Seerah of Prophet Muhammed 12 - Declaration of Prophethood - Yasir Qadhi | October 2011

The Private Dawah

In the early days, the dawah was not a 'secret' dawah; the better word to use is that it was a private dawah. What is the difference? Secret means nobody knew about it. Private means you kept it to yourself but it was an open secret. When he started preaching Islam, rumors spread and the people heard about it - this is proven from the fact that Amr ibn Abasah came all the way from Yemen. And of course we know when he went to Makkah, the Prophet PBUH said, "It's too early - don't accept Islam now. When you hear I am victorious then come back to me." Because in the early stage, the Prophet PBUH only preached privately. He only went to his friends, those whom he trusted, etc. Thus there could be no public opposition. For three years, the Prophet PBUH did not preach to the masses. He didn't preach to the pilgrims, or the visitors of Makkah, or even his own relatives whom he thought would not accept Islam e.g. Abu Lahab, Abu Jahal were not approached. Of course Abu Lahab, Abu Jahal etc. heard about this new theology that is being preached, but they didn't do anything to the Prophet PBUH because he PBUH wasn't interfering with the trade of Makkah, nor standing and preaching aloud.

So why was the dawah private? Many reasons.

First and foremost: This private dawah did not result in any confrontation between the Muslims and the Quraysh. No torture, ridicule etc. Why? Because there's no threat. If someone converts to Islam, he's not making a public announcement - he's simply minding his own business, and not getting involved with the society at a religious level. So for these first three years, there was no torture, persecution etc. The Muslims were being taught their religion, concentrating on the teachings of Islam, without having to worry about politics, torture etc. In fact, this is what prepared them with the spiritual boost they needed to face the torture later on.

This also shows, in some circumstances it's permissible to give dawah in private. If the political climate is one of fear/tension, you don't have to go public about your dawah. E.g.: In the 20s and 30s, when the communism took over, they would literally kill people for claiming to be Muslim - our Islam does not demand you to be public about your religion if there is a fear of persecution. Stay private, keep a low-key, mind your own business, but if somebody comes to learn your religion, give him dawah.


Also notice every single convert at this early stage becomes a leader, a mover and shaker. Unlike bulk of  the later converts whom we don't even know their name. There are certainly over 100,000 sahabas and we only have the names of around 5,000. Why? Because some of them just performed Hajj with the Prophet PBUH, some of them went in one ghazwa and that's it; so their names are not recorded. The names of those that are recorded are few. And of these the bulk of them we only have one or two incidents recorded, and it is only a handful that we have life stories about, and most of these were the early converts or of the early Ansar. This shows the early converts' Iman were so powerful that they went on to play a significant role in early Islam.

Most of the converts at this early stage were from the lower class - Ammar ibn Yasir, Bilal RA etc. This is the general rule for any religion. It is so much of a general rule that when Heraclius, the Emperor of Rome, the first time the Prophet PBUH wrote him a letter, he quizzed Abu Sufyan 10 questions, and one of those questions was, "Who are his converts? The rich or the weak?" Abu Sufyan said, "The weak and the poor." And Heraclius then said, "This is the sign of a true faith - it doesn't appeal to the rich or the elite, whereas the poor understand and accept the message." And also because when you are rich and powerful, you have more to lose when you change status quo. Allah mentioned this in the Qur'an [11:27] that even the people of Hud said, "We only find your followers to be the people who take care of the sheep." And Allah SWT mentions, even the people of Musa (the Jews), in the beginning they were lower class but in the end they end up to be the victors:

وَأَوْرَثْنَا الْقَوْمَ الَّذِينَ كَانُوا يُسْتَضْعَفُونَ مَشَارِقَ الْأَرْضِ وَمَغَارِبَهَا الَّتِي بَارَكْنَا فِيهَا

"And We caused the people who had been oppressed to inherit the eastern regions of the land and the western ones, which We had blessed" [7:137] Indeed the Bani Israel, they eventually became the leaders.

So the wisdoms of doing dawah privately in this early stage are:
1) There was no persecution
2) It was a stage to allow Iman to build
3) Allow the brotherhood to form
4) Each and every one of these converts become a role model
And many other blessings along with that.

