 فهذا يجب أن يقوموا إلى قراءة كن ، قراءة جميلة ، كما يجب أن يقوموا إلى قراءة نيدي ، ويجب أن يكون هناك قراءة جميلة هذا سيكون best for those who see God's very pleasure and it is they who surely prosper الحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على سيدنا وعظيمنا وحبيب قلوبنا وشفيع نفوسنا أب القاسم محمد وعلى أهل بيته الطيبين الطاهرين واصحابه الغر الميامين الحمد لله الذي جعلنا من المتمسكين بولاية سيد ومولاية علي بن أبي طالب الحمد لله الذي هدانا لهذا وما كنا لنحتدي لو لا أن هدانا الله أما بعد يقول الله في كتابه الكريم بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم قل لا أسألكم عليه أجرن إلا المودة في القربة the first of the b'a'u w'alawth صلوات إنه رسول الله محمد صلى الله عليه و آله وسلم the second of the b'a'u w'amir المؤمنين علي بن أبي طالب the third of the b'a'u w'alawth's voices is in honor of the Imam of our time Imam صاحب العصر والزمان there is a request for the brothers to come as close to the front as possible صلى الله عليه و آله و آله محمد respected scholars brothers and sisters السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته the holy prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه و آله وسلم was born in the year 570 known as the year of the elephant he occupies a prominent position within the religion of Islam as revered as the greatest personality within the religion a man whose life has to be examined in depth for there are many lessons to be learned and indeed many examples to be derived and indeed a man whose biography has been unfortunately very much undervalued and indeed very much underestimated therefore it is vital that we discuss his biography on the day that he was born until the day he died in order that we are able to number one take as many practical lessons from his life and apply them into our own lives and then number two remove any misconceptions that surround his biography for there was a period in medieval Europe when he was seen as being the devil incarnate or he was seen as being the false messiah or he was seen as being the anti Christ and therefore there is a need for us to dissect the biography in order that we present him in his true light as a mercy for mankind and a moral exemplar to everyone as we said he was born in the year 570 known as the year of the elephant the Arabs did not have a calendar dating system as such the Arabs what they used to do they used to look at what was the important event in that particular year and then give the name towards the year as in for example if there was a famous personality who died they would name the year after that personality or if there was a war that took place they would name for example the year after that war the year within which the prophet was born was called عام الفيل the year of the elephant because of an incident that took place involving an army of elephants because what you had at the time you had within Arabia people who used to go and visit the Ka'ba in Yemen there was a church which was built by an Ethiopian man by the name of أبراح mark the words Ethiopian because أبراح's نيس is بلال الحبشي's mother أبراح's نيس later on when she's caught as a prisoner she gets married within one of the Arabian tribes and she gives birth to a son by the name of بلال hence when بلال is known as the people of حبش it's because his mother's uncle was this أبراح who was an Ethiopian but was the governor of Yemen أبراح had always been envious of the fact that there were people who would go towards the Ka'ba but not come towards his church in Yemen he had tried to send emissaries and ambassadors to go towards the Ka'ba and to try and tell the Arabs that listen leave your place of worship because your place has been polluted originally you are people of أبراح but now you worship idols it's better that all of you come to my church in Yemen and make my church the main center of the area when he had sent one of his emissaries when he noticed that the emissaries were not successful the narrations tell us that he decided it's better for him to take his army and march into the Ka'ba and to take an army of elephants hence within the religion of Islam you have a chapter called صورة الفيل chapter 105 of the Quran and the chapter begins بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم ألم ترى كيف فعل ربك بأصحاب الفيل have you not seen how your Lord dealt with the people of the elephant because when أبراح came he came with elephants and there was only a few elephants that he bought but as we know elephants are of a size that there only needs to be a few for them to capture your attention when he came towards Arabia he came with these elephants and there were people who definitely were scared that's why the main person who counteracted him was who was عبد المطالب the grandfather of the Prophet عبد المطالب told the people number one go and hide in the desert hills so they went to hide in the desert hills then عبد المطالب was chosen by the people to go and meet أبراح notice from the beginning of the biography of the Prophet we see that the line of Abraham through إسماعيل is still looking after the birthplace of إسماعيل yesterday we said in Genesis chapter 17 verse 18 to 20 God promised Abraham that in the line of إسماعيل there will be 12 princes who are part of a fruitful generation عبد المطالب what did he do عبد المطالب at this moment came to Abraham he entered Abraham's tent Abraham was sitting down when he entered the tent Abraham looked at him he saw quite an imposing figure he then said to him sit down and he said to him what is