So we talked about the journey of the Hijrah.

And the miraclous story of Suraka

ibn Malik - how this bedioun is told he will be wearing the breacelets of Kisra.
The story of the hijrah has a number of small stories.
One of these is that of Umme Ma'bad. Its narrated from here directly and she con
verted to Islam at the end. She says that she's an elderly lady; a complete bedu
oin. Living in a tent in the desert wondering finding foot or water. She's waiti
ng for her husband to return. She hears the rustling of some travellers who ask
her permission to come in. And she agreed - it turns its indeed the prophet PBUH
and Abu Bukr RA. This is significant because Umme Ma'bad is the one of the few
who actually describes the prophet PBUH. And she says he was handsome, long hair
, neither short nor tall etc. This was outside Madinah by around 1.5 hour drive
(its called Kadeer). The prophet PBUH entered and said "may we purchase any food
from you?". This is of course the adhab - even though the custom was to ask for
food just for free. Umme Ma'bad replied she had nothing to give them as her hus
band had gone out in search for food. So the prophet PBUH saw an old goat, and i
t had long gone i.e. it was about to be slaughtered. It couldnt give milk or rep
roduce goatlings. The prophet PBUH however asked permission to milk the goat. Um
me Ma'bad smurked and said "that day has long gone" and so the prophet PBUH said
"but do you allow me to?" In her mind of course there was no question this was
impossible so she said "go ahead". The prophet PBUH made dua, moved his hand und
er the udder and it filled up with milk instantly. And so they drank to their fu
ll, and they left the remainder for Umme Ma'bad and her husband. And of course b
oth were in complete shock. When her husband asked where did the milk come from
she explained there were two travellers who came in and so on. Upon this her hus
band said "those are the two the Quraysh are hunting". And he said "do you not k
now one of them claims to be a prophet?" When she heard this she knew he was, an
d they accepted Islam.
We also know the prophet PBUH converted a few more people along the way to Madin
ah. But we dont know the details or their names. Even though its insignificant s
till the point is when he is running for his life, he is still inviting people t
o Islam and thinking about saving people. Any opportunity he gets to do good he
does and gives dawah.
Its also narrated a caravan passed by the prophet PBUH. Now in those days this w
as common and actually when two caravans met they usually stopped, said salaam a
nd found out any news etc. Indeed if you're in the middle of the desert and have
nt seen anyone for days any opportunity of meeting someone you would take. So wh
en the caravan passed by the prophet PBUH and Abu Bukr they stopped and by chanc
e one of the people recognised Abu Bukr - he wasnt a qurayshi but from another a
rab tribe. And so they greeted Abu Bukr etc. Note they haven't heard of the boun
ty here. They ask Abu Bukr "who is this man with you?" Abu Bukr responded in dou
ble meaning. This is not a lie, its a double meaning. It dosent give you an untr
uth. So Abu Bukr RA said "he is my guide, guiding me to the path". Of course wha
t Abu Bukr meant was he is guiding me to Jannah, but they understood this as a n
ormal travel guide to another place. This also shows us Abdullah ibn Araki left
them at a certain time and place (prior this incident).
Lessons from the hijrah:
1. Look at the maticulous preperations for the hijrah. The prophet PBUH informed
Abu Bukr not to travel and that Allah willing he will accompony the prophet PBU
H to Madinah. So upon hearing this Abu Bukr prepared dilligantly. He fattened up
two camels, prepared food for the journey etc. The prophet PBUH then comes to h
im when everyone is asleep i.e. midday so no one can see its him. Also when he c
omes the prophet PBUH covered his face as an extra measure. On top of this when
he enters he tells everyone to leave the house. Now these preprations are coming
from someone who has ultimate tawaqul in Allah. Still he takes precautions. Thi
s manifests the reality of our Islam. We must do everything we can. The prophet