There is no authentic narration, but it seems that at this early stage, salah and wudu were legislated. Jibril AS came down and taught the Prophet PBUH how to do wudu and how to pray, though at this stage prayer was voluntary and not obligatory - it was made obligatory in al-Isra' wa al-Mi'raj when the five prayers were set. And that's why when Allah told him to pray, he didn't need to be taught how to pray, because he already knew. Also in this early stage all the prayers were two rak'at - this is what Aisha says in a hadith in Sahih Bukhari.

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Stages of Dawah

The stages of dawah are five, each is a legitimate stage for any Muslim community in the world depending on their circumstance:

1. Private dawah - You don't have to confront the public. Let the public status quo remain if you are too weak or the political climate is too difficult. If the community is going to kill or persecute you, then just be a Muslim in your private life. The Prophet PBUH did this for 3 years.

2. Public dawah with no military confrontation - Peaceful preaching with the tongue. Even if they kill you, you can't retaliate. This was the bulk of the Prophet's PBUH dawah - 10 years of Makkah. And of these 10, the last 6 or 7 were extremely difficult. To the extent of multiple assassination attempts. 'Even if they kill one of us, we cannot touch one of theirs.'

3. Dawah with the tongue along with physical fighting to a particular group - Open dawah along with military confrontation to a specific enemy. This happened for the first 6 years after the Hijrah. The Muslims fought only the Quraysh of Makkah - no other tribe, unless they ally with the Quraysh to attack Muslims.

4. Open dawah to all, with izzah (honor) - You have political power but you only attack in defense if you need to, you don't utilize it for military accomplishments/endeavors. This happened in the Madinan stage after the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah until the Conquest of Makkah. One of the conditions of the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah is: No fighting. So there was no fighting even though he had the power, army, and resources. But the political climate dictated no fighting, and that was what was best, so they said fine, no fighting. This was one of the biggest victory of Islam as Allah says, "We have given you the biggest victory." [48:1] Of course Umar RA didn't understand in the beginning, "How is this a victory?!" but as soon as he hears this ayah, he was convinced.

5. Open dawah along with physical confrontation to anybody who opposes Islam - This was the stage the Prophet PBUH passed away upon. He was sending out armies to e.g. the Romans. And the sahaba continued along this fifth stage which is why they conquered Persia, most of the Roman Empire, took over Damascus, Filastin, Egypt, North Africa, and the Umayyads continued to Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, parts of India, and went all the way to China, until finally in the mid stage of the Abbasids, they decided to go back to the fourth stage (of dawah). For the bulk of the ummah, when there was a khalifa, we were on the fourth stage. This shows that military conquest is not a part of Islam, [even though] it is a possible part that the ummah utilized when it wanted/needed to. But the main thing is to preach the message.

Historically speaking, our ummah has utilized all of these ways. Therefore in our times, there is no question that, militarily, this is not any time we can do anything, especially as minority in many lands. This is the time we talk about public dawah without any confrontation, where we preach our message and [when we see] those groups that are violent, we say, "No! This is not the way of our religion!" Our Prophet PBUH showed us the clear way. His methodology is the best methodology, and his seerah is the best seerah.

Every community throughout the world, its leaders and ulama can see which of these five is best for that community. Each of these is a legitimate means of our Prophet PBUH.

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The Open Preaching

So now we move on to the second stage of the five, which is open preaching with no public conflict from Muslim side; open preaching without any command for warfare. This open preaching took place three years after iqra came down. Allah revealed a number of verses which commanded the Prophet PBUH to preach openly. Two of them are the most important: Surah al-Hijr verse 94, "Don't hide, go forth and proclaim what We have commanded you, and turn away from the ignorant people." So the Prophet PBUH understood this is a command to go public. Then a verse came down which is even more explicit, the verse that is commonly associated with the public dawah, Surah al-Shu'ara, verse 214, "And warn your close relatives" - the word 'ashira/عَشِيرَ' [in the ayah] not only applies to his uncles and aunts, but all of his tribesmen thus this referred to the Quraysh and all the people of Makkah who were his kith and kin thus the Prophet PBUH realized he needed to go public.

Looking at the source books of seerah, it appears that he did this in two stages.

