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
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
Ubadah ibn al-Samit (ra): A Man Equal to a Thousand Men | The Firsts
Ubahada inb al-Samit (ra) was a leader who immediately inspired awe in others and established Islam in so many ways in different parts of the world.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu. Audhu billahi minash shaitanir rajim. Bismillahir rahmanir rahim. Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen. Wa ala adwani ila ala al-dhalimeen. Wa ala al-aqiba tul al-muttaqeen. Allahumma salli wa sallim wa barika al-abdika wa rasulika Muhammadin. Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam. Tasliman kathira. So tonight inshallah ta'ala we're going to continue with probably one of the most epic people that we will cover in the history of Islam. A man by the name of Ubadah ibn Samit. RadhiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. But before we talk about Ubadah, just to situate him inshallah ta'ala in what we have been speaking about. We've been speaking about more or less the family of Anas ibn Malik. Khadim Rasulullah. Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And we started off with Umm Sulaym, the mother, and Abu Talha, the stepfather. Anas. And then we covered the aunts and the uncles. So we went to Umm Haram bint Milhan, the aunt, and of course we mentioned when we showed on the chart that all of you should have memorized by now the relationship that the husband of Umm Haram bint Milhan, the second husband, is Ubadah ibn Samit radhiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu because Umm Haram radhiyaAllahu anha lost her husband and her son in the battle of Uhud. They were both martyred in the battle of Uhud as well as her younger brother, Haram ibn Milhan, who was martyred in Bir Ma'una. So she lost everyone that was close to her and this is the man that would come forth to marry her. And so Ubadah radhiyaAllahu anhu becomes the uncle-in-law of Anas radhiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. The brother-in-law of Umm Sulaym radhiyaAllahu anha and fits into this beautiful family tree that we are covering today inshaAllah ta'ala. Now there is one more person that's left in the family of Anas radhiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu and that is going to be Al-Bara' ibn Malik radhiyaAllahu anhu
who we'll cover next week inshaAllah ta'ala. And then we will pause for the month of July inshaAllah ta'ala. So we're going to cover next week Al-Bara' ibn Malik and then we'll pause for the month of July. Obviously we have Dhul Hijjah and then we'll go into inshaAllah ta'ala. At that point we would have covered 80 episodes. We'll move on into 81 inshaAllah in August. So before I get started if I can remind everyone, mashAllah we have a lot of young children here. They must have come with somebody so they're all welcome and we love to have them here but please make sure they're not running around. It's dangerous because of the equipment and obviously can be distracting inshaAllah. So we have the mommy and me room and the daddy and me room. Please do make sure that your children, your younger children are with you inshaAllah ta'ala. And don't look around at them and act like they're not yours. Okay. I see some of you are like I don't know who they are. You all know who your children are inshaAllah ta'ala. So please keep your children with you. We don't want the camera falling on top of them. We'll have to have you sign liability forms otherwise. Alright. So, Ubadah ibn Samit radiAllahu anhu. Who is Ubadah ibn Samit first and foremost? Ubadah ibn Samit ibn Qais. His father is a Samit. His mother is a woman by the name of Qurat al-Ain. Qurat al-Ain. And he was considered a leader from the sub-tribe of Khazraj. We talked about these two tribes that came to the city of Yathrib and that settled the city of Yathrib before Islam. And those two tribes that make up the Ansar are Aus and Khazraj. He is considered one of the leaders of the tribe of Khazraj. His father was one of the leaders of the tribe of Khazraj and he passed away as well in the previous wars and battles that took place. So, Ubadah assumes a leadership position right away. And so that's why we're going to find him amongst those early Muslims that were there in Mecca
and that met the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam in Hajj. Ubadah is considered of the class of those leaders from the Ansar who we have covered. We've covered Asad ibn Zurarah. We talked about Sa'd ibn Ubadah. We talked about Sa'd ibn Mu'adh. We talked about those leaders, that class of leaders. He's considered amongst them. And he is amongst the very first people from Medina to embrace Islam. If you remember, there were two Bay'at al-Aqabas. There are two pledges that were taken from the people of Medina to the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam. You had the first pledge with a smaller group of people. This tiny group of men which is ironically called Bay'at al-Nisa, the pledge of women. I'll see if anyone knows why it was called that in a minute inshAllah. So that's the first pledge, Bay'at al-Nisa. Twelve men that take this pledge with the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam. They go back to Medina with Mus'ab radhiAllahu anhu. Mus'ab teaches people Islam. They spread Islam throughout Medina. Then they come back to the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam as a larger group the next year in Hajj. Over 70 and they take the full Bay'ah with the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam. One year later. So he's from those people who actually takes both Bay'ahs with the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam. And something I didn't mention early on was that you know, we talked about the turmoil that existed in Yathrib that existed in the city from Bu'ath, from the war that just took place that killed off so many of the seniors. And that actually is what many historians say the reason why you had this small group of leaders that were in Mecca looking for some sort of guidance or inspiration or way out of this madness that they were in. So it's actually very interesting. They didn't exactly know why they were there. Remember there was an aura of mysticism and religion that surrounded Mecca. It wasn't Tawheed, it wasn't monotheism but this idea that Mecca was a place and Hajj was some sort of a religious pilgrimage where we can seek inspiration from the idols and the overall environment and we can come to some place
of good. So Ubadah's in that group of people who took that pledge with the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam. Why was it called Bay'atun Nisa? Because the Arabs called a pledge that did not involve a military component a Bay'atun Nisa. That's what they used to call it. It did not require a military component at the time because obviously the men were the ones that would fight in battle. So that's why they called it Bay'atun Nisa. The second one was the larger Bay'atun Nisa which was that they took in the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam and pledged to defend the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam as well. So Ubadah was present in both of those. Now Ubadah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, all of his siblings would become Muslim after him. His first wife Jamila bint Abi Sa'a Sa'a became Muslim because of him. So all of his siblings as well as his wife became Muslim through him. And he had a son as well through his first wife Al-Walid ibn Ubadah who went on to become one of his students and a narrator of Hadith as well. So all of his siblings become Muslim through him. His wife, his child embraced Islam as well. Ubadah radiAllahu anhu is described with being a person of prominent qualities. So I'm going to actually read the description. Tawilul qama, azeemul haama, katha shari, shadeedul hayba, yamla'u ayn ra'ihi, rahbatan waraw'atan. This is his description in Arabic. So who is he? He was a man from Yemen, very tall, he was exceedingly black and this is going to come into play with a racist encounter, a prominent, a very famous racist encounter he has later on. So he was exceedingly black. But he wasn't from Abyssinia. He was from the black Yemenis. So there were people from Yemen that were not from Habesha, they were distinguished in not being from Abyssinia but being from Yemen. But he had exceedingly black skin.