it that you want he said I want my camels he said sorry he said I want my camels you took my camels I want my camels to return back to me he looked at him and he said you know when you entered my tent I had a lot of respect for you but now I've lost all that respect عبد المطالب said why he said when you entered my tent I thought this is a man who will want his black cube known as the Kaaba protected instead all you want is the camels he said that house has a lord for its own to protect it and I am the protector of my lot of camels I want my 200 camels being given back to me he said to him get out get out there's no agreement between us عبد المطالب came back a second time to try and persuade him again Abraham wouldn't agree Abraham decided he'll take his elephant and most of the narrations indicate another 6 or 7 elephants they marched towards the Kaaba they marched towards the Kaaba and the Quran put it quite beautifully and the Quran said لم ترى كيف فعل ربك بصحاب الفيل ألم يجعل كيدهم بتبغيل و أرسل عليهم طيرا أبابيل ترميهم you all see that what Allah سبحانه وتعالى what did he do he ensured that if you plan and I plan I'm the greatest of planners who are coming they were ready to bring their victory the narration stayed very clearly that some birds with these stones pelted them until the opposition army was defeated in other words رسول الله the year that he was born the Arabs hadn't begun the hijra calendar we know the hijra calendar begun after what the hijra calendar after the prophet migrated from Mecca to Medina then you had one AH, two AH three AH, four AH before that what did you have years according to incidents so the date of his birth is different on between the different schools in Islam our brothers in other schools celebrate his birth on the 12th of ربيع الأول we celebrate his birth on the 17th of ربيع الأول it is vital that this isn't a cause of friction between us why سيد الخماني من الله bless his soul used to stress on this week being a week of unity between Muslims because all of us are sharing a common denominator and that is the life of our prophet it should be a case where on the 12th of ربيع الأول our mosques go or our imams go to the mosques of our brothers and celebrate with them and on the 17th our brothers are welcomed into our mosques to celebrate with us there is a difference of opinion and in the historical research you'll find I think bar in خليني most of the others will say that he was born on the 17th of ربيع الأول it wasn't an easy first few years for him imagine in your first few years your father passes away according to some narrations only a few months into his life his father عبد الله passes away and therefore رسول الله has born an orphan hence the Quran saying ألم نجد كرياتي من فاوة when the Quran says ألم يجد كرياتي من فاوة what does it mean means did we not find you an orphan the prophet when he was born was born an orphan his mother آمينة was alive but his father عبد الله had passed away and his mother آمينة did what most Arabs do to their babies at the time if you were of the noble aristocracy of مكة what would you do to your baby after 8 days of the birth of your baby the Meccan aristocrats would take their babies to the desert so that their babies are suckled and breastfed by a wet nurse in the desert someone asks why as an آمينة is his mother why can't she suckle him why does she have to take him to the desert there were a number of reasons the Arabs would take their babies to the deserts and especially the aristocrats if you were poor it wasn't that easy but if you were an aristocrat you take your baby to the desert for a number of reasons and please understand these reasons because they have a major role in the upbringing and the psyche of the Prophet the first reason it allows you to grow up in an environment where you are independent and you are a free thinker for the first few years of your life what do we mean we mean in the desert there isn't buildings and there isn't all of these forests surrounding you and lots of humans and shops and markets and trade in the desert it's open you can sit there and look at the creation and reflect upon your own creation reflect upon your own meaning in life reflect upon your own role the Arabs who would send their babies to have their first 8 or 10 years in the desert would want that baby to be living in a world where they grow up as a child who is not told what to think but is rather shown how to think the first reason they take him there is that the second reason is because Mecca's climate wasn't a healthy climate for children both in terms of what they saw and what they breathed imagine you're a child growing up in a climate where you see baby girls being buried alive is that a good start to your life or you see people performing power of the Ka'bah the Ka'bah naked the Arabs used to go around the Ka'bah and the Ka'bah naked because they said God created us free so there's no need for clothes clothes are impure let's go and circumambulate his house like how he created us completely in the nude the Prophet, his mother Amna wanted him to be growing up where grow up in the desert so he doesn't see this because Mecca's wind and air as I said it was hot it was unhealthy there were pests and epidemics so his mother Amna did what she made sure that he was sent there the first lady to have breastfed him and their most narration say too the first one and both of them were chosen by who? by Abdul Muttalib's grandfather the first one to have breastfed him