Two brief talks after and event where brothers from across the North of England came in brotherhood.
Building & Maintaining Brotherhood by Abu Humayd Saalim
An important lecture about building and maintaining brotherhood and sisterhood in Islam. Numerous verses, hadiths and examples from the Salaf are given in the talk as well as the characteristics a believer should have.
Nothing can bring about a true and strong brotherhood like Islam. We find that when others try to unite behind another cause, they still have some hate towards each other deep down. “You would think they were united, but their hearts are divided” Hashr 59:14.
The Poet said:
ومن يفتش عن الإخوان يقلهم
فجل إخوان هذا العصر خوان
And whoever looks for friends today will find few – the majority today are treacherous
Now that we are practising, we find that we have many brothers. One of the first things that the prophet, peace be upon him, did when he migrated to Madinah was to establish brotherhood between the warring tribes of Madinah and between them and those who emigrated from Makkah. A passing Jew who saw this became upset and sent someone to remind them of their past.
Allah revealed: “And hold fast, all of you together, to the Rope of Allah and be not divided among yourselves, and remember Allah’s Favour on you, for you were enemies one to another but He joined your hearts together, so that, by His Grace, you became brethren (in Islamic Faith), and you were on the brink of a pit of Fire, and He saved you from it. Thus Allah makes His Ayat clear to you, that you may be guided.” Aali Imraan 3:103
The messenger of Allah said: “O Ansaar, did I not find you misguided and Allah guided you by me. Did I not find you split and Allah, by way of me brought your hearts together?”
Things that weaken brotherhood:
Abu Hurayrah narrated from the Messenger: “Do not envy one another, and do not inflate prices for one another and do not hate one another, and do not turn your backs to one another and let not one of you undercut one another [in trade], rather be servants of Allah, brothers. The Muslims is the brother of a Muslims. He does not oppress him and he does not deceive him and he does not lie upon him, he does not speak down to him. “Taqwa is here [he pointed to his chest three times], it is enough as an evil for a Muslim to belittle his Muslim brother. The whole of a Muslims is haram to another Muslim: His blood, his wealth and his honour.” Muslim
If one lets himself fall into these affairs, then he falls into those issues that oppose brotherhood. It can happen that disputes occur between people, however, without hating one another. On an occasion, when one companion raised his companion with another, the prophet, peace be upon him, heard this and said:
“Do not abuse my companions, by the one in whose hand is my soul, if one of you were to spend the like of mount Uhud, it would not reach a Mudd (handful) of them or even half of that”
O you who believe! Raise not your voices above the voice of the Prophet, nor speak aloud to him in talk as you speak aloud to one another, lest your deeds may be rendered fruitless while you perceive not. 49:2
We have numerous texts that show the importance of brotherhood, and the issues that destroy it, as well as the characteristics that a believer should have.
We should strive to avoid “ghil”, bitterness between us and anything that can compromise this brotherhood.
“And We shall remove from their breasts any (mutual) hatred or sense of injury (which they had, if at all, in the life of this world); rivers flowing under them” A’raaf 7:43
In a lengthy hadith, the prophet mentioned that. There is not a believer who will fight the cause of his brother, more so that the one who on the day of judgment after the people have entered the fire and paradise. Those who will say, O our Lord! Our brothers, those who prayed with us, fasted with us, we do not see them. Allah will say to them, go to the fire and take out those who have a dinar of imaan.
Therefore, Imam Hasan al-basri said: “Make plenty of believing friends. For indeed they will have a shafaa’ah on the day of judgment.” They used to say, if you do not see me in Jannah, then ask about me.
Listen to the lesson for a more comprehensive explanation and examples.
Building & Maintaining Brotherhood by Abu Ismail Saalik
The prophet focused on 3 important matters when he migrated to Madinah. The first, on building the masjid, because the greatest relationship between a slave and his Lord is that built through the daily prayers. “The closest a slave gets to his Lord is when he is in prostration, so be plentiful in supplication, for it is likely to be answered”.
The second important matter was building the ties and bonds of brotherhood between the compantions, between the muhajiroon and the ansaar. It was a unification, and brotherhood that was not built on lineage, or tribalism or status. It was built upon Islam, not witnessed by history.
And He has united their (i.e. believers’) hearts. If you had spent all that is in the earth, you could not have united their hearts, but Allah has united them. Certainly He is All-Mighty, All-Seer 8:63
The third that he focused was to repel harm from the believers and he made a treaty with the Jews of Madinah.
The prophet, peace be upon him, said: The believer is as a brother to another believer.
An example from the companions is, abdurahman ibn Awf from Makkah and Sa’d from Madinah who were united by the prophet. Sa’d went to abdurahman saying this is my wealth – take from it what you like and leave what you like. This is my property and these are my gardens. Half is for you and half for me. These are my two wives – see which of them you wish to marry and I will divorce her so you may marry her after her waiting period.
In response to this very generous offer from Sa’d, abdurahman said: May Allah bless you in your family and your property, but show me where the marketplace is. He did not want to take it form Sa’d, but wished to build his own. This is an example of the brotherhood from the companions.
Any brotherhood is based upon the Sunnah, loving each other for the Sake of Allah, calling each other to good and warning each other from evil, upon the manhaj of the Salaf of this ummah.
Recorded at the Salafi Centre of Manchester on 9/7/17 and streamed LIVE on Sunnah Radio