The Revelation

Muhammad’s First Encounter with Revelation Jibrīl Visits Muhammad asūlullāh used to spend long periods of time in Ghār Hirā' – the Cave of Hirā'. One day he was visited by the angel Jibrīl. Jibrīl came to Muhammad ﷺ in his original form, so Muhammad saw Jibrīl in his angelic form and not in the form of a man which he would sometimes see him in. In the Hadīth of Jibrīl, the well-known Hadīth of Jibrīl narrated by ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb, he says that Jibrīl came in the form of a man, ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb says, “A man with very dark hair and very bright white clothes and we do not see any traces of travel on him.” So he came in the form of a man, but in this particular situation, Jibrīl appeared in his original form, and that happened only twice.

First Verses Revealed to Muhammad

Jibrīl came to Muhammad and told him, “Iqra' – Recite.” Now, the word Iqra' has two meanings; one of them is ‘Read’ and the other is ‘Recite’. In this situation of Muhammad ﷺ it means ‘Recite’. Jibrīl told Muhammad ﷺ,” Iqra'.” Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him, responded and said, “Mā Ana Bi-Qāri' – I cannot read.” Jibrīl grabbed Muhammad ﷺ and squeezed him; crushed him, and then he released Muhammad ﷺ and told him, “Iqra' – Recite.” Muhammad responded again and said, “Mā Ana Bi-Qāri' – I cannot read”. So Jibrīl held him a second time and pressed him hard and then released him again and told him, “Iqra'.” And this happened three times until Jibrīl eventually recited the first verses of Qur'ān: Recite in the name of your Lord who created - Created man from a clinging substance. Recite, and your Lord is the most Generous - Who taught by the pen - Taught man that which he knew not. This was the first encounter between Rasūlullāh ﷺ and the angel Jibrīl.

The Messenger of Allāh Muhammad ﷺ was terrified by that incident. He went back home and he entered and he immediately went to his wife Khadījah and said, “Zammilūnī Zammilūnī! Daththirūnī Daththirūnī! – Wrap me in a garment! Wrap me in a garment!” Rasūlullāh ﷺ was shivering, he was feeling cold, and he was asking his wife to wrap him up. Rasūlullāh ﷺ was terrified and afraid because of this incident that happened to him, plus Rasūlullāh ﷺ had a dislike to anything that had to do with Jinn and spirits and sorcery, and he was afraid that what happened to him might be similar to what is happening to sorcerers. So Rasūlullāh ﷺ explained the incident to his wife Khadījah. Khadījah, she responded and said, “No! Allāh ﷻ will never forsake you because of your righteousness! You support the needy, you help the poor, you are generous towards the guests.” So because of the prior conduct of Rasūlullāh ﷺ, Khadījah knew that such a person cannot be forsaken by God. She was saying, “Allāh ﷻ will protect you, do not worry. What happened to you cannot be

from Satan.”

Rasūlullāh ﷺ and Khadījah Visit Waraqah Bin Naufal

And then Khadījah offered to take Muhammad ﷺ to her uncle, or in some narrations it is her cousin, Waraqah Bin Naufal. So he went to Waraqah Bin Naufal, and we mentioned that Waraqah Bin Naufal was a man who became Christian, and he was lettered, and he had scrolls from the Bible which he would study. Khadījah took Muhammad ﷺ to Waraqah and Waraqah asked Muhammad ﷺ to explain exactly what happened.

Waraqah Bin Naufal responded and said, “This is An-Nāmūs Al-Akbar…” – An-Nāmūs Al-Akbar is the greatest angel; Jibrīl – “…who descended on Mūsā.” Waraqah Bin Naufal immediately knew that this is the angel Jibrīl and he is revealing to Muhammad ﷺ a revelation similar to that which was given to Mūsā. And you can see, Subhān'Allāh, that Waraqah Bin Naufal here made a correlation between Muhammad ﷺ and Mūsā, this relates back to what we were saying; he said that this is similar to what was given to Mūsā. And then Waraqah Bin Naufal said something interesting, he said, “And I wish that I was young when your people will drive you out of your land.” This was a surprise to Rasūlullāh ﷺ, so Rasūlullāh ﷺ questioned Waraqah and said, “Awa Mukhrijiyyahum? – They will drive me out of my land?” He was thinking how could that happen? And Rasūlullāh ﷺ had every right to question what Waraqah was saying because Muhammad ﷺ was the most beloved man, he was the most admired man in Makkah; how could they drive me out? Muhammad ﷺ belonged to the noblest family in Makkah – Banū Hāshim. Muhammad ﷺ was someone who had no quarrels with the people for them to drive him out of his land. Plus, they were living in the environment and the culture in which it was unacceptable to drive someone out of their homeland. In tribal society, the only way they could survive in the harsh environment of the desert is for them to hold together, so you had extreme loyalty to the tribe; every member of a tribe considered that their total loyalty goes to the tribe, and they expected the same thing, that the tribe is loyal to the member of the tribe, anything else would mean death in that harsh environment. So they used to

stick together and their family relationships were very strong. So Rasūlullāh ﷺ was asking Waraqah Bin Naufal, “Would they drive me out of my land?” Waraqah Bin Naufal said, “Anyone who has presented to his people with something similar to this would be driven out of their land; they would take him as an enemy.” Waraqah Bin Naufal was a wise man who studied history and he knew the nature of the conflict between truth and falsehood. He knew that even though Muhammad ﷺ was admired by his people, even though he belonged to the most noble family, even though he had no conflicts with the members of his community, but because he is calling them to Islām, this is what will happen to him, he will go through these trials and tribulations, and what Waraqah Bin Naufal said came to fruition, it happened exactly as he stated. And the words of Waraqah Bin Naufal were an early warning for Muhammad ﷺ to tell him what was coming ahead; that it is going to be difficult and it will not be easy for you. Iqra' – We are an Ummah of Knowledge

