The Battle of Siffin took place between Hazrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him), the fourth one of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, and Hazrat Muawiyah bin Abu Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with him), the governor of Damascus, who did not accept the caliphate of Hazrat Ali. The Battle took place in 657, in Siffin, which is located in the east of ar-Raqqa in the basin of Euphrates.; many Muslims were martyred in this battle.   

The reason of the breaking out of the war was based on a difference of ijtihad. Since the issue was a political one, it ended up in the form of a war. If the difference of ijtihad had been about science, it would have been on paper. The way to the war took place as follows in short: While Hazrat Uthman was the Caliph, a group of rebels came to Madinah. After surrounding Hazrat Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) for a while, one or some of them martyred Hazrat Uthman.

Thereupon, Hazrat Ali declared his caliphate and started to seek the murderer(s) of Hazrat Uthman. However, it was impossible to determine the murderer(s) among the group of rebels. Then, Hazrat Muawiyah, who was the governor of Damascus then, wanted all of the rebels to be punished by defending relative justice, saying, “The right of the individual is sacrificed for the safety of the nation.” Hazrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) defended absolute justice and said, “The right of the individual cannot be sacrificed for anything”, and tried to find the murderer(s) among the rebels. When the identification of the murderer(s) was delayed, the discontent increased. Due to the provocation of the mischief-makers, two armies faced each other.   

Meanwhile, the Battle of Jamal took place. After the Battle of Jamal, Hazrat Ali headed toward Kufa; he sent an envoy to Hazrat Muawiyah informing him that Muhajirs and Ansar of the Companions approved his caliphate and asked Hazrat Muawiyah to pledge allegiance to him. Muawiyah stalled Jarir bin Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him), the envoy, and consulted Hazrat Amr bin al-As (may Allah be pleased with him); then, he told the envoy that if the murderers of Hazrat Uthman were not punished at once, he would head toward them with his army. Hazrat Muawiyah left Damascus with an army of eighty-five thousand people. Hazrat Ali left Kufa for Siffin with an army of ninety thousand people.

Hazrat Ali sent envoys to Hazrat Muawiyah to dissuade him. However, he did not get a positive response. Small clashes took place between the two armies; meanwhile, envoys tried to make a treaty until the end of the month of Muharram of the year 37 H. However, they could not make a treaty. The battle began again on the first day of the month of Safar.   

With the severe attack of the army of Hazrat Ali, the army of Damascus fell into a state of disbanding. Hazrat Ali was about to win the war when Amr bin al-As told the soldiers of Damascus, to put copies of the Quran on the spearheads. They fulfilled this order and shouted to the soldiers of Hazrat Ali, “Let the Book of Allah be the arbitrator between us.” The precaution of Hazrat Amr bin al-As became effective and the Iraqi soldiers started to say, “Let us answer the call for the Book of Allah.” Hazrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) tried to explain to them that it was a tactical maneuver, but he could not succeed. They chose an arbitrator from each party and wanted a decision in accordance with the Quran made. The soldiers of Hazrat Ali were glad about it. The people of Damascus chose Hazrat Amr bin al-As as the arbitrator and the Iraqis supporting Hazrat Ali chose Hazrat Abu Musa al-Ash’ari. They met in Dumat al-Jandal in the month of Safar of the year 37 H and wrote down the “Tahkim”, which included the principles to be referred to while making the decision. It is called the Incident of Tahkim (Arbitration) in the Islamic history.

The cloth of the Kaaba is not made black at one time. First it is dyed in red, then green and then in black. There are black woven embossed embroideries on the covering. There are the 99 names of Allah, kalima at-tawhid and tasbihat in embroidery. There is a band of 47-meter long on the top one-third part of the covering. There are Quranic verses related to hajj on the band. Those verses are woven with silver threads dipped in gold water.

The Kaaba has always maintained its identity of a holy shrine that arouses religious enthusiasm and tranquility in the spirits of Muslims. Therefore, looking at the Kaaba is regarded as a kind of worshipping. The place of the Kaaba in the universe is resembled and compared to the place of the heart in the human body. In other words, the Kaaba is the heart of the universe. The Muslims that circumambulate around the Kaaba in waves express the beating of that heart. Each Muslim that circumambulates the Kaaba feels some, whether little or much, enthusiasm and grandeur. Al-Batanuni expresses his feelings about it in his book called ar-Rihla al-Hijaziyya as follows:

“The whole congregation gathered with a feeling of the deepest awe in front of the grandiose dominance and lofty splendor, in front of which the greatest spirits felt themselves as nothing. If we had not seen the movements of the bodies during the prayer (salah) and the raising of the hands during the supplication, had not heard whispering of the words uttered and the beating of the hearts in the presence of that endless grandeur, we would have thought that we had been transferred to another realm and life. In fact, we were in a different realm, then. We were in the house of Allah and in the presence of Allah.  Our heads were bent down; our tongues were tied. Our hands were turned upwards; our eyes were full of tears; our hearts were full of awe and our inner selves were full of good and clean feelings.”

In another place, he also said, “Makkah is the peak of His power and will and the place where His revelation was sent down; the Kaaba is His shrine and the place of His grandeur and help.”

The feeling of respect toward the Kaaba became manifest by putting the covering around it. There are different narrations about who put the first covering around the Kaaba. Although it is reported that Hazrat Ismail (Ishmael) (pbuh) put the first covering around the Kaaba, it is more widely accepted that As’ad Abu Karib, a Yemeni King, put the first covering around the Kaaba. According to a narration, once As’ad Abu Karib traveled to Makkah and stayed there for six days; he sacrificed animals and gave the meat away to the people of Makkah and to the poor.  While he was in Makkah, he saw in his dream that he put a covering around the Kaaba. In the morning, he realized what he saw in his dream and put a covering from the fabric that he saw in his dream around the Kaaba. On the second night, he saw in his dream that he put a covering from another fabric around the Kaaba and on the third night yet another covering. Every morning, he realized what he saw in his dream. Thus, he was known as the first person to put a covering around the Kaaba. Therefore, Our Prophet (pbuh) said, “Do not curse Tubba (As’ad Abu Karib) because he is from the People of Oneness.”

There are several narrations that Hazrat Prophet (pbuh) put a covering around the Kaaba. According to the narrations, the Kaaba was covered by woolen fabrics during the Era of Ignorance. Hazrat Prophet (pbuh) covered the Kaaba with a covering of Yemeni fabric. Hazrat Umar and Hazrat Uthman covered it with thin Egyptian fabric. The narrations agree that the Prophet covered the Kaaba but there are different narrations about the type of the fabric. However, the scholars explaining hadiths say that it is possible that the Messenger of Allah put coverings of different fabrics at different times around the Kaaba. During the Era of Bliss and the Four Caliphs, the covering was changed every year. Hazrat Muawiyah changed it twice a year, and Mamun changed it three times a year.

He covered it with a red fabric on the day of Tarwiyah, one day before the day of Arafah, a fabric called Qabati on the first day of the month of Rajab and a white fabric on the twenty-seventh day of the month of Ramadan. During the Era of Fatimis, a white covering was put around the Kaaba. Sultan  Mahmud Sebuk Tekin put a yellow covering around the Kaaba. During the time of Abbasid Caliph Nasir, the Kaaba was covered with a green covering. Then, during the time of the same Caliph, it was changed to black.  From then on, the covering of the Kaaba is black.  During the history of Islam, the covering of the Kaaba was never ignored; in Hijri 750, Salih Ismail bin Nasir set up a foundation in a village near Cairo, and he allocated that village for the covering of the Kaaba; the covering of the Kaaba was renewed every year with the income of that foundation.

It is reported in narrations that the covering of the Kaaba was renewed every year during the time of Hazrat Umar and that the covering that was removed was divided among hajis. Those who go to Makkah from Jeddah using the old motorway today see separate buildings in an area of 100.000 square meters just before entering Makkah. In those building, about 300 workers and artisans work on a very blessed thing. They manufacture “Kiswa”, the great fabric that covers the Kaaba. Until 1962, the covering of the Kaaba was manufactured in Egypt. Then, King Saud had a factory to produce Kiswa built in Makkah. Today, the covering of the Kaaba is woven and produced in that factory by skillful artisans, weavers, calligraphers and technical experts.  Every year, 24 million riyals (according to 1988) are allocated for Kiswa.  670 kilograms of pure white silk and 720 kilograms of dye and acid are used for the covering.  Kiswa consists of 47 parts. Each part is 14 meters long and 95 centimeters wide. The total are of the covering is 650 square meters. The chapter of al-Ikhlas is embroidered with gold on each corner. Other verses are woven on the panels under the band. 120 kilograms of gold and silver were used on the silk dyed black. The ratio of gold to silver is 1 to 4. The weaving, dyeing and embroidering process of Kiswa takes about 1 year. Kiswa is completed one month before Hajj and it is delivered to the family of ash-Shaibi. When the Kaaba is washed for the second time, the old covering is removed and the new one is placed. The old covering is cut into pieces and distributed to Muslims.

Arabs lived as nomads in the Arabian Peninsula before Islam. Their livelihood was based on animal breeding, and some Arabs were engaged in farming in oases in the inner parts of Arabia. In addition to this, one of the most important ways of livelihood was also robberies of caravans which were the custom of the desert. The way of being organized of Arabs before Islam was the classical Badawi system (nomadic way of living).
According to that system, there was a committee whose members were respectable persons of tribe. In tribal life, rules were formed according to the ancestors’ way of living and there was no private land. Meadows, waters, and sometimes even herds were common property of the tribe. Makkah turned into a commercial center because of its convenient position and people were settled there. The settled life, development of trade, and private riches earned as a result of it accelerated the collapse of tribal life. 
Tribal ties became loose. Economic concerns and the idea of earning more replaced tribal solidarity. The fact that Makkah was getting urbanized more and more and due to the hierarchy among tribes and members of tribes, a new separate regime emerged. According to that regime, the city was governed by a council. As for the council, it consisted of ten leaders who had different roles inside that regime and whose powers inherited from father to son. Thanks to the Kaaba which was worshipped, Makkah was considered as Holy Land. Among tribes, peace was announced by the city government for development of trade and tribes went on pilgrimage by visiting the temple in Makkah in that period. Loots and robberies against caravans which were the cornerstones of trade still went on although if they decreased within that period. The continuing wars and tribalism, though they were about to disappear, were the biggest obstacles to social life and trade. There was a need for an institution which would organize life and relationships among tribes. That would be a state.
Tribal life in Arabia started to be shaken to the foundation. However, there was no slavery in progress. After primitive communal society, the next step as a result of natural development would be slavery society. However, slavery had not developed, that is, labor of slaves had never been crucial to social development and production. Although there were slaves owned by people within the society, they were mostly used for housework, protection of caravans, and as concubines (female slaves). It was rare to see labor of slaves in the production.
Dominant religion before the rise of Islam was paganism. Each tribe had many idols each of whom were symbol of a god. The idols had been sculptured as figures such as a woman, bird, lion etc. the inside Kaaba, which was considered holy by all tribes. It was full of idols and there were also about one hundred temples far from the Kaaba in Arabia. Judaism and Christianity had also entered Arabia through merchants. However, Arabs did not show interest in those religions that they did not see close to themselves. Those religions had very little support within Arabia. Islam, unlike Christianity, arose within those historical conditions. When Christianity arose, the state of Rome was a slavery society. Christianity also existed by rejecting the authority of that state and giving hope to the oppressed class. However, tribal system was still dominant although it was about to collapse in the conditions in which Islam arose. Therefore, Islam’s development process would be different from Christianity.
As it is known, our Prophet was born in 570 (or 571) on the Gregorian calendar, on a Monday corresponding to the twelfth day of the month Rabi al- Awwal . When we search for religions and belief systems, we meet some strange faith types as far as we understand from the Holy Qur’an.
 The most important ones of them are as follows:
1. Hanif (monotheism): They were persons who continued the remains of the religion of Abraham. It is accepted that most of Arabs believed in that religion until idolatry was spread. They had accepted the belief in One God via Ismail. When the Prophet (pbuh) was born, those who believed in One God believed in Oneness of Allah and the Day of Judgment, refused to worship idols, and did not accept many customs of Jahiliyya. They had no military or political power.
2. Star-worshipping: There were people who worshipped stars in Yemen, Arab Peninsula (near Damascus according to some), Hurran valleys, and upper parts of Iraq. They were called Sabiis. Although we do not accurately know when and how star-worshipping had begun within Arab society, we can understand that this belief was available in the time of Suleiman from the anecdote of Suleiman and Balkis, the Queen of Sheba, which is mentioned in the Qur’an (The Ant (an-Naml), 27/20-24). They maintained their existence till the time of our Prophet. They are mentioned in the Qur’an as follows: “Among His signs are the night and the day, and the sun and the moon. But do not prostrate yourselves before the sun or the moon; rather prostrate before Allah, who created them both, if it is He whom you worship.” (Detailed (Fussilat), 41/33)
However, those people were in the minority and had no military and political power.
3. Zoroastrianism: There were some groups which believed in Zoroastrianism in Iraq and Bahrain. They worshipped fire. The Iranian emperor who was Zoroastrian protected them. Later on, along with Jewish people, they played a crucial role by setting Muslims against each other and casting doubt on Islamic beliefs.
4. Christianity: There were some Christian groups among Taghlib, Qudaa, and Ghassan tribes in the north of Peninsula and the South of Yemen. They also had no political or military power. Within the Peninsula, there were also some Christian groups but they were very little in number. Christianity entered Arabia as from beginning from the year 340 as a result of the invasions of Romans and Ethiopians. (Mubarakfuri 1980, 47)
5. Judaism: There were Jewish people in Yemen, Wadil Qura, Khyber, Tayma and Yathrib (Madinah’s name before Islam). Jewish people had economic, political, and military power unlike the orher groups. They were predominant. They called themselves as the elite nation of God and believed that God would make them authorize to manage people. Therefore, they expected that the last prophet would be born among their own nation. Upon the invasion of their country by Buhtunnasr in 587 B.C, they had migrated to Arabia. (ibid , 46)