He had a prominent height, prominent features. So they said everything about him was prominent. His forehead, his hair, his nose, his eyes, everything about him was prominent and was beautiful. Exceedingly handsome. But at the same time, it's interesting because they said yamla'u ayn ra'ihi, rahbatan waraw'atan. That when he walked into a room, whoever looked at him was overtaken by both admiration and fear. Right? So he had an imposing presence when he walked into a room. And that's part of his leadership, right? That he was a chief. Everyone immediately yielded the room to him. WadiAllahu ta'ala anhu. That's how imposing the appearance he had was. Praised for his beauty, praised for his eloquence, praised for his knowledge, praised for his wisdom, praised for the person, he was praised as a person that would negotiate truces before Islam and after Islam. He was the person that would negotiate truces and that everyone could come to the table through. He accompanied the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam in every battle. So he is Badri. He's from the people of Badr which is of course a noble quality in and of itself. He's also one of those the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam entrusted to write the revelation, Qutab al-Wahi. So he's one of those that wrote the Quran as it was revealed. He's also one of the few Hifadh, and we'll talk about this, someone who actually memorized the entirety of the Quran in the time of the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam. So he memorized its entirety and we'll talk about how rare that was, at least from the prominent leaders of the Ansar at the time of the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam. So let's kind of go through his life with the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam through his eyes. So he narrates the pledge that he had with the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam and he was one of the original group and then he was one of the twelve Nuqaba, one of the twelve leaders that were appointed for Medina
from the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam. So he narrates, and Al-Bukhari of course has this narration, it's one of the first narrations Sahih Al-Bukhari, "... "... "... "... "... "... "... "... "... "... "... "... "... "... "... "... "... "... "... "... "... tarahu Allah fa huwa ila Allah insha'a a'afa anhu wa insha'a a'qabahu fa bay'nahu ala zhalik. It's a long hadith, it's present in multiple places in Sahih al-Bukhari. He said that we took a pledge with the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam upon twelve things. Number one, that we would not join anything in worship alongside Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. I don't want to make the parents uncomfortable, please insha'Allah if it's possible. Jazakumullah khair. If someone can help her insha'Allah ta'ala. You got it? Alright, jazakumullah khair. So he said we took allegiance with the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam over twelve things. Or not over twelve things, over six things. Number one, that we would not join in worship anyone besides Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, with Allah. So we worship Allah alone. That we would not steal, that we would not commit illegal or engage in any illegal sexual behavior.
That we would not kill our children. That we would not accuse an innocent person, meaning we would do away with slander. And that we would not disobey when ordered to do a good deed. So this is really beautiful because it shows you the moral foundation of Islam being given to a people to take back to Medina. This is before fiqh, right? Before jurisprudence and before the prayers become defined and the laws become defined. This is your pledge. This is what I want you to go back to Medina with. You're not going to worship anyone besides Allah. You're not going to steal anymore. You're not going to commit zina. You're not going to accuse people or gossip or slander. You are not going to be disobedient when ordered to do a good deed. And you're not going to kill your children because imagine that was of course a prominent feature of those societies at the time. The Prophet ﷺ said whoever does this will be rewarded by Allah. And whoever does any of the above and is punished in this world for it, then that punishment will be an expiation for that sin. Meaning if you commit one of those things, those major sins, you're punished for it in this life. And if you're punished for it in this life, then it's an expiation for you. And if you're not punished for it in this life, then it's up to Allah. Allah will either forgive you or Allah will hold you accountable. And Ubadah says, so we took an allegiance with the Prophet ﷺ upon that. And this is in multiple chapters. I mean there are like 20 chapters in Bukhari that this shows up in. The same hadith gets repeated over and over and over again as the moral foundation of Islam as given from the Prophet ﷺ to these companions. And in another narration he said, radiyallahu anhu, bay'a'na rasool Allah ﷺ ala sam'i wa ta'a fi al-yusri wa al-usri wa al-manshati wa al-makrahi wa an la nunazi' al-amra ahlahu wa an na qooma
bil-haqqi haythu kunna la na khaafu lawmat al-aam. He said we pledge to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to hear and obey in times of ease and in times of hardship, when we felt energetic and when we were tired. And that we would not contend or we would not disobey whoever we were entrusted to and we would stand firm upon the truth and we would not fear the blame of the blamers. We would do what was required from the truth and we would not fear the blame of the blamers. So this is sort of a foundation that he has from the Prophet ﷺ. Now, move over to Medina. When people from Mecca start to migrate and escape persecution and make their way to Medina, Ubadah is one of the main people who's in charge of setting up shelters. So I want you to think about this, that as the news of the hijrah is coming forward that you're going to have all these people that are going to come from Mecca and settle this very fragile city of Yathrib which is going to be Medina. Then you started to have a situation where you needed like a temporary holding place. So Ubadah actually goes and sets up all these shelters along with some group of the companions to host them as they make their way to Medina in the first place. And then he starts to participate in facilitating the hijrah of the Prophet ﷺ to Medina as well. The Prophet ﷺ also entrusted Ubadah with being the one to negotiate the truces with the Jewish tribes in Medina. So Ubadah was the narrator of those truces and those treaties that were then taken with the Jewish tribes that existed in Medina because the Prophet ﷺ entrusted him of all people to negotiate those tribes. The Prophet ﷺ also appointed him as a zakah collector.
