In today's lesson, we will continue from where we left off regarding the Conquest of Makkah. We mentioned that the Prophet PBUH did not inform anyone where he was heading until the very last minute. Probably the day before or two days before —we don't know exactly when— he PBUH told the Muslims that they were going to Makkah so that they could properly prepare and know that they would possibly face a battle.
The Mistake of Hatib ibn Abi Balta'ah RA
What happens? One of the sahaba by the name of Hatib ibn Abi Balta'ah (حاطب بن أبي بلتعة) decides to warn the Quraysh that the Prophet PBUH is coming to Makkah. This story will take up the entirety of our seerah class today because it is a very significant story. It is a story that has a lot of benefits. And it is used in our days in a very political manner — a lot of controversies exist to this day about interpreting this story of Hatib.
So who is Hatib, and what happened? According to the strongest opinion, he was a mawla from Yemen — a mawla is someone with immigrant status. He was a mawla to one of the Qureshis. And what this meant was he had second-class citizenship in Makkah. He had converted to Islam and had Emigrated to Madinah, but for reasons not mentioned in the seerah, his family, children, and according to one report his mother, remained in Makkah, and they did not come with him to Madinah. Now, there is another opinion as well, and that is that Hatib was a slave who had won his freedom and purchased his freedom. And if we take this opinion, then we understand exactly why his family remained in Makkah — because they are all slaves. In any case, both opinions say (i) Hatib was not a pure Qureshi, (ii) he was an Arab —either a mawla or a slave—, (iii) he had converted to Islam and left for Madinah, and (iv) his family was still in Makkah.
Now, Hatib wrote a letter to the people of Makkah. The content of this letter is not mentioned in Ibn Ishaq, but it is mentioned in one or two other books. Of them, one of the reports mentions that he wrote to the Quraysh, "The Prophet PBUH and the Muslims are leaving with an army; he might be heading towards Makkah, or he might be heading elsewhere. Take precautions." If this report is true, then we assume Hatib sent the letter before the Prophet PBUH made the announcement that they were going to Makkah, because Hatib was not sure where the Muslims were going. However, in another report, we find that Hatib specifically wrote to the Quraysh, that, "The Prophet PBUH is heading towards YOU with an army 'like the night' (very dense and full of people), and he is rushing towards you like a river/torrent. And I swear by Allah, even if he were to come to you alone, Allah would help him over you, because Allah will fulfill His promise." This second version basically shows that Hatib is telling them, "Look, doesn't matter what you do, he will win; but I'm just telling you this, that he is coming your way."
And therefore, Hatib spilled the beans and gave away the secret of the Prophet PBUH, that he is coming to the Quraysh.
Now, how did Hatib plan to send this letter? He found another mawla-lady from the mawali of Abdul Muttalib's Banu Hashim, and he paid her some money to smuggle this letter to the Quraysh. He didn't tell her the contents; he simply said, "Your job is to smuggle this letter to the Quraysh and make sure nobody knows of this letter"—and so she took this letter, folded it up, and tied the letter inside the braids of her hair so no one could ever notice it. And she then began the trek back to Makkah. Notice Hatib chose a person who was not famous nor noble so attention would not be drawn to her. And for secrecy, he didn't even tell her the contents of the letter — the only thing he said was to deliver the letter to the Quraysh. And there was no way anyone would have found out Hatib was the one who did this; wallahi, even the lady-messenger did not know what the letter contained; nobody would ever have figured out had it not been for divine intervention. Allah SWT sent Jibril AS down, and Jibril AS told the Prophet PBUH exactly what happened: "Hatib wrote a letter, and this lady is taking the letter, so you had better stop her." And so the Prophet PBUH told Zubayr ibn al-Awwam and Ali ibn Abi Talib that, "Go to Rawdatu Khakh (روضة خاخ) (which is a place right outside of Madinah), you will find a lady on such-and-such a caravan, she has a letter, stop her and bring the letter back to me." So he told the sahaba where to find the lady; he described the entourage and what she will be riding, and told them to bring the letter back to him. Look at how detailed knowledge the Prophet PBUH had, directly from Jibril AS. So they galloped to this caravan, and at Rawdatu Khakh exactly as the Prophet PBUH described, they found the lady.
And Ali and Zubayr told her to give the letter, but she denied, and said, "I don't know what you are talking about." So they searched through her belongings, searched the camel, searched the saddle, etc... but it was not found. So when it was clear it was not in the belongings, Ali RA said, "I swear by Allah, neither has the Prophet PBUH been lied to, nor have we been lied to," that is, "Jibril AS did not lie to the Prophet PBUH, and the Prophet PBUH did not lie to us," i.e., "You MUST have the letter." So Ali RA said, "Either you hand it over, or we will strip you and search you completely." Ibn Ishaq says, when she saw their determination, she told them, "Turn around," and so they did, and she untied her hair and gave them the letter. Then they brought her with the letter back to the Prophet PBUH.
(Side note: Subhan'Allah, you have to remark here that even in such a tense situation, and even though she was a non-Muslimah, she still had that much haya' [حياء - bashfulness/modesty] that she covered herself and didn't want them to see her hair, so much so that she told them to turn around. So wallahi, it is sad that many of us don't have the haya' that this lady had. And by the way, covering the hair was something that all ladies did —Muslimahs and non-Muslimahs—; it was the custom and culture of all civilized society, not just in Arabia.)