6. Idolatry: It had spread all around Arab Peninsula. It was more effective and more common than all the other belief systems. There are different views about when it had entered Arabia and how it had been common. The most common one of them is that idolatry entered Arabia via a man named Amr Bin Luhai. This person, the leader of the tribe Huzaa, was a person who was famous for his honesty and interest in religions. The people of that time saw him as one of great scholars of his time. Amr who caught a kind of skin disease was recommended to go to Hurran, located in Damascus, and to have a bath with water there. Keeping the advice, Amr went to that place, had a bath and recovered. He saw there that people worshipped idols and he liked it. Taking an idol called Hubal with him, he put into Kaaba and began to worship it. He also wanted his people to worship it. In the course of time, this worshipping had become so common that among Arabs that each tribe had its own idol. When the Prophet (pbuh) conquered Makkah, there were 360 idols in the Kaaba; destroying all them, our Prophet cleaned the Kaaba from idols.
Another account says: “when Ismail’s children grew up and had to go outside Makkah because of lack of enough food, they took some Haram soil with them to remember their father and later showed respect to it very much. In the course of time, it changed into worshipping by accepting it as holy. Thus, idolatry was founded and it developed in the course of time.
Since the most common faith was idolatry in Hejaz District in which the Prophet was actually brought up, the Prophet primarily fought against idolatry. The most well-known ones of idols, some of which are also mentioned in the Qur’an are as follows:
Manat: It was in a place called Al-Musallal between Makkah and Madinah. Ansar tribes such as Saad, Huzaa etc. worshipped it.
Lat : it was in Taif. People of Taif worshipped it. Our Prophet, after the conquest of Makkah, made it break down by sending Abu Sufian bin Harb and Mughira bin Shuba.
Uzza: It was the idol of the tribes Ghatafan, Ghani, and Bahila. Our Prophet made it break down by sending Khalid.
Hubal: it was the biggest idol of Quraysh. It was made of red agate.
Apart from those, they had idols named Isaaf, Naila, Wadd, Suwa, Yaghus, and Yauq etc., some of which have been mentioned in Arabic poems. For example, Amr bin Humama ad-Dusi, when he burnt the idol called Dhulkaffain, read this couplet:
“Oh Dhulkaffain! I am not from the time of your father.. My birth is before your birth. I filled your heart with fire. (Shukri, 2/209)
Arabs made their idols of stone, wood and other; they also made them of food. For example, the tribe Sons of Hanifa ate a big idol that they had made of flour and dates during a famine so they were criticized by the poet of the rival tribe as follows: 
Sons of Hanifa ate their gods, when the time of famine came. (Qalaji 1998, 2)
When someone saw that a fox peed on an idol which he built in the garden of his house, he burst with anger by saying how one who could not protect itself in such a condition could be a god and said the following:
“Is he a god over whose head a fox peed? Pay attention; those over whom foxes peed are despised.” (ibid)
As far as we understand from those kinds of verses above and some verses in the Holy Qur’an, idolatry did not satisfy most of the Arabs. Since they originally had the belief of Ismail and Abraham (pbuh), they believed in the existence of an Almighty God. Thus, some verses in the Holy Qur’an refer to it. For example:
If you ask them: 'Who has created the heavens and the earth?' They will reply: 'Allah.' Say: 'Praise belongs to Allah!' But most of them do not have knowledge. (Luqman, 31/25)

“‘We only worship them so that they will bring us near to Allah’ (they say)” (the Troops (az-Zumar), 39/3)

But those whom you invoke, other than Allah do not create anything, they are themselves created. (The Bee, 16/20)
As it is seen, Arabs had some contradiction about that issue. In the Qur’an, that contradiction is mentioned in many verses. For example:
Is He (Allah) who creates as he (idols) who does not create? Will you not remember? (the Bee (an-Nahl), 16/17)

We can shortly classify Arabs’ ways of worshipping and ceremony as follows: begging and praying in front of idols, wishing that they ease their worries when they are in trouble or sick; visiting idols inside the Kaaba, prostrating themselves in front of them, circumambulating them, and praying; sacrificing an animal for them in order to be close to them, which has been banned in the Qur’an by saying “you are forbidden (to consume)………….of animals sacrificed on stones (to idols).” (al-Maida, 5/3)
Idolater Arabs gave a part of their foods or crop and livestock to idols or Allah. The holy Qur’an mentions it and bans it:
They set aside for Allah a share of what He has created of tilth and cattle saying: 'This is for Allah so they claim and this for our associates (gods).' The share of their associates never reaches Allah, but the share of Allah reaches their associates. How evil they judge! (Cattle (al-Anam), 6/136)

Arabs made a vow to idols, too. When they decided to go for a long journey or to start an important work, they came to the Kaaba and sacrificed an animal for idols; the oracle who was there took out a bag in which there were fortune-telling arrows and told their fortunes. On some of those arrows “Do”, over some “do not do”, over some “empty” were written. If it was “do”, they would do what they wanted to do; if it was “do not do”, they gave up; if it was “empty”, they drew again. Islam banned those, too. In Islam, when somebody cannot decide over what he or she will do, there are some methods which are called consultation (istishara) and seeking goodness from Allah (istikhara)
Arabs in that period did not believe in the Day of Judgment and resurrection after death. Thus, someday, one of the notable persons of Quraysh, Umayya Ibn Khalaf, by holding two decayed bones in his hand, came to the Prophet; breaking them into small pieces, he asked: “Oh Muhammad! Do you think that Allah can vitalize these, too?” Replying him, the Messenger of Allah said, “Yes, Allah will kill you, later vitalize, and then burn you in Hell.” That incidence is mentioned in the Qur’an as follows:
“Has the human not seen how We created him from a drop (of sperm)? Yet he is a clear opponent.  And he has struck for Us a parable, and forgotten his
own creation. He asks: 'Who will quicken the bones after they have decayed?’ Say: 'He will quicken them who originated them the first
time; He has knowledge of every creation.” (Ya Seen, 36/77-79)

Despite all of the corrupt belief systems, we see that there were those who believed in the Day of Judgment affected by Christianity and Hanif (monotheism). Thus, one of the poets of Jahiliyya Period, Al-Akhnas Ibn Shihab at-Tamimi writes the following in one of his poems:
“There is no doubt that Allah will reward people in the Day of Reckoning because of their good deeds.” (Qalaji, 18)
Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Elmalı

Sumayya bint Habbat (may Allah be pleased with her)

Hazrat Sumayya is the first martyr woman companion in Islam....

She is Ammar Ibn Yasir’s mother... Although she was tortured by polytheists together with her husband Yasir, and her son, she did not abandon her faith... They were brave people who took the risk of dying honorably in the way of Allah and His Messenger...

They were a family that strove so as not to fall into polytheism and that resisted oppression and torment… They were the first suffering family in Islam... They were the first martyrs that died in the way of Allah and His Messenger.

Sumayya bint Habbat was the female slave of Abu Huzayfa Ibn Mughira from Sons of Mahzum. She was liked by her master due to her service. Abu Huzayfa made her marry Yasir. Yasir was a young man who came from Yemen to Makkah; he took shelter with Abu Huzayfa and worked for him. When they had children, he freed Yasir.

Ammar Ibn Yasir, a great Companion, was born out of this marriage. In the first days of Islam, this fortunate family became Muslims and all of its members became an activist of belief. They suffered unbelievable tortures of furious Makkans. They were exposed to the most anguished and severe tortures since there was nobody to protect them. They suffered the heaviest tortures of Qurayshi polytheists, especially Sons of Mahzum. They were tied to camels and dragged by camels at noon, when the sun was the hottest, on the sand. polytheists put scorching hot rocks on their bodies and burnt their bodies. However, they could not make Sumayya and her family abandon their belief.

Yasir family, husband-wife and their son, Ammar, showed the best examples of perseverance in belief. They showed what a great power and happiness it was to believe in Allah and His Messenger at the risk of their lives. The wife and husband were martyred together. Yasir and Sumayya were honorably recorded as the first martyrs in the history of Islam.

Once, the Sun of the two Worlds, our Prophet, went to the place where those heroes were tortured. When they saw the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) coming toward them, they forgot about their pains and started to look at him. They did not keep their eyes off him as if they wanted to welcome him. They felt relieved due to the joy of seeing him heedless of the tortures. When the Prophet of Mercy approached them, he gave them the following glad tiding that will increase their resistance, give them the power of patience and endurance to maintain their belief and that will console and relieve them from the oppression and torment:

“Show patience, o family of Yasir! Show patience, o family of Yasir! I am giving you the glad tiding of Paradise.”, He addressed them.

He promised the first sufferers of Islam Paradise, the place where they would live eternally, and showed them Dar as-Salam (place where they would live peacefully) as target. However, man was weak. He was created in a weak form. Would the days pass under torture? Yasir asked again, by relying on Allah and His Messenger:

“O Messenger of Allah! Will time always pass like that?”

The Prophet of mercy was moved. He felt as if he suffered the tortures that they were exposed to. However, a struggle was necessary as a human being. He asked them to resist and prayed Allah, “O Allah! Grant your mercy and forgiveness to Yasir family!” He tried to console them only this way.

A few days passed. The tortures continued. Yasir was old. He could not resist the oppression and torment, and he died. He became fortunate by being the first martyr among men in the way of Allah and His Messenger, in the struggle of belief.

Abu Huzayfa, the uncle of Abu Jahl, wanted to relieve his anger by torturing Sumayya and her son Ammar after Yasir’s death. Abu Huzayfa was exhausted after his oppression and torment. He said to Abu Jahl, his uncle, “I leave Sumayya to you.”

Abu Jahl headed toward Sumayya like savages that saw red due to their conceit and insulted her, “You believed in Muhammad because you fell in love with him.” Sumayya answered the debauched man back with stronger words. Abu Jahl went crazy. The debauched, cruel, savage person feeling as if someone spat in his face due to the words of Sumayya stuck the spear in Sumayya and martyred her.

What a high belief!.. What patience!.. What endurance!.. And what a nice end!.. What a bravery not to keep silent against the oppressor!.. What a bravery to defend the right and to shout out everywhere!.. What a great strength belief is!.. A faithless heart is really a burden for the chest!.. O Allah! Make us all activists of belief!.. Do not include us among the people that are deceived by the short life of this world!.. Always enable us to defend and help the truth!.. Include us among those who live and die believing in you!.. Amin.

Hazrat Sumayya (may Allah be pleased with her) is a brave person of belief that obtained the honor of being the first woman martyr of Islam. She became famous for her devotion to Islam and endurance against torture for the sake of Islam; she was a brave mother who sacrificed her life in the way of Allah and His Messenger.

Ammar Ibn Yasir (may Allah be pleased with him), the son of Sumayya, went to the presence of the Sun of the two Worlds, our Prophet, as soon as he was saved from torture. He told the Prophet that he was very sorry because of the death of his mother so painfully and that he had no endurance left against the tortures. Our Prophet (pbuh) advised him to show patience. He prayed Allah for them, “O Allah! Do not torture anybody from the family of Yasir with fire.”

Abu Jahl, the debauched polytheist, was killed in the Battle of Badr. That day, the Prophet of Mercy said to Ammar, “Allah killed the murderer of your mother.”

May Allah mercy this family of belief activists abundantly. May Allah enable us to take lessons and our shares from their love of struggle, patience and strength. Amin.

