25 September 2011
Seerah of Muhammed**: May the Peace, Blessings & Mercy of Allah be upon him
TMQ: Translation to the nearest meaning of the Qur’an
Seerah: Banu Quraizah (part 2)
Abu Lubabah
For twenty-five nights they were besieged, and then they sent to the Prophet* to ask him to let them consult Abu Lubabah, Like the Bani Nadir, they had long been allies of Aws, and Abu Lubabah had been one of their chief links with his tribe. The Prophet* bade him go to them, and he was beset on his arrival by weeping women and children so that much of his sternness against the treacherous enemy was softened; and when the men asked him if they should submit to Muhammad he said "Yea", but at the same time he pointed to his throat as much as to warn them that in his opinion submission meant slaughter. The gesture was in contradiction with his assent, and might have prolonged the siege still further; and no sooner had he made it than an overwhelming sense of guilt added itself to the guilt which he already felt in the depth of his soul on account of the palm-tree which he had refused to give to his orphan ward at the Prophet*'s request/ "My two feet had not moved from where they were," he said, "before I was aware that I had betrayed the Messenger for God." His face changed colour and he recited the verse: Verily we are for God, and verily unto Him are we returning. "What’s the matter with you?" said Ka'b. "I have betrayed God and His Messenger," said Abu Lubabah, and as he went down from the upper room he put his hand to his beard, and it was wet with his tears. He could not bring himself to go out the way he had entered and to face his fellow Awsites and others who, as he knew, were waiting eagerly to hear his news and to escort him to the Prophet*. So he passed through a gate at the back of the fortress and was soon on his way to the city. He went straight to the Mosque, and bound himself to one of the pillars, saying: "I will not stir from this place until God relent unto me for what I did."
The Prophet* was waiting for his return, and when he finally heard what had happened he, said: "If he had come to me I would have prayed God to forgive him; but seeing that he hath done what he hath done, it is not for me to free him until God shall relent unto him."! He remained at the pillar for some ten or fifteen days. Before every prayer, or whenever it was necessary, his wife would come to untie his bonds; then after he had prayed he would bid her bind him once more.
It was at the dawn of one of the days which followed the death of Sa’d bin Mu’ath, when the Prophet* was in the apartment of Umm Salamah, that he announced to her: "Abu Lubabah is forgiven." "May I not give him the good tidings?" she said. "If thou wilt," he answered, so she stood at the door of her apartment which opened into the Mosque, not far from the pillar to which he had bound himself, and called out: "O Abu Lubabah, be of good cheer, for God hath relented unto thee." The men who were in the Mosque surged upon him to set him free, but he stopped them saying: "Not until the Messenger of God set me free with his own hands." So the Prophet* passed by him on his way to the prayer and loosed his bonds. And this was done shortly before the morning prayer.
After the prayer Abu Lubabah came to the Prophet* and said that he wished to make an offering in expiation of what he had done, and the Prophet* accepted from him a third of his property, for the Revelation which had set him free had said: Take alms of their wealth to purify them,' the reference being not only to Abu Lubabah but also to other good men at fault who freely admitted that they were wrong.
Sa'd bin Muath makes his judgement to please Allah
The next day, despite Abu Lubabah's warning, the Bani Quraizah opened the gates of their fortresses and submitted to the Prophet*'s Judgement. The men were led out with their hands bound behind their backs and a space was allotted them on one side of the camp. On another side the women and children were assembled, and the Prophet* put them in the charge of 'Abd Allah ibn Sallam, the former chief rabbi of the Bani Qaynuqa', The arms and armour, the garments and the household goods were collected from each fortress and all gathered together in one place. The jars of wine and fermented date juice were opened and their contents poured away.
The clans of Aws sent a deputation to the Prophet* asking him to show their former allies the same leniency that he had shown the Bani Qaynuqa' who had been the allies of Khazraj. He answered them saying: "Will it satisfy you, men of Aws, if one of yourselves pronounce judgement upon them?" And they agreed. So he sent to Medina for their chief, Sa'd ibn Mu'adh, whose wound had not healed and who was being cared for in a tent in the Mosque. The Prophet* had placed him there so that he might visit him the more often, and Rufaydah, a woman of Aslam, was tending his wound. Some of his clansmen went to him, and mounting him on an ass they brought him to the camp. "Do well by thy confederates (Coalition)," they said to him on the way, "for the Messenger of God hath set thee in judgement upon them for no other purpose than that thou mayst treat them with indulgence." But Sa'd was a man of justice; like Umer he had been against sparing the prisoners at Badr, and their opinion had been confirmed by the Revelation. Many men of Quraysh who had been ransomed on that occasion had come out against them at Uhud and again at the trench; and in this last campaign the strength of the invaders had been largely due to the hostile activities of the exiled Jews of Bani Nadir, If these had been put to death instead of being allowed to go into exile, the invading army might have been halved, and Bani Quraizah would no doubt have remained faithful to their pact with the Prophet*. The arguments offered by past experience were not in favour of leniency, to say the least. Moreover, Sa'd had himself been one of the envoys to Quraizah at the moment of crisis and had seen the ugliness of their treachery when they had thought that the defeat of the Muslims was certain. It was true that if he gave a severe judgement most of the men and women of Aws would blame him, but that consideration would not have weighed much with Sa'd at any time and now it weighed not at all, for he was convinced that he was dying. He cut short the pleas of his clansmen with the words: "The time hath come for Sa'd, in the cause of God, to give no heed unto the blame of the blamer."
Sa'd was a man of mighty stature, of handsome and majestic appearance, and when he came to the camp the Prophet* said "Rise in honour of your Master," and they rose to greet him saying: "Father of 'Amr, the Messenger of God hath appointed thee to judge the case of thy confederates." He said: "Do ye then swear by God and make by Him your covenant that my judgement shall be the verdict upon them?" "We do," they answered. "And is it binding upon him who is here?" he added, with a glance in the direction of the Prophet*, but not mentioning him out of reverence. "It is," said the Prophet*. "Then I judge," said Sa'd, "that the men shall be slain, the property divided, and the women and children made captive. "I The Prophet* said to him: "Thou hast judged with the judgement of God from above the seven heavens."
The women and children were taken away to the city where they were lodged, and the men spent the night in the camp where they recited the Torah and exhorted one another to firmness and patience. In the morning the Prophet* ordered trenches, long and deep and narrow, to be dug in the market-place. The men, about seven hundred in all -according to some accounts more and to others less -were sent for in small groups, and every group was made to sit alongside the trench that was to be his grave. Then 'Ali and Zubayr and others of the younger Companions cut off their heads, each with a stroke of the sword.
When Huyay was led into the market he turned to the Prophet*, who was sitting apart with some of his older Companions, and said to him: "I blame not myself for having opposed thee, but whoso forsakes God, the same shall be forsaken." Then he turned to his fellows and said: "The command of God cannot be wrong -a writ and a decree and a massacre which God hath set down in his book against the sons of Israel." Then he sat beside the trench and his head was cut off.
The last to die were beheaded by torchlight. Then one old man, Zabir ibn Billi, whose case was not yet decided, was taken to the house where the women were lodged. The next morning, when they were told of the death of their men, the city was filled with the sound of their lamentations. But the aged Zabir quieted them, saying: "Be silent! Are ye the first women of the children of Israel to be made captive since the world began? Had there been any good in your men they would have saved you from this. But cleave ye to the religion of the Jews, for in that must we die, and in that must we live hereafter."
Zabir had always been an enemy to Islam and had done much to stir up opposition to the Prophet*. But in the civil wars of Yathrib he had spared the life of a man of Khazraj, Thabit ibn Qays, who wished to repay him for this, and who had gone to the Prophet* to ask him to let Zabir live. "He is thine," said the Prophet*; but when Zabir was told of his reprieve he said to Thabit: "An old man, without wife and without children, what will he do with life?" So Thabit went again to the Prophet*, who gave him Zabir's wife and children. But Zabir said: "A household in the Hijaz without property, how can they survive?" Again Thabit went to the Prophet*, who gave him all Zabir's possessions except his arms and armour. But thoughts of the death of all his fellow tribesmen now overwhelmed Zabir and he said: "By God I ask thee, Thabit, by the claim I have on thee, that thou shouldst join me with my people, for now that they are gone, there is no good in life." At first Thabit refused, but when he saw that he was serious he took him to the place of execution and Zubayr was told to behead him. His wife and children were set free and their property was returned to them, under Thabit's guardianship. When Abu Bakr heard about this, the normally mild companion mentioned that Zabir will meet his friends and relations in the Hellfire!
The Prophet offers to marry Rehana, a Jewish captive
As to the other women and children, they were divided, together with the property, amongst the men who had taken part in the siege. Many of these captives were ransomed by the Bani Nadir at Khaybar, As part of his share the Prophet* had chosen Rehana, the daughter of Zayd, a Nadirite, who had married her to a man of Quraizah, She was a woman of great beauty and she remained the Prophet*'s slave until she died some five years later. At first he put her in the care of his aunt Salma, in whose house Rifa'ah had already taken refuge. Rehana herself was averse to entering Islam, but Rifa'ah, and his kinsmen of the Bani Hadl spoke to her about the new religion and it was not long before one of the three young converts, Tha'labah by name, came to the Prophet* and told him that Rehana had entered Islam, whereupon he greatly rejoiced. When it became clear that she was not pregnant, he went to her and offered to set her free and to make her his wife. But she said: "O Messenger of God, leave me in thy power; that will be easier for me and for thee." Thus she chose to remain a slave to the Prophet* although she was given the option to be free and marry the Prophet*. For himself, the Prophet* selected Rehana bint ‘Amr bin Khanaqah, manumitted and married her in the year 6 Hijri. She died shortly after the farewell pilgrimage and was buried in Al- Baqi‘.
This Ghazwah took place in the month of Dhul Qa‘dah in the year five Hijri, and the siege of Banu Quraizah’s forts lasted for 25 days. The Chapter of Confederates was revealed containing Allah’s Words concerning the basic issues relating to the believers and hypocrites during the battle of the Confederates, and the consequences of the treachery and breaching of covenants by the Jews.
Only one woman of the Jews was killed because she had killed a Muslim warrior by flinging a grinding stone upon him. A few elements of the enemy embraced Islam and their lives, wealth and children were spared. As for the spoils of the war, the Prophet* (Peace be upon him) divided them, after putting a fifth aside, in accordance with Allah’s injunctions. Three shares went to the horseman and one to the infantry fighter. Women captives were sent to Najd to be bartered with horses and weaponry.
In the process of the seize laid to Banu Quraiza, one man of the Muslims, Khallad bin Suwaid was killed when a women of the Jews dropped the grinding stone on him, and another, Abu Sinan bin Mihsan, the brother of ‘Ukasha, died.
Hadith : No time for Hadith section today
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Taqdeer (al-Qadha wal-Qadr) - a talk about Taqdeer and a story about a little boy who dies lead to a discussion on Divine fate & Destiny...
Al Qadha Wal-Qadr is different to Al-Qadaria al-Ghaibiya (fatalism) [part]
During the time of Rasool Allah* and the Sahabah, the meaning of Qadr was well understood without any ambiguity and what it meant was very clear. There was no debate. inquiries, or differences in this issue, except the discussion between Abu Ubaidah and Umar, when Umar decided not to proceed in his trip to as-sham, once the news came telling that there was a plague spreading there and decided to go back to Medina, telling the people '' I'm returning back, thus you should return as well''. In this incident Abu Ubaidah did not attend Umar's consultation with the people and the result of the consultation.
However, when Abu Ubaidah heard of Umar's orders. he came to Umar telling him ''O Umar, are you running away from Allah's Qadr.'' By this he was objecting Umar's decision to return back to Medina. Umar was amazed by this objection raised by Abu Ubaidah and Umar said to him, ''O Abu Ubaidah. I wish someone other than you would have said this. Yes. I am running away from Allah's Qadr to Allah's Qadr ''. He explained this by saying, if you see a man coming to a place where there are two areas, one area is lush and the other barren. Don't you see that if he takes his cattle to the lush area, he is doing so according the Allah's Qadr and if he take his cattle to the barren area, he is also taking it by Allah's Qadr.
This is the only report which talked about the difference in understanding Al-Qadr, amongst the Sahabah. Otherwise, Muslims in general understood Al-Qadr the way it is in the Qur'an and the Sunnah. This understanding is that everything is written in the preserved tablet (al-Lowh al-Mahfooz), from the very beginning (before creation) and there is no relationship for this in the man's actions or in the obligations Allah orders us to carry. This situation continued all the way till the second half of the second century Hijri or till the middle of the Abbasid era. Due to the translation of the Greek, Persian and Hindu philosophies, some misconceptions accumulated in the minds of some people and the question of al-Qadha wal-Qadr emerged and over shadowed the concept of Al-Qadr. After that, the issue of al-Qadaria al-Ghaibiya (fatalism) became widespread among the people. It influenced them and shaped their behavior. It was one of the declining factors for the Muslim Ummah and when the decline became more obvious (during our time).
The Qadr as the word is what Allah knows and wrote in preserved tablet (al-Lowh al-Mahfooz) at the very beginning (of creation). However, al-Qadha wal-Qadr means the question of having the actions occur against man's will. This includes the characteristics of objects, which also occur against man's will. Thus, the real meaning of both are different. Although, the meaning which may come to the mind of the people once they hear both terms may be the same, which is the ability of man to stand and face what was written.
The basis of the discussion in al-Qadha wa al-Qadar is not the action of man in terms of whether he created the action or Allah created it. Neither is it the will of Allah (SWT) in the sense that His will is conditional on the action of man so it must exist by this will. Neither is it the Knowledge of Allah in terms of Him knowing that man will do such and such action and that His Knowledge encompass that, nor that this action of man is written in the al-Lawh al-Mahfuz so he must act according to what has been written.
The basis of the discussion is definitely none of these things, because they have no relationship to the subject from the viewpoint of reward and punishment. The topic of discussion on whose basis the question of al-Qadha wa al-Qadar is built is the issue of reward and punishment for an action i.e.: Is man obliged to perform an action, good or evil, or does he have a choice? And, does man have the choice to perform his action, or does he have no choice?
When we say the basis is reward and punishment, we mean this from the perspective of the origin of accountability i.e. free will. This is because without free will reward and punishment would be meaningless.
The person who scrutinises the actions of people sees that we live within two spheres:
1) one which we dominate, seen as the sphere that is present within the region of our conduct, and within which our actions happen absolutely by our choice;
2) the other sphere dominates us, we exist within its domain, and the that which occurs upon us within it happen without our choice, whether they originate from us or fall upon us.
The actions that fall within the sphere that dominates us, we have no choice in them or in their existence. They can be divided into two kinds: The first are those required by the law of the universe. The second are those actions which are not directly necessitated by the laws of the universe. We are not accounted for anything that occurs within this sphere and it is classified as fate (Qadha) from Allah (swt).
News: Falling satellites
A short discussion about the limits of man and his inventions, versus the Power of Allah the Creator. A brief mention of the previous topic of Qadr (see above) and linking it to the Autumn leaves and people falling of construction sites!