What Iqra' Means for Us

We talked about the beginning of Revelation – Al-Wahī, and the first words that were given to Rasūlullāh ﷺ were Iqra' – Recite. What does that mean for us; Iqra'? These words, Iqra', what they mean to us, the Muslims, is that we are an Ummah that reads, an Ummah that studies, an Ummah that learns. These words had a powerful effect on an illiterate nation and it made them the scholars of the world. When Qur'ān was revealed, the followers of Rasūlullāh ﷺ were mostly illiterate, but these words inspired them to learn. And within a very short time, the Muslim Ummah was the most educated, the most scholarly nation on the face of the earth. And the number of scholars that this Ummah has produced is unsurpassed. And when you look at the qualities of the scholars of this Ummah, you see their uniqueness, and the fact that they do not have any resemblance to the scholars in any other nation.

Take for example the memory of Al-Bukhārī; his ability to memorise over a quarter of a million Hadīth, or Ash-Shāfi‘ī, who said “When I open a book I have to cover one page, because I would memorise everything and I do not

want the information on the two pages to mix.” – Photographic memory. Or the scholar Al-Wafā' Bin ‘Aqīl, who wrote an encyclopaedia of 300 volumes. Unfortunately it did not survive; the original copies of it were in the library of Baghdād which was sacked by the Tatār, I think only a volume or two survived. It was the power of these words, Iqra', that made this sudden change in the Ummah.

What Iqra' Means for Rasūlullāh ﷺ

Now, with Rasūlullāh ﷺ the situation is different; with Rasūlullāh ﷺ he did not learn how to read and write, so with Rasūlullāh ﷺ the word meant ‘Recite’. For us it means that we have to learn how to read and write, but for Rasūlullāh ﷺ it has a different meaning, it has the meaning of reciting and repeating what Allāh ﷻ has revealed to him. Why? Because with Rasūlullāh ﷺ, Allāh wanted him to be illiterate, it was part of the decree of Allāh ﷻ. Allāh ﷻ says: And you did not recite before it any scripture, nor did you inscribe one with your right hand. Otherwise the falsifiers would have had cause for doubt. So Allāh ﷻ says that Muhammad ﷺ, first of all, did not learn any scripture before Qur'ān, and he had not learnt the ability to read and write, so he was illiterate. Now, why would Rasūlullāh ﷺ, after Islām, have to learn to read and write? What purpose would that serve him, what good would that do for him, when he is receiving the knowledge fresh from Allāh ﷻ through Jibrīl? What purpose would it be for Rasūlullāh ﷺ to learn how to read and write? For us, reading is our key to knowledge, that is how we can learn knowledge, but for Rasūlullāh ﷺ, he was being taught by Jibrīl, and there is nothing that books would do for Rasūlullāh ﷺ, there is no knowledge that the books can offer Rasūlullāh ﷺ when he is receiving the knowledge directly from Allāh. So Iqra' has a different meaning for Muhammad ﷺ, it means ‘Recite’ in his case, but for us it means ‘Read,’ and this is how the early Muslims understood the first word that was revealed in Qur'ān.

The Importance Islām Gives to Knowledge

And notice in the fourth Āyah Allāh says: The One Who taught by the pen, so that is an indication for us that it is Allāh who taught by the pen and it is a bounty and blessing from Him. And Allāh ﷻ makes an oath in Sūrah Al-Qalam: Nūn. By the pen and what they inscribe. And when Allāh makes an oath in something it is to give it importance, so Allāh ﷻ made an oath in the name of the pen. And it is mentioned that in the Battle of Badr, the Non-Believers who were prisoners of war were offered freedom if they could teach 10 Muslims how to read and write, so that is the importance that Islām gave to knowledge. We are an Ummah of knowledge, we are an Ummah of scholarship, and unfortunately today we are lagging behind in our duties. This is an Ummah that should be at the top in fields of scholarship, and dear brothers and sisters, if we have lost the interest in learning, at least let us fix the problem with the next generation. If you happen to be a person who is having difficulty encouraging yourself to learn and to study, do your best, but at least make sure that this problem does not become an inherited problem from you to your children. We want to make sure that the next generation is a generation that will love reading, that will love knowledge, that will love to study and learn.

There was a study done on children who love to read and children who do not have the same interest, they tried to find out what was the difference in their upbringing, how come some children love reading and some do not. They found some common characteristics among the children who love to read: Their Parents are People who Love Reading Number One: They found out that their parents are people who love reading, so the child would grow up always seeing one of their parents or both holding a book. And in the early years of our development, it is a process of imitation, so when the child grows up in their young age seeing one or two of their parents always holding a book and reading, they associate reading with something good. Because they always try to be like their parents, so they grow up loving to play with magazines and books;

you would find that the child is not even able to read yet, nevertheless they are flipping pages of a magazine, and since they are unable to read they would usually look for photos or pictures. But they are doing it because they see their parents do it, so the more they see their parents reading or flipping through pages, the more they would love to imitate them. So in your house, in front of your children, read; give them this good example.

They Grow Up in a Print-Rich Environment

Second Quality: They grow up in a print-rich environment; they grow up in houses that have books, that have a library. They have a lot of books around them, so they are surrounded with books in their young age. So they have access to books.

