As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. A'udhu billahi minash shaitanir rajim. Bismillahir rahmanir raheem. Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen. Wa ala adwana illa a'la al-dhalimeen. Wa ala aqeebatu lilmuttaqeen. Allahumma salli wa sallim wa baraka ala abdika wa rasulika Muhammadin sallallahu alaihi wa sallam wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallim tasliman kathira. So alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen. We are back with the first. And inshallah ta'ala we're going to move away from the incidents that we have been speaking about with al-Rajee' and bi'r ma'una. And as I mentioned, subhanAllah, it just so happened that those incidents of the massacres of Khubaib radiyaAllahu anhu and Asim al-Thabit radiyaAllahu anhu and all of them happened in the month of Safar. We're now in the month of Rabi' al-Awwal. And Rabi' al-Awwal, of course, is the month that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam was born in. It's also the month that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam passed away in. It's also the month that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam arrived in Medina in. And so it matches the hijrah. And we will be speaking inshallah ta'ala about someone whose entire story revolves around his love of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam when he first sees him enter into al-Medina. And that is Rabi'a ibn Ka'b al-Aslami radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. Now subhanAllah, this is where connecting the dots with some of the unknown companions really comes into play. If you remember, when we spoke about the hijrah of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam not so long ago, we talked about those who became Muslim along the way. Those who became Muslim along the way. Who can actually name them for me inshallah? There are some famous ones and then there is one that wasn't so famous. So who was the first one? Who has the most eloquent description of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam? Somebody? Come on. Umm Ma'bid radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu.
And then you had the bounty hunter. Who was the bounty hunter that caught the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam on the way of the hijrah? Suraq ibn Malik radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. And then you had the third person who we said is the least known person of them all. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam finds him on his way to al-Medina and as the Messenger of Allah salallahu alayhi wa sallam bumps into him, the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam gives da'wah to this chief and he and 70 of his followers embrace Islam. Who was he? Starts with a B. Burayda al-Aslami radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. Remember the whole story of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam when he asked him what tribe he's from? He said Aslam and the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam turned to Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu anhu and said salimna, we're safe. So notice the name right away, Rabi'a ibn Ka'b al-Aslami. This very famous companion, Rabi'a ibn Ka'b al-Aslami radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, is from that particular tribe. And in fact, Burayda radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, this mysterious figure in the background that becomes Muslim along the way of the hijrah, actually is going to play a role in this man's story. We don't have the exact moment that Rabi'a radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu embraces Islam. However, we do know that he's from the people of Burayda radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu and from the tribe of Aslam radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. Now this is a young man who's going to meet the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam as he is barely past his age of maturity. So he's a teenager when he sees the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam and he comes from the outskirts of Medina into Medina to see the Messenger of Allah salallahu alayhi wa sallam. So I want you to think about this teenager that comes into Medina and subhanAllah of the most beautiful statements that you'll find
is his statement of how he describes his first look at the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. He says, radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, كنت فتن حديث سني لما أشرقت نفسي بنور الإيمان وامتلأ فؤادي بمعاني الإسلام. He said, I was a young man who had just reached that age of adulthood when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala opened my heart with the light of faith and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala filled my intellect with the understanding of Islam. And he says, ولما اكتحلت عيني بمرأة رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم أول مرة. He said, the very first time that I laid my eyes on the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam قال أحببته حبا ملك علي كل جارحة من جوارحي. He said, I loved him with a love that literally encompassed my entire being. You know, you meet people and they strike you in a certain way. And with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in Mecca, they were blinded by their arrogance for all of those years. But the Ansar had a different way of interacting with the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And this young man says that when I saw him, it's not like my heart just changed. He said, it's not just qalbi, it's not just my heart. He said, every part of me suddenly became immersed in the love of this man sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. I knew nothing about him, but I just looked at him and I fell in love with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And so Rabi'a ibn Ka'b al-Aslami basically wants to plot a way to get close to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And one of the beautiful things about the story of Rabi'a ibn Ka'b radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, by the way, that I personally enjoy about reading about him, is that he's telling his son his inner thoughts throughout this.
So he's describing his journey with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam based upon the conversations that he's having with himself as he's seeing the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So he's telling his son, Nu'im, that I saw the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, or Na'im, I saw the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam the first time and I fell in love with him. And I basically decided to myself, I have to find a way to get close to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So you've kind of got this whole scene around the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in the Hijrah, right? You have the Ansar who are excited to receive the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Everyone's saying, come to my house, come to my house, let me be your neighbor, let me be your neighbor. And if you're an Ansari that's pitching a tent or you're trying to build some sort of a structure, you're trying to get as close to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam's house as possible, where he is as possible. And you've got the muhajireen that are already the closest of companions to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and they're only closer as a result of this journey that they took together. So how am I, Rabi'a ibn Ka'b al-Aslami, not from one of the main tribes of the Ansar, nor from the muhajireen of Mecca, going to find my way and sandwich myself in between all of this and gain the companionship of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam? So he's telling his son everything that happened. He said that, I decided to join Ahl as-Suffah, the young men that were sleeping in the back of the masjid that did not have a home yet. He said, I basically went and I slept in the masjid. And he describes life as being from Ahl as-Suffah. Now realize again, Rabi'a is unmarried, young, and he's from the outskirts of Medina. So he said that as the people of Ahl as-Suffah, Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam never received a gift and never received a meal. No food came to him except that the messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam would leave from his home and he would sit with us and he would share that food with us.
