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Life of the Prophet (seerah)

Urwa ibn Masud (ra): The Chief Who Resembled Isa (as) | The Firsts

July 2, 2024Dr. Omar Suleiman

A noble leader with a striking presence, he initially resisted the call of Islam and was a chief negotiator from Quraysh to the Prophet ﷺ in Hudaybiyyah. But when Islam entered his heart, he sought to lead his people to faith and lost his life in the process.

This episode of The Firsts is part of the “Muslim of Ta’if” series.

The Firsts is a weekly video series that chronicles the lives of the Sahaba (the companions of the Prophet ﷺ) during and after the time of the Prophet ﷺ.

Transcript

This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings.
The Most Noble Man From Ta'if So tonight I'm going to actually inshallah ta'ala start with the most noble man from Ta'if to embrace Islam that we know of and who played a crucial role in the life of the Prophet ﷺ predominantly on the other side of the Messenger ﷺ, so a late convert. And the thing about these people is that every single one of them has an extraordinary entrance into Islam. They all have very unique stories. There isn't a simple conversion story here. All of them have very complex ways in which Islam came to them and in which they embraced Islam and through that we see the wisdom of the Prophet ﷺ and we also see that Allah will reward the heart of the Prophet ﷺ who did not destroy the people that caused him the greatest amount of harm. No one hurt the Prophet ﷺ more than these people. Now I want you to sort of sit with that for a moment. The Prophet ﷺ had a lot of bad days. He had people spit on him. He had people knock his teeth out. He had people humiliate him in front of his family. He had people run him out of his home. He had people kill his family in front of him. I mean he's been through a lot of bad days. But the Prophet ﷺ said the worst day of his life was what? The day of Ta'af. That's the worst day of his life. The most humiliated he has ever been, the most harmed he has ever been ﷺ and those that humiliate the most honored creation of Allah are in fact humiliated themselves. But the Prophet ﷺ had a heart for them. Just as he had a heart for Abu Sufyan and he had a heart for Ikramah and so many of these other people, he had a heart for them ﷺ. So inshallah we're going to start with two major personalities
and the irony of these two personalities that we'll start with is that they're actually related. The main tribe that you interpret Ta'af through is a tribe by the name of Banu Thaqif. Remember these were people that identified by tribe not as much by city. So the tribe is called Banu Thaqif. And the most noble man of Thaqif and a man who will die a companion of the Prophet ﷺ is a man by the name of Urwa ibn Mas'ud al-Thaqafi رضي الله تعالى عنه. Urwa ibn Mas'ud al-Thaqafi رضي الله تعالى عنه. Now if you think about the geography of Ta'af and the geography of Mecca. Ta'af is not very far away from Mecca. It's about 70 miles. They're considered some of the noble ones as well. There's a lot of intermarriage. There's a lot of connection. There's a lot of respect, mutual respect between these two cities of Ta'af and Mecca. And those that are considered noble there are considered noble here as well. And Urwa comes from a lineage that mixes the best of Ta'af and the best of Mecca. So his father Mas'ud al-Thaqafi was considered the most noble man of Thaqif. Of the most noble man of Thaqif. His mother was a woman by the name of Sumayya bint Abd Shams ibn Abd Manaf. Sumayya bint Abd Shams ibn Abd Manaf. And she is one of the most noble women of Quraysh. So his mother is from Quraysh. His father is from Thaqif. Therefore he is in good with both of these towns. He has a lot of credibility in both Mecca and in Ta'af. And his mother actually was noted for her intelligence.
So she's noted for her nobility and she's noted for her intelligence. So Urwa could recall as a child a very specific incident happening. There was a battle that took place known as the Battle of Fijar. Which was when many of the tribes in Arabia killed each other off in the days of ignorance. Right? There was a massive war and battle that took place in that area. Urwa remembered from his mother's intelligence. Was that she saw that they were going to get caught up in the violence. She went and she pitched a tent. And she basically told Urwa and he was a very young child on that day. And his brothers, look go and offer this tent as refuge to anyone that's fleeing battle. Let them in and she would care for them. Treat the wounded, bring them water. And basically that was a means of attaining safety in the middle of the crossfire. And in the process of that in her intelligence. Those that escaped death that day always felt indebted to the family of Sube'a bint Abdishams. And by extension her children as well. So it actually earned her a position through her snap judgment in the middle of that craziness. To go and to pitch a tent and to take care of the wounded. And to basically avoid in that process the crossfire. On top of that as Urwa grows up. Urwa himself establishes himself in Mecca by committing a noble act. Which is basically in order to avert a battle between tribes. Urwa paid some of the diya, some of the blood money that was due in those battles. To bring peace back to Mecca from his own pocket. He said you know what? I'm going to earn, I'm going to spend for myself. I'm a man who travels, I'm a merchant. Some of the wealthy people in this community will come together. And we will pay off and compensate the injured. And compensate all of these tribes. So that we can restore peace in the city. Peace and calm in the city.
