The Firsts (Sahaba Stories) | The Forerunners of Islam
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Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Khawla Bint Hakim & Uthman Ibn Madhun: The Righteous Couple | The Firsts
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Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Al-Shifa bint Abdullah (ra): The Healer and Scholar | The Firsts Shorts
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Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Shurahbil Ibn Hasana (ra): The Scribe and Commander | The Firsts Shorts
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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
Waraqa Ibn Nawfal: The First to Confirm Prophethood
We find Waraqa in the seerah and at the very beginning of Sahih Bukhari, but with little beyond his death - making the rest of his life a mystery. Who was he before that? What is his story? What is his status? Sh. Omar Suleiman tells the story of Waraqa Ibn Nawfal, the first to confirm the prophethood.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. In the name of Allah, the most gracious, the most merciful. Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen. Wa laa'guwana illaAAa ala al-dhalimeen wa ala al-aqeebatu lilmutaqeem. Allahumma salli wa sallim wa baraka ala abdika wa rasulika Muhammadin salallahu alayhi wa sallam wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam. Tassimun kathira. So inshallah tonight we're going to move on to Waraqah. We ended off last week with a very beautiful poem that Waraqah offered to his companion Zayd ibn Amr ibn Nufayl radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. Waraqah eulogizing his friend, the second of the two who went to Ash-Sham together to study Judaism, to study Christianity, to try to find monotheism and to prepare themselves for what Allah had promised for that region. InshaAllah ta'ala tonight we're going to go ahead and move on to Waraqah. And I want to just have everyone repeat who were the four of those who identified as Hanifi, those that identified as monotheists. Can anyone name them? You should be able to name two of them very easily. Ubaidullah ibn Jahsh, Zayd ibn Amr, Waraqah ibn Nufayl, and there's one more. No, you're close. One more person. We said there was Zayd ibn Amr who we talked about last week. There's Waraqah ibn Nufayl who we'll talk about tonight. There was Ubaidullah ibn Jahsh who went to Abyssinia, who migrated to Abyssinia. And there's one more who became Hanifi and moved to Ash-Sham, became a Christian, moved to Ash-Sham, took up a position in the Roman Empire. What was his name? Uthman ibn Huwayrith. So these were the four people that were considered, not the Hanafis, the Hanifin, just to be clear again.
The monotheists, the four that were on the religion of Abraham, the way of Ibrahim alayhi salam, that went out in search of the oneness of Allah. Now, out of the four, the only one that didn't become Christian was Zayd ibn Amr. So three of them became Christian, including Waraqah who we'll talk about tonight. Now, Waraqah is such a mysterious figure that we find in the seerah of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam because he shows up in the very beginning of Sahih al-Bukhari. If you all remember when we did a long series with the Sharh al-Bukhari and we did the Book of Revelation a couple of years ago. And Waraqah shows up in the very beginning of Sahih al-Bukhari. He's in the beginning of the seerah, but the seerah starts off with his death, essentially. You don't hear anything about his history. You just know that Khadijah radiyaAllahu anha took the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam to him to confirm or deny what had happened to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam or to explain what had happened to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam in Hira. And then it ends. Who was he before? What's his story? What's his status? It's really a fascinating story. And inshallah ta'ala I want to contextualize this as much as possible. And his story is so beautiful and touching that I couldn't decide whether to start with him or to start with Zayd. But it just makes sense in setting the stage for the prophethood of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. Here you have Waraka and Zayd, the only two that go to Ash-Sham, that study Christianity and that deepen their knowledge of the Abrahamic way. And then Zayd ibn Amr dies five years before the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam receives revelation. So it's really just Waraka right now in Mecca. He's the only one there that is waiting for this Prophet of Allah to arise, that has studied, that has prepared himself.
And so it then obviously transfers to him and then transfers to Khadijah radiyaAllahu ta'ala anha. So how is Waraka related to Khadijah? Is he her nephew? Is he her cousin? Is he her uncle? How is he related to Khadijah? He's her cousin, but more like an uncle. He's her cousin, but more like an uncle because of the age gap. His name is Waraka ibn Nawfal ibn Asad. Khadijah has an uncle named Nawfal ibn Asad and she has a brother named Nawfal ibn Khuwailid. So Khadijah has an uncle named Nawfal, who is the father of Waraka, and she has a brother named Nawfal as well. Waraka ibn Nawfal ibn Asad is the first cousin of Khadijah radiyaAllahu ta'ala anha. Now Nawfal, Khadijah is Khadijah ibn Khuwailid ibn Asad. Nawfal and Khuwailid are brothers, but Nawfal is the oldest son of Asad and Khuwailid is the youngest son of Asad. And so the age gap between Khadijah and Waraka is at least 25-30 years, at least, between the two. So it's a pretty big gap, so he really plays more of a role of an elder, of an uncle, in her life. Also, the father of Khadijah radiyaAllahu ta'ala anha, Khuwailid, passed away early on in the early wars known as the Fijar Wars, the early battles that took place in Mecca and claimed many of the senior tribesmen. That's why Khadijah radiyaAllahu ta'ala anha inherited so much money and became the woman that she became at such an early age when it comes to her wealth, because she inherited that from her father, who was killed early. So Waraka is of the oldest of this clan that exists, and it is considered of the most noble families of Mecca at the time. And Waraka is considered the most noble of the noble families.