So he's giving you a look at Medina. So Ahl as-Suffah, who you would expect to be the most excluded, are already gaining a closeness to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam because anyone sends him a plate, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam brings the plate out to the masjid. He sits with Ahl as-Suffah and he eats with us. So he said, so I started to gain a closeness to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And it's not an exaggeration to say that you could count all of Rabi'a's narrations in 10, basically 10 narrations. And one of them is that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam received meat one day. And the messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam did not used to eat meat much because the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam would not have cooked food much. He would eat whatever he could find, alayhi salatu wa salam. And Rabi'a narrates that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said one day, اللحم سيد إدام الدنيا والآخرة That meat is the king of all food in this dunya and in the akhira. So yes, we're in Texas, we love our barbecues, we love our meat. And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was praising what it was like to receive meat. And of course when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam talks about the food of al-jannah, وَلَحْمِي طَيْرٍ Allah azawajal mentions, وَلَحْمِي طَيْرٍ مِمَّا يَشْتَهُونَ That the fresh meat of these large birds in jannah that fulfill the desires of all of its inhabitants. So the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam would rarely eat meat. He would rarely eat bread. And Rabi'a is basically giving you this insight that, you know, I kind of got to know the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam as one of Ahlus Sufi. I was one of those young men eating with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and trying to, you know, get some rapport with him alayhi salatu wa salam. So he says, So one day I said to myself, وَيْحَكَيَّا رَبِيْعَ Woe to you, O Rabi'a. Why don't you go and completely dedicate yourself لِخِدْمَةِ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَى اللَّهُ عَيُّ وَسَلَمُ Go dedicate yourself to a service.
Go tell the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, Ya Rasulullah, look, I'm only in Medina for one reason. I could be back with my people and Banu Aslam and I could be fed and I could be taken care of. I came here for one purpose. I came here to be in your service. I came here to be your student. So go, اَعْرَضْ نَفْسَكْ Go present yourself to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam to basically be another Anas ibn Malik radiyallahu anhu, to be another one of those young men around the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Now it's an important footnote here that most of those young people that dedicated themselves to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam came later on in the seerah. Abu Huraira radiyallahu ta'ala anhu comes much later. Abdullah ibn Abbas radiyallahu anhuma, literally the last three years of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam's life in Medina. Most of those people that were there with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam hand in hand, foot by foot, come later on in his life alayhis salatu was salam. So this is still early enough to gain that type of a relationship with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And he's saying, وَقُلْتُ فِي نَفْسِي And I said to myself, فَإِن رَضِيَ بِكَ سَعِدْتَ بِقُرْبِهِ وَفُسْتَ بِحُبِّهِ So actually even his thoughts are poetic. He says, if he's pleased with you, if the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam accepts you, then you will find joy in his closeness, and you will find success in his love sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. وَحَضِيتَ بِخَيْرَيَ الدُّنْيَا وَالْآخِرَةَ And you will be lucky enough, blessed enough, to have the fortune of this life and the next. If you get the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam to love you, if you enter into his heart, if he starts to take notice of you, you got the dunya, you got the akhira. You got this life and the next. So he says, so I basically waited for the moment, to talk to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So imagine a day after salah or so, in Masjid An-Nabawi, and I called the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. I told the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam,
Ya Rasulullah, my name is Rabi'a, I'd like to present myself to your service. Anything you need Ya Rasulullah, I want to be there for you. قال فلم يخيب رجائي The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam did not disappoint me. He did not disappoint me. He's preparing himself for the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam to basically give him a denial or to say, there's a lot going on right now in Medina, come back in a few months. قال فلم يخيب رجائي He did not disappoint me, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And he accepted me, to basically be at his service, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and to be with him. So he said from that day onwards, he said I lived in his shadow, alayhi wa sallam. قال أسير معه أينما سار وأدور في فلكه كيفما دار He said I would be with him wherever he went, and I moved in his orbit, wherever he looked. Right, he's even telling you how close I was to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam never looked left or right, except I was right there with him. He walked somewhere, I was right there with him. I was always right within his glance, waiting for him, alayhi wa sallam, to say to me, ربيعه, do something. So I waited for him to just give me one طلب, one request, one ask. But you have a humble messenger, alayhi wa sallam. He does for himself what he does for himself, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And he's in the khidmah of other people, he's serving other people. So Rabi'ah is saying, I basically stayed next to him, I walked with him, I tried to serve him in any way that I possibly could. He said, if the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam looked in my direction, I would stand up, anticipating the request, الطلب. And if the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam even suggested that he had a need, he said I would go and I would fulfill it. Okay? So he's basically standing guard, this teenager,
with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, standing with him, alayhi wa sallam, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. قَالَ وَأَقُومُ لَهُ فِي حَوَائِجِهِ نَهَارِي أَجْمَعُ حَتَّى يُصَلِّي رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَمَ الْعِشَاءِ الْأَخِيْرَةِ He said that, I would stay with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam throughout the day, basically focus my entire day on him, alayhi wa sallam, until the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam would pray the second Isha. Now for the terminology of hadith, Maghrib and Isha in hadith literature are called the two Ishas. So when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says staying in the Masjid between Al-Isha'ain, the two Ishas, Maghrib is also called the first Isha, Isha is called the last Isha, the final Isha. So he said, I would stay with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam all the way until the last Isha, until the end of the night, and it's pitch black. And he said, and I thought to myself, maybe I should leave and go back to the Masjid now, let me go back to Ahl as-Suffah, let me go sleep under the shelter of the Masjid. And he said, then I said to myself, لعلها أن تحدث لرسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم حاجة but maybe the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam will need something at night. Maybe I'll get lucky one night, and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam will suddenly need something at night. So he said, that I basically would go and prepare, get the wudu for the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And I put it at his door at night. And he said, فإذا دخل بيته صلى الله عليه وسلم when he entered into his home, قال أجلس ببابه I would sit at his doorstep عليه الصلاة والسلام and I would wait until he would come out. So when we talk about sticking to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, Rabi'ah is not letting up.