And this is a debt that he's going to still be paying off according to some of the historians. Until the day of his death. So he starts this off in Jahiliyyah. And he earns a position. A noble man. Someone who likes peace. Someone who likes to bring tribes together. Not someone who's hostile. Not someone who seeks to pit his tribe against others. Not someone who brings Ta'if against Mecca. We also see, and this is just for those who are taking notes. Inshallah ta'ala. Because I know that the names can become overwhelming. But it is very interesting. He marries into the nobles of Mecca as well. So his sister, Barza bint Mas'ud. Is married to Safwan ibn Umayyah. RadhiAllahu ta'ala Anhu, of course, is one of the last people to embrace Islam from Mecca. But a very noble man. He also marries the daughter of Abu Sufyan ibn Harb. So his wife is Maymuna bint Abi Sufyan ibn Harb. And through Maymuna bint Abi Sufyan ibn Harb. So obviously we know who Abu Sufyan is in terms of being a chief in Mecca. And what it means to marry the daughter of Abu Sufyan ibn Harb. He had a son that was named Dawud. And Dawud would marry his maternal cousin Habibah. The daughter of Um Habibah. Alright, so you don't get lost. Let's kind of walk this back a bit. Um Habibah is the wife of the Prophet ﷺ. The daughter of Abu Sufyan. Habibah was born in Abyssinia to a different father. Who died in Abyssinia. So this daughter is the step-daughter of the Prophet ﷺ. And she will marry the son of Urwah and Maymuna bint Abi Sufyan. So he's very, you know, much embedded in the society in Mecca. And he has a reputation for wanting to bring people together.
It's very useful that when you kind of look at the early skirmishes with the Prophet ﷺ. Some people pulled certain tricks. Some people were particularly nasty towards the Prophet ﷺ. Some people employed treachery. In fact, most of the people in Mecca completely lost their morals and their ethics. In the process of combating the mission of the Prophet ﷺ. Even things that the Arabs took pride in as non-Muslims. They completely threw that out the window when they wanted to shut down the Prophet ﷺ. They started to lie and cheat and steal and plot. And do all sorts of things that were otherwise foreign to them. Because they saw themselves as a noble people. Urwah is someone who you don't actually find engaging in those types of attitudes. Okay. Now let's talk about what he looks like. Because he has one of the most unique looks of the companions. In one sentence, Urwah looked like Jesus. Urwah looked like Isa ﷺ. You're like, wait, where did that come from? That's completely out of left field when you're describing a companion of the Prophet ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ said an authentic hadith. He said, عُرِضَ عَلَيَّ الْأَنبِيَاءَ فَإِذَا مُوسَىٰ ضَرْبٌ مِنَ الرِّجَالِ كَأَنَّهُ مِنْ رِجَالِ شَنُؤَاهُ The Prophet ﷺ said that the Prophets were shown to me on the night of Al-Isra and Mi'raj. And Musa ﷺ looked like one of the men of Shanu'ah. And one narration is Zut, which means Musa ﷺ was a man with dark skin. Right? Musa ﷺ was a man with dark skin. So the Prophet ﷺ described Musa ﷺ that way. And he said, وَرَأَيْتُ عِيسَىٰ بْنَ مَرْيَمَ عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ فَإِذَا أَقْرَبُ مَنْ رَأَيْتُ بِهِ شَبَهًا عُرْوَةُ بْنُ مَسْعُودٍ He said, and I saw Jesus, the son of Mary ﷺ.