So I want you to kind of just imagine the scene, right? And it'll put into context a little bit of why Waraka never really faces much opposition from his people. Waraka is the noble of the noble. His family are direct descendants of Amr ibn Luhayt. They are from this Banu Adi. They're very, very up there. And Waraka is elder, noble, respected. And his akhlaq are very high. His manners are very noble. And because of that, and obviously this description is true of Khadijah radiyaAllahu anha as well, that she was the most noble woman of her family. Because of that, Waraka was actually expected to marry Khadijah. Context is important here. Waraka was expected to be the natural suitor of Khadijah in terms of just his akhlaq, the family, his character, his nobility. Khadijah and Waraka both are considered the best of their people. But Waraka rejected this world. He became a priest. When you say rahib, it could be a priest or a monk. The point is Waraka decided he would not get married. He would stay in pursuit of the religion for his entire life. He would not get married. Waraka was a zahid. He was known to be an ascetic. He spent his days in worship, his journeys in travel. Waraka would never be in the souk. He was not someone to go to the marketplace. He only ate once a day to suffice himself, so he was known for eating very little. He rejected the wealth of his family. His tribe was naturally a very rich tribe. Waraka did not care for it. He used to dress very simple. So Waraka maintains celibacy, takes up the life of a priest or a monk, and stays away from all of this. He also doesn't challenge his people. We said Zayd ibn Amr ibn Nufayl, what makes him so incredible
was not just that he was on this way of Ibrahim i.e. Islam and insisting on the way of Abraham and never becomes a Christian, never becomes a Jew, just, I'm on the way of Ibrahim i.e. Islam, rejects paganism, and he also confronts his people all the time. Constantly confronting his people. Waraka does not have that combative behavior towards his people. Khadija never worshipped idols either. She had an aversion to it. She didn't really care for idol worship. Abu Bakr didn't care for idol worship. Waraka was known to be a Christian, but Waraka was not combative. He was not out there the way that Zayd was, going after the people for the way that they were worshipping those idols. Instead, Waraka had this idea that Allah would clarify this in due time, and so he avoids being combative with the people. So he keeps to himself, from society as a whole, maintains a position of high authority, is an elder, is a senior, is someone who is learned in religion, and he's also, interestingly enough, the dream interpreter of the Arabs. More context. So even though they were pagans, they were people who used to worship idols, they recognized Waraka as a man who studied language, who studied religion, who studied philosophy, who was noble. And so the Arab at the time would go to Waraka to have their dreams interpreted, even though he didn't worship the idols. Remember, the idol worshippers did not care much for their idols. They cared about the commerce, the business of idol worship. They really didn't care much for allat al-izzah. They could replace names, replace idols all they wanted. So he's a noble man, and he's someone that studied, he knows Hebrew, he has been to Ash-Sham, clearly a good man, someone that we can go to with our dream interpretations. And so there's a very interesting dream that Khadijah radiyaAllahu anha had, as a young woman. Khadijah radiyaAllahu anha had a dream that the sun descended in her home. That the sun descended in her home.
And subhanAllah, just the connection that I was actually sharing with my wife, it's a really interesting connection. When Aisha radiyaAllahu anha had a dream, she had a dream that three moons descended in her home. And she asked Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu anhu what that meant, and he said that there will be righteous people that will be buried in your home. And when the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasalam died, Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu anhu said, that's your first moon. And then when Abu Bakr died, he was the second moon. And Umar died, he was the third moon. Khadijah has a dream of a sun, the sun descending into her home. So she goes to Waraka, she tells Waraka this dream that she has. And Waraka says, it might be that you will marry a noble man or a prophet. So Waraka actually tells Khadijah that there's a special marriage in your nasib, in your destiny. You'll either marry an extremely noble man, so that's the sun coming into your house, as in a spouse. Or a prophet. He even mentions to her that it could be that it would even be a nabi, a prophet. Now Khadijah radiyaAllahu anhu married multiple times before the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasalam. Two or three times even, according to some narrations. And of course became widowed in the process. But this is very early on in her life. She does not know what's coming her way. Now, this is really important to put into context, because we have to understand that the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasalam was already looked at as someone very special. And he already had these bisharat, these glad tidings surrounding him throughout his entire life. Miracles that would happen with the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasalam. When the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasalam was born, it was a miracle. Abu Lahab goes and sacrifices all of these sheep in celebration of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasalam. Because of the light that came from the womb of the mother of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasalam when he was born. They knew he was special.
