032 - The People of As-Suffa

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Note: The episode is mistakenly titled "The People of As-Suffa." A more fitting title would be "The Muakha." If you want to learn about the People of As-Suffa, jump to episode 34.

Tangent: Establishment of Hijri Calendar During the Reign of Umar RA

Before we move on — there is an interesting important milestone in our history that is not related directly to the incident of the Hijrah, but it is very important for our history, and that is the establishment of the Islamic calendar based upon the Hijrah.

A sign of civilization is to have a calendar, script, architecture, etc. And the Arabs did not have a calendar that they relied upon. The whole miracle of Islam is that it came and transformed this backward society to become the rulers of the entire world — and Allah says this in the Quran [21:10]: "We have revealed a Book, in it will be your remembrance/legacy."

The Arabs had many problems:

1. They didn't have a unified calendar; rather, each tribe had its own calendar system. And it's based upon important incidents, e.g., when someone important in their tribe dies, they call the whole year "the year of the death of the chieftain" — and they would use these as demarcations, e.g., "two years after the death of the chieftain," "three years before the incident of the elephant," etc. Any important incident becomes a milestone — and every few years, some milestone happens, and they would just calculate their calendar and sense of time around this. But of course, this was just a local decentralized calendar to each tribe.

2. There was also a very confusing practice that the jahili Arabs had: al-Nasi (النسيء) [see Quran, 9:37]. In the time of Ibrahim AS, Allah revealed down the shariah that 4 months of the year will be sacred. Allah tells this in the Quran, "Indeed, the number of months with Allah is 12 [lunar] months in the register of Allah [from] the day He created the heavens and the earth; of these, four are sacred" [Quran, 9:36]. Allah decreed there is 12 months from the beginning of time. (And notice that every significant calendar on the face of this world has had 12 months. It's in the shariah of the earliest prophets. Where did the Romans, Persians, etc., get 12? All of this goes back to the original shariah that Allah revealed down. And 7 days of the week is also in the shariah — Allah decreed this.) The concept of keeping four months sacred is from the time of Ibrahim AS, and the Arabs knew and followed this. But the issue was that the powerful tribes (e.g., the Quraysh) would flaunt these four months. Suppose they wanted to declare a war and it just so happened it's in the Sacred Month (and of course you can't have any fighting during a Sacred Month), so they would just swap the current month around — e.g., they would change Muharram to Safar. This is called al-Nasi, and it's a type of kufr [see Quran, 9:37]. Literally, they would swap months around at their desire, announce this, and the other tribes would pay heed to this and follow them.

Now imagine what would happen after decades and centuries of swapping months around. The entire months are going to be jumbled up like a jigsaw puzzle, and nobody has any idea what month should it actually be. So the months lost the significance of their order that they used to have. But the year the Prophet PBUH performed the Hajjat al-Wada' [episode 100], he announced that, "This year, the months have fallen in order the way that they were when Allah created the heavens and the earth." Allah willed that in the year of Hajjat al-Wada', the months go in their proper order. And the Prophet PBUH said, "From now on, no swapping." So from that time up until our time, the [Hijri] months have been repeating correctly. And so the problem with the order of the months is taken care of.

3. The other issue is the year. The Prophet PBUH did not directly institute a calendar. What happened was, one year —most likely in the 17th year of the Hijrah— one or two things happened: (1) Umar RA was presented with a case of two people fighting. One of them said, "He was supposed to pay me back money by Sha'ban, and it's already Ramadan." The other said, "No, I meant Sha'ban of next year. Not this year." So Umar RA said, "How are we going to decide this dispute?" — Each had a valid point because the contract just said "Sha'ban." Allah knows best — maybe both of them were honest; but this, of course, caused a problem. (2) Umar RA then got a letter from Abu Musa al-Ash'ari (أبو موسى الأشعري) or one of his governors, who said basically a similar thing, "O Umar, sometimes you tell us to do something by a particular month, but we don't know if you mean the same year's or the next year's month. So find a way to tell us."