They Have their Own Library

Number Three: They own libraries. It is something good to encourage your child to own a library and to build their own library, because as a human being, we have this love of ownership, and especially with kids you can see it; ‘This is mine’ – that is the word that you will always hear; ‘It belongs to me, it is mine.’ So have them feel that they own a book, that they have their own library; it has some special meaning to them. Their Parents Would Take them Out to Bookstores and Libraries Number Four: Their parents would take them out to bookstores, to libraries. When the parents want to entertain their children once in a while, they would take them to a public library or they would take them to a bookstore. So all of this is part of encouraging them to read.

These are Children who Watch Little or No TV And finally Number Five: These are children who watch little or no TV. TV is one of the greatest distractions from learning. If you give a child the choice between TV and a book, they will choose TV. So restricting their TV viewing would encourage them to read. So again, these are kids who either do not watch TV at all or their viewing time is controlled.

So these are some steps that we as parents can take to ensure that our children will grow up loving to read.

Differentiating between Knowledge that Benefits and Knowledge that Does Not Now, even though I have been talking about reading and encouraging reading and that we should read a lot, but I need to qualify that statement; this does not mean that we read anything. At particular stages, there are some things that could be dangerous to a development of a person. In the early years of Madīnah, Rasūlullāh ﷺ saw with ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb some scrolls of At-Torāh. Rasūlullāh ﷺ became very angry and his face was red, and he criticised ‘Umar Ibn-Al-Khattāb for reading from the Torāh. But that was not a permanent ban, it was only in the early years until the Muslims developed solid foundation, and then later on that order was abrogated and Rasūlullāh ﷺ said, “I have prohibited you from reading the stories of Banī Isrā'īl – Children of Israel,” meaning their scripture, “but now I am allowing you to read it, however, do not believe it and do not disbelieve in it.” In other words, you are going to be faced with statements that have no reference in Qur'ān, so do not take it as the truth but at the same time do not reject it, because it possibly could be true or it possibly could be some later insertion. So we can see that Rasūlullāh ﷺ did not want them to be exposed to material at the early stage of development that could be detrimental for their education process.

And in any curriculum, in any institution, it is a development process, so you need to feed the student what the student is capable of absorbing. And Ibn Mas‘ūd says, “If you speak to the people things that their minds are unable to comprehend, it might be a Fitnah for some of them,” it might turn them away. Therefore one needs to be careful what material they are reading and what material their children are reading. So I am not saying read anything; comics and other nonsense books that exist out there, or people just wasting their time. You would find that people are always holding books in trains and on planes; most of the time it is going to be a fiction book, a novel, it is just a way to pass their time, there is no real knowledge

in it. And in Islām, we know that there is knowledge that benefits and knowledge that does not.

Rasūlullāh ﷺ used to make the Du‘ā': Allāhumma Innī As'aluka ‘Ilman Nāfi‘an Wa A‘ūzubika Min ‘Ilman Lā Yanfa’ – O Allāh, I ask You to give me knowledge that benefits and I seek refuge in You from knowledge that does not benefit. So there is some good knowledge and there is some bad knowledge, and we know that for a fact, it is in Sūrah Al-Baqarah; the two angels who came down to teach the people magic – Hārūta Wa Mārūt – But the two angels do not teach anyone unless they say, "We are a trial, so do not disbelieve by practicing magic." And yet they learn from them that by which they cause separation between a man and his wife. But they do not harm anyone through it except by permission of Allāh. That they are teaching people knowledge that is evil and they are telling the people that this is not good for you. So even though it is knowledge, but it is knowledge that does not benefit, it is knowledge of sorcery; magic.

So these are the first verses revealed to Muhammad ﷺ.

Different Forms of Revelation

Ibn Al-Qayyim talks about the different types of Revelation, and this is from his book Zād Al-Ma‘ād. Ibn Al-Qayyim is a fascinating scholar, he was the most prominent of the students of Ibn Taymiyyah, and he was a prolific writer, he wrote so many books on so many different subjects. This particular book is called Zād Al-Ma‘ād, and in this book he writes about the Sunnah of Rasūlullāh ﷺ, so he writes about the Prophetic medicine, actually the book The medicine of the Prophet is one volume of Zād AlMa‘ād. The book is everything surrounding Rasūlullāh ﷺ, everything that had to do with Rasūlullāh ﷺ. So he would write about the different forms of transportation that Rasūlullāh ﷺ had, all of his weapons, his wives, his children, his family life, what would the Messenger of Allāh do when he was in Hajj, what he did in his Salāh, so it is everything about the life of

Muhammad ﷺ. The amazing thing about this book is that Ibn Al-Qayyim says in the introduction to the book, “I wrote this book when I was travelling, not when I was residing in my house, therefore I did not have my references and books with me.” So it is amazing how you could write about such a topic without having references and books with you, and write such a book when you are travelling, and it is pretty much the best book written on the subject.

In the book, Ibn Al-Qayyim talks about the stages or the different categories of Revelation, he says the first category of Revelation is the period of true vision, it was the starting point of the Revelation to the Messenger of Allāh, peace be upon him. For six months, before receiving the Revelation, Rasūlullāh ﷺ used to frequently see dreams; he would see a dream at night time and he would see the fulfilment of the dream during the day time, and this continued for six months; whatever he sees at night would happen the next day.

Form One: Dreams

Rasūlullāh ﷺ says about dreams, that the true dream is one out of 46 parts of Prophethood. And this number is interesting, because for how long was Rasūlullāh ﷺ seeing dreams? Six months. And how long was the Prophethood of Rasūlullāh ﷺ?23 years. What is the ratio of six months to 23 years? 1:46 – according to the Hadīth. Dreams are something that the Believer can see, it is not restricted to the Prophets, but the difference is that in the situation of the Prophets, a dream is a form of Revelation. With us, we have three categories of dreams which were stated by Rasūlullāh ﷺ:

True Dreams

Number one: A true dream, and this is a dream that will occur as it was seen, or it has a meaning that needs to be interpreted. This is the first dream.