And also, Waraqa clearly sees something special in this young man. The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasalam would also have other priests that saw something in him. When? To contextualize, the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasalam only went to Ash-Sham, which is generally the land where Christianity is surviving. At least in the story in Christianity, or the Christianity that Salman radiyaAllahu anhu is seeking around, that Zayd is going around and seeking around. And now, the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasalam goes there twice. Twice, once as a very young man, and once as the broker of Khadija radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. As a very young man, as is narrated by Ibn Hajar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu in Al-Isaba, and it's in multiple books of Sira, Abu Talib took the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasalam with him on a trade route to Ash-Sham very early on. And this was the habit of the Arabs, Rihrat al-Shita'i was Saif. So in the winter they'd go to Yemen, in the summer they'd go to Ash-Sham, and they would trade with the people of Ash-Sham and come back. So Abu Talib took the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasalam when he was a young man, 11, 12, 13 years old. A very young man, still unable to care for himself. And while Abu Talib was there with the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasalam, there was a rahib, a monk, that followed Abu Talib because he saw things from the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasalam. So he noticed the back of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasalam and Khatam al-Nubuwa, the seal of prophethood. That there was a seal of prophethood on the back of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasalam. So he asked the people, he said, who's in charge of this young man? So they pointed to Abu Talib. He said to Abu Talib, who are you? He said, ana abi, I'm his father.
Now in the language of the Arabs, al-am, who is the father. The paternal uncle in particular is the father. And Abu Talib was acting like the father of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasalam, in true effect. And the monk says to him, you're not his father. And he says to him, what do you mean? He said, this person, his father would not be alive. So Abu Talib is very interested in what is this man saying, what's this monk, this priest saying. So the man says, he said, listen, this young man of yours did not pass by a single area until he reached Bursa, which is the area that they're in at this moment, until he reached Bursa, except that the trees and the stones, sajadu lahu, prostrated towards him. And they don't do that except for a prophet. So Abu Talib is listening to this strange priest in Ash-Sham tell him, and some of the narrations mention his name as Bahira or Buhaira, even though there's nothing authentic with his name in particular. But some of the narrations mention his name as Bahira or Buhaira. Abu Talib is like, I have no idea what you're talking about, right? So the man says to him, he says, listen, this young man is going to be the sayyid, the leader of the world. Sayyid al-alameen. He's going to be the leader of the world. And he then says, Abu Talib, where are you taking him right now? He said, I'm taking him to the marketplace. He says to Abu Talib, don't do that, because if people know who he is, they might try to hurt him. Take him back to where you came and protect him and make sure that he never goes to these cities again. So Abu Talib took his advice, took the Prophet ﷺ as a young man back to Mecca. And the Prophet ﷺ never went with Abu Talib again to Ash-Sham until later on when he got the big contract.
Khadijah radiallahu anha was looking for a mudarib, was looking for a broker, an honest person to take her caravans to Ash-Sham. She appointed the Prophet ﷺ. Otherwise, the Prophet ﷺ for his entire life was raising sheep in Ajyad. If you actually go to the area of Ajyad now, where they have the hotels, that's where the Prophet ﷺ said, I used to raise sheep for the qarari, for the pennies of the people of Mecca. So the Prophet ﷺ didn't accompany Abu Talib to Ash-Sham after that. He stayed in Ajyad. Later on he goes to Ash-Sham. Again, the second time he goes to Ash-Sham, who does Khadijah radiallahu anha send with him? Does anyone remember the name? Maysarah. Khadijah sends Maysarah with the Prophet ﷺ. Maysarah falls in love with the Prophet ﷺ. Says this man's character is different. He comes back to Khadijah. He says that there was a cloud that never left the Prophet ﷺ. A cloud followed him. He said that I swear that I would see the Prophet ﷺ sleeping under a tree. And when the sun would move over and the shade would no longer cover him, the tree would extend itself to cover him. And Maysarah is watching these ajaab, watching these strange things happen with the Prophet ﷺ. And you've got to understand, from the Prophet's ﷺ perspective, when he was a kid, Jibreel ﷺ, removed from his heart, I mean the Prophet ﷺ witnessed many ajaab in his life, many of these things in his life, he didn't know what to make of it. Maysarah doesn't know what to make of it. And Maysarah, he says that, I thought to myself, maybe it's just a wind, or maybe it's just coincidence that the trees shade him, and that he's just perfectly shaded throughout this entire time in his ajaab. He said, except we were out there, and while he was taking a nap and I was marveling at him, this monk came to me and said to me, another rahib, priest in his ajaab,
