 The mysteries of Islam fascinate us time and time again. This is no different from the life story of the Prophet. Who was Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa alihi wasallam? An illiterate dozen merchant who one day stumbled upon amazing Arabic rhetoric. Or was he the creation of Allah's greatest light? Sent down to earth to pull man out of ignorance and bring them to the purest of truths. I Ali Burji am on a journey to discover the real story behind the Prophet, the real story behind our religion, the root, the beginning, the cradle of civilization. Okay, Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Raheem. So yes, doctor, regarding the importance of Abu Talib alaihi s-salam to Islam. Before I come to that, during the extreme suffering, you know, when the Bani Hashim, on that very severe sanction that they had placed against Bani Hashim, and they could see, Quraish, we could see the suffering, they could hear children crying. They thought that it's now time, because there is so much pressure on Abu Talib alaihi s-salam, there is so much suffering going on. They may have come to the end of their patience. And they made him offer again. They made him offer. They said, look, you surrender Muhammad to us for us to deal with him. And we'll make you a king over us. Imagine how desperate they were to get rid of the Holy Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Either meaning that, or Numa liqa alayna, meaning we make you the master over ourselves, that basically we become your slaves. So Quraish made such an offer to Abu Talib alaihi s-salam. And this offer was made to him under extreme circumstances. He needed the slightest help he could get. He needed the slightest food and water to give to his people, to Bani Hashim. But what did the Abu Talib alaihi s-salam do? He rejected, of course. And this also comes to show where unfortunately it is being said a lot of negatives about Abu Talib, which came later on. Yeah, we can go through it later regarding the Benyumaya propaganda against Bani Hashim. But it shows this historical fact even in such a difficult time, Abu Talib would not abandon the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. How could a kafir do that? It makes no logical sense whatsoever. This proves the iman that Abu Talib had that he would sacrifice everything, including his life for us, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Exactly. Of course, all of this false fabrication came afterwards because Quraysh lost everything. They wanted to, they had two objectives, basically. One, to kill the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and secondly was to expel Bani Hashim from Mecca. Get rid of them all once and for all. Okay, expel them so that they don't, and they couldn't do either. So they made this offer to him, they were desperate, and they thought he is at the weakest point. They made this offer to him that he becomes their king, he becomes their owner. They become his slave. Abu Talib sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was having none of that. And he steadfast, he persevered with the hardship until that miracle came. The miracle of that document being destroyed by termites, which we'll talk about. So, if you look at the whole scenario, what happened all these events, until they came out, if you like, free from that embargo, the embargo was lifted. You see that under his leadership, Bani Hashim protected the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and he was playing a pivotal role. If it wasn't for the leadership of Abu Talib alayhi sallam on the clan of Bani Hashim, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam would have been destroyed. He would have been killed easily. So, it proved so critical the protection and the leadership of Abu Talib alayhi sallam during especially these three years. He did all he could, and he succeeded alhamdulillah in protecting the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Every night he was protecting him, he was getting his sons and other devout members of Bani Hashim to sleep in his place. He was changing his place continuously throughout the night. He sleeps one hour here, one hour there, so that in case you have people trying to target him and assassinate him from a distance, during the night, in the darkness of the night, this went on for three years. And the perseverance that he showed, despite all the efforts that, sorry, the offers were being made to him, so the role of Abu Talib alayhi sallam was absolutely critical to the future of Islam. And therefore every single Muslim from then onwards, all of us, and until the day of judgement, we really owe our religion to Abu Talib alayhi sallam. Of course we have hadith from the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi which says, if it wasn't for the wealth of Sayyida Khadija alayhi sallam and the role of the sword of Imam alayhi sallam, Islam wouldn't have been established or erected. The same goes for the role of Abu Talib alayhi sallam throughout the period of mission of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi, especially during the three years of embargo against the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi. So migration, we have Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam sending delegation with the head of it, Jaafar al-Tayyar ibn Abu Talib alayhi sallam. So how did it begin? How, if we can get some information regarding Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi wa sallam, organizing this delegation, preparation of it and all. Yes, given the persecution of the Muslims at the hand of Quraish, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi decided to send a group of them, basically ask them to whoever they wanted, they could go to Ethiopia, which is the Habashat is known in Arabic, in order to save them the hardship that they were facing. And before that, a group of ten in the month of Rajab in the year five after Ba'asa. A group of ten went to Abyssinia, today's Ethiopia, the Habashat, and to, if you like, prepare the