Inspirations from Sahabah

The gold in Umar.

 

I’m not a series person. I’m not patient enough to wait for the next episode until the next week. I’m not even patient sometimes to wait until the end! I have close friends who are big fans of the K-entertainment, so a few years back I tried to jump into the wagon by watching Boys Over Flower and the music videos of the K-Pop hits of that time and learning the dance moves, but none of these managed to make me sit still. I gave up the former after only four or five episodes.

But learning language coupled with my shyness to speak up forced me to diversify my ways of learning. Last year, when I was learning Turkish, I tried to start watching Turkish series, but anyone who has experience with Turkish series will know how even the freaking montage takes about five minutes and one episode could take up to two hours.

And now as I am nearing to my Arabic prep final and my Arabic is still not able to convince people that I actually studied Arabic, I had to resort to the same technique i.e watching series. Alhamdulillah this time it’s easier because :

  1. I can find series that don’t last for two hours
  2. It’s easy to find something that’s Syariah-compliant because really, sometimes it’s hard to find Turkish series/music video that don’t make you go Astaghfirullah every 3 minutes.

So one of the first on my to-watch list is the Omar Series.

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I’ve heard of Omar Series from my friends way before I decided to come to Turkey, but I never got the chance to watch it. Only after my Arabic course did I  make some time to see how it looks like. But this too, did not last long. I only managed to watch one episode then I got busy and completely forgot about it.

Then during my recent exam I had a bad case of anxiety. It was the second final exam before the major proficiency test this May-June, and my Arabic is still so bad. One day I was so anxious that I couldn’t study, which made me more anxious which made the mental block worse. But I gotta do something about it. Then I remembered about the series, and I came up with the decision to “study” through the series and binged- watched it that night.

What I got was not just a better understanding of some words I couldn’t use before, but also some enlightenment on the early days when Islam just started to be propragated. Finally I understood why not everyone was tortured by the Quraisy back in the days. To those who want to understand the history of early Islam better, Omar Series is definitely a recommendation.

Just as the title says, it’s a depiction of the life of Umar Al-Khattab R.A from before Islam until post-Rasulullah SAW period. The series is really good in my opinion as it gives a clearer picture of how it was and what actually happened back then. I really thought Umar was this ruthless man who would beat the cupcake out of the Muslimin, but apparently he was not that ruthless. But yes, he was tough. He joined the elderly heads of clans at Dar An-Nadwah (kind of a parliament of Quraysh clans), discussing about measures they needed to take to stop the new religion Rasulullah SAW was calling to which was ‘threatening’ them, as it was calling to many aspects that would destroy their tradition of idolatry, social class division and despicable practices that they firmly upheld.

Umar being a member of Dar An-Nadwah would mean he is the last person you’d want to see if you were to be a Muslim in the early period. The members of Dar An-Nadwah were among the most tyrannical and hostile towards the Muslim, and indeed Umar was so tyrannical that nobody had the faith that Umar would submit to Islam ever, that there was even a statement saying

“Never will Umar submit [to Islam] until his donkey submit [to Islam]”

Not sure if his donkey actually did, but we all know that Umar did embrace Islam eventually. The news of his submission created sensations among Muslims and the Quraiysh opponents, as nobody saw it coming.

After becoming Muslim, to everyone’s amazement, he became among the biggest defenders of Islam. He became one of Rasulullah SAW closest companions. His bravery put Muslims at that time into a safer position, and only after he enters Islam the Muslims were able to do their ibadah openly. He was also nicknamed Al-Faruq , meaning “he who distinguishes truth from falsehood” .  During the event of Hijrah, while most companions were leaving Makkah covertly, he went up to Kaabah and announced his migration, and challenged “those who want their wives to lose their husbands, their children to lose their parents, and their mothers grieving endlessly” to stop him.

Umar R.A is a nice example of one of the ahadith Rasulullah SAW.

From Abu Hurairah R.A, “Rasulullah SAW said : “The people are like mines of silver and gold. The best of them in ignorance are the best of them in Islam if they have understanding.””

Umar R.A was already a respected man long before he was a Muslim, but he had a dark pre-Muslim past. If the people during the Jahiliyyah period were coffee, Umar R.A would be espresso. There was one time when he was stalking Rasulullah SAW when Rasulullah SAW was praying, Rasulullah SAW was reciting Al-Haqqah. He was actually touched by the ayat, but he said (not the actual dialogue) :

“This sounds just like the Quraisyi poem”

Then the 40-41 ayat of Al-Haqqah said :

“Most surely, it is the Word brought by an honoured Apostle. And it is not the word of a poet; little it is that you believe.”

Then Umar R.A said :

“Then he must be a forecaster.”

To which, the 42nd ayat said :

“Nor it is the word of a soothsayer; little it is that you mind”

And that moment, he felt something in his heart, but the Jahiliyyah in him was too strong. He refused to let go of their Jahiliyyah traditions.

But ‘alaa kulli haal, Allah answered Rasulullah SAW’s prayer to make either of two Umars a Muslim (the other being Abu Jahal) by choosing Umar R.A. Allah granted Umar R.A understanding in Islam, and you see what happened?

That same man who were tough to Muslims before he become one became as tough to the Musyrikin as he was to Muslims after he became one of them. The qualities he had during Jahiliyyah did not diminish at all after he became Muslim, on the contrary he made use of that quality to contribute to Islam, and in the end, he is one of the significant figures who paved Islam its way to glory.