he said to me, man hatha, who is that? So I said to him, Muhammad ibn Abdullah from the land of the sanctuary. The monk responded and said, only prophets rest under that tree. And just walked away from him. So Maysarah said, I had no idea what to make of this man. He said, people would deal with the Prophet ﷺ in his ajaab, and they would tell him, swear by allat wal uzza. And the Prophet ﷺ would say, I've never sworn by them before in my life. The Prophet ﷺ would not take an oath with idols, because that was their way of transacting, was to say, take an oath on that which is holy to you. And they know people from Mecca hold allat wal uzza, these two idols. The Prophet ﷺ said, I don't swear for these two, and I never have sworn for these two. So the point is that both of the times the Prophet ﷺ went to Ash-Sham, there were people that recognized something about him. There were things that were happening. And Ash-Sham was the land where the people were studying, or they still had the monks, the priests, the people that were the baqa'ah of Ahlul Kitab, that left over from the people of the book that the Prophet ﷺ said Allah was pleased with in the midst of it all. Waraqa and Zayd went there looking for guidance. So the Prophet ﷺ has had these things happening his entire life. Khadijah had that dream that was interpreted by Waraqa, that you're going to marry a noble man or a nabi or possibly even a prophet of Allah. After the Prophet ﷺ comes back from Ash-Sham the second time, we know what happens. We'll get more into detail of it next week. But the point is that Abu Talib, al-Abbas and Hamza, the uncles of the Prophet ﷺ, come with him to formally propose. Khadijah's uncle, Amr ibn Asad, who was the oldest uncle that was still alive, performed the marriage, I'm sorry, acted as the guardian of Khadijah.
And Waraqa actually performed the marriage of the Prophet ﷺ and Khadijah on a mahr of 500 dirhams. So a very small mahr. So Waraqa is the one who actually conducted their zawaj because again he's the noble man. He's looked at as the knowledgeable man, the one who understands scripture. He's the noble man of the family and the tribe. And so he stays with Khadijah. His interaction with Khadijah and the Prophet ﷺ really predates the incidents that we all know of. At that point, Aisha radiyaAllahu anha says in the Quran, in the hadith in which she mentions, or where she gives some context about who Waraqa was. She says, وَكَانَ امْرَأً يَتَنَصَّرْ فِي الْجَاهْلِيَةِ He was a man who became a Christian in the days of ignorance. So Waraqa, unlike Zayd, actually identified as a Christian. وَكَانَ يَكْتُبُ الْكِتَابِ الْعِبْرَانِيَّ فَيَكْتُبُ مِنَ الْإِنْجِيلِ بِالْعِبْرَانِيَّ مَا شَاءَ اللَّهَ أَنْ يَكْتُبُ So he used to write from the Gospels in Hebrew, and he would write as long as Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allowed him to write. So he actually had full command of Hebrew, and he would write from the Gospels or write of his lessons and what he was learning and compiling in Isha. So he's one of the few literate people as well. Literate not just in Arabic and reading and writing, literate even in Hebrew in reading and writing. So she says وَكَانَ شَيْخًا كَبِيرًا قَدْ عَمِيًا And then he became an old man and he lost his sight. So Waraka became blind towards the end of his life. When the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam had come to him, at that point he was already blind. He was in his 90s and he was already blind. Okay. And this is where we have the famous incident that takes place, right? Where Khadija radiyaAllahu ta'ala
Anha would take the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam to Waraka to contextualize what had happened in Hira. It was common for the people to go to Waraka and Khadija radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anha has a particular relationship, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam has a particular relationship, and he understands, especially understands, what it is that would denote prophethood or denote something that is special. So Khadija radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anha takes the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam to Waraka. This is what Allah says in the Quran فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنْتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ Ask the people of knowledge if you don't know any better. This is just one of the ways that Khadija radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anha was already acting in accordance with revelation before it even came. Khadija radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anha was guided towards the good ways. It was her suggestion to take the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam to Waraka and that was her fitrah, that was her goodness, and that was there. And so we get to the narration. So after the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam has calmed down a bit, Khadija radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anha and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam walked to the house of Waraka. This man who predicted, who prophesized, or who said that Khadija would one day marry us a noble man or a nabi. He's in his 90s, he's blind, he's sitting there. So Khadija radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anha says to him, فَقَالَتْ لَهُ خَدِيجَةٌ يَبْنَ عَمِّي إِسْمَعْ مِنْ إِبْنِي أَخِيكِ O son of my uncle, listen to the son of your brother, Ibni Akhik. Why did she say Ibni Akhik? Some of the scholars mentioned that it's just a means of showing the closeness that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam had to Waraka, that he was like the nephew of Waraka. Others actually point to the lineage of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam and Waraka, that they had the same amount of ancestors