was Thwaiba the servant of his uncle Abu Lahab remember Abu Lahab before the Prophet announced his prophethood used to love the Prophet because he used to see him as his younger brother's son Abdullah his Abu Lahab's younger brother isn't he so he used to see him as his younger brother's son so first Amna asked Abdul Muttalib Abdul Muttalib said Thwaiba Thwaiba also suckled Hamza because Rasool Allah and Hamza's ages are very similar and that's why when Rasool Allah was one day told to marry Hamza's daughter he said we cannot because in Islamic law we suckled from the same wetness then number two Abdul Muttalib chose who? he chose Halima Sa'diyah Halima Sa'diyah was a pious God fearing lady Abdul Muttalib chose her as the one who would suckle the Prophet and she herself would say that I saw vast riches and goodness affect my life the moment I started to suckle the Prophet some narrations in Islamic history try and tell us that when the Prophet was with Halima as a two-year-old he remembered mark the words he remembered it's quite interesting as a two-year-old he remembered he was sitting down one day two men came opened his chest gave him a heart transplant because there was the black dot of shaitan on his heart then put a new heart in and that was the pure Muhammad after that day we of course differ with this idea as a number one if I have the dot of shaitan it's not on my physical heart the dot of shaitan is meant to be on my nefs so I don't need the heart change number two the Prophet was born with this purity he did not need people to come and open him up have an operation and then move on for the Quran would later say ألم نشرح لك صدرك we are the ones who expanded that breast which was able to take in knowledge therefore some narrations try to say Halima saw this in the Prophet we differ with this Halima twice went back to Amina the mother of the Prophet and said to him do you want to take him back in Mecca Amina twice replied back to her and Halima keep him there because I see diseases and epidemics which will affect him and therefore some people ask the question if God loves Muhammad so much why let him have such a difficult beginning as an orphan as in why doesn't God allow him to have a natural beginning like everybody else a father and a mother when the Imam was asked this question he replied God wanted to ensure nobody protected and brought up Muhammad but himself he wanted to oversee that the Prophet would not show obedience to anybody even from his early life except himself sometimes your parents may swear you one way or the other even though his parents were loyal believers in God's message the Imam said he wanted that God is the one who oversaw his development therefore you find from a young age his father dies then his mother dies then after that what after that his grandfather عبد المطالب looks after him his grandfather dies within a couple of years then he is brought up by his uncle Abu Talib his uncle Abu Talib عكس the backbone not only to him but to the message of the religion of Islam that that uncle Abu Talib preferred his nephew even above his sons and his wife فارط محمد أسد was exactly the same his wife فارط محمد أسد when the Prophet buried her he said this is my mother this is the lady who preferred me above her sons this is the lady who used to clothe me and wash me and look after me and she is the one who nourished me you notice that these were the two looked after him and that's why the Prophet from a young age there is a certain question that is asked what do we know about him before the age of 40 because in a few moments we'll look at him from after the age of 40 but before the age of 40 if you were to ask many Muslims tell us about your Prophet before the age of 40 many are unaware of his biography you notice that before the age of 40 when Abu Talib was bringing up Abu Talib the Prophet would latch on to him everywhere to the extent that Abu Talib himself narrates one day I was about to leave for Syria on a commercial expedition the young Muhammad was only 12 he latched on to me as I was leaving when he latched on to me it hurt me that this my nephew was an orphan let me take him with me the narration state that he took him towards Syria on the way towards Syria they walked past a monastery the monk when he sees these people coming they say to him we are coming here to reside for the night the monk looks at them what does he say the monk says to Abu Talib all of you can come and are welcome to eat what you want to eat but Abu Talib I want to ask you a question he said what is it he said you know that young man was walking alongside you bring him tomorrow with you as well Abu Talib said very well bring him tomorrow the next day when Abu Talib came he looked at him and he said to him where is the young man that young man who was walking alongside you he said my nephew he said yes he said he is just over there he said call him towards me at the age of 12 and this is one of our proofs within Islamic theology that from a young age he was already inspired with the knowledge of God and the knowledge of his mission at the age of 40 it's not that he became a prophet it's that he was now told to announce his prophethood before that he knew because when that monk comes and he sees him he says to him in the name of Allah as soon as the prophet heard this he said to him do not bring those names in front of me those are the most detested names to me they were the idols of Quraish then the monk said I want to give you