And he said, I remember the Prophet ﷺ told me, he said, Ya Ubadah ittaqillah, O Ubadah, fear Allah with regards to this wealth. This is the charity of people. And he said, do not use any of it for your personal needs. And remember if you take any dirham, any part of this charity, that it will testify against you on the day of judgment. Ubadah r.a, he said that I began to tremble when I heard that from the Prophet ﷺ. And I never wanted to be appointed after that as a leader over any two people or responsible for the wealth of anybody. Meaning I wished from that hadith, it shows you his level of piety. I wish the Prophet ﷺ would never appoint me for anything. And that I'd never be in charge of any two people and that I'd never have to take care of money. Which is why you find that Allah kept putting him in that place. Every time Ubadah in his life does not want to be in a position, it gets forced on him. Because he's a man of integrity and leadership and honor. His nobility is so prominent that people are like, no it's you, it's you, it's you. And he constantly tries to push away these positions and these roles. And the people constantly thrust him towards it. One of the things that, you know, one of the beautiful ways that he's written about, you know, in Asir, they say that when it was in times of peace, Ubadah r.a was the most patient of teachers. He used to go and he used to teach Ahl as-Sufa the Qur'an. So you had all these people that were homeless, temporarily homeless. Some people brought them water, some people brought them food. Ubadah r.a would go around the masjid and he'd sit with them and he'd teach them the Qur'an. He was the most patient of teacher. He was the most wise when it came to negotiating truces. At night, he was an ascetic like no other. Like he was a worshiper. He was a abid. He used to cry. He used to
devote himself at night. And in battle, he was a lion that you did not want to be anywhere near. So he had this combination of qualities that was very rare to find in anybody. And of course, becomes a rare quality in general to find. And as we said, he's one of the Huffaf. Now, I want you to think about this, that, you know, as the Qur'an is coming down, obviously some people are memorizing here, some people are memorizing there. And over time, people are becoming Huffaf, right? But the Qur'an is being revealed throughout this period of 23 years. Ubadah is one of those people who immediately memorizes anything that comes to the Prophet ﷺ and who dedicates that to his memory. And so there were five Huffaf from the Ansar, five Huffaf from the Ansar, people who memorized the Qur'an from the Ansar that were most prominent. So these are the five, okay? It's Ubadah ibn Samit, it is Mu'adh ibn Jabal, it is Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, it is Abu Darda, Mu'adh, Ubadah, Abu Ayyub, Abu Darda, I'm missing one. Ah, Ubay ibn Ka'b. So again, five people who memorized the Qur'an from the Ansar and were sort of the authorities of the Qur'an from the Ansar. Okay, so I said it was Ubadah ibn Samit, Mu'adh ibn Jabal, Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, Abu Darda, and Ubay ibn Ka'b. So these are the five who jama'ul Qur'an, that collected the Qur'an in the time of the Prophet ﷺ from the Ansar and sort of were the teachers of all of the Qur'an teachers amongst them. So that's his story, right? He's a worshipper, he's a warrior in battle, he's
a negotiator, he's a leader, and when the Prophet ﷺ passes away, he becomes a judge under Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, a soldier, a military leader, constantly participates in battle after battle and establishes cities. They also said that Ubadah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu had a unique way of architecture, he could build things. So many of the famous masjids that were left behind were actually planned by Ubadah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. So they used to go back to him when it came to the construction of those masjids. Now, as we said, he married Umm Haram radiAllahu anha after the Battle of Uhud, right? After the Battle of Uhud. And she praised him for the way that he would treat her son that was from a previous marriage. So she praised his character, she praised his akhlaq, she praised his qualities and his morals. And of course that's also something, the testimony of the wife towards this husband, Ubadah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. So he has a lot of beautiful traits, but I really, I rushed through the seerah part to get to, you know, some of the roles that he plays then, after the Prophet ﷺ passes away. And you might have noticed that the title of this lecture is A Man by a Thousand Men. A Man who is Worth a Thousand Men. And that title was given to him by Umar bin al-Khattab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. Now, you know, you remember when we spoke about Umar radiAllahu anhu, and Umar radiAllahu anhu is a man who is very difficult to impress. He is not easily impressed. If Umar bin al-Khattab is impressed by you, that means that you have something exceptional about you. He's not easily impressed by people. And so when Umar praises someone, you know, people really took that seriously.
And the praise that he gave of Ubadah was during his khilafah, there was a request for some reinforcements for some of the battles against the Romans. And Umar bin al-Khattab sent Ubadah, and he said, listen, I'm sending with you a man, he gave Ubadah a note, he said, give this to the general. He said, look, this is a man, bi alfi rajul. This man that's giving you the note, Ubadah ibn al-Samit, he's worth a thousand men. I'm sending him with you, and victory will always come on this man's hand. And that's exactly what happened. Ubadah radiAllahu anhu goes forth, and victory would come on his hand over and over and over again. He comes back from a battle, he sets up shop, once again, a judge in the community, a hakim, someone who's very wise, a teacher of Quran, and was consulting in some of the most pivotal moments in Islam. Then, Umar bin al-Khattab radiAllahu anhu was sent a letter by the amir of As-Sham. So the, what's the best word here? The general who was in charge of As-Sham at the time, greater Syria, and that was Muawiyah radiAllahu anhu. So Muawiyah sends a letter to Umar bin al-Khattab radiAllahu anhu and says, listen, you know, a lot of people have become Muslim in a very short time. Now here's a question that's very important to answer. Did the Muslims used to force people to convert to Islam? No. It's actually one of the prominent features of these battles is there was no forced conversion. So like the Persian Empire was defeated by the Muslims, and Muslims remained a minority there for a very, very long time. No forced conversions. But the, you know, the comparison of Islam to these other systems and empires and manifestations of religion worked with all sorts of things. And of course, the incentive to become Muslim, living under Muslim rule, all that, you know, put together, people were becoming Muslim in rapid numbers, right?