from Qusay ibn Kilaab, so they are related, their lineage is related, and Waraka is in fact the third cousin of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. So the point is that this is a means of presenting the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, listen to what he has to say to you. So Waraka says to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, يَبْنَ أَخِي مَاذَا تَرَى O son of my brother, ماذا تَرَى What do you see? Why do you think he asked him what do you see? Because we said Waraka was a dream interpreter, Waraka assumed that that's probably what it is that he's coming to ask him about. Tell me what you have seen. So at that point, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam فَأَخْبَرَهُ رَسُولُ اللهِ صَلَى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَمُ خَبْرَ رَأَى The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam tells him everything that he saw in the cave of Hira. فَقَالَ لَهُ وَرَقَ هَذَا النَّمُوسِ الَّذِي نَزَلَ اللَّهُ عَلَى مُوسَى عَلَيْهِ صَلَاةُ وَسَّلَامُ So this is the Namus that Allah has sent to Musa alayhi wasallam. The word Namus means the one who bears secrets and he's referring to Jibreel alayhi wasallam. That this is Jibreel alayhi wasallam, the same Angel that Allah sent to Musa alayhi wasallam. Why don't you say Isa alayhi wasallam, he's a Christian, why don't you say Isa alayhi wasallam? Because the way that Jibreel came to Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam is like the way that Jibreel came to Musa alayhi wasallam and Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam and Musa alayhi wasallam have more similarities in their being than Isa alayhi wasallam and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. So he said this is the same Namus, this is the same angel, the bearer of secrets, the bearer of secrets that Allah sent down to Musa Alayhi
As-Salam. At that point, Waraka is not even thinking about the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. He says to him, at that point he says, Innaka Nabiu Hadhi Al-Ummah. He actually confirms to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, you are the prophet of this people. Like I knew it was coming. You are the Nabi, you are the prophet of this people. And Waraka immediately, immediately says, Ya laytani feeha jada'a laytani akoonu hayyan idh yukhrijuka qawmuk. He said, I wish I was young. I wish I was young. SubhanAllah, he's in his 90s now, he's blind, he lived his life, didn't get married, learned Hebrew, learned the scriptures, like Zayd radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu was a lifelong pursuer of truth, trying to find Allah, following the ways of the prophets that came before. And the man who he married to his cousin, the man who he knew his entire life from his childhood is in front of him and now, immediately Waraka says it's him and before he even goes into detail, he says to him, I wish I had jada'a, jada'a is like youth, I wish I still had that young strength, I wish I still had that young strength, that strength of youth. I wish I would be alive the day that your people run you out. Now the prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam has no idea of the implications of what just happened. First of all, you just told me I'm a prophet. And then right after you told me I'm a prophet, you say your people are going to run you out, which is unimaginable. It's already enough that you just received the news that you are a prophet of Allah. On top of that, your people are going to run you out, I wish I could be with you when your
people run you out. Faqala RasoolAllahu sallAllahu alayhi wasallam awa mukhrijiyahum, wait, are my people going to run me out? How is that possible? My people will run me out? And Waraka says, naam lam ya'ti rajulun qat bimithli maa ji'ta bihi illa oodiya, yes, no man has ever come with what you have come except that his people took him as an enemy. There's so much to unpack here. Number one, the prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam, obviously from his perspective, all of this coming down on him. He cannot imagine his people taking him as an enemy. The prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam has never had a single person bring a complaint against him. The prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam is everyone's peacemaker. The prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam is the one who brings together warring tribes that otherwise cannot be brought together. He's the man that stands for justice. Khadija radiAllahu anha just told the prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam, la yukhziqAllahu abada, Allah will never disgrace you and mention all the khair, all the good he does for the people. And on top of that now, waraqa's first reaction, Khadija's first reaction is Allah will never disgrace you. Waraqa's first reaction, the people are going to disgrace you. The people will fight you. So the prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam is receiving this very quickly and he's shocked. And waraqa immediately says, look, it's not personal. It's not about you. It's about what you have. It's about what you have. It's about the message that you have. You can be the best person in the world, the nicest person in the world, all of that. But it's about the substance. It's about the message that Allah has given you. The prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam has not received any commands yet to give da'wa or anything, but waraqa can see. He knows the way that this has gone down for all of the prophets that came before, including the one whom he follows, Isa alayhi wasallam, Jesus peace