some Sadaqa he said we do not accept Sadaqa then he said to him can I see the mark between your shoulders he allowed him to see the mark between the shoulders he looked at Abu Talib he said Abu Talib if you did not know already because Abu Talib is already knowing if you did not know already then know that this young man is what know that this young man is the prophet who Jesus spoke about and who Moses spoke about and beware of the enemies that he's going to face and he at that moment said to him Abu Talib said how did you know he said forget these signs when you were walking and Muhammad was next to you I saw every tree bound down after Muhammad left it therefore what do you have you have from a young age at the age of 12 but even after the age of 12 there is this innate love for justice and removal of oppression in which way one of the greatest incidents in his young age was at the age of 20 and years later he would always refer back to this at the age of 20 he refers to when he joined and formed a group called حلف الفضول حلف الفضول what was it in Arabia many people would come for the markets when they'd come from the markets they'd come from outside the market area when they'd come from outside the market area the narration state they'd come from outside the market area and they'd bring their goods and the people of Arabia would buy one of these people came from بنو زوبيد or some say بنو زبيد he came to sell some of his goods to العاس ابن وائل بفاضة عمر when he sold his goods he said to the فاضة عمر he said العاس give me my money he replied back to him by saying which money he said you've just taken my goods I want my money back he said there's no money for you and you're a stranger in our land you're not going to get your money back and I'm one of the aristocrats of Arabia so you might as well forget about it this person what did he do he was so enraged he went on one of the mountains in Arabia and he said all people of Arabia I have come as a stranger to your land and I have been involved in a business transaction and none of you have sought to help me when this man has taken my rights at least one of you speak up a 20 year old called محمد speaks up for him he gets up and he says it is unjust for us to be like this with a person who is a guest in our location and secondly in a business transaction how can we be unjust when the goods have been sold let us form a league which looks after the rights of business employees and let us form a league which protects transactions within the Arabian state how old was he remember he wasn't old he was 20 there is still no announcement of his prophethood but from that young age the first time people noticed of him a man who speaks out against injustice we in 2011 the first example we take of him how many of us speak out against injustice be it the injustice against Muslims or non Muslims our prophet didn't look at that man and say well that man is not a Muslim so I'm not going to speak up was right whenever we see any oppression anywhere in the world we must speak out against that oppression because our prophet from his young age thought us this this is number one number two not only at the age of 20 did he achieve this later on he achieved two attributes which the Arabs would honor him for they gave him the title أصادق and الأمين the truthful and the trustworthy noticed that the Arabs didn't know he was a prophet nor did they receive any book from him but they were concerned with his ethics as a human being when the Kaaba was affected by a flood the Kaaba was damaged they needed to put back حجر الأسود do you know the black stone in the Kaaba they needed to put back حجر الأسود into the Kaaba the Arabs had a fight with each other and unfortunately some of these Arabs were fighting a bit too easily the Arabs had a fight with each other and amongst the fights that they had was this one who puts حجر الأسود back in its position one tribe said we should put it back another says we should put it back a third says we should put it back a fourth says we they said okay let's do this the man who walks in next into this meeting he will be the one who chooses which tribe puts it back as soon as he walked in they didn't say محمد has walked in they said أصادق الأمين has walked in the focus wasn't on the name the focus was the man today in Islam there is too much focus on names and not morals when he began his mission before he began you can't just come out in front of people and say people I am a prophet follow me no you need to have attributes where for 40 years no one can find a black dot on you a human being has a funny way about themselves do you know what we do as humans if you give us a white piece of paper and there's a black dot in the middle and you ask us what's on that paper we'll say a black dot none of us will focus on the white will we we love to focus on the dot even if there is so much white about someone's character all we can remember is the black dot whereas the prophet did not allow them to point at one black dot صادق أمين when he therefore came to announce his prophethood he came to them and used this he said did you not call me a صادق did you not call me an ameen when Hajar was to be placed was I not the one who said oh four tribes why do you fight each other one of you hold one part of the cloth another holds a second a third holds a third a fourth holds a fourth carry Hajar all four of you and I'll pick it up from you and I'll place it when he announced his prophethood at the age of 