Beberapa Pengajaran Hijrah

Kalendar hijrah telah dimulakan pada masa pemerintahan Saidina Umar r.a.. Beliau memilih bulan Muharram sebagai bulan bermulanya kalendar hijrah kerana ketika itu jemaah haji baru habis melakukan haji, jadi Muharram seolah-olah manusia lahir semula tanpa dosa. Tahun hijrah ke Madinah (tahun ke-13 kerasulan) pula dipilih sebagai tahun pertama kerana tahun ini menandakan permulaan baru bagi da'wah Islam serta pertubuhan komuniti/negara Islam pertama. Nabi sendiri berhijrah ke Madinah pada akhir bulan Safar, bukannya pada bulan Muharram. Keterangan lanjut tentang permulaan kalendar hijrah boleh dibaca di sini.

Terdapat beberapa pengajaran penting yang boleh kita pelajari daripada penghijrahan Nabi ke Madinah. Antaranya:

1)      Persiapan yang sangat rapi sebelum bertawakkal kepada Allah. Itulah cara bertawakkal yang sebenar:

a)      Abu Bakr memberi makan kepada 2 untanya selama 4 bulan sebelum hijrah untuk menggemukkan keduanya supaya bersedia untuk perjalanan yang jauh.

b)      Rasulullah SAW bertemu dgn Abu Bakr pada waktu qaylulah (orang sedang tidur dan tidak berkeliaran kerana panas) sambil menutup muka pada hari sebelum mereka bertolak. Mereka bertolak pada waktu malam.

c)       Meletakkan Ali di tempat tidurnya sebagai ‘decoy’.

d)      Abdullah ibn Abu Bakr berjumpa mereka tiap-tiap hari di gua Thawr utk memberitahu perihal org Quraisy. Amir bin Fuhayrah membawah kambing-kambingnya supaya memadamkan kesan tapak kaki Abdullah ibn Abu Bakr.

e)      Asma bint Abu Bakr membawa makanan untuk mereka

2)      Tidak mengabaikan tanggungjawabnya walaupun dalam keadaan getir.

a)      Menyuruh Ali r.a. mengembalikan semua harta milik org Quraisy yg diberikan kepadanya untuk simpanan. Walaupun orang Quraisy tidak percaya kepada kenabian Rasulullah, mereka tetap mempercayainya dalam hal-hal lain kerana sikapnya yang tidak pernah menipu serta amanah (demikianlah gelarannya al-amin sejak sebelum trun wahyu lagi), lalu ramai yang mengamanahkan harta mereka untuk disimpan oleh Nabi SAW untuk pelbagai sebab seperti jikalau mereka keluar bermusafir contohnya. Alangkah jauhnya kita umat Islam dari sifat ini pada masa sekarang....

b)      Terus melakukan da’wah sepanjang perjalanan. Terdapat 4-5 peristiwa di mana beberapa orang menerima Islam apabila bertemu Rasulullah dlm perjalanannya. Yang paling terkenal kisah Ummu Ma’bad (yang kambing tuanya diurut oleh Nabi sampai boleh mengeluarkan susu yang banyak) dan Suraqah ibn malik.

3)      Memilih mereka yang terbaik untuk urusan penting walaupun mereka bukan Muslim, asalkan amanah. Contoh: Rasulullah mengupah Abdullah ibn Urqut/Uraiqit, seorang musyrik yang pandai tentang jalan-jalan di gurun, untuk membawanya mengikut jalan yang jarang dilalui ke Madinah.

4)      Tiada benda percuma dalam hidup! Semua mesti diusahakan:

a)      Rasulullah sendiri membeli unta dari Abu bakr (yang kemudiannya dinamakan Qaswa) walaupun ditawarkan kepada rasulullah untuk digunakan tanpa apa-apa bayaran.

b)      Golongan Ansar menghadiahkan separuh dari tanaman mereka kepada muhajjirun, tetapi tidak diterima oleh Rasulullah. Beliau hanya bersetuju jika muhajjirun bekerja di ladang-ladang mereka, dan kemudian baru menerima buah-buahan sebagai gaji.

