I know some of you have been able to see it. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, all of us to be able to experience it. But it's a fascinating sight. I mean, even the images, right? You know, you've got the masjid making adhan there, facing the holiest site in Christianity. And guess what? They're all Palestinians. That's probably something that you're not told much in the media to date, right? SubhanAllah, the wisdom of Umar radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. But then comes the adhan. This is something, subhanAllah, that I want us to actually think about for a moment. This meeting in Jerusalem was a reunion of sahaba. A lot of these companions hadn't seen each other for a very long time. Think about who is there. Mu'adh ibn Jabal, Abu Ubaidah, Amr ibn al-As, Khalid ibn al-Walid, Abdurrahman ibn Auf, Sharh abeer, Bilal ibn Rabah, Umar ibn al-Khattab, radiAllahu anhum ajma'een, are gathered in this place that they used to hear about in Mecca and Medina. And they used to pray towards, because all of them were from as-sabiqun al-awwalun. They were all from the first. They all prayed towards Jerusalem as early Muslims. And now they're gathered in Jerusalem. Talk about a surreal moment. And subhanAllah, this was a reunion of sorts for them. They had not been together like this since Medina. And now they're all together in Jerusalem. And Umar radiAllahu ta'ala anhum, when he saw Bilal radiAllahu anhum,
before we even talk about the adhan story, Umar radiAllahu anhum embraced him for a long time. And they both cried. Okay? So what's narrated is that they hugged. And when we think about the meeting of Umar and Bilal, Bilal radiAllahu anhum disappeared after the death of the Prophet ﷺ. He went out in jihad, but he didn't want to be anywhere near Medina. Umar doesn't leave Medina. He hasn't seen Bilal for all of these years. So he hugs Bilal radiAllahu anhum and they both cry. And Umar radiAllahu anhum says to Bilal, and I actually want to quote the words, because the words are significant now. SubhanAllah, even to me, every time you read these instances, something else pops out to you. He said, Ya Bilal, hatha yawmun min ayyamin Allah. This is one of the days of the days of Allah. When Allah says, dhakirhum bi-ayyamin Allah, like there are days in history that don't come back. When you look throughout history, there are a few days that stand out. Ya Bilal, we are in one of the most momentous days in the history of the world. Hatha yawmun min ayyamin Allah. Adhinnana ya Bilal. Can you make adhan for us, O Bilal? He says introduction. Bilal radiAllahu anhum says, laqad akhathtu ala nafsi ahad. I took a promise on myself that I will never do adhan for anyone after the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa sallam. I can't do it anymore. It was a promise that I made that if it's not Rasulullah salAllahu alaihi wa sallam saying to me, adhin ya Bilal, I can't do it anymore. I will never do it again until I meet the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa sallam. I took a promise. Bilal radiAllahu anhum pushes him. And you know what he says to Bilal radiAllahu anhum amongst the things? He says, innahu yufrihu Rasulullah. This would make the Prophet happy. So he talks to him with the love that he has of the Messenger salAllahu alaihi wa sallam. You're holding back out of your love of the Messenger salAllahu alaihi wa sallam. This would make the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa sallam happy.
And if he were here, he would have ordered you to do the same. He would have asked you, adhin ya Bilal. You think if the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa sallam who ordered you to make the adhan in Mecca and then in Medina and none of the other sahaba had the honor of being ordered to do so first. You think that the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa sallam would have passed you up if he were here? Adhin ya Bilal. Bilal, please, make adhan for us. And so Bilal radiAllahu anhum goes to make the adhan. Fatih Mecca. The first person to make adhan in Medina. And by the way, who had the dream of Bilal radiAllahu anhum making adhan? Omar radiAllahu anhum in Medina. He was one of the two that had the dream of the adhan being made. So this is a connection between Omar and Bilal as well. And now Jerusalem. The first Muslim that's going to go up there and say Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar in Al-Quds in Jerusalem. And when Bilal radiAllahu anhum got up to make the adhan, all of the sahaba cried, including Bilal radiAllahu anhum, hearing his voice in this place where these sahaba are together. And they said, subhanAllah, that Omar radiAllahu anhum on that day wept so much that he fell to his knees while Bilal was giving the adhan. And the sahaba were consoling him. Why? Because suddenly this wasn't Jerusalem anymore, this was Medina. It took him back. They were remembering their time with the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam. They had not had this moment for decades now. Where Bilal is giving adhan, and subhanAllah, took Omar radiAllahu anhum back. Omar radiAllahu anhum fell to his knees when he realized the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam died. Fell to his knees, literally fell to his knees. After all of this walking with the patriarch and going through this, when Bilal radiAllahu anhum made the adhan, Omar radiAllahu anhum could not hold himself anymore. And subhanAllah, this marks the two most momentous salat in this place.