And the person who resembled him most is Urwa ibn Mas'ud. If you want to know how Isa ﷺ looked, look at Urwa ibn Mas'ud. قَالَ وَرَأَيْتُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ صَلَوَاتُ اللَّهِ عَلَيْهِ وَإِذَا أَقْرَبُ مَنْ رَأَيْتُ بِهِ شَبَهًا صَاحِبُكُم صَلَى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَامُ He said ﷺ, and I saw Abraham ﷺ. And the person who resembled him most was who? The Prophet ﷺ himself. And subhanAllah, if you take the shama'il of the Prophet ﷺ, the description, the physical description of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and you take what is collected through some of the early Biblical sources, even of a description of Abraham ﷺ, very similar descriptions between Abraham ﷺ and Muhammad ﷺ. And of course, Muhammad ﷺ is a descendant of Abraham ﷺ. قَالَ وَرَأَيْتُ جِبْرِيلَ عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ فَإِذَا أَقْرَبُ مَنْ رَأَيْتُ بِهِ شَبَهًا دِحْيًا رضي الله تعالى عنه. And he said, I saw Jibreel ﷺ and the person who resembled him most was Dihya. Okay. So a few things here. Isa ﷺ is described with extreme beauty. Right. Isa ﷺ had a certain look, which was a beautiful and powerful look. Now someone says, well, what does he look like? I want you to take the image of Jesus that you see in the churches today and in the movies today. And I want you to go to Ta'if. And tell me if you find a single human being in Ta'if that looks like that. Problem solved. So, Isa ﷺ and Urwah, or Urwah ibn Mas'ud looks like Isa ﷺ, has a powerful look, has a beautiful look, has long hair, a strong build, a position with his people, noble characteristics. And subhanAllah,
he is mentioned in the Quran initially in a very interesting way. Allah ﷻ says, وَقَالُوا لَوْ لَا نُزِّرَ هَٰذَا الْقُرْآنُ عَلَىٰ رَجُلٍ مِنَ الْقَرْيَتَيْنِ عَظِيمٌ That they said to the Prophet ﷺ when he first came to them with Islam, why didn't the Quran descend upon one of the two great men, or the two men from the great towns? Okay? So, how come it came to you? Meaning, the Prophet ﷺ was not wealthy, the Prophet ﷺ was an orphan, the Prophet ﷺ, right? They compared him to Urwah ibn Mas'ud and al-Walid ibn al-Mughirah. al-Walid ibn al-Mughirah, the father of Khalid ﷺ from Mecca, Urwah ibn Mas'ud al-Thaqafi from Al-Ta'if. How come the Quran didn't come on one of them? Why did the Quran descend upon you instead of them? Now I want to show you how precise and how beautiful and profound the Quran is. Allah ﷻ did not threaten these two men here. Allah did not say, سَنُصْلِيهِ سَقَرٍ that we're going to punish these two people and we're going to show them how little they are on the Day of Judgment. Allah did not then go into the punishment of these two men. He simply quoted what was being said in Mecca because all they could think about was tribe and wealth and power and prestige. They said, how come if God is talking to us, why doesn't He reveal to al-Walid ibn al-Mughirah or Urwah ibn Mas'ud in Ta'if? But then Allah is silent about the two of these men. Some of the scholars say, subhanAllah, look how beautiful and profound. If Allah ﷻ would have proceeded to speak about the punishment of these two men, that means Urwah is done. But Urwah is going to become Muslim in two decades. Compare that to Abu Lahab who would have had the better chance because he's the Prophet's uncle,
he's very close to him and it could have woke up from his senses, right? If you're talking about a judgment, Abu Lahab has the better chance to wake up. But Allah sealed it for him. Abu Lahab could have disproved the Quran, right, to a lot of people by coming out and saying, I'm a Muslim now. So what happened to Tabat yada Abu Lahab in Wattab? But Allah knew what his fate would be. Allah ﷻ, the precision of describing the enemies. Now, al-Walid ibn al-Mughirah is described in many ways in punishment. But here in particular, Allah ﷻ is condemning the sentiment. But Allah does not decree the fate of these two men. And that is a bushra, a glad tiding, of the eventual repentance of Urwah ibn Mas'ud al-Thaqafi رضي الله تعالى عنه. As for al-Walid ibn al-Mughirah, he's done. So when does Urwah come up in the seerah? You have to see Ta'if as basically a place that largely ignored Islam, right? The Prophet ﷺ came to them, they were not interested, they sent the Prophet ﷺ away, humiliated him ﷺ, stoned him, right, did what they did. Largely this affair remains between in terms of geography, Mecca and Medina. Ta'if kind of stays out of it, except for some of the tribes that are used as mercenaries that help Quraysh at times in a military sense to try to suppress the Prophet ﷺ and his mission and his da'wah. But largely Ta'if is out of this. And so Urwah ibn Mas'ud al-Thaqafi doesn't really show up in the seerah until a very important inflection point which is the point of Hudaybiyyah, the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah. The Prophet ﷺ is coming from Medina in peace.