Mustafa Eriş

What are the characteristics of Dajjal? As the following hadith denotes the mischief of Dajjal is the biggest mischief in the world: "There will be no bigger incident (in another narration mischief) than Dajjal right from the creation of Adam to the Last Hour."(1)
It is very important for our spiritual life to know Dajjal, who is the Pioneer of a terrifying destruction. Thus, we can protect ourselves from his evil and save our spiritual world from dangers.
It is a great heedlessness and disaster that will bring about a lot of risks not to know or not to be able to know him. Since his advent is one of the greatest incidents in the universe and since he can do the destruction that Nimrods and Pharaohs could not do, it is necessary to show the maximum effort to know him. In order to know the true nature of that terrifying man whose name is mentioned everywhere like basmala (the name of Allah), on every occasion, who is put forward everywhere and who has a very painful influence on the world of Islam and future, “if thousands of people like us were to be sent to prison, and even to be executed, it would still be cheap with regard to the religion of Islam.” When its true nature is learned, even the most obdurate people will be saved from absolute disbelief to a certain extent, will doubt their disbelief and will moderate their arrogant and insolent aggression.(2)
To be in favor of Dajjal intentionally is the greatest disaster; it means death spiritually.
Eighty percent of the people cannot realize the truth because they are not investigative. However, they look at the scholars and imitate them. What if the scholars cannot find the truth? If the scholars go to the extremes (excess and negligence) and have wrong ideas, people will not be able to find the truth and will not be free of doubts and hesitation.
Unfortunately, there have been extremes (excess and negligence) regarding the issue up to now. Some scholars who lived in the past and who live now say that something like that cannot happen by looking at some of the extraordinary characteristics of Dajjal while some others prefer to wait for Dajjal as it is described in the hadiths without making any interpretations. While the former group express impossibility, the latter group say that everything is possible from the point of view of Allah’s power and that it is not impossible for such a Dajjal to come if He wishes.
However, under normal circumstances, it is not possible for a man to have a height taller than a minaret, to have the word ‘kafir’ written on his forehead, to walk around the world in forty days, for a donkey to have a distance of 40 arshins (1 arshin=68 cm) between its two ears and to bray so high that the whole world will hear it; they cannot happen word for word. If a man having those characteristics came, everybody would know he was Dajjal and it would be contrary to the concept of testing.
However, since the Messenger of Allah informs us about them, it is impossible to deny them. They will take place one by one. However, it is necessary to know their interpretations so that they will not be regarded irrational and it will be understood that they are appropriate and have wisdom.
Then, it is important to learn Dajjal as he is. Therefore, Islamic scholars demanded that children be given information about Dajjal when they are young and that the information about him should be present in the school curriculum.
How is Dajjal known easily? It cannot be thought that the Messenger of Allah, who always thinks about his umma and more than anybody else, who regards their joys as his own joy and their pains as his own pain, will not warn his umma against him and that he will not inform us about his nature, characteristics, functions and activities. If a person lives an Islamic life and takes into account the information given in hadiths, it will not be difficult to know him. In a hadith, it is pointed out that "Those who do not like Dajjal’s life and activities will know him."(3). An Islamic life based on a strong belief will not make it difficult to see Dajjal and Mahdi, who will struggle against him.
It is impossible not to see that our Prophet calls his umma to be alert by informing them about Dajjal’s outstanding characteristics. The hadith experts interpreted and explained clearly those hadiths most of which were expressed using signs and similes and made things easy for us.
Yes, the Messenger of Allah listed the characteristics of Dajjal one by one but he stated his opinion by saying, "I feel anxious that you may confuse"(4). If one does not look at things with the light and sagacity of belief, confusion is always possible.
a. He is Jewish
Dajjal is Jewish. When his activities are considered, it is not astonishing that he is Jewish. The Jews regard it as a feather in the cap. According to what is stated in Alusi tafsir, once the Jews came to the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) and said, "The end of time Dajjal will emerge from among us; he will do this and that ". Upon this, God Almighty sent down the 56th verse of Chapter al-Mumin.
According to what is stated in Abu's-Suud tafsir, the Jews said to following to the Messenger of Allah:
"You are not our owner that is mentioned in the Torah. The son of David is Messiah. It is what you call Dajjal. He will emerge at the end of time and will dominate the whole world; the property and sovereignty will belong to us."
In the verse that was sent down – which we mentioned above – Allah answered them as follows: "Those who dispute about the Signs of Allah without any authority bestowed on them― there is nothing in their breasts but (the quest of) greatness, which they shall never attain to: seek refuge, then, in Allah: it is He Who hears and sees (all things)."
b. His body structure
Dajjal is a huge, formidable (5), red-skinned (6), curly (7) person with a large neck and wide forehead (8). He has short and wide apart legs. (9) The word “kafir” is written on his forehead. (10) Every believer, whether literate or illiterate, can read it. Everybody who does not like what he has done will read that writing.(11)
It is opposite to the concept of testing if an obvious, visible word, kafir, exists on the forehead of someone. Then, something else should be meant by it. We see the following interpretation in Şualar (Rays) about it: "It may be interpreted as follows:  Sufyan will wear the headgear of non-believers, and make everyone else wear it. However, since it will be generally adopted under compulsion and the force of the law, when that headgear is taken into prostration [in worship], it will become rightly-guided, God willing, so that those who wear it —unwillingly— will not become unbelievers."(12)
c. He is one-eyed
Dajjal is one-eyed.(13)
Once the Messenger of Allah mentioned Dajjal and said, “l warn you against him and there was no prophet but warned his nation against him. No doubt, Noah warned his nation against him but I tell you about him something of which no prophet told his nation before me. You should know that he is blind, and Allah is not blind."(14)
“Although he is blind, he says to people “I am your Lord”. However, your Lord is not blind (He is free from resembling creatures and free from all defects).”(15)
“Allah is not blind. Be careful. The right eye of Dajjal is blind. His eye is like a grain that has popped.”(16) "His eye is indistinct."(17)
In the narrations, Dajjal’s eye is resembled to a green glass,(18) and a bright star.(19)
Based on those narrations, Qurtubi says, both eyes of Dajjal have defects; one eye has been deprived of light and the other is faulty at birth. (20)
It has been stated that that blindness means the blindness of his eye of the heart. (21)
Saying; "Man becomes blind due to fancy and wrath" , Mawlana points out to another aspect of blindness.
We see that in folklore, one-eyedness is used for the evil and bully people. The one-eyedness used for Dajjal means “the evilest of all”. In Arabic folklore, the phrase glass-eyed is used for a lascivious man. (22)
It is very significant that the word “awar”, which means blind in Arabic, is used for a “person who has no goodness by any means” (23).
As a matter of fact, Muhammad Abduh sees Dajjal as the symbol of dishonesty and evil. Muhammad al-Bahi regards the advent of Dajjal as the spread of mischief and anarchy in the community and the sovereignty of materialism saying, "Dajjal is the symbol of materialism that will peak." According to Muhammad Asad, that characteristic exactly fits the Western civilization that sees the matter only and that is closed to spirituality and that has some extraordinary features. That interpretation of Asad is in harmony with the expression of Badiuzzaman who says for the West that deviated from the real Christianity, “The blind genius that has a single eye like Dajjal” (24)(25).
While Badiuzzaman says that one of the Great Dajjal’s eyes will be blind, and one eye of the other Dajjal will be blind in comparison with his other eye that he has a spellbinding hypnotic power in his eye and that the Islamic Dajjal has a spellbinding hypnotic power in one of his eyes (26), he interprets them as follows: "It even says in narrations: “ Dajjal will be blind in one eye.”By drawing attention to this and pointing out that one of the Great Dajjal’s eyes will be blind, and one eye of the other Dajjal will be blind in comparison with his other eye, the hadith is indicating that since they will be absolute unbelievers, they will have only one eye and their sight will be restricted to this world, and they will have no eyes that see the hereafter and consequences of actions."
After that explanations Badiuzzaman says, “I too saw the Islamic Dajjal in a spirit world. I observed with my own eyes that he possessed a spellbinding hypnotic power in one of his eyes, and I understood him to be a total denier of God. He will attack religion and the sacred with a boldness and insolence arising from his absolute denial. However, since the ordinary people will not know the truth of the matter, they will suppose it to be an extraordinary power and courage "(27).
The following expressions are recorded in Kutub Sitta Mukhtasar Translation and Explanation regarding the issue:
"The most apparent and important property of the mischief of the end of time caused by Dajjal is that it is against religion. Some humanist views that will emerge during the end of time will try to replace religion. Although it does not call itself a religion formally, it will assume the identity of a religion from the point of view of creed with the system Dajjal will put forward and try to establish. That new religion will base its creed on the denial of divinity in order to eliminate all kinds of divine sovereignty. It tries to bring a humane idol (desire) to replace all kinds of religious values. It is a secular religion whose main deity is matter and man. It is understood from the hadiths that the secular people will try to eliminate Islam and believers will suffer insults. It is doubtless that they took place exactly in the past and will take place today."(28)
What is the reason (wisdom) why it is especially stated that one eye of Dajjal is blind? It may be to enable Muslims to know him easily. They should know him so that they will not be deceived by his extraordinary acts, tricks and fascination. Those who see that he is materially blind and that he denies the hereafter and make the world his aim of life will not have difficulty in recognizing him; they will immediately notice his denial and will only laugh at him when they see that he deifies himself despite his defects.
d. He has no children
When the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) called his umma’s attention to the issue of Dajjal, he sometimes answered the questions of his companions that they asked curiously and dreadfully; he informed them about the characteristics of Dajjal so that they will not have any difficulty in recognizing him.
One of them is the fact that he will not have any children. (29) That state is in conformity with the word “abtar”, that is, cut off from posterity in Chapter al-Kawthar. It is also stated that abjad calculation denotes him.
e. He is taller than a minaret
We learn from narrations that Dajjal is extraordinarily big and even taller than a minaret, and that Hazrat Eesa (Jesus) is very small in comparison to him. (30) When Hazrat Eesa jumps about seven meters high when he kills him, he can only hit Dajjal’s knee with his sword. It means, Dajjal is ten or twenty times taller than Hazrat Eesa.
According to what Hazrat Ali says, Sufyan is also a big person. First, he destroys what is around him and then, he goes to the countries of the east and defeats their kings.(31)
The fact that Dajjal, who is absolutely materialistic, naturist, who denies Allah, imagines that he has a kind of divinity, makes others bow in front of his sculptures, is shown to be taller than a minaret, that he is much bigger than Hazrat Eesa denotes the magnitude of his power and activities and the excessiveness of his material and political power. Stating that it is understood that the personalities that will emerge during the end of time will have extraordinary power from the narrations, Badiuzzaman says that they represent the vastness of their collective personality and adds that at one time, the Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese Army, which had defeated Russia, was shown in a picture with one foot in the Pacific Ocean and the other foot in the fort of Port Arthur. (32)
In another place, we see the following interpretation of Badiuzzaman:
"'La ya'lamu'l-ghayba illallah (None knows the Unseen except Allah), one interpretation must be as follows: it is an allusion and sign that quantitatively the spiritual community of mujahids who will recognize Jesus (Peace be upon him) and follow him, will be very few and small comparatively to the ‘scientific’, physical armies of Dajjal."(33)
Silencing the atheists that regards the hadith above as superstitious and impossible in Kastamonu Lahikası and warning the superficial scholars who have the opinion that it will take place literally saying that one of the different meanings of it took place, Badiuzzaman points out to the situation at the end of World War II. He says that with a government that tries to maintain Christianity and mischievous and tyrannous governments and their followers that officially help irreligiousness and Bolshevism and that favor the spread of irreligiousness among Muslims in Asia for their dirty interests are in compatible with the hadith in three aspects if their collective personality are materialized:
First aspect: If the spiritual congregation of Christians that follows the real Christianity and the congregation that starts to spread irreligiousness were in separate bodies, the former would not even be like child near a person as tall as a minaret in comparison to the latter.
Second Aspect: If the collective personality of the fighting congregation in the government that officially declares, "I will rely on Allah and eliminate irreligiousness and I will protect Islam and Muslims” and that deals a death blow, with its population of a bit more than a hundred million, to a population of about four hundred people, Bolsheviks, its allies China and America is materialized, it will become like a small man in comparison to the collective personality of the irreligious people that they are struggling against. The narration "Dajjal will capture the world" means “most of the world will support him”. As a matter of fact, it became so.
Third aspect: If the collective personality of a government that fights defeating Asia, Africa, America and Australia by depending on religion and claiming being the deputy of Hazrat Eesa and that do not even constitute one fourth of Europe and the collective personalities of the others were personified, one more of the different meanings of the hadith would be apparent.(34)
Badiuzzaman explains another reason why their power seem so extraordinary and wonderful as follows:
“Since most of the affairs they carry out are destructive and related to the appetites, they appear to have extraordinary power, for destruction is easy; one match can burn down a village. As for the satisfying the animal appetites, since it is what the instinctual soul wants, it is much sought after.”(35)
In the narrations, it is mentioned that both Dajjals have extraordinary affairs and outstanding power and grandeur and that some unfortunate people even attribute divinity to him.(36)
The four aspects and reasons of it are explained as follows in Şuâlar (Rays):
First: Since, as the result of a Divine scheme permitting them to do so, the good things and advances which are achieved through the strength of brave armies and active nations in their despotic, huge states, are unjustly attributed to them, it leads to their persons being imagined to have the power of a thousand men.
Second: Because both Dajjals employ the severest despotism, the greatest tyranny, and the maximum violence and terror, they appear to have vast power. Yes, a despotism so extraordinary that under the cloak of laws, they intervene in everyone’s consciences and religious beliefs, and even their clothes.
Third: Because both Dajjals will win the assistance of a secret Jewish society which nurtures a terrible desire for revenge on Islam and Christianity, and that of another secret society which uses women’s liberation as a screen, and because the Islamic Dajjal will deceive even the Masonic lodges and win their support, they will be supposed to possess tremendous power. "Also, it is understood from the divinations of some of the saints that the Dajjal called Sufyan who will come to lead the Islamic world will be a leading politician who is extremely capable, intelligent, and active, does not like ostentation and gives no importance to personal rank and glory; he will be a military leader who is extremely bold, forceful, energetic, and resolute, and does not condescend to fame-seeking, and he will captivate the Muslims. Taking advantage of their lack of hypocrisy, he will have their extraordinarily brilliant works ascribed to himself, as well as the progress they have achieved driven by the severe need arising from the transformation and renewal of the large army and state and the upheavals of the First World War, and he will have it bruited everywhere by eulogists that he possesses a wondrous and extraordinary power."
Fourth: The Great Dajjal will have spellbinding, charismatic qualities. The Islamic Dajjal will have fascinating, hypnotic powers in one eye.That denier of Allah will attack religion and the sacred with a boldness and insolence arising from his absolute denial. But since the ordinary people will not know the truth of the matter, they will suppose it to be an extraordinary power and courage. (37)
f. He walks around the world in forty days
We learn from narrations that When Dajjal appears, the whole world will hear it that he will walk around the world in forty days and that he will have an extraordinary donkey. (38)
The distance between the two ears of Dajjal will be about forty arshins. (about 27 m).(39)
Some contemporary scholars say what is meant by it is an airplane with a distance of forty arshins between two wings. Probably, that is why, he goes so fast as if the skin of the ram is peeled off. (40)
We understand from the narration, "Dajjal goes very fast like the wind dragging a cloud"(41) that he will make use of fast vehicles and act very fast.
The Messenger of Allah says Dajjal, who walks around the world in forty days, will go to every town except Makkah and Madinah.(42)
According to what is stated in Şuâlar (Rays), the means of communication and transportation develop so much that an event is heard all over the world in one day. And a man will be able to walk around the world in forty days and see and travel in seventy countries.
That narration also informs about vehicles like trains, cars, buses and planes ten centuries before their invention miraculously.
However, Dajjal is not heard because of his honor but as a tyrannical king. He travels not to invade a place but to stir up sedition and deceive people. One of the ears of the donkey he mounts on is like an oven of Hell and the other is very beautifully adorned like Paradise. His donkey is a terrifying car, plane or something else. (43)
Let me write about an interesting anecdote between Badiuzzaman and his students regarding the issue: Ziya Dilek of Inebolu believes that Dajjal has emerged due to the events that take place. However, he has difficulty in understanding some mutashabih (ambiguous) hadiths. One of them is as follows: "The ears of Dajjal will be as big as an elephant ear, his feet will be soft. While walking, he will produce a loud sound and a dirty smell." He asks Badiuzzaman about it when he visits him. Badiuzzaman gives the following answer: "Brother! Does that car that you get in not resemble that definition a bit? Its doors are like the ears of an elephant; its feet (tires) are soft and it produces a loud sound and a dirty smell from behind."(44)
The atheists of the past denied those narrations because they regarded them impossible; the atheists of today regard them normal. (45)
g. His extraordinary acts
Dajjal has some extraordinary acts. He will preserve himself through wonders such as magic, hypnotic powers, and spiritualism, and will spellbind many people.(46)
How can Dajjal have so extraordinary powers since he is a faithless person?
As it is known the extraordinary acts shown by unbelievers is called “istidraj” It will not give them superiority; it only increases their faithlessness. Naturally, they oppress people, become effective and gather a lot of people around the because they use istidraj for evil.
Dajjal is like that too. As Abu Hanifa says, his extraordinary states are istidraj.(47) Although Dajjal claims divinity like the Pharaoh and shows some extraordinary acts, he is nothing but a creature that is born, grows and has human properties. And the believing hearts will not have difficulty in understanding his deception.
Although many people bow down to Dajjal, a youthful believer opposes him. Dajjal splits him into two by his sword. Then, he revives him and wants him to believe in him. However, on the contrary, the believer becomes sure that he is Dajjal. He becomes a witness that he is the Dajjal that the Messenger of Allah states will appear at the end of time. After that, the power of Dajjal flies away, from then on he cannot kill anyone. (48)
It is possible to think of it as a metaphor. Halimi (d 1012) says the killing and reviving by Dajjal will be through a kind of treatment. (49)
h. He has his own Paradise and Hell
There is a famous story in the Quran, the story of Talut. Talut is tested together with his soldiers at a stream.
There are two streams with Dajjal and the people of the end of time are tested through those streams.
Before proceeding to the two streams of Dajjal, let us have a look at the story of the streams of Talut to find out about the similarities.
The Children of Israel, who suffered oppression and torture in each era, faced troubles again after Moses and said to a prophet that was among them: "Appoint for us a king that we may fight in the cause of Allah."
Their Prophet warned them: "Is it not possible, if you were commanded to fight, that you will not fight?"
They said: "How could we refuse to fight in the cause of Allah seeing that we were turned out of our homes and our families?"
However, when they were commanded to fight, they turned back except a small band among them.
Allah appointed Talut as king over them. Talut set forth with the armies towards the enemy. They reached a stream. They would be exposed to another testing. Talut said:
“Allah will test you at the stream; if any drinks of its water, he goes not with my army; only those who taste not of it go with me; a mere sip out of the hand is excused.”
They drank of it, except a few. When they crossed the river― he and the faithful ones with him they said: "This day we cannot cope with Goliath and his forces." However, those who were convinced that they must meet Allah, said: "How oft, by Allah's will, hath a small force vanquished a big one? Allah is with those who steadfastly persevere."
"When they advanced to meet Goliath and his forces, they prayed: "Our Lord! Pour out constancy on us and make our steps firm; Help us against those that reject faith."
By Allah's will, they routed them: and David slew Goliath.
That incident is narrated in Chapter al-Baqara, verses 246-251.
Now, let us look at the differences between Talut and Hazrat Mahdi.
Talut was a brave and daring commander. Hazrat Mahdi is a spiritual commander that was brave and reckless against the evilest enemies.
Talut and his soldiers were tested through not drinking from the stream; those who drank became weak and powerless and collapsed; the very small group that did not drink it fought the enemy heroically and defeated the enemy.
Hazrat Mahdi and his soldiers, that is, his students, will be tested through the stream of Dajjal. That strong-willed group “whose number will be the same as the number of the soldiers of Talut”(50) and that base their acts on sincerity, loyalty and solidarity will see that the sweet watery stream is actually fire and the water of the stream that looks like a bright fire is actually cold water and they will not drink the sweet water. Those who drink will lose the testing.
Now let us proceed to those two streams that the Messenger of Allah mentions.
Once, while telling his companions about Dajjal, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) says, "I know what Dajjal has better than him." And goes on as follows:
"There are two streams flowing near him. One of the is white in appearance. The other one seems like a bright fire. Whoever reaches that time should go to the side of the river that looks like a fire and drink from it. The stream that looks like a bright fire consists of cold water."(51)
In another narration, it is stated that there mountains of water and bread with Dajjal. (52)
In another narration in Muslim, it is stated that he has its own Paradise and hell ant the his Hell is Paradise and his Paradise is Hell.(53) He puts those who follow him into his Paradise and those who do not follow him into his Hell. (54)
Interpreting those hadiths, scholars say Dajjal will put believers who do not bow down to him into Hell with torture. Aliyyu'l-Qari says, "His water is bounty and taste; his fire is hardship, torture and agony."(55) He also says that the believers that do not accept Dajjal will be in discomfort, trouble, suffering and agony but they will show consent, gratitude and patience with the grace and grant of Allah. (56)
When that situation is explained in an hadith, it is clearly stated that the community that does not accept Dajjal will suffer famine that their goods will be confiscated and that those who accept him will receive bounties. (57)
Asqalani states that what is meant by Paradise may be taste and bounties and what is meant by Hell may be torture and agony. (58)
Dajjal, who established a tyranny with his material power and means and his intelligence and slyness, makes a community that does not accept him suffer famine and he confiscates all of their goods. (59)
Yes, Dajjal, who uses mischief as the greatest trump, presents his followers with the pleasures and enjoyments of the civilization, honors them with ranks, positions and material means, gives them welfare and happiness, that is, he makes them live a kind of Paradise life. He punishes those who do not accept him with famine, agony, torture and trouble, and makes life a dungeon for them. Prisons become like Hell in his era.
In his era, schools will be an ugly imitation of huri and ghilman, prisons will be places of torture and dungeons, one ear of his donkey, that is the train he rides, will be an area of feast for his friends and the other ear will be an oven of fire.(60)
i. He makes scholars slaves of him
There is a narration stating: "Sufyan will be a great scholar; he will go astray with his knowledge. And many scholars will follow him."(61)
Muhammad Ghazali, a scholar of this age, describes Dajjal as a scholar who is competent in natural sciences and says that he represents the conscience of Jewish people that deviate from the truth.(62)
According to what Badiuzzaman says, although he has no means of sovereignty such as strength and power, tribes and peoples, courage and riches, like a king, he will win that position through his cleverness, science, and political acumen, and through his intelligence he will bewitch the minds of many other scholars, making them dictate his wishes. He will attract numerous teachers to support him, and pointing out to them the way to an education system stripped of religious instruction, will work for its widespread enforcement. (63)
As Genghis and Hulagu Khan, who are Islamic Dajjals, had scholars and hodjas like Jafar Hodja and Danishmand Hajib as their supporters, Sufyan will have some hodjas as his fatwa issuers.
j. The whole world will hear him when he shouts
When Dajjal emerges, he shouts terribly and yells; the people of the East and West hear him.(64) When the Islamic Dajjal dies, the devil that serves him will shout to the whole world at Dikilitaş, Istanbul as “He died” and everybody will hear that voice.(65)
Under normal circumstances, no matter how vibrant a person’s voice is, it is impossible to make the whole world hear it. It is contrary to human nature and the concept of testing. Then, everybody will know Dajjal.
Since the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) informed us about it, it is true and right. It can be interpreted. Today, everybody knows that any speech can be heard from all over the world thanks to devices like radio and television. It means Dajjal will emerge in a period when technology has developed so much and he will carry out his activities by making use of it.
One of the reasons why Dajjal seems so strong is the fact that he makes use of and benefits from those wonderful instruments and devices.
By the way, we should state that the fact that the Messenger of Allah pointed out to the devices like telegram, telephone and television hundreds of years before their invention and that Dajjal will emerge in a period like that is the manifestation of his apparent miracle about the future.
k. His hand is pierced
The fact that Dajjal’s hand is pierced shows that he is a very extravagant person. When we say, “that man has a hole in his hand”, we want to say that he wastes money a lot; similarly, we understand that Dajjal is fond of games, enjoyment and debauchery and he wastes a lot when we say his hand is pierced. “Sufyan will bind people to himself by encouraging them to be wasteful. And by arousing in them an intense greed and ambition, he will hold them in subjection through that weak vein of character… The extravagant will become captive to him, and fall into his trap."(66)
Badiuzzaman was asked about Sufyan when he was in Daru'l-Hikmati'l-İslamiya; they said: "That person will drink water and his hand will be pierced, and it will be known through this that he is the Sufyan." “How is it possible?”
He answered as follows: “It is commonly said about someone who is very extravagant that he has a hole in his hand. That is, he cannot hold onto anything; it flows from him and is lost. Thus, this fearsome man will be addicted to raki; it will make him ill; he will become excessively extravagant and accustom others to being the same."(67)
l. His mischief is attractive
According to what is stated in a narration, "The mischief of the end of time is so terrifying that nobody can control his soul."(68) Therefore, believers always recited the following supplication a lot after the supplication about the torture of grave, "Protect us from the mischief of Dajjal and the end of time" (69).
The dissension of the end of time will draw souls to itself, captivating them. People will join it voluntarily, indeed, eagerly. For example, in Russia, men and women bathe naked together in the public baths. And because by nature women have a strong propensity to show off their beauty, they willingly throw themselves into that dissension and are led astray. The men too, being naturally enamored of beauty, are defeated by their instinctual souls, and with drunken joy, fall into the fire and are burnt. Holding a fascination, the amusements, grievous sins, and innovations of the times such as dancing and the theatre, draw the pleasure-seekers around them like moths, intoxicating them.(70)
Dajjal makes use of all kinds of debauchery; he himself is fond of debauchery and he attracts people who are fond of their souls to his attractive mischief. He will have a lot of supporters because he finds supporters easily.
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(1) Muslim, Fitan: 126.
(2) Nursi,Şualar (Rays), p. 299.
(3) Tirmidhi, Fitan: 56.
(4) Abu Dawud, Malahim: 14.
(5) Bukhari, Fitan: 26; Muslim, Eeman: 277; Musnad, 2:122, 144.
(6) Bukhari, Fitan: 26.
(7) Bukhari, Libas: 68; Muslim, kitabü'l-Fitan: 20. Abu Dawud, Kitabu'l-Malahim: 14.
(8) Musnad, 2:191.
(9) Abu Dawud, Kitabu'l-Malahim:14.
(10) Bukhari, Fitan: 26; Muslim, Fitan: 101-102; Tirmidhi, Fitan: 62; Musnad, III:115, 211.
(11) Muslim, Fitan: 95, 101-102; Abu Dawud, Malahim: 14; Tirmidhi, Fitan: 56; Musnad, III:103, 173, 201.
(12) Nursi, ibid, s. 358, 502.
(13) Bukhari, Anbiya: 3; Ruya: 11.
(14) Bukhari, Fitan: 26, Anbiya: 77; Muslim, Fitan: 95, 100, 109; Abu Dawud, Malahim: 14; Tirmidhi, Fitan: 56, 62; Musnad, 1:176, 182; II:27, 149.
(15) Musnad, 3:367-368.13
(16) Bukhari, Fitan: 26; Muslim, Kitabu'l-Fitan: 20; Musnad, II:33.
(17) Abu Dawud, Kitabu'l-Malahim (Chapter Dajjal’s Emergence) 4:116-117.
(18) Musnad, 5:123-124.
(19) Musnad, 1:374; 3:79.
(20) Qurtubi, at-Tazkira fi Ahwali’l-Mawta wa’l-akhira, I-II (Cairo: 1406/1985), 2:397-398.
(21) Ali al-Qarî, Ali bin Sultan al-Harawi, Mirqatu’l-Mafatih (Cairo: nd.), 5:190.
(22) Sarıtoprak, ibid, p. 128.
(23) İbn Manzur, Lisanu'l-Arab, a-w-r item.
(24) Nursi, Lem'alar (Flashes), p.
(25) Sarıtoprak, ibid, p. 117.
(26) Nursi, Şualar (Rays), p. 499.
(27) İbid, p. 513-514.
(28) Canan, ibid (İstanbul: Akçağ Yayınları, 1992), 13:458.
(29) Muslim, Fitan: 89.
(30) al-Munawi, Fayzu'l-Kadir Sharhu Jamii’s-Saghir, I-IV. Beirut: 1392 (1972), Hadith no: 4249; al-Haytami, Majmau'z-Zawaid wa Manbau’l-Fawaid, I-VIII (Beirut: 1403/1982), 8:344.
(31) al-Barzanji, as-Sayyid ash-Sharif Muhammad bin Rasul, al-Ishaa fi Ashrati’s-Saa (Cairo: Selimağa Library, No: 582, nd), p. 167, 168.
(32) Nursi, Şualar (Rays), p. 505.
(33) İbid, p. 508.
(34) Nursi, Kastamonu Lahikası, p. 53-54.
(35) Nursi, Şualar (Rays), p. 492.
(36) Kanzu'l-Ummal, 14:334.
(37) Nursi, İbid, p. 513-515.
(38) Kanzu'l-Ummal, 14:330.
(39) Musnad, 3:367-368; Hakim, Mustadrak: 4:530.
(40) Hakim, Mustadrak: 4:529-530.
(41) Muslim, Fitan: 110; Abu Dawud, Malahim: 14; Tirmidhi, Fitan: 59; İbn Majah, Fitan: 33, Musnad, 6:455-456.
(42) Muslim, Fitan: 91.
(43) Nursi, İbid, p. 509.
(44) Necmeddin Şahiner, Son Şahitler Bediüzzaman Said Nursi’yi Anlatıyor (İstanbul: Yeni Asya Yayınları, 1993), II:242-243.
(45) Kastamonu Lahikası, p. 53.
(46) Nursi, Şualar (Rays), s. 506.
(47) İmam Azam Abu Hanifa, al-Fiqhu'l-Akbar, (Cairo nd, p. 5.
(48) Bukhari, Fitan: 27; Fazailu'l-Madinah: 9; Muslim, Fitan:110, 112-113; İbn Majah, Fitan: 33; Tirmidhi, Fitan: 59; Musnad, 5:434-435; 6:456.
(49) Sarıtoprak, ibid, p. 84.
(50) al-Burhan, p. 57.
(51) Bukhari, Fitan: 25, Anbiya: 50; Muslim, Fitan: 105 (H. 2935); Abu Dawud, Malahim: 14 (H. 4315).
(52) Bukhari, Fitan: 26; Muslim, Fitan: 114; İbn Majah, Fitan: 33; Musnad, 4:248, 252.
(53) Muslim, Fitan: 20.
(54) Muslim, Fitan: 104; İbn Majah, Fitan: 33.
(55) az-Zabidi, Zaynuddin Ahmad bin Ahmad bin Abdi’l-Latif, trns. Kâmil Miras, Sahih-i Bukhari Muhtasarı Tecrid-i Sarih Tercümesi (Ankara: DİB Yayınları, 1973), 9:184.
(56) Aliyyu'l-Qari, Mirqat, 5:196.
(57) Muslim, Kitabu'l-Fitan: 110.
(58) al-Asqalani, Fathu'l-Bari, 16:214.
(59) Ibn Kathir, Mukhtasar Tafsir Ibn Kathir Translation, (Beirut: İhyau ,Turathi’l-Arabi, p. 491.
(60) Nursi, Şualar (Rays), p. 503,509.
(61) İhyay Ulumiddin, 1:59
(62) Sarıtoprak, İbid, p. 121.
(63) Nursi, Şualar (Rays), p. 504.
(64) Ibn Kathir, an-Nihaya, 1:96.
(65) Nursi, Şualar (Rays), p. 500.
(66) İbid, p. 491.
(67) İbid, p. 358.
(68) Fathu'l-Kabir, 1:315, 2:185, 3:9; Daylami, Musnadu'l-Firdaws, 1:266.
(69) Bukhari, Daavat: 39; Muslim, 2:2200; Musnad, 2:185-186, 288.
(70) Nursi, İbid, p. 504.