Dreams from Shaitān

Second type of dreams is a dream from Shaitān. Ru'yā Tahzīm Min AshShaitān; Rasūlullāh ﷺ says, “This is a dream from Shaitān and he wants to inflict harm on you.” Rasūlullāh ﷺ says, “If you ever see such a dream, then seek refuge in Allāh from Shaitān and do not tell that dream to anyone.” Why? Because that is what Shaitān wants to happen, he wants to see you miserable, going around complaining to people about that horrible dream that you have seen. So Rasūlullāh ﷺ is telling you to forget about it; do not tell anyone about it if it seems to be a bad dream.

Meaningless Dreams

Rasūlullāh ﷺ says about the third type of dream, “You think about something in the daytime and you dream about it at night.” So it is something on your mind, something that you think about frequently; you see it at night. Rasūlullāh ﷺ says this is a meaningless dream, it does not have any meaning.

So these are the three different types of dreams that we could have. So one of them is true, one is false, and one is meaningless.

Form Two: Inspiration through Angel

The second type of Revelation: It is when the angel inspires to Rasūlullāh ﷺ, but he does not appear to Muhammad ﷺ, it is just a form of inspiration. An example of this is when Rasūlullāh ﷺ said, “The Noble Spirit (Jibrīl) revealed to me, ‘No soul will perish until it exhausts its due course, so fear Allāh and gently request Him. Never get so impatient to the verge of disobedience of Allāh. What Allāh has can never be acquired but through obedience to Him.’” So this is not Jibrīl speaking to Muhammad ﷺ, it is an inspiration.

Form Three: Appearance of Angel

The third type of Revelation is the Angel appearing to Muhammad ﷺ in the physical form of a human being, and an example of that would be Hadīth

Jibrīl; Jibrīl came in the form of a man and he was seen by Rasūlullāh ﷺ and by the other Companions.

Form Four: Jibrīl Descending and Seizing Muhammad

The fourth type of Revelation: The Angel came to him like the toll of a bell, and this was the most difficult form, because the Angel used to seize him tightly and sweat would stream from his forehead even on the coldest day. This was the most difficult for him; Jibrīl would descend on Muhammad ﷺ and the Messenger of Allāh would feel the weight, and he would hear the voice of a ringing bell, and that might be the vibration of the wings of the Angel, because there is another Hadīth that says that when Allāh ﷻ reveals His command, the angels have so much Khushū’ that they start shaking their wings, and the sound of the movement of their wings is like dragging a chain over a rock bed. So it is like dragging steel over rocks, it has that violent ringing sound; that is the sound of the vibration of the wings of the angels.

When Jibrīl would come to Rasūlullāh ﷺ in this form, the weight of Rasūlullāh ﷺ would increase, and if he was on top of a camel, the camel would be forced to get down on its knees because of the extreme weight, and the back of the camel would bend. Once Rasūlullāh ﷺ had his knee over the thigh of Zayd Bin Hārithah and Jibrīl descended on Muhammad ﷺ, Zayd Ibn Hārithah said, “I felt the weight of the knee of Rasūlullāh ﷺ;it was almost going to crush my thigh.” And again, what seems to be very heavy is because the Words of Qur'ān are heavy. Allāh ﷻ says: Indeed, We will cast upon you a heavy word.The Words of Allāh are heavy, it is a heavy burden.

Form Five: Muhammad ﷺ Seeing Jibrīl in his Actual Form

Number Five: The Prophet ﷺ would see Jibrīl in his actual form, and this occurred twice and is mentioned in Sūrah An-Najm: And he certainly saw him in another descent. At the Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary. He saw him another time, so Rasūlullāh ﷺ saw Jibrīl in his original form twice. And Jibrīl in his original form had wings that would cover the horizon – huge! He would cover the horizon. In fact, Rasūlullāh ﷺ said that wherever he would look, he would see the wings of the angel Jibrīl in front of him, covering the horizon in every direction.

Form Six: Directly Conversing with Allāh

Finally, the sixth type of Revelation: Allāh ﷻ would speak to Muhammad directly without any intermediary, and this occurred in Al-Mi’rāj. Rasūlullāh ﷺ spoke directly to Allāh ﷻ and Allāh spoke directly to Muhammad ﷺ, and this form actually also occurred to Mūsā.

So these are the six different forms of Revelation.

The Four Greatest Women who Ever Lived

Rasūlullāh ﷺ initially was instructed to keep the Message private; not to make it public, and to invite only his very close associates, so Rasūlullāh ﷺ made Da’wah to the ones who were very close to him. The first person to believe out of both men and women was Khadījah, she was the first Believer. Ibn Kathīr says, “Combining these accounts, we see that Khadījah was the first woman to accept Islām, the leader of the pack as it were. And also, she preceded the men.” She was the first to believe in Muhammad ﷺ.

