The Firsts (Sahaba Stories) | The Forerunners of Islam
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44
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Khawla Bint Hakim & Uthman Ibn Madhun: The Righteous Couple | The Firsts
52
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Al-Shifa bint Abdullah (ra): The Healer and Scholar | The Firsts Shorts
125
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Khalid ibn al-Walid (ra): The Legendary Military General | The Firsts
126
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Amr ibn al-As (ra): His Wicked Father and “Better” Brother | The Firsts
146
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Tulayha ibn Khuwaylid (ra): From False Prophet to Shaheed | The Firsts
147
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Zayd ibn al-Khattab (ra): The Quiet Brother of Omar (ra) | The Firsts
Shurahbil Ibn Hasana (ra): The Scribe and Commander | The Firsts Shorts
Shurahbil Ibn Hasana (ra) was a quiet soldier who spoke rarely but with great authority. Everyone knew his place, and he was never questioned by his peers.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Salamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Dear brothers and sisters, welcome back to the first shorts where we are looking at some of those early Muslims and companions of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam, who we don't have much narrated about, but we can extract lifelong lessons for ourselves biidhnillahi ta'ala. And if I was to address this particular lesson to anyone, it would be the people of modern day Jordan. You know, last week we talked about a man who was responsible for one of the major cities of Iraq, where much of Islamic civilization was produced. And today we are talking about a man who also was a quiet soldier. You don't have much about him, but is responsible for what is modern day Jordan and much of Palestine as well in coming into Islam. So let's talk about this man and his name is a very interesting one. His name is pronounced Shurahbil Ibn Hassana, Shurahbil Ibn Hassana radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And it can also be Shurahbil according to some of the scholars. So Shurahbil Ibn Hassana radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was one of the first to embrace Islam. We don't have a number that's attributed the way that we do with Utbah Ibn Ghazwan radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, who was according to one narration, the seventh who embraced Islam. But we do know that he's very early on. And Shurahbil radiAllahu ta'ala anhu is named after his mother, Ibn Hassana. And Hassana, his mother is also an early Muslim radiAllahu anha. So she'd also be considered one of the first Muslims. And why he's named after her, the scholars say is because she is the one who adopted him and raised him as a child. So there is actually very little known about his father. In fact, much dispute about who his father even was, what his actual name was radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. Some of the sources mention a man by the name of Abdullah bin Muta' and they say that he's
from Banu Kinda or Banu Tamim, one of the two famous tribes at the time. But at the end of the day, his mother adopted him as a child and he was named or attributed to his mother and his mother raised him. And later on in life, she would marry a man by the name of Sufyan Ibn Ma'mar radiAllahu ta'ala anhu from Al-Madinah who he and his sons became Muslim and he and his sons Jabir Ibn Sufyan Ibn Ma'mar and Junaada Ibn Sufyan Ibn Ma'mar who would be stepbrothers of Shura Hbil also would make the second hijrah to Abyssinia. So they originate from the lineage of the Ansar, but at the same time, they were settled in Mecca and they would migrate to Abyssinia along with Shura Hbil and his mother. So Shura Hbil radiAllahu ta'ala anhu like Utbah, we have nothing about him before the migration to Abyssinia. We know that he made the second hijrah to Abyssinia along with his mother and along with his stepfather and his stepbrothers. So when he is in Abyssinia, what we will see of him is that the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam would entrust him with a serious amanah, with a serious trust. And that is what is narrated authentically about Umm Habiba radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, the wife of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. Now if you remember when we spoke about Umm Habiba radiAllahu anhu, she has the most interesting story of marriage to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. Rasulullah SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam hears about the death of her husband Ubaidullah Ibn Jahsh in Abyssinia. So Umm Habiba radiAllahu anhu migrated to Abyssinia with Ubaidullah Ibn Jahsh. And we spoke about the dispute about whether or not he became Christian and he died actually not even as a Muslim in Abyssinia. But the point is that Umm Habiba is left as a widow in Abyssinia and in a very peculiar situation. And she is the daughter of Abu Sufyan.
So it is a very sensitive situation and the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam sends a proposal to Umm Habiba radiAllahu ta'ala anhu in Abyssinia all the way from Al-Madinah. And when she receives that proposal, she receives it on the part of a Najashi. So the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam actually addresses the Najashi radiAllahu ta'ala anhu to conduct the marriage on his behalf. And the Najashi radiAllahu ta'ala anhu from himself actually gave a mahr of 4000 dirhams and of course he held the wedding, the waleema, the feast of Umm Habiba radiAllahu ta'ala anhu in Abyssinia himself radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. So Umm Habiba radiAllahu anhu has an interesting marriage to the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam which we have already covered in some detail. Now where does Shurahbil come into play here? He was the person according to Umm Habiba radiAllahu ta'ala anhu that a Najashi sent her with to the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam. FabaAAatha biha ila Rasoolillahi SallAllahu alaihi wasallam maa shurahbil ibn hasanah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. This is an authentic narration of Abu Dawud. So he is the one who accompanies Umm Habiba radiAllahu ta'ala anhu from Abyssinia to Al-Madina where she would be reunited with the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam years after the actual nikah was conducted. So SubhanAllah that's a great honor to be entrusted with and it shows you the position of competency and honor that he has with the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam as well to have such a trust with him. However, the greater honor comes to him when he arrives in Al-Madina. So this was part of the community that stayed in Abyssinia for some time. They did not come back to Mecca and migrate with the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam to Madina. Rather, this was part of the community that settled in Abyssinia for some time and then came to the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam in Al-Madina.