PBUH leaved Ali RA in his bead; leaving in the middle of the night; covering the
ir tracks using Amr; finding a trustworthy guide; Asma giving them food; Abdulla
h ibn Abu Bukr listening in to conversations and news. And whats beautiful is th
e prophet PBUH on the journey is just walking straight in absolute peace recitin
g the Quran. He knows he has done everything he can. This is the essence of tawa
qul. You do everything you can but your heart is attached to Allah. Again in the
cave Abu Bukr RA said "if they just look down they will see us etc". But the pr
ophet PBUH calmed him down. Indeed tawaqul is not standing and saying "here we a
re come for us Allah is our protector". Tawaqul is hiding in the cave, doing as
much as you can and then trusting Allah as they did. Allah will make sure they d
on't look down and He did. So once we do our jobs, Allah will do His. There is a
beautiful verse is At Tawba, one of the last revealed. At the peak of Islamic p
ower, Allah says "if you are not going to help the prophet PBUH, don't worry All
ah will help him". When the kuffar expelled him, there were only two people agai
nst a whole nation. Allah describes the incident of the cave when teh prophet PB
UH calmed down Abu Bukr RA. And Allah says at that point He sent down His peace
down. And Allah helped him with an army We did not see (and some say it was the
spider, tree etc).
2. Abu Bukr RA is the ONLY sahabi whose companionship has been testified by Alla
h. Allah says very directly he is "saheb" i.e. a sahabi in the Quran. If anyone
denies Abu Bukr RA being a sahabi he has gone against the Quran. By unanimous co
ncensus it was indeed Abu Bukr RA in this cave. So anyone who denies Abu Bukr wa
s a pious companion he has gone against the Quran.
So, right now we are just outside the city of Madinah (or Yathrib as it was firs
t known) and the prophet PBUH is going to come in. Before we get there, let us d
iscuss why Madinah. Out of all the cities in the world, if Allah had wanted he c
ould have sent the prophet PBUH to Abyssinia for example.
Madinah of course is origianlly Yathrib. Its a city surrounded by volcanic rock
and its blessed with a current of water. Not an open river but from the mountain
s a rive is formed and flows. This allows for fertile date palms to grow. Kabar
and Tathrib were the only places with these large date palms. In fact the prophe
t PBUH was shown Madinah by these date palms. In the 10th year, 2 years before h
ijrah he said "I saw a dream I will immigrate to a land with alot of date palms.
So I thought it might be Yemen but it turned out to be Madinah (when the khazra
j ebmraced Islam he knew this)". And the prophet PBUH said "I have been commande
d to immigrate to a city that shall devour all other cities; they call it Yathri
b but it is Madinah". Therefore islamically its not allowed to call this city Ya
thrib anymore. So the prophet PBUH changed its name. And its clear the Quran emp
hasises this point. Why? Because the Quran mentions Yathrib ONLY from the tounge
s of the munaafiqs. They still called it Yathrib as they denied to follow Islam.
Also, the prophet PBUH said "whoever calls Madinah, Yathrib should say istigfaa
r". So Allah and the prophet PBUH calls in Madinah.
Yathrib some scholars say it comes from tathreeb i.e. to critisize. Others say i
t comes from evil/corruption. But we know the prophet PBUH did not like bad name
s; a number of people who converted to Islam had bad names so the prophet PBUH c
hanged them. In one example a lady had the name (in Arabic) 'sour' but the proph
et PBUH changed it to 'sweet'. The arabs had a superstition that if someone says
something good you must say something bad (i.e. to counter nazr). This is not h
ow we counter evil eye islamically. So the point is we should not choose bad nam
es. So the prophet PBUH called it "Al Madinah" i.e. The City. It has many names;
one scholar lists over 100 names for Madinah. Our prophet PBUH called it only M
adinah, Thaaba and Thayba. They both mean 'the pure'. So in one hadith the proph
et PBUH said "dont say Yathrib but rather say Thaaba".
The prophet PBUH said Madinah had many blessings:

1. The prophet PBUH made dua for Madinah and said "cause us to love Madinah as m
uch us we loved Mecca or more than this".
2. It has the mountain of Uhd where the prophet PBUH said "this is a mountain we
love and it loves us". Thus its a blessed mountain - and further the prophet PB
UH said Uhd is one of the mountains of Jannah.
3. Dajjal will try to enter and destroy Madinah but he will not be able to as it
will be guarded by two large angels. THerefore if we hear of Dajjal we should g
o to Madinah.
4. The prophet PBUH said "no plauge will ever infest Madinah". And since then th
ere has never been a plague. The spanish influenza which was huge and killed 1/3
of the world did not enter Madinah.
5. The prophet PBUH made dua that Madinah be blessed. He said "give us baraqah i
n this city of ours". And said "oh Allah your servant decalred Mecca a haram; I
too am your servant, so I make dua that You make Madinah a haram". This Madinah
is also a haram (bhukari).
6. The prophet PBUH also blessed the food of Madinah i.e. it will suffice more p
eople.
7. The prophet PBUH said "make Madinah double the blessings of Mecca". Does this
mean Madinah is more blessed than Mecca? Some of the classic scholars i.e. Imam
Malik considered Madinah to be the holiest land. Even though Mecca had 100,000
reward. But Imam Malik said the city is more blessed. No doubt Mecca has its own
blessing. In fact the majority opinion is Mecca was blessed at the start of cre
ation, then Ibrahim AS announced this blessedness. But Madinah became blessed. A
nother blessing of Mecca is that it was the first mosque (ka'bah) to ever be bui
lt on this Earth.
8. The prophet PBUH said "imaan returns to Madinah like a desert animal returns
to its hole". SubhanAllah when Islam is attacked Madinah will be the place where
imaan is protected.
9. The prophet PBUH said "no one should plot to harm Madinah except Allah dissol
ves him like salt in water".
10. The prophet PBUH said "whoever does a crime/innovates something, he shall th
e la'na of Allah, the angels and the creation". This is a huge blessing and a da
ngeous warning.
11. Its a blessed place to live in - the prophet PBUH said "Madinah is better fo
r them if they only knew. No one leaves it not wanting to live there except Alla
h replaces him with someone better. And he who is patient with the difficulties
of Madinah (its very hot; food is only seasonal etc) I will be an intercessor fo
r him"
12. The prophet PBUH said "whoever amongst you is able to die in Madinah let him
do so, because I will intercede for him on the day of Judgement". Its a huge bl
essing to just die in Madinah. And we all know Umar RA made a strange dua "Oh Al
lah I want to die a shaheed and I want to die in Madinah". And his son would sco
ff him at this. But Allah accepted this dua - he died a shaheed in Madinah.
13. And the jannatul baqee graveyard (buqee al gargat) is in Madinah - Ibn Hajar
says over 10,000 sahaba including all the 9 wives are buried there; the prophet
PBUH's son, grandson and great grandson, the prophet PBUH's aunt; Uthman ibn Af
fan, many scholars including Imam Malik and tabi ETC are all buried in buqee al
gargat. The prophet PBUH said to Aisha RA one time that "Jibraeel came to me and

told me to pray for the people in buqee al gargat".