Fact is, all of us have the goodness in us that we can make use to help Islam. Allah has created us in the best form [At-Tiin : 4] and Allah has shown us the ways [Al-Balad]. Understanding is an effort, just like how we try to understand all the mathematical formulas. So we’ve got the gold. The only thing we need to work on now is the understanding. That’s what happened to Umar R.A. Already a gold himself, his value got higher as he understood what being a Muslim is all about.

Umar R.A maximised his gold and continued the legacy of Rasulullah SAW until the end of his life.

Have you found your gold yet? 🙂

Muhammad Al-Fatih vs Abu Ayyub Al-Ansory

I’ll be hitting the big 2-0 this year. Yeay, I’m legal again. I’m sure I’m getting to the legal age somewhere in another part of the world haha. So, quite normally, a question arise when some friends are nearing to their new age.

“What have I done for the ummah?” Well, actually we ask ourselves this question quite often.

And one quite common question also,

“Sultan [Muhammad] Al-Fatih umur 21 sudah menakluk Constantinople. Aku apa dah ku buat?”

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My first Ayasofya shot #proudbruneian #generasiberwawasan

Honestly, I’m no different. I have been asking myself the same question not too long after i turned 17. So that’s almost 3 years ago and, if i took Al-Fatih’s achievements as my benchmark a bit seriously, I’d have one more year to go. But I don’t wanna get into trouble for vandalising the remnants of the Wall of Constantinople.

Okay i kid.

Let’s take a stroll down the memory lane shall we?

Istanbul was previously known as Byzantium before Emperor Constantine the Great made it as the capital of East Roman Empire, which led to it being named Constantinople. Although the ‘Uthmaniyyah Caliphate besieged the city in 1453, attempts had been made since the time of the Umayyad Caliphate.

While the Muslim attempts to capture Constantinople were motivated by the prophetic revelation of Rasulullah SAW, other foreign powers were also trying to seize the city due to it’s strategic location. But the wall was unbreakable. None of the numerous attempts managed to pass the fortress with victory.

However, finally, the epiphany of Constantinople being captured by the best leader with the best army was proven with the success of Sultan Al-Fatih entering the city after quite a challenging journey, mentally and physically, at the mere age of 21.

His success at such a young age can be a motivation for us youngsters who most of the time do nothing except lazing around to get up and do something for the world.

The story of Feth-i Istanbul as we call it here, together with the fact that it was a job of a brave young man is quite a pride for the Muslims (tho we have not much to be proud of anymore).

A recent tazkirah session with some friends however showed me another perspective on the story. Remember that Al-Fatih’s attempt is not the first one and the Umayyad Caliphate made the first move, 8 centuries before them? And even during the ‘Uthmaniyyah time attempts had been made since the previous sultans.

So the Siege of Constantinople is not a one-time event, but it was a series of attempts made by generations of Muslims who were holding the power at the time. And it all started with the first Arab Siege of Constantinople. In the campaign, there was one important figure that we tend to overlook.

He was Abu Ayyub Al-Ansory.

He was the lucky sahabah whom Allah had chosen to receive Rasulullah SAW as his guest during the Hijrah to Yathrib, now known as Madinah (Al-Munawwarah TEEHEE). Rasulullah SAW stayed with him for a few months while the Masjid An-Nabawi was being constructed in front of Abu Ayyub’s house. So, after the construction was done, they remained neighbours.

Can you imagine how old he was during the Umayyad Caliphate? Yes, very. He lived through the time of Rasulullah, Khulafaa Ar-Rasyideen and the Muawiyah I of the Umayyad Caliphate. However, that did not stop him from joining the campaign. In fact, he never missed any war campaign in the early Islamic history except for when he was on another mission.

He could opt to stay and retire from joining war with that age, but he didn’t. Constantinople being set free from the hands of the Eastern Roman Empire was a promise of Allah that every Muslim at that time was looking forward to. Abu Ayyub wanted to see for himself the victory that Allah had promised. How impressive it is that his spirit did not age with his body.

He, however, did not get to see Constantinople being conquered. He fell ill during the campaign and requested to be buried to the nearest point the army could reach to the Wall of Constantinople after his passing, so he “could hear the sound of the footsteps of the horses of the army who would liberate the city”. His grave had been developed into a mausoleum and a masjid was built nearby by Sultan Al-Fatih right after his victory, making it the first masjid built after the Fall of Constantinople and it was named Eyup Camii.

You see, there are so many ibrah (lessons) that we can get from this epic story of success. When we see the bigger picture we will see the tiny,tiny details formed together that make the picture beautiful. What appeals to me the most is the fact that age is indeed just a number.

Al-Fatih’s young age did not stop him from realising the dream that rooted back to the first Daulah Islamiyyah, just like Abu Ayyub’s old age did not stop him from participating in realising the dream that he witnessed being promised to happen. They both could use their age as being “too young” in the case of Al-Fatih or “too old” in the case of Abu Ayyub, but they didn’t. All they had in themselves was determination to just make it happen, by hook or by crook, win or lose, dead or alive.

No matter how old we are now, what matters the most is the desire to make a change and the effort in working towards it. It’s never too early and it’s never too late. Creating a tomorrow requires a work today. It’s okay if you have passed your 21st year of life, and it’s still okay if you have passed your 80th year. But of course it’s better if you haven’t. The goal is to create a change to the world, whether or not you are 21.

 “The best of people are those that bring most benefit to the rest of mankind.”

-Rasulullah SAW-

May Allah ease your affairs 🙂