When he arrives in Madina, the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam bestows upon him the honor of being one of Qutab al-Wahi, one of those who would be honored with writing down the revelation. He was a scribe of the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam as well as he was an early Muslim who also was one of the few people that was literate and of course because of the sacrifices that he had already made with the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam, he was deserving of such an honor. So the Quran that we have today, SubhanAllah, some of its original documentation comes at the hands of this man who is barely known to most of the Muslims, Shurah Bidh radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. So he didn't witness many of the battles with the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam. However, because of his skill and because of the position that he had in the Khilafah of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu assigned him to be a commander in the war on the apostates in the battle of Yamama in particular, we see that he was second in command after Khalid ibn al-Walid radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. So Khalid of course was first in command and he was second in command in that decisive battle of Yamama and he also used to run special operations at the time due to his unique skill set. After the battle of Yamama and the war against the apostates, Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu sends four divisions of the army under Khalid radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. One of them is commanded by Amr ibn al-As, one by Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah, one by Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan and one by Shurahbil ibn Hassanah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. So he's one of the main commanders that will then participate in the battles against the Byzantines in Asham. We find that he was a key participant in the fall of Busra, an important city in greater Syria and then he was also a commander in one of the most decisive battles against the
Byzantines known as the battle of Ajnadin where the Byzantines were beaten back into Damascus. So he was actually one of the commanders at the time. Now when Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu passed away, you might remember that Amr ibn al-Khattab radiAllahu anhu replaced Khalid ibn al-Walid radiAllahu anhu with Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu as the key commander. And it's significant that Abu Ubaidah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu when he assumes charge of the army, he left Shurahbil in his position. So he did not relieve Shurahbil of being the second in command, deputy commander under him as the battle turned not just beyond the Byzantines but eventually towards the Persians as well. However, his focus remains in the battles against the Byzantines, against the Romans at the time. So where does he shine most? Shurahbil radiAllahu anhu as I said in the very beginning of this episode is credited primarily for the opening of what is now Jordan as well as parts of Palestine. He had an army of about 7,000 people and was able to conquer the majority of that area. So subhanAllah those of you that are settled in Jordan in particular in parts of Palestine, this is a man who Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala did much on his hands that you are still reaping the blessings of today. So what do we have of him next is unfortunately his death in the plague of Amwas. So he is another one of those great companions that would pass away in the plague which we have been speaking about recently and of course hits home quite a bit now in the era of COVID-19. And in the plague of Amwas we find a very interesting argument between him and Amr bin al-As radiAllahu ta'ala anhu as Amr bin al-As was trying to come to a solution for
how to beat the plague and interestingly enough this really is a differing amongst the Muslims on social distancing to an extent. Amr bin al-As wanted to implement certain protocols. One of the things that he mentions to Amr bin al-As radiAllahu ta'ala anhu in the capacity of that is inni qad sahibtu rasoolAllahi salallahu alayhi wa salam wa amru adallu min jamali ahlihi. I was a companion of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam when Amr bin al-As was still more lost than the companion of his family, the camel of his family. So I was a companion of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam very early on when Amr bin al-As radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was still as misguided as a camel of his people or min ba'iri ahlihi in one narration or a wild beast of his people. And Amr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu said sadaq that he has told the truth. Shurah bil said these famous words he said about the plague innahu rahmatu rabbikum wada'watu nabiyyikum salAllahu alayhi wa salam wa mawtu salihin qablakum that this is the mercy of your Lord and the supplication of your Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and the death of the righteous that came before you. And as they were witnessing the death of some of the key companions, shurah bil radiAllahu ta'ala anhu passed away on the very same day as Abu Ubaidah bin al-Jarrah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. So this is again to give you the scope of how devastating this particular plague of Amwas was. Imagine losing your first in command, your second in command on the very same day to the very same plague. And that was the case with Abu Ubaidah bin al-Jarrah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu and shurah bil radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. He was about 67 years old, so a life lived fee sabeelillah, a life in which he was at the forefront of many different battalions. In fact, when you're reading about the battles of the Byzantines, there are very few times,
very few times, rarely will you come across a chapter except that the battalion of shurah bil radiAllahu ta'ala anhu is mentioned. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala accept his lifelong struggles for his cause and may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala accept his shahada. Allahuma ameen. JazakumAllahu khayran. InshaAllah ta'ala the next person that we will cover has a closer relationship to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam that's documented but still falls within these three commanders that we are talking about. I'll see you then inshaAllah. Wasalamualikoum wa rahmatullahi wa barakato.
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