He and the companions are wearing their ihram, they're coming to make Umrah, they're coming to Mecca to do the pilgrimage. They're not armed. Mecca is in a dilemma. If we kill them then we violate our own rites and rituals. What will it look like upon us? But if we let them come and do this pilgrimage, we're also humiliated. So they're obviously trying to figure out a way to stop the Prophet ﷺ and stop the Muslims from coming into Mecca. And so hence the negotiation starts. The first negotiator the Meccans sent to the Prophet ﷺ was a man by the name of Hulais. Hulais ibn al-Qaman. Hulais was actually Meccan, so he's one of them. They sent him, he failed. Eventually we know that Suhaib ibn Amr is the one who comes in, رضي الله تعالى عنه, and at that time an enemy again, and he seals a deal with the Prophet ﷺ. But in between, this is where Urwa ibn Mas'ud actually comes in. So the negotiators were Hulais, and then Urwa, and then Mikraz, and then Suhaib. Urwa, he comes to the people of Mecca, and he says to the people of Mecca, Am I not to you like a son? Or, أَلَسْتُ مِنِّي بِمَنزِلَةِ الْوَالَدِ أَلَسْتُ لَكُم بِمَنزِلَةِ الْوَالَدِ Are you not to me, O leaders of Mecca, like a father is to a son? And am I not to you like a son to a father? What is he citing here? His mother, like I'm one of you as well. Look, I work these types of treaties, I'm a diplomat, I'm well-traveled, I know how to bring people together in the midst of these types of disputes.
So, am I not to you like a son? Are you not to me like a father? And this is, of course, in the Arabic language, you know, playing on the sentiment. And they say, of course, right? His mother is one of their most noble, and they know Urwa very well. And he's a leader, and he's senior, polished, powerful, everything that you'd want. And Urwa says, do you have any doubt in me? And they say, absolutely not. No doubt in your integrity, no doubt in who you are. He says, فَدَعُونِي أَذْهَبُ إِلَيْهِ لِيُكَلِّمَهُمْ Let me go speak to him. Let me go try my hand with the Prophet ﷺ. I think I can intercede. I'm far enough, but close enough. He knows me, I know him. I don't have the bad blood that you all have with him. I don't come from, you know, your exact tribe. There's enough of a distance, I think I'm the perfect person to go negotiate with the Prophet ﷺ. Now Urwa is going to try some different tactics. Alright, so he's not gonna come in necessarily and just play the sweet card. First he's gonna try a little bit of a rougher approach with the Prophet ﷺ and see how that goes. So he comes to the Prophet ﷺ with his men. He enters upon him in Hudaybiyyah and he looks around, kind of sees the situation. And he says, يا محمد ما أرى إلا هؤلاء الأوشاب وفي رواية الأوباش He said, oh Muhammad, all I see around you is a mixture of a bunch of different people. This is actually one of the most beautiful descriptions of the Prophet ﷺ. Your community is full of people of different races, different tribes, different social classes. They're not really united by anything that we know. We know something very different. We're a people of tribe. So I see around you all of these different people. Think about the image.
In that society, you've got everybody around the Prophet ﷺ. Every shape, every type of person around the Prophet ﷺ. So he said, I see this mixture of people. But he's not saying it in a praiseworthy way. He says, have you ever heard of a man from us, from the Arab, who destroyed his own people, who turned on his own people and destroyed his own people? So you're going to take this group of people and you've got a Persian amongst you, an Abyssinian amongst you, a rich man, a poor man. You're going to take this group of people and you're going to attack Quraish? You're going to destroy your own people? Like if Allah gives you victory, what type of victory is that? Right? And then as he's saying this and the companions are listening and the companions have a lot of restraint. But he says something that strikes a nerve. He says, listen. He says, I see all of these people. هؤلاء الأوباش And it's a derogatory term. This mixture of people around you. إذ جاءتهم قريش بعددها وعديدها If Quraish came to them with their numbers and with their strength. ترقوك وتخلوا عنك These people all flee away from you. Okay. There's a famous... Narration here from Abu Bakr رضي الله تعالى عنه Abu Bakr رضي الله تعالى عنه Got so angry with that statement. Like out of all the accusations that you would make, how dare you claim that we would leave the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم So he said, أَنَحْنُنَ فِرُّوا عَنْهُ أُنصُسْ بَضَرَ اللَّاتِ He said, you think that we would leave him? And then he said something extremely vulgar to him. All right, which I'm not going to translate. But he basically said something that is very unlike Abu Bakr رضي الله تعالى عنه
In all of the narrations. And it became the source of chapters and chapters and chapters in books. How is it that Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه Uses that type of language. Vulgar language cursing him and telling him to get lost. And it's not like Abu Bakr رضي الله تعالى عنه And so the scholars will write chapters about this. And they'll say, look, there are exceptions to the rule. A person who's not honest with the tradition is someone who takes the exception and makes it the norm, which is every time you get into a da'wah debate with someone, you immediately curse and you become foul and you start to talk to them in the same language. The default is اِتْفَعْ بِاللَّتِي هِيَ أَحْسَن Respond with better. Don't be agitated. Don't use the same types of language that they use against you. But sometimes, even the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم when he's doing tawaf, لَقَدْ جِئْتُكُمْ بِالذَّبْحِ One time he says, look, I'm coming for you. Sometimes people need to be responded to in like manner. Bullies need to be put in their place sometimes. But it's the exception, not the norm. And that way when the exception is implored, it's like, whoa. So I want you to kind of imagine the scene when Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه said that, it took the air out of the room, literally. So Urwa was shocked. Urwa is one of the most respectable men in his tribe, amongst his people. Like someone using that type of language to him is a major, major, major violation, right? So Urwa's like, who said that? He's asking the people around him. Who just said that to me? Like who dares use that type of language towards me? And they said, Abu Bakr. And Urwa, and this is powerful. He responds and he says, لولا نعمة لك علي لم أربها بعد لأجبتك ولكن هذه بتلك Powerful language.
