Why Quran

Sa’d was a very high ranking companion and a shaheed. Prophet Muhammad took much more care during his burial than he normally would, yet he still chided someone who said that he would go straight to heaven.

Lesson: If you have bad akhlaq, even the prophet cannot help you against the consequences

Later, Prophet Muhammad proposed Zaynab bint Jahash marry his adopted son and ex-slave Zayd ibn Haritha. When the couple was unable to get along and got a divorce, the Prophet married Zaynab instead.

This broke multiple societal taboos:

1) Making marriage between the upper class and lower class seem acceptable and

2) Showing that the rules between father/son relations do not apply to adopted sons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xWV9lPelWs&list=PLpkB0iwLgfTat-Pgh4W3WFmupPamiC9UT

Podcast version: podcast.lifeofprophetmuhammad.com

After Bani Qurayzah surrendered, the punishment for their betrayal had to be decided.

This lecture covers:

– The penalty set by Bani Qurayzah’s pre-Islamic ally, Sa’d ibn Mu’adh, and Prophet Muhammad’s reaction to it

– Why the punishment was so harsh

– How even Bani Qurayzah’s tribal custom at the time was to treat treachery with a similar punishment

– Rebutting claims that the punishment was driven by anti-semitism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBeT7uNIv_s&list=PLpkB0iwLgfTat-Pgh4W3WFmupPamiC9UT

Podcast version: podcast.lifeofprophetmuhammad.com

After the enemy coalition gave up and retreated from Medina, the Muslims had to deal with the Banu Qurayzah’s treachery during the seige.

This lecture covers:

– Events during the three weeks the Muslims beseiged Bani Qurayzah

– Options Bani Qurayzah considered in response

– Their attemps to find allies to support them during their surrender, who would be lenient despite their deadly betrayal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z8FvpXBhtw&list=PLpkB0iwLgfTat-Pgh4W3WFmupPamiC9UT

Podcast version: podcast.lifeofprophetmuhammad.com

Multiple factors came together to demoralize the Qurayshi coalition and got them to retreat, ending the battle:

– Imam Ali’s victory over Amr ibn al-Wadd – Shortage of food and fodder. They had prepared for quick battle, not a month-long seige – A violent storm that trashed the Qurayshi camp – Distrust sown between the kuffar and the jews by a secret convert – Some Arabs deciding they’d rather be ruled by Arab than by Jews, even of those Arabs are Muslims

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL9k-WuTfFE&list=PLpkB0iwLgfTat-Pgh4W3WFmupPamiC9UT

Podcast version: podcast.lifeofprophetmuhammad.com

The Qurayshi army arrive in Medina and are stumped by the trench, and persuade the Jewish tribe of Banu Quraydha in Medina and convince them to betray their oath of neutrality

The Muslims stand vigilant day and night to defend the trench, even missing their obligatory prayers.

Surah 33, Al Ahzaab captures the tension, covering the hypocrites who exposed themselves when they saw the pagan army, and the believers who saw the army as confirmation of what Prophet Muhammad had said to them.

Amr ibn al-Wadd, a feared warrior, crosses over the trench and calls for one on one combat. Imam Ali ibn Talib is the only one who’s willing to answer and defeats him in combat.

Lessons: – Do not broadcast and sensationalize evil, even if it is true, unless there’s a benefit in making it public – Trust Allah and know that there is something positive in every difficulty and hardship

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmsL_Ex8pxg&list=PLpkB0iwLgfTat-Pgh4W3WFmupPamiC9UT

Podcast version: podcast.lifeofprophetmuhammad.com

Prophet Muhammad led by example, digging the trench harder than anyone else. When Fatima cooked some bread and brought it to him, she learned that it was the first thing the prophet had eaten in three days.

During the digging, Imam Ali also dug relentlessly and the Prophet praised him saying “May my father be ransomed for the one who digs”, highlights Imam Ali’s high position in his the eyes. Prophet Muhammad never said this about any other companion.

When some companions uncovered a large rock that no one could move, Prophet Muhammad hit it with three miraculous strikes, shattering it.