The first stage: He went public to the Banu Hashim only, that is his immediate tribe. Recall the [noble] people of Makkah were all Quraysh. So the Prophet PBUH invited his immediate tribe - his immediate uncles and aunts, over 40 of the adults, to his own house and told Ali ibn Abu Talib to prepare food and soup, and the narrator says, "Even though the food was in one plate, all 40 ate to their fill as if they ate from the plate themselves. And they drank the soup to their fill as if they drank from the one cup alone." Abu Lahab sensed that something was going to happen - he was scared that the Prophet PBUH would make public what was now private. So before they finished eating, Abu Lahab gave an excuse and said he needs to leave - of course he was a senior, so when he left, it destroyed the aura that was being created, so a number of others also left with him. The Prophet PBUH understood this was a tactic of Abu Lahab. So a few days later the Prophet PBUH did the same thing, he told Ali to make another meal, invited them again, and this time, before they could finish, he stood up and began preaching. He began by praising Allah SWT and giving Khutbah al-Hajah, and then said, "O Bani Abdul Muttalib, I do not know of any Arab before me who is coming to his people with a message that is better than what I am coming to you with. I am coming to you with something that will give you your deen and your dunya, this world and the akhira; I am coming as a messenger from Allah SWT that if you leave your idolatry and turn to Him, then Allah will give you all the good of this world and give you the Jannah in the next." And he went on preaching and preaching. Before this time, they might have heard that the Prophet PBUH is preaching, but they have not been approached directly. This was the first time the message of Islam openly reached many of their ears. Abu Lahab became irritated and said to the people around the Prophet PBUH, "This seems to be an unworthy message, we have our way of our forefathers. Who does this young man think he is to come and oppose the ways of our forefathers." Abu Lahab was the only one that was harsh, the rest of his uncles and aunts took the message not that seriously. And in one of the source books, it is said that Ali RA stood up and said, "O Messenger of Allah, I will help you" - and of course there is no surprise in Ali RA being this brave. At this point, his immediate relatives did not accept nor reject.

The second stage: A few days/weeks later, soon after this, this was when the Prophet PBUH went public to the whole city of Makkah. Reported in Bukhari: "The Prophet PBUH climbed the Mountain of Safa which was the closest mountain to the Ka'bah." It was much taller than it is now. So for a person in Makkah to climb to the top of Safa, this was the equivalent of, "I have an announcement to make." So the Prophet PBUH climbed all the way to the top of Safa and he began calling the people. We have to realize Makkah only had around 1,000 people - small little village. So when the Prophet PBUH was calling all the tribes, everyone came. People stopped doing what they were doing and they came and listened. The Prophet PBUH waited for everyone to assemble and then he said, "If I were to inform you about something, do you trust me?" And they said, "We know nothing but good from you, you are our son and the son of our brother, you are our nephew etc." "Have you heard any lie from me?" "We have heard nothing but good. You are al-Amin." And then the Prophet PBUH said, "If I were to tell you that there is an army coming to attack, would you believe me [without any checking, just with my word]?" And they said, "Yes, we never heard you ever say a lie." So here is when the Prophet PBUH said, "Then know therefore, I am a Warner sent by Allah, to proclaim the coming of a severe punishment on the Day of Judgement unless you turn to Allah and leave your idolatry. O tribe of Ka'b ibn Lu'ayy, save yourselves from the Fire of Hell, I will not be able to help you. O Bani Murrah ibn Ka'b,  save yourselves from the Fire of Hell, I will not be able to help you. O Bani Abd Manaf, O Bani Abdul Muttalib, so on and so forth..." He began with the furthest tribe that was related to him, and worked his way inward, closer and closer, until he got to, "O Banu Hashim," and then he began mentioning his uncles [and aunts] by name, "O Hamzah ibn Abdul Muttalib", "O Safiyyah bint Abdul Muttalib" etc. And he concluded with the person who was the most dear & the most beloved to him, "O Fatima bint Muhammad, you need to save yourself from the Fire of Hell, I will not be able to help you on the Day of Judgement." And with Fatima he PBUH added one phrase, "Except that in this world I will give you all that I have, (I'm your father, you ask me anything that I have, it is yours. But in the hereafter, I cannot save you from Allah's punishment)." When the Prophet PBUH finished this very emotional message, this is when Abu Lahab stood up, picked up some sand and through it in the direction of the Prophet PBUH. This is meant to show vulgarity and say, "What is this [message]? It's not even worth this sand I am throwing!" It's a sign of great arrogance. Then he said, "May you be cursed O Muhammad! Is this why you called us here?!" And this is when Allah revealed in the Quran Surah al-Masad [111:1-5]:

تَبَّتْ يَدَا أَبِي لَهَبٍ وَتَبَّ

مَا أَغْنَىٰ عَنْهُ مَالُهُ وَمَا كَسَبَ

سَيَصْلَىٰ نَارًا ذَاتَ لَهَبٍ

وَامْرَأَتُهُ حَمَّالَةَ الْحَطَبِ

فِي جِيدِهَا حَبْلٌ مِّن مَّسَدٍ

Abu Lahab was the first person to publicly oppose and ridicule the message. In the house of the Prophet PBUH a few days ago, he wasn't that rude. But now in public, because of his arrogance and rudeness, he publicly opposed the Prophet PBUH in a vulgar manner. And thus Allah revealed Surah al-Masad. This is of course the sunnah of Allah SWT - never has a messenger been sent except that he has to face struggles and hardships against his own people. Most of mankind do not want to change their lifestyles. It's difficult to give up what you're used to, it's difficult to lead a religious life.

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Wisdom We Learn From the Prophet's PBUH Dawah So Far

Of the benefits we gain here is that every single person needs to be responsible first and foremost for his immediate family, and then for society at large. Indeed, initially the Prophet PBUH is told to preach to his own relatives. So much so that when a Yemeni comes to him, he tells him, "Not now." So the responsibility of a da'i is much more for his immediate family than anyone else. Indeed the Prophet PBUH first called Banu Hashim, then the people of Makkah. From this point onwards, the Prophet PBUH started preaching everywhere. In public venues, in front of the Ka'bah, when visitors/hujjaj came to Makkah - the Prophet PBUH would speak to them in the marketplaces of Mina etc. This is when the dawah became public, and of course this is when the public opposition began as well.

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Opposition From the Quraysh

How did the people oppose the message? By many ways. Note these aren't necessarily chronological.

1. Appealing to the Highest Authority

The first thing is that they tried to appeal to the highest authority which was Abu Talib. Recall there is no one ruler in Makkah. They were too arrogant to appoint one ruler. What they did have was Dar al-Nadwa - a group of senior people none of whom was in charge, but had a big say in the matters of the community. Who were these people? They were the representatives of each of the subtribes of Makkah. So each of the subtribes has a ruler. The Banu Hashim has a ruler, the Banu Makhzum, Banu Abd al-Dar etc. has a ruler. The affairs of that one tribe will be in accordance with what each chieftain says. The leader of Banu Hashim was of course Abu Talib. It's the way of the Arabs that the leader of each tribe is never deposed, never gotten rid of, never disobeyed etc. He is given the utmost respect. And then when he dies, one of his sons takes over (just like when Abdul Muttalib died, Abu Talib took over). So when the Prophet PBUH started preaching, they went to Abu Talib, gently, and said, "O Abu Talib, this is your nephew cursing our idols, preaching a new message, surely you cannot let this happen?" Abu Talib did not want confrontation, he gave them some gentle words and let them go their away. He simply sidetracked hoping that the matter would go away. But it didn't. Few weeks later, they come to Abu Talib again. As more and more people convert to Islam, as more and more of the hujjaj go back bearing the news that, "There is a man in Makkah preaching a new message," they realized that action has to be taken. So they increase the pressure on Abu Talib. They try to threaten, bribe, and cajole him. "We cannot take this anymore - your nephew is insulting our forefathers." Pause. This is the way of everybody who opposes Islam, even in our times: they take a small thing and make it so big as if the world is going to collapse. The Prophet PBUH never cursed their forefathers - they're his own forefathers. He PBUH is preaching tawhid. But they make a true statement like, "Idolatry is not a good way, it's foolish," and exaggerate it twenty times by saying, "Well if it's foolish, this means our forefathers were foolish. And if they were foolish, this means you're cursing them," etc. And of their accusations was, "Your nephew is cursing our idols." But the Prophet PBUH never cursed their idols, Allah says:

وَلَا تَسُبُّوا الَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ فَيَسُبُّوا اللَّهَ عَدْوًا بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ

"And do not curse those they invoke other than Allah, lest they insult Allah in enmity without knowledge." [Qur'an, 6:108] And yet they accused him of cursing their idols. So they go back to Abu Talib and told him, "Your nephew is doing this and that, we cannot bear this anymore. You stop him from preaching or you hand him over to us and we do as we please." And Abu Talib had never been confronted by his people in this manner.