be upon him. He knows how this goes. So it's not about you, ya Muhammad. They don't hate you as a person, but it's the message that you bring that will threaten them. And waraqa's immediate reaction was what? I wish I was young. I wish I could be with you when your people run you out. And you know what waraqa tells him as support? This 90 something blind man says to him, wa'in yudrikani yawmuk, if I live to see that day, ansuruka nasran muazzara, I will support you with everything I have, muazzara with all of my strength. Whatever Allah has given me to support you with, I will support you with it. SubhanAllah, I mean it's really beautiful. There's so much to talk about this. And Aisha radiAllahu anha says he died just a few days after that. So he didn't live but just a few days after he tells the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam that if I'm alive to see that day, I'm going to support you with everything I have. I wish I was young, but I hope Allah keeps me alive so I can be by your side. There's so much to go with this. And Aisha radiAllahu anha says he just died a few days after and the revelation was paused. That's when the fatrah happened to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. Number one, anniya saliha, that good intention. Minal mu'mineena rijalun sadaqo ma'ahadullaha alayhi. There are people that are truthful when they make promises to Allah. They don't offer lip service. Waraka was sincere and saying this 90 year old blind man will be by your side and will fight on your behalf. Because waraka does not just know the signs of prophethood. Waraka knows the virtues of those who follow prophets in their most difficult times. And waraka wants to be like the hawariyeen, the righteous ones. I want to be your righteous sahabi, I want to be
your disciple. I want to be there by your side when your people come after you. Because this is going to go down like Isa radiAllahu alayhi wa sallam, like Jesus peace be upon him. And I want to be there by your side. I want to be that person to share that burden with you. Also, waraka did not ask Allah for takhfeef, he asked Allah for quwa. He didn't ask Allah to lighten the load. He asked Allah for the strength to bear it. And that's a sign of his sincerity. He could have said, I hope Allah makes it easy and I'm an old man and we're not going to be able to bear this. No, waraka asked Allah for the strength because waraka wanted the full reward of being alongside the prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. That's his natural reaction. I've been living 9 decades, almost an entire century for this moment to support a prophet. To support that prophet when he comes. Waraka's the only Christian left over there in Mecca. The only one. Zayd is dead. It's just waraka. I've been waiting my whole life. I'm ready. I'm ready. I've rehearsed for this moment intentionally. I have purified myself. And he asked Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for that. And by the way, him dying a few days after, don't think waraka's burden would have been easy. Because Quraysh knew that there were certain influential voices. If they spoke in support of the prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, things would be very messy for them. So you know what Naufal did? Naufal was the one who tied Abu Bakr and al-Zubayr together and tortured them together privately. See, the powerful ones were not tortured out in the public. They were tortured amongst their tribes. The tribes wanted to maintain the dignity of the tribe in a twisted way. Maintain the dignity of the tribe, but at the same time, deter their own from accepting Islam. So al-Qarinayn, the two qarin, the two tied ones were Abu Bakr and al-Zubayr. It was Naufal that was tying them together and torturing them. Naufal, the one who used
to put al-Zubayr in a mat, tie him up in a straw mat and set the mat on fire from the bottom so it would burn his feet and roll him and punish him and beat him. And al-Zubayr's screams being heard out of their qariya, out of their area. So imagine if waraka would have, with his authority, with the respect he had amongst the Arabs, imagine if waraka lived to see those days. Waraka would have been amongst the first people tortured. They might have killed him privately and said he died a natural death because they would not have been able to afford the voice of waraka from a spiritual authority perspective being lent to the call of the Prophet ﷺ. But subhanAllah, Allah chose that this man, unlike Zayd, lives to see the Prophet ﷺ, lives to see him as a nabi and it's as if Allah kept him alive just to see that moment and to die. Dies a natural death just a few days after telling the Prophet ﷺ what he saw before the Prophet ﷺ would ever have any follow up from Jibreel ﷺ. Waraka passes away. There's a narration with some weakness in it because it doesn't match up and Zahabi talks about it. Waraka would live and he would see Bilal ﷺ being tortured and he would say, ahadun ahad ya bilal, one god, one god, oh bilal, sabran ya bilal, warning the people about killing bilal ﷺ but it doesn't match up to the authentic hadith in al-Bukhari that he died just a few days after that moment. Also, we don't have any follow up. Bilal ﷺ accepted Islam after the public call. So we would have had more on Waraka had he lived to see that. So Waraka dies just a few days after. Now, what does that mean about his status? This is where it gets very interesting. He's the