Şaban Döğen

The murderer of Hazrat Uthman was al-Ghafiqi, a Yemenite Jew. With the martyrdom of Hazrat Uthman, Ibn Saba covered a great distance on the way of his cause. The seeds of discord started to yield fruit. This deplorable incident prevented Muslims from spreading Islam to other countries. The period of conquest and conveying the message of Islam ended; a period of stagnation and conflict started.

After this stage, Ibn Saba prepared a new plan to make the Hashimites and Umayyads fight each other. He provoked Umayyads by spreading a rumor that Hazrat Ali got Hazrat Uthman killed and that he wanted to replace Hazrat Uthman since Hazrat Uthman was from Umayyads and Hazrat Ali was from Hashimites. While the followers of Ibn Saba were slandering Ali like that, they were also trying openly to make Hazrat Ali the Caliph; thus, they wanted to make people believe their slander.

To this end, he chose a group of delegates led by Ibn Maymun, a Jew, from the caravan coming from Egypt and sent them to Hazrat Ali. The delegates said to Hazrat Ali, "As you know, the ummah has been left leaderless. You deserve to be the Caliph the most. We would like you to undertake this duty." Hazrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) refused their offer and sent them away.

When Hazrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) responded to them like that, Ibn Saba sent a group of delegates from the people of Kufa to Hazrat Zubayr and a group of delegates from the people of Basra to Hazrat Talha. Both of them rejected their offer of being the Caliph just like Hazrat Ali did.  

When Ibn Saba could not get what he wanted, he said to Ghafiqi, who led the group of aggressors, "Gather all of the people of Madinah in the mosque and tell them to choose a Caliph at once. Otherwise, threaten all of them with your swords..."

The rebels led by Ghafiqi gathered the people of Madinah in the mosque as Ibn Saba ordered and said to them, "Choose a leader for yourself immediately. If you do not do it today, we will kill you all with our swords including Ali, Zubayr and Talha." Having heard this threat, the people of Madinah went to Hazrat Ali and asked them to accept to be the Caliph. Considering the disorder and chaos, Hazrat Ali had to accept their offer although he did not want to.