All hadith are in bhukari.
Fiqh perspective. What exactly is a haram? It comes from haraam which of course
means forbidden. Now haram is an area of land that certain things halal outside
of it become haraam inside. For example carrying weapons is haraam in the haram.
Armies do not come in - even when the prophet PBUH conquered makkah he said "Al
lah has given me permission to enter with an army for a very small time". It's s
uch a haram you can not even pluck a grass. It's so sacred - even a leaf on the
tree, you cannot pluck it. It's a haram: everything is safe. Allah says "whoever
enters the haram shall be safe". Therefore ibn Omar says that even "a man would
see the murderer of his father but he wouldn't harm him". Why? Because Mecca wa
s a haram from Ibrahim AS's time. And the arabs knew this - Islam came and affir
med this fact. Thus in short a haram means everyone and everything is protected.
If you even find a lost item you have to leave it. Allah says "whoever desires
to cause harm in the haram, Allah says he will cause him a severe punishment.
There are only two harams. Mecca and Madinah: al haramain, al shareefain. How ab
out Baytul Maqdas? Aqsa? It is a blessed land; it is the first kiblah and it is
a place where you get extra reward if you pray there. And all of these blessings
are there, but it's not a haram from a fiqh standpoint. Even though its known a
s 'Al-haram al shareef' but its not al-haramain. You can hunt the animals of Jer
usulam; you cannot of Mecca. And none of the scholars or ulama never said its a
haram. Yes its a land of large blessing, but not a haram. However, every haram i
s a land of blessing.
Now why was Madinah chosen? Note this is from what we understand but Allah knows
the real reasons.
1. Strategic location. It is reasonably close to Mecca without being too close.
From MEcca to Madinah an average caravan takes 7-8 days; a fast rider takes arou
nd 3 days. Thus its a distance not threatingly close. But not on the other side
of the world i.e. Abyssinia.
2. Its an amazing city from a military standpoint. Naturally speaking it is prot
ected from three sides around it. On the two sides, the prophet PBUH said Madina
h is a haram between its two 'laaba' i.e. volcanic foundations. Its neither sand
nor gravel but a volcanic structure; and the east and west is surrounded by the
se. Thus its naturally protected from these sides since you cannot walk or trave
l over these laaba. The southern side (closest to Mecca) is generally a lucious
cultivation of date palms. Its desnly populated with such date palms and as such
you cannot take an army through this forest of date palms. Thus the only part e
xposed is the northern side which is why the prophet PBUH only had to dig a tren
ch there. All that was needed was a trench a few miles long and it was possible
because of the this military structure.
3. The people of Madinah had never been conquered thus they had a strong determi
ned spirit. Also they had always been independant since the beginning so they we
re the right group to take Islam forward.
4. Aisha RA said the civil war of Buath that had been going on by some scholars
for 100 years (others say 40/50) was a 'gift that Allah gave the prophet PBUH'.
Why? The wars did many things; most importantly it eliminated the stubborn, powe
r hungry senior members of the community. This left Madinah to the young blood w
ho were tired of the bloodshed so they want and embrace change. And so they want
a new leader from outside the bloody tribes and they found this in the prophet
PBUH.
5. Another divine wisdom the prophet PBUH had a direct blood connection with the

people of Madinah. He had no blood connection with any other tribe - but Allah
chooses his place of immigration to a land where he is a second cousin of. Why?
His great granfather Hashim would go through Madinah on his way to Syria, and on
e time he saw a beautiful lady called Salma (a strong business lady). And he mar
ried her but she set conditions: she will stay in Madinah, keep all the children
and remain a business women. And they were only able to be together for a short
time, but she was pregnant with his son Shayba. And he grows up but the Quraysh
have no idea about this. When someone finds out, someone asks Shayba "who is yo
ur father?" and he proudly says "My father is Hashim". Upon this immediately AlMuttalib, the brother of Hashim, goes into Madinah and takes Shayba back (a type
of kidnapping because he bribes the kid with promises of grandure which did all
come true). So when they go back, the Quraysh asks "who is this? Is this your s
lave?" but out of fear Al-Muttalib didn't reveal the truth. So Shaya is called "
Abdul Muttalib" i.e. the grandfather of the prophet PBUH. Is this not a divine m
iracle? The very streets the prophet PBUH will live in, his own grandfather was
raised there. Its clearly Allahs plan. Salma is from the tribe of the Khazraj th
us the prophet PBUH to them was not a stranger. It wasn't an immedaite relation
but it is indeed a relation.
6. The arabs of the Yathrib were the Aws and Khazraj: and they were kahthaanis.
Recall there were two arabs, kahthaan and adnan. Thus its not a coincidence kaht
haanis and adnaani will be merging together to form the Islamic state. All other
tribes were adnaani. This is a sign of whats going to happen - Islam will come
to get rid of nationalism wars, racism etc.
7. The unique combination of the jews and arabs were very important. Of the grea
test benefit, the Aws and Khazraj were familiar with the concept of books, shari
ah etc. And the jews had always been flouting it in their face but from this the
Aws and Khazraj know the truths of the faith; and when Islam the real truth com
es, the people who were actually waiting for it reject it, and those who weren't
expecting it accepted it.
Next time we will discuss where the jewish tribes come from: in the middle of th
e Arabian Peninsula where did they come from?