Seerah notes from Adil Salahi's Book

Bismillah In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Loving

For the Seerah book club (March 2020), I have chosen Brother Adil Salahi’s Muhammad: Man and Prophet. I hope to jot down some important points as I read through the book insha Allah. I would strongly suggest to buy this excellent seerah book. If you are interested in Sociology and History, this book will be a joy to read and reflect on in sha Allah. 

Amazon UK

The intention behind reading the book:

Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala has sent our beloved Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihe wa sallam as a great example to follow if we truly aim to please Allah swt.

When we study his character and his life in details, the Prophet Muhammad saw appears to us as noble, dedicated, human leader who takes good care of his followers. But he is, above all, a model believer to whom we should always turn in order to determine what course to follow and what action to take. He is the walking talking Qur’an as our beloved mother of the believers, lady Ayesha RadiaAllahu Anha mentions. Through living his life according to the Qur’an, he has successfully shown us how we should live on this earth. Only by following his blessed footstep, we can truly achieve success in sha Allah.
I have bought the book from Amazon, link is here where you can also read some sample pages in sha Allah. I have also shared a video where the writer discusses some topics regarding seerah. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala knows best.
Our goal when we read the seerah of our beloved Rasulullah saw is to learn how to be a firm beleiver in sha Allah. 

We should always remember his last reminder to us:

I have left with you what should provide you with sound guidance and immunity from error if you would only adhere to them: Allah’s Book and my example.

A glance back in history

Prophet Ibrahim Alaihes salam was blessed with Ismael through lady Hagar. She was given as a gift to Lady Sarah, prophet Ibrahim’s first wife. As she was childless for a long time, she presented lady Hagar to her husband (AS) saying: “I am now an old woman, well beyond the age of childbearing. I am giving you my bondwoman, Hagar, and hope that Allah may give you a child through her.”

Allah swt ordered Ibrahim AS to leave Hagar and baby Ismael in a barren valley in Makkah.  When Lady Hagar was told to stay there with her baby, she asked Ibrahim AS the reason behind this action. When he said that it was a divine order, she said bravely, "He who has ordered you to do that will not abandon us.” This shows her strong faith in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. 

After leaving his precious family in a barren land, he AS made a heartfelt prayer: 
“Our Lord, I have settled some of my offspring in a valley where there is no vegetation, close to Your sanctified House, so that, our Lord, they might devote themselves to prayer. Cause You, therefore, people’s hearts to incline towards them and provide them with all sorts of fruit, so that they may have cause to be grateful.” (14:37) With the feeling that Allah swt would not abandon his precious family, Ibrahim AS continued his journey home with a new sense of relief.

Lady Hagar devoted herself to her young child, reassured that Allah swt have a purpose for their arrival in that lifeless desert. But as the days passed her food supply was dwindling and she desperately tried to find water running between the two hills, Safa and Marwa. While on her 7th attempt she heard a voice. Then she saw water gushing forth near her baby Ismail’s feet. With Allah swt’s blessings, she and her baby was gifted with water of Zamzam. The water attracted the birds and that’s how an Arabian tribe, Jurhum, came to meet lady Hajar and Ismail. They settled their with lady Hagar’s permission. Ismail AS grew up with them, learning their language and culture. When he was a young man, he married a Jurhum girl who gave him a number of sons and daughters.

Ismael was in effect one of the Jurhum. He and his children lived in that valley and many generations later our beloved, Muhammad saw, Allah swt’s Messenger and a direct descendant of Ishmael, was born in that very place.

Prophet's dreams are true. Prophet Ibrahim AS saw a dream that he was commanded to sacrifice his son, Ismael, for Allah’s sake. He told his son who was in his teens. Since he was brought up by a mother with firm faith and a father who was a Prophet, faith had been instilled in him ever since he was very young. He said, “Father, do as you are bid. You will find me , God willing, patient and able to face death with fortitude.”(37:102)

Both father and son went out of the city to Mina. Shaitan tried to stop Ibrahim AS from sacrificing his son. Ibrahim AS’s submission to Allah swt’s will, however, showed no sign of weakness whatsoever. He then stoned Satan in three different spots. His action is commemorated by pilgrims when they stone the Jamarah during their pilgrimage. At the moment when Ibrahim AS was about to cut his son’s throat in complete submission to the Divine will, he was told by an angel that Allah swt had accepted his offering and he was told to sacrifice a fully grown sheep instead of Ismail AS.

On another visit, Ibrahim AS was ordered to bulid the House of Allah swt, the Kaba with his son, Ismail AS.  When Ibrahim AS and Ismail AS were raising the foundation of the House, they prayed: “Our Lord, accept You this from us, for You are indeed the One Who hears all and knows all. Our Lord, make us submit ourselves to You and make out of our offspring a community which will submit itself to You and show us our ways of worship and accept our repentance . You are indeed the One Who accepts repentance, the Merciful. Our Lord, raise up in the midst of our offspring a messenger from themselves, who shall convey to them Your revelations and instruct them in the Book and in the wisdom and cause them to grow in purity. You alone are the Almighty, the truly Wise.” (2:127-129)

Our beloved prophet Muahammad saw is the answer to this noble dua. Allah swt taught Ibrahim AS all the rituals of hajj and people started coming to Ka’ba to perform their hajj. The city of Makkah became a sacred city ( Al Haram) where fighting was not allowed. It was also forbidden to hunt and cut the trees.