After a while, Hazrat Talha and Hazrat Zubayr went to Hazrat Ali and asked them to act in accordance with the decrees of the Quran and punish the murderers of Hazrat Uthman. Hazrat Ali said to them, "You are right but the state has not suppressed the rebels fully yet. It is necessary to wait until the state dominates fully..."

Hazrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) wanted to determine the criminals one by one, question them and then convict them. Hazrat Aisha, Hazrat Zubayr and Hazrat Talha held this view: "The disorder has increased and targeted the state; the Caliph was martyred. The issue is not the issue of finding the murderers of Hazrat Uthman only. Most of those who joined this movement of disorder must be killed. Therefore, the rebels must be punished at once."

Acting upon the verse in the Quran: “Wa la taziru waziratun wizra ukhra” (Nor can a bearer of burdens bear another's burden), Hazrat Ali said no one could be held responsible for the mistake of others, and did not agree with them.

After finding out about the view of Hazrat Ali, Hazrat  Zubayr and Hazrat Talha went to Makkah and had a meeting with Hazrat Aisha there. They decided to go to Basra in order to gather armed people to attack the rebels.   

When Hazrat Ali found out that Hazrat Aisha, Hazrat Talha and Hazrat Zubayr went to Basra, he left for Basra with his army because he did not want a break-up or separation in the state and encamped in a place called Ziqar. Hazrat Ali sent an envoy called Qa’qa to Hazrat Aisha, Hazrat Talha and Hazrat Zubayr to settle the issue peacefully; he told his envoy to tell them about the evil of dissension and separation, the importance of unity and accord, and the fact that it would be better to settle everything peacefully. Qa’qa went to Hazrat Aisha, Hazrat Talha and Hazrat Zubayr and told them the views of Hazrat Ali, explaining that the remedy for that disorder was calmness, and that after the calmness all kinds of measures could be taken and that otherwise there would be discord, mischief and disorder, which would cause great trouble among Muslims. They said, "If Ali holds these views, there is no disagreement between him and us.

Both parties were pleased about the result. Thus, stability and calmness prevailed. Everybody went back to their tents.

Ibn Saba, the hypocrite, was very disturbed by this peace; he gathered his followers and said, "We must do something to start a fight and make Muslims kill each other. If we cannot do it, our efforts will be fruitless; we will not be able to reach our target." They made a new plan to start a war. In accordance with the plan to be carried out very early in the morning, Ibn Saba positioned his men around the tents of Hazrat Ali, and Hazrat Zubayr and Hazrat Talha. Later, they attacked the tents of both parties. Hazrat Zubayr and Hazrat Talha woke up to the noise and asked what was happening. The men of Ibn Saba said, “Hazrat Ali’s men (people of Kufa) attacked us at night."

Thereupon, Hazrat Talha and Hazrat Zubayr said, “We see it now. Hazrat Ali was not sincere when he wanted to prevent the war.” On the other hand, Hazrat Ali asked what was happening when he heard the noise. The men of Ibn Saba said, “The other party attacked us at night and we drove them back."  Hazrat Ali said, "I see. Talha and Zubayr did not agree with us about the peace." Then, the Battle of Jamal, which claimed the lives of ten thousand people, took place. Hazrat Talha and Hazrat Zubayr were martyred. Thus, Ibn Saba covered a great distance toward his aim after the murder of Hazrat Uthman.  

Question: How should Muslims see the disagreements that took place among the Companions?

The attribute of "ismah" (innocence), that is, "protection from sins through divine assistance” belongs to the prophets only. Only prophets are infallible. Since the Companions do not have this attribute, it cannot be said that the Companions never made mistakes. However, a Muslim does not exit Islam when he makes a mistake; likewise, a Companion does not lose the honor of being a Companion when he makes a mistake.

All of the mujtahids of four madhhabs evaluated the disagreements and conflicts among the Honorable Companions as follows: All of the Companions are mujtahids. They have the right before everybody else to make ijtihad regarding the issues that are not stated clearly in the Quran and hadiths. It is a definite rule in the methodology of fiqh that if someone has the right to make ijtihad, he does not have to act in accordance with the ijtihad of another mujtahid. The conflicts, arguments and battles that took place among them arose from the difference of ijtihad. Their own desires and wishes had nothing with their disagreements because they had been freed from the bad attributes like hatred, enmity and animosity by the religious talks of the Prophet. Their souls were purified from such mean qualities; and they became pure and lofty.  

Yes, each one of the Companions was a mujtahid in establishing the religion of Islam. As it is known, if a mujtahid is right in his ijtihad, he gains two rewards; if he is wrong in his ijtihad, he gains one reward. The ijtihads of those distinguished companions, who sacrificed their property and lives for Islam and who had no other goal but to exalt and spread Islam, aimed to exalt Islam. Their love and determination for Islam was so great that they did not refrain from expressing the view that was contrary to that of the Prophet during the Battle of Uhud. They stated their view clearly by saying, "We think that the success of Islam depends on this view." When most of the Companions had the opposite view, the Prophet (pbuh) had to do what they wanted. The events that took place later justified the Prophet. Not even a single verse was sent down by God Almighty to warn the Companions although the Quran was still being sent down then. Allah did not warn them with any verses; on the contrary, He ordered His Prophet to continue asking their views as he did previously. The Messenger of Allah did not blame them; he still loved them and showed compassion to them; he continued asking their ideas as he was ordered by Allah. Even only this incident is enough to show clearly that the Companions were appreciated by Allah and His Messenger and that they had the right to make ijtihad.

Now let us think justly. How can we dare to judge them because of the disagreements among them although neither Allah nor the Messenger of Allah warned them because they made a different ijtihad from that of the Prophet? It is necessary for a person who has the slightest degree of conscience, foresight and understanding not to try to commit a sin like that.  

If we dare to transgress our limits and try to judge those distinguished people, who sacrificed their blood for the establishment of Islam, and justify some of them while criticizing others, we will not besmirch those stars of guidance but pave the way for ruining ourselves.

Besides, the people that we judge are the most distinguished ones of the Companions. Some of them were given the glad tidings that they would enter Paradise while they were alive. Those people, whom we talk about, were praised by the Quran and the Prophet.

We should never forget about it and we should be very cautious about the disagreements among the Companions; we should avoid transgressing our limits.

If the disagreement among the Companions had not been legitimate and reasonable, a command to prevent them would have been sent down. As a matter of fact, when the Companions spoke loudly in the presence of the Prophet (pbuh) the following verse was sent down to warn them:

"O ye who believe! Raise not your voices above the voice of the Prophet, nor speak aloud to him in talk, as ye may speak aloud to one another lest your deeds become vain and ye perceive not." (al-Hujurat, 2)

The believers are asked to avoid having bad thoughts about others:

"Would any of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother?" (al-Hujurat, 12)

In the verse, God Almighty informs us that to backbite a believer is as ugly as to eat the flesh of a dead person and that it does not fit a believer. You can think about the degree of the risk of the issue when the believer that is backbitten is a Companion, and one of the most distinguished ones.

In a hadith, the Messenger of Allah said, "Backbiting eats up good deeds just as fire eats up wood”, warning us severely about the issue.

It behooves us to listen to those truths and act accordingly both for the safety of our life in the hereafter and for the sake of the future of Islam. A believer is prohibited from thinking bad things about another believer; the risk of thinking bad things about the Companions, who were the associates and army mates of the Prophet and who were the means of guidance for believers, and the most distinguished ones of the Companions, will be understood clearly. 

The safest way for the clever and reasonable people is to avoid sounding off regarding the issue. It will be easily understood when someone thinks about it a little that we were not sent to the world to analyze the problems among the Companions and to judge them as right and wrong. It cannot be the aim of our creation to have an idea about the issue. We were created to be a proper slave of Allah not to talk about that issue. That is, our religion calls us to fulfill our duties not to analyze the disagreements among the Companions.  

The Companions, from the Caliphs to the ordinary ones, received the same sustenance and shared the same excitement. They worked very hard, day and night, secretly and openly, for the development and spread of Islam. They made jihad and sacrificed their blood and lives. They opposed their tribes for the sake of the Quran and the Prophet; they sacrificed their wives, children and property. They preferred the Prophet to their own selves, wives, children and parents. They shed their blood for the foundation of Islam.

They contributed to the worldly and otherworldly bliss of the Muslims from their age to the Day of Judgment. It is a debt of justice and conscience for us to feel grateful to them, to pray and to praise them.

The first Muslims, each of whom was like the representative of a class, who were honored with the bounties of belief and Islam, were as follows:

Among women, Hazrat Khadija, among children Hazrat Ali, among free men Hazrat Abu Bakr, among slaves who were freed Hazrat Zayd bin Kharisa, among slaves Hazrat Bilal Habashi (may Allah be pleased with them).

As it is clearly pointed out in the Surah Al-i Imran, verse 152 and 165, the reason why Muslims defeated in the battle of Uhud is because of archers leaving their flanks. Disobeying to the orders of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) immediately changed the course of the battle.

In addition, when we look at the defeat from the wisdom point of view, we come across with this verse: If a wound has touched you (at Uhud), (you know that) a similar wound touched those (disbelieving) people (at Badr). Such (historic eventful) days- We deal them out in turns among people so that God may mark out those who (truly) believe and select from among you such as bear witness to the truth (with their lives);- (it is a fact that) God does not love the wrongdoers (and in the end He punishes wrong and makes truth superior). (Al-i Imran Surah, 3:140) As it is stated in the verse, Allah Almighty; to test Muslims sincerity and commitment, to exalt Companions Hazrath Hamza and Musab bin Umayr to the palm of martyrdom whom among those believers and much other wisdom that we cannot know, referred the defeat to the Muslims.

Besides, Companions (of the past) were defeated by the Companions of the future. Among the idolaters were many people like Hazrath Khalid who in the future would be equal to the leading Companions of that time. Therefore, so as not to degrade them entirely in the view of the future, which for them would be glorious and honorable. Divine wisdom gave them in the past immediate recompense for their future good works and did not completely destroy their pride. (Flashes, 7. Flash)

The leader of the idolaters in the battle of Uhud, Abu Sufyan; main reason for the Muslim defeat, Khalid bin Valid and such so on started to become a Muslim after the Hudabia Treaty.

Abu Jahl, who was seventy years old, was a ferocious and steadfast enemy of Islam; he had a terrible face. He said, “My mother bore me for today!” showing his courage and leading his soldiers to the fight.

When Sons of Mahzum saw that many polytheists had been killed, they surrounded Abu Jahl like a herd of camels. They were going to protect him at any cost.

The battle was going on intensely.

When Hz. Abdurrahman b. Awf looked around in his rank, he saw two Ansar youths.

One of them approached him and asked, “Do you know Abu Jahl?”

Abdurrahman b. Awf said, “Yes, I know him. What are you going to do to him?” The young man answered,

“I promised Allah. When I see Abu Jahl, I am going to walk toward him; I am going to kill him or I am going to be martyred!”

Abdurrahman b. Awf admired this young man and appreciated his determination and courage. Meanwhile, the other youth approached and said the same things.

Abdurrahman b. Awf first said to himself, “I ended up between two children in the rank!” Then, he was amazed by their brave talks.

Those two young men were Muadh and Muawwidh, two of the seven children of Afra that took part in the battle.

Meanwhile, Abdurrahman b. Awf saw Abu Jahl, who was wandering among the polytheists and who was guarded by the members of Sons of Mahzum. He showed him to the two young men, saying, “There he is! Abu Jahl!”

The two brave young men drew their swords and walked toward that direction.

Many mujahids were looking for Abu Jahl to kill him just like those two young men. Before the two young men reached Abu Jahl, Muadh b. Amr b. Jamuh from Ansar, who was following Abu Jahl, hit Abu Jahl on the leg with his sword. Ikrima, the son of Abu Jahl wounded his hand and arm with his sword in return. This heroic Companion said,

“My hand was hanging down with its skin. I forgot about my hand due to the severity of the battle. I held my wounded hand at the back and continued fighting. When my hand started to give me a lot of trouble, I stepped on it with my foot and cut off my hanging hand!” (Ibn Hişam, Sirah, 2/287-288; Tabari, Tarikh, 2/284)

After Muadh b. Amr b. Jamuh was wounded, the two young brothers, Muadh and Muawwidh, approached Abu Jahl. They hit him with their swords and knocked him down. They thought he was dead and left him.

Meanwhile, the Prophet (pbuh) said, “I wonder what Abu Jahl did? What happened to him? Who will go and find out?”

The mujahids looked for him but could not find him.

The Prophet repeated his order, saying, “Look for him! I have a word about him. If you cannot identify him, look at the scar on his knee.” Then, he added,

“Once, we were at the feast of Abdullah b. Jud’a together. I was a bit heavier and larger than him. When I was squeezed, I pushed him. He fell on his knees. One of his knees was injured and the scar never disappeared.” (Ibn Hişam, Sirah, 2/288; Tabari, Tarikh, 2/284)

Thereupon, Abdullah Ibn Mas’ud went to look for him. He saw Abu Jahl in the throes of death. Abdullah Ibn Mas’ud asked him, “Are you Abu Jahl?” Then, he stepped on his neck, saying, “O enemy of Allah! Eventually Allah humiliated and ruined you! See?”

Although he was in the throes of death, Abu Jahl said to Ibn Mas’ud, “O shepherd! You are on a very steep place. It is not something that happened now for a great man to be killed by his own tribe. Now tell me which party is victorious today.”

Ibn Mas’ud said, “The victory belongs to God and His messenger!”, making him desperate in his last seconds. Abu Jahl, who became very sorrowful, expressed his unbelief again:

“Say to Muhammad, I was his enemy up to now; my enmity has increased twofold from now on!”

Thereupon, Abdullah Ibn Mas’ud cut off his head immediately.

Thus, Abu Jahl did not become a believer even in his last breath; he insisted on unbelief and heresy, and went to Hell.

Ibn Mas’ud took his head to the presence of the Prophet. He said, “Here is the head of Abu Jahl, the enemy of Allah!”

Thereupon, the Prophet said, “Praise be to Allah, who helped His slave and made His religion superior!” Then he said, “This is the Pharaoh of this ummah!" (Dhahabi, Alamunnubala, 1/346)

References:

Ibn Athir, Usdul-Ghaba, 5/202-203.
Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Hisham, Sirah, 2/286-287.
Ibn Abdilbarr, Istiab, 3/5.
Bayhaqi, Dalailun-Nubuwwa, 3/84-88.
Ibn Sayyid, Uyunul-Athar, 1/260.
Abul-Fida, al-Bidaya wa'n-Nihaya, 3/287-289.
Waqidi, Maghazi, 1/87.
Tabari, Tarikh, 2/284.
Dhahabi, Maghazi, p. 40, 71.
Ahmad b. Hanbal, Musnad, 1/444, 3/115. 444.
see. M. Asım Köksal, İslam Tarihi, Köksal Yayıncılık: 3/340-358.

BATTLE OF BADR

      Before Hazrat Prophet (PBUH) got permission from Allah to fight his enemies, Quraish had been in the battlefield. The Messenger of Allah, who had never used a weapon before, who always felt sorrow for the humanity that was dragged to misfortunes, who cried when his children or friends died, had to act in accordance with the circumstances.