5)      Memberi keutamaan kepada yang penting dan mudah. Nasihat Rasulullah apabila tiba di Madinah padat dan mudah iaitu : 

 وعن أبي يوسف عبد الله بن سلام رضي الله عنه قال‏:‏ سمعت رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم يقول‏:‏ ‏ "‏يا أيها الناس أفشوا السلام، وأطعموا الطعام، وصلوا الأرحام وصلوا والناس نيام، تدخلوا الجنة بسلام‏"‏ ‏(‏‏(‏رواه الترمذي وقال حديث حسن صحيح‏)‏‏)

Berilah salam, jaga orang miskin, jaga hubungan silaturahim, solatlah tika manusia tidur, nescaya masuk syurga dengan sejahtera – (hadith as-salam riwayat Tirmizi)


Demikianlah beberapa pengajaran yang dapat saya coretkan. Kebanyakan maklumat di sini diambil dari kuliyyah Sh Yasir Qadhi tentang hijrah yang boleh ditonton di sini. Saya syorkan saudara dan saudari untuk menontonnya. Sangat bermanfaat!

Salam Ma'al Hijrah.

The Magnificnet Journey part 8

On his way back to Makkah on the buraq, according to some unauthentic reports, Rasulullah saw 3 caravans at different distances from Makkah, also on their way back. He would later describe these three caravans to Abu Jahl to prove his point. Then again, these reports are not authentic, so i'll just leave them be.

Upon arrival in Makkah, he fell asleep and awoke the next morning. Now this is why some people have claimed that the whole journey was only in his dream, because the prophet says, "when i woke up...." Well, what most scholars say is that he fell asleep after the journey, probably from exhaustion and the overwhelming Signs that he saw. The journey was without a doubt a journey of body and soul, for if it was only a journey of the soul/dream, then there is nothing miraculous about it, is it??

Rasullah tells us in the first person that when he awoke, he felt a great anxiety about telling the people what had happened the night before. He was sitting in front of the Ka'bah, looking very anxious when Abu Jahl passed by and asked him what was the problem, seeing his worry stricken face. Rasulullah of course told him that he had gone to Jerusalem and came back last night. He did not mention the mi'raj at all. The events of the mi'raj he only told the believers. Abu Jahl wanted to laugh at what he thought was something so absurd, but he held it in because he wanted everyone to laugh at Rasulullah. So he asked Rasulullah if he would tell everybody else about this, and of course Rasulullah agreed. So he gathered all the people of Makkah in front of the Prophet and asked him to tell them what he had told him. When he told them, they began clapping in jest and laughing at what the they had heard. Just imagine for one moment, how hard it must've been for the Prophet to speak about what he saw to a people who have mocked him since the da'wah begin, and how he must feel when they laughed at him like that. May Allah send His peace and blessings upon our Prophet and reward him with the best for all that he endured for the sake of the da'wah.

Some of them asked him to describe to Blessed Sanctuary (Masjidil Aqsa) to them to see if he did indeed go there last night. He began describing the sanctuary, but started to forget the details. Anybody would forget the details of a place if they were there for such a short time, especially at night when people can hardly see. But then Allah saved him by projecting a vision of the Sanctuary before his eyes, and he described everything in perfect detail. How astounded the people of Makkah were, but their hardened hearts would not accept the fact that he was indeed miraculously taken on a magnificent journey to Jerusalem and brought back in one night.

Some people rushed to Abu Bakr, who was not present at the time, to tell him about what the Prophet said. They went to Abu Bakr and said, "Have you heard what your comapanion is saying?? He said he went to Jerusalem last night and is back here this morning!" They of course reported this incident to Abu Bakr in a tone of mockery. But Abu Bakr r.a. responded with a response that would earn him the title As-Siddiq (the truthful), "If that is what he said, then it MUST be true. For Wallahi I believe him in something greater than this, that he receives revelation from above the seven heavens (Usaddiquhu fi ma huwa a'jaba min zalik!)." That was the iman of Abu Bakr, the khaleel of Rasulullah, the best of his companions.