So they took her as a prisoner to the Prophet PBUH, and she told the Prophet PBUH what happened, that Hatib paid her some money to deliver a letter to the Quraysh. Then the Prophet PBUH calls Hatib —and the lady is there and the letter is there— so when Hatib realizes that the entire plot is now uncovered, he confesses, "Yes, ya Rasulullah, this is my letter." (Side note: The lady is not mentioned after this, so we can assume that she was let go — at the end of the day, she did not willingly commit a crime.) Upon Hatib's confession, Umar RA immediately said, "Ya Rasulullah, allow me to chop off the head of this munafiq. He has become kafir in Allah and His Messenger." But the Prophet PBUH said to Hatib, "Ya Hatib, why would you do something like this?" And Hatib's response is recorded in many books of hadith. And this story is mentioned in almost every single book of hadith: Sahih Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, Musnad of Imam Ahmad, etc. It's one of the most common stories of the Conquest of Makkah, and it's mentioned in a lot of detail. And his response pieced together from various narrations goes: "O Messenger of Allah, why would I want to leave Iman in Allah and His Messenger? I did not do what I did leaving my faith, nor did I prefer kufr over Islam. And I haven't changed who I am. I did not want to betray (Islam) nor did I want to be a munafiq. I knew Allah would fulfill His promise and execute His command (i.e., the Prophet PBUH will conquer Makkah). But I wanted to establish a favor with the Quraysh so that my family and property are protected. For all of your other Companions have family that would protect their other relatives, but I don't have any." Meaning none of the Ansar that are going to attack Makkah have any relatives in Makkah, so they don't have to worry about anything; and all the Muhajirun that are going to attack Makkah belong to one of the clans of the Quraysh, and surely they are not going to harm their own people (at least in Hatib's estimation); but as for himself, he is saying his family in Makkah doesn't belong to *any* tribe, nobody is going to protect them, so he wanted to establish some kind of favor with the Quraysh that they know he has done some good, so that his family will be protected. So he is basically saying, "I know Allah will protect you, ya Rasulullah; you are not going to get harmed; I have full trust in Allah that He will protect you, and my letter would not harm you. I just wanted to establish a favor with the Quraysh so that my family is protected."
Upon this, the Prophet PBUH said, "Hatib has spoken the truth. Nobody should say anything about Hatib anymore except good." But Umar RA was still fuming and said, "Ya Rasulullah, he has betrayed Allah and His Messenger, so allow me to kill him." Note, the first time, Umar RA said he is a munafiq, but the Prophet PBUH said he has spoken the truth, i.e., he has Iman, so now, Umar RA is saying, "He might be a Muslim, but he has done khiyana, i.e., betrayal. So allow me to kill him." This shows us Umar RA first asked to kill Hatib for the crime of ridda (ردة - apostasy), and the second time for the crime of betraying the trust (we will get back to this point later on). So the Prophet PBUH said to Umar, "Did he not witness Badr? And how do you know, O Umar? Perhaps Allah has looked upon all of the people (Muslims) who were at Badr and said, 'Do as you please, for I have forgiven all of you.'" So Umar RA began to cry and said, "Allah and His Messenger know best." At this, Allah SWT revealed Surah al-Mumtahanah (سورة الممتحنة), which begins:
So Allah says to Hatib —and through him, to anybody at a later generation—: "O believers! Do not take as allies those who are your enemies and My enemies."
Now, this story has so many benefits. Of them:
1. We see the infinite knowledge of Allah SWT, that nothing escapes Allah. We learn this from another hadith as well: In Bukhari: A lady came to the house of the Prophet PBUH to complain about her husband. And Aisha RA says, "Wallahi, I was trying my best to hear what she was saying from behind the curtain, and I heard a phrase and I couldn't hear a phrase, and Allah heard it from above the seven heavens: 'Indeed, Allah has heard the argument of the woman who pleaded with you [O Prophet] concerning her husband, and appealed to Allah. Allah has heard your exchange. Surely Allah is All-Hearing, All-Seeing' [Quran, 58:1]." Subhan'Allah, Aisha RA is saying, "I was in the same room and I couldn't hear, but Allah heard it from above the seven heavens." And in the story of Hatib, we saw that Allah AWJ exposed the plot that nobody would ever have found out about.
2. Du'a is the weapon of the believer. Our Prophet PBUH made a du'a that, "O Allah, do not allow my plans to become known to them [the Quraysh]," and Allah SWT answered this du'a and the plan was not exposed.
3. Look at how Allah worked what He wanted to do. If Allah wanted, a lightning bolt could have struck the woman, the camel would have got lost, etc. But Allah AWJ wants *us* to do as much as we can, and *then* He will do the rest. He SWT wants to see from us our efforts. And then He will take care of the rest. Even when Allah is directly intervening, He still wants us to do work. The Prophet PBUH had to send people, stop the lady, search her, and then bring her back with the letter. Subhan'Allah, this is the sunnah of Allah. Even when He is going to help, we still have to physically exert ourselves and give 100%. And *then* we put our trust in Him.