The allies of Makkan people started to attack the places around Madinah, to destroy the fruit trees of Muslims and to take away the herds of Muslims. An armed and fully equipped army, under the commandment of Abu Jahl set out in order to eliminate Muslims and to protect a convoy that brought weapons and equipment. Muslims were informed about the act of polytheists. About 300 Muslims went to the valley of Badr, which was the destination of Abu Jahl and aimed to invade a vantage point that would overlook the army of the polytheists.   When Hazrat Prophet (PBUH) saw the army of unbelievers proceeded towards the valley, he raised his hands towards the sky and made a very emotional prayer.

"O Lord!" he said, "We expect to be victorious. O Lord! If this small congregation is destroyed, there will remain nobody on earth to pray you."

The angels in the sky had come down to help Muslims. Muslims, who witnessed the power of Allah in every stage of life, saw the angels that ran in the waves of wind to help them and that brought them the victory of Allah. In fact, Makkans were driven back suffering great losses. Several leaders of them were killed. Abu Jahl was one of those that were killed.

Seventy people from the enemy were killed, and about seventy people were taken prisoners. Fourteen Muslims were martyred. Some of the prisoners that were taken were released in return for money and some freely, without any money. Some of them were freed on condition that they would teach ten children of Ansar to write. Our Prophet did not give consent to killing the prisoners.

BATTLE OF UHUD

That battle took place in the third year of hijrah. Makkan polytheists started to prepare in order to take revenge for the defeat of Badr. In a short time, they collected 3000 armed and fully equipped warriors. 700 of them had armors and their aim was to take revenge for the defeat of Badr. In addition, they received support from the tribes around Makkah.

The army, under the commandment of Abu Sufyan, established headquarters in the Northeast of Madinah. Meanwhile, they started to destroy the vineyards and orchards of Madinah people.

Meanwhile, our Prophet had a dream. He saw in his dream that a cow was slaughtered, a hole was opened in his sword called Zulfiqar, he put on a sound armor and he put his hand in the collar of that armor. He interpreted that dream as: "The slaughtered cow denotes that some of my companions will be martyred; the whole in my sword denotes that someone from my family will be martyred; and the sound armor denotes Madinah." He added, "Therefore, we should not leave Madinah. If the enemy attacks, we will defend."
    Since Madinah was like a castle with the buildings and walls surrounding it, that strategy would be appropriate. However, some young people who were not present in the Battle of Badr wanted to fight the enemy and take part in the jihad. Hazrat Hamza, the lion of Allah, did not want to be remain closed in Madinah. Therefore, our Prophet decided to go out of Madinah and put on two armors, one over the other. He also took his sword.
   Those who put forward ideas that were contrary to the Prophet’s regretted doing so and said:

-          "O Messenger of Allah! We are subject to you. We will do whatever you order." However, Hazrat Prophet said:

-          "It is not appropriate for a prophet to return without fighting after putting on his armor and being equipped with weapons.” Then, he went out of the city with a force of one thousand people.

300 munafiqs (hypocrites) from the Jews lead by Abdullah bin Ubayy returned. Thus, the number of people under the commandment of Hazrat Prophet decreased to 700. There were only two cavalrymen in the army.

However, that mujahid group proceeded despite everything. They arrived at the foot of Mount Uhud. They spent the night there. In the morning, after the prayer, they put on their weapons and went down to the plain. Hazrat Prophet invaded the region under Mount Uhud. He placed a group of archers (about 50) in the mouth of a river in a high place behind the soldiers and told them not to leave that place, to shoot the cavalrymen of the enemy and protect the back side of the Muslims.

At the end of the battle, the enemy was defeated and started to run away. The soldiers under the commandment of Abdullah thought the enemy was defeated completely and wanted to follow the enemy and to collect booty. They did not obey their commander and left their place. When the enemy saw it, they attacked the left side of the Muslim army from that stream. Suddenly Muslim army was defeated. Meanwhile a lot of sahaba including Hazrat Hamza were martyred. Hazrat Ali, Hazrat Abu Bakr and Hazrat Umar were seriously injured. However, all of the attempts of the polytheists concentrated on Hazrat Prophet (PBUH). Hazrat Prophet had been separated from the main block of the army and became the primary target of the attackers.

Sahaba started to become martyrs one by one. Hazrat Prophet (PBUH) was injured. Hazrat Prophet (PBUH) saw that an affection flowing from the belief of Muslims surrounded him while blood was flowing from his wounds. Therefore, Hazrat Prophet (PBUH) congratulated the hands that forgot about their own wounds and tried to stop the bleeding in his forehead. The mujahids who fought hopelessly in the center under the commandment of Hazrat Ali managed to reach a point on the mountain and escaped the attack of the enemy.

 Since Quraishis were very tired, they could neither attack Madinah nor follow the mujahids on top of Mount Uhud. Polytheists left Madinah after they destroyed the bodies of the Muslims who were martyred. Abu Sufyan’s wife Hind and other Quraishi women broke the heart of Hazrat Hamza into pieces and bit it; they also made earrings and bracelets from the ears and noses of the other martyrs, presenting the ugliest way of barbarity. Doubtlessly, the barbarity that Quraishis carried out on the martyrs of Muslims distressed Muslims extremely. However, the tender heart of Hazrat Prophet (PBUH) surpassed the ache in his heart and said, "Put up with the evils they committed. Patience is the best way." The tradition of destroying the bodies of the death people that dated back to former times was absolutely banned by Islam from then on.

Hazrat Prophet (PBUH) appointed a group of mujahids to follow the army of the polytheists after he returned to Madinah. His aim was to inform them that Muslims, who did not win the battle, were not psychologically defeated. When Abu Sufyan understood that they were being followed, he killed two people from Madinah that he met on the way and ran quickly towards Makkah. Abu Sufyan informed Allah’s Messenger that he would return to Madinah soon in order to kill Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) and his companions. The answer of the Messenger of Allah to that news was:

"For us Allah suffices. He is the best guardian."

The moral and spiritual effects of the Battle of Uhud on the enemy groups caused the bedouins around to attack the lands of Madinah. However, thanks to the measures taken by Hazrat Prophet (PBUH) most of those attacks were repulsed.

BATTLE OF KHANDAQ

Battle of Khandaq took place in the fifth year of hijrah. Quraishis, along with some other tribes, formed an army of more than ten thousand people and proceeded to Madinah.

    Hazrat Prophet (PBUH) held a consultation with sahabas. Upon the advice of Salman Farisi, they dug a ditch around the city of Madinah in the direction that the enemy would come and assumed a position of defense. Our Prophet (PBUH) worked together with his friends to dig the ditch.

They finished digging the ditch in two weeks. Then, the enemy started to appear. However, they were astonished to see the ditch in front of them. They had never seen that kind of defense in Arabia before. Those who wanted to cross the ditch were prevented by arrows and stones. An enemy soldier, Amr Ibn Abdi Wud, who managed to cross the ditch and who was regarded to be equal to a division of soldiers, started to challenge Muslims. He asked somebody to challenge him and fight him. (Hazrat Ali May Allah grant him honor) challenged him and killed him.

    The siege lasted for fifteen days. It was very cold. The enemy started to be frustrated. One night, during a storm, their tents were overturned. The next day, they went away. Muslims took the food and the camels that they left and got rid of the dearth of food. During the Battle of Khandaq, five Muslims were martyred, and four enemy soldiers were killed.

It is stated in the Quran that some pages were sent down to Hazrat Ibrahim (Abraham) and some pages to Hazrat Musa (Moses) before he was sent down the Torah (an-Najm, 53/37-54; al-A'la, 87/19). It is also stated in the Quran that Moses was sent down the Torah (al-Isra, 17/2; al-Maida, 5/44), Hazrat Dawud (David) was sent down the Psalms (an-Nisa, 4/163) and Hazrat Eesa (Jesus) was sent down the Bible  (al-Maida, 5/46, 110). Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh), the last Prophet, was sent down the Quran.

The Prophet did not directly appoint Hazrat Abu Bakr to caliphate. However, we can deduce from some of his words and practices that he wanted Hazrat Abu Bakr to be the first caliph.

The Status of Four Caliphs amongst Other Companions

It is stated that the most virtuous of all ummah are the companions and that Hazrat Abu Bakr deserved the title of “siddiq” (trustworthy, loyal) because of affirming Hazrat Muhammad’s prophethood and Miraj without any hesitation. (1) Although this explanation is short and not clear, we deduce a reason why Abu Bakr was the most virtuous of all companions from it. This reason is the fact that he was very faithful and submissive. His loyalty to Allah and His Messenger was unwavering. There are some other reasons which make him the most virtuous of all companions in addition to these. Factors such as being a leader in faith paved way to the good and he played a significant role in the belief of generations after him; he supported the Messenger of Allah both physically and financially in the riskiest times, his understanding of Islam and his worshipping elevate him to the highest degree amongst ummah and companions.

At-Taftazani stated that Hazrat Omar was given the title of “Faruq” (discerning truth from falsehood) because he distinguished truth from falsehood in his judgments and causes. (2) This points out to the fact that he deemed truth, Islam which is the truth more important than anything, and that he submitted himself to the truth. When he converted to Islam, he challenged Quraish and the whole world fearlessly (3). It is understood how he sided with the truth and how strongly he believed in truth. It indicates that this was one of his superiorities. (4) 

Then he stated that Hazrat Uthman firstly married Ruqiyya, a daughter of the Messenger of Allah, and when she died, he married his other daughter Ummu Kulthum and thus, he was named “Dhinnurayn” (having two lights), and that the Prophet said “If I had one more daughter, I would marry her to you again”. (5) We deduce from it that the Prophet was very pleased with Hazrat Uthman; he loved him a lot, and appreciated him. Of course, he would not love anyone because of his personal interests. Hazrat Muhammad’s dearest friends were true believers and people with taqwa. If he loved Hazrat Uthman, appreciated him and stated that he was pleased with him, we need to follow the Messenger of Allah and appreciate Hazrat Uthman, love him and have high opinions of him, and we should not criticize him. If the Prophet loved him that much and married his daughters to him, it shows that he was a true believer and he had taqwa; because Muslims do not marry their daughters to unbelievers. It means he was a believer. He was a muttaqi (one with taqwa; God-conscious) as the Messenger of Allah put it. And angels respected him (6). 

At-Taftazani then stated that Hazrat Ali al-Murtaza was one of the good servants of Allah and proved his sincerity. (7) Nasafi and other ahl as-sunnah interpreters of the Quran named Hazrat Ali as Murtaza in order to stress that Allah and His Messenger were pleased with him (8). Allah and His Messenger love Hazrat Ali a lot. Ali loves them both a lot, too and pleased them. It was mentioned in hadiths, too (9). Taftazani states that Hazrat Ali was outstanding in his worshipping, sincerity and asceticism. One who is loved by Allah and His Messenger, one with whom they were pleased, and one who was the son-in-law of the Messenger of Allah was of course a true believer, God-conscious and worthy of praise and love. Moreover, Allah the Glorious stated that he was a friend of the Messenger of Allah (10). 

According to at-Taftazani, the companions put four caliphs in superiority order according to their caliphate order. At-Taftazani says “It is clear that they would not have decided it if they had not had proofs.” (11) 

2) Some hadiths point out to caliphs’ order of virtuousness: 

If hadiths are examined having the issue of superiority, it will be seen that they have got signs pointing out to the degrees and the order of the caliphate of four caliphs: 

Hazrat Ali, the father of Muhammad bin Hanafiyya, was asked: “Who is the most virtuous person after the Messenger of Allah?” Hazrat Ali answered clearly by listing in order “Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman.” (12) The hadith related to the ones given the tidings of deserving Heaven states that the first to arrive at Aris Well was Abu Bakr, then Umar and then Uthman. (13) It may be an indication of their order of virtuousness. Moreover, one day the Messenger of Allah, Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman climbed up Uhud Mountain. Then when the mountains started to tremble, the Messenger called to the mountain: “Stop O Uhud! There is the Prophet, Siddiq and two martyrs on you!” (14) 

Bukhari mentioned the names of the companions in the hadith above in this order: “Abu Bakr,  Umar, and Uthman.” Also, the Messenger of Allah mentioned Abu Bakr after himself in the hadith above, and after Abu Bakr, mentioned Umar and Uthman. Is it not a sign of Abu Bakr’s superiority that the Prophet mentioned him right after himself? Moreover, this hadith harbingered that Hazrat Umar and Hazrat Uthman were going to be martyred. 

In another hadith narrated from Hazrat Ali, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said: “I became one with Abu Bakr and Umar. I worked with Abu Bakr and Umar. I walked with Abu Bakr and Umar…” (15) It indicates that Abu Bakr ranks in first place in terms of superiority and then comes Umar amongst other companions and the ummah. 

Again in another hadith in Bukhari’s book, Abdullah bin Umar narrated: “He said: ‘We would not deem anyone equal to Abu Bakr, and then to Umar and then to Uthman in the time of the Prophet (pbuh). After that, we quit comparing the companions of The Messenger of Allah according to their superiority.” (16) 

When this hadith is taken into consideration, there are several aspects that come into one’s mind: 

First: Abdullah bin Abbas (death H. 68), as a knowledgeable and wise companion, speaks of a matter which was agreed upon and known by everyone in the time of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh). It is the fact that none of the companions were deemed equal in virtuousness to the four caliphs, especially to Hazrat Abu Bakr. (17) Of course, the Messenger of Allah knew that his companions thought like that. He thought the same, too. If he had not thought like that, he would have corrected their opinions. 

Second: while narrating the hadith, Abdullah bin Abbas firstly mentions Hazrat Abu Bakr, and then the caliphs in order. It can be deduced from it that Hazrat Abu Bakr was the leading one in virtuousness and also that Abdullah bin Abbas agreed with it. 

Third: According to that hadith, the four caliphs are superior to all companions. And the degree of superiority between them is based on that order. 

Fourth: The Companions of salaf deemed the companions in question superior to others according to the given order; however, they did not ever compare other companions in superiority. The problem of superiority emerged later. (18) 

The order of their caliphate, their works and services during their caliphates and events that occurred during their caliphates can also be considered to be signs of their virtuousness. 