40 the question arises what was the aim of his prophethood the aim was nothing more but allowing mankind to meditate and reflect on their existence in order that after meditation and reflection mankind not only had respect for themselves but they had respect for other creations of God as well that's it we made our prophets religion complicated whereas his mission from the beginning was a mission which was simple Arabians were in Jahlia if any society is stagnant it means it's a society which doesn't reflect and when the human doesn't reflect then he's the cause of a virus in his society when the prophet began his mission then he began by saying all of you pray now did he say all of you شعر مضان fast fast all of you keep a bed all of you he began first by saying mankind reflect on your existence have an hour of reflection it's greater than 70 years of dry worship today's Islam is too dogmatic it is too focused on حلال حرام حلال حرام حلال حرام واجب مقروع حلال حرام you're looking at them and you say this is what Muhammad bought no the prophet began his mission and the first part of the mission was what a true human is one who is reflecting on their role in this world the moment they reflect everything else will fall into place today's Muslims we focus on the jigsaw pieces we forgot on the puzzle notice مقداد what does he say he says those early days in Islam what were we doing he says in those early days in Islam I heard the prophet through for example one hadith saying I heard the prophet saying an hour of reflection is greater than a year of worship and then I heard Ibn Abbas say the prophet said an hour of reflection is greater than 7 years of worship then I heard another companion say an hour of reflection is greater than 70 years of worship so I said I'm going to go to the prophet and ask him how in one hadith are you telling the people an hour of reflection is greater than a year in a second you're saying an hour of reflection is greater than 7 years of worship in a third you're saying an hour of reflection is greater than 70 years of worship when he told the prophet the prophet said مقداد come with me let's ask the first person they ask the first person how do you reflect he said I look at the creations of the heavens and the earth and I think to myself these cannot have come by an accident the prophet said his one hour of reflection is greater than a year of worship then they went to the second they said to him how do you reflect he replied by saying what I think about the day of judgment and the questions I'm going to be asked about what I did in public but what I did in private as well رسول said his one hour of worship is greater than 7 years of worship his one hour is greater than 7 years of worship then he went to the third how do you reflect the third said I'm going to be very frank with you I think about hellfire and I get scared his one hour of reflection is greater than 70 years of worship because the moment you think about that it will make you change your ways quite quickly the origin of the religion was what the prophet began first by saying one hour of reflection in this religion is greater than 70 years of dry worship you can fast and pray and fast and pray and fast and pray but if you fast for 30 days in the year but the other 335 you're not reflecting on your life on your role on your meaning on your objectives then you haven't understood the true message of the religion of Islam then after that the moment you reflect on your creation that you were one day insignificant you weren't worth mentioning you came from something where if you look at it you are disgusted then you'll look around those around you and you'll say if I am so low then why am I so arrogant to those who are around me that's why when he began his mission first at the age of 40 he asked people to reflect on their existence then he said now that you've reflected the first area I want you to remove is the area of racism in your society why? because he knew when the human reflects there'll never be a racist human being because what am I? yes because I'm a certain color I'm better than another human no we were both sons of Adam created from dust you found that the first part of his biography was he spoke out against racism of any type as in how did Bilal come to Islam Bilal came to Islam when one day he saw Ammar ibn Yasir was captured when Ammar ibn Yasir was captured the early aristocrats of Quraish looked at Ammar and they said to Ammar or Ammar are you the one who's trying to come forward and you're trying to say that Muhammad's religion is the one we should follow Ammar said yes he said explain to me Muhammad's religion they replied by he replied by saying the prophet took of one God and that God is one who is merciful to his creation he is giving them free will and that that God has a day of judgment where we will judge us but he will not judge us on our race he'll judge us on our consciousness of his presence Bilal was standing there he was a slave at that moment Bilal one of the people said Bilal torture Ammar Bilal said no he said what? Bilal you black slave torture Ammar he said no how dare you Bilal we brought you up torture he said I have never heard of a message where there is a religion where a man with my skin complexion is protected where a man of my skin complexion is honored notice here that Bilal when he came towards Islam it's because number one there was the avenue of reflection by the prophet he allowed the religion to be intellectually