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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIpG-3Fvk4c

  • Zayd ibn Harithah was from a tribe in Yemen from the Qahtani branch of the Arabs and his parents were each from a different Yemeni tribe which were in an on/off warring relationship. The two tribes got into a war again and his mother’s brothers kidnapped him and sold him into slavery to get back at his father’s tribe (because in Arab society the child takes the father’s lineage)
  • Al Hakim ibn Hizam (the nephew of Khadija) bought Zayid at Khadija’s request and he became Khadija’s servant and when she married Muhammad saws she gifted him to Muhammad saws.
  • Zayid’s father sends out search parties and some people during Hajj recognised Zayid and reported back to the father where he is and they travel to Makkah with all their money to ransom him back and Muhammad saws said to them he will let Zayid choose who he wishes to go with and if he chooses them then he will give them to him without taking money but Zayid chose to remain a slave with the Prophet saws over his father as he said the Prophet saws is like a father and uncle combined to him
  • At this the Prophet saws announced to everyone in Makkah that Zayid was no longer a slave and that he was adopting him as his son and he would inherit from him and vice versa. In Madina however a verse in surat al Ahzab was revealed ordering that children be known by their biological father’s names so he returned to being Zayid ibn Harithah and not Zayid ibn Muhammad
  • Zayid was extremely beloved to Muhammad saws and while still a slave, Zayid married Muhammad saws other slave inherited from his mother, Umm Ayman (about 20yrs older than him) and they had a child together named Usama who was born in the house of the Prophet saws
  • Once freed, Zayid married Zaynab bint Jahsh who was a noblewoman of Quraysh and the cousin of the Prophet saws
  • Zayid died a shaheed in the lifetime of the Prophet saws in the battle of Mutah against the Romans, he was the commander of the battle and infact the Prophet saws had directed another 2 people who should take over this position if he were killed and all 3 were martyred so Khaleed ibn Waleed, a new convert at the time, stepped up to the task and earnt the position of ‘saifullah’ by Muhammad saws
  • Zayid ibn Harithah is the only sahabi that Allah mentions by name in the Qur’an
  • Before the revelation began the Prophet saws used to seclude himself in the cave of Hira which is said to have been found by his grandfather Abdulmuttalib who used to use it to contemplate. There is only enough room for one person and it looks towards the ka’aba
  • He saws used to take food and water with him to the cave and stay there until it ran out then come down to take care of his family affairs again for a time then return to the cave
  • The Prophet saws said that before the revelation the rocks and stones used to say salam to him and at first he looked around to see who was talking then he realised it was the stones and there was one in particular who always said salams to him when he walked past it
  • He also began to have dreams which would come true the next day and he mentioned this Khadija ra and she consoled him saying it was a good sign from Allah, this period of dreams lasted 6 months in the immediate period before
  • There are 3 types of dreams; those from Allah (these are good dreams bringing good news of the future, those that come true, or symbolic dreams that need to be interpreted and they never terrify), those from Shaytan (they are designed to terrify us by shaytan, they are nightmares and we are supposed to turn away from them and not tell anybody about them) and those from your own imagination and psychology (normal dreams, they disappear from memory within a short time from waking up).