He's showing the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, I'm here, يا رسول الله, I'm here, يا رسول الله, I'm here. So subhanAllah, I want you to actually get the image in your head. Think about the hujra of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Think about his grave, عليه الصلاة والسلام, his house. And imagine yourself night after night sleeping outside of his house. And you can hear his voice in qiyam al-layl. SubhanAllah, what a life. What a life. So imagine putting your head down and listening to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam read at night. And he said that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam would recite for a long time at night. And he said, I would doze off and then I'd wake up. And he said, I would hear the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam say, الحمد لله رب العالمين and then it would go a long time and then I'd hear, سمع الله لمن حميده and I'd wake up. So, he said that sometimes the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam would pray half the night. Sometimes he would pray a third of the night, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And he said, and I would sit there the entire night waiting for him, عليه الصلاة والسلام. And he said that my eyes would sometimes get the better of me and I'd fall asleep and I'd wait for him to come out for fajr, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Then he comes to the main ask. He says, وَقَدْ كَانَ مِنْ عَادَةِ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَى اللَّهُ عَنِهِ وَسَلَمَ أَنَّهُ مَا صَنَعَ لَهُ أَحَدًا مَعْرُوفًا إِلَّا أَحَبَّ أَن يُجَازِيَهُ عَلَيْهِ بِمَا هُوَ أَجَلُّ مِنْهُ He said that it was a habit of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam that no one would do something for the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam would like to do something for him that was greater than that.
If you did a favor for the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, if you gave him a gift, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam hated to not be able to respond with something else. قَالَ وَقَدْ أَحَبَّ أَن يُجَازِيَنِي عَلَى خِدْمَةِ لَهُ The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam really wanted to reward me for all of my khidmah for him. Now, what is he talking about so far? Is he bringing some wudu' to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam? Is he asking him to bring the water to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam? Just his being alert, this young man who clearly loves the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam with everything that he has. So, he says, فَأَقْبَلَ عَلَيَّ ذَاتَ يَوْمٍ He came to me one day, and he said, يَا رَبِيعَةُ بْنُ كَعَبٍ So Rabi'a stood up, excited, because he thought, I got a request. قَالَ فَقُلْتُ لَبَّيْكَ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ وَسَعْدَيْكَ Here I am, O Messenger of Allah, and may Allah keep you happy, ready to go, ready for your order. But he said, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam caught me by surprise. He said to me, سَلْنِي Ask me. Come again, Ya Rasulullah? What do you mean, ask me? You ask me. I'm here for you. I'm here at your service. قَالَ يَا رَبِيعَةُ سَلْنِي شَيْئًا أَعْطِهِ لَكَ O Rabi'a, ask me anything that I can give it to you. Anything that you want, Ya Rabi'a. I mean, you've been here as a young man, subhanAllah. You're sleeping in front of my doorstep. You're following me. You're in my orbit constantly. I look everywhere. You're ready to do whatever I want. Rabi'a, ask me. Ask me for anything. Now Rabi'a is a young man, and he's poor. He's living in the masjid. He can ask the Prophet ﷺ for anything. He says to the Prophet ﷺ, Ya Rasulullah, anzirni. Anzuru fi amri. O Messenger of Allah, give me some time. Let me think about it.