4. The penalty for treachery and treason is death. And that is clearly shown in Umar's second response, "Ya Rasulullah, he has betrayed us, so let me execute him." And this is the agreed-upon rule that is still applied to this day across the globe. Even in America 70 years ago, a couple —Julius and Ethel Rosenberg— were executed for selling pieces of paper to the Soviet Union. (Side note: So nobody can come and say Islamic laws are barbaric.) The reality is treachery and treason are not an excusable offense at any time or place. Can a treacherous person be forgiven? There is a lot of controversy about this in fiqh books. If a Muslim betrays the trust of the Islamic state, can he be forgiven? Many scholars say no. Ibn al-Qayyim says it's up to the ruler as it was up to the Prophet PBUH; but other scholars argue the Prophet PBUH only forgave because Hatib participated in the Battle of Badr and got the blessing that is specific only to the 313 Badris, and therefore, anyone else will not be excused. The crime of Hatib was only forgiven in light of his participation in the Battle of Badr. So a large group of scholars says there is no forgiveness for a spy; but about one-third say it's up to the khalifa, and Ibn al-Qayyim is of this opinion.
5. The humanity of even the sahaba. A Badri, a person who participated in the greatest battle of Islam, can fall into such a major error. And this gives us so much hope. Why? We are all sinners. And who amongst us can claim to be sinless? If even the sahaba fell into mistakes and errors (and Allah forgave them when they repented) how about us? In fact, Allah AWJ described Hatib's act as "strayed FAR away" [Quran, 60:1], and He SWT did not call him "kafir." He SWT did not strip away his Iman.
6. The forgiving nature of the Prophet PBUH — he defended the life of Hatib and did not allow Umar RA to execute him. Contrastingly, we also see the nature of Umar RA and we understand his sternness. And that sternness was coming out of a love of Islam. That strictness was coming to protect Islam. Umar wanted to make sure no one would do this again. And wallahi, his strictness was a mercy to the ummah when the ummah needed it (i.e., especially during his khilafa). At times, strictness works, but at other times, you need it soft. And Allah gave the ummah Umar RA when they needed strictness. And indeed, it was in the time of Umar RA most of the conquests took place.
7. We judge people based on the sum total of who they are and what they are doing; not just their bad. This is a very important point. You assess overall what people are doing. The righteous person who commits one mistake is not the same as the continuous sinner who makes the same mistake. And there is a hadith that supports this. In Sunan Abi Dawud, the Prophet PBUH basically said, "The people of nobility and status, when they fall into a mistake, cut them some slack." This shows us when a person of stature and nobility has done something positive for the community, if they do something wrong, we should cut them slack and overlook it. We look at the overall positive and negative and never judge only by looking at the negative. This is a common problem in our times: We are blind to the good that people are doing. This includes the good of the scholars, the students of knowledge, and the preachers. It's not possible that they will never make a mistake. After all, a sheikh talks every day of his life. And these days, everything they do gets onto YouTube. And it's impossible that someone who has thousands of hours of talk will be mistake-free. No doubt, some of these mistakes are genuine mistakes; but for someone to go collect these errors, wallahi, is a disease of the heart. Here is a sheikh that has a thousand lectures, and you only find 3 minutes of talk to critique him. This is unfair. Even if those 3 minutes of talk are completely wrong, you have to look at all the good that is done. The sunnah is to look at the good. Hatib is judged in light of who he is, i.e., a Badri.
8. We also see the importance of confirming reports. It's amazing the Prophet PBUH has the letter, and the woman is literally in front of him relaying the story in detail, yet he still calls Hatib and says, "Did you do this?" Think about this. Forget the lady and letter, Jibril AS has told the Prophet PBUH Hatib has done this. Is there any more evidence needed?! Yet the Prophet PBUH still calls Hatib and confirms. Did the Prophet PBUH doubt Hatib did it? Of course not. Jibril AS had told him. Why is he confirming then? To show that you have to always verify and confirm. After Hatib confirms, still he then asks Hatib for an explanation, which shows you have to always give a chance to the other party. Even if he did it, what is his reasoning? And this particularly shows us you cannot pronounce a verdict on someone before hearing his side of the story, even after you have confirmed he has done something. This shows us a major difference between Islamic law and most Western law. By and large, Western law is codified, meaning the judge opens up the book and says you are guilty of X therefore the law mandates you receive Y. The judge has no power (besides fine-tuning, e.g., between $100,000 and $150,000 fine, or between 5 and 7 years jail time) if the jury pronounced a guilty verdict. In Islamic law, the qadhi (قاضي - judge) will look at the human factor. Islamic law, through most of its time, was not canonized. Why? Because people have different reasons for doing crimes, and sometimes the extenuating circumstances truly absolve the liability upon the person. In California, there is a barbaric law of 'three strikes and you're out,' meaning if you do three offenses of any type —major or minor— you will be given life in jail — there are hundreds of cases where the judge himself has said, "I'm sorry. I wish I could help you, but I can't control the law." Back to Hatib: There are extenuating circumstances, so the judge can decide what to do independently.
9. We see the Iman of Hatib ibn Abi Balta'ah RA. When the Prophet PBUH asks him, "Why did you do this?" Hatib does not plead for his life — he is arguing to defend his Iman, not his life. Subhan'Allah, this truly shows us that he was a man of Iman. When Umar RA said, "Let me kill this kafir," what bothered Hatib was NOT the "kill" part, but rather the "kafir/munafiq" part. And Hatib's whole message was, "Ya Rasulullah, I'm still the same person; I am still on Iman; I don't have any desire to become a kafir; I knew Allah would protect you." In fact, most likely, Hatib thought he would be executed and he was resigned to that fate. What he was worried about was being labeled a kafir. The concern was not the sword, the concern was Islam and Iman.