Large groups of people are becoming Muslim. And so Muawiyah says, look, we're, you know, we're in the midst of the Roman Empire. All these people are converting to Islam. And there aren't many companions here. There aren't many Sahaba here. And the point that he was making is he said these people need teachers. They need people to teach them the Quran. They need people to teach them halal and haram. They need people to teach them the religion. They need the source. They're fresh in Islam. They need the source. And of course, the Sahaba didn't want to leave Medina. They loved Medina. Okay, generally speaking, you want to set up shop in Medina. Understandably so. So Umar bin Khattab, radiyaAllahu anhu, responds and he says, okay, fine, I'm going to send you someone who's well-versed in the Quran. So he calls for a gathering of five people. Who are these five? The five prominent Ansar who knew the Quran. He calls Ubadah, Abu Ayyub, Mu'adh, Ubayy ibn Ka'b, and Abu Darda. And he says, listen, the people of Ash-Sham, greater Syria, they're asking for someone to teach them the Quran. They're asking for one of the companions who's especially, you know, grounded in the Quran. That can teach us the Quran. Teach them the rulings. Teach them jurisprudence. And I need some of you to go do that. So he said to them, Umar radiyaAllahu anhu said, I need amongst you five, I need you to pick three of you to go. And basically, you know, greater Syria, of course, Ash-Sham means Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria in current day, right? When we say Ash-Sham, we mean that whole area, you know. So I need to send three of you there. And you can sort of map out amongst yourselves who's going to teach what region. But choose amongst yourselves. And if you have to, cast lots. But just, I need three of you to go to Ash-Sham. Because you have a bunch of people embracing Islam there. So they said to Umar radiyaAllahu anhu, they said, there's no need for you to, you know, to do any sort of selection process.
I know saying Hajj lottery is too soon right now. I don't want to do that to like hurt people's feelings, right? Like we don't have to do any of that stuff. There's no draw here. We'll figure it out amongst ourselves. They said it's very easy. They said ask for Abu Ayyub al-Ansari. He's an old man. He's very elderly. It doesn't make sense to send him out to Ash-Sham right now in the midst of all this. So Abu Ayyub radiyaAllahu anhu can stay in Medina. And of course, Abu Ayyub was the host of the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in Medina. Probably the person we'll talk about when we resume in August, inshallah ta'ala, the first Sahabi we'll cover. Beautiful man, elderly man. And they said you can exclude him. They said ask for Ubaid ibn Ka'b. Ubaid is sick. Ubaid was very ill at the time. He came down with some sort of disease. They didn't even know if he was going to make it. So they said we don't want to send him there and then he dies on the way. It's not fair to him and it's not going to achieve the purpose. So basically the other three, Ubaid, Mu'adh and Abu Darda, they said we will go. So Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu sent the three of them to take Ash-Sham, to teach the people of Ash-Sham. Ubaid went to Palestine with his wife Um Haram. So Ubaid and his wife Um Haram go and they settle in Palestine. And Ubaid radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu was teaching the people in Palestine. The people of Palestine are sending to Umar ibn Ka'b glowing reviews. Remember Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu was a tough assessor of leaders, amirs. Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu would go directly to the people and ask them, are your amirs treating you okay? Are you being dealt with justly? Are people teaching you right? Is there any confusion? What are they doing? And so they loved Ubaid radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. And so there was a dilemma with Ubaid which was that he was a man of battle, but he's also a man who teaches. And sometimes those two things, you know, come into play where you have to make one choice.
You have to choose one over the other. So sometimes they come into conflict. Do we send them out in battle or do we let them keep teaching the people? And eventually, subhanAllah, Ubaid radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu became sort of a school of hifth by himself. He produced all sorts of hifadh in Palestine. People memorized the Quran in Palestine. I was thinking about this, subhanAllah. Imagine how many people are hifadh in Palestine because of Ubaid. Like how many people he taught that then taught people, that then taught people. How many places that were established because essentially hifth becomes a culture, right? How many places that were established as places where people learn the Quran in Palestine that then went on to teach people, that then went on to teach people. And Ubaid radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu is credited as the first person who really created that culture in Palestine where people learned the Quran from him and then taught the Quran afterwards. And of course when you memorize the Quran and you have a sanad, you have a chain, many of the people of Palestine will have a chain that goes back to Ubaid to the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam. So an amazing accomplishment in and of itself. But Ubaid radiyaAllahu anhu was also a man of strong opinion. And he gets into a dispute with the governor, okay, who's Muawiyah. So Ubaid and Muawiyah get into an argument, a dispute. And Ubaid radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu says to Muawiyah radiyaAllahu anhu, after that dispute he says, listen, laa usakinuka fee ardi. I'm not going to live in a place with you. I'm done with you. It got intense. People had these types of arguments. They're human beings. He said, I'm done with you. I'm going back to Medina. So he gets into an argument with Muawiyah, says, you and I, laa naskun fee ardi wahid. We can't live in the same place together. I'm going back to Medina. Umar radiyaAllahu anhu suddenly sees Ubaid pop up in Medina.