After discussing this problem, at-Taftazani says: “Salaf (companions and tabiin) agreed on Uthman’s superiority over Ali and accepted their order of caliphate as it was.” (19) Then he explains how each of them was promoted to caliphate one by one. In his opinion, the caliphate of the four caliphs was the result of the consensus of Islamic scholars. Conflicts and wars which happened related to the caliphate of Hazrat Ali were not because of disagreement over his caliphate indeed, but because of the fault in deduction (of judgment; ijtihad).” (20) 

As it is seen, Taftazani considers wars during the time of Hazrat Ali as the result of deduction and faults in deduction, like other ahl as-Sunnah scholars. It is not meant to criticize and oppose the companion here; conversely, it is meant to exalt him. Taftazani blames them for hypocrisy and heedlessness. He states that Hazrat Ali was right on his judgment and Muawiya was faulty in his judgment. Muawiya, who was faulty in his judgment, is not criticized or blamed with straying and hypocrisy but commemorated nicely as a mujtahid, because mujtahids will earn thawabs even though they are faulty in their judgments. A mujtahid who made a mistake in his judgment cannot be blamed for straying or hypocrisy. (21) 

Badiuzzaman Said Nursi says that some Quranic verses point out to the four caliphs to come after the death of the Messenger of Allah, together with their order, and hints who they are by telling their most known features: 

“Muhammad is the Prophet of God, and those who are with him are strong against unbelievers, [but] compassionate among each other. You will see them bow and prostrate themselves....” (surah-al-Fath)

Through telling of the elevated qualities and characteristics which were the reason for the

Companions being the most elevated of humankind after the prophets, the start of this verse describes through its explicit meaning the excellent qualities which would mark the class of the Companions. And through its implied meaning, the verse alludes to the Rightly-Guided Caliphs, who would succeed to the office of the Prophet (PBUH) after his death through the institution of the Caliphate, and gives news of the fine attributes which were what most distinguished each of them and marked them out. It is as follows: 

“And those who are with him” alludes to Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, who was distinguished and famous for being among the Prophet’s special followers and party to his conversation, and again for entering among his special followers by being the first to die. 

“While are strong against the unbelievers” points to Umar, who in the future would cause the countries of the globe to tremble at his conquests, and with his justice would descend on tyrants like a thunderbolt. 

“And compassionate among each other” gives news of Uthman, who, in the future when the most serious dissension was being fomented, would sacrifice his own life and spirit out of perfect kindness and compassion so that the blood of Muslims should not be spilt, preferring to be martyred wrongfully while reading the Qur’an. 

And so too, “You will see them bow and prostrate themselves [in prayer], seeking grace from God and [His] good pleasure” tells that with his complete worthiness to undertake the Caliphate and government, and his heroism, and his choosing perfect asceticism, worship, poverty, and frugality, and whose bowing and prostrating in prayer was corroborated by everyone, Ali (May God be pleased with him) was not responsible for his position in the future and the wars and strife in which he was involved, and that his intention and wish was for Divine favur. 

The phrase, “This is their similitude in the Torah” makes predictions concerning the Unseen in two respects: It gives news of the qualities of the Companions mentioned in the Torah, which was as though the Unseen for an unlettered person like the Prophet (Upon whom be blessings and peace). 

The sentence, “and their similitude in the Gospel is: like a seed which sends forth its blade, then makes it strong; it then becomes thick, and it stands on its own stem, [filling] the sowers with wonder and delight. As a result, it fills the unbelievers with rage at them”, gives news of the Unseen in two respects:

The First is the prediction concerning the Companions in the Gospel, which was like the Unseen for the unlettered Prophet (PBUH). 

At the start the Companions would appear to be few and weak, nevertheless they would burgeon like seeds, grow, thicken, and find strength. When they were about to be overwhelmed and smothered by the rage that this would cause the unbelievers, they would subjugate mankind with their swords and prove that the Prophet (PBUH), their leader, was the Ruler of the World. The verses express exactly the meaning of the above verses of Sura al-Fath. 

Second Aspect: These sentences predict the following: the Companions certainly accepted the Pact of Hudaybiya out of their weakness and small number, but within a short time they so grew and acquired such strength and loftiness that, planted by the Hand of Power in the field of the face of the earth, they multiplied in most elevated, powerful, fruitful, and plentiful fashion. Especially in relation to the shoots of mankind at that time, which were short, weak, defective, and scant due to neglect and heedlessness. They would grow strong and cause glorious states to rage at them in envy, jealousy, and anger. Yes, the future verified this prediction in most brilliant fashion. 

There is in this prediction the further following slight hint: it indicates through the word forgiveness that, although while praising the Companions’ excellent qualities they should have been promised the greatest rewards, in the future serious faults would arise among the Companions, due to strife. For forgiveness indicates the existence of faults. And at that time the thing most demanded by the Companions, the greatest bounty, would be forgiveness. (22) 

The Hint about the Four Caliphs 

In addition to this last verse of surah al-Fath which hints the caliphs to come after the Messenger of Allah, the verse “All who obey God and the Messenger are in the company of those on whom is the Grace of God, - of the prophets (who teach), the sincere (lovers of Truth), the witnesses (who testify), and the Righteous (who do good): Ah! What a beautiful fellowship!” (al-Nisa, 69) also indicates the same truth. 

This verse describes the people of the Straight Path and the groups of the Prophets, the caravan of the Veracious, the community of the Martyrs, the class of the Righteous, and those who follow them, who are those among mankind who truly receive the Divine bounties, and furthermore, explicitly pointing out the most perfect of those five groups in the World of Islam, it then indicates the leaders and chiefs of those five groups through mentioning their well-known attributes. In addition, with a flash of miraculousness giving news of the Unseen, it specifies in one respect those chiefs’ positions in the future.

Yes, of the Prophets looks explicitly to the Prophet Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace), and the phrase the Veracious looks to Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (the Veracious). It also indicates that he would be second after the Prophet (Upon whom be blessings and peace), and first to succeed to his place, and be known with the special title of ‘Siddiq,’ and be seen at the head of all the veracious. 

Then the Witnesses [or Martyrs] mentions Umar, Uthman, and Ali (May God be pleased with all of them) together. It indicates indirectly that the three of them would succeed to the Caliphate of the Prophet after ‘al-Siddiq,’ that the three of them would be martyred, and the merits of martyrdom added to their other virtues. 

The Righteous alludes to distinguished persons like the Companions of the Bench, and of Badr and Ridwan. 

While the explicit meaning of “And how goodly a company are these!” encourages others to follow them, and its implicit meaning, through showing the generation that succeeded them to be honoured and illustrious, alludes to Hasan (May God be pleased with him), who as the fifth Caliph affirmed the Hadith “After me the Caliphate will last thirty years” (23) -in order to show its great value despite its brief duration. (24) 

And the word “goodly” in the Quranic verse which is translated as “And how goodly a company are these!” is “hasuna” in Arabic text. And in Arabic writing, Hassan and Hasuna are written in the same way. 

As it is seen, there are many signs and hints pointing out to the Unseen, stated either explicitly or implicitly in the Quranic verses. They also hint in which order the four caliphs will be promoted to the caliphate. 

Footnotes: 

(1) Hashiyatu'l-Kestelli p. 177-178.

(2) ibid., p. 178.

(3) History of Islam, p. 172 ff.

(4) The Messenger of Allah declares Hazrat Umar’s piety by means of a dream. Sahihu'l-Bukhari, IV, 201.

(5) Hashiyatu'l-Kestelli p. 178.

(6) For hadiths about him, see Sahihu'l-Bukhari IV, 196 (those who were given the good news of Heaven), IV, 202 ff.

(7) Hashiyatu'l-Kestelli p. 178.

(8) Sharhu'l-Akaid p. 322.

(9) Sahihu'l-Bukhari IV, 207 (This is explained in the hadith related to the war of Khyber) Moreover, while on the war expedition to Tabuk, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) stated that his position with him was like that of Moses with Aaron.

(10) See. Al-Maidah 5/55; at-Tabari, Muhibbuddin Ahmad b. Abdullah Zahairu'l-Uqba,

Cairo, 1357, p. 102 ff.

(11 Hashiyatu'l-Kestelli Ala Sharhi'l-Akaid p. 178.

(12) Sahihu'l-Bukhari IV, 195 (Fezai'l-Bab, 5).

(13) Sahihu'l-Bukhari IV, 196.

(14) Sahihu'l-Bukhari IV, 197; 204.

(15) Sahihu'l-Bukhari IV, 197.

(16) Sahihu'l-Bukhari IV, 203.

(17) For the word “adala”see al-Mu'jamu'l-Wasit p. 588; al-Mufradat p. 325.

(18) For the issue that Companions are more virtuous than all ummah and that four caliphs are more virtuous than the others, see al-Haytami, Ahmad b. Hajar, as-Sawaiqu'l-Muhriqa, p.

210, 213; Subulu's-Salam IV, 127 (witnesses/martyrs); Hashiyatu'l-Kestelli p.

(19) Hashiyatu'l-Kestelli , ala Sharhi'l-Aqaid p. 179.

(20) Hashiyatu'l-Kestelli 'ala Sharhu'l-Aqaid p. 180.

(21) See Sharhu'l-Aqaid p. 325, Hashiyatu'l-Kestelli 'ala Sharhu'l-Aqaid, p. 180-181. 

(22)See. Nursi, The Flashes, p. 29-32.

(23) Tirmidhi, Fitan, 48.

(24)See. Nursi, The Flashes, p. 33-34. 

Prof. Dr. Murat Sarıcık

The important event behind muharram is Karbala in which Hadrath Hussein and his followers were murdered. Such heartbreaking event happened on the 10th day of muharram. The main reason for the mourning of shia is this event.

In this connection, A QUESTION may be asked: Although Ali, with his extraordinary bravery and profound knowledge in addition to his kinship to Allah's Messenger, greatly deserved to be Caliph, why did he not precede others in holding the Caliphate, and why did Islam experience such disorder during his caliphate?
ANSWER:
A great saint from the Prophet's Family is reported as saying, "Allah's Messenger had desired the caliphate of Ali, but it was made known to him from the Unseen that the will of Allah Almighty was different. He then abandoned his desire, submitting himself to Allah's will." One of the reasons why Allah's will was different could have been that after the demise of Allah's Messenger, when the Companions were more than ever in need of alliance and unity, if Ali had taken the leadership, this would most probably have aroused in many persons and tribes a tendency to compete, because of his pious, fearless, dignified, heroic and independent personality and his widely known courage -as was indeed the case during his caliphate- and divisions among the believers would have resulted. Another reason for the delay of Ali's caliphate is the following: at the time of his caliphate, the Muslim community, which had rapidly developing through the intermingling of many tribes and peoples, possessed such traits as reflected the opinions of the seventy-three sects that Allah's Messenger had predicted would evolve in due time.
Therefore, in the face of such disturbances, someone was needed with the wondrous strength, courage, respectability and sagacity of Ali, someone having the force of the respected Hashimites and the Prophet's Family, so that he could resist such hardships. And indeed he did so, in a fashion conformable to the prediction of the Prophet, who had said to him, "I have fought for the revelation of the Qur'an; you will fight for its explanation. " A further reason for this delay is that without Ali, the magnificence of sovereignty would most probably have caused the Umayyad dynasty to go completely astray. However, having to cater to the opposition of Ali and the Prophet's Family, and to preserve their prestige before the Muslims, the leaders of the Umayyad dynasty, willingly or unwillingly but in any case with full vigor, worked for at least encouraged their subjects and followers to do so- for the protection and propagation of the truths of faith and Islam and the Qur'anic order. Thus, thousands of punctilious expounders of the Islamic law, distinguished traditionists, saints and men of purity emerged during their reign. Had it not faced the strong religiosity, sainthood and virtuousness of Ali and of the Prophet's Family, the Umayyad dynasty would from the very beginning have pursued its own course, as happened at the end of its rule and that of the Abbasid dynasty.
It might also be asked, 'Why did the Islamic Caliphate not remain in the Prophet's Family, since they were the most deserving and fitted for it?"
ANSWER:
Worldly sovereignty is deceptive, and the Prophet's Family had been appointed to protect the Qur'anic order and the truths of Islam. Not to be deceived by the magnificence of sovereignty or the Caliphate, one should be as sinless as a prophet, or as pious and purehearted as the Four Caliphs, Omar b. Abdul-Aziz or the Mahdi of the Abbasids. In fact, the Fatimid dynasty that was established in Egypt in the name of the Prophet's Family, the rule of the Almohads in Africa and that of the Safavids in Persia, all show that worldly sovereignty is not suitable for the Prophet's Family, for it causes them to neglect their primary duty, the protection of religion and the service of Islam. When, on the other hand, they refrained from sovereignty, they brilliantly and most succesfully served Islam and the Qur'an. Now see: of the poles of sainthood decsending from Hasan -especially the Four Poles [*] and above all
[*] The four poles of sainthood, namely, Abdul Qadir Gilani, Ahmad Rufa'i, Ahmad Badawi and Ibrahim Dasuqi.
Abdul Qadir Gilani- and those imams from the lineage of Husain especially Zayn al Abidin and Jafar as Siddiq- each became a revivalist in his own right, dispelled the darkness of wrongdoing, spread the light of the Qur'an and the truths of faith, and in so doing that he was a true heir of his noble ancestor.
It may be asked, "What was the Divine Wisdom lying behind the awesome and bloody disturbances that befell the blessed Companions and sacred Islam, for they did not deserve such deep sorrow and losses?"
ANSWER:
Just as a heavy spring rainstorm activates and improves the various dispositions inherent in various vegetables, seeds and trees, making them bloom and flourish each in its own fashion, so to the disturbances that befell the Companions and their successors activated their various talents. It gave every group of them the fear that Islam was in danger, made them hurry to the protection of Islam, so that everyone within his means shouldered a function from among the various duties in the Muslim community and strove in atmost earnest. Each group fullfilled a different function, some working for the preservation of the prophetic traditions, some for the maintanence of the Qur'an and the truths of faith, and so on. Thus did they strive fervently in performing Islamic duties, thus did the flowers of different colors blossom forth, and thus were the seeds planted in the vast regions of the Muslim world and half of the globe changed into rose gardens. Sadly, with those roses, came the thorns of the deviant sects.
It was as if the Hand of Power had shaken that era with wrath, rotated it with intense vigor, electrified the men of zeal. And electrified by the centrifugal force of that movement, a great many enlightened expounders, luminous traditionists, gifted scholars, men of purity and poles of sainthood emigrated to the remote corners of the Muslim World. By causing this to come about, the Hand of Power inspires all the Muslims, from the East to the West, with enthusiasm, and awakened them to the treasures of the Qur'an.

The political and military campaigns that our Prophet himself took part in are called ghazwa; the political and military campaigns that our Prophet did not take part but gave the flag to someone from his companions and appointed him the leader of the campaign are called sariyya.
There were 27 ghazwas that the Prophet himself led. They are Abwa, Buwat, Badru’l-ula-Safawan, Zu’l-Ushayra, Badr, Bani Qaynuqa', Sawiq, Qarqaratul kudr, Ghatafan, Bani Sulaym, Uhud, Hamraulasad, Bani Nadir, Badru’l-Maw’id, Zatu’r-Riqa’, Dumatul jandal, Muraysi’ (Bani’l-Mustaliq), Khandaq, Bani Kurayza, Bani Lihyan, Ghaba, Hudaybiya, Khaybar, Conquest of Makkah, Hunayn, Taif and Tabuk. There were clashes only in nine of those ghazwas.

Mujaddid means the renovator, the one who gives something a new form; and someone who strengthens something by renovating it.

A Mujaddid is a religious scholar who teaches people their religion again when people leave the sunnahs of the Prophet and bid’ahs are wide spread; and abolish those bid’ahs. The word “mujaddid” stems from the verb “jadda”.