  • The signs of the stones and dreams was to let the Prophet saws know that something momentous was about to happen so he could prepare also it is showing him being psychologically, spiritually and mentally trained for Prophethood
  • It is no longer a sunnah to cut yourself off from society, this is something the Prophet saws did before the revelation came and he never went to the cave of hira again after that
  • Those who truly want solitude are told to pray in the night while everyone else is asleep for that is when only the true servants of Allah are awake in prayer
  • On a Saturday in the last 10 days of Ramadan in the cave of Hira the Prophet saws saw a bright light and heard a sound but found nothing, the same thing happened the next day and then on Monday Jibreel came to him (and that is why the Prophet saws fasted Mondays together with the fact that the Prophet saws was born on that day)
  • ·         The angel Jibreel came to him in his massive form and said ‘iqraa’ (read) and the Prophet saws said ‘I cannot read’ so the angel squeezed him so tight that he lost all energy and was about to black out then he let him go and said again iqraa and again the Prophet saws said he cannot read then again the angel sqeezed him very tight and did it again and then recited Read [O Muhammad!] in the name of your Lord who created. (96.1) He created man from a clot. (96.2) Read, and your Lord is the Most Honorable (96.3) who taught with the pen. (96.4)
  • ·         He ran to his home where Khadija ra was, his heart was palpitating and he said to her ‘cover me, cover me’ because he was so terrified that he began to feel cold and he told her everything that happened
  • ·         One of the things he said to her was that he was scared for himself. This is a controversial statement and over 12 opinions (some very strange!) have been established among the scholars but the most obvious meanings are that he saws was afraid of dying when Jibreel squeezed him  or he is scared that he is losing his sanity but Khadija said to him ‘no by Allah Allah would never do anything to cause you harm – you are good to your family, you burden yourself with the problems of others and you help those who have nothing and you are hospitable to the guest and you do all types of good’
  • ·         Without knowing any Qur’an or anything Khadija ra understood the principle that if you do good Allah will give you good and if you are righteous Allah will bless you
  • Some narrations say that the first person Khadija went to was a slave from Rome named Adas who was the only born Christian in Makkah (and not a convert) and when she told him what happened he said ‘an angel in this heathen place?!’ so from that she understood it was related to Judaism and Christianity so then she went to her cousin Waraqah
  • It can be interpreted from the hadith in Bukhari which says Waraqah learnt the Hebrew language and became a Christian, that because at that time Christians were writing in Syriac etc, he was in fact not quite a Christian or a Jew but just someone who recognised that they were all Prophets of Allah so he was likely a type of Judeo-Christian. Also he didn’t worship openly.
  • Waraqah after hearing the story he says ‘this is the angel that came down to Musa as’ (perhaps realising the Prophet saws would be) then Waraqah said he wished he was a young man so he could help him when his own people ridicule, persecute and expel him and the Prophet saws asked in shock if they would really expel him. And Waraqah responded yes as never had any Prophet been sent except he suffered those 3 things.
  • When relatives of Waraqah asked his fate, the Prophet saws said he was in Jannah showing he was an early convert to Islam
  • After that, the revelation stopped for a few months approx. 6mths until he was just walking and he heard a noise and he looked up and saw the same angel that he saw in Hira sitting on a throne that was in the heavens and the earth and once again he trembled and his heart began to palpitate and he ran back to Khadija again and said ‘cover me, cover me’ and then the second revelation was revealed ‘O you who is wrapped up in garments, stand up and warn’  – the symbolism here is that the one who feels safe and comfortable in his life, stand up and be active
  • It is said that with the first revelation Muhammad saws became a Nabi but with the second revelation he became a Rasul
  • First meaning of iqraa can mean to read or to recite something from memory the Prophet saws understood it to be reading from a paper at first but on the third time he found that his recitation would come directly from Allah, he doesn’t need to know because Allah will tell him what to recite
  • Repetition of iqraa is to emphasise the fact that dawah needs to be done continuously through Qur’an. Also could be the first iqraa is for knowledge in religion and the other is for knowledge in dunyah.
  • If Allah didn’t teach Adam as how to speak we would be like the animals grunting and groaning and if Allah didn’t teach Idriss as how to write we wouldn’t be able to communicate knowledge as easily
  • It’s in the fitra to know there is only one God which is why even idolatrous religions such as Hinduism have many gods but there is still only one ultimate God
  • There is a saying of Umar ibn al Khattab in which he says he is worried about the generations of Muslims who didn’t see Jahiliyya. This is because then they will not know it when it happens to them. This is us! Those Muslims who worships saints, piers etc use the exact same excuses and do the same practices as the Jahili Arabs. In surat az zumar Allah shows their excuse that they only use them to get closer to Allah because they believe themselves to be too sinful to have direct contact with Allah or to be heard and accepted by Him