So Umar RA called a gathering of the sahaba to sort this out. One or two suggested, "We will follow the calendar of the Romans or the Persians," but this was immediately rejected because the Muslims realized they had their own civilization now — you don't need to be following others. So they decided to have their own calendar; and Umar RA asked, "Which year should we begin with?" The sahaba differed. One of them said: with the death of the Prophet PBUH. Another said: with the birth of the Prophet PBUH. Another said the Battle of Badr. Ali ibn Abi Talib said, "The year of the Hijrah shall be the first year of the calendar because this was the one decisive thing that changed the Muslims from being humiliated to being honored." The sahaba all agreed to this. Umar RA said, "This is the wisest opinion." (Side note 1: Later scholars tried to read in a Quranic evidence for this [from verse [9:108]], but Allah knows best.) (Side note 2: Hijri calendar starts with 1 AH; there is no 0 AH.) The second issue is: Which month should be taken as the first month? People differed again. Some said Ramadan as it's the holiest month; others said Dhu al-Hijjah, Rajab, etc., until Uthman ibn Affan said, "It shall be Muharram." Why Muharram? Scholars have differed. Two reasons have been given by our classical scholars:

i. It's linked to Ali's announcement of the year of the Hijrah being the first year. Which month did the Hijrah occur in? Yes, the month the Prophet PBUH migrated was Safar (late Safar to early Rabi' al-Awwal) — so why not choose Safar then? Because the announcement came for people to do Hijrah in Muharram, and the bulk of Muslims Emigrated then (and only the Prophet PBUH and a few other people Emigrated right at the end of Safar). So Muharram was taken as the first month.

ii. In some reports, we find Uthman RA expressed a reason. In those days, the sahaba did Hajj pretty much every year. And for them, returning back from Hajj represented a new life and a fresh beginning. And when do you come back from Hajj? The end of Dhu al-Hijjah. So what month represents the new beginning? The following month, which is Muharram. So they took Muharram as the first month.

The reason we are mentioning this tangent now is to show that the sahaba understood the significance of the Hijrah.

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Summary of the Madani Seerah

The Makkan period lasted 13 years; the Madani period lasted 10 years — and this period can be split up into three distinct categories:

1. Era of consolidation: This was an era of internal dissent being eliminated. There were internal dissents from the hypocrites and the Jews — these were the two major points of weakness for the Muslims at the beginning (and there were pagans as well, but these were eventually eliminated), and the threats from the hypocrites were minimized, and those from the Jews were eliminated as well in the end. And there were also external threats from the Quraysh. This era of consolidation spanned from the beginning of the Hijrah up until the Battle of Ahzab [5 AH]. During this time, any opposition —internal and external— was either eliminated, or minimized to the extent that the existence of the Islamic state was no longer in threat. After this, the Muslim republic could stand confidently independent of any serious threats.

In the beginning, the very existence of the ummah was at stake — the Prophet PBUH himself said during the Battle of Badr, "O Allah, if this group [of Muslims] is destroyed, You will not be worshiped on earth," which shows how serious of a threat the Muslims were in. The Battle of Uhud was also the same. In the Battle of Ahzab, the Muslims were almost about to be eliminated — but of course, Allah protected them and destroyed the enemies — and this was when the tide began to shift.

2. Era of truce: This lasted two and a half years — from the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah [6 AH] up until the Conquest of Makkah [8 AH]. In this era, the Muslims witnessed peace along with the coexistence of non-Muslims. And the Prophet PBUH was sending out letters, emissaries, and envoys. During this era, the Muslim republic expanded fivefold. (So it expanded much more than in the era of war.)

3. Era of establishment: This is post-Conquest of Makkah [8 AH] up until the death of the Prophet PBUH in Rabi' al-Awwal in the 11th Hijrah. This is when Allah revealed the verses of Surah al-Nasr, "This is the ultimate victory" — i.e., that the entire Arabian Peninsula embraced Islam.

Note that even though we have discussed 53 years of the Prophet's PBUH life, the Madani seerah is three times as large as the Makkan seerah —because we have three times the information— so, there is still much more to go, insha'Allah.

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Loving Madinah

Now, how did the Muhajirun like Madinah? The fact of the matter is, they did not like it. Not because of anything problematic, but because they missed home. There is truly no place like home. It doesn't matter how well you are treated at someone's house, or if you visit a fancy hotel, there is no place like home. The Muhajirun missed the environment, the city, and the people of Makkah, so much so that they literally fell sick. Aisha RA narrates that she visited Abu Bakr and Bilal RA after she arrived in Madinah and asked them, "How are you?" And she said both of them were moaning, and Abu Bakr was in a severe fever, and he said, "We wake up with our family, but death is closer to us than our shoelaces/sandal-straps" — he was so sick he was thinking of death.

Aisha RA then asks Bilal and he also says some poetry, "How I wish that I would spend the night in a valley full of lemongrass and jalil," i.e., he is missing the thorny plants and dryness of Makkah. And Bilal said to Aisha, "May Allah's curse be on..." and he started listing the Quraysh leaders. Why? Because — he says, "They kicked us out of our houses" — and he is venting his anger out on them.

And Aisha RA says she goes back to the Prophet PBUH and tells him what had transpired. And so the Prophet PBUH made a special du'a for all of the Muhajirun (and Muslims in general), "O Allah, make Madinah beloved to us like we used to love Makkah, or even more." And, "O Allah, bless us in our food measurements; O Allah, remove the bad weather and diseases/plagues (Madinah had more plagues than Makkah) and throw it outside of Madinah in the barren land of Juhfah (جحفة)." And so slowly but surely, the love of Madinah entered their hearts, so much so that when the Muslims would go away from Madinah, they would count the days they were going to come back to the city. And when the Prophet PBUH would see Madinah in the distance, he would fasten his camel/horse to reach home quicker. And indeed, even today, when we visit Madinah, it is truly peaceful, and there is a sense of love for Madinah that is not felt elsewhere.

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The Hadith of Salam

The famous first hadith that is narrated from Madinah was by Abdullah ibn Salam (عبد الله بن سلام) — the big Jewish rabbi who converted to Islam; one of the few who did. He said when he heard the Prophet PBUH arrived in Quba, he rushed to take a look at him. And he was of the first who arrived. And when he saw the face of the Prophet PBUH, he knew that, "This face is not the face of a liar" — Allah AWJ allows righteousness and piety to show in a way that we will never understand. This is called firasa (فراسة): pure people can sense pure people. (And in one hadith, the Prophet PBUH affirmed the reality of firasa.) And Abdullah ibn Salam says the first thing he heard the Prophet PBUH say was, "Spread the greetings of salam (سلام - peace); feed the people; be good to your relatives; and pray during the night when everybody is asleep. You will enter Jannah in salam (peace)." So the Prophet PBUH is encouraging being brotherly, kind, and generous, from day one. And then he went a step further and instituted the concept of muakha:

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The Muakha (المؤاخاة): The Pairing up of the Muhajirun and the Ansar

Of the early things the Prophet PBUH did —so much so that one of the earlier scholars said he did this even before the masjid was built— was he made a muakha (making people 'akhi,' i.e., 'brothers') between the Muhajirun and the Ansar, despite the fact that he had already encouraged the Ansar to be generous to the Muhajirun (and they were indeed generous).

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Tangent: Generosity of the Ansar

Allah SWT mentions the generosity of the Ansar (الأنصار - the Helpers) in the Quran [59:9]:

وَالَّذِينَ تَبَوَّءُوا الدَّارَ وَالْإِيمَانَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ

"And those who prepared the abode (الدار) and [adopted] the faith before them..." [Pause here.] Notice Allah called Madinah "the abode/home/house" — this is an interesting noun to use. And also note He said THE house, instead of THEIR house. What's the difference? It is technically the house of the Ansar, so if Allah had said, "Those who had prepared THEIR house," this would have been accurate; but He didn't — Allah called it THE house because the Ansar gave up half of their house to the Muhajirun. So Allah calls Madinah THE house of the Ansar and the Muhajirun. [Resuming.] And then He said:

يُحِبُّونَ مَنْ هَاجَرَ إِلَيْهِمْ وَلَا يَجِدُونَ فِي صُدُورِهِمْ حَاجَةً مِّمَّا أُوتُوا وَيُؤْثِرُونَ عَلَىٰ أَنفُسِهِمْ وَلَوْ كَانَ بِهِمْ خَصَاصَةٌ

"...They love those who Emigrated to them and found no hesitancy to give everything. And they preferred others over themselves, even if they themselves were in poverty." The Ansar gave the Muhajirun everything they needed, from home, to food, to animals, etc.

It is even reported in Sahih Bukhari that the Ansar came to the Prophet PBUH and said, "O Messenger of Allah, we shall give half of our land over to the Muhajirun." And the Prophet PBUH made du'a for them, but he refused to accept such a generous gift. He said, "They (the Muhajirun) will take care of the manual labor, and you will share in the produce," i.e., let them do work for the dates and for the privilege. Subhan'Allah, this shows us the spirit of Islam — that the Prophet PBUH did not want these free handouts; he wanted the Muhajirun to work. And he also didn't want shaytan to maybe bring animosity between the Muslims 5 generations or 5 decades later; the descendants of the Ansar might say, "Oh, we gave you all of this for free," etc. You never know. The Ansar of course had pure hearts, but how about their descendants? Or the munafiqun who were forced to give? So this is the long-term thinking of the Prophet PBUH — he cut off this possibility; even though it was such a generous gift. The Prophet PBUH said, 'No. They shall do work, and take their wages in dates and in food. And you can take your percentage as well.' So he insisted the Muhajirun to do work, and he insisted the Ansar be generous too.

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(Cont.) The Muakha

The Prophet PBUH paired every single male Muhajir with an Ansari. In this early stage, the pairing was so complete that they would be considered like full brothers even in inheritance (but this was of course later abrogated). It is mentioned that over 100 such pairs were done — which basically means, for every single male Muhajir, there was a pair done. One of the examples is the muakha between Abu Bakr and Kharijah ibn Zayd (خارجة بن زيد). And every time you look at the biographies of the people that are being paired, you find that they have a lot of things in common — they were very similar. Abu Bakr and Kharijah ibn Zayd were both one of the noblemen of their people. The Prophet PBUH knows exactly who he is pairing with who. Every one of these names that had been paired together, we also find them mentioned in the seerah many times together. Which means they took this pairing-together very seriously that they literally became like brothers to one another. For example, the famous story about when Salman al-Farisi visited Abu Darda (أبو الدرداء) in his house.

Another famous story is of Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf (Muhajir) and Sa'd ibn al-Rabi' (Ansari). Sa'd wanted to split everything down the middle and give it to Abd al-Rahman: his house, his money, his land, and he even offered one of his two wives. But Abd al-Rahman said, "May Allah bless you even more in your money and your family — but I don't want any of this; just tell me where the marketplace is." And Abd al-Rahman worked hard, bought and sold items, engaged in trade, until he got some money, and built himself up. The Prophet PBUH saw him one day walking by in fancy clothing with perfume; and Abd al-Rahman informed him that he got married to a woman of the Ansar. Notice the generosity of the Ansari and the self-honor of the Muhajir. One is offering out of Iman, and the other is declining out of Iman.

The Ansar, in fact, helped the Muhajirun so much that the Muhajirun went to the Prophet PBUH worried and said, "O Messenger of Allah, we have never seen a group of people like this: They share everything with us equally at times of difficulty, and are generous with us at times of ease; they have taken care of our needs, and allowed us to share with them in good — so much so that we are worried." They are worried that the Ansar will take all of their ajr away from them; that all of the rewards from enduring the torture in Makkah, leaving behind their wealth for the sake of Allah, etc., will go to the Ansar. Look at the complaint — it's truly amazing! (It's not a complaint against the Ansar, obviously; it's a troubled worriness that they have about their own good deed.) The Prophet PBUH said, "No. They will not get all of your reward as long as you praise them and make du'a for them." 'You have your reward, they have their reward.' So what the Muhajirun did cannot be just taken by the Ansar. This is why the Muhajirun are at a higher level than the Ansar, even after all that the Ansar did.

We already mentioned that the pairs would even inherit from one another — until finally, after the Battle of Badr [2 AH], Allah revealed Surah al-Anfal and said,

وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مِن بَعْدُ وَهَاجَرُوا وَجَاهَدُوا مَعَكُمْ فَأُولَٰئِكَ مِنكُمْ ۚ وَأُولُو الْأَرْحَامِ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلَىٰ بِبَعْضٍ فِي كِتَابِ اللَّهِ ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ

"And those who believed after [the initial Emigration] and Emigrated and fought with you — they are of you. But those of [blood] relationship are more entitled [to inheritance] in the decree of Allah. Indeed, Allah is Knowing of all things" [8:75], i.e., this abrogated the inheritance clause between each pair.

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Points of Benefit From Muakha

There are several points regarding the muakha:

1. We need to resurrect this sunnah of muakha. The muakha began in the early Madani phase and continued right until the end, even after the Conquest of Makkah. How do we know? By the names of the people mentioned who were paired together. E.g., Salman al-Farisi and Abu Darda. And Ja'far ibn Abi Talib, he came to Madinah in the 7th year of the Hijrah, and still, the Prophet PBUH did muakha between him and Mu'adh ibn Jabal. It's also mentioned that the Prophet PBUH did muakha for Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan — and he accepted Islam after the Conquest of Makkah [8 AH]. So, this shows us that the concept of pairing people together was not something that was unique only to the beginning of Islam. It lasted throughout the entire course of the Madani phase. Therefore from this, we extract that this is a neglected sunnah — and up until our time, we should be doing this, especially when people convert to Islam. We need to resurrect this sunnah.