Urwa says, if it wasn't for a favor that you once did for me way back in the day, I would have responded to you in like manner. But he said, now, one for one, we're even. I'm not gonna respond to you with that language because I owed you something from way back in the day. You did a favor for me way back in the day and I did not feel like I sufficiently paid you back. So I'm gonna let that go from you, Abu Bakr. Even though with the Arabs, like you don't go that low. Those are fighting words, literally fighting words. And Abu Bakr is looking for a fight because you don't tell the companions that you would abandon the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam that's the greatest insult to the companions that you would leave the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Pause here. Some of the scholars say, subhanAllah, look at the nobility of this man. What was he speaking about? Some of the scholars mentioned that when Urwa took on at a younger age, that dia, that blood money to sort of solve the problems, Abu Bakr pitched in. Because Abu Bakr is a noble man and he wanted to aid in a noble endeavor. So Urwa remembered that and that's al-wafa, that's loyalty. That's not forgetting things that were done for you. SubhanAllah, like I've seen mashayikh cry over this narration because they would say that that man in his jahal, in his jahaliyah is better than a Muslim today. Remembering something that someone did for him years ago that might've been very small, but to say, you know what? I owe you one. I'm gonna let that go because you did something for me a long time ago. That loyalty is a characteristic of Islam. Not forgetting the favors that were done for you, but forgetting the favors you do for others is a trait of Islam. It's a noble trait. And Islam came to refine those types of traits, not do away with them. So Urwa has that type of trait with Abu Bakr radiyallahu ta'ala Anhu here and he says, you know what? Hadhihi bitilk, one for one, we're even now. Meaning if you say it again, we'll fight.
But for now, Abu Bakr, you use those words and I'm not gonna respond to you in like manner. Now, the next part of this narration, Urwa then goes close to the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam so this grandstanding is not working. This strategy failed. Strategy number two. He comes close to the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam waj'ala yamasu lahyatahu alayhi salatu wasalam. He starts touching the beard of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. Now, I know that customs can seem very weird like when you're talking about like, you know, like someone stroking your beard is like, come on, let me talk to you like closely. It wasn't grabbing the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam but it was like, look, let me talk to you and let's sort of work through this. So while he's doing that, there was a man who was in full armor and we're gonna revisit this inshallah ta'ala in a little bit because we're gonna talk about who this man is. There's a man in full armor who takes his sword and he takes the back of his sword and he knocks the hand of Urwah off of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam's beard. And Urwah's like, okay, first Abu Bakr and now this guy who's armored, right, who's wearing his metal from top, I can't see anything, like a bodyguard, moves my hand away. So Urwah says that I was about to put my hand back on the beard of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam like whatever and the man said, kuffa yadaka qabla an la tasir ilayk. He said, if you want your hand to come back to you, don't touch the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. So Urwah's like, man. So he said, man tha ya Muhammad? He asked the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, who's that, ma afadlahu wa aghladahu? Like what a rough and unnecessarily abrasive man he is. So the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam smiled
and he said, ibn akhiq, that's actually your nephew. That is literally the son of your brother, al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba. And Urwah looks at him and he goes, ya ghathar wallahi ma ghathaltu anni sawataka illa bil ams. This is a statement we're gonna come back to when we come to Mughira, which basically like, you traitor, I still have been cleaning up your mess up until last night, like I'm still cleaning up the mess that you left behind. This is something only between Mughira and his uncle, a nephew and his uncle. But this is again, it's dawning upon him, like, all right, like I'm not gonna come here and bully the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. And this was the tactic of Quraysh. They wanted to show the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam that because you're unarmed, we can bully you, we can push you around. So that tactic is not working. So Urwah is watching the situation and the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam says to him, listen, we didn't come to fight. We're not coming for war, we're not coming for battle. Like literally the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam is saying, we're coming in peace. It's those people that are causing a situation. Just let us do Umrah, let us go back to Medina. No one gets hurt, right? So Urwah kind of takes a step back and he's watching the situation and Urwah realizes he's completely out of his element. As he sees the love that the companions have for the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. And he says that as I'm watching the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, as the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam calls for his wudu, they bring his wudu. They don't look at the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam in a certain way, they listen to the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. The love and the honor that they have for the Messenger sallallahu alaihi wa sallam is something unlike I had ever seen before. So he leaves, he leaves Hudaybiyyah.
