The Firsts (Sahaba Stories) | The Forerunners of Islam
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Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Khawla Bint Hakim & Uthman Ibn Madhun: The Righteous Couple | The Firsts
52
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Al-Shifa bint Abdullah (ra): The Healer and Scholar | The Firsts Shorts
58
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Shurahbil Ibn Hasana (ra): The Scribe and Commander | The Firsts Shorts
125
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Khalid ibn al-Walid (ra): The Legendary Military General | The Firsts
126
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Amr ibn al-As (ra): His Wicked Father and “Better” Brother | The Firsts
146
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Tulayha ibn Khuwaylid (ra): From False Prophet to Shaheed | The Firsts
147
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Zayd ibn al-Khattab (ra): The Quiet Brother of Omar (ra) | The Firsts
Talha Ibn Ubaydillah (ra): The Living Martyr
He was distinguished with many traits, but particularly for standing by the Prophet ﷺ on the day of Uhud. It was to the extent that this day is called the day of Talha.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Everyone, welcome back to the first. Bismillah walhamdulillah wa salatu was salamu ala rasulullah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala. So alhamdulillah, we have covered now al-Zubayr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu and we now come to the other neighbor of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam in Jannah. And that is Talha ibn Ubaidullah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And we'll talk a little bit about the reasoning of Talha and al-Zubayr being the neighbors of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. But inshAllah ta'ala try to give Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu his due right in his own individual way. Talha ibn Ubaidullah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, his full name is Talha ibn Ubaidullah ibn Uthman ibn Amr al-Qurashi al-Taymi. He was born into a wealthy tribe and that tribe is known as Banu Taym. And I'll talk a little bit about that tribe as well inshAllah. He was a cloth merchant, a successful trader radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. He physically is described in the following way. He was tall, he was dark, he had plenty of hair, he was handsome, he was youthful radiAllahu ta'ala anhu and he used to walk at a very fast pace. He used to wear expensive clothes and scents and they said that he had a gold ring prior to it being forbidden. He had a gold ring that had an exquisite ruby in it. So you can imagine Talha radiAllahu anhu as a young successful man who frequently goes on the trade routes to Asham and to Yemen and who has everything that you could possibly want in this world. The protection of the tribe, the love of his people. He's still a young man. He's only about 18 years old when the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam receives revelation and he has everything to lose by becoming a Muslim. Let's talk a little bit about his tribe inshAllah ta'ala because there is a notable feature of this tribe of Banu Taym. First and foremost, it's the tribe of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala anhu.
So he is a direct relative of Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu by birth. He's actually the second cousin of Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu and the son-in-law of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. So he's from the same tribe as Abu Bakr. He's a second cousin. He's married to his daughter Um Kurthum bint Abu Bakr. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala be pleased with the family of Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. Allahumma ameen. So you already have the most distinct person after the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam from his tribe and closely related to him. From this tribe was also a man by the name of Abdullah ibn Jud'an. And we've spoken about Abdullah ibn Jud'an a few times. He's a man that was noted before Islam for his generosity as well. So generosity is the feature of Banu Taym and Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu follows in that same mold of being a man who is extremely generous with the people and who is loved for his generosity. So when you have the three most prominent people as Abu Bakr, Abdullah ibn Jud'an and Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, what do you expect from Banu Taym? His mother, her name was As-Sa'ba bint Abdullah and she was from the Hadhram tribe. And her brother, meaning the maternal uncle of Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, was a companion who is not often spoken about, but he is a Sahabi by the name of Al-Alaa ibn al-Hadhrami radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. One of the things about Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu as well is that he was married to several women of high lineage. And so he was not just, you know, from a powerful and notable tribe of Banu Taym, but he's also linked to various tribes because he would marry women of the highest ranking from the highest tribe. So he is connected to multiple tribes in Mecca from a very young age radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. Well respected, he has lineage, he has wealth, he has good character.