10. We see the softness of Umar RA. Instantly from the anger of wanting to kill Hatib, when the Prophet PBUH says to him, "What do you know, O Umar? Allah looked at the people of Badr and said, 'Do what you want; I have forgiven you,'" that one phrase was enough to reduce the anger of Umar to tears. We tend to view Umar as being a harsh and strict man, but under that hard and tough outer shell was a very soft and tender heart. And Umar RA is crying perhaps because he himself is a Badri and the blessing he has heard has overwhelmed him. Or he is crying because he is saddened at his own overhastiness to kill Hatib when Allah has forgiven him. We don't know the exact reason, but in any case, this one phrase made Umar so emotional.
11. When the Prophet PBUH said, "Nobody should criticize Hatib after today," —and Subhan'Allah, Hatib lived for another 22 years after this— never once did anyone utter against him, "This is the traitor." Once the Prophet PBUH said, "Nobody should criticize Hatib after today," that's it. Imagine what type of leader the Prophet PBUH must have been to have so much respect that for 22 years, and even up until our time, no one criticizes Hatib. Subhan'Allah, what amazing respect the Prophet PBUH has amongst the Muslim ummah. Once he has said this, Hatib's *huge* crime becomes nothing, and we say nothing but good about Hatib RA.
12. The story of Hatib has taken on a huge controversy, especially in modern times, which deals with the status of the Muslim who helps an enemy against other Muslims; the status of a Muslim who helps an enemy that is invading other Muslims. Now, Hatib was excused because the Prophet PBUH himself testified that he is a Muslim, but the question is somebody else who does it — if one helps an invading force, and this force is invading a Muslim land, and this Muslim helps him or is even a part of the army, or maybe works for them —e.g., a computer programmer— what is his status? There is a whole spectrum of opinions, but two are the most important:
a) The first, stricter opinion is that anyone who helps an invading force against a Muslim nation or land, that person has become a kafir by that action. Their primary evidence is:
The group of scholars who hold this opinion says therefore anyone who helps an invading force and betrays the Muslims, that action is one of kufr in and of itself, equivalent to worshiping an idol, disrespecting the mus'haf, and cursing Allah and His Messenger. This is the position of many of the medieval scholars, in particular Sh. Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (محمد بن عبد الوهاب) (d. 1792 CE) who wrote the book "Matn Nawaqid al-Islam al-Ashara (متن نواقض الإسلام العشرة - The 10 Things That Negate Islam)," and the 8th on his list is to aid the kuffar against the Muslims. To aid an enemy force against the Muslims destroys Iman. This was also the opinion of the famous Egyptian muhaddith, Sh. Ahmad Muhammad Shakir (أحمد محمد شاكر) (d. 1958 CE) who was alive during the time of the British occupation of Egypt. Indeed, Egypt was invaded by England, and it ruled Egypt for a century or over a century both directly and indirectly; and Sh. Ahmad wrote a fatwa that anyone who helped the British in any fashion or form, even by speech, such a person was a kafir murtad. And he said, "Either such a person is very ignorant —and Allah might excuse him— or he will accept Islam again and repent." This is a harsh position, and it is held by many scholars.
Some among this group separate between two concepts: They say there are levels of cooperation with the opposing army: (i) "tawalli (تولي)" and (ii) "muwala (موالاة)." The higher level "tawalli" would be, for example, to fight with the army or be a spy for them, which would be kufr. The lower level "muwala" is not kufr. And this would be, for example, to sell fruits and vegetables to the army. It's a major sin but not kufr. And again, they say Hatib was a specific case, and you cannot make qiyas (قياس) based on his case; no one else will be forgiven like him. This is the position of many respected scholars, including Sh. Muhammad ibn al-Uthaymeen (محمد بن العثيمين) (d. 2001 CE), Sh. Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz (عبد العزيز بن باز) (d. 1999 CE), et al. This is the standard position of the later Najdi dawah; any type of support to any opposing [non-Muslim] army is kufr akbar (كفر أكبر - major kufr).
b) Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah had another opinion: If a person aids such an army for a personal reason and not a religious reason, it is possible that that is a sin and not a kufr. Now, both groups agree that anyone who aids the enemy of Allah out of a love for the enemy because he is the enemy, and out of a hatred of the Muslims because they are Muslim, this is pure kufr just by the emotions of the heart. If you want the enemy to win over the Muslims simply because these are enemies and these are believers, this is kufr akbar. But what if someone is helping for a personal reason? Ibn Taymiyyah says in his Majmu' al-Fatawa, Volume 7, page 523, "It is possible that a person loves these enemies for family reasons, or for another maslaha (worldly matter). This would be a sin that diminishes Iman, and would not make him a kafir, as what happened to Hatib ibn Abi Balta'ah when he warned the Quraysh about the invasion of the Prophet PBUH, for which Allah revealed Surah al-Mumtahanah." So how does Ibn Taymiyyah view the story of Hatib? That he committed a SIN and not kufr. Why? Because he didn't want to help the Quraysh because he loved them because they were idol worshipers — if so, this would be kufr. But he wanted to help them out of a love for his mother and children. He preferred the love of his children over the privacy of the Prophet's PBUH plans — so this is a major sin, but it is not kufr. And this is what Hatib says in his entire speech, that, "I am still a believer. But I wanted to establish a favor with the Quraysh so that my family and property are protected."