He goes back to the people of Mecca and he says, ayy qawm, oh people, wallahi laqad wafatu ala al-muluki wa wafatu ala al-qaysara wa al-kisra wa al-najashi. He said, listen, oh people, I have entered upon the kings of the world. I have, as a diplomat, entered upon the kings of the world. And he mentioned the three most powerful men in the world at his time. He says, I have been in the palace of Caesar. I've been in the palace of Kisra. I've been in the palace of Najashi in Abyssinia. I've seen it all. And he says, wallahi ma ra'aytu marikan qat yu'adhimuhu ashabuhu ma yu'adhimu ashabu muhammadin muhammada sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. I've never seen a man, a king, who is more adored by his people than the way that this man is adored by his people. It's different. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam doesn't dominate them by clothes or by anything pompous. He's dressed just like them. He lives in a house smaller than the rest of them. He eats less than them. It's different. He's not abusive towards them. But there is a ta'dhim, there is a love and an awe that they have with the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam that I have never seen with anyone else. Wallahi in yatanakham nukhama illa waqa'at fee kaffi rajlin minhum fadallaka biha wajhahu wajildahu. He said that I saw the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam in yatanakham nukhama. If the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was to spit, I mean, this is just, he's just talking about like how much they adore the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Like they would catch his spit because of how much they love him. And he says, wa-itha amarahum ibtadaru amrahu. And if the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam gave them an order, then they immediately responded to his order. wa-itha tawadda'ah kaadu yaqtatiluna ala wudu'ihi Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. And when the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam would make wudu, it's like they would fight for his wudu,
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. wa-itha takallamu. And if they spoke, khafadhu aswatahum indahu. They lowered their voice in the presence of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. wa-ma yuhiddoona an-nazara ilaihi ta'adheeman lahu Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. And they wouldn't even like look at the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam face to face, out of glory for the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, how much they honored the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. And he said, wallahi laqad ra'aytu qawman la yuslimoonahu li shay'in abada. He said, look, I just saw a people that would not give him up for anything in the world. Remember he was the one that said, these people are gonna flee you. He's going back to Quraish, he's saying, never gonna happen. These people will never give up the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. They will indeed stand by him. And he said, and on top of that, he says, wa-innahu qad arada AAalaykum. That he basically has given to you Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam khattata rushdin. Faqbalooha. Like he's giving you a fair deal. Like he's not, he's not trying to do anything that's out of the ordinary. He's not trying to treat you in a certain way. He's making a very fair argument here. Accept what he's saying. Like I'm telling you, there's no reason to fight him this way. And that is what I believe. Give this up, stop fighting him. Unfortunately, Quraish did not listen. So Irwa basically said, I'm out. I tried and I'm telling you that the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is making a fair deal. Unfortunately, they continue to be aggressive. They agitate. Eventually, Sulh Hudaybiyyah happens. The Treaty of Hudaybiyyah happens. And of course, the Meccans violate the treaty and their aggression against the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam marches upon Mecca. And the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam does not come in the spirit of revenge. He comes in the spirit of mercy, as we've said. He forgives people Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. But he comes with such an overwhelming amount of people with him,
alayhi salatu wassalam, that they're not gonna fight him. They can't fight him anymore, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. And the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam treats them in the most noble of ways. And the rest of that part is history. Forgiving the people of Mecca, overlooking what they had done to him, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. But then we talk about Hunayn and we talk about Ta'if, right? And what transpired after. That those groups then started to arrange forces to attack the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam because Mecca is gone. And so they wanted to attack the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. And this is where the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam proceeds towards a Ta'if. And the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam surrounds Ta'if and places Ta'if under siege. Now here's the thing. It's very interesting, SubhanAllah, what happens with Ta'if. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam didn't wanna destroy them. He had a heart for them, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. So yes, he is carrying out his due diligence as a military leader as well because he's leading a community here. He has to do what he has to do, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. But at the same time, in the heart of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, he wants these people to become Muslim. He wants these people to be guided. So what happens in Ta'if is that a lot of those tribes, and we know how difficult Hunayn was, a lot of those Bedouin tribes had basically fallen into Ta'if and they're really difficult to deal with, very difficult to deal with. So when the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam surrounds Ta'if, it's a pretty strong siege that he places on Ta'if, but he doesn't charge in Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. So in that siege, there are negotiations that are taking place with the leaders there. Obviously, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is not forcing people to become Muslim, but the siege is getting tighter on them. And the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
was there for a month outside of Ta'if with the Sahaba, many of them from Mecca now that had joined. And the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, after being there for some time and speaking, Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, Inna qafiluna ghada. He said, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, that we're gonna leave in the morning. We're not gonna go in. Umar radiyallahu ta'ala anhum, in his enthusiasm and some of the companions, he said, Ya Rasulullah, why not? I mean, let's go. Like we're ready. So the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, fine, in that case, go ahead and fight. Give it a shot. So the next morning, some of the Sahaba attempted to basically get into, to start a battle. And clearly the people of Ta'if and those tribes, like they had their tricks. So the arrows and different stuff started to fly out there. And those Sahaba came back exhausted and hurt. And the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, Inna qafiluna ghada. We're going back in the morning. And no one said anything. Fadlahika Rasulullahi Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam laughed. Like if you would have listened to me yesterday, you wouldn't have got yourselves hurt. Khalas, we're done. Like, let's go back to Medina. We don't have to, we don't have to carry forward now. We're good. And SubhanAllah, at this point, and by the way, the du'a of Safar was narrated as the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam taught them what to say returning from Ta'if to Medina. So the narration of Safar, the du'a of travel, is taught in this context, right? And you can think about it. Ta'ibun, ta'ibun, that we're going back to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. Repentant as abidun, as worshipers. To our Lord we return, right? This idea that we're, alhamdulillah, we're good. Now, before that happens, Jabir radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu said that some of the Sahaba said to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam,
Ya Rasulullah, they struck us with their arrows. Fada'ullah alayhim, make du'a against them. Make du'a against them. SubhanAllah, 20 years before, or not 20 years, but say about 13 or 14 years prior to that, in Ta'if, the angels said, I can finish them. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, no. So when they said, just make du'a against them, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, Allahumma hadi saqeefan. O Allah, guide Ta'if and bring them to me. So he made du'a for their guidance instead. He called out Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam that if anyone would like to escape, and who was he speaking to? Particularly the enslaved. If anyone would like to come back with us and join us on our way to Medina, you can come out. All right? But the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam left them. Now, subhanAllah, while this is all happening, where's Urwa bin Mas'ud? Urwa bin Mas'ud, radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, kana bi-jarash yata'allamu amal al-dabbabat wal-manjaniq. Urwa was a military leader, a diplomat. He was actually in Jarash, and he was basically working on weapons, learning tricks of weaponry, learning how to use catapults, manufacturing, and there are, of course, simple ways, right, different weapons of war. He actually wasn't in Ta'if when the siege happened. He actually was out. So he wasn't there when this all happened. But subhanAllah, when he found out what had happened, and he kind of becomes updated by the Fatah Mecca and what has happened with the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam's amnesty and his forgiveness, word is spreading, right, that the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam did not create a bloodshed, a bloodbath, with the people that literally oppressed him for 20 years. Urwa decides to go to Medina to become Muslim. So he himself goes to Medina to embrace Islam voluntarily.