Now again, if you know Umar radiyaAllahu anhu and the way he, like, what? Didn't I send you over there? What are you doing over here? You know, like that's, Umar radiyaAllahu anhu was a man of great justice, but he was also a man of order, structure, not leaving the community vulnerable. What's going to happen? He could have become very severe. But instead, he sees him and he says, what happened? Why are you here? Why are you back in Medina? You're supposed to be in Isham, where I sent you. And he told him that Muawiyah and I had an argument, and I told Muawiyah, you and I can't live in the same place. I've got to go. You stay here. I've got to go. So Umar radiyaAllahu anhu said to him, irraji', go back to your place. But then listen to what he says. It's so beautiful. He says, qabbahaAllahu ardan laisa feeha anta wala amthaluk. May Allah disgrace the land that doesn't have a person like you. You or a person like you. Like, what good is there in a land? So powerful, subhanAllah, it's hard to translate. qabbahaAllahu ardan laisa feeha anta wala amthaluk. What good is a place that doesn't have a person like you or those that are like you? And that shows you the way the sahaba, the companions understood the blessing that comes to a place. bi wujudus salihin, when righteous people are present. And how a place becomes vulnerable when they don't have righteous people amongst them. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us amongst the righteous. Allahumma ameen. Righteous people become sources of blessing in the land. Righteous people become sources of answered du'as, answered supplications. Righteous people are a means of protection in the land. So Umar radiyaAllahu anhu said, what good is there in a place that you are not in? Or someone that is like you? He told him, go back. And he said, and I will not appoint any ameer over you. And this is the only person he ever does this for, by the way. He said, as for you, no one's in charge of you. You're in charge of yourself. Anta ameerun ala nafsik.
You're your own man, you're in charge of yourself. This is not like Umar radiyaAllahu anhu, right? To say, you don't have to respond to anybody. You're good. You do your thing. You know, I trust you, but I need you over there. And he even sends a letter to Muawiyah radiyaAllahu anhu and says, I'm sending Ubadah back and I heard about your dispute. Listen, huwa ameerun nafsihi. He's an ameer of himself, leave him alone. He makes his own decisions. He's not accountable to you. He's accountable to Allah. He's accountable to himself. Leave the man alone. I need him there, radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. So he goes back and the happy ending is that him and Muawiyah actually win a lot of battles together after this dispute that they had. He plays a major role then in the expansion of Islam. Remember, this is where it's getting heated between the Roman Empire and the Muslims, the Byzantines and the Muslims. So one of the most important expeditions here, or one of the most important battles, is the battle for Egypt, for Masr. Now, we all know that Amr ibn al-As radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu is the man who led the overall battle for Egypt against the Roman Empire. But of his main generals was Ubadah ibn al-Samit radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. So Ubadah is one of the main people that is engaged in this battle with the Roman Empire, the Byzantines at the time, for Egypt. And this is where you find one of the most epic conversations in the history of Islam because it shows you the way that people's hearts and minds were changed through Islam. This was not a military force. This was a spiritual force. This was very different. Their concepts were shifted. Things changed. So the Muslims laid siege to the Babylon fortress in the year 641.
And the ruler, the last Cyrus at the time of Egypt, the last Cyrus was a man by the name of al-Muqawqis. Now, al-Muqawqis literally translates to the Caucasian, the Roman ruler of Egypt. Al-Muqawqis, the Caucasian, Roman ruler of Egypt, the last Cyrus of Egypt. He's also the patriarch, so he's the head of the church, and simultaneously the political ruler, the general over Egypt under the Roman Empire. And this is really interesting because before a battle takes place, you've got the negotiations. Diplomacy first. So al-Muqawqis is in his fortress. He's really holed up. And he comes out to meet the Muslims. And when he comes out, he sees Ubadah radiyaAllahu ta'ala. Ubadah was black. This doesn't make sense to him. So, you know, in one narration he even says, can you go find who's really in charge? Like, go talk to whoever's in charge and tell them I want to talk to them. Because that's their mindset, right? You can't be a leader. But when he comes forward, al-Muqawqis makes a racist remark against Ubadah. I mean, think about the position Ubadah has radiyaAllahu ta'ala amongst the Muslims at this point. It's, subhanAllah, it's very, it's ironic that the first Muslim commander, right, was Usama ibn Zayd radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, against the Romans. Usama radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu was described as also being exceedingly black. So you have an empire that's got all of its Roman Empire stuff. And now you have Ubadah ibn Samit. So Ubadah comes forward, al-Muqawqis says, iba'du anni dhalika al-aswad wa qaddimu ghayrahu yukallimuni. Take this black man away from me and put someone else forward to talk to me. I'm not even going to talk to him. I mean, talk about the disrespect, right?
Like, he didn't even talk to him. He talked to everybody else, to the Muslims that were there, behind Ubadah, who's the leader. And he said, take this black man away and go find someone else to talk to me. This is the head of the church. This is the head of this political power, right? Like, think about the difference in moral values here between the two. And Ubadah radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, he's not moving. And they responded to him. They said, inna ha'dha afdhaluna ra'yan wa ilma huwa sayyiduna wa khayruna. So this man that you just degraded is the best of us. Ra'yan wa ilma. This is what they valued. His opinion, his knowledge. And he is our leader and he is the best of us. Narji'u jami'an ila qawlihi wa ra'ihi. We don't say anything except what he says. We always return back to him. Like, it's his word that dominates all of our word. So even if we were to speak, we're going to confirm everything with him because this is our leader. So a complete vote of confidence, not like, you know, we have to use wisdom here. He doesn't want to talk to our leader because our leader is black. Let's go find one of the sahaba whose whiter complexion to come talk to al-muqawqis. No, like, this is not negotiable for us. This is our leader and you have a problem, not us. Al-muqawqis still does not address Ubadah ibn al-Samad directly. He's still talking to them. And he says, wa kayfa ra'ditum an yakuna hadhal aswada afdhalakum? How could you allow for yourselves to let this black man be the best of you? How could you let him be the best of you? And he says, innama yan baghi an yakuna doonakum? He should be the least of you. He's still degrading him right in front of him. Says, this man should be the least of you. He should not be the best of you.