Now, how did Hatib plan to send this letter? He found another mawla-lady from the mawali of Abdul Muttalib's Banu Hashim, and he paid her some money to smuggle this letter to the Quraysh. He didn't tell her the contents; he simply said, "Your job is to smuggle this letter to the Quraysh and make sure nobody knows of this letter"—and so she took this letter, folded it up, and tied the letter inside the braids of her hair so no one could ever notice it. And she then began the trek back to Makkah. Notice Hatib chose a person who was not famous nor noble so attention would not be drawn to her. And for secrecy, he didn't even tell her the contents of the letter — the only thing he said was to deliver the letter to the Quraysh. And there was no way anyone would have found out Hatib was the one who did this; wallahi, even the lady-messenger did not know what the letter contained; nobody would ever have figured out had it not been for divine intervention. Allah SWT sent Jibril AS down, and Jibril AS told the Prophet PBUH exactly what happened: "Hatib wrote a letter, and this lady is taking the letter, so you had better stop her." And so the Prophet PBUH told Zubayr ibn al-Awwam and Ali ibn Abi Talib that, "Go to Rawdatu Khakh (روضة خاخ) (which is a place right outside of Madinah), you will find a lady on such-and-such a caravan, she has a letter, stop her and bring the letter back to me." So he told the sahaba where to find the lady; he described the entourage and what she will be riding, and told them to bring the letter back to him. Look at how detailed knowledge the Prophet PBUH had, directly from Jibril AS. So they galloped to this caravan, and at Rawdatu Khakh exactly as the Prophet PBUH described, they found the lady.
And Ali and Zubayr told her to give the letter, but she denied, and said, "I don't know what you are talking about." So they searched through her belongings, searched the camel, searched the saddle, etc... but it was not found. So when it was clear it was not in the belongings, Ali RA said, "I swear by Allah, neither has the Prophet PBUH been lied to, nor have we been lied to," that is, "Jibril AS did not lie to the Prophet PBUH, and the Prophet PBUH did not lie to us," i.e., "You MUST have the letter." So Ali RA said, "Either you hand it over, or we will strip you and search you completely." Ibn Ishaq says, when she saw their determination, she told them, "Turn around," and so they did, and she untied her hair and gave them the letter. Then they brought her with the letter back to the Prophet PBUH.
(Side note: Subhan'Allah, you have to remark here that even in such a tense situation, and even though she was a non-Muslimah, she still had that much haya' [حياء - bashfulness/modesty] that she covered herself and didn't want them to see her hair, so much so that she told them to turn around. So wallahi, it is sad that many of us don't have the haya' that this lady had. And by the way, covering the hair was something that all ladies did —Muslimahs and non-Muslimahs—; it was the custom and culture of all civilized society, not just in Arabia.)
So they took her as a prisoner to the Prophet PBUH, and she told the Prophet PBUH what happened, that Hatib paid her some money to deliver a letter to the Quraysh. Then the Prophet PBUH calls Hatib —and the lady is there and the letter is there— so when Hatib realizes that the entire plot is now uncovered, he confesses, "Yes, ya Rasulullah, this is my letter." (Side note: The lady is not mentioned after this, so we can assume that she was let go — at the end of the day, she did not willingly commit a crime.) Upon Hatib's confession, Umar RA immediately said, "Ya Rasulullah, allow me to chop off the head of this munafiq. He has become kafir in Allah and His Messenger." But the Prophet PBUH said to Hatib, "Ya Hatib, why would you do something like this?" And Hatib's response is recorded in many books of hadith. And this story is mentioned in almost every single book of hadith: Sahih Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, Musnad of Imam Ahmad, etc. It's one of the most common stories of the Conquest of Makkah, and it's mentioned in a lot of detail. And his response pieced together from various narrations goes: "O Messenger of Allah, why would I want to leave Iman in Allah and His Messenger? I did not do what I did leaving my faith, nor did I prefer kufr over Islam. And I haven't changed who I am. I did not want to betray (Islam) nor did I want to be a munafiq. I knew Allah would fulfill His promise and execute His command (i.e., the Prophet PBUH will conquer Makkah). But I wanted to establish a favor with the Quraysh so that my family and property are protected. For all of your other Companions have family that would protect their other relatives, but I don't have any." Meaning none of the Ansar that are going to attack Makkah have any relatives in Makkah, so they don't have to worry about anything; and all the Muhajirun that are going to attack Makkah belong to one of the clans of the Quraysh, and surely they are not going to harm their own people (at least in Hatib's estimation); but as for himself, he is saying his family in Makkah doesn't belong to *any* tribe, nobody is going to protect them, so he wanted to establish some kind of favor with the Quraysh that they know he has done some good, so that his family will be protected. So he is basically saying, "I know Allah will protect you, ya Rasulullah; you are not going to get harmed; I have full trust in Allah that He will protect you, and my letter would not harm you. I just wanted to establish a favor with the Quraysh so that my family is protected."