At the end, Jabir ibn Abdullah al Ansari invited Prophet Muhammad to dinner. The prophet extended the invitation to the rest of the exhausted companions. Jabir worried the food would run short, but when the Prophet arrived at Jabir’s home he blessed the food and there ended up being enough to feed every guest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pINIJqCUd_8&list=PLpkB0iwLgfTat-Pgh4W3WFmupPamiC9UT

Podcast version: podcast.lifeofprophetmuhammad.com

All the Muslim’s enemies band together in a final attempt to defeat them.

In the year 5 AH, the two banished Jewish tribes ally with the Meccans to mobilizing the masses for the ultimate battle against the Muslims, in what would later be known as the Battle of the Azhab, aka Battle of Khandaq.

The Quraysh had been humbled by their constant failure to wipe out the Muslims, and now that Muslims were blocking their trade routs the Quraysh were feeling the pain in their wallets. Abu Sufyan, receptive to the invitation by the Jewish tribes, rallies the Meccans and other Pagan tribes to raise the largest army the Arab peninsula had ever seen so far and they begin marching against Medina.

The Muslims in Mecca learn of this, and with Salman Al-Farsi’s advice, begin digging a tranch along the city’s border.

The banished Jews reach out to the one Jewish tribe still remaining in Mecca and convince them to also break their truce with the Muslims (now that a huge army is coming towards the city). The tribe openly reveals that they’ll break their covenant, and the Muslims realize they have to guard against enemies both outside and inside Medina.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAlQEbGoO8U&list=PLpkB0iwLgfTat-Pgh4W3WFmupPamiC9UT

Podcast version: podcast.lifeofprophetmuhammad.com

Sheikh Azhar Nasser explores additional Sunni counter arguments to the Shia claim that the Verse of Purification (Quran 33:33)

The discussion covers:

– Claims that the wives were already purified

– Claims that the actions of the wives had no impact on the prophetic household

– Claims that the Quran uses “ahl” to refer to wives in other places

– Questions about how the 12 imams were included in the verse of purity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9nlv_zeIk4&list=PLpkB0iwLgfTat-Pgh4W3WFmupPamiC9UT

Podcast version: podcast.lifeofprophetmuhammad.com

Sheikh Azhar Nasser explores Sunni counter arguments to the Shia claim that the Verse of Purification (Quran 33:33)

The discussion covers:

– Claims that the context of the verse being different

– Claims that the verses include all of Bani Hashim

– Claims that the verse doesn’t prove infallibility

The Q&A also answers:

– Why the Imams sometimes gave their children the same names as prominent Sunni’s like Aisha and Uthman

Ans: The names didn’t necessarily imply endorsement back then, though Imam Ali specificlly said he named his son after a different Uthman)

– Why didn’t the Quran explicitly state who the Ahlul Bayt were?

Ans: This was one of the ways Allah preserved the Quran without affecting free will. Otherwise the enemies of those people would have fought harder to change the Quran.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4J8QU_piqg&list=PLpkB0iwLgfTat-Pgh4W3WFmupPamiC9UT

Podcast version: podcast.lifeofprophetmuhammad.com

Continuing the identification of who is meant by the holy Ahl al-Bayt, Sheikh Azhar Nasser uses hadiths from Sunni sources that are accepted by both Shias and Sunnis to compare Shia and Sunni viewpoints.

Hadith include:

– (Jame-ut-Tirmidi) Hadith al Kisa – the hadith of the cloak

– (Sahih Muslim) Zahid ibn Akram’s explanation of why the wives are not part of the Ahlul Bayt

– (Al Mustadrak ala al-Sahihayn) The prophet going to Fatima’s door every day for months after it was revealed, repeating the Verse of Purity saying “Oh Ahl al-Bayt…”

– (Sahih Muslim) Hadith of Mubahila, where the Christians of Najran rejected the Prophet’s message and were challenged to a mubahalah. Here the term “Ahl al-Bayt” was used for the holy five exclusively

– (Sahih al-Tirmidhi) Hadith Al-Thaqalayn, where the prophet said “I’m leaving for you that which if you hold onto you shall never devate., one is greater than the other: The Book of God-an extended rope between the Heavens and the Earth; and my progeny, my Ahl al-Bayt”

– The fact that the wives never used the Verse of Purification to show their superiority (despite sometimes using other claims to show their superiority)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3cSoTy0ZlU&list=PLpkB0iwLgfTat-Pgh4W3WFmupPamiC9UT

Podcast version: podcast.lifeofprophetmuhammad.com