2. It also shows that for any society to grow and develop, there needs to be a strong bond between the people. And the strongest of bonds is a bond of religion. Because the people of a religion, they share many things in common that really define ethics, outlook on life, etc. In fact, the Quran [49:10] tells us that this is indeed the strongest bond. When you look at this early society of Muslims, you find that no society in the history of mankind has been as selfless and as generous to strangers as them. And it's one thing to do it — and then Allah praised the purity of their hearts from above the seventh heaven, saying, "They love whoever immigrates to them, never having a desire in their hearts for whatever [of the gains] is given to the Muhajirun" [Quran, 59:9]. Never in the history of humanity have we found this type of example of selflessness, of genuinely giving for the sake of the other. And it is impossible for any society to achieve such standards without having these bonds — and that is what the Prophet PBUH established as soon as he moved to Madinah.

3. Also realize that the true leader —the Prophet PBUH in this case— cannot just give general advice and leave it at that. Rather, the Prophet PBUH implemented this decision [of muakha] himself. How so? He himself chose the two people one after the other — because he knew each one of the Muhajirun better than anybody else, so he knew who was the most qualified to be the brother of each Muhajir. Therefore, we learn that the real leader is not just theory and talk, he is also practice and action. Anas ibn Malik mentions, "The Prophet PBUH [literally] sat down and did the muakha in our house." (Side note: What does it mean "in our house [في دارنا]"? Scholars say probably Anas meant in his area of Madinah, because the Prophet PBUH didn't have the masjid yet.) And this shows the Prophet PBUH was a very practical and pragmatic visionary — not just somebody talking theoretically.

4. It also shows us the wisdom of Allah in gradually formulating the laws of the shariah. As we know, the shariah came down bit by bit — it didn't just come down altogether. In the beginning, when the Muhajirun had no family, the Ansar literally became their family — there was even inheritance between the two. Then Allah made it easier, and once the Muhajirun had their own family, He changed the laws of inheritance. For that generation, Allah allowed them to experience the shariah being brought down in a gradual manner. Similarly, the prohibition of wine did not come down overnight: It came down in four steps. First, it was discouraged, until it was forbidden in the end [see episode 54]. Question: If a new convert in our times comes and says, "Why can't I use this four-step program to give up alcohol? Give me one year for each of these stages," etc., the response is, by unanimous consensus of all the scholars of Islam, a new convert is not allowed this privilege that the sahaba had. Why? The sahaba were the first society of Muslims — they had no role model or support. Whereas when a convert comes to Islam, there is a society up and running exemplifying the shariah. Therefore, you cannot give him the laxities the first generation had. So we will say, "You are not going to be given this concession. You are required to stop drinking instantly." Not only this, we know that technically, the convert should start praying immediately, even if he has to hold a paper during prayer to recite al-Fatiha. Technically, the shariah is applicable upon him instantly — but of course, it's a different story that we as a community need to be wise in gradually telling him what to do.

5. It shows the status of the Ansar: Allah praises them in multiple verses, which is why loving the Ansar is a sign of Iman. And in Sahih Bukhari and Muslim, the Prophet PBUH said, "The sign of Iman is to love the Ansar; and a sign of hypocrisy is to hate the Ansar." Therefore, we must love the Ansar. In fact, so much is the blessings of the Ansar the Prophet PBUH even said to them, "Were it not for the Hijrah, I would have considered myself one of you. If all of mankind went in one direction and the Ansar went in another direction, I would choose the direction of the Ansar." When did he say this? After the Conquest of Makkah [see episode 83]. The amount of praise he gave to the Ansar is literally unprecedented — but note the Muhajirun still have a degree above them. Subhan'Allah. Whenever Allah praises the Ansar, He praises the Muhajirun before them every time. He SWT says in the Quran:

وَالسَّابِقُونَ الْأَوَّلُونَ مِنَ الْمُهَاجِرِينَ وَالْأَنصَارِ

"The first people to embrace Islam from the Muhajirin and the Ansar..." [9:100].

لَّقَد تَّابَ اللَّهُ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ وَالْمُهَاجِرِينَ وَالْأَنصَارِ

"Allah has already forgiven the Prophet and the Muhajirin and the Ansar..." [9:117].

And even in the highest praise to the Ansar in verse [59:9], Allah praised the Muhajirun first in verse [59:8] — the verse right before it.

[Transcribed by Br. Safwan Khan & Faizan]
safwan-khan@hotmail.com
[Re-revised by Br. Syed Haq & MAR, November 2023]