Meeting Muhammad
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When He Would Play With Your Kids | Meeting Muhammad ﷺ Episode 8
Though we often overlook children, Prophet Muhammad ﷺ spoke often of the love and mercy they deserve. Had you spent some time with him, you would have seen his joy and playfulness with the young ones in his community.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. If you go back to your childhood and your memories from childhood, you can remember your uncles or your aunties or those adults that were kind to you, that were very playful with you, that would make it a point to joke with you, that would make you feel welcome. And children have a way of detecting that, right? They feel kindness or they feel unwanted very easily. And that's why the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam stresses, laisa minna man lam yarham sadeerana wa yuwaqqir kabeerana The Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam says that he is not amongst us who fails to show mercy to the young ones, and at the same time upholds the respect for the elderly. Anas Ibn Malik radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu says, I never saw anyone more merciful with children than the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. I mean, when you brought your children around the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, he would do everything but ignore them. He would play with them SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. He would talk to them SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. And that helps each one of the children develop their own connection, especially to the masjid, right? You talk about making the children love the masjid, you know, going to the masjid and seeing that kind adult, and especially if there is a sweet imam or a kind imam, and in the case of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam being your imam, your child wants to go see the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam because they know that the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam is going to talk to them. They know that the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam might give them something. They know that the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam is going to be playful with them. So that's really part of the culture that the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam is setting up in his community. And Anas radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu says, he used to mix with us so much that he would ask a little brother of mine, Ya Abu Umair, ma fa'al an-nughayr? I had a younger brother named Abu Umair, and he had a little bird, an-nughayr, and the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, every time he saw him, he'd ask him about his pet. He'd ask him about his pet bird, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and take interest in it, right? So when you're walking up to kids and you're talking to children
and you're asking them about their interests, you're asking them about how far they've gotten in their game, about how things are going in their sports or whatever it may be that they're doing. So the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam would develop that type of relationship with the children of the community. Those children, of course, who would grow up to become the scholars of this ummah, right? Because they were young enough to be sahaba, and at the same time, they learned whatever they could from the elder companions and transmitted that to the next generation of eager tabi'een, the next generation that came in this ummah. So how did this start off with the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam? Well, for one, if you had a child and you lived in Medina, you wanted to bring your newborn to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. You wanted the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam to name your child for you. You wanted the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam to hold your child and make du'a. You wanted the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam to do the tahniq, where he would take the date, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, and rub it on the top of the mouth of the child. You wanted that from the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, and he would oblige, Alayhi Salatu Wasallam. Anas SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam mentions Abdullah, the son of Abu Talha, and he says that when he was born, the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam held him, and he took the date and he put it in his mouth, and he put it in the mouth of Abdullah, and Abdullah really loved that date. So the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said, hubbul ansar atamr. This is how the ansar are. They love dates, and the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam named him Abdullah. So you had all these children that were walking around that were actually named by the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. And when the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam saw the Abyssinian children, he would try to speak their language, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, and he would stumble speaking their language, sometimes on purpose, so that they could laugh with him, Alayhi Salatu Wasallam, as he was trying to speak their language. A child could take him by the hand, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, and show him things and point out things to him. And the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam would play with them, and Rasulullah SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam would not turn away from them until they were satisfied. We also see SubhanAllah, a really beautiful narration, because sometimes these things are actually,
you know, in the small print, if you will, of a hadith. When the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam used to receive fruits, now back then, obviously, probably for better, you don't really have candy, right? The sweet is the fruit, and the kids loved fruits. And in Medina, when people would have their new picks of fruit, they would always wanna bring something to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. And Rasulullah SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, when he would get a piece of fruit, he would make dua for the fruits of those people, the fruits of Al-Medina. And then the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam would do what? He'd look to the smallest child in sight, he'd call that child over, and he'd give them the fruit, Alayhi Salatu Wasallam. So that was like his way of giving candy, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, to the children of the Ummah. And this was his habit, Alayhi Salatu Wasallam, even as people would prefer the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam with those sweet fruits. Now, with his own children, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, that was a sight to see in and of itself, meaning his grandchildren, Alayhi Salatu Wasallam. When it comes to Al-Hasan and Al-Husayn, radiAllahu ta'ala anhuma, the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam's relationship with them was so beautiful. And the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam would not just hold them and testify to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la how much he loves them, but he would say loudly, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, Oh Allah, love those who love them and hold them, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, and he would kiss them, Alayhi Salatu Wasallam. Fatima radiAllahu ta'ala anha, she mentions when the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam used to visit the house and he'd call out, Atamma luka'a, where's the little one at? Where's the little one at? He means, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, Atamma luka'a, he means, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, Al-Hasan radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, bring him out to me. And the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam would put in his own cloak, Alayhi Salatu Wasallam, Al-Hasan and Al-Husayn and Usama ibn Zaid and Zainab and Umama, he would put all of his grandchildren, Alayhi Salatu Wasallam, under his cloak and he would hold them close and he would make dua. And this was a site that was changing the culture of Al-Madinah. There was a man that once saw the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam throwing Al-Hasan and Al-Husayn and kissing them and hugging them.
And he said, I have 10 of them and I never kissed any of them. Like, this is not normal. You know, we're men, we're not supposed to kiss our children. And the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said, what can I do about a man who has no mercy? You know, whoever does not show mercy will not have mercy shown to them. The Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said, this is part of rahmah. This is part of mercy that we show to these children. And the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam especially paid attention to those orphans, to those children that were deprived of that love. The Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam would go out of his way to be that figure to those orphans that didn't have the love of a father because he SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam did not have that love himself. He grew up without that. And he said SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, the best house is the one in which orphans are treated well. And the worst house is the one in which orphans are treated poorly. So just like when he talked about feasts being exclusive and the worst feasts being the ones that the poor are excluded from, the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam says that the worst houses are the ones in which the orphans are not treated well. And the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam made it a point to be that emotional support and to bring them close SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam emotionally so that they could feel that connection. And that's why he told Abu Darda radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu. He said, do you want your heart to be softened? Do you want to find that your things will be provided for you in life? He says, adnil yateema mink, bring the orphan close to you. Wamsah biraasihi wa ataimhum min ta'amik and caress his hair and feed him from what you eat. And he said, wallahi, it will soften your heart and it will fulfill your needs. So the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam would go out and he would bring the atam, he'd bring the orphans to his own home, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. He would walk with them. And because they were so subject to exploitation, the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam would not just play with them, but he would intercede for them for any issue that they had SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. So he pays special attention to children as a whole in the ummah
and he pays even closer attention SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam to those children that were not getting to live like the children around them. Sallu alaih Sallu alaih SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam
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