Now, we talked about Khadījah and we talked earlier about the marriage of Rasūlullāh ﷺ to Khadījah. Now, what made Khadījah special? How come she was one of the greatest women who ever lived? Was it because of her career? Was it because of her knowledge? What was it exactly that made Khadījah among the four best women who ever lived? I think we should give this some consideration, and especially the sisters who should revisit the text regarding Khadījah and the other three women who we mentioned in the Hadīth; Maryam, Āsiyah and Fātimah. If we want to find something common between these four women, we would find the following:

They had Deep Faith in Allāh ﷻ that Reached Level of Yaqīn

Number One: All of the four women had a solid spiritual heart, they had some strong spirituality. Their Īmān was powerful, their Īmān was solid; that is something that is clearly seen in the case of the four, they had strong Īmān. And their faith in Allāh ﷻ reached to the level of Yaqīn. Yaqīn is a state of conviction where nothing can bring doubts into the heart, so the heart has absorbed Īmān to a level where it makes the heart unshakeable; that is Yaqīn. It is strong to the extent that one would have more faith in what they believed than what they would see or hear; that is Yaqīn. It is as if you see something in front of your eyes even though you do not see it; that is the level of Yaqīn. It is clear that all of these four women had that level of Īmān.

Let us take for example Āsiyah, the wife of Fir‘aun. Āsiyah had all what a worldly woman would want; a woman whose concern is this Dunyā would want wealth, would want a very comfortable living, would want to have a rich and powerful husband, would want to have servants, would want to have power; she had it all. Āsiyah was willing to give up all of this for the sake of Allāh ﷻ. Allāh ﷻ had put her in a palace that was the best in the world; she said, ‘O Allāh, I want a house in Jannah!’ And Allāh presents an example of those who believed: the wife of Pharaoh, when she said, “My Lord, build for me near You a house in Paradise and save me from Pharaoh and his deeds and save me from the wrongdoing people.” ‘O Allāh, I do not want this, I want something in Jannah.’ Allāh ﷻ had given her the most powerful and wealthiest husband; she said I do not want this: And save me from Pharaoh and his deeds. I do not want to have anything to do with it.

So that willingness to give up all of these worldly aspects for the sake of Allāh is a reflection of the depth of her faith. Now, keep in mind that Āsiyah was living in a very evil and corrupt environment, she was surrounded with evil from every direction, nevertheless she was able to overcome all of her surroundings and attach her heart to Allāh. That is another indication of the

strength of Īmān, that you are able to fight the tide which is surrounding you from every direction and keep your connection to Allāh. And we could say the same about all of the rest. So number one; they had deep faith in Allāh that reached the level of Yaqīn.

They were either Good Wives or Good Mothers The second common thing that we find among them is that all of the four were either good wives or good mothers, and this is something that might not pass well with feminists or our sisters who are feminised or affected by that line of thought. These four women were not great because of their activism or their career or their knowledge; you find something common between the four and that was they were either good wives or good mothers. Āsiyah and Maryam both raised up two of the greatest Ambiyā' of Allāh; ‘Īsā and Mūsā. Khadījah was outstanding because of her support of her husband, it was not because she was a businesswoman, that did not factor in, it was because she was an excellent wife for Rasūlullāh ﷺ and she supported him when he needed her. Rasūlullāh ﷺ would always find Khadījah on his side. And Fātimah was an exceptional wife too. To give an example, ‘Alï Ibn Abī Tālib heard that Rasūlullāh ﷺ had received some servants, so he and his wife decided that they should go to Rasūlullāh ﷺ and ask him to give them one servant because of the difficult work that Fātimah was going through in her house. So they went to the house of Rasūlullāh ﷺ and Rasūlullāh ﷺ was not there, so they spoke to ‘Ā'ishah, and they told ‘Ā'ishah, “We want to ask Rasūlullāh ﷺ to give us a servant because of the hardship that Fātimah is going through.” She was suffering because of hard work and serving in her house. Rasūlullāh ﷺ was told of this by ‘Ā'ishah, so he went to the house of ‘Alï and Fātimah.

‘Alï Ibn Abī Tālib is narrating this Hadīth, he says, “Rasūlullāh ﷺ came in and we were already in our bed. As soon as we saw Rasūlullāh ﷺ we stood up. Rasūlullāh ﷺ said, ‘Remain where you are.’” So they were lying in their beds. ‘Alï Ibn Abī Tālib said, “Rasūlullāh ﷺ came and he sat between me and Fātimah in our bed so he was touching both of us.” Now,

Rasūlullāh ﷺ loved his daughter so much that he once said, “Fātimah is part of me; what hurts her hurts me, and what pleases her pleases me.” This was his only surviving child, and he loved her dearly, he loved her so much, so Rasūlullāh ﷺ would want to do for his daughter what was best for her, he would want his daughter to have the best life. Rasūlullāh ﷺ had the ability to give them a servant, but did he do that? Rasūlullāh ﷺ said, “I have something better for you than a servant. Before you go to bed, say Subhān'Allāh 33 times, Alhamdulillāh 33 times, and Allāhu Akbar 33 times. That is better for you than a servant.” Now, Rasūlullāh ﷺ knew that his daughter – the daughter of the best, and she is of the best – Rasūlullāh ﷺ knew that she was serving in her household until her hands became harsh; the skin on her hand was thick, nevertheless Rasūlullāh ﷺ advised her to continue with what she was doing and he told her instead of getting a servant, I will give you this gift; Subhān'Allāh, Alhamdulillāh and Allāhu Akbar.

Now, Alï Bin Abī Tālib, later on, he said, “Fātimah was working so hard, she was using the stone mill until her hands became harsh and rough. She was drawing water out of the well until it left marks on her neck, she was cleaning the house until her clothes became dirty, and she was cooking until it affected her face.” Now, this was the daughter of the greatest man that ever lived – Muhammad ﷺ, and she was his only daughter, and Rasūlullāh ﷺ knew what she was going through. And that is what made Fātimah among the four best women who ever lived. In terms of knowledge, ‘Ā'ishah is more knowledgeable than Fātimah and Khadījah, nevertheless, ‘Ā'ishah did not have the same level as Fātimah and Khadījah.