And when Islam comes, Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was actually not even in Mecca. He was actually on his trade route to Ash-Sham. And when he was in Ash-Sham, which is greater Syria, he comes across a monk that was worshipping Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, one of the people of the book, a Christian monk. And the monk asks him, he says, is anyone of you from your group from Ahlul Haram, from the people of the sanctuary, the people of Mecca? And Talha radiAllahu anhu said, I just came from Mecca. So the monk says, hal zahara Ahmadu ba'd? Has Ahmad yet appeared? Now this is all completely unfamiliar to Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. He does not even know that Ahmad refers to Muhammad radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And that was the name by which he was prophesized radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And of course, Ahmad comes from the same root. And he is the one who is even more praised, the most praised Ahmad radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. So Talha says, I answered the monk and I said, who is Ahmad? He says he is the son of Abdullah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, khatimun nabiyyin, the seal of the prophets. He comes from the land of the Haram, the land of the sanctuary. And then he migrates to a place of palm trees, black soil and many springs. Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu is listening to him talk about Muhammad radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And the monk tells him, fa iyaaka an tusbaka ilayhi, you should hurry up and meet him quickly. If he has come out, you should hurry up and you should embrace him and meet him quickly. Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu said, I just had a feeling that there was something deep to what he was saying. Waqaa thalika fee qalbi, it landed in my heart, it penetrated my heart. So as soon as I got back to Mecca from my trade route, I asked the people, I said, hal waqaa min hadith, has something happened recently?
So they said, Muhammad ibn Abdullah tanabba'a, that Muhammad, the son of Abdullah sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam, has claimed prophethood. And he was followed by Ibn Abi Quhafa, Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. Because Talha is so close to Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, not as much to the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam, he goes to Abu Bakr first. So Talha knew of the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam, he knew the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam, he knew his character, and he had no reason to doubt his character, but Abu Bakr is his relative. So he goes to Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, and he says to Abu Bakr, Ya Ibn Abi Quhafa, Atabi'ta hathar rajul? Did you follow this man, O Abu Bakr? And he said, Yes, and you should too, fa innahu yad'u ila alhaq wa yad'u ila alkhair. You should follow him as well, because he calls to the truth and he calls to that which is good. So Talha goes with Abu Bakr, he meets the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam, he hears the message of Islam once again affirmed from the mouth of the Messenger sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam himself, the message of Tawheed, the message of the oneness of God, and Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu accepts Islam alongside Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, and he is considered the eighth person potentially, again all of these numbers if you haven't figured out by now, can be somewhat approximate, but he's considered the eighth person or one of the first eight to accept Islam only at the age of 18 years old. So like al-Zubair, like so many of these early Muslims, he was a young man, a smart man, a strong man, a promising man, and one of those who would be promised paradise by the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam. So Talha radiAllahu anhu of course is famously one of al-Ashar mubashshireen, the ten that were promised paradise by the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam,
and one of the six of the ten that Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu accounts for. Okay, so Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu of course is the guide to Talha in this sense, and so everything that Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu would do is to the credit of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala anhu as well for bringing him to Islam. So what happens when Talha becomes Muslim? As we've said, those that were powerful or those that were elite in society tended to be punished behind closed doors or not as openly and publicly as the weak ones in Mecca. Okay, the mustawafeen in Mecca, the Amars of the world, the Sumayyas of the world, the Khababs of the world, the Bilars of the world. So those that were powerful were punished last and least for the most part and behind closed doors. So because Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was so prominent in his reputation and he's from Banu Taym, he's still going to undergo punishment at the hands of his own tribe. And the person that would be in charge of punishing him was none other than Naufal ibn Khuwaylid. Okay, now remember Talha and Az-Zubair are extremely close friends. And so this all sort of comes back together because Naufal plays a role in the punishment of Az-Zubair. Naufal who is the brother of Khadijah radiAllahu ta'ala anha who the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam called the shaytan of Quraysh, the devil of Quraysh. He took Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu and he took Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And I know it's been a while since we've covered Abu Bakr, but you might remember that Abu Bakr and Talha were tortured together. Literally Naufal ibn Khuwaylid tied Abu Bakr and Talha up with one rope and he violently tortured them.
And he also brought others to violently beat them while they were tied together by their hands and by their feet. And so that's why Naufal when he did that Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu and Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu were nicknamed Al-Qarinayn, the two Qarins, the two close companions, the two tied ones. Literally they were tied together. And so he used to tie them up. He used to whip them. The people used to come and poke them with their swords. They used to be deprived of food and water for a very long time. And of course most of this was done behind closed doors, but some of this was public as well. Mas'ud ibn Kharash he actually says, I remember making sa'id between As-Safa and Al-Marwa and I saw a crowd of people who were pushing a young man whose hands were tied behind his back. And as they rushed behind him they started to rain down punches on his head. And in the crowd was an old woman who was lashing him with a whip as well and she was shouting the worst of things towards him. So I said, what is the matter with this young man? And they said, this is Talha ibn Ubaidillah. He gave up his religion and he now follows the man from Banu Hashim. So you can see the tribalism even in how they're describing the way that Talha radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu embraced the message of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. And so Mas'ud said, and I said, who is the woman behind him? And they responded and they said, this is his mother As-Sa'aba bint Al-Hadrami. And she was the one that was whipping Talha radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu and shouting all sorts of abuses towards him. So he shares a lot of similarity then in that sense from Az-Zubayr radiAllahu Anhu. Of course, Az-Zubayr radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu grew up an orphan and did not have the luxuries and the privileges that Talha radiAllahu Anhu had. But of course, he was initially tortured and punished by his mother As-Safiyyah bint Abdul Muttalib radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu.