first man to believe in the Prophet ﷺ. So is he a sahabi, is he a companion or not? Is Abu Bakr the first man, as you commonly hear? Or is Waraka the first man? What do you all think? Let's take a vote and just solve this in Valley Ranch now, 1400 years later. How many of you think Waraka was a sahabi and is considered the first man to become a Muslim? How many of you think he's not a sahabi? I guess a lot of you just don't know. You don't want to answer. Good answer. Okay. There is ikhtilaf, there is a difference of opinion amongst the scholars because they're trying to reconcile how Abu Bakr plays into this. Because commonly Khadijah is the first woman, Abu Bakr is the first man. But here is Waraka telling him you're a prophet. Not just saying that you're a prophet, but saying look if I live I'm going to support you. I will support you. I will fight on your side. I will make sure that no one hurts you. So the scholars came up with very interesting ways to try to resolve this. So some of them said, like al-Zahabi, he caught the prophethood of the Prophet but he didn't live to see the message of the Prophet. Because the Prophet still had not been told to call the people yet. He was just resolving himself what was happening to him. So he caught the appointment of the Prophet as a nabi, as a prophet, but not the risalah, not the da'wah of the Prophet, not the message. So therefore he died musaddik as someone who confirmed the prophethood of the Prophet as a believer, but not a sahabi because he didn't technically join the ummah of the Prophet because he didn't live to become a Muslim in the formal sense. Some of the scholars said he died in the fatrah, he died
in the pause. So they had a similar conclusion. They said he's a believer, he's a mu'min, but we can't say he's a sahabi. Another group of scholars actually wrote entire rasail, like al-Baghdadi, al-Khatib al-Baghdadi and others who wrote these rasail, who wrote these treatises and messages saying that no, he was indeed a sahabi and waraka is indeed the first male companion of the Prophet ﷺ. And we say radhiAllahu ta'ala anhu and we consider him that first sahabi of the Prophet ﷺ. So there is an interesting difference of opinion. And like Zayd, waraka situation confuses even the close companions. So remember with Zayd it was Sa'eed his son and Umar his cousin coming to the Prophet ﷺ and saying Ya Rasulallah, what happened to Zayd? Does he go to Jannah? Does he go to paradise? Does he go to hellfire? Is he a believer? What do we say about Zayd? So think about this one now. Khadijah, radhiAllahu anha, an authentic hadith, asking the Prophet ﷺ, Ya Rasulallah, O Messenger of Allah, innahu kana qad sadaqa, he confirmed, he believed in you. He confirmed you were who you were. Wa innahu mata qabla an tuzhir. And he died before you were made public. Your da'wah was public. Like what sin did this man commit? What would happen to him? So the Prophet ﷺ responds to Khadijah, this concerned woman over her cousin and over this man who was so precious to the Prophet ﷺ and Khadijah's life. You talk about a niya saliha, he did not just say I believe in you. He said I'm going to fight on your side. I will support
you against all odds. The Prophet ﷺ says, Ya Khadijah, O Khadijah, ra'aytu waraqa fil manam wa alayhi thiyabun biyaal. I saw waraqa in my sleep and he was wearing these white clothes and garments. And he said to her that walaw kana min ahl al-naar, if he was to be from the people of hellfire, then I would not have seen him in that state. He looked absolutely fine, he looked beautiful, he looked assured. In another narration, there was a person, this is narrated from Ibn Asakir in Tariq Damashq, that the Prophet ﷺ was asked, su'ila nabiya ﷺ an waraqa. Fa qal, absartuhu fee butnani al-jannah alayhi sundus. I saw him, he was asked about waraqa, the Prophet ﷺ said I saw waraqa in the middle of jannah, literally in the stomach of the Prophet ﷺ. In the belly of jannah. Wa alayhi sundus, and he was wearing silk. So he looked absolutely fine. He looked like he was in jannah and he looked like he was in absolute beauty and na'im, in the blessing of Allah ﷻ. And one more hadith, in Al-Hakim, also an interesting hadith, narrated by Aisha radiya Allahu anha. She says that the Prophet ﷺ, he heard a man, yasubu ala waraqa, who was cursing waraqa or mentioning waraqa in a bad way. And the Prophet ﷺ said, la tasubu waraqa, do not say anything negative or bad about waraqa. Amma alimta anni ra'aytu li waraqa jannatan aw jannatain. Don't you know that I saw waraqa in jannah, not just with one level but actually even
with two jannas, two gardens, two levels in paradise. So these are the ahadith about waraqa. And subhanAllah I was thinking about this, it's really interesting that the Prophet ﷺ mentioned for zayd and waraqa, two jannas. If you remember last week we talked about zayd ibn Amir and the Prophet ﷺ said, ra'aytu lahu jannatain, I saw that he had two gardens, two levels of paradise. And he says the same thing about waraqa. And so it's really interesting because if you look in the Quran when Allah says, wa liman khafa maqama rabbihi jannatan, for the one who fears the station of their Lord, the greatness of their Lord. And I'm sorry, standing in front of being beholden by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in that moment, being resurrected in front of Allah the Almighty, fears that moment. So jannatan, are two gardens. And the mufassirun generally say that the reason why Allah mentions this, because this is talking about a person that committed a sin, made tawbah to Allah and then immersed themselves in good. So basically