Meeting Muhammad
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With Him In The Trenches | Meeting Muhammad ﷺ Episode 6
There is no better indication of a strong leader than to witness their conduct with others under pressure. What was it like to stand arm-in-arm with the Prophet ﷺ in times of difficulty?
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Sayyidul qawm khadimuhum. The leader of a people is supposed to be their servant. When the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam came to Madina, they didn't know what to expect because the concept of servant leadership was so foreign to them. In fact, even nowadays, you rarely see a leader that is a servant of the people, except for PR reasons or things of that sort. As for the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, they constantly had to tell him to not do so much as their leader. And every time he did so, he taught them and us a lesson. And they saw this contrast of a Prophet of Allah to the style of pompous leadership that they were so used to. The Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam sets the tone from the very beginning. He comes to Quba' in Madina, and they are expecting to hoist the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam on their shoulders and to treat him in the best of ways, Alaihi Salatu Wasalam, as they should treat him SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, and for the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam to receive their service and to sit and lead Alaihi Salatu Wasallam. But the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam comes and he's so humble, he's so quiet that they can't even distinguish him from Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu when he comes to Quba'. On top of that, when they start to build the masjid, the first masjid in Islam, Masjid Quba', the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam is building alongside them. And then they go to Masjid An-Nabawi, and as they build the masjid of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam in Madina, there you have the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam carrying the bricks himself, Alaihi Salatu Wasallam, working as hard as them, not carrying a brick or two, no, working as hard as them, Alaihi Salatu Wasallam, in constructing and building the masjid and making du'a for them SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. He said, inna al-ajra ajra al-akhira, Oh Allah, the ajr, the glad tidings, the reward is the reward of the hereafter,
farham al-ansar wal-muhajira, so have mercy on the ansar, those in Madina, and the muhajira, those that migrated from Mecca. So the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam sets a tone really early on in his society. Now, if you're living in his society, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, and you're living in his time, every year there's some sort of battle, there's some sort of hardship. The Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam never got a chance to rest. And Madina with all of its beauty and tranquility had many moments where it was under attack and when it was threatened. And I want us to actually take a moment and just think about, well, what does it look like to live with the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam under the threat of massacre, to live with the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam through those battles that we only read about? How was he SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and how would you be seeing him? Considering that you would have to be used to this on an annual basis, at least, if you lived in the society of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. And you see that the Messenger of Allah SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, he never suffers less than his companions. So you start just with the khandaq, the trench, literally in the trenches, when they say a leader is in the trenches, literally in the trench, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam dug the share of 10 men himself, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. Abu Talha radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu, he narrates, he said, we showed the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam the stones on our stomach because of how hungry we were. And the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam lifted up his shirt and he showed us two stones on his stomach, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. And what that was is that he ate less than everybody else, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, even though he was their leader. And as they're under this threat of, you know, a massacre and Medina is to be wiped out and the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam is digging alongside them, Al-Bara' radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu has probably one of my favorite narrations about the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and how he looked. He said that the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam rose up on that day. And I remembered him completely covered in dirt, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam.
The dirt covering every part of his blessed skin, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. He was there with them, Alaihi Salatu Wasallam, digging like them, striving alongside them, suffering even more than them. And he looks out at the youth and he says, Allahumma laa aisha illa aisha al-aakhira faghfir lil-ansar wal-muhajireen He makes dua for them once again. He says, Oh Allah, there is no life except for the life of the hereafter. So have mercy on the Ansar and the Muhajireen. So the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam is there. He's singing with them, Alaihi Salatu Wasallam, chanting with them, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, motivating them, Alaihi Salatu Wasallam and praying for them, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. Now, what was it like when you were about to go into battle with him, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam? The night before a battle, you would see the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam in qiyam the entire night. So he's there and he's praying all night long, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, for victory and help from Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. And then he comes out and the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam particularly had these two metal suits of armor that he used to wear. He had a black turban, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, but he'd also wear a silver helmet at times. And he had the sword, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, the handle of which was made of silver. And the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam would come out to them. And it's not like he's going to stand back and set them out. No, the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam speaks to them and they know that he's amongst them. And before he starts with us, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, what does he do? He reminds you of Allah. And he reminds you of your ethics, not to kill a child, not to kill a woman, not to kill the elderly, not to kill those who are sick, not to practice treachery, not to mutilate anyone, not to cut down the trees, not to harm the monks or the monasteries or the worshipers in whatever place of worship they are in. So he reminds the Sahaba before the battle of their ethics, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. And then the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam says, here is Jibreel Alayhi Salam and the angels ready to proceed. And the battle starts. And you see the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam
ahead of everybody. I want you to think about this. Ali Ibn Abi Tarib radiAllahu anhu. And we know who Ali is. Ali radiAllahu anhu is a man of incredible courage, incredible strength. And he says that when the battle used to become hot and most severe, we would take shelter and refuge behind the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. He would charge forth Ali SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. And he never once fled the battlefield SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. In Hunayn, and you know, we talk about Uhud and we talk about some of these other parts where the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam was wounded and he stayed the course. In Hunayn, the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam was only amongst six other people that did not leave the battlefield. And he did not turn back, even though he was on a mule SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, he continued to charge forward on the day of Hunayn saying, Ana nabee la kadhab, ana ibn Abdul Muttalib. I am the Prophet without doubt. And I am the son of Abdul Muttalib. And so he's charging forth SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and you knew that he was fighting harder than anyone else. But SubhanAllah, he would not kill with his hands but he would disarm the enemy SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. He only killed one person, Alaihi Salatu Wasalam and that was in the battle of Uhud, Ubaid ibn Khalaf who was coming forth to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam to cause harm and the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam threw a spear in his direction and it nicked him and it killed him. Otherwise the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam never used to actually kill people when he was in battle. And of course the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam also, despite his great courage and strength, Ali radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu says, he never in his life struck anything with his hand except when he was fighting Fi Sabeelillah. He never once struck a servant nor a woman. The Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam was greatly merciful, even though he was SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam so courageous in the battlefield and you knew that the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam would never flee. After the battle, the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam would go and he would check on everyone. He would account for everyone.
He would pray on the deceased himself SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. He would console all of the families after battle SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. And a beautiful narration to really just bring this home and think about his courage SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. There was one night that they were in Al Medina and they heard a noise outside of Medina and the people of Medina thought that they were being attacked. So you're in your home and you thought that you were being ambushed. And so people started to get ready to quickly assemble themselves so that they could form some sort of a potent army to be able to fight back. And by the time people got out and they got their swords together and they jumped on their horses or whatever they could be, the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam was already riding back from the outskirts of Medina and he was on his unsaddled horse SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and he had his sword hanging on his neck SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and he said, la takhafoo, don't worry, don't worry. It's nothing, I checked. So SubhanAllah, this is the messenger of Allah SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and if you're in Medina and you were afraid, this was the man that was so courageous Alaihi Salatu Wasalam that as your leader, he will go out and he will make sure that you are protected at all times. And even when you're in the most difficult of times, he will demonstrate with his own example SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam that he will endure the most difficulty for the sake of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and for the ease of the people. Sallu alaih SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam
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