The gathering of the prophets. Imagine a jama'a, a gathering, where Rasulullah salAllahu alaihi wasalam is the imam, and praying behind the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam is Ibrahim alaihi wasalam, Isa alaihi wasalam, Musa alaihi wasalam, Yusuf alaihi wasalam, Nuh alaihi wasalam, Ayub alaihi wasalam, Dawood alaihi wasalam. Imagine that jama'a, imagine walking into a musalla, and all of those people are praying behind one imam, and the imam is Rasulullah salAllahu alaihi wasalam. That's the salat that took place in that place, that happened there. And now you have the second most noble salat, the gathering of the sahaba of the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam. Omar radiAllahu anhum is the imam, and all of these people are praying behind Omar ibn Khattab radiAllahu ta'ala anhum. This was the place also that when the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam, on the night of Rasulullah salAllahu alaihi wasalam, gave him to drink what? Milk. And the dream of the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam, when the milk was coming through his fingers, was who was catching that milk? It was Omar radiAllahu ta'ala anhum. And here is Omar radiAllahu ta'ala anhum, now leading salat in the same place, the sahaba, where the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam, led all of the prophets. Now Omar radiAllahu ta'ala anhum, he wanted to know where exactly the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam led the salat. So he asked, dalluni ala almakani alladhi salla fihi rasulullah salAllahu alaihi wasalam. He is asking Ka'b ibn al-Ahbar, who knows the area, a Jewish rabbi that became a Muslim scholar, he is asking him, he is saying, I want to know where the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam led his salat. I want to pray in that exact place that Rasulullah salAllahu alaihi wasalam prayed. Now at that time, that area was what? A dumpster. SubhanAllah. It's a dumpster. And when Omar radiAllahu anhu sees it that way, Omar and the Muslims begin to clean up the dump themselves.
So Omar gets down with the Muslims, with the sahaba, and they are cleaning up that area. And Ka'b radiAllahu anhu, being first Jewish and then Muslim, he points to the area of the rock. Right? And Omar radiAllahu anhu says, no, that's not it. And in one narration he said, it's your ignorance or the days of ignorance that are taking a hold of you, or it is your Jewish heritage maybe that's pointing you to that direction, but I'm looking for the place that the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam prayed. Take me to the place that the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam prayed. And then subhanAllah, in that place, discovered that exact place where he would pray. And this is now a first. The first time the Muslims can pray in Mecca publicly was because Omar radiAllahu anhu was walking in front of the Muslims in one line, Hamza radiAllahu anhu in the other. The first time Muslims could pray in Mecca publicly. The first Muslim after the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam to pray in Al-Aqsa is Omar radiAllahu anhu. So think about that first. And this is the area of Masjid al-Qibali. All of it is considered Al-Aqsa, including the area of the Dome of the Rock, all of that is considered Al-Aqsa. Omar radiAllahu anhu would pray in that place. Remember the moment where the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam was praying in front of the Ka'bah towards Al-Quds, towards Jerusalem, and Omar radiAllahu anhu was trying to figure out who he was? Now he's standing in Jerusalem praying towards Mecca. First one to do this. Because when the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam did the night of Al-Asaw and Al-Mi'raj, Jerusalem was still the Qibla. Omar radiAllahu anhu was praying in that area. He stands in Al-Quds facing towards Mecca, praying in that direction. What do you think he's going to read in that Salat? It's pretty consequential, right? What does he read? I mean, one of them should be a give me. What is it?