And they responded and they said, once again, he is the best of us. He is our leader. He is our commander. And they said, wa inna al-aswada wal-abyadu aindana sawa. Like, this is so beautiful, like concepts. They said, and by the way, black and white to us are the same. We're teaching him about Islam. Like, I know you've been governing for all this time and this is how you set up hierarchies. But to us, black and white are the same. No one is superior except by taqwa, except by their piety. That's how you gain prominence and position amongst us Muslims, is through piety. So al-Muqawqis is like, who are these people? I don't understand you because this is not a world view that I've dealt with. Like, the Persians were just as backwards as the Romans. So it's like, what are we doing here? So al-Muqawqis, finally after arguing with them, he says to Ubadah. Ubadah is just standing there. He says to Ubadah, he says, come forth. You know, qaddim ya aswad, he still calls him a black one. Come forth, a black man. He says, but speak lowly because you scare me. And I don't want you to speak harshly because then you're really going to scare me. Like, so keep your voice down. Don't speak harshly towards me. Keep a little bit of a distance, but say what you got to say. Like, fine, these people don't want to talk to me. Fine, you're their leader. I'll talk to you. And Ubadah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, he goes forth and he smiles and he says, listen, if you're scared of me, my blackness, he says, inna fee man khalaftu min ashaabi alfa rajulin aswat. There are a thousand black men behind me. I'm not the only black one here. I want you to know there are a thousand black men behind me. kulluhum ashaddu sawadan minni wa afda' manzara. Every one of them is black as me, and they'll scare you just as much as I do. He's using his silliness to his advantage, right? Like, fine, you got a problem with us?
I'm telling you, this army of a few thousand people back here, there are a thousand black men here, and they're going to scare you too. So you better be afraid. I suggest you back down then. And then al-Muqawqis, not amused, obviously, and he says to him, what do you want? Like, I'm not even going to engage you on this stuff. What do you want? And subhanAllah, he responds, and he says, you may be afraid of me, but he said, wallahi, my youth is gone, and I'm old, as you can see. Ubaid is an elderly man at this point. He's in his 60s. He says, but I would not be afraid of a hundred of your best soldiers. I don't fear you. I don't fear even a hundred of your best men. And if they all wanted to face me at once, I would take all a hundred of them at once. And he said, and my companions, ashaabi sawa, my companions back there, my army, they all have the same courage that I'm saying to you. And he said, we are not fighting you for worldly gain or for wealth. None of us cares to have a single dirham from this world, a single gold coin of this world, except to ward off hunger and to clothe ourselves with a single garment. And anything beyond that is extra. And we're content with what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given to us. Our pleasure is the pleasure of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So like, by the way, you can't bribe us. If you're thinking, let me try to bribe you, bring you in, give you something. That's not going to work either. And subhanAllah, al-Muqawqis, he says to the people around him, he says, هل سمعتم مثل كلام هذه قط؟ Have you ever heard people talk like this? Have you heard what he said? He said, لقد هبت منظر وإن قوله لا أهيب عندي من منظره. He said, I was afraid of his look, I was afraid of his appearance.
But he says, قوله لا أهيب عندي من منظره. That looking, that what he has said is alarming me much more than his appearance. Because these are people that are different from us. Their values are different from us. Their conviction is different from us. Their courage is different from us. And indeed, subhanAllah, Ubadah radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anhu led that battle and led that army to victory, a very swift victory in fact against al-Muqawqis, the last Cyrus of Egypt in that time. And went on to develop Egypt in very beautiful ways. How many of you are Muslim by the way? How many Egyptians we have in here? It's okay, raise your hands, I'm going to ask you a question. A trivia question. I know some of you are Muslim, you're not raising your hand, like I'm going to say something bad, all right? All right, what is the first capital of Egypt? First capital city of Egypt? I know some of you are not going to like my answer, you're going to come argue with me afterwards anyway, because I know how it goes. It's Uluskandariya. I'll say Alexandria. Anyone know what it is? Fustat, mashAllah. All right, you win. JazakAllah khair. The first capital of Egypt is actually Fustat. And Ubadah radiAllahu anhu was the first one to develop that city. And he also built the first masjid in Masr, which happens to now be known as Masjid Amr ibn Aas. So he's actually the one who built the first masjid in Masr, the first masjid in Egypt, which is known as Masjid Amr ibn Aas radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, which is of course a very famous masjid in Egypt. So Ubadah radiAllahu anhu, this is another one of his contributions, right, developing essentially much of the city of Egypt. And there are other masjids that they say in Asham that are built by Ubadah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, but generally speaking, he was known to be a person
who could be an architect for masjid and would build the masjid in the places that he would go. After Egypt comes Cyprus. Last week, we spoke about what happened in Cyprus when Ubadah radiAllahu anhu was leading the naval expedition, the first naval expedition in Islam against what was the Roman base in Cyprus. And subhanAllah, Um Haram radiAllahu ta'ala anha, his wife would die as soon as they got off of the ship, as was promised by the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, that she would be amongst that group and she was accepted as a shaheedah over there in Cyprus. And Ubadah actually still led the campaign. So there were two campaigns against the Roman base in Cyprus. Ubadah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, despite losing his wife, was still entrusted with going forth and leading those two campaigns against the Romans in Cyprus. And then he retired to Palestine. He retired to Palestine once again. So subhanAllah, as we get to sort of the end of him, his life in this regard, he didn't live much longer after his wife passed away. He died only two or three years after Um Haram radiAllahu ta'ala anha passed away. And he did not fight in any expeditions anymore after the Battle of Cyprus. Ubadah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu stays in Palestine, continues to teach the people the Quran, continues to narrate some of the ahadith of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. He's a narrator of over a hundred of the ahadith of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, the narrations. And he also starts to smell some of the fitna, some of the dissension, the trials and tribulations that would lead to the assassination of Uthman radiAllahu anhu. This is now in the Khilafah of Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And he's one of the first people to recognize what's happening, but he doesn't live to actually see it come to fruition.