Give me some time. Let me think about it. And he said to him, ثُمَّ أُعْلِمُكَ بِذَٰلِكَ Then I'll tell you what it is, Ya Rasulullah. So can I have some time? The Prophet ﷺ said, لَا بَأْسَ عَلَيْكَ فَانظُرْ فِي أَمْرِكَ Go ahead, O Rabi'a. Think about what you want to ask me. Now this is different from genie-in-a-bottle types of movies. This is Rasulullah ﷺ saying to you, Ask me anything. Ask me for anything. And so Rabi'a, being a young man, he said, I went home that night being in the shelter of the Suffah. And he said, I was a young man. I was poor. I had no wife. I had no wealth. I had no home. He said, I was just one of the poor Muslims in the masjid. And he says, People used to call us, ضُيُوفِ الْإِسْلَامِ The guests of al-Islam. One of these young men from Ahl al-Suffah. And he said, When Muslims would send charity, the Prophet ﷺ would come and he would share it with us. And he said that, I thought to myself, I could ask the Prophet ﷺ for anything. So I got to think of something comprehensive here, right? Like this is a one-wish type of thing, right? And the Prophet ﷺ is going to grant it to me. Then he says, It occurred to me to ask the Prophet ﷺ for something of this world that would take me out of poverty and make me wealthy or perhaps a wife or perhaps some children. And he said, Then I said to myself, so he's constantly coming back to, فَكَرْتُ فِي نَفْسِي أَوْ قُلْتُ لِنَفْسِي I said to myself, تَبًّ لَكَ يَا رَبِيعَةَ What is wrong with you, O Rabi'a? May you perish. فَفَكَرْتُ فِي نَفْسِي فَعْرَفْتُ أَنَّ الدُّنْيَا مُنْقَطِعَةٌ زَائِلَةٌ وَأَنَّ لِفِيهَا رِزْقًا سَيَكْفِينِي وَيَأْتِينِي He said, I realize that this dunya, this world is going to cut off, it's temporary and it's eventually going to cut off, it's going to go away from us. And the rizq, the sustenance that Allah has written for me is going to come to me in any way that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has decreed anyway.
But the Prophet ﷺ has a manzilah, he has a position with his Lord. لا يرد له طلب And the Prophet ﷺ would not be rejected in whatever request he made of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So I said to myself, let me ask the Prophet ﷺ for something of this akhira, something of the hereafter rather than something of this world. So he said, I went to the Prophet ﷺ afterwards, Prophet ﷺ looks at me, clearly I'm ready to make the ask, presenting myself. The Prophet ﷺ is expecting what? Ya Rasulullah, go get me married. Ya Rasulullah, can you give me some money? Ya Rasulullah, can you get me this? So the Prophet ﷺ said, ما فعلت يا ربيعة? What is it O Rabi'ah? What did you come up with? So I said, Ya Rasulullah, مرافقتك في الجنة. Ya Rasulullah, your company in Jannah. This is the central story of the life of Rabi'ah رضي الله تعالى عنه. Prophet ﷺ looks at him, and he's actually surprised. Now here's the thing, he's a young man, and it's a very mature answer. So it could be, did Rabi'ah go talk to his parents, or did he go talk to some elders in the tribe, or talk to some of the more mature sahaba, and come up with that very religious answer. So the Prophet ﷺ says, من أمرك بهذا يا ربيعة? Who told you to say that, O Rabi'ah? Which the commentators of hadith say is a sign of how young Rabi'ah was, to give you the image. He's a young boy. I told you to say, your companionship in Jannah. قلت لا والله يا رسول الله والذي بعثك بالحق ما أمرني به أحد. I said, I swear O Messenger of Allah, by the one who sent you in truth, no one told me to say that. وَلَكِنَّكَ لَمَّا قُلْتَ لِي سَلْنِي أَعْطِكَ When you said to me, ask me, and I will give to you.
وَكُنْتَ مِنَ اللَّهِ بِالْمَنْزِلِ الَّذِي أَنْتَ بِهِ And you are in the station with Allah that you are in. نَظَرْتُ فِي أَمْرِي I looked at my position, I looked at myself. وَعَرَفْتُ أَنَّ الدُّنْيَا مُنْقَطِعَةٌ وَزَائِلَةٌ I knew that this world is temporary, and it's going to pass. وَأَنَّ لِي فِيهَا رِزْقًا سَيَأْتِينِ And the sustenance of this world is going to come to me anyway. فَقُلْتُ لِنَفْسِي And I said to myself, أَسْأَلُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ لِآخِرَةِ I'm going to ask the Prophet ﷺ for something in regards to my afterlife. And the Prophet ﷺ, he got quiet for a long time. صَمَطَ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَى اللَّهِ وَسَلَّمَ طَوِيلًا He took his time ﷺ. He's looking at Rabi'a, interesting young man here. So the Prophet ﷺ, he said to me, إِنِّي فَاعِلٌ I'm going to ask Allah for what you said. فَأَعِنِّي عَلَى نَفْسِكَ بِكَثْرَةِ السُّجُودِ But you need to help me help you by increasing in your prostrations, increasing your sujood. Help me help you, O Rabi'a, because what you are asking is not an easy thing. There are a lot of people that want the companionship of the Prophet ﷺ in Jannah. Listen to me, O young man. Help me help you by increasing in your sujood. Now the ʻilmah mentioned here, subhanAllah, the increase of sujood is the increase of salah, the increase of nawafil, the increase of voluntary prayers, the increase of qiyam al-layl. The greatest sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ is his extra ibadah, because the greatest wasf, the greatest description of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in his person is that he was the greatest slave of Allah ﷻ that has ever walked the face of the earth.