So he encountered his fair share of abuse, especially in the beginning of his embracing Islam and becoming Muslim. However, for the most part, Talha radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu was able to escape the punishments, the persecutions in Mecca for a few reasons. Number one was because of his status and his wealth. And generally those people of status and wealth did not suffer as much in the early days of Mecca in particular. The second thing is that he was barely in Mecca even after Islam due to his trade routes. Remember, this is a man who's a merchant. This is a man that goes between Yemen and Ash-Sham trading with the people, encountering different empires, and who does not spend much time in Mecca. And when he comes back to Mecca, it's his home base, and then he goes out once again to trade, to buy and to sell. And this was the case with Talha radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu even after Islam. And so he was not amongst those that made the migration to Abyssinia, to Al-Habasha, even though as Zubayr radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu, who is such a close friend of his, his best friend, to the point that their stories are like one story. As Zubayr radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu of course played a prominent role in Al-Habasha and Abyssinia, while Talha radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu continued to stay out of Mecca for the most part, buying and selling. And the people of Mecca dealt with him begrudgingly just because of the amount of goods that he would bring back from his trade routes and the prominence that he had in that sense, in the place of commerce. Now, when the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam decides to make the hijrah, Talha radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu actually met the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu, who was his father-in-law, on the way out of Mecca, and he was coming back from Ash-Sham. So he actually brought clothes with him from Ash-Sham that he gave to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu. After they had already left Mecca,
he also informed them of some of the ways in which Medina was awaiting the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and what he was hearing outside of Mecca about the escape of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam from the persecution of Mecca. So he goes to Abu Bakr and the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, he gives them what he gives them, and then he makes his way to Mecca, and Talha radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu is actually the person that would accompany the family of Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu to Medina on the Hijrah. And of course that's at the very end, when Abu Bakr had already left with the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, Talha radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu brings the family of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu forward, and then joins the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and the companions in Al-Medina. When he arrives in Medina, the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam of course did mu'akha, he paired off people as brothers, he paired off Talha radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu with none other than Abu Ayyub al-Ansari radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu. So Abu Ayyub is considered the brother of Talha ibn Ubaidillah radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu. Now his story with the battle of Badr is particularly interesting because he missed it. Okay, and he didn't miss it because he was out trading, he missed it because the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam sent him and Sa'eed ibn Zayd radiAllahu anhu, of course another one of the Ten Promised Paradise, on a mission to spy on one of the caravans of Abu Sufyan. And of course at this point, you know, Abu Sufyan and the people of Mecca had stolen much of the goods that were left behind in Mecca, and they were, you know, buying and trading in Asham and the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam was trying to find a way to intercept some of those caravans. So while they were out spying on this particular caravan of Abu Sufyan or looking for this particular caravan of Abu Sufyan in a place called Hawra,
they heard about the battle of Badr that had already taken place while they were on their way back. So subhanAllah these two, Talha and Sa'eed ibn Zayd are on their way to help the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam to carry out, you know, this particular order from the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, but in the process, they missed being alongside the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam in the battle of Badr, and that pained Talha radiAllahu anhu. And you know when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, Minal mu'mineena rijalun sadaqu maAAahadullah AAalayhi fa minhum man qadha nahba wa minhum man yantadhir wa ma baddaloo tabdeela Allah azawajal talks about a people that are truthful to the covenant, to the promise they make with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Some of them are given an opportunity to fulfill their promise right away. Some of them are delayed in fulfilling that promise, wa ma baddaloo tabdeela, but they do not switch in regards to their resolve. They maintain their intention, they maintain their determination to serve in the best way possible. So Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu is one of those people who