Naturally, the custody of the Ka’bah belonged to at first to Ismael and his children. It continued in their hand until it was later taken over by the Jurhum tribe. After a long time, due to their gradual corruption, the Khuza’ah tribe took hold of the custody. When Jurhum tribe realized that they were unable to defend their position, they collected all the treasures which were dedicated to the Ka’bah and buried them in the well of Zamzam. They levelled the well and removed all traces of its position. Then they left Makkah. For a long time, the custody belonged to Khuza’ah. After them, it was the Quraish who took over. They enjoyed the noblest lineage in Arabia because they were the direct descendants of Ismael and Ibrahim (peace be upon them both). The man who gained that honour for the Quraish was Qusayy ibn Kilab , the fifth grandfather of our prophet saw.

He was a true leader. He married Hubba, daughter of Hulayl ibn Hubshiyyah, chief of the Khuza’ah and Master of Makkah who held the position of the custodian of the Ka’bah. He chose him as the leader as he recognized his qualities as a leader. When he became the undisputed lead of Makkah, he called all the Quraish tribe to live near the Ka’bah. All the Quraysh were extremely happy with Qusayy’s leadership. They called him the Assembler because he had caused the Quraysh to regroup. He built a big hall close to the mosque to serve as a meeting place for the Quraysh and called it Dar al-Nadwah.

He also initiated the practice which is called Rifadah which facilitated hosting and feeding the pilgrims in Makkah.  Qusayy himself took part in the work and offered the pilgrims whatever the Quraysh prepared for them-bread, meat and various dishes. This increased the Quraysh’s prestige and enhanced Qusayy’s honour. He in effect combined all the symbols of honour and leadership.

Hashim, Qusayy’s grandson, put hostility to pilgrims on an unprecedented level. He was very wealthy and generous. He started the biannual commercial trips which soon became a well-established tradition in the life of the Makkans. In the summer a large commercial went to Syria and a similar one went to Yemen in winter. It was mentioned in Surah Al-Quraysh.

‘Abd al-Muttalib became the chief of Quraysh after the leadership enjoyed by his uncle. He continued the rich tradition of the tribe. He was given the honour of finding the Zamzam water after it was hidden out of vengeance by the tribe of Jurhum before they left Makkah. While facing difficulty digging the zamzam, he made a dua to Allah swt to grant him ten sons to strengthen his leadership and in return he would sacrifice one son to show his gratitude to Him swt.

When he was eventually granted sons ( He had five wives) he drew lots to find who to sacrifice. His youngest son Abdullah’s name came out. Despite the intense opposition, he still wanted to sacrifice Abdullah, his favourite son. But the tribal leaders advised him to resolve the matter through consulting a female fortune-teller of Yathrib who was known to have contacts with the jinn.

She said, “Go back to your town and arrange a draw to be made between your man (‘Abdullah) and ten camels. If the draw comes out against the man, add ten more camels. Continue to do so as long as the draw comes out against him. When the draw shows that the camels are accepted, this means that your God has accepted the offering and spared your man. You slaughter those camels as a ransom for him.” He followed the instruction and he sacrificed 100 camels as a ransom for his beloved son ‘Abdullah. He was very pleased when his son’s life was spared and wanted ‘Abdullah to get settled. He arranged his marriage to lady Aminah, daughter of Wahb ibn ‘Abd Manaf, chief of the clan of Zuhrah. It was a happy marriage.

Abdul Muttalib told ‘Abdullah to join the trade caravan travelling to Syria that summer. Aminah was sad to be separated from her beloved husband but she was aware that Abdul Muttalib did whatever is best for his son as he was being trained to be trader. Before leaving, ‘Abdullah was given the happy news of her pregnancy.

The journey was very difficult for ‘Abdullah. He contracted some sort of disease which sapped his strength, yet he had no choice but to travel with the caravan. As his health got worse, he had to be left behind in Yathrib (later to be known as Madinah) and was looked after by his cousins of the clan of Al-Najjar. Abdul Muttalib was worried when the caravan arrived without ‘Abdullah. He sent his eldest son, al-Harith to help his brother on journey home. By the time Al-Harith reached to Yathrib, he was given the sad new of ‘Abdullah death.

A campaign to destroy Kabah

A major event took place during the year of our beloved prophet’s birth. Abraha, the Abyssinian governor of Yemen, built a luxurious church hoping Arabs will start coming to the church instead of visiting Ka’bah. But to his great disappointment, tribes around Makkah were still was attached to Ka’bah. They believed themselves to be the descendants of Ibrahim and Ismael who built the House. Some even ridiculed Abraha’s effort. One of them went so far as to use the most splendid spot in that church for defecation! When Abraha was told about the incident, he decided to pull down the Ka’bah in order to achieve his objective of turning the Arabs away from it. He therefore marched at the head of a great army with elephants. Some Arab tribes tried to stop him and they failed.

On arrival at al-Mughammas (a valley midway between Ta’if and Makkah) Abrahah dispatched one of his commanders to Makkah where he looted some possessions from the Quraysh and other Arabs, including 200 camels which belonged to Abd al-Muttalib. 

The story continues in sha Allah...but not with so much details as I believe getting your own personal copy is very important. I highlight and annotate a lot. In sha Allah I hope and pray that we can learn a lot and follow our beloved as much as possible in every aspect of our life. Just like as believers, our motto is No Salah (prayer) , No Falah (succcess) Our motto for reading and getting to know of beloved is No Sunnah, No Succcess. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala enable us to truly connect to His beloved and learn from his blessed life, ameen! May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala purify our intention and allow us to meet him oneday, ameen!