In the seerah of Ibn Hisyam, there is a mention that some believers left Islam after hearing about this journey. This report contradicts authentic reports from Bukhari about the early Muslims being the most devoted of all, and that none of them had ever left Islam. The report I am speaking about is none other that the narration of Abu Sufyan before he became Muslim, when he went to see Heraclius in the 7th year of the hijrah, to bad mouth the Prophet, to no avail of course. One of the questions Heraclius asked him was, is there anybody amongst the muslims who have left the faith after embracing it, and Abu Sufyan denied this.We still hear some penceramahs saying that some early muslims became murtad because of this incident, relying on the story in Ibn Hisham which has no isnad(chain of narration) anyway. It is however almost impossible to believe this because we know, that the early muslims of Makkah were the ones with strongest iman of all.

With this, I conclude this little series about al-isra' wa al-mi'raj. There are many many more incidents and lessons to learn from this magnificent journey, but my knowledge of this topic is only as much as I have written. If the readership would like to read more about this, then they can refer to any seerah book and even the tafseer of the first verse of surah al-isra'. All the hadiths are also mentioned in detail in those places.

I hope this has been beneficial. May Allah continue to increase us all in knowledge that benefits, and help us to benefit from the knowledge that He has given us thus far. Ameen.

The Magnificent Journey Part 7

After the matter of the prayer was finalised, the Prophet SAW continued on his journey down. It is perhaps now that he has lengthy conversations with the other prophets, particularly Isa ibn Maryam about his 2nd coming, the Ya'juj and Ma'juj, the Dajjal etc. On the way down, Rasulullah perceives a sweet fragrance and asks Jibril where the scent is coming from. Jibril told him that this is the scent of the comber of Fir'aun's daughter (mashitotu ibnati fir'aun). Most of us would know her as Mashitah, which literally means comber. It is not a proper noun. Her real name is unknown to us. She was the one who was thrown into a fire along with her kids for professing Tawhid. Her infant child, like Isa a.s. spoke to her while it was in her arms, and told her not to fear the fire in front of them, for a great reward awaits them in the next life.

Rasulullah also saw what Jannah was like and described the beauty of what he saw to the companions. Some reports say he entered jannah, but most scholars interpret this as seeing jannah rather than actually entering it because nobody will enter jannah until after the Reckoning (mizan) begins. He also saw punishments of the Hellfire like the following:
a) People eating hot coal and then excreting it from the back, their noses were like camels - these were people who took the money of orphans under their care
b) people who scratched and teared the flesh off their own faces with nails of copper - these were backbiters who are now scarring themselves as they scarred the honor of others when they were alive.
c) people choosing to eat rotten and putrid meat from a choice of 2 meats (good and rotten) - these were fornicators when they were alive, choosing the path of haraam to fulfill their desires instead of the path of halaal.
d) people with fat bellies who were too heavy to move, and animals were trampling on them - these were people of used to 'fatten' themselves with money illegally.
e) people who were cutting their own tongues and lips with scissors made of copper - these were those who used to preach much, but practiced little i.e. cakap to serupa bikin.

There were others too, but I think this list would suffice. May Allah protect us from being amongst any of the people above.

Somewhere on the journey, the prophet also met Malik, the khazin of Jahannam. Malik was brought to Rasulullah instead of Rasulullah visiting Malik because it is not befitting for the most noble of creation to even go near the Fire. They exchanged the salaams and Rasulullah describes Malik as someone with a sombre and stern face. He asked Jibril why is it that Malik did not smile upon meeting him. Jibril explained that because the sole purpose of him being created was to guard the doors of Jahannam, he has never smiled. But Jibril added, "If he were to ever smile at someone, it would be you O Prophet of Allah."

Upon descending all the way down to Masjidil Aqsa, Rasulullah SAW starts to ride back home towards Makkah. What will happen there will be in the next and final post, insya Allah.