So he goes to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, and the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was extremely happy to receive him. So it's like a completely different, a different attitude altogether. Like it's not Hudaybiyyah. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam stands up. He embraces him, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Urwa says, ash-hadu an la ilaha illa Allah, wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan Rasulullah. Like, I knew from Hudaybiyyah you were a prophet. I knew from that whole interaction that you were different. But I'm here to embrace Islam. Abu Bakr radiallahu anhu threw that nasty language at him. Abu Bakr radiallahu anhu said, you're staying with me. So Urwa's gonna stay in Abu Bakr's house. And then Mughira ibn Shu'ba, who's his nephew, says, absolutely not, he's staying in my house. And he insists until Urwa stays in his house instead of Abu Bakr's. So SubhanAllah, you see the interactions of Hudaybiyyah. The atmosphere, the mood completely changed. And Urwa says to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, Ya Rasulullah, I'm gonna go back to my people and call them to Islam. This is actually very profound here. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam says, they're gonna kill you. Qatalook, ethan, qatalook, they'll kill you. I'm worried about you. Your people aren't ready for Islam. Like I know Ta'if, I've been through it. I've been through that harshness. I've been through all of that torture and all of that devastation. Your people are gonna kill you. And look what he says. He says, my people, he says, lawajaduni na'iman maa aqaduni, like my people love me so much. If my people saw me asleep, they wouldn't dare wake me up. That's how much my people love me. SubhanAllah, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is a man who when he received revelation, his people loved him too. And when Waraqa told him, your people will kill you and run you out, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, me? So it's like the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is saying, look, I know how this goes.
I know you think that your people won't hurt you and that your people love you and that they'll embrace you, but Islam is different. You tell them to abandon their idols, things are gonna go south very, very quickly. And Urwah insisted. He said, Ya Rasulullah, let me try it. I know my people. I'm gonna bring them back to you as Muslims. I'm gonna go to Ta'if and I'm gonna bring Thaqeef back to you as Muslims. SubhanAllah, he goes back to Thaqeef. He's been gone for some time. They come to him in Ta'if and they give him a greeting, Bithahiyyatil Jahiliyyah, in a way that they used to greet each other in the days of ignorance. He responds and he says, instead, I'll give you the greeting that the people of Jannah give the people of paradise, peace, As-Salam. They said, are you serious? He said, yes, I'm a Muslim. I want you all to be Muslim. I went to Medina. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is a prophet of Allah. There is only one God. Now what happens in his home, and this was nighttime. So he got back and this was at nighttime. They got into a little bit of a fight, right? So harsh words, some hands are thrown. It's a skirmish of sorts in his house, but not like death, right? Just anger, right? So you can imagine someone putting their hands on his shirt or pushing him and like trying to yell at him. And he's all alone, Urwah has no one with him. He's by himself, but he's like, my people love me. I'm the chief of these people. They're never gonna hurt me, right? They left the house angry. Urwah thought by now, they would have settled in. So SubhanAllah, he stands up on the rooftop at Fajr. And he starts to call the Adhan. Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar. The first Adhan in Ta'af.
Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar. And what do his people do? They shoot him with arrows. So he gets hit by arrows from one of the sub-tribes of Ta'af, Banu Malik. And he doesn't die right away, but this did not turn out the way that he thought it was gonna turn out. So he comes down struck by arrows. And at this point now, this became a tribal thing. His people come to him. And the first thing they're thinking is, we're gonna kill 10 leaders of Banu Malik because they killed our leader. Like, yeah, we don't like your religion, but we don't like that they struck you with the arrows. See how these people think, right? So we're gonna take revenge and we're gonna kill 10 of their leaders. He says, la taqtulu fiyah, don't kill anyone in my name. qad tasaddaqtu bidami, my blood is charity. There needs to be peace. I don't want that between you. And he said, but, idha mittu, fatfununi maa shuhadaa allatheena qutilu maa rasoolillahi sallallahu alaihi wasallam qabla an yartahil aankum. When I die, bury me with the martyrs who died outside of Ta'if before they left you. So subhanAllah, Urwah dies, giving a than amongst his people, a shaheed. And he's buried with the shuhadaa from Hunayn and Ta'if. He says, take me out there and bury me with them. When this news came back to the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said, urwah mislu sahibu yaseen da'a qawmahu faqataluhu. Urwah is like the man in Surah Yaseen. He called his people and they killed him. You know the man, ya layta qawmi ya'lamun,
when he goes back to his people and he calls them to Islam, he calls them to submit to one God, and they murder him. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us what he says after he's murdered. If only my people knew better, bima ghafara li rabbi wa ja'alani man al-mukramin. How my Lord forgave me, and he made me from those who were considered, or those who had the generosity and the grace of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bestowed upon them. So Urwah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, passes away as a shaheed, a man who resembles Isa alayhi as-salam, and a man radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, who the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam likened to, the man in Surah Yaseen. RadiAllahu ta'ala anhu.
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