After his capacity as a rasool, his risalah, it is his ibadah that distinguishes him ﷺ. It's his worship. So help me help you by increasing in salah. Don't just throw a comment like that and then walk away and say the Prophet ﷺ made du'a, now I'm done. I need you to pray more. I need you to increase. And the Prophet ﷺ said that as well about Abdullah ibn Umar ﷺ. Ni'ma al-rajul, what a great young man Abdullah is. He needs to pray a little bit more at night. Because the Prophet ﷺ wants these companions of his close to him in Jannah. I need you to pray more. So Rabi'a, how does he match this from the Prophet ﷺ? Qala faja'altu ad'abu fil ibadah. He said, so I went home and I put myself in a situation where I immersed myself in the worship of Allah ﷻ. Bi ahzabi murafaqati rasoolillahi ﷺ fil jannah. Kama hadhita bi khidmatihi wa suhbatihi fid dunya. So that I could have the companionship of the Prophet ﷺ in Jannah. The way that I was fortunate enough to be in his presence and to be in his service in this world. I went back to the masjid. I put myself into salah. And I kept exerting myself in worship. And I kept pushing myself to do more. This basically becomes the rallying call of Rabi'a ﷺ against himself, against his own nafs. And then, sometimes afterwards, the Prophet ﷺ, he says, Rabi'a. He said, labbayk ya rasoolallah wa sa'dayk. What is it, ya rasoolallah? I'm ready. He said, ala ta'tazawwuj. Don't you want to get married now? You're a young man. Most of the young men in the masjid are talking about getting married. Isn't that what you really want? Because that's what the Prophet ﷺ was expecting him to ask the first time around. Ala ta'tazawwuj. Don't you want to get married?
You already got what you wanted in terms of your request. The sohbah of the Prophet ﷺ in Jannah. May Allah ﷻ make us all his close ones in Jannah. His murafiqah, subhanallah, his close companionship in Jannah. So Rabi'a said, I said to the Prophet ﷺ, ya rasoolallah ma uhibbu an yashghalani an khidmatika shay. O Messenger of Allah, I don't want anything to take me away from serving you. Subhanallah, look at this man's heart. Look at this young man and how he's completely dedicating himself to the Prophet ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ sakat. The Prophet ﷺ got quiet. You know the Prophet ﷺ was proud of him. You know the Prophet ﷺ loved the zeal of this young man. Then he waited a little bit. Why? Because maybe Rabi'a gave an overzealous answer and maybe he thought about it a bit. So he said, Rabi'a, I said, labbayka ya rasoolallah wa sa'dayk. Qala alatat zawaj. Do you want to get married? So he said to the Prophet ﷺ, ya rasoolallah ma uhibbu an yashghalani an khidmatika shay. O Messenger of Allah, I don't want anything to take me away from serving you. I'm good, ya rasoolallah. And then he added the second time, wa ma a'indi ma u'til mar'ah. And I don't have anything to give as a mahr even if I got married. So I'm poor too. So it's not even if I wanted to get married, I have no way of getting married, ya rasoolallah. So he said, the Prophet ﷺ says, okay. And he walked away. Then Rabi'a, still telling you what's in his mind, he said, I said to myself, layhaka ya Rabi'a. What's wrong with you, O Rabi'a? He said, Rasool Allah ﷺ, he knows you better. He knows what's better for you. Rasool Allah ﷺ, a'lamu bima a'indi hatta yad'uni ila tazweej. He knows what I have for him to tell me, do you want to get married? La'in da'ani hadhi almar'ah, la ujibanna.
He said, if the Prophet ﷺ calls me to this once again, if he tells me again, do you want to get married? I'm going to say yes. So I'm going to wait for him. I'm not going to go to him and say, Rasool Allah ﷺ, I thought about it. Actually, I do want to get married. I'm just going to wait till the next time that he says, do you want to get married now? And the Prophet ﷺ knows these young people around him. So he knows what I have. He knows my situation. He knows what's better for me. So Rabi'a says, I'm waiting. I'm waiting. And the Prophet ﷺ says, Ya Rabi'a, O Rabi'a. He said, what is it, Ya Rasool Allah? Qala ala tazweej? You want to get married? So I said, Ya Rasool Allah, waman yuzawujuni? Wama'indi ma'ooti almar'ah? He said, O Messenger of Allah, who's going to marry me and I have nothing to give? I have nothing to show for myself. I'm a poor young man in the masjid. All I do here is I live with Ahl as-Suffah and then I fetch your wudu' and I follow you around, O Messenger of Allah. What do I have? So the Prophet ﷺ, now this is his turn to go into next gear. So the Prophet ﷺ says, intalak ila bani fulan. I want you to go to this very particular family. Go to this family. Faqul lahum inna Rasool Allah ﷺ ya'murukum an tuzawujuni fatatakum fulan. Go tell them that the Prophet ﷺ is commanding you to marry this girl to me. So usually the Prophet ﷺ, by the way, he doesn't give this type of a command. Usually the Prophet ﷺ opens it up. He proposes on behalf of some of his companions. But this is amr. The Prophet ﷺ knows what he's doing here. This is a command. So Rabi'ah is supposed to walk up to this family's house. This poor young man that lives in the masjid and that's known to serve the Prophet ﷺ knock on the door and say, by the way, the Prophet ﷺ came to me. He said that you need to marry your daughter to me.