spread not emotionally intellectually there was a spread when Bilal heard this Bilal would later on the prophet would destroy any area of racism how? he would come forward and say when he reached Madina later on the prophet would come forward and say that I want someone to call for prayer the people came forward and they said who is it that you're going to call? he said Bilal go up and recite the Adhan in one step he destroyed racism right from the beginning therefore number one racism رسول الله thought that that is to be destroyed from the beginning of his message number two not only do you respect people of different races learn to respect people of different religions because in the early years of his prophethood his companions were being tortured so the prophet came to Jaafar Ibn Abu Talib Jaafar the son of Abu Talib he said to him Jaafar go to Abyssinia leave with the companions Jaafar said to him where shall we go and why he said Jaafar go to Abyssinia because you will meet a christian priest notice the message on the first level he wants to remove racism you respect other humans then number two respect people of other religions if their principles are the same as ours then they are closer to us than people of our religion who are hypocrites with our principles Jaafar goes to Abyssinia and he meets the christian priest عمر ابن العاس is alongside Jaafar when Jaafar comes the Abyssinian priest says to عمر ابن العاس who are these people Jaafar replies by saying what he replies by saying we are people who believe in all the prophets and the final prophet of God who spoke about Jesus son of Mary when the priest heard this he said what does your book say about Jesus son of Mary he said our book says that Jesus son of Mary was born from a virgin birth and a chapter is named after his mother Maryan this Abyssinian priest the prophet could have easily said but he is a christian and they believe in crucifixion and we don't believe in crucifixion no he is a fellow believer in God and there is more in common between us than there are differences notice the attitude at the beginning of the religion it wasn't an attitude like some Muslims today where they don't look at another human being as a fellow member of humanity rather they look at them as disbelievers the early message was what number one no racism number two respect people of other religions because those people have principles which we preach and understand and that's why Jaafar because of this was allowed to stay in Abyssinia and build the early Muslim community in Africa that was number two number three in the early years in Mecca he noticed not only respect other humans not only respect other religions respect the other gender as human beings because these girls were being buried alive the prophet was noticing that these people had no morals they were taking the girls even someone like Omar ibn al-Khattab himself narrates Omar ibn al-Khattab narrates that in the days of Jaheliyah before Islam came we used to bury our daughters alive he says there are two things one of them makes me cry and one of them makes me laugh he said the one that makes me laugh is that we used to worship a God made out of dates they made an idol made out of dates you know dates what you mean and he says we used to worship it but when nobody is looking we take a date and we eat it by the end of worship that God was dead then he says that used to make me laugh then he says there was an area which made me cry when I used to bury my daughter alive says my daughter held on to my beard as I was burying her but I got the spade and I hit her and I buried her alive Rasoolallah the prophet would notice if I've come to this society I first told them to reflect they've begun to reflect first let them respect fellow nations and not be racist second let them be tolerant of other religions thirdly let them respect the role of the woman in society because if I give the rights to the woman then we'll have great nations notice what he does first the woman is not to be buried alive second the woman is to inherit and not be inherited in the past woman would be inherited the prophet comes and says she has the right of inheritance number three a dowry is to belong to the woman in the days of Arabian jahlia the dowry goes to the father of the girl not the girl when he came he said the dowry goes to the girl herself number four heaven lies underneath the feet of a woman lies underneath the feet of the mother when the prophet one day a Jewish young man becomes Muslim he comes to the prophet he says oh prophet of God my mother is Jewish but I'm a Muslim how do I treat her now that I've become a Muslim the prophet said you treat her better than you used to treat her before he went home he started doing all the chores his mother looked at him she said ever since you became a Muslim you behave like this why he said my prophet tells me heaven lies under your feet she said if this is what the prophet preaches then I want to join the religion of this prophet that was then number four then number five as part of his moral system even though his enemies would respect him in the idea that many of them would keep their trust with him on the night that he left Mecca 13 years he was in Mecca 10 years he was in Medina on the night that he left Mecca he left Ali ibn Abi Talib behind to sleep in his bed was that the only role of Ali ibn Abi Talib no Ali ibn Abi Talib in a second role or Ali after you have left my bed the next day return the