But remember that fitna on the inside is almost always instigated from the outside. So this undermining of Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, the slander of Uthman radiAllahu anhu, these things, he starts to hear some of that in Palestine, he's crushing it. And he's very wary of it, but he's not going to live to actually see the fitna come to reality in his life. But there are narrations of him stopping some of the young men that are starting to pass on some of the stuff about Uthman, like, what are you talking about? What are you talking about? So he starts to hear some of these overzealous youth that are saying very nasty things about Uthman radiAllahu anhu and is correcting some of those things very early on. And he's wary of it and he's telling Uthman radiAllahu anhu what he's hearing in Palestine at the time. But then, subhanAllah, we find his death. And I'd never heard this narration personally of his death until this time around when I was preparing for it. He's in Palestine and he does something very beautiful at the time of his death. He became sick, so he would die a natural death. Ubadah radiAllahu anhu, it's narrated, lamma hadhrat Ubadah al-watha' when Ubadah radiAllahu anhu came to the time of death, he said to his family, akhriju fi rashi ila al-sahb. Ya'ni, death. Take my body out. Take me out, roll me out, basically, in front of my house, to the courtyard of my house. And he said, go ahead and call. Jma'u li mawaliya wa khadami wa jirani. I want you to call every single person that I ever interacted with. A subject, a servant, a soldier, a family member, a neighbor, anybody, please call them forward. Wa man kana yadkhulu alayya. Whoever used to enter upon me, whoever I used to interact with, please call them over to the house. Fa jama'u lah. So they all came around him.
And their leader is about to die. And I want you to think about this. Ubadah radiAllahu anhu is laying down and he's talking and everyone is gathered around him to hear what he has to say outside of his home. And he says, inna yawmi hadha la'arahu aakhira yawmin ya'ti alayya minad dunya wa awwala laylatin minal aakhira. He said, this day of mine, I see it to be the last day of my life in this world and the first night of my night in the hereafter. He says, this is the last day I'm going to live in this earth and I think it's the first night that I'm going to live in the hereafter and encounter the stages of the hereafter. And he says to everyone, wa inni la'adri la'allahu qad farata minni biyadi aw bilisani shayt wahuwa allathee nafsu ubadata biyadihi alqisasu yawmin alqiyama fama kharaja ala ahadikum shay'un min nafsihi illa qtassa minni qabla an yakhruja nafsi. He said, listen, I might have said something to you. My hand or my tongue might have slipped in regards to one of you in this world. I might have said something hurtful. I might have done something hurtful to one of you. I don't know who it is, but if I have done so, Allah is going to take your justice, your right on the day of judgment from me. So whoever has anything to say, anyone that I harmed with my tongue or with my hand or did something wrong to, please bring it forward to me and take your payback now before my soul leaves this world. SubhanAllah, this is the concern of this man, despite all that he had done, which shows you the piety of these people. And not a single person comes forward. They all instead start to say to him words of praise. bal kunta waridan wa kunta muaddiban. You were like a father. You were a mentor. You were the best of us.
We have nothing to say. And they said about this, kunta waridan wa kunta muaddiban. wa ma qala li khadimin su anqat. And you never said to anyone, any servant or anyone, a bad word. Like we never heard anything from your mouth that could be harmful. Think about that by the way. If you're going to meet Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, even if you have this pristine biography of accomplishment after accomplishment after accomplishment, the concern that he has is, have I slipped? Did I say something to one of you? Did I hurt you? I want you to tell me. And no one has anything to say. So Ubadah radiAllahu ta'ala anhum, he says, aghafartum li ma kana min dhalik. So you forgive me for everything? All of you forgive me for everything? No one has anything to say? They said nothing. qala Allahumma shahad. He said, oh Allah bear witness. And Ubadah radiAllahu anhum would die that day. Oh Allah bear witness that not a single person had one complaint against me. May Allah make that our state as well. Not a single person could claim that I hurt them. That's a beautiful thing to aspire to. You might not be able to aspire to some of the other stuff Ubadah accomplished, but can you aspire to that, that when I die not a single person could say that you harmed me with your tongue or you harmed me with your hand in any way. And there's one more hadith and subhanAllah, the last hadith of Ubadah is narrated on his deathbed, which is powerful in and of itself. Of the over 100 hadith, the last hadith that would come from him would come on the day of his death. It's narrated by As-Sunabihi. As-Sunabihi radiAllahu anhum, for the students of hadith, there are three Sunabihis, there's one companion, one maybe companion and one tabi'i. So this is a companion of the Prophet ﷺ and a companion of Ubadah radiAllahu ta'ala anhum, Abdur-Rahman ibn Usaila, As-Sunabihi radiAllahu anhum.