Upon this, the Prophet PBUH said, "Hatib has spoken the truth. Nobody should say anything about Hatib anymore except good." But Umar RA was still fuming and said, "Ya Rasulullah, he has betrayed Allah and His Messenger, so allow me to kill him." Note, the first time, Umar RA said he is a munafiq, but the Prophet PBUH said he has spoken the truth, i.e., he has Iman, so now, Umar RA is saying, "He might be a Muslim, but he has done khiyana, i.e., betrayal. So allow me to kill him." This shows us Umar RA first asked to kill Hatib for the crime of ridda (ردة - apostasy), and the second time for the crime of betraying the trust (we will get back to this point later on). So the Prophet PBUH said to Umar, "Did he not witness Badr? And how do you know, O Umar? Perhaps Allah has looked upon all of the people (Muslims) who were at Badr and said, 'Do as you please, for I have forgiven all of you.'" So Umar RA began to cry and said, "Allah and His Messenger know best." At this, Allah SWT revealed Surah al-Mumtahanah (سورة الممتحنة), which begins:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَتَّخِذُوا عَدُوِّي وَعَدُوَّكُمْ أَوْلِيَاءَ تُلْقُونَ إِلَيْهِم بِالْمَوَدَّةِ وَقَدْ كَفَرُوا بِمَا جَاءَكُم مِّنَ الْحَقِّ يُخْرِجُونَ الرَّسُولَ وَإِيَّاكُمْ ۙ أَن تُؤْمِنُوا بِاللَّهِ رَبِّكُمْ إِن كُنتُمْ خَرَجْتُمْ جِهَادًا فِي سَبِيلِي وَابْتِغَاءَ مَرْضَاتِي ۚ تُسِرُّونَ إِلَيْهِم بِالْمَوَدَّةِ وَأَنَا أَعْلَمُ بِمَا أَخْفَيْتُمْ وَمَا أَعْلَنتُمْ ۚ وَمَن يَفْعَلْهُ مِنكُمْ فَقَدْ ضَلَّ سَوَاءَ السَّبِيلِ
"O believers! Do not take My enemies and yours as trusted allies, showing them affection even though they deny what has come to you of the Truth. They drove the Messenger and yourselves out [of Makkah], simply for your belief in Allah, your Lord. If you [truly] emigrated to struggle in My cause and seek My pleasure, [then do not take them as allies,] disclosing secrets [of the believers] to the pagans out of affection for them, when I know best whatever you conceal and whatever you reveal. And whoever of you does this has truly strayed from the Right Way" [Quran, 60:1].So Allah says to Hatib —and through him, to anybody at a later generation—: "O believers! Do not take as allies those who are your enemies and My enemies."
Other than being a participant of Badr, Hatib does not appear at all in the seerah before this except in the Bay'at al-Ridwan. Also, the Prophet PBUH chose him to be the emissary to the Muqawqis, the governor[1] of Egypt in Alexandria. And he died in 30 AH during the khilafa of Uthman RA.
(Just an interesting tidbit: 5-6 generations down, one of Hatib's descendants, Ziyad ibn Abd al-Rahman Shabtun [زياد بن عبد الرحمن شبطون] [d. 193 AH], became one of the main students of Imam Malik. And Ziyad was one of the narrators of the Muwatta of Imam Malik — he was one of those who took the Muwatta to North Africa and spread the Maliki madhhab and the Muwatta there. Two or three of Imam Malik's main students who studied with him directly in Madinah, including Yahya ibn Yahya al-Laythi [يحيى بن يحيى الليثي] [d. 234 AH], also went to North Africa, and Ziyad was one of them at a time when Andalus was opening. And he was a descendant of Hatib. To this day, the madhhab of Imam Malik is the most predominant in North Africa.)
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Benefits From the Story of Hatib ibn Abi Balta'ah RA
Now, this story has so many benefits. Of them:
1. We see the infinite knowledge of Allah SWT, that nothing escapes Allah. We learn this from another hadith as well: In Bukhari: A lady came to the house of the Prophet PBUH to complain about her husband. And Aisha RA says, "Wallahi, I was trying my best to hear what she was saying from behind the curtain, and I heard a phrase and I couldn't hear a phrase, and Allah heard it from above the seven heavens: 'Indeed, Allah has heard the argument of the woman who pleaded with you [O Prophet] concerning her husband, and appealed to Allah. Allah has heard your exchange. Surely Allah is All-Hearing, All-Seeing' [Quran, 58:1]." Subhan'Allah, Aisha RA is saying, "I was in the same room and I couldn't hear, but Allah heard it from above the seven heavens." And in the story of Hatib, we saw that Allah AWJ exposed the plot that nobody would ever have found out about.
2. Du'a is the weapon of the believer. Our Prophet PBUH made a du'a that, "O Allah, do not allow my plans to become known to them [the Quraysh]," and Allah SWT answered this du'a and the plan was not exposed.
3. Look at how Allah worked what He wanted to do. If Allah wanted, a lightning bolt could have struck the woman, the camel would have got lost, etc. But Allah AWJ wants *us* to do as much as we can, and *then* He will do the rest. He SWT wants to see from us our efforts. And then He will take care of the rest. Even when Allah is directly intervening, He still wants us to do work. The Prophet PBUH had to send people, stop the lady, search her, and then bring her back with the letter. Subhan'Allah, this is the sunnah of Allah. Even when He is going to help, we still have to physically exert ourselves and give 100%. And *then* we put our trust in Him.
4. The penalty for treachery and treason is death. And that is clearly shown in Umar's second response, "Ya Rasulullah, he has betrayed us, so let me execute him." And this is the agreed-upon rule that is still applied to this day across the globe. Even in America 70 years ago, a couple —Julius and Ethel Rosenberg— were executed for selling pieces of paper to the Soviet Union. (Side note: So nobody can come and say Islamic laws are barbaric.) The reality is treachery and treason are not an excusable offense at any time or place. Can a treacherous person be forgiven? There is a lot of controversy about this in fiqh books. If a Muslim betrays the trust of the Islamic state, can he be forgiven? Many scholars say no. Ibn al-Qayyim says it's up to the ruler as it was up to the Prophet PBUH; but other scholars argue the Prophet PBUH only forgave because Hatib participated in the Battle of Badr and got the blessing that is specific only to the 313 Badris, and therefore, anyone else will not be excused. The crime of Hatib was only forgiven in light of his participation in the Battle of Badr. So a large group of scholars says there is no forgiveness for a spy; but about one-third say it's up to the khalifa, and Ibn al-Qayyim is of this opinion.
5. The humanity of even the sahaba. A Badri, a person who participated in the greatest battle of Islam, can fall into such a major error. And this gives us so much hope. Why? We are all sinners. And who amongst us can claim to be sinless? If even the sahaba fell into mistakes and errors (and Allah forgave them when they repented) how about us? In fact, Allah AWJ described Hatib's act as "strayed FAR away" [Quran, 60:1], and He SWT did not call him "kafir." He SWT did not strip away his Iman.
6. The forgiving nature of the Prophet PBUH — he defended the life of Hatib and did not allow Umar RA to execute him. Contrastingly, we also see the nature of Umar RA and we understand his sternness. And that sternness was coming out of a love of Islam. That strictness was coming to protect Islam. Umar wanted to make sure no one would do this again. And wallahi, his strictness was a mercy to the ummah when the ummah needed it (i.e., especially during his khilafa). At times, strictness works, but at other times, you need it soft. And Allah gave the ummah Umar RA when they needed strictness. And indeed, it was in the time of Umar RA most of the conquests took place.
7. We judge people based on the sum total of who they are and what they are doing; not just their bad. This is a very important point. You assess overall what people are doing. The righteous person who commits one mistake is not the same as the continuous sinner who makes the same mistake. And there is a hadith that supports this. In Sunan Abi Dawud, the Prophet PBUH basically said, "The people of nobility and status, when they fall into a mistake, cut them some slack." This shows us when a person of stature and nobility has done something positive for the community, if they do something wrong, we should cut them slack and overlook it. We look at the overall positive and negative and never judge only by looking at the negative. This is a common problem in our times: We are blind to the good that people are doing. This includes the good of the scholars, the students of knowledge, and the preachers. It's not possible that they will never make a mistake. After all, a sheikh talks every day of his life. And these days, everything they do gets onto YouTube. And it's impossible that someone who has thousands of hours of talk will be mistake-free. No doubt, some of these mistakes are genuine mistakes; but for someone to go collect these errors, wallahi, is a disease of the heart. Here is a sheikh that has a thousand lectures, and you only find 3 minutes of talk to critique him. This is unfair. Even if those 3 minutes of talk are completely wrong, you have to look at all the good that is done. The sunnah is to look at the good. Hatib is judged in light of who he is, i.e., a Badri.
8. We also see the importance of confirming reports. It's amazing the Prophet PBUH has the letter, and the woman is literally in front of him relaying the story in detail, yet he still calls Hatib and says, "Did you do this?" Think about this. Forget the lady and letter, Jibril AS has told the Prophet PBUH Hatib has done this. Is there any more evidence needed?! Yet the Prophet PBUH still calls Hatib and confirms. Did the Prophet PBUH doubt Hatib did it? Of course not. Jibril AS had told him. Why is he confirming then? To show that you have to always verify and confirm. After Hatib confirms, still he then asks Hatib for an explanation, which shows you have to always give a chance to the other party. Even if he did it, what is his reasoning? And this particularly shows us you cannot pronounce a verdict on someone before hearing his side of the story, even after you have confirmed he has done something. This shows us a major difference between Islamic law and most Western law. By and large, Western law is codified, meaning the judge opens up the book and says you are guilty of X therefore the law mandates you receive Y. The judge has no power (besides fine-tuning, e.g., between $100,000 and $150,000 fine, or between 5 and 7 years jail time) if the jury pronounced a guilty verdict. In Islamic law, the qadhi (قاضي - judge) will look at the human factor. Islamic law, through most of its time, was not canonized. Why? Because people have different reasons for doing crimes, and sometimes the extenuating circumstances truly absolve the liability upon the person. In California, there is a barbaric law of 'three strikes and you're out,' meaning if you do three offenses of any type —major or minor— you will be given life in jail — there are hundreds of cases where the judge himself has said, "I'm sorry. I wish I could help you, but I can't control the law." Back to Hatib: There are extenuating circumstances, so the judge can decide what to do independently.
9. We see the Iman of Hatib ibn Abi Balta'ah RA. When the Prophet PBUH asks him, "Why did you do this?" Hatib does not plead for his life — he is arguing to defend his Iman, not his life. Subhan'Allah, this truly shows us that he was a man of Iman. When Umar RA said, "Let me kill this kafir," what bothered Hatib was NOT the "kill" part, but rather the "kafir/munafiq" part. And Hatib's whole message was, "Ya Rasulullah, I'm still the same person; I am still on Iman; I don't have any desire to become a kafir; I knew Allah would protect you." In fact, most likely, Hatib thought he would be executed and he was resigned to that fate. What he was worried about was being labeled a kafir. The concern was not the sword, the concern was Islam and Iman.
10. We see the softness of Umar RA. Instantly from the anger of wanting to kill Hatib, when the Prophet PBUH says to him, "What do you know, O Umar? Allah looked at the people of Badr and said, 'Do what you want; I have forgiven you,'" that one phrase was enough to reduce the anger of Umar to tears. We tend to view Umar as being a harsh and strict man, but under that hard and tough outer shell was a very soft and tender heart. And Umar RA is crying perhaps because he himself is a Badri and the blessing he has heard has overwhelmed him. Or he is crying because he is saddened at his own overhastiness to kill Hatib when Allah has forgiven him. We don't know the exact reason, but in any case, this one phrase made Umar so emotional.