Surat al-Isra, obviously. The first or one of the surahs, the first surah that should come to mind, is surat al-Isra. But that's the surah he would read in the second rak'ah. The surah where Allah talks about bringing his Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam here to this very place that Omar radiAllahu anhu was praying right now. In the first rak'ah, he read surah Sa'd. Surah Sa'd has the mentions of Dawood alaihi wasalam and many of the happenings that took place in that area, but particularly there was one ayah that Omar radiAllahu anhu read that shook him. Ya Dawood, inna ja'alnaaka khalifatan fil ard, fahkum bayna an-naasi bil haqq wa la tatabi'il hawa. O Dawood, we have made you a khalifa in this earth. So rule between the people and justice and do not follow your desires. Omar radiAllahu anhu shook when he read that verse. SubhanAllah, he's reading that in al-Aqsa. There's no structure yet, by the way. And he reads surat al-Isra in the second one. I want to pause for a moment, subhanAllah, and as we wrap up, you know, there's the book 100 Most Influential People in History written by Michael Hart and the first person, of course, is Muhammad salAllahu alaihi wasalam and that's something that was spoken about quite a bit. The only other Muslim that was mentioned there is Omar al-Khattab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, or I'm sorry, the only of the sahaba that's mentioned there is Omar radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. He's number 52 on that list. And of course, our lists are with Allah. He's number two in our list after the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam and Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. But he writes about Omar radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, he says, Omar's achievements are impressive indeed because after Muhammad salAllahu alaihi wasalam himself, he was the principal figure in the spread of Islam. Without his rapid conquest, it is doubtful that Islam would be nearly as widespread today as it actually is. Furthermore, most of the territory conquered, his reign has remained
as such ever since. And he says, obviously, Muhammad salAllahu alaihi wasalam should receive the bulk of the credits for those developments, but it would be a grave mistake to ignore Omar's contributions. The conquests he made were not an automatic sequence of the inspiration provided by Muhammad salAllahu alaihi wasalam, but also under his brilliant leadership himself. It may surprise some that Omar, a virtual unknown figure in the West, has ranked higher on this list than people like Charlemagne and Julius Caesar. However, the conquests made under Omar, taking into account both their size and their duration, are substantially more important than either of those two. We owe so much to Omar radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, subhanAllah, that particular moment as well. Now, what does this mean for us? I don't know whether to read these verses with a sense of pride or with a sense of shame. I honestly mean that, subhanAllah, when you read the verses and the stories, and then you go back to what's happening right now in al-Aqsa, is it pride or is it shame? Is it pride in the moral system, in the fact that when Omar radiAllahu anhu enters, and when Salah ad-Din al-Ayubi radiAllahu ta'ala anhu enters, we don't spill blood and do to others what has been done to us. We're not a people that defiled a sacred city. That's not who we are. The justice, the ethics, the contracts, the oaths, the way that people spoke about how they flourished and their civilizations under Muslim rule, obviously, the next time that it would transfer out of the Muslim hands would be the Crusades, by the way, and we know what the Crusaders did, not just to Muslims, but to Jews and to other Christians as well. So there's the pride of it, but there is the absolute shame of it as well. And I want to mention, subhanAllah, in conclusion, Ibn Omar radiAllahu ta'ala anhuma, it's said about him that he used to travel
from Al-Madinah to Al-Quds just to pray two rak'ahs, and he was afraid of missing out on the reward to the extent that he would not even drink water when he was there because of the reward of that place. The narration of the dua'a of Sulaiman alayhi as-salam that our Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam says, وَأَلَّا يَأْتِيَ هَٰذَا الْمَجْجِدَ أَحَدٌ لَا يُرِيدُ إِلَّا صَلَاتَ فِيهِ إِلَّا خَرَجَ مِن ذُنُوبِهِ كَيَوْمِ وَلَدَتُ أُمُّهُ That no one comes to this masjid seeking the pleasure of Allah subhanAllah ta'ala except that they leave this place as pure as the day that their mother gave birth to them. The narration that I already mentioned about the oil in the lamps. There's another weak narration subhanAllah that whoever puts on the ihram from Jerusalem and makes his way to Hajj or Umrah will be forgiven for all of their sins. And as I said, that's a weak narration. But subhanAllah we actually find people like Waqi' ibn Jarrah, the teacher of Imam al-Shafi'i rahimahullah ta'ala, who is authentically narrated to have made multiple Umrahs from that place wearing his ihram from Al-Aqsa, seeking that reward of being in Jerusalem and then Mecca and then in Medina all at the same time. The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam saying that the salah in Al-Aqsa is akin to 500 prayers elsewhere. And the sahaba, an authentic narration from Abu Dharr radiAllahu ta'ala. تذاكرنا ونحن عند رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم أيهما أفضل مسجد رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم أو مسجد بيت المقدس We were mentioning in the presence of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam which of the two masjids is better, the masjid of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam or masjid Al-Aqsa. And RasulAllah salAllahu alayhi wa sallam said صلات في مسجد هذا أفضل من أربع صلوات فيه That a salah in this masjid of mine أفضل من أربع صلوات It's better than four prayers in masjid Al-Aqsa. وَلَنِعْمَن مُصَلَّة But what a beautiful and blessed place that it is to pray.