The Magnificent Journey Part 6

In the previous post, we stopped at the meeting of Rasulullah with Musa a.s. at the 6th heaven on his way down. Musa a.s. asked him what command did he receive from his Lord. Rasulullah SAW said the command of prayer, 50 times in a day. Musa, having lots of experience with a large ummah told Rasulullah that his ummah will NEVER be able to achieve such a feat daily. He tells Rasulullah to go back up to meet Allah and ask for a discount. Rasulullah was hesitant, given his shy nature, and so he turned to Jibril a.s. Jibril nodded in approval of Musa's suggestion, and so Rasulullah went up again to meet Allah Jalla wa 'ala to ask for a discount. Here the reports differ as to how many times he went up and down. Some say 9 times with a discount of 5 prayers each time, some say it was 10 prayers for 4 rounds and 5 for the last. It doesn't matter really, because the end result is 5 prayers(salah) in a day. When Rasulullah SAW came down with 5 prayers, Musa continued to persuade him to ask for a further discount because he said even 5 the ummah will not be able to fulfill, and how right was he?! But Rasulullah said he was too shy to go up to ask for anymore discounts, and upon saying this, Allah said, "I have confirmed my decree, and have made it light for my servant. It shall be five, but rewarded as 50." Subhanallah!

Let us now discuss a few things about salah. Was there no salah before al-Isra'? There was but there is very little information about it in the books of hadith or seerah. Some scholars say it was 2 rakaah twice a day. Certainly the Prophet SAW prayed more especially at night because it was obligatory for him as per the ayaah in surah al-muzzammil. The night prayer was obligatory upon all believers at the beginning, but that prayer was later made optional. After the mi'raj of course, the 5 prayers became mandatory for all believers.

Some may ask, why is it that Rasulullah had to go up and down so many times to get discount? Did Allah not know he was going to ask for a discount? Why not just legislate 5 if that was going to be the end result of the negotiation anyway? Well, the reason for this is perhaps Allah wanted to show us the importance of salah and remind us the reason we were created, i.e. only to worship Him as He says in surah az-zariyaat:


"And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me."

Notice that Allah constructs the verse in a negative form to emphasise strongly that the ONLY reason we were created was to worship Him. Otherwise we would not have been created at all.

And what better way to worship than by performing salah. That's why it  was 50 at first, just to remind us that if Allah had willed, we would probably be praying every half an hour, for that was the reason we were created. However, Allah in His infinite wisdom and mercy reduced it to 5, so we may live our lives properly without too many interruptions. It is only right then, that we perform the 5 obligatory prayers as properly as possible (e.g. men should strive to perform their obligatory prayers in congregation), with full of khusyu', and make the rest of our actions outside of salah, a form of ibadah, by doing them for Allah and in accordance with the sunnah. 

The other important lesson from this incident is the status of salah. All other commandments were sent to the Prophet on earth. In contrast, he was lifted in to the presence of Allah to receive the command of salah. Just stop and think about it for a second. He was raised to a point where even Jirbil could not follow, in the presence of Allah the Most High to receive the command of salah. THAT is how important it is. Salah is indeed the divine link between us and Allah. It is like a string from the sky the prevents us from drowning in the sea of the world. The moment we sever the link, we fall in the depths of the ocean, and continue to sink until we are completely consumed by this world, never able to rise again, wal'iyazubillah. Of course the doors of repentance are always open, and that perhaps a whale might come and carry us back to the surface for us to grab onto the rope of Allah again, as Allah saved Dhun-Noon, but we cannot afford to let go of that string, lest we perish. A beautiful verse in surah maryam speaks about this. This verse comes after a series of verses describing the righteouesness of the previous Prophets and generations.
 
"But there came after them successors who neglected prayer and pursued desires; so they are going to meet evil." Maryam 19:59

The word 'adha'oo' in the verse does not just mean those who abandon prayer completely, but those who let it go to waste which I'm afraid includes many many of us who remember Allah only a little in prayer, who delay it, who pray with laziness, and ultimately abandon it completely.

May Allah save us from being amongst those who let their prayer go to waste. As with all things, dua' is important for we cannot will unless Allah wills. So let us say the dua' of our father Ibrahim a.s., so Allah may guide us to be of those who establish prayer. 
 
"O my Lord! Make me one who performs As-Salât (Iqâmat-as-Salât), and (also) from my offspring, our Lord! And accept my invocation." Ibrahim 14:40

Ameen ya rabb. 

To be continued...