So sisters, think about your future and think about your priorities. This is not to say that we should not learn and we should not be Islāmically active, but we want to know where the greatest Ajr is. We are all encouraged to fulfil our roles and to be the best and to learn the most, but there are things that are more rewardable than others, so let us optimise our ‘Ibādah.

The First Ones to Believe

So Khadījah was the first to believe, and she stood besides Rasūlullāh ﷺ

until she died. She was the first Believer. The first slave to become Muslim was Zayd Bin Hārithah, the first child to become Muslim was ‘Alï Ibn Abī Tālib, and the first free man to become Muslim was Abū Bakr AsSiddīq. Now, there is an old discussion between our scholars on who was the first man to become Muslim; some would say Abū Bakr and some would say ‘Alï Ibn Abī Tālib. We know the first woman was Khadījah and she was first among everyone, but among men, who was the first, was it Abū Bakr or ‘Alï? And this is an old discussion between our scholars. Ibn Hajar Al- ‘Asqalānī tries to resolve that dispute, he says that the first to accept Islām was Abū Bakr, because ‘Alï Ibn Abī Tālib was never a Non-Muslim to become a Muslim, ‘Alï Ibn Abī Tālib never was in his life a Non-Muslim for him to embrace Islām, because ‘Alï Ibn Abī Tālib became a Muslim at a very young age, and he never worshipped idols in his life and he never embraced the religion of the people of Makkah, and he was brought up in the household of Prophethood, therefore he was brought up on Islām from day one, because again, he was adopted by Rasūlullāh ﷺ. Therefore we would say that the first man to become Muslim was Abū Bakr As-Siddīq. Abū Bakr’s Unparalleled Contribution to Islām Now, let us continue with the quotation from Ibn Kathīr, he says, “Combining these accounts, we see that Khadījah was the first woman to accept Islām, the leader of the pack, as it were, and also she preceded the men. Among the slaves, the first to accept Islām was Zayd Bin Hārithah.” – By the way, Zayd Bin Hārithah was also in the household of Rasūlullāh ﷺ ” – And the first boy to accept Islām was ‘Alï Ibn Abī Tālib, he was young then and had not reached the age of puberty as generally believed; these were the family of Rasūlullāh ﷺ. The first free man to accept Islām was Abū Bakr – the Trusting. His conversion was more beneficial than that of those mentioned before because he was highly a respected leader, an honoured chief of Quraish, and a man of wealth. He became a missionary for Islām and was very much liked and admired for spending his wealth in the service of Allāh and His Messenger.”

So it is an interesting note from Ibn Kathīr that Abū Bakr was the most beneficial. Why? Because he was a wealthy, prominent member of the society who brought in all of his resources for the service of Islām. You see, when you say wealthy and respected member of the society, it would mean nothing if a person does not bring in what Allāh has endowed them with to serve Islām, but Abū Bakr put everything on the line; all of his wealth, all of his business, his connections, his knowledge, he used it all for Islām, he put everything under the service of Rasūlullāh ﷺ;it is all yours. And that is why he was called Siddīq, because he was the first. Siddīq is the one who believes; people rejected Rasūlullāh ﷺ, Abū Bakr accepted him. There was a saying that everyone hesitated in accepting Islām except Abū Bakr; as soon as it was presented to him he accepted it. Everyone else thought about it, gave it a second thought, but with Abū Bakr, it was an immediate response. And he would never have second thoughts about serving Islām; he was the one who came with all of his wealth, he was the one who first believed in Rasūlullāh ﷺ in Makkah, he was the one who first believed in Al-Isrā' Wal-Mi’rāj, he was the one who accompanied Rasūlullāh ﷺ in the difficult journey of Al-Hijrah – that was the status of Abū Bakr As-Siddīq.

We talked earlier about the loyalty of Rasūlullāh ﷺ to the ones who stood with him in the early days. Here we have a Hadīth in Bukhārī; Abū Dardā' narrates that a feud happened between Abū Bakr and ‘Umar. Now, these were the two advisors of Rasūlullāh ﷺ, they were very close to him. ‘Alï Ibn Abī Tālib said, “I would see Rasūlullāh ﷺ enter with Abū Bakr and ‘Umar, he would leave with Abū Bakr and ‘Umar, he would sit with Abū Bakr and ‘Umar; wherever we would see Rasūlullāh ﷺ, we would see Abū Bakr on one side and ‘Umar on the other.” These were his two advisors. But still Rasūlullāh ﷺ had this special loyalty to the ones who were with him from the early days. So Abū Dardā' narrates that this dispute happened between Abū Bakr and ‘Umar. Rasūlullāh ﷺ said, “Allāh sent me to you, and all of you said, ‘You lie’, except Abū Bakr who said, ‘He spoke the truth,’ and he dedicated himself and his fortune to me. Will you then leave

this friend of mine to me?” He said that twice. He said, ‘Leave my friend alone; do not harm him, leave him alone.’

Public Stage of Da’wah

Rasūlullāh ﷺ Gathers People of Quraish

The early stage of Da’wah, the secret stage, was over with the revelation of the verse: And warn, O Muhammad, your closest kindred.4This is in Sūrah Ash-Shu‘arā', it was revealed to Rasūlullāh ﷺ. Rasūlullāh ﷺ went out and stood on Mountain of As-Safā and he called out, “Wā Subāhā!” Wā Subāhā is like sounding the alarm, the sirens; you do not say Wā Subāhā unless there is an emergency going on, there is something very critical. So everyone who heard Rasūlullāh ﷺ ran towards the source of the voice, and the ones who could not go would send someone to report back to them. So Wā Subāhā is something that you do not say unless it is something very important.