(Realize, every leader is outwardly powerful but inwardly very weak - because every leader is dependent upon the people that follow him for that leadership. Every leader has to appease his own people. Even if you are a tyrant, you have to have a core group of people whom you appease - that you give them everything they want and overlook any crime they'd do. It's only Allah who is truly al-Malik, the King. Every other king is dependent on people around them. They need to have viziers, ministers, army, etc. So when your own people oppose you, you don't have any power.)

And Abu Talib never experienced this. Once again, they could not harm on their own tribesmen unless the chief allows it. This is the law of the Arabs. If they did not obey it, they would face shame and ridicule. So as long as Abu Talib did not hand over the Prophet PBUH, they could not do anything. So they go to Abu Talib and demand one of those two things.

This is when Abu Talib went to the Prophet PBUH and said to him, "O my nephew, my people have come to me and said such and such, so be merciful for yourself and be merciful to me, do not place me on a situation I cannot bear." This is emotional blackmail at its best - this was of the most difficult encounters for the Prophet PBUH. Abu Talib loved the Prophet PBUH so much, more than his own children, and remember Abu Talib is the Prophet's PBUH real blood uncle - and the Prophet PBUH had the same type of love for Abu Talib, like a father. And here Abu Talib is begging and pleading with the Prophet PBUH that, "Have some mercy on me, I am an old man, how much can I bear?" Here is when the Prophet PBUH said, "O my uncle, wallahi, if they were to give me the sun in my right hand, and the moon in my left hand, I cannot give up this message until I succeed in what I am doing or I die a death in this path preaching what I am preaching." In another version which is probably more authentic, he said to his uncle, "Do you see the sun, O my uncle?" "Yes." "Wallahi, I have no more power to stop preaching than you do to light your stick with this sun." What is the symbolism of the phrase here? There's a dual meaning. (1) The Prophet PBUH is saying that the light of Islam is brighter than the sun and moon, 'I cannot extinguish it. If hey were to give me all of this light, I have a light that is brighter than this light, I cannot eclipse it. Nothing can eclipse this light.' (2) The Prophet PBUH is saying that, 'Even if they were to give me something beyond this world (the sun and the moon), I cannot give up what I am doing until I meet my death or I succeed in my message.' When Abu Talib saw this persistence and sincerity, he said, "Do what you will, my nephew. Fa wallahi, I will never come to you again to stop you. You have my protection."

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2. Proposing a (Treacherous) Bargain to Abu Talib

When the people heard that he tried and failed, they went back to Abu Talib, but this time with the whole delegation of the Quraysh. So not just Banu Hashim, but all the tribes. This is the stepping stone - the next step of course is the boycott (which we will talk in episode 18). So for now they say to him, "We have a proposition - we have chosen the most noble young man, the son of al-Walid ibn al-Mughira; and one son for one son: we'll hand over al-Umara ibn al-Walid to you, and he will become yours (your son), and in return you hand over your nephew to us and we do as we please." At this Abu Talib became very angry and said, "What an evil, treacherous bargain! What kind of foolish bargain is this? You want me to take care of one of your own so that I fatten him (with my food) while you take my son and you kill him?"

At this Mut'im ibn Adi stood up and said, "O Abu Talib, I think your people has done as much as they humanly can. You must accept one of their offers." Mut'im ibn Adi is the senior most person in all of Makkah. Recall he was the one that prevented the bloodshed in the Ka'bah by suggesting the solution to the Black Stone (i.e. whoever walks in first). This is the least hostile person that has the most sense. So for him to take sides, this was a big deal. Now it's literally the whole of Makkah against Abu Talib. Mut'im said, "What more do you expect them to do?"

(The Prophet PBUH later on, after the Battle of Badr, said about Mut'im one of the highest praises to a pagan: "If Mut'im ibn Adi were alive right now, and he said to me one word about these 72 prisoners, I would have freed them all for his sake." Notice Mut'im ibn Adi did a lot for Islam even though he wasn't a Muslim. Even though he is taking sides against the dawah of the Prophet PBUH now, this is probably the worst thing he did. Over the next 10 years, we'll see he did a lot of positives for the Muslims. And because of this, the Prophet PBUH praised him. This shows us there are some kafirs that are very good, with genuine hearts. So you don't treat all non-Muslims the same. There are many non-Muslims who stand for human rights etc. We should help and praise them like the Prophet PBUH did about Mut'im ibn Adi.)