ground and they came back within two months. And then the migration of the Muslims, which were more than 80, held by Jaafar al-Tayyar, this was in the month of the Hajj. Of course, this I just went to open between brackets. This issue of migration wasn't limited, it wasn't something new to the Muslims. They used to go, travel to various parts, nominally the Sham or the Rome, which basically by Rome in the Arab language they mean the Byzantine Empire, which is today's Turkey. The Sham, Rome, Yemen, and even Habashat, they used to go there for trades. In fact, this was established by Hashem ibn Abdu-Munaf, which is the great grandfather of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi. He signed a trade agreement with the Caesar of the Byzantine Empire in Ankara. He also signed similar treaties, trade agreement with the rulers of the Levant or the Sham, Syria, if you like, and also the ruler of Yemen and the ruler of Habashat, the Abyssinia, today's Ethiopia. So that being the head of Quraish, he did that on behalf of Quraish and he was of course respected amongst Quraish and was respected by the rulers of other countries. So that the traders of Quraish could go to these countries and do business in safety and legally, according to the permission of the, which has been signed and agreed to previously. So migrating to Abyssinia wasn't something new. Even, for example, Abd al-Muttalib, when the king of Yemen, Abraha, who came to destroy the Kaaba, when he was ruled from power and replaced, someone who replaced him was called Saif bin Diyazan, Abd al-Muttalib went to meet him and to sign new trade agreements with the new king of Yemen. So they were busy doing deals and signing agreements so that they could do business basically. During the summer, they used to go to Sham, for example, to the north. During the winter, they'd go to the south, to Yemen. So this was established by Hashim and it was followed up by Abd al-Muttalib, the son of Hashim. So it was the norm, if you like, for people to go. And the Prophet, as I said before, the main migration took place. He sent a delegation so that they could see and check the grounds and do some preparation. And then the main group of Muslims that went for migration to escape the persecution of Quraish was in the month of the Hajj of the year 5 headed by Ja'far bin Abi Talib Al-Isra. And when Quraish heard about that, such a large number of people went there and they have found safety in Abyssinia. They decided to send two of their top people, if you like, to Abyssinia and to ask the king not to give them refuge. And of course they took with them a lot of gifts and they went there and they gave a lot of gifts to the officials. And then they made a promise so that they could see the king. The king referred to the Negev or the Najashi, as it is said in Arabic, which is the title of the king of Ethiopia, the Negev. And these two people were, one of them was Amr bin Al-Aas and the other one was Amar bin Al-Waleed. And they saw the king and they said, you have given refuge to people from our tribe, if you like. And we want you to send them back. They have revolted against us. They are feeble-minded and we want you to be kind enough to return them. And the officials around the king, they said, yes, they should be returned to them. And the king refused. He said, well, let me listen, let me hear what they have to say. How was the king with regards to his personality? Was he a wise man? He was a Christian. He was a Christian. Was he religious? Was he a wise person? What was his character like? Well, from his conduct, you could see the wisdom that he had. Even though his officials were saying to him that, yes, these people should be sent back, he refused. He said, at least let me hear what they have to say. And they say that the Quraish representatives said that they have abandoned our religion. And even though they come to you, they haven't accepted your religion. They have come up with a new religion. So he said, he sent for them and Ja'far ibn Abi Talib, a.s., he spoke on behalf of the Muslims there. And of course, this narration, one of the most authentic narration is by the authority of Umm Salama, who was amongst his delegation. And Umm Salama would be in the future. Umm Salama was, sorry? She was a lady that her husband, when her husband dies years later after this migration, when they return to Medina, she marries the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. And she is one of the loyal and devout wives of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, as opposed to some others. And this narration, the authenticity of the narration is on the authority of Umm Salama, who was amongst the 80 Muslims. So Ja'far ibn Abi Talib speaks to the Najashi. He says, we used to do all the wrong things. The strong used to oppress the weak. Murder was widespread. We used to worship idols and drink alcohol and do all sorts of harm others, not being kind to the neighbors and do all sorts of wrong things. Allah SWT has dispatched a prophet from us, from amongst us, who calls for the abandonment of idol worshipping. He calls for us to worship only Allah alone and he has no partner and associate. And to be kind to our neighbors, to be kind to the weak. And he prohibits wine or alcohol, he prohibits usury, which we used to take. And he calls for social justice and kindness and compassion amongst ourselves and keeping close bond of relatives between ourselves. So these are the reasons that we abandoned idol worshipping and we followed the prophet and his religion. And because of that our people started persecuting us and we decided, our prophet said to us that there is a just ruler in Abyssinia, in Habashah, who doesn't do oppression or injustice to his people. And that's why we have sought refuge in your land. And he accepted that, he says, fair enough, I mean, if this is what it is, I don't accept the notion that I should abandon these people. They have come to my country, they have sought refuge and I don't see any reason not to give them, given the fact, given