missed Badr, and who longed for the moment to fight alongside the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, and defend him against his enemies. And so when he comes to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, and he complains to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, Ya Rasulullah, I missed Badr, I missed Badr, I missed the battle. What does the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam say to him? He says, Ya Talha laka sahmuk. He said, look, you have your portion. It's not like you missed Badr because of something else. You missed Badr because you were out doing what I asked you to do, what I commanded you to do. So you have your portion of the spoils. He says, wa ajri ya Rasulullah, wa ajri ya Rasulullah, what about my reward? I don't care about the worldly stuff. I don't care if I have the spoils. The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, he says, wa laka ajruk, and you have the reward of Badr. So like Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, who of course missed Badr because he was tending to the daughter of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam,
his wife Ruqayya radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, and the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam counted him from the veterans of Badr, which was a lofty reward. Talha and Sa'eed ibn Zaid are also counted from the veterans of Badr, even though they were not physically present at the Battle of Badr, which shows you, of course, the role of the sincerity of intention. If a person was sincere, then they have the full reward. inna man a'malu binniyat. So because they had the full intention to go out and to protect the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, to serve, they still got the full reward, even though they were out at the time, and they were not amongst those that would fight physically in Badr. However, when Uhud was mentioned, when Uhud is mentioned, and subhanAllah, this is hard for me to talk about here because I'm used to talking about it at Uhud. You know, standing there in Uhud and with the groups for Umrah and Hajj, explaining the scene of Uhud. Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, Itha dhukira yawm Uhud. When Uhud was mentioned in the presence of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiAllahu anhu, Abu Bakr would say, Dhaka yawm talha. That was the day of Talha. Uhud is considered the day of Talha. This is a narration of Ibn Hibban. Abu Bakr says the whole day is considered the day of Talha. Uhud, of course, is a day that we know of great grief. We know of what happened to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. There are multiple lessons, and that's why when the groups go there for Umrah and Hajj, there is sufficient time to reflect on what happened, what transpired in Uhud, because of the amount of lessons that we can take from it. Of course, it's sunnah to visit the shuhada of Uhud, to visit the martyrs of Uhud themselves. Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu is not buried in Uhud. He's not there with Hamza radiAllahu anhu and Mus'ab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu and the others that are there. But Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu used to say, Dhaka yawm talha. That was the day of Talha. Why?
Because the way that Talha served alongside the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam in Uhud was even stunning to the eyes of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. And there are so many ahadith witnessing the heroic courage that Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu displayed on that day, never leaving the side of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. Jabir radiAllahu ta'ala anhu says, Every time the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam would say, Man lil qawm, man lil qawm talha, would say, Ana ya Rasulullah. Just like al-Zubair, every time the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam called out, Talha would be there. Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu answered. So the same way as Zubair, the disciple of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam answered, Talha radiAllahu anhu would go where the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam directed him without any type of hesitation. And the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam says, Laqad ra'aytani yawma uhud, wama qurbi ahad ghayra jibreel an yameeni wa talhata an yisari. The Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam says, I saw myself on the day of Uhud, and there was no one that was close to me except for jibreel Alaihi Salam on my right, and Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu on my left. I mean, that tells you everything about how Talha radiAllahu anhu was sticking by the side of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. And you then see the different narrations, and they're throughout al-Bukhari, they're throughout Muslimah Ahmad and the books of Sira, that when the arrows were coming towards the messenger of Allah SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was using his body and even his hands to catch the arrows that were coming towards the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. So, you know, just imagine the sight of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam being attacked and Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu fighting from every side of him SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, and catching the arrows with one hand, using his sword with the other hand, and suffering wound after wound, after wound, after wound.