So Mut'im ibn Adi told Abu Talib, "Take one of these options and come on, move on. What else do you want us to do?" This was again literally Abu Talib vs the whole of Makkah. So Abu Talib takes on a bravery that is unbelievable. He says to Mut'im ibn Adi directly, "O Mut'im, this is a plot that you have hatched, to stand up at this time and publicly take sides. You had this planned from before." Then he says, "Do as you please, I will not budge from my position." This was genuine bravery - he had no support whatsoever. It's literally his honor and prestige against the whole of Quraysh.

Abu Talib also wrote some poetry; note that Abu Talib was one of the greatest poets of the Quraysh. And his poetry is absolutely phenomenal. In fact, Ibn Hajar and many others say his poetry was more profound and even better than the Mu'allaqat/المعلقات (Seven Hanging Poems) in the Ka'bah. (His poetry is recorded in many books: Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Hisham, Tabaqat of Ibn Sa'd, etc.) And so he composed a series of poems chastising his own relatives. And accusing them of being traitors to their own way of lives, that they are not respecting the sanctity of their own relatives. And Allah willed that the Quraysh backed down even though Abu Talib had literally no power on his side. But it was the sense of dignity and sincerity and the strength of conviction that allowed him to win.

In this one incident, we open up the window to see the wisdom of Abu Talib.

Indeed, the Prophet PBUH did not love anyone more than Abu Talib. And yet Abu Talib did not convert to Islam. When the Prophet PBUH begged and pleaded with him, even on his deathbed when the Prophet PBUH was 50-51 years old [i.e. in later stage of the seerah]:

أي عم: قل لا إله إلا الله كلمة أحاج لك بها عند الله

"O my uncle, I beg you say, 'La ilaha illaLlah,' so that I will be able to argue in front of Allah to save you." And Abu Talib was about to say it because in his heart he knew that the message of the Prophet PBUH is true. He had seen too many signs and miracles, and he knew the Prophet PBUH too well that he couldn't tell a lie. But there was one thing more precious than his nephew, and that was his father - the lineage and prestige, "You are the son of Abdul Muttalib." That prestige of lineage, which was everything for the Arabs, is what prevented Abu Talib. He happened to be the son of the most famous Arabs of the generation, this giant of a figure.

Abu Talib was just about to say the kalimah, but Abu Jahal was standing there and said, "Are you going to leave the religion of your father?" That caused the mouth of Abu Talib to close, and that's when the malak al-mawt/ملك الموت (angel of death) came and took his ruh (soul). He didn't say the kalimah - but the Prophet PBUH was so emotionally moved, he said, "I will ask Allah to forgive you even if I don't have permission." Realize that for a prophet, you cannot do anything without the permission of Allah. Why did Allah SWT do what He did to Yunus AS? Because Yunus AS left his people without permission. Because you are a prophet and you are representing the message and sharia of Allah. So the Prophet PBUH would not do anything unless Allah told him. But here his emotions were so high, the Prophet PBUH continued to ask forgiveness, without permission, for his uncle, until Allah revealed multiple verses in the Quran. One such is:

مَا كَانَ لِلنَّبِيِّ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَن يَسْتَغْفِرُوا لِلْمُشْرِكِينَ وَلَوْ كَانُوا أُولِي قُرْبَىٰ

 "It's not befitting for the prophet and the believers to seek forgiveness for pagans even if they are close relatives." [9:113]

And of them is,

إِنَّكَ لَا تَهْدِي مَنْ أَحْبَبْتَ وَلَٰكِنَّ اللَّهَ يَهْدِي مَن يَشَاءُ

"You are not able to guide those whom you love, but Allah guides those whom He pleases." [28:56]

This is what Sh. Yasir calls 'the Phenomenon of Abu Talib.'

[Note: Abu Talib is still alive at this stage. This is just one of Sh. Yasir's tangent.]

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Wisdoms From the Phenomenon of Abu Talib

This is what Sh. Yasir calls 'the Phenomenon of Abu Talib.' Why? Here is the Messenger of Allah PBUH, and Abu Talib is the most beloved person to him, the one whom he loves like no one else. So much so, many years later when the Muslims conquered Makkah, when Abu Bakr comes to the Prophet PBUH with his own father Abu Quhafa, a pagan and enemy to Islam, being carried by the people to finally accept Islam as an old man of 80 years old, when Abu Quhafa puts his hand on the Prophet's PBUH hand and recites the kalimah, Abu Bakr began to cry and says, "Wallahi, what I would give, even my father's hand, if I could see the hand of Abu Talib in your hand to accept Islam" - i.e. Abu Bakr would even give up his own father's Islam because he wanted the Islam of Abu Talib - showing he knew how much the Prophet PBUH loved Abu Talib. Yet Allah did not allow him to die in Islam.

Why? What is the wisdom?

1) We see the wisdom because the one person who could have protected him HAD to remain a pagan. IF he converted, immediately he would have lose the leadership, the status and the protection he could have offered. So Allah knows best. Allah knows better even than Rasulullah PBUH. The Prophet PBUH needed Abu Talib - and his one claim to power and fame was that he was the son of Abdul Muttalib, so nobody could oppose him. And because of that power that the Prophet PBUH could preach as he preached. It was only after the death of Abu Talib, when Abu Lahab took charge, that the Prophet PBUH had to leave Makkah.

2) And also the wisdom here is that nobody can dictate to Allah. Not even the Prophet PBUH. As Allah says in the Qur'an, "You are not able to guide those whom you love, but Allah guides those whom He pleases." [28:56] This is a clear indication that the Prophet PBUH is just a human - he is not a god, not a demigod, not the son of a god, he does not control the lives of anyone, including his own uncle. Even in his first khutbah, the Prophet PBUH told his own daughter that he won't be able to protect her from the Fire of Hell.

(There are many Muslim groups out there that have taken the love of Rasulullah PBUH to an extreme level and make the Prophet PBUH out to be literally a god or a demigod. But we can see that even in his own lifetime he couldn't protect his own uncle, because Allah had a higher wisdom than him.)

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Different Statuses of the Four Direct Uncles of the Prophet PBUH

Notice as well, we see the four uncles of the Prophet PBUH, all of them children of Abdul Muttalib, each of them occupies such a different level. All of them direct uncles - showing how lineage means nothing in Islam - it is your own actions [that matter]. Two Muslims, two non-Muslims :

1. The highest of them is Hamzah (حمزة) - the Sayyid al-Shuhada/سید الشهداء (Leader of the Martyrs).

2. Abbas (العباس) - the father of Abdullah ibn Abbas - a great Muslim who converted later on, but he cannot be compared to Hamzah or the Ten Elite.

3. Abu Talib (أبو طالب) - the highest person ever amongst the non-Muslims in the history of our religion. No non-Muslim occupies a rank higher than him. And in a hadith in Sahih Muslim, al-Abbas asked the Prophet PBUH, "O Messenger of Allah, your uncle benefited you so much. Weren't you able to benefit him back?" And the Prophet PBUH said, "Yes, I did. Because of my du'a for him that Abu Talib has been removed to one of the outlying perimeters of the Fire of Hell. Were it not for my du'a, he would be in the pits and the depth of the Fire of Hell." In another version, we read that Abu Talib has the least punishment out of all of the people of Jahannam. No one in Jahannam is being punished lesser than Abu Talib. But he did not get to Jannah because he is an idol worshiper.

4. Abu Lahab (أبو لهب) - for whom Allah revealed a surah that we recite in the Qur'an, that curses him till the Day of Judgement. The only enemy of Islam at the time who is cursed by name in the Qur'an. There are many indirect references without name, but the only one referenced by name is the uncle of the Prophet PBUH, Abu Lahab. We recite the surah until the Day of Judgement invoking the curse of Allah upon him for what he had done.

These are four brothers, and every one of them occupy such a different level, even though they are all sons of the same father, and they are all uncles of the greatest human being who ever walked the face of this earth. This shows that your fathers and children will not help you on the Day of Judgement. [Rather] it is what each and every one of us have done in this world. This is the basic message the Prophet PBUH said in his first khutbah, "Nobody can help you against the punishment of Allah - you must save yourself. (Therefore live righteous lives.)"

013 - Opposition from the Quraysh