trust of my enemies that they entrusted with me imagine the enemies of Quraish would say to the prophet Muhammad we don't believe in you we hate you we think you're crazy do you mind looking after our gold necklace for us because it was an ethical trait where even though the person is my enemy I as a prophet of God have not come to make enemies if I can show that I am trustworthy let my enemies deposit with me therefore after Mecca 13 years he moved on to Medina and the fifth important area when he left after 13 years at the age of 53 when he went to Medina when they fought him in his battles many people would come and say Muhammad spread his religion by the sword whereas the reality is those battles that occurred were defensive battles and they were not offensive if they were offensive then you could say that he spread the religion by the sword whereas on the country they were what they were defensive battles were they defensive battles to protect Muslims only no the Quran came forward in chapter 22 verse 39 to 40 saying what were it not for us telling our prophet to come out and protect himself there would not be a single church synagogue or mosque in existence in Arabia I ask you if this prophet came to spread his religion by the sword why is the Quran talking about churches and synagogues chapter 22 verse 39 to 40 were it not for our prophet defending himself there wouldn't be a single church synagogue or mosque the reason is Islam was trying to say when we are defending ourselves in Medina we are looking to defend every single area of worship which says there is only one God it's not just for us the Quran would come with a statement say oh people of the book قل يا أهل الكتاب تعالوا oh people of the book oh Jews or Christians come we don't want to fight you Muhammad's original message was we don't want to fight the people of the book oh people of the book come to a joint word between us and you chapter 3 verse 64 that we will only worship one God we will not put partners to God and we will not take law-givers besides God after those early battles you even notice a focus in his message on education that after the battle of bedev when he takes those prisoners some of his companions say to him quite recklessly let's kill them he says no let's treat them with the best of treatment and let's say to them something they say what is it he says we will ransom them if they teach 10 of our people how to read and write from the beginning it was a message in Medina on a focus on education seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave today's Muslims seek knowledge from the cradle to marriage after that become lazy seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave read until the final moments of your life the value of a believer is what? is there knowledge? is there wisdom? you notice what does he do? he doesn't want the prisoners tortured no if you can teach reading and writing then these are the basis of a great society then after that in establishing himself as the head of the state in Medina does he say the Jews should be kicked out or the Christians should be kicked out when he forms a constitution called the constitution of Medina the Jews will worship in their synagogues the Christians will worship in their churches and the Muslims will worship in their mosques there is nothing wrong with having a society of multi-religious dimensions and even after that in Medina when he is ordered by his lord to go to Mecca he hasn't returned to Mecca since he was expelled when he returns to Mecca his companions say let's go back and fight those Meccans he says no we will conduct a peace treaty with them his companions say to him what do you mean peace treaty? surely it is our chance to destroy these people's lives to finish them like they tortured us like they finished us they killed us the Prophet said no let's have a peace treaty with them and allow them to be opened up to the mercy of the religion of Islam and that's why do you know when the Prophet opened Mecca he taught us an ethical lesson like the ethics of removing racism like the ethics of respecting other religions like the ethics of respecting the other gender he taught us the ethical lesson by the name of forgiveness many Muslims find it hard to forgive today a person who wrongs me or a person I see committing wrong I find it hard to forgive them you tell them but the years have gone maybe the person changed maybe the person repented no I saw the person do this or the person said this and I'll never forgive them whereas their Prophet was the most forgiving of men when Mecca was opened there were two men who came towards him who he forgave who me and you would never forgive the first of them was Wahshi the man who mutilated the body of his uncle Hamza imagine your uncle who bought you up alongside Abu Talib you saw his body mutilated by this man to the extent do you know what Hind the mother of Muawiya did she cut so many pieces of Hamza's body she made a necklace for herself and this Wahshi ripped Hamza's chest apart when Mecca was opened Wahshi Abu Sufyan Hind people like Habbar ibn al-Aswad they thought to themselves we're never gonna get forgiven by Muhammad Muhammad's gonna enter Mecca and he's gonna execute us for what we did Wahshi and Habbar said but we're here Muhammad Zaman of Mercy and that his religion is merciful and forgiving he came to perfect the akhlaq of man I have come to perfect the morals of mankind so they said let us go and approach him Wahshi