So Rabi'ah basically says, so I said, okay. So I went to them and knocked on the door. They opened the door. As-salamu alaykum wa alaykum as-salam. He says, inna Rasool Allah ﷺ arsalani ilaykum li tuzawujuni fatatakum fulan. The Prophet ﷺ sent me here to marry your daughter so and so. Qalu fulana, they said, her? Like they're astounded a bit. So clearly she's from a different type of family, right? She's probably of a higher class or she's someone who comes from one of the noble tribes. But the Prophet ﷺ knows what he's doing. So they said, fulana? He said, her? Like, are you sure that the Prophet ﷺ sent you to do this? Rabi'ah said, that's what he said. Sent me. He said, you need to go marry and he gave me the name. So Rabi'ah knows this could go in many different directions. He then said, marhaban bi Rasool Allah ﷺ wa marhaban bi Rasoolihi. Welcome to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and to the Messenger of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. We know that the Prophet ﷺ knows better for us. So we're happy. Congratulations. They basically get together as a family. Qala fazawujuni. They contracted everything right there. We sat together and basically that's it. Qala fa ateytu Rasool Allah ﷺ. So I came back to the Prophet ﷺ in the masjid and I said, Ya Rasool Allah, ateytuka min khayri ahlul bayt. Ya Rasool Allah, I have come to you from of the best of the families, the best households. Khayri ahlul bayt. One of the best families, one of the best things I've ever seen. Sadaquni, wazawujuni Ya Rasool Allah. Ya Rasool Allah, they believed me and they married her to me. It was that easy. You just sent me there. And I said that the Prophet ﷺ has sent me to marry your daughter so and so.
And they went ahead and they did it. So the Prophet ﷺ is saying that's great. And then he says, But Ya Rasool Allah, fa ayn li ma u'ti sadaqi? But how do I give her a mahr? I don't have anything to give her. So I have another problem here. You told them to marry her to me but I don't have nothing to give her. So the Prophet ﷺ, he called Burayda al-Aslami. This is where Burayda comes back into the picture. That last person to accept Islam on the hijrah of the Prophet ﷺ. And Burayda was a chief of the clan of Sahm from Banu Aslam. So he's one of the chiefs of the tribe. And he said, Ya Burayda, ijma'u li rabi'a fi sadaqihi fi wazni nawat. That gather for rabi'a enough of a mahr for a nuwat of dhahab. Some gold for him to take. A nuwat is a measure of gold. So gather amongst yourselves, your clan, something for him to take to present to this woman as a gift for her mahr. So he said that Burayda said, I've got it Ya Rasool Allah. They came back, they gave him his gold. He said, I went back to the family, I gave them the gold. And he said, fa qabiluha, they accepted the gold. So everything is looking great, right? And then he said, then I said to the Prophet ﷺ, Ya Rasool Allah, qad qabilu, alhamdulillah, they accepted. fa min ayna li ma'ulim? But how do I have a wedding? I've got nothing to invite people to. I can't afford the wedding feast. So what now? The Prophet ﷺ at any point could just pass him off and say, you know what? Rabi'a, you're going to be my companion in Jannah. This is getting a little bit too excessive. Go talk to Burayda and figure this all out now. I got you the girl, I got you a companionship in Jannah. I've done everything for you. Go figure this out. But the Prophet ﷺ continues to be engaged with him.
So he calls Burayda again. And he says to Burayda, go ahead and gather amongst yourselves enough money for him to sacrifice an animal for his waleema. And then he says to me, Rabi'a says that he says to me, go to Aisha, my wife. Qul laha, and say to her, what do you have from sha'ir? What barley do you have to provide for the feast as well? Tell her that I'm sending you to her. So Rabi'a, I mean imagine being this young man knocking on the door of Aisha, your husband Rasulullah ﷺ sent me. He said, whatever you have of barley, I want to take back for my wedding. So Aisha radiallahu ta'ala anha, she pulled out seven, you know, seven of barley, which would be seven bags or seven grams or whatever it may be of barley, seven sa'a. Basically, whatever she could find. And she said, wallahi, this is all we have in the house. So they emptied out the cabinet of the Prophet ﷺ for this young man. So then he goes to the house of the family. And by the way, the family's name is never mentioned at any point in this narration. But we know it's a righteous family. And he has a ram. And he said, I've got the bag of sha'ir, of barley from the house of the Prophet ﷺ. Everything the Prophet ﷺ had in his house. And I said to them, here's our wedding food. What do we do for the waleema? So they said, ask for the sha'ir, give it to us. We'll prepare the barley. Ask for the ram. You and your companions go and slaughter it and cook it. Right, you go take care of the meat. We'll take care of the barley. So he said, so we went. And me and some of the young men of the masjid, we went and we sacrificed the sheep. We skinned it, we cooked it. And her family prepared the barley. And then he said,