He said, this is the last narration of Ubadah, he said, دخلت عليه وهو في الموت. I entered upon Ubadah and he was just about to die. Like he was just about to die. قال فبكيت. So he said, I started to cry. I started to cry. Now, you would think that the one who's in distress is the one who's dying, not the one who's visiting the one who's dying, right? He said, I started to cry. So he said, Ubadah said back to me, مهلاً لما تبكي؟ Why are you crying? Stop crying. قال فوالله لئن استشهدت لأشهدن لك ولئن شفعت لأشفعن لك ولئن استطعت لأنفعن لك. He said, listen, if I die as a shaheed, if I'm a martyr, then I will bear witness for you. Then I will intercede for you. And if I can intercede, if Allah places me in the position of an intercessor on the day of judgment, I'll intercede for you. This is a student, this is his companion. And he said, I will try to benefit you in any way. Meaning, you know, this isn't the end of our relationship. Don't worry. I'll see you on the day of judgment. I'll see you on the other side. And if I'm in a good place, then I will be there for you. But then he says to him, and he says, والله ما من حديث سمعته من رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم لكم فيه خير إلا حدثتكموه إلا حديث واحدة. He said to him, listen to me. Saying to us, he said, every hadith I learned from the Prophet ﷺ that would be of benefit to you, I shared with you. I shared everything I heard from the Prophet ﷺ with you. He said, but there is one more hadith I want to share with you. He said, وسوف أحدثكموه اليوم وقد أحيط بنفسي. He said, I'm going to share this with you today and I'm near my death. My soul is about to leave my body.
He said, I heard the Prophet ﷺ say, سمعت رسول الله ﷺ يقول من شهد أن لا إله إلا الله وأن محمد رسول الله حرم الله عليه النار I heard the Prophet ﷺ say, whoever bears witness that there is no God but Allah and that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, Allah will forbid the fire from that person. Allah has forbidden the fire from that person. It's a beautiful hadith. It's the last hadith he narrated. He narrated it moments before he died. He's not the only narrator of this hadith by the way. Mu'adh رضي الله عنه also narrated it but way late when he was about to die. Why? Because إذن يتكئوا He didn't want people to become complacent. You might hear the hadith and be like, alright, we're good then. What else do we have to do? We just say shahada. But he doesn't want you to become complacent. You got to work. لا إله إلا الله ومحمد رسول الله is the key of all goodness and you got the teeth of the key, right? You've got to work. But this hadith is so hopeful, so beautiful. So he said, I heard the Prophet ﷺ say that whoever says this shahada, Allah will not punish that person. حرم الله عليه النار and he passed away moments after that. رضي الله تعالى عنه He passed away actually in Palestine, in Palestine. I don't know if brothers have the picture, if you can put it up. Is it showing or not showing? It's showing. This is the grave of Ubadah رضي الله تعالى عنه. Guess where it's at? Anyone recognize it? باب الرحمة next to مزل الأقصى. So the grave of Ubadah رضي الله عنه is actually next to, it's in the cemetery right next to مزل الأقصى باب الرحمة cemetery. Lay, subhanallah, amongst many companions, amongst many تابعين, amongst many great men and women before and after. And of course is also under occupation and has been desecrated before. May Allah سبحانه وتعالى liberate that land. اللهم آمين.
But it is a beautiful place. I've never been to it. I've never been allowed to go, but I know some of the people who do get to go on these trips to Al-Aqsa. Inshallah تعالى you go to باب الرحمة if you go to the cemetery, you find this grave of Ubadah رضي الله تعالى عنه. Many of the Ahadith that he narrated live with us today. His legacy lives with us today. And his descendants in Palestine still live by the way. So they're actually a famous family, عائلة نوسيبة which is the descendants of Ubadah بن سامة. So they still live there until this day. So the descendants settled under Ubadah and till today it's a well-known family that has existed there for 1400 years with a powerful legacy of Ubadah رضي الله تعالى عنه. May Allah be pleased with him and may Allah سبحانه وتعالى join us with him and with the companions of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, the family of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and with the prophets and the righteous ones in the highest level of Jannah, فردوس اللهم آمين. رزاكم الله خيرا. Inshallah تعالى next week we'll talk about البراء بن مالك رضي الله تعالى عنه and then we'll break for the Hijjah inshallah. But I'll go ahead and I'll take some questions for now. Yes. They practice the whole Quran during Sayyidina Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم. How old were they when they practiced the whole thing? Okay, how old were the Hifadh? Most of the Hifadh were actually young people. Most of them were young people. And of course by the time the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم passed away, there were hundreds of people that memorized the whole Quran. But there were people that were sort of recognized as the main memorizers, but most of them were young people. May Allah make you a Hafidh of Quran. Say ameen. There you go. Are you a Hafidh yet? You're getting there inshallah, right? You have the intention?
You want to? Like tomorrow? Alright, inshallah. Any sisters? Yeah. Say that one more time. Why was it called the Pledge of Women? So they called at that time in the Arabic terminology when they said, بيعة النساء, because the women were not typically fighting in battle. So if it wasn't a pledge that required a military component, then they called it بيعة النساء, because it wasn't a military pledge. But it was a pledge that everyone could take. But if it was a military pledge, then it was understood that the men were gonna put their lives on the line for that pledge. So it was Arabic terminology at the time. Yeah. Any other questions? You have a question? No? Alright. Questions? Say that one. Say that one. I have a question here. So during war negotiations with the Byzantines, and I guess other nations or rivals that had different languages, what was the logistics around the language barriers? The language barrier? So what were the logistics around the language barrier? It's a good question. It's usually not spelled out. Obviously translators were common. But especially in those regions, it was common for them to speak some of the same languages. So the assumption that's made in most of these is a direct conversation. But of course, translators would be present at the time as well. Good question though. Something to look into. Any other questions? Yes sir. What were the locations of the other places of the two hafiz taught? What were the other? What were the locations that the other two companions went? Oh, where the other two companions went? Good question. They went to Homs and Damascus. Homs, famous city in Syria,
and Damascus, which was a city, which was a center. And then you had Palestine, Jerusalem in particular. Thank you. Jazakum Allah khair. Any sisters? No, any brothers? Last question. All right, so I'll see you all next week, inshallah. It'll be the last one. We'll talk about Al-Bara'a ibn Malik, radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. Jazakum Allah khairan. Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
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