And when they lifted the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, of course, the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam fell in Uhud, his face was stomped, his teeth were knocked out. They thought the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam had died. Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, he bent down, he carried the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam on his back, and he went towards, you know, up the mountain, and he put down the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. And Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, at that, he says at that moment, Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah and I, we were far away from the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam because we were fighting off some of those that were coming forward. And when we got close to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said, leave me and go towards your companion. And what he meant by your companion, he meant Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu says, we got to Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, and his wounds were all over his body. He was bleeding from every part of his body. One wound from a sword, one wound from a spear, one wound from an arrow, his foot had been cut, and he literally laid unconscious and the blood was flowing from his mouth, radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. Somehow he was still alive. SubhanAllah, all of that, he took spears and swords and arrows defending the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and all that, somehow he was alive. And the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam breathing hard, himself almost having died, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, he looks at Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, and what does he say? He says, awjab al yawm talha. It became mandatory today for Talha. What became mandatory for Talha? Talha fulfilled his obligation and Jannah became obligated for Talha, and the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said, man arada an yanzura ila shaheedan yamshi ala rijlayhi fal yanzura ila talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. Whoever wants to see a walking martyr, a shaheed who still lives,
a shaheed who somehow survived, but is still walking on his feet, let him look at Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. So SubhanAllah, even though Talha radiAllahu anhu survived that day, the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam counted him amongst the shuhada of that day because of the amount of sacrifice that he put forward. And how amazing of a testimony. You don't find this type of a testimony from the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam for anyone like he said about Talha that day. And that's why Talha from that day forward was called the living martyr, the living martyr. SubhanAllah, he was a walking shaheed radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. Umm Ishaq bin Talha, the daughter of Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, she says that my father had 24 wounds on his body from that day that never even fully healed. So Uhud was a day that Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was struck right and left, and his hand was partially paralyzed because of the arrows that he caught on the day of Uhud. Even with that, he still fought every single battle with the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. So Uhud onwards, despite the wounds that he suffered, despite not being able to even fully function with his right hand anymore, he still fought alongside the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam with every single battle. Now, does it make sense when we say, Talha wa z-zubair jara'a ya fi-l-jannah that the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said, Talha and zubair are my two neighbors in Jannah. As zubair, the first one to rush to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam in Mecca, because he heard that the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam was attacked, that young man that said, I'm gonna defend you, Ya Rasulullah, and Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, who rushed to the side of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam on the day where he almost died and had the side, the back, the front of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam throughout and almost died in the process. That's why when we enter Jannatul Firdaus, bi-ithnilahi ta'ala, may Allah grant it to each one of us,
Allahumma ameen, and we go to visit our beloved one, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, we'll find his two neighbors to be, Talha wa zubair radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, may Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la allow us to have that blessed companionship. Allahumma ameen. So what are some of the qualities of Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu? We're just getting started. If you just talked about Uhud alone, and Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu is saying, that's the day of Talha, and the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam saying, whoever wants to see a living martyr, this is who you look at. That would be sufficient, but there is more. Number one, obviously his courage. Talha radiAllahu anhu was a man of extreme courage. Number two, he was proficient in his trade, extremely wealthy. Some of them say his wealth rivaled Uthman ibn Affan radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. He profited from every single business deal. He would earn at least a thousand gold coins a day, and he would give the majority of it in sadaqah, in charity. He was known for his zuhud, for his asceticism. So as rich as he was, he worried about his wealth, and he worried about whether it would affect his standing with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So his money never reached his heart. It stayed in his hand radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. Because of his generosity, and because of his goodness, the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam gave him three nicknames beyond the living shaheed. The Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam called him Talha al-Khair, Talha the good one, Talha al-Jud, Talha the generous one, and Talha al-Fayyad, who is the beneficent one. So he receives three nicknames from the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. Talha al-Khair, Talha al-Jud, Talha al-Fayyad. And Talha, by the way, is a tree that has multiple branches. And so he is, you know, a tree that has these multiple branches that bear fruit in so many different ways in regards to his generosity. And on the Battle of Tabuk, we know about Uthman radiAllahu anhu coming forth on that day. Talha radiAllahu anhu wanted to compete with Uthman radiAllahu anhu.