fa-asbaha wallahi indana khubzun wa lahm. He said, just like that. All of a sudden we've got bread and meat. This is what we need for a party. So he said, so then I went to the Prophet ﷺ and I asked him to attend my waleema. SubhanAllah. Now can you come to my wedding, Ya Rasulullah? So he said, the Prophet ﷺ gathered whoever was there from his companions. And he came and he attended my waleema ﷺ. And we ate whatever we had of that bread and that meat. And subhanAllah, the best of this dunya and the best of the akhira is coming to him. And then he says, then the Prophet ﷺ, he allotted for me, he gifted me a land right next to Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. So he gifted me a piece of property as well. So here's your, you're going to need a house now. You can't live anymore in the masjid. You're going to need to go get yourself settled over there, Ya Rabi'a. So Rabi'a radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, who's already been guaranteed the murafiqah, the companionship, the close companionship of the Prophet ﷺ in Jannah is now the neighbor of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, in Madinah. But listen to what he says. He said, فَدَخَلَتْ عَلَيْهَا الدُّنْيَا He said, just like that though, I felt like I became materialistic. So this was too much for me all of a sudden, right? I was used to being completely in the service of the Prophet ﷺ. He said, but now I've got property, I've got a wife, you know. Allahu a'af. I've got a camel or a horse, but I'm good now, right? Everything is getting very materialistic for me. And this is, subhanAllah, probably the only other story that you find with him, with the companions, outside of being in the service of the Prophet ﷺ. He said, حَتَّ اخْتَلَفْتُ مَعَ أَبِي بَكْرٍ عَلَى نَخْلَةٍ He said, but then I got into an argument with Abu Bakr about one palm tree. So we're neighbors, and there was a palm tree kind of on the property line. So he said, I said to Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu,
هِيَ فِي حَدِّ This is on my side. And Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu said, No, Rabi'a, this is on my side. And he said that we started to argue. فَقَالَ أَبُو بَكْرٍ كَرِيمَةً كَرِهْتُهَا He said, Abu Bakr said a word that hurt my feelings. That's all he said. He didn't say what Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiAllahu anhu said, but he said in the midst of that exchange, this shows, subhanAllah, the human side of these companions sometimes. In the midst of them arguing like what part of the tree is for who. Abu Bakr said something that hurt me. And he said as soon as he said the word, and Abu Bakr realized that he hurt me with that word. He said to me, يَا رَبِيْعَ رُدَّ عَلَيَّ مِثْلَهَا Oh Rabi'a, say that same word back to me. حَتَى يَكُونَ قِصَاصًا So that we can be equal. I don't want to meet Allah on the Day of Judgment having said a word that hurt you. So Rabi'a, say the same word that I said that hurt you back to me. So now the conversation has shifted from the tree to Abu Bakr saying, Rabi'a, say it back to me now. Rabi'a said, وَاللَّهِ لَا أَفْعَلْ No way, I'm not saying it, but you're Abu Bakr. I'm not going to say a hurtful word back to you. Abu Bakr is saying, Rabi'a, I said it to you, I hurt you, I slipped. You should say it back to me. I don't want to meet Allah subhanAllah with that word on my record. And Rabi'a said, وَاللَّهِ لَا أَفْعَلْ Abu Bakr, I'm not going to say this back to you. I'm this young, who am I? Little Rabi'an, you're Abu Bakr, come on. It's not happening. So Abu Bakr said, please say it back to me. And then when he got tired, Abu Bakr said, I'm going to go to the Prophet ﷺ and say to the Prophet ﷺ what happened so he can tell you to say it back to me so I don't have to meet Allah subhanAllah with this on the Day of Judgment. SubhanAllah, look at the man's fear of Allah. This is Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And he's afraid of a word that slipped in the midst of a heated argument that might have hurt his brother. Who is in status greater?
Abu Bakr is way up here. Way up here. No one is close to Abu Bakr. And we know this. That the Prophet ﷺ did not like anyone to bother Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. He knew who Abu Bakr was. And Abu Bakr knows his status. But Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu is afraid, I slipped. So what does that mean for us? When we slip and we say something hurtful to another brother or sister. We say, well she deserved it or he deserved it. So Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu started walking towards the Prophet ﷺ. This is a very small city by the way. It's not like you got to get in your car and then start driving a few miles. They live very close to the Prophet ﷺ. So he said, Abu Bakr started to walk towards the Prophet ﷺ. And I thought to myself, what do I do here? Right, I'm going to get in trouble with the Prophet ﷺ because I upset Abu Bakr. I don't know how to deal with this situation. And he said, Fajaa'u nasu min aslam. Like subhanAllah, word travels fast. My tribe heard that I got into an argument with Abu Bakr. So they came to me and they said to me, you should go to the Prophet ﷺ and say to the Prophet ﷺ, Abu Bakr said a hurtful word to you. He should apologize to you. You shouldn't apologize to him and go. I said to them at that point, Atadroona man hatha? You know who he is? Do you people from Banu Aslam understand who this man is? Hatha Abu Bakr as-Siddiq. Wa huwa thani ithnayn. Wa huwa thushaybat al-muslimin. So this is Abu Bakr as-Siddiq. He's the second of the two in the cave that's mentioned in the Qur'an. He is the leader of the Muslims. He is who he is. What are you talking about? So I said to them, leave me alone. Go back to where you came from. Do not cause me to upset Abu Bakr. And he said, and by the way, leave quickly because I don't want Abu Bakr to turn around and to see you all here and to think that I'm gathering up the people against him.