the two jannas refer to their leaving off sin and then their immersing themselves in good. Because when a person repents from a sin, the sin turns into a good deed. So Allah gives them a janna for their leaving off that major sin or that sin, that place of disobedience and replaces it with another janna because of the good that they then exert themselves in. So they don't just make tawbah, they live their lives in good as a result of the lessons learned from that tawbah. So lahum jannatan, they have two jannas. And subhanAllah for zayt and waraqa, for the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam to be very specific about both of them and say that they have two jannas. And there could be many reasons for this. One that they believed twice in a way. They believed before the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam even came and when they knew of a Prophet, they expressed another level of belief. So clearly they've got a distinction amongst even the sahaba of the Prophet salallahu alayhi
wasalam and that they believed when no one else believed. And then again when they were told that the Prophet had come out, they believed once again. Why is that significant? Because there were some people that were in Medina waiting for the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. As soon as they knew who he was, they said no no no, not him. So they knew a Prophet was coming, they dedicated themselves to tawheed, to monotheism, but once it was him, Muhammad salallahu alayhi wasalam, from Banu Hashim, we can't do that one. So the fact that zayt was on his way back to embrace this Prophet, waraqa confirmed this Prophet, and both of them upheld monotheism even in dahiliyya, Allah ta'ala alam, but that could be one of the wisdoms for why the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam mentioned that they have two jannas. The last thing which is extremely powerful, and it's just a beautiful transition if you think about it. The last way that Allah mentions Jesus, Isa alayhi wasalam in the Quran is how? You can tell me. In the Quran. Those of you that memorize the Quran, you can go through it or think. When's the last mention of Isa alayhi wasalam in the Quran? Of Jesus peace be upon him in the Quran? Yeah. No no, in the Quran. If you're reading the Quran front to back, when's the last time you hear about Jesus? Isa alayhi wasalam. Who said it? Surat al-Saf. And what happens in Surat al-Saf? وَإِذْ قَالَ عِيسَ بْنُ مَرْيَمَ يَا بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلِ إِنِّي رَسُولُ اللَّهِ إِلَيْكُمْ مُصَدِّقًا لِمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيَّ مِنَ الْتَوْرَاءِ وَمُبَشِّرًا بِرَسُولٍ يَأْتِي مِنْ بَعْدِ إِسْمُهُ أَحْمَدٍ Literally the last mention of Isa alayhi wasalam in the Quran is very beautiful. Isa alayhi wasalam is telling his people about the coming of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. Right? That I've confirmed to you what came before me of the Torah and I'm here to give you the
glad tidings of the Prophet that will come after me, Ismuhu Ahmad. Right? Whose name will be Ahmad. How beautiful is it that the first person to confirm the prophethood of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam is the last follower of Isa alayhi wasalam in Mecca. The first one to accept the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam was the lone Christian in Mecca who was exerting himself to follow the true way of Isa alayhi wasalam, to follow Ibrahim, Isa, to follow the way of the prophets. And he's the first one to confirm, Innaka nabiyu hadhi al-ummah, it's you. You're the prophet of this ummah and then he dies. That it was not one of the pagan Arabs, it was not someone else, the first person to tell him you are a prophet, you're the one, is following the Bushra of Isa alayhi wasalam, the glad tidings of Jesus peace be upon him. And handing that off to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. And then he dies and the story of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam picks up right from where Isa alayhi wasalam, where Jesus peace be upon him, left off, continuing that legacy of Ibrahim alayhi wasalam. Zaid ibn Amr said that he was upon the way of Ibrahim alayhi wasalam. So subhanAllah, if you just think about the wisdom upon wisdom upon wisdom of how this is happening and the beautiful mercies that Allah has embedded in just the succession here of the prophets of Allah, it's incredibly beautiful. And so we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to be pleased with Waraka radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, to join us with him and with the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam and Khadija radiyaAllahu ta'ala anha and with Zaid and those righteous ones in the highest level of Jannat al-Firdaus with the prophets of Allah, with the Siddiqeen, with the Shuhada, with all of those righteous ones that proceed and we ask Allah to make us amongst them. Allahuma ameen. InshaAllah ta'ala I will take questions and by the way this is the last week we're going to Facebook live stream this.
So if you're watching this on Facebook, inshaAllah ta'ala from next week on we're going to please register for the series and inshaAllah ta'ala it has the notes there as well so you can follow along with it. So please start next week and those of you that are here, please continue to come. The Baraka of being in the Masjid and in the Majlis is greater than being at home and watching online. So maybe it's an encouragement as well inshaAllah for us to come to the Masjid and be a part of it. Al Fatiha.
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