So all of the people gathered. Rasūlullāh ﷺ asked them, “If I tell you that there is an army behind this mountain that is about to attack you, would you believe me?” They said, “Mā ‘Ahidnā ‘Alaika Kadhibā – We have never heard you lie.” Rasūlullāh ﷺ said, “Fa-Innī Nadhīrul-Lakum Bayna Yadai ‘Adhābin Alīm – I am here to warn you of a severe punishment.” I came to warn you. “Allāh ﷻ sent me as a warner to you, and I am warning you a severe punishment that would befall you if you do not believe.” These were the words Rasūlullāh ﷺ chose to deliver in his first public speech to the people of Quraish – I am here to warn you. So you can see that it was very straight-forward, without much introduction, straight to the point; I am warning you a severe punishment.

Rasūlullāh ﷺ did that because Allāh ﷻ tells the Ambiyā' that your duty is Balāgh Mubīn, your duty is to convey the Message plainly. So when you convey the Message, it should not be confusing, it should not be obscure, it should not be sugar-coated, it should not be altered; it should be straight-

forward, because you do not want to leave any doubts in the mind of the listener, you do not want to confuse them. Now, unfortunately many times when we make Da’wah, we confuse the listener, the listener comes out not knowing what is going on, what are we talking about, what are the consequences of Belief and what are the consequences of Disbelief. But Rasūlullāh ﷺ would leave no doubts in the mind of the listener; the listener would know that if they believe, they would be promised Jannah, and if they do not, they are risking Hellfire. They know that the consequences of Disbelief would be Hellfire, and Rasūlullāh ﷺ would make his warnings very straight-forward.

Abū Lahab’s Fury Now, Rasūlullāh ﷺ called the people and the people assumed that this was something urgent and important and it was. Abū Lahab responded and said, “Tabbal Laka! A'li-Hādhā Jama’tanā? – May evil befall you the rest of your day! Is this why you called us?!” Abū Lahab was upset, he was angry. Why? Because Rasūlullāh ﷺ called for an urgent gathering during the official business hours and he took me from my work and my business and I came here not to hear something serious, according to Abū Lahab; he is talking about afterlife, he is talking about religion, he is talking about spirituality, he is talking about things that are not tangible, he is wasting my time, I could have made money during those valuable minutes that I spent listening to him. So Abū Lahab was upset, Abū Lahab is thinking that this is the material world, if you do not have a deal to discuss, some business, some money to make, do not waste my time. And he said “Tabbal Laka Sā'iral Yawm – May evil befall you the rest of the day,” you wasted my time.

Our Desire for Dunyā over Ākhirah

Abū Lahab is not alone in that, he is speaking on behalf of a lot of

people. People do not want to listen about religion, ‘Do not waste my time talking about this religion stuff. If you can promise me some money, if you can promise me something that will do me good in this world, then fine, otherwise do not waste my time.’ ‘Excuse me sir, can I talk to you about religion for half an hour?’ ‘No I am busy, I cannot; I cannot afford half an hour.’ And then what is that man in a rush to do? Maybe he is going to buy a refrigerator or a car or something, you know? And you are asking the person to give you half an hour of their time to talk about their salvation and they would refuse, nevertheless they are willing to spend hours and hours before buying a refrigerator or an oven; they would look at all of the deals, they would visit all of the department stores. Before a person would buy a used car, they would spend days and days of research, they would go and consult the Blue Book, so I would consult the Blue Book and I would go and read all of the classified ads. Days and days of my valuable life I am spending just to save a few hundred dollars, and I am not willing to give half an hour of my time to learn about what will save me in my eternal life.

Allāh Reveals Sūrah Cursing Abū Lahab and his Wife

So Abū Lahab was representing a lot of people when he said, “Tabbal Laka Sā'iral Yawm.” Allāh ﷻ revealed the Sūrah: May the hands of Abū Lahab be ruined, and ruined is he. His wealth will not avail him or that which he gained.Allāh ﷻ says that the hands of Abū Lahab will perish, and perish he. And then the Āyah says that his wealth will not do him any good. What was keeping Abū Lahab away from the truth? Business – his wealth. Allāh ﷻ is saying that his wealth will do him no good. The people who are rushing after Dunyā, Dunyā will do them no good if they do not have Islām in their heart.

Sūrah Al-Masad is a Miracle of Qur'ān This Sūrah is a miracle of Qur'ān because it says that Abū Lahab and his wife are in Hellfire, and this Āyah was revealed while Abū Lahab and his wife were still alive. If Abū Lahab and his wife wanted to prove Qur'ān wrong, they could have said we are Muslims, but they remained Disbelievers until the day they died. So this is a miracle of Qur'ān, it is speaking about an event that had not happened yet, it is saying that Abū Lahab and his wife are in Hellfire while they are still alive, and they could have embraced Islām if they wanted to prove Qur'ān wrong, but they did not do it.

First Verses Revealed to Rasūlullāh ﷺ

The first verses revealed to Rasūlullāh ﷺ were the first verses of Sūrah Al-‘Alaq: Recite in the name of your Lord who created. Created man from a clinging substance. Recite, and your Lord is the most Generous – Who taught by the pen – Taught man that which he knew not.These are the first Āyāt that were revealed. After that, the Revelation stopped for a while. And the whole initial encounter of Rasūlullāh ﷺ with Revelation, plus the waiting period that followed it, was done to make Rasūlullāh ﷺ love the Revelation and miss it, and it was to leave a permanent impression on him, because we mentioned the manner in which the Revelation occurred; Rasūlullāh ﷺ was squeezed and the same command was repeated three times. And then Rasūlullāh ﷺ had to wait, and he was missing the Revelation so much. There is a narration in Bukhārī that says Rasūlullāh ﷺ missed the Revelation so much that he would go to the top of a mountain and attempt suicide.