And then the Prophet ﷺ would become upset. Fayaghdhabu li ghadhabihi. The Prophet ﷺ would get upset for Abu Bakr. Fayaghdhabu li ghadhabihi ma. And then Allah would get upset because Rasulullah ﷺ and Abu Bakr are upset. Fayahliku Rabi'a. And then Rabi'a would be destroyed. Don't mess this up for me. Do not escalate. Go back. So they said, thama ta'muruna. They said, so what do you want us to do? He said, irji'u. Go. Leave. So Rabi'a said, so I went to the Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr. I'm terrified. What am I going to do? And I see Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And it's not like Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu is getting Rabi'a in trouble, but he's afraid that the Prophet ﷺ is going to be upset because of the stress of Abu Bakr. Right? He said, so I sat with them and the Prophet ﷺ said, what is it, ya Rabi'a? Ma laka was-siddiq? What happened between you and al-Siddiq? Tell me your side of the story. I said, ya Rasulullah, it was like this and like that. He said, we had a little bit of an argument. He said a word that I didn't like. And then he said to me, say to me what I said to you so that we can be equal. And I didn't want to say that to him, ya Rasulullah, because he's Abu Bakr and who am I? I didn't want to insult him or hurt his feelings in that way. So the Prophet ﷺ says, you did well. Don't respond to Abu Bakr with that word that he wants you to respond with, but instead say to him, may Allah forgive you, oh Abu Bakr. So imagine the Prophet ﷺ sitting with Abu Bakr al-Siddiq. He said, Rabi'a, just say to him, may Allah forgive you. And that's it. So he said, so I turned to Abu Bakr al-Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala anhu
and I said, may Allah forgive you, oh Abu Bakr. And he said, Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu broke down into tears. And he said, until his beard became wet and he started to grab his beard and he said, may Allah reward you, oh Rabi'a. And he said, and Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu walked home and you could hear him crying. SubhanAllah. This is the man al-Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala anhu who was always there for the Prophet ﷺ. Remember he feared, because of his siddq, because of his truthfulness, he feared that his tongue be used in a way that's not pleasing to Allah. He used to walk around holding his tongue and he used to say, woe to you, oh Abu Bakr, woe to you. So Rabi'a has that one incident that he narrates with al-Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And subhanAllah, what we get is a man who has been guaranteed the companionship of the Prophet ﷺ, a neighbor of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala anhu in this dunya. And when the Prophet ﷺ passes away, subhanAllah, what we see from him is that he basically goes into complete silence. See a lot of people outlived the Prophet ﷺ and they went on to narrate. Many of them went on to become teachers. As for Rabi'a radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, al-Hakim says about him that وَلَمْ يَزَلْ يَلْزَمُ النَّبِيِّ صَلَى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ بِالْمَدِينَ وَيَغْزُوا مَعَهُ حَتَّى قُبِدَ فَنَزَلَ بِلَادِ أَسْلَمٍ He said that as for Rabi'a, he stayed with the Prophet ﷺ, he went through every battle with him ﷺ, he was his shadow. But when the Prophet ﷺ died, he just went back to his people and he lived a quiet life. You've got to appreciate for a moment how much the death of the Prophet ﷺ
would impact a young man like that. Some of the scholars mentioned that he might be the man who said to the Prophet ﷺ, who was crying one day because he remembered a day that the Prophet ﷺ would die or that he would die. And maybe I won't be with you in Jannah. I won't get to your level in Jannah. So Rabi'a, subhanAllah, only has a handful of narrations to his son Na'im ibn Rabi'a ibn Ka'b al-Aslami, who narrated from him. And the other one, Abu Salama ibn Abdur-Rahman ibn Auf. Abu Salama ibn Abdur-Rahman ibn Auf رضي الله تعالى عنه was one of the fuqaha of the tabi'in, one of the jurists of the tabi'in, narrated the fiqh of his father, narrated from his father and many of the companions. And he narrates some of the things from Rabi'a رضي الله تعالى عنه. And all you get is a handful of narrations about the wudu of the Prophet ﷺ. He narrates, رأيت رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم مسح على خفيه صلى الله عليه وسلم. I saw the Prophet ﷺ wiping over his خف صلى الله عليه وسلم, his socks عليه الصلاة والسلام. We're not going to get into a debate about how thick. But he is the one, or he is one of those who narrates that incident. And that's all he has are these few narrations with the Prophet ﷺ in that regard. And he basically goes into his sadness رضي الله تعالى عنه. And he awaits the moment that he will be reunited with the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم. And he passes away رضي الله تعالى عنه sadly in وقعة الحرّة. وقعة الحرّة was the massacre of Medina that took place under Yazid ibn Muawiyah. If you go back to the seerah of Anas ibn Malik رضي الله تعالى عنه. This is where Anas رضي الله تعالى عنه said that he lost over a hundred of his progeny on that day. Over 800 of the Muhajireen and the Ansar were massacred in Medina on that day in وقعة الحرّة. Rabi'a ibn Ka'b al-Aslami
happens to be one of those shuhada رضي الله تعالى عنه who was killed in that day. And so he attains a shahada. He attains the position with the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. He's at the centerpiece of any conversation of what it means to love the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم truly. And this was in the year 36 after hijrah in the month of Dhul Hijjah رضي الله تعالى عنه و أرضاه. I just simply want you to sort of leave with that thought of بإذن الله تعالى walking into Jannah. And this man who used to sleep at the doorstep of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and his palace next to the palace of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and him walking around the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم What is your name? My name is Rabi'a ibn Ka'b al-Aslami رضي الله تعالى عنه May Allah عز و جل be pleased with him and may Allah سبحانه وتعالى bestow that love of the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم in our hearts as well and gather us with him صلى الله عليه وسلم اللهم آمين. Insha'Allah ta'ala I'll take maybe a couple of questions and then we will break for صلاة العشاء. And next week insha'Allah ta'ala we will talk about another young companion Abu Sa'id al-Khudri رضي الله تعالى عنه Any questions? Yeah.