the sort of persecution that they have been facing. And he said, Najashi said, what has your prophet brought in terms of... So now he's interested in learning more about the religion of Islam. That's right. And Jafar Ibn Abi Talib, peace be upon him, he recited the first few ayahs verses of the Surah of Maryam and basically it deals with the supplication of, at the beginning it deals with the supplication of Prophet Zakaria who asks Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala to give him a son, even though he was old and his wife was old as well. And Allah said to him that Allah will give you a son called Yahya, John the Baptist, if you like. And then... So he recited these and he was very touched, he touched the king of Abyssinia, the Najashi. He was very touched by this and it says according to this narration that he wept and tears of Najashi flew down his face on his cheek and he said, definitely I'm not going to abandon you and I'm going to leave you, allow you to stay here in this country. And they were very pleased but obviously the representative of Quraish, Amr Ibn Asan, Amar Ibn Wali, they were very upset and one of them said to the other, after the king left, he said we'll ask for another meeting tomorrow and I'll tell them about what they say about Isa, about Isa Ibn Maryam. And he asked for a meeting and he came and said, okay you should address the king and he said to him, you should ask the Muslims what do they believe about Isa Ibn Maryam. So he was trying his best to get the king to dislike the Muslims? Exactly, he was trying to stare at things. Because he thought by them giving the Islamic version of Nabi Isa, Prophet Jesus, he would get insulted. He called the Muslims and Jafar Mura'i Talib came and he said what do you have to say about Isa, Isa Ibn Maryam? He said he was the slave of Allah, his messenger, his word and the spirit of Allah that he bestowed upon Mary, the pure. And Najashi was very impressed by that. He said we worship Allah, he has no partners, he has no associates, and all creation are his creation and we believe he is his messenger. He turned back to the Quraysh Rebs and he said you take your gifts and I assure you that I'm not going to abandon these people and I give them safety in this country. So now we have the Quraysh representatives who have to go back to Mecca and inform Abu Sufyan and the likes of that they failed and now the king of Ethiopia has taken the side of the Muslims. What happens next? So Jafar Ibn Abu Talib, stays in Ethiopia for how long? You've asked a question, we'll address this later on but he stayed in Ethiopia overall if you like the hijra of Jafar Mura'i Talib and the Muslims and particularly Jafar took about 11 years. Eleven? Okay, masha'Allah, plenty of time. Yes, I'll come back to this to see what was the role of Jafar Ibn Abu Talib. Also I wanted to learn more about the influence of the Muslims in Ethiopia. Was Islam spread from their own? I wanted to learn more. What was their influence? Did they have an effect in the land? Did people show interest to Islam? Certainly, that was in fact Jafar Ibn Abu Talib. He stayed in Ethiopia, his main role other than the first initial escape from the persecution was to promote Islam, to invite people to Islam. And in fact, now that you've asked this question, I was going to talk about something else but in fact, what happened during his stay in Abyssinia, in the Habashah, on a number of occasions, Jafar Ibn Abu Talib came along with a delegation of priests and bishops from Abyssinia to visit the Prophet in Mecca. And of course, Oresh was very angry, this was a huge challenge to them, to their authority that Jafar comes and they can't do anything to him, they wouldn't dare do anything to him because in the presence of 30 or 40 priests and bishops from the Kingdom of Najashi, they have to behave. Otherwise, it would be very bad for their reputation. Sanctions could follow. Still, they had trade links with Najashi, they still have trade with Yemen. So, they had to keep him happy. So, they could not show the true colours basically. They couldn't do any harm to him. And in fact, he used to bring delegations of officials, priests and bishops and so on. They used to come and talk, they used to meet the Prophet, in fact, they used to meet in the mosque. They used to meet in the mosque and listen to the Prophet. And the Prophet used to have a dialogue with them, discuss and various issues and whatever questions they had, he used to answer. He used to recite the Quran to them or present the Quran to them. And in majority of cases, people either there on the spot used to embrace Islam or when they went back. So, this was the mission of the, if you like, the second mission or the second aim of the mission of the migration that they could work on the king and on the officials there and on the people there. And in fact, this worked. And we have hadith from the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, who says that Ja'far ibn Abi Talib, a.s. He is engaged in jihad in the land of Habash. He is engaged in jihad for Allah. Doing jihad for Allah in the land of Abyssinia. By jihad means tabligh. By jihad means tabligh, not struggle. He was conveying the teachings of Islam to them, the message of Islam to them and inviting them to embrace Islam, in which he was very successful. And if you like, he planted the seeds of, if you like, most of Africa or the entire of North Africa becoming Muslim, it starts from there, there and then, from the efforts of Ja'far ibn Tayyali. And again, you see the importance of Bani Hashem, the children of Abu Talib alayhi wa sallam, how they struggled and they dedicated their lives towards Islam. More and more people from Abyssinia were coming to learn more from the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi and become Muslim. And therefore, spreading the message of Islam beyond the seas, this was too much for them. They decided that they have to do more. It was a decision that they have to kill the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.