So on that day, he put forth up to 700,000 dirhams for the sake of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la answering the call of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam following the footsteps of Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. Sa'eed ibn Zayd radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, who was of course his companion in spying on that caravan of Abu Sufyan and in so much more. He said, I used to accompany Talha radiAllahu anhu for safar, on journeys. And I used to stay with him in his home. And he said, wallahi, I have never seen a man who was more generous with his money, with his clothes and with his food than Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. So known for his sadaqah, known for his generosity, known for ikram ad-dhaif, the way that he would treat his guests, known for being a good companion on a journey, known for not really having an attachment to this wealth, though he had everything that you could want of his clothes and of his sense and of everything that he would attain on his trade routes. He also was known for forgiving debts as well. Remember, this is one of the things that the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam mentioned causes one to be shaded up by the throne of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la on the day of judgment, to forgive debts. And so if someone came to him and had a hardship and wasn't able to pay back a loan in time, Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu would forgive debts. He forgave debts up to even 30,000 dirhams in one narration. So anyone that came to him, Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was quick to forgive all of those debts. He's also considered amongst the group that are known as al-mardiyin, those who are pleasing to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. Who are al-mardiyin, those that are pleasing to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam? They are those that the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said in a single narration that I am pleased with so-and-so, I am pleased with so-and-so. So he mentioned, you know, Umar and Uthman and Ali and Zubair and Talha and Sa'ad and AbdurRahman ibn Auf and so on and so forth. So they used to say to those that the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam mentioned that he was pleased with them Of course Abu Bakr As-Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, they used to say
توَفِّرَ رَسُولَ اللّٰهِﷺ وَهُوَ عَنكَ رَاضٌ that the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam passed away and he was pleased with you. Like you should be pleased knowing that the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam died while he was pleased with you SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam After the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam passed away, we find that Talha radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu was one of the key warriors of Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq radiAllahu anhu in Hurub al-Ridda, the battle against Musaylim Al-Kaddhab. The conquests of Umar radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, he fought into the armies of Asham. So just like he used to go to Asham buying and selling, he was amongst those who was very familiar with the territory of Asham and who fought under Umar Al-Khattab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And of course, when Umar radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was passing away, as we know, he appointed to his shura all of those that were from the Asham Mubashireen that were from the Ten Promised Paradise, with the exception of Sa'eed ibn Zaid because Sa'eed ibn Zaid was his brother-in-law. So Talha is one of the six that was appointed to the council of Umar ibn Khattab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu to choose the next khalifa. Talha radiAllahu anhu immediately had no interest whatsoever in the khalifa himself, but he gave his vote to Abdur Rahman ibn Auf radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. So trusting that Abdur Rahman ibn Auf would make the best decision to choose the khalifa, Talha immediately submitted his vote that he was not interested in it himself. And he felt like Abdur Rahman ibn Auf would be the best person to choose amongst the remaining group, which of course would lead to the election, the appointment of Uthman ibn Affan radiAllahu ta'ala anhu to be the next khalifa and then after him, Ali ibn Abi Talib radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. Now, when we get to the life of Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu particularly, and I'm not going to go too deep
into the fitan, into the trials and tribulations as I have not done because the focus of this series has been the first, meaning the beginning and how they came to Islam and their contributions and speaking to their qualities, but just getting to the end of this. But inshAllah ta'ala, in the near future, bi'idhnahi ta'ala, we will be inshAllah ta'ala exploring some of those themes, some of the lessons that we can glean from those themes. But Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu placed his son, Muhammad, at the door of Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu when he was under siege. However, Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu did not expect that things would get as dramatic as they did and that people would actually have the nerve to murder Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. So Talha did not stay in Medina at the time he actually had left. He did not think it was going to reach that point of severity. So even though he loved Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, and yes, he actually had his own disagreements with some of the policies of Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. Some of the sahaba would naturally disagree, but never amongst the fitna. And again, appointed his son, Muhammad, to be amongst those that would defend Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was not present when Uthman was assassinated. And when Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was assassinated, he felt a tremendous amount of guilt for not being there to support him and to protect him when he was under siege. So he gave his bay'ah to Ali radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, but he was frustrated that the murderers of Uthman, like of course, some of the sahaba were, that they wanted the murderers of Uthman to be pursued right away. And they wanted justice for Uthman ibn Affan radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And he also had this unique burden of guilt that he was not there with Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu
at the time of his assassination. And he says a very powerful line. And subhanAllah, I've said this in other places, that this line of Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu actually has so much depth to it. If we think about it in the sense of sacrifice and selflessness, he said, Allahumma khudh li Uthmana minni alyaum hatta tarda. Allahumma khudh minni li Uthman hatta tarda. Oh Allah, take from me for Uthman until you are pleased. Meaning, let me suffer, let me be killed, let me be hurt, let me go through all sorts of pain. For Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu until you are pleased. Of course, it's all for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. What he means by that is the cause of Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, the cause of justice for Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And remember, Uthman radiAllahu anhu is the one who the sahaba, you know, readily gave bay'at al-ridwan. They gave the bay'ah, they gave the pledge to go to Mecca and to die in Hudaybiyyah when they thought that Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu had been killed. And the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam took his two hands and clasped them and said, this is for Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. This is me and this is on Uthman. This is on the cause of Uthman. So Talha radiAllahu anhu was, who felt so guilty for not being there at the time that Uthman was assassinated and not fighting on his behalf. And he's a selfless man radiAllahu anhu. More selfless of course for the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam than anyone else as he did in Uhud. He says, oh Allah, take from me for Uthman until you are pleased. So he was amongst those that was with Aisha radiAllahu anhu and Zubair radiAllahu ta'ala anhu to go to Ali radiAllahu anhu in Kufa. They came from Mecca at that point to go to Ali radiAllahu ta'ala anhu in Iraq to demand justice for Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. I've already sort of recounted this when we talk through the life of Ali radiAllahu anhu and Zubair radiAllahu anhu. But briefly, of course, they met in Kufa.