went to him when Wahshi came he said oh Prophet of God forgive me I was in the days of ignorance I didn't know about the message of Islam I heard rumors but it weren't true oh Prophet of God forgive me for what has happened and the reply was oh Wahshi you are forgiven now leave this area then Habbar ibn al-Aswad came do you know what Habbar ibn al-Aswad did the Prophet one of his daughters or in some narration step daughter Zainab she was pregnant she was meant to go towards Medina and Habbar wanted her to miscarry so on her way towards Medina he came and scared her in a way where she ended up miscarrying her child when the Prophet heard this he was saddened when he opened Mecca Habbar came and he said oh Prophet of God I am the cause of the miscarriage of your grandchild I scared your daughter in a way where I caused her to miscarry her child but I was ignorant they deceived me about your behavior and your character when I see you now I see a man of morals please allow me to be forgiven the Prophet if it was me and you and someone hurt us in this way would we forgive them ask them do we forgive them ask yourself as Muslims today how forgiving are we of our brothers our sisters our aunties our uncles our grandparents our cousins whereas our Prophet came and taught even this man who caused my daughter to miscarry he told him you are forgiven by Allah do not worry over what you have done and that's why his focus would also be that the basis of a great community is all of these ethics of tolerance and patience and forgiveness especially patience you think as Muslims today we have to be patient we take it from him some of us have to be patient in our marriages some of us have to be patient with our children you find he had to be patient with his marriages and with his children with his marriages would you believe he had married a lady by the name of Shamba this Shamba when she saw his son Ibrahim die we know he had Qasim Abdullah Bahir and Ibrahim you know when she saw his son Ibrahim die she was his wife she saw his son die she looked at him she said if you are really a prophet of God God would not have caused your son to die I am leaving you and she left do you know how many times she saw his son die she looked at him she said if you are really a prophet of God do you know how much patience you have to have when you are married to someone and they talk like that to you for you to tolerate but he was patient he had another wife by the name of Malika this Malika heard some people say your dad the cause of his death was Muhammad she said take all your possessions she left sometimes in our lives we say look what we face your prophet had to face more your own prophet had to face more but he used to say patience is to faith like the head is to the body there can be no body without a head and there can be no faith without patience even he had to see a loss of his children his son Ibrahim died his son Qasim died his son Abdullah died some of us today say how comes our children died how comes my friend's children died when we say Rasool Allah is an usw and examples because everything that we face the prophet faced in his life as well and that's why before he died he did what any great leader will do he made it clear to his people but even though I am dying I will first ensure that I leave behind guidance for you he left behind guidance on the day of Ghadir when he raised the hand of Ali and he made it clear to the people that I will never leave this world without ensuring that there is a guide for you who continues to protect the message in the way I gave you the message but his final act was a true act of charity his final act was in Islam causing a smile for a fellow human is an act of charity when his daughter Fatima came towards him when he was dying there is a narration which states that first she cried then she smiled in this one act the prophet was showing us that from the beginning of my life until the end ethics and morality was the message of my biography when Fatima turned around they said to Fatima you cried and you laughed she said I cried because he told me he is about to pass away but then I smiled because he told me I will be the first of his family to join him notice from the beginning until the end the man was a man who bought a smile into the life of humanity and left with a smile and that's why until today is a conclusion it's not only Islam that respects him but others Guru Nanak believed Muhammad was an agent of Brahman you find for example that somebody like the Christians the Latter Day Saints say although we do not believe in him as a prophet we say he was a moral exemplar to mankind and no better words than the words of Gandhi when he said it is impossible that millions are attracted to this man because of his sword no it's not his sword it was his pledges which he kept and his simplicity in his life and his devotion to his family and friends that made this man the man that he was Gandhi then said I was saddened when the second volume of his biography I finished reading because I wished I had learnt more about this man a man who there is none like a man like Muhammad صلى الله عليه و سلم let us raise our hands and pray to Allah to raise us with Muhammad to allow us to implement the lessons from his biography and to allow us to receive his intercession in this world and the hereafter إن شاء الله tomorrow we will continue with the biography of Imam Ali ابنابي طالب والسلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته