Summary:
Seerah: Between Hunain and Tabuk
The Prophet* dispatched a number of smaller armies to consolidate the surrounding tribes and areas, and to demolish the last remnants of idolatry
If the Prophet* leads the army it is known as a Ghazwah, and a Sirayah if lead by the Sahabae
One tribe was fought as they refused to pay the Jizyah
This tribe then had a poetry and speech contest with the Muslims in the mosque precinct
Adi bin Hatim’s sister was captured and released by the Prophet*, who knew more about his religion than Adi
The Prophet* prophesised the conquering of Persia, the immense wealth of the early Muslims and the security provided to the Ummah by the early Khulafah (Caliphs)
Main Topic: Naveed's Belief Pathway
Answering the 3 fundamental questions makes us think and ponder - which if done sincerely leads us to realise that the Creator exists and He created us. Then we look for our purpose in life to define our relationship with the Creator and come across Islam - after realising that the Creator would send us messages on how to live and where to get these answers from. We then study and realise that the Qur'an is the Word of Allah and tells us how to live our life - forming the Actions we do based on the fact that only Allah has the right to make laws for us. These laws are authentically preserved in Islam and by following them, every action being linked to Allah's Word with the right intention, we will please Allah and seek the afterlife which answers the 3 fundamental questions!
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Seerah of Muhammed*
*: May the peace blessings and Mercy of Allah be upon him
TMQ: Translation to the nearest meaning of the Qur’an
Events Between Hunain & Tabuk: Missions and Platoons After The Conquest
Upon returning from this long successful travel, the Prophet* stayed in Medina where he received delegates and dispatched agents and appointed preachers and callers to Islam everywhere. Those whose hearts were still full of prejudice against Islam and therefore were too proud to embrace Allah’s religion, were decisively muffled on their non-acquiescence in the status quo prevalent then in Arabia. Here is a mini-image about the believed ones. We have already stated that the Messenger’s arrival in Medina was by the last days of the eighth year of Al-Hijra. No sooner the crescent of Muharram of the ninth year turned up than the Prophet* dispatched the believed ones, to the tribes as shown in the list below:
1. ‘Uyaina bin Hisn to Bani Tamim.
2. Yazeed bin Husain to Aslam and Ghifar.
3. ‘Abbad bin Bishr Al-Ashhali to Sulaim and Muzainah.
4. Rafi‘ bin Mukaith to Juhainah.
5. ‘Amr bin Al-‘As to Bani Fazarah.
6. Ad-Dahhak bin Sufyan to Bani Kilab.
7. Basheer bin Sufyan to Bani Ka‘b.
8. Ibn Al-Lutabiyah Al-Azdi to Bani Dhubyan.
9. Al-Muhajir bin Abi Omaiyah to Sana‘a’ (Al-Aswad Al-‘Ansi called at him when he was in it).
10. Ziyad bin Labid to Hadramout.
11. ‘Adi bin Hatim to Tai’ and Bani Asad.
12. Malik bin Nuwairah to Bani Hanzalah.
13. Az-Zabraqan bin Badr to Bani Sa‘d (a portion of them).
14. Qais bin ‘Asim to Bani Sa‘d (a portion of them).
15. Al-‘Ala’ bin Al-Hadrami to Al-Bahrain.
16. ‘Ali bin Abi Talib to Najran (to collect Sadaqa & Jizya).
Some of these agents were despatched in Muharram, 7 A.H., others were sent later until the tribes they were heading for had completely converted into Islam. Such a move clearly demonstrates the great success that the Islamic Da‘wah (Call) enjoyed after Al-Hudaibiyah Treaty. However, shortly after the conquest of Mecca, people began to embrace Islam in large hosts.
The Platoons:
In the same way that the believed ones were dispatched to the tribes, we understand that dispatching some more platoons to all regions of Arabia is a necessity for the prevalence and domination of security on all lands of Arabia. Here is a list of those platoons:
1. ‘Uyaina bin Hisn Al-Fazari’s platoon in Al-Muharram, the ninth year of Al-Hijra to Bani Tamim. It consisted of fifty horsemen, none of them was an Emigrant or a Helper. This expedition was dispatched due to the fact that Bani Tamim had already urged other tribes not to pay tribute (Al-Jizya) and eventually stopped them from paying it. Therefore, ‘Uyaina bin Hisn set out to fight them. All the way long he marched by night and lurked by day. He went on that way till he overtook them and attacked them in the desert. They fled back for their lives. Eleven men, twenty-one women and thirty boys were captured then. He drove them back to Medina and were housed in Ramlah bint Al-Harith’s residence. Ten of their leaders, who came to the Prophet’s door, called out unto him saying: “O Muhammad come out and face us.” When he went out they held him and started talking. He exchanged talk with them for a while then left them and went to perform the noon prayer.
After prayer he sat in the mosque-patio. They proclaimed a desire to show boasting and self-pride. For this purpose they introduced their orator ‘Utarid bin Hajib who delivered his speech. The Prophet* asked Thabit bin Qais bin Shammas — the Muslim orator — to respond. He did that. In return, they brought forth their poet Az- Zabraqan bin Badr who recited some boastful poetry. Hassan bin Thabit, the poet of Islam, promptly replied back. When talks and poet came to an end, Al-Aqra‘ bin Habis said: “Their orator is more eloquent than ours, and their poet is more poetically learned than ours. Their voices and sayings excel ours, as well.” Eventually they announced their embracing Islam. Consequently, the Prophet* acknowledged their Islamisation, awarded them well, and rendered them back their women and children.
2. A platoon headed by Qutbah bin ‘Amir to a spot called Khath‘am in Tabalah, a plot of land not far from Turbah. That was in Safar, 9 A.H. Accompanied by twenty men and only ten camels to mount alternatively on, Qutbah raided them and fought so fiercely that a great number of both parties were wounded and some others were killed. The Muslims drove back with them camels, women and sheep to Medina.
3. The mission of Dahhak bin Sufyan Al-Kilabi to Bani Kilab in Rabi‘ Al-Awwal in the year 9 A.H. This mission was sent to Bani Kilab to call them to embrace Islam. Refusing to embrace Islam, they started to fight against the Muslims, but were defeated and sustained one man killed.
4. The three hundred men expedition of ‘Alqamah bin Mujazziz Al-Mudlaji to Jeddah shores in Rabi‘ Al-Akhir. This expedition was dispatched to fight against some men from (Al-Habasha) Abyssinia (Ethiopia), who gathered together near the shores of Jeddah and exercised acts of piracy against the Meccans. Therefore he crossed the sea till he got to an island. But as soon as the pirates had learned of Muslims’ arrival, they fled.
5. The task of the platoon of ‘Ali bin Abi Talib was to demolish Al-Qullus, which was an idol that belonged to Tai’ tribe. That was in Rabi‘ Al-Awwal in the year 9 A.H. ‘Ali was dispatched by the Prophet* with o ne hundred fifty men. A hundred of them were on camels. The other fifty were on horseback. He held a black flag and a white banner. • At dawn they raided Mahallat Hatim, demolished the idol and filled their hands with spoils, camels and sheep booties, whereas ‘Adi fled to Ash-Sham. The sister of ‘Adi bin Hatim was one of the captives. Inside Al-Qullus safe, Muslims found three swords and three armours. On the way they distributed the spoils and put aside the best things to the Prophet*. They did not share the Hatims.
Upon arrival in Medina, the sister of ‘Adi bin Hatim begged the Prophet* to have mercy on her and said: “O Messenger of Allah, my brother is absent and father is dead, and I am too old to render any service. Be beneficent to me so that Allah may be bountiful to you.” He said: “Who is your brother?” She said: “It is ‘Adi bin Hatim.” “Is he not the one who fled from Allah and his Messenger?” Said the Prophet* then went away from her. Next day she reiterated the same thing as the day before and received the same answer. A day later she uttered similar words, this time he made benefaction to her. The man who was beside the Prophet, and whom she thought to be ‘Ali, said to her: “Ask for an animal from him to ride on.” And she was granted her request.
She returned to Ash-Sham where she met her brother and said to him: “The Messenger of Allah* has done me such noble deed that your father would never have done it. Therefore, willy-nilly, frightened or secure, you should go and see him.” Unsecure neither protected by someone, not even recommended by a letter as a means of protection, ‘Adi came and met the Prophet. The Prophet* took him home with him. As soon as he sat before him, the Prophet* thanked Allah and praised him, then said: “What makes you flee? Do you flee lest you should say there is no god but Allah? Do you know any other god but Allah?” “No” he said, then talked for a while. The Prophet went on saying: “Certainly you flee so that you may not hear the statement saying ‘Allah is the Greatest.’ Do you know anyone who is greater than Allah?” “No” he said. “The Jews are those whose portion is wrath, and the Christians are those who have gone astray,” the Prophet retorted. “I am a Muslim and I believe in one God (Allah).” ‘Adi finally proclaimed with a joyous face. The Prophet ordered him a residence with one of the Helpers. From that time he started calling at the Prophet* in the mornings and in the evenings.
On the authority of Ibn Ishaq, when the Prophet* made him sit down in front of him in his house, the Prophet said, “O ‘Adi, were you not cast in disbelief?” “Yes”. ‘Adi said. “Did you not share one quarter of your people’s gains?” “Yes”. Said ‘Adi. The Prophet* said: “It is sinful in your religion to do such a thing, and you should not allow yourself to do it.” “Yes, by Allah, that is true”, said ‘Adi. “Thus I worked out that he was a Prophet inspired by Allah, and sent to people. He knows what is unknown.”
In another version, the Prophet* said: “‘Adi, embrace Islam and you shall be secure.” “But I am a man of religion.” Said ‘Adi. “I know your religion better than you.” Said the Prophet. “Do you know my religion better than me?” ‘Adi asked. The Prophet replied, “Yes”. He said: “Are you not cast in disbelief because you appropriate to yourself the fourth of your people’s gains?” “Yes”. Said ‘Adi. “It is unlawful in your religion to do such a thing.” The Prophet said, and ‘‘Adi added: “He did not need to say it again for I immediately acquiesced it.”
Al-Bukhari narrates that ‘Adi said: While we were with the Prophet*, a man came in and complained to him about poverty. Then another man came in and complained about highway robbery. The Prophet* then said: “O ‘Adi, have you ever been to Al-Hirah? If you were doomed to live long life, you would be able to see a riding camel woman travel from Hirah till it circumambulates Al-Ka‘bah fearing none but Allah; and if you were to live long enough you would open the treasures of Kisra. And if you were to live long you would be able to see man offering a handful of gold or silver to others but none accepts to take it.” At the end of this Hadith ‘Adi later on says: “I have seen a riding camel woman travel from Al-Hirah till it circumambulates the Ka‘bah fearing none but Allah, I have also been one of those who opened the treasures of Kisra bin Hurmuz. If you were to live long life you would witness what the Prophet, Abul Qasim,* had already said about ‘offering a handful of …’ i.e. the Prophet’s prophecies did really come true.”
Main Topic: Naveed's Belief Pathway
The Belief Pathway demonstrates how all the fundamental questions and issues that we've been discussing after the Seerah section tie together with how we should live our life and where we get these answers from.
Briefly, we started off by talking about the three fundamental questions that every human being thinks about (why am I here, where did I come from, where am I going). By answering these fundamental questions human beings will set out their plan for life and how they want to live their life. These answers don't come automatically but every individual needs to go through a certain process. Some people are told what to believe and do and they leave it there. If people are sincere in trying to answer these questions for themselves they will necessarily stop to think and ponder about themselves and their reality. The way the body interacts with the reality is through the senses and this is the surface of our reality. By thinking and pondering people will necessarily come to the conclusion that they could not come into existence by themselves and needed to be created and that is the next step in the realisation of a Creator.
This rational conclusion would then lead them on to trying to find out their relationship with the Creator (as in the three fundamental relationships for every human being = his relationship with himself, his relationship with others, and his relationship with the Creator). Every sincere individual would then earnestly search for the purpose of life and exhaust themselves in trying to find this. Hence they would search out everybody or everything that claims to hold the truth. It is only right that the Creator tells us how to live by communicating with us - through Messengers & Prophets. Even a superficial analysis of many these answers would allow any individual to discredit them and the answers provided by Islam and its holy book (the Qur'an) would be self evidently correct - or at least worth further study (not a superficial analysis as was undertaken by the recent Channel 4 programme!).
Detailed analysis of the Qur'an would demonstrate that this is indeed a miracle and the inimitable Word of God. We defined a miracle as something which is impossible happening as opposed to a rare event.
Having established that the Qur'an is direct from Allah we now have to accept everything that is in there and follow whatever it tells us to do because this is direct communication from our Creator. Hence we find that Allah defines what we should believe in (Aqeeda) and how we should live our life through our actions. This is non-negotiable! These latter sections of belief will be tackled in the coming study circles (InshaAllah).
The second strand of what we have been doing in the study Circle is looking at these actions in greater detail. These actions which form the basis of our law are derived from Allah through establishing the authenticity of the Qur'an and the Hadith - the system of preservation through the oral tradition. Hence, we have agreed that sovereignty (the right to make the laws) belongs only to Allah and we get these from the Qur'an, Sunnah (Hadith), Ijma-as-Sahabah (Consensus of Companions) and Qiyas (Divine Analogy).
These are the only sources of law for us to learn how to live our life and we have been trying to dissect some of the terminology involved in this process. Other important aspects of our actions are the fact that every action we do needs to be based on what we are told to do by Allah - which means every action needs an evidence from Islam (Qur'an & Sunnah) and needs to be done for the right intention (Niyah). If we do this we will be pleasing our Creator which is the reason we live our life - with the desire to get to a pleasant afterlife (rather than the unpleasant place!). Hence the Belief Pathway brings us back to where we started in trying to answer the three fundamental questions - we now have the answer! This process can also be used to talk to or to discuss with other Muslims and non-Muslims about our belief and why we do what we do. In fact, it should be one major way in which we try and do Dawah to the non-Muslims -- all though not exclusively the only way.
As stated, InshaAllah our fight to go through the remaining parts of the pathway over the coming weeks.
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Homework:
- Seerah ~ Why did the Prophet* announce publically who he was going to attack when preparing for the Battle of Tabuk. Normally he* would keep it a secret – come up with some reasons why he* may have done this…
[For the older kids to ponder:]
- Belief ~ Whilst talking about ‘thinking’ and realising the Creator’s existence we talked about the mythical child brought up by wolves or in a jungle – why is this child incapable of proper thought??
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