Aisha, Talha and Zubair on one side, Ali radiAllahu ta'ala anhu primarily on the other side, leading on the other side. And they demanded that the murderers of Uthman would be pursued. Ali radiAllahu ta'ala anhu said, I have every intention to pursue the murderers of Uthman. But he wanted to solidify the situation before he went after so that he did not perpetuate more chaos, further chaos. So the frustrations were understandable. The love of Uthman was fully understandable. Ali radiAllahu anhu wanted justice for Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. But Ali radiAllahu anhu wanted to solidify the situation first. As we said about Zubair radiAllahu anhu, when Ali radiAllahu anhu reminded him about the time they were together, Zubair actually just left there radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. As for Aisha and Talha and Ali, they came to an agreement that they would pursue the killers of Uthman together under unified leadership. And that night, the same people who caused the massive fitna in Medina in the first place, knowing that the two armies or the two groups were going to come together, what did they do at night? They attacked both camps so that both camps thought that the other was attacking them. So Ali radiAllahu ta'ala anhu thought that the other camp was attacking. Aisha radiAllahu anhu and Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu thought that this camp was attacking. And you have the tragedy, truly the tragedy of the Battle of Al-Jamal. And Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was amongst those that died in the Battle of Al-Jamal. So he was killed in that battle. And one of the most heartbreaking scenes, probably to encapsulate the fitna, how tragic this was, was actually Ali radiAllahu ta'ala anhu going to the body of Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu in battle. When Ali radiAllahu anhu finds the body of Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu in battle, and he knows the position of Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu,
he kneeled down and he put the head of Talha in his lap, and he started to wipe the dirt off of his face. And he said, Azizun alayya aba Muhammad an araka mujaddala tahta nujum al-samaa. He said, you are too noble and too beloved to me, O Abu Muhammad, for me to see you in this state. And Ali radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, he started to cry. And he said, ila Allahi ashku ajzi wa bujri. He said, oh, to Allah I complain about my hardships, about my pain, about how I feel in this situation. And Ali radiAllahu ta'ala anhu said, I wish I would have died 20 years before this day. I wish I never saw this day that Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu is dead in such a fashion. This noble man is dead in such a fashion, and I'm holding him radiAllahu ta'ala anhu in this way. And so Ali wept, and the companions around Ali radiAllahu ta'ala anhu wept. Ali radiAllahu ta'ala anhu washed him, and he prayed upon him. And after he led the janazah of Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, he called the people forward. And this is one of the lessons that you would take from this. He called the people forward, and he had the son of Talha, Muhammad ibn Talha sit next to him on the chair of the khalifa. So the amir is there, the leader is there. He calls all of the people forward after leading the janazah of Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And he tells Muhammad, sit next to me, sit next to me. And he says, yaqooluna lam yakhruj illa as-sufahat There are some people that claim that only the foolish ones came out to fight. He said, but this is the most honored of faces that came out on the earth. And he said, I heard the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam say, talha biz-zubair jaraya fil-jannan Of course, Talha and Zubair radiAllahu ta'ala anhum the neighbors of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam were killed on that day. One of them, Zubair was pursued and murdered in salah in that very nasty way.
Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu killed in the battle. And so he looked towards Muhammad, the son of Talha. And he said, I ask Allah to make your father and me amongst those who are mentioned in the ayah. wa naza'na ma fi qulubihim min ghillin ikhwanan ala surrin mutaqabilin And we have removed from their sudur, from their chest, from their hearts, all grudges and put them as brothers upon these thrones facing one another. So you can imagine the scene in this situation, right? And the pain that Ali radiAllahu ta'ala anhu felt and that the sahaba felt, because this was the first time that you had blood drawn in a war that included sahaba on both sides of that battle, even if it was provoked and instigated by people of fitna. Fitna is always instigated by people of fitna. But in this situation, the unfortunate, the tragedy of these two, some of the so-called black ships that did not fly from any destination and they found, polymorphs and polystyrene-like, something or the other was lost via sharitan in the port of Bahrain. So some of these people were dead time because they lost their lives shooting club instead of flying. Set about five years ago since that first operation was ordered to liberate Yemen by the shahadah. Which again, of course, she's this baby here, consequence of this is where you have sahaba on both sides of this battle. So Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was killed that day. And he had 74 wounds on his body. They say up to 74 wounds that he suffered fee sabeelillah on the cause of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala through all the battles alongside the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. And under the khulafa ar-rashideen, under Abu Bakr and then Umar and Uthman. And of course, in this situation, you know, being prayed upon, washed and prayed upon by Ali radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. There's an interesting dream about Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu after his death. That a man has seen Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu after his death. And he said, move me or move my grave from the place that you buried me. And the water has harmed me or the water has bothered me. And so they saw the man saw him three times. So he told Ibn Abbas radiAllahu ta'ala anhu
about what he saw of Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. So they went to the grave of Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu and they saw that it was that there was a particular stream of water that was filling that land with water. So they transferred the grave of Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And they said that his body was completely intact radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And the smell of the kafur, the smell of the scent of his body, the good smell was coming out of his body in the most beautiful of ways when they re-buried him radiAllahu ta'ala anhu and moved his grave away from that place that was becoming soaked by that stream. After his death, Sa'id ibn Musayyib, he narrates that there was a man that was cursing Ali and Talha and al-Zubayr. So Sa'id radiAllahu ta'ala anhu of course who he said is mujabid da'wah, he is answered in his prayers. He prayed against that man when the man refused to stop. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala caused the prayer of Sa'id to come upon that man who was cursing Ali and Talha and al-Zubayr. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala be pleased with them all. Allahumma ameen. Now, a few interesting things about the family of Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was married to four sister-in-laws of the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa sallam. So when we talk about the way that he was married to different tribes and the lineage and the connection that he had beyond being just the son-in-law of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. He has a unique distinction of being married to four of the sister-in-laws of the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa sallam. So he was married to Umm Kulthum bint Abu Bakr. He was married to Ruqayya bint Abu Umayya. He was married to Hamna bint Jahsh. And he was married to Al-Fari'ah bint Abu Sufyan.
So these are Al-Fari'ah bint Abu Sufyan of course being the sister of Umm Habibah. Ruqayya bint Abu Umayya is the sister of Umm Salama radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. Umm Kulthum of course being the sister of Aisha. And Hamna being the sister of Zainab bint Jahsh. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala be pleased with them all. So he's married to four of the sister-in-laws of the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa sallam. So that's quite a connection that you find there. Lastly, and I think this is extremely beautiful, the names that he chose for his kids. If you remember we said Zubayr radiAllahu anhu would name his children after martyrs. Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu would name his children after prophets. So who are the children of Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu? Listen to this and think about this especially as you're thinking about naming your children. His children's names are Muhammad, Imran, Musa, Yaqub, Ismail, Ishaq, Zakariya, Yahya, Yusuf, and Isa. So he named his sons all after the prophets of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So Muhammad of course being his oldest after Muhammad salAllahu alaihi wa sallam, Imran, Musa alaihi salam, Moses, Yaqub alaihi salam, Jacob, Ismail alaihi salam, Ismail, Ishaq, Isaac, Zakariya, Zacharias, Yahya, John, Yusuf, Joseph, and Isa, Jesus. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala send his peace and blessings upon them all. His daughter however is one of the great legacies that he leaves behind. Her name is Aisha bint Talha radiAllahu ta'ala anha and she becomes known as one of the greatest scholars of hadith and fiqh in Medina. Talha himself radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was not known for his scholarship or for narrating many narrations. He narrates about 20 ahadith and that's because he was noted for his courage and his generosity. But he was not the scholar amongst the scholars of the companions of the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa sallam.
His daughter however Aisha grows up to become one of the greatest scholars of hadith and fiqh in Medina. She was sought after, narrated from, and her primary teacher is the one that she is named after, Aisha bint Abi Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anha who is also her aunt. So many of the narrations from Aisha radiAllahu ta'ala anha, the daughter of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiAllahu anhu actually come through her. You'll have Aisha, the daughter of Talha, narrating from Aisha, the daughter of Abu Bakr. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala be pleased with them all. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala be pleased with all of the companions of the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa sallam and join us with them and with the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa sallam as brothers and sisters in the highest companionship. Allahuma Ameen. JazakumAllahu Khayran. Wassalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.
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