وَلَيُشِكَنَّ أَنْ لَا يَكُونَ لِلْرَجُرِ مِثْلُ شَطَرِ فَرَسِهِ مِنَ الْأَرْضِ حَيْثُ يَرَى مِنْهُ بَيْتَ الْمَقْدِسِ خَيْرٌ لَهُ مِنَ الدُّنْيَا جَمِيعًا أَوْ قَالَ عَلَيْهِ الصَّلَاةُ وَاسْلَامُ خَيْرٌ مِنَ الدُّنْيَا وَمَا فِيهَا There will come a day, subhanAllah, there will come a day, the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam said there will come a day that the most beloved thing in the world to a believer would be to have a piece of land where they could look out to al-Aqsa and they would give up everything in the world for that opportunity. The whole dunya would be meaningless to them for the opportunity to have a piece of land where they could look out and they could see al-Masjid al-Aqsa and they could go out and they could pray in masjid al-Aqsa. SubhanAllah, what's at stake in Sheikh Jarrah? What's at stake in Silwan? What's at stake in these places that are being decimated every single day? And you think this isn't an issue of aqeedah? You think this isn't an issue of deen? You think this is just another political issue? This is an issue of creed for us. This is an issue of creed for us. This is an issue of iman for us. This is an issue of faith for us. Where the Prophet ﷺ is saying that day will come, subhanAllah, it's as if these ahadith speak to exactly what we witness. That the most beloved thing in the world to a person would be to have that opportunity. And so dear brothers and sisters, we read about this and we ask Allah ﷻ to forgive us for our inability and to make us amongst those that find izzah in al-Islam. The way that Umar ﷺ implemented, manifested, found and taught izzah in al-Islam. We ask Allah ﷻ to grant us the piety of those people as they prayed in that blessed gathering. We ask Allah ﷻ to liberate al-Masjid al-Aqsa. We ask Allah ﷻ to liberate al-Masjid al-Aqsa and what is around it.
We ask Allah ﷻ to liberate it once again and to allow for the Muslims to pray there in peace once again. We ask Allah ﷻ to restore the izzah of the Muslims through the izzah of al-Islam. To honor us through al-Islam. We ask Allah ﷻ that what we have lost of territory, what we have lost of connection, what we have lost of deen, that Allah ﷻ restore it for us. We ask Allah ﷻ to fill our hearts with faith, to fill our hearts with certainty, to fill our hearts with that which is beloved to Him. We ask Allah ﷻ to allow us to pray in our lifetimes in a liberated Masjid al-Aqsa. We ask Allah ﷻ that just as He gathered Umar and Bilal and Abdurrahman ibn Awf and Khalid and Amir, we ask Allah ﷻ to gather us in that place. We ask Allah ﷻ that just as He gathered Muhammad ﷺ, Isa ﷺ, Musa ﷺ and the prophets, we ask Allah ﷻ to gather us in that place and to allow us to pray in that place liberated. We ask Allah ﷻ to protect our brothers and sisters who are losing their homes around al-Aqsa. We ask Allah ﷻ that through our duas, through their duas, through the calls upon Him, we ask Allah ﷻ to protect those homes, to protect those families who are clinging to the most beloved places on earth in this moment. We ask Allah ﷻ to foil the plans of their oppressors. We ask Allah ﷻ to foil the plans of their occupiers. We ask Allah ﷻ to protect them. We ask Allah ﷻ to grant them the ability to persevere. And we ask Allah ﷻ not to make us amongst those, the sinful and the passive, but instead to make us amongst those that are active in that work in the best of our ability. And we ask Allah to forgive us for that which is out of our ability. And we ask Allah ﷻ to gather us not just in al-Aqsa, the way that He gathered the prophets, but to gather us with the prophets.
And we ask Allah ﷻ not just to gather us in the place where these sahaba gathered us, but to gather us with the sahaba in the highest level of Jannat al-Firdaws, with the anbiya, with the salihin, with the shuhada, with the siddiqun. We ask Allah ﷻ to grant us that place, al-Firdaws al-A'la. Allahumma ameen. Wa sallallahu wa sallamu ala nabiyyina Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma'in. InshaAllah ta'ala.
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