Iqra', Qum, Qum

First Āyāt of First Three Surahs Revealed in Qur'ān are a Manual Book for the Dā‘iyah The first Āyāt that were revealed after Al-‘Alaq were the Āyāt from Sūrah Al-Muzzammil and Sūrah Al-Muddaththir. Now, there is a difference of opinion on which was the first, but there is an agreement that these were the second and third set of Āyāt, even though we do not know which one of them was second or third. So you have the Āyāt of Sūrah Al-‘Alaq, and then you have the Āyāt of Al-Muzzammil, and Al-Āyāt of Al-Muddaththir. One can say that these Āyāt form a manual book for the Dā‘iyah – the one who is calling to Islām, and we can summarise it in: Iqra', Qum, Qum, and you can remember this; Iqra', Qum, Qum. These were the first Āyāt to train the early Muslims in Da’wah; Iqra', Qum, Qum.

Iqra' – Iqra' Bismi Rabbikalladhī Khalaq. Khalaqal Insāna Min ‘Alaq. Recite in the name of your Lord who created. Created man from a clinging substance.

Qum – Yā Ayyuhal Muzzammil. Qumil-Laila Illā Qalīlā.

O you who wraps himself in clothing. Arise to pray the night, except for a little.

Qum – Yā Ayyuhal Muddaththir. Qum Fa'andhir.

O you who covers himself with a garment. Arise and warn.

So you have Iqra', which is a command to recite and learn. And then you have Qumil-Laila Illā Qalīlā; Pray at night, and then you have Qum Fa'andhir; Stand up and warn. So the first thing is that you learn, and this is something that you can apply in yourself. The first thing is you learn, you study, you gain knowledge in Religion. And then the next step is you apply this in yourself and you start preaching it to others; Qum Fa'andhir – Warn. So what you learn, you have to teach. Ibn Al-Qayyim says that you do not

attain complete Īmān until you go through the stages of learning and teaching and propagating the Message of Allāh ﷻ.

So you have the first stage which is Iqra' – learning, and then after that you start by teaching; Qum Fa'andhir – Stand up and warn. Now, learning and teaching needs something else to go along with it, and that is ‘Ibādah – forms of Nawāfil that you do like Qiyām Al-Layl. And Qiyām Al-Layl was mandatory on the early Muslims; Allāh ﷻ made it mandatory on the early Muslims for a few years and then that was abrogated. However, with the situation of Rasūlullāh ﷺ, he had to pray Qiyām Al-Layl; it was mandatory for him until he passed away. Until he died, Rasūlullāh ﷺ was praying Qiyām Al-Layl and it was mandatory on him. So here you have a complete programme; you have a programme of learning/knowledge, and then a programme of Da’wah, and a programme of rituals/‘Ibādah. And they all complement each other and they all assist in building a complete Muslim personality.

The work of propagating and teaching could be draining on the heart, and without this element of ‘Ibādah – one standing up and praying to Allāh ﷻ in the middle of the night – the heart could harshen and become rough, so this Qiyām Al-Layl softens the heart and it prepares the person for the rest of the day. Such things can also be said about Dhikr. Ibn Al-Qayyim talks about his Sheikh Ibn Taymiyyah, he says that every day after Salātul-Fajr, he would go out to the fields in the outskirts of Damascus and he would just sit there mentioning the name of Allāh, making Dhikr, until sunrise. So he once asked him, “Why do you do this on a daily basis?” Ibn Taymiyyah said, “This is my breakfast; if I do not have it, my body will fail me.” This is food for my soul, it gives me energy for the rest of the day; if I do not have this meal in the morning, I am going to be weak for the rest of my day.

Qiyām Al-Layl was Mandatory on Rasūlullāh ﷺ and As-Sahābah

Rasūlullāh ﷺ was strengthened by this ‘Ibādah of Qiyām Al-Layl, and it is also something that Allāh made mandatory on the early Muslims because of the unique circumstances they went through. The difficulties that they had to go through are more than anything else that the Ummah would face

afterwards, that is why they had to go through this intensive training. Plus, they are the core group, they are the foundation of Islām, As-Sahābah are the generation which Islām was built on. If you have a tent, there is this pillar in the middle that holds the whole tent; that is As-Sahābah for this religion. They were the foundation of this religion, so they had to be very strong, and that strength came from this intensive training programme that they went through in the early years of Makkah. So you had this core group which was small in number, we could say less than a hundred, who went through this training, but then these people became so strong that wherever you would put them, you would immediately see the influence they had on the people surrounding them. Al-Ansār, for example, are latecomers to Islām, Al-Ansār only became Muslim in the last half of the Da’wah of Rasūlullāh ﷺ, but because the Muhājirīn came and lived with them and mixed with them and in the initial stage Rasūlullāh ﷺ made a brotherhood between them – you would have one Ansār and one Muhājir and they were brothers – this gave a chance for the Muhājirīn to help the Ansār in the religious aspect, and the Ansār help the Muhājirīn with the financial and the social support that they needed. But the early Sahābah, the Muhājirīn, had this light in them that would emanate and affect the whole surrounding around them.

So we have Iqra', Qum, Qum. And remember these three words.