11. When the Prophet PBUH said, "Nobody should criticize Hatib after today," —and Subhan'Allah, Hatib lived for another 22 years after this— never once did anyone utter against him, "This is the traitor." Once the Prophet PBUH said, "Nobody should criticize Hatib after today," that's it. Imagine what type of leader the Prophet PBUH must have been to have so much respect that for 22 years, and even up until our time, no one criticizes Hatib. Subhan'Allah, what amazing respect the Prophet PBUH has amongst the Muslim ummah. Once he has said this, Hatib's *huge* crime becomes nothing, and we say nothing but good about Hatib RA.
12. The story of Hatib has taken on a huge controversy, especially in modern times, which deals with the status of the Muslim who helps an enemy against other Muslims; the status of a Muslim who helps an enemy that is invading other Muslims. Now, Hatib was excused because the Prophet PBUH himself testified that he is a Muslim, but the question is somebody else who does it — if one helps an invading force, and this force is invading a Muslim land, and this Muslim helps him or is even a part of the army, or maybe works for them —e.g., a computer programmer— what is his status? There is a whole spectrum of opinions, but two are the most important:
a) The first, stricter opinion is that anyone who helps an invading force against a Muslim nation or land, that person has become a kafir by that action. Their primary evidence is:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَتَّخِذُوا الْيَهُودَ وَالنَّصَارَىٰ أَوْلِيَاءَ ۘ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِيَاءُ بَعْضٍ ۚ وَمَن يَتَوَلَّهُم مِّنكُمْ فَإِنَّهُ مِنْهُمْ ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الظَّالِمِينَ
"O believers! Take neither Jews nor Christians as guardians — they are guardians of each other. Whoever does so will be counted as one of them. Surely Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people" [Quran, 5:51].The group of scholars who hold this opinion says therefore anyone who helps an invading force and betrays the Muslims, that action is one of kufr in and of itself, equivalent to worshiping an idol, disrespecting the mus'haf, and cursing Allah and His Messenger. This is the position of many of the medieval scholars, in particular Sh. Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (محمد بن عبد الوهاب) (d. 1792 CE) who wrote the book "Matn Nawaqid al-Islam al-Ashara (متن نواقض الإسلام العشرة - The 10 Things That Negate Islam)," and the 8th on his list is to aid the kuffar against the Muslims. To aid an enemy force against the Muslims destroys Iman. This was also the opinion of the famous Egyptian muhaddith, Sh. Ahmad Muhammad Shakir (أحمد محمد شاكر) (d. 1958 CE) who was alive during the time of the British occupation of Egypt. Indeed, Egypt was invaded by England, and it ruled Egypt for a century or over a century both directly and indirectly; and Sh. Ahmad wrote a fatwa that anyone who helped the British in any fashion or form, even by speech, such a person was a kafir murtad. And he said, "Either such a person is very ignorant —and Allah might excuse him— or he will accept Islam again and repent." This is a harsh position, and it is held by many scholars.
Some among this group separate between two concepts: They say there are levels of cooperation with the opposing army: (i) "tawalli (تولي)" and (ii) "muwala (موالاة)." The higher level "tawalli" would be, for example, to fight with the army or be a spy for them, which would be kufr. The lower level "muwala" is not kufr. And this would be, for example, to sell fruits and vegetables to the army. It's a major sin but not kufr. And again, they say Hatib was a specific case, and you cannot make qiyas (قياس) based on his case; no one else will be forgiven like him. This is the position of many respected scholars, including Sh. Muhammad ibn al-Uthaymeen (محمد بن العثيمين) (d. 2001 CE), Sh. Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz (عبد العزيز بن باز) (d. 1999 CE), et al. This is the standard position of the later Najdi dawah; any type of support to any opposing [non-Muslim] army is kufr akbar (كفر أكبر - major kufr).
b) Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah had another opinion: If a person aids such an army for a personal reason and not a religious reason, it is possible that that is a sin and not a kufr. Now, both groups agree that anyone who aids the enemy of Allah out of a love for the enemy because he is the enemy, and out of a hatred of the Muslims because they are Muslim, this is pure kufr just by the emotions of the heart. If you want the enemy to win over the Muslims simply because these are enemies and these are believers, this is kufr akbar. But what if someone is helping for a personal reason? Ibn Taymiyyah says in his Majmu' al-Fatawa, Volume 7, page 523, "It is possible that a person loves these enemies for family reasons, or for another maslaha (worldly matter). This would be a sin that diminishes Iman, and would not make him a kafir, as what happened to Hatib ibn Abi Balta'ah when he warned the Quraysh about the invasion of the Prophet PBUH, for which Allah revealed Surah al-Mumtahanah." So how does Ibn Taymiyyah view the story of Hatib? That he committed a SIN and not kufr. Why? Because he didn't want to help the Quraysh because he loved them because they were idol worshipers — if so, this would be kufr. But he wanted to help them out of a love for his mother and children. He preferred the love of his children over the privacy of the Prophet's PBUH plans — so this is a major sin, but it is not kufr. And this is what Hatib says in his entire speech, that, "I am still a believer. But I wanted to establish a favor with the Quraysh so that my family and property are protected."
And this issue is especially relevant in our time in light of what is happening in Syria. And Allah knows best.
[Transcribed by Br. Safwan Khan & Faizan]
safwan-khan@hotmail.com
[Revised by Br. Syed Haq & MAR, May 2022]
safwan-khan@hotmail.com
[Revised by Br. Syed Haq & MAR, May 2022]