Allah the Glorious sent human beings prophets in order to show them the right way from time to time as they needed. The last one of these prophets is Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh). No more prophets will be sent after him. “Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but (he is) the Messenger of Allah, and the Seal of the Prophets: and Allah has full knowledge of all things.” (al-Ahzab, 33/10).

Just like it happened with the people of other prophets, bid’ahs, superstitions and fake beliefs may start amongst the people of the Prophet Muhammad and eventually, Muslims can face alienation from religion and the sunnah of the prophet. Moreover, due to living conditions changing everyday and technology advancing may come out some new matters which need to be made a religious judgment for.

Relatively may arise a need for people who will resist new bid’ahs appearing in the society, who will defend the religion against attacks made against it, who will find solutions to new matters and who will teach Muslims their religion again and guide them. As the prophethood ended and for there will not come any more prophets, this duty is on scholars from the followers of the Prophet (pbuh). These scholars are called “mujaddid” in literature.

The Reverend Prophet states, in one of his hadiths, that: “Verily, Allah will send a mujaddid for these people at the beginning of each century, who will renovate their religious issues.” (Abu Dawud, Melahim, 1).

In some other narrations of the hadith, it is stated that the mujaddid to come will be from the pure family (descendants) of the Prophet. Also, there are some who say there will come not only one mujaddid but more.

Imam Suyuti wrote a book on the issue of tajdid (renovation) and narrated poetic chronologies showing all mujaddids who came until his time. According to the last chronology, mujaddids who came until that time are: Omar bin Abdulaziz, Imam Shafii, Imam Abu’l Hasan al-Ash’ari, Ahmad Isferani, Imam Ghazali, Fahruddin Razi, Takyuddin bin Dakiki’l-Iyd and Imam Bulkini (Bulukkini).

There is conflict over some of them. Imam Suyuti hoped he was the ninth one.

People who want to make reform on religion are not included in the scope of this hadith about mujaddids. As a matter of fact, none of the scholars who lived so far concluded that this hadith meant religious reform.

Mujaddid and Mutajaddid should not be mistaken for each other; because there is a big difference between them actually. Mutajaddid is someone who takes side with reform and who makes a new synthesis by reconciling between Islam and Jahiliyya (which is positivism and materialism today) and sinks the followers of the religion into Jahiliyya. So-called mutajaddids’ aim is not to renovate the religion but to accommodate it for today. However, mujaddid means one who purifies Islam from all elements of Jahiliyya and then applies it to the life again as pure as possible. Mujaddid refrains from agreeing and reconciling with Jahiliyya and, no matter how trivial it may be, does not tolerate any of Jahiliyya elements to be applied in any part of Islam.

There is difference between a prophet and a mujaddid. A prophet directly takes orders from Allah. He receives revelation; he starts his strive with the cause of prophethood and invites people to believe in him. Belief and unbelief depend on accepting and denying his cause.

It is not the same for a mujaddid. Although he can be given the duty by Allah, he can only be so with a duty which is not related to spreading a new religion or system. Usually, he is unaware of the fact that he is mujaddid. This fact is understood only after his death.

The compulsory features that a mujaddid must have are as follows: a clear mind, sharp comprehension, true reasoning, the rare talent of reconciling between extreme and understatement, a power of thinking freed from influence of judgments taken for granted for centuries and novel situations, braveness to struggle against the astray ways of his day, a gift for leadership, endowed on him by Allah, which is necessary for reconstruction and renovation… Moreover, a mujaddid must accept the pillars of Islam in the depth of his heart and believe in them within his view, understanding and feelings. He must distinguish Islam from Jahiliyya in the most trivial things and emerge the truth which is under the piles of dilemmas piled throughout centuries.

The job of renovation has got some divisions as stated below:

Mujaddid must diagnose the diseases correctly in the area he lives in. He can achieve this by examining carefully the time he lives in from all aspects, figuring out where in the society Jahiliyya settled down, to what extent it has been influential, through what ways it entered the society, until which aspects of life its effects have reached and what is the state of true Islam in the current situation.

Mujaddid must find solutions to improve the society; that is to say; he must end Jahiliyya’s sovereignty over the society and pave the way for Islam to take its place in social life.

Mujaddid must determine the limits of what he can achieve and evaluate his power and potential by trying himself.

It is amongst a mujaddid’s basic duties to work on making an intellectual and doctrinaire revolution; that is to say; adjusting people’s thoughts, beliefs, feelings and moral values to Islam, improving educational system, performing Islamic knowledges and arts and, in short, refreshing the pure Islamic spirit and thought.

Mujaddid must lead the act of improving deeds, cancel the traditions of Jahiliyya, purify and elevate the morals and train people who will be Islamic leaders.

Mujaddid must know the general rules and basic aims of the religion, understand the direction and state of technological and social developments of his time, determine a way and method for what he can do to improve and change the social life inherited from the previous generations. While doing these, he must enable the spirit, safety and aims of Islam to manifest and pave the way for Islam’s leadership of world in true social advancement.

Abdülcelil ÜNALAN

P.S. We would recommend that you also read the article “TAJDID AND MUJADDIDS” by M. Ali Kaya:

Tajdid means renovation and improvement. It should not be mistaken for tajaddud; because tajaddud means modernism. Tajdid means purifying Islam from all elements of Jahiliyya and applying it in the purest way it is.

Mujaddid means that a religious scholar having the characteristics that a prophet has manages himself to be recognized by scholars, with his intellect, acumen, knowledge, mastership and persistence. This is metaphysical leadership. Prophets receive revelations. However, a mujaddid has got the inspiration to comprehend revelations and explain them to people. Only people whose souls and dispositions are astray contradict to a mujaddid.

As Quran’s judgments are going to be valid until the Day of Judgment, it will always be necessary to tell and explain that Quran is an undying sun which cannot be put out to changing ideas and opinions in instable, changing and developing time. Of course, this duty will be carried out by “scholars.” These scholars must be the ones who fear Allah (1) and comprehend the meanings conveyed by Quran correctly; and not the ones who are masters in religion and law study fields…

These scholars are mujaddids who are “the inheritors of prophets”. Being an inheritor of prophets means being knowledgeable with inspirations under the shadow of revelation rather than receiving the revelation itself, like prophets. Mujaddids must have got a pure heart which will be worthy of receiving divine inspirations. No matter how knowledgeable the ones who are not worthy of Allah’s help may be, they cannot guide people to the way, which is called “Hidaya (righteousness)”, leading to Allah’s contentment.

Mujaddid must diagnose the disease of the century very well, offer solutions to it and must consider himself dutiful of it. He must refresh the spirit, knowledge and ideas of the pure Islam and behave in accordance with his knowledge and his behaviors must represent Islam. Also, mujaddid must have the power of jurisprudence in religion. He must offer methods, struggle against enemies of the religion, invigorate fards and sunnahs and his tajdid must be world-wide.

Only such people can be “the inheritors of prophets.” “An exact mujaddid is the one who accomplishes all of these duties. Mujaddids who had lived so far accomplished only some of them.” In this sense, “Mahdi” who will come in the last times of the world is an exact mujaddid. (2)

Allah the Glorious, who does not leave even the ants and bees without their guides, of course does not leave human beings without a guide, either. He sent a hundred and twenty-four thousand prophets and this process was ended with Hazrat Muhammad, the Last Prophet (pbuh). As Prophet Muhammad is the last one of the prophets, it was stated that the mujaddids who will protect his sharia until the Day of Judgment will come from his people with the hadith: “Verily, Allah renovates the religion at the beginning of each century by sending these people a mujaddid.” (3) Islamic scholars usually accept the hijri calendar system while determining these dates.

There are times when Islam is strong and powerful. These times are when everybody is knowledgeable about the religion, when scholars are respected and listened to when they speak, and ignorant ones are silenced when they speak. Also there are times when Islam is weak. These times are when everybody is ignorant about the religion, when scholars are not listened yet ignorant ones are respected and listened to when they speak. For this reason, religion is invigorated with knowledge and it is weakened with ignorance. Relatively, the duty of mujaddids is to spread knowledge. Tajdid of religion means the restoration of the religion. As the restoration of knowledge means the restoration of the religion, mujaddids must definitely be scholars and they must restore knowledge with the works they write. There is controversy over whether mujaddids must be scholars:

Muhaddis az-Zuhri (death 124/740) and Ahmad bin Hanbal (death 241/855) accept Omar bin Abdulaziz in the first century and Imam al-Shafii in the second century as mujaddids. The former one died in the year of 101 and the latter one died in the year of 204. “The scholar who is alive and well-known and who is attributed when a century is ending gains the title of mujaddid.” (4)

Also, mujaddids are from the family of the Prophet. Prophet’s hadith saying “Allah will send someone from my family who will restore religious matters at the beginning of each century, for people who are devoted to Allah’s religion” confirms this.

Other duties and functions of mujaddids are “Restoring any abolished judgment according to Quran and sunnah and showing that it is applicable.” (6) Imam Shafii is told to have made sunnah manifest and exterminated bid’ahs. This is the essence of tajdid.

One is concluded whether he is mujaddid by the consensus of contemporary scholars and the usefulness and efficacy of his students and works. (7) In this sense, Muhammad al-Ghazali (death: 505/1111) is indisputably an exact mujaddid.

The fact that the word “Yeb’asu”, which is related to the prophets sent in Quran, is used for mujaddids in the hadith is remarkable. (8) This is because they spread righteousness. Generally, mujaddids are from the madhhab of Shafii and Tajaddin Abdulwahhab Ibn-i as-Subki (death: 728/1326) counts Shafii ones in. (9)

People competent in tasawwuf are excluded from this. Tariqa leaders who are outstanding in tasawwuf, Hulefa-i Rashidin, Abdulqadr-i Geylani and Hidhr who were appointed to guide people and spread righteousness, by wearing cloaks, by the Prophet are excluded from this. Actually, a mujaddid is an imam of the sharia. And a kutub is a guide in a tariqa. Kutubs in a tariqa have got to follow sharia and the imams of sharia definitely. Imam-i Rabbani Mujaddid-i Elf-i Sani Sheikh Ahmad-i Sirhindi (death: 1034/1624) is the mujaddid of the second millennium. He says in his letter: “Once a millennium comes out a supreme prophet. And now once a millennium comes out a great interpreter of Islamic law.” (10)

Shah Waliyullah Dahlawi (death 1176/1763) also wore mujaddid cloak from Nakshibendis. He was given “Hilatu’l-Mujaddidiyya.” And in the thirteenth century, Mawlana Halid-i Baghdadi (death: 1242/1827), who was one of Sirhindi’s khalifas, was also elevated to this level. He was counted in Nakshibendi Mujaddids, for he was the student of Shah Abdullah Dahlawi who was well-known with the name “Gulam Ali.”

Mujaddids encourage following sunnah and refraining from bid’aha.

Aliyyu’l Kari (death: 1014), one of the greatest scholars, stated that “Mujaddids will come in a time when knowledge declines, sunnah starts to be forgotten and ignorance and bid’ahs are wide-spread.” Hafiz Munawi says: “What is meant by renovating religion is purifying sunnah from bid’ahs, spreading knowledge, supporting people who are interested in knowledge and destroying the ones who are supporters of bid’ahs. And Alkami defines the duties of a mujaddid as “Invigorating the forgotten parts of Quran and sunnah and enabling people to act in accordance with them.” (11) Above all, a mujaddid is known for restoring and spreading sunnah. He spends all his days and nights on this cause. He wards off supporters of bid’ah with his works and lessons. If these conditions are not manifest in someone who is called mujaddid, that person is not mujaddid no matter how knowledgeable he is. (12)

Duty of mujaddids is to keep the religion as pure as it was when it was first sent down. Their duty is to brushing the dust off it, clearing the dirtiness of bid’ah on it and turning religion back to its true form. They do not create a new thing. They follow Islam and sunnah exactly. They eradicate attacks on themselves and show the supremeness of the religion. They do this without loosing their true attitude, offending true spirit and by new methods of explanation and new techniques of persuasion. (13) Mujaddids are advanced in understanding and explaining Islam with their model loyalty and sincerity and superiority in knowledge. They are competent in all knowledges of the time and they receive inspirations.

They have got the following features:

1- They only follow Quran as their guides.

2- They have got a wide opinion expert in science, a fine reasoning and an exact sincerity. They have got a deep jurisprudence and a potential of divinity. They are not influenced or impressed by and do not involve their personal professions and by dispositions into their duties in order to show truths as pure as possible.

3- They do not aim at anything worldly or otherworldly other than pleasing Allah and this state of theirs is noticed by everyone.

4- They discover the aspects of Quran which are related to the century they live in and explain them in a way that every part of the society from lower class people to higher class people can understand and benefit from.

5- They teach the truths of Quran and belief by proving them with indisputable proofs.

6- They enlighten and satisfy people’s minds, hearts, consciousnesses and spirits and explain their causes with effective and influential lessons which are strong and clear enough to silence even Satan.

7- They save people from negative traits which prevents people from understanding the truths, such as egotism, conceit, arrogance and vanity, and enable them to have elevated and nice moral qualities such as modesty and humbleness.

8- They follow the sunnah of the Messenger of Allah. They live in accordance with their knowledge. They have got utmost piety and taqwa, utmost sincerity and persistence in service to religion, utmost loyalty and self-sacrifice, utmost thrift and contentment with what they have.

9- They have got an Islamic courage and bravery which lets them ignore all oppressions, torments and death penalty, which lets them sermon without being influenced by anything, and which lets them tell the truths fearlessly with a power of belief which can challenge the world. (14)

The Prophet (pbuh) told us both that one mujaddid will come at the beginning of every century and how many mujaddids will come until the Day of Judgment. In a hadith, he said: “Twelve khalifas will come and then Jesus will come down and kill Dajjal.” (15) And he also said that “This religion will be glorious and strong as long as it is at the hands of twelve khalifas. All of these twelve khalifas are from Quraish.” (16), which is narrated by lots of hadith-narrators. Ibn Kasir says this hadith indicates to mujaddids to come at the beginning of every century by saying “It is clear that they are not the twelve imams of Ahl-i Bayt, like the Shia claims.”

Judging from all these features, Islamic scholars tried to determine the mujaddids of every century. They agreed on some of them and they disagreed on some of them. We can list the ones accepted mujaddids in every century as follows:

1- Omar bin Abdulaziz (17) (H. 17-102/G. 638-720)

2- Imam al Shafii(18) (H. 150–204 / G. 767–819)

3- Abu’l-Hasan Ali Al- Ash’ari (H.260–324 / G.873–936)

4- Abu Bakr Bakillani (death. 403/1013)

5- Imam-al Ghazali (H. 450–505/G. 1058–1111)

6- Fahreddin-i Razi (H. 544–606 / G.1149–1209)

7- Mevlana Jalaleddin-i Rumî (H. 604–672/ G.1207–1273)

8- Zeynuddin-i Iraki (death.H. 805/ G. 1402)

9- Imam al Sahawi(19) (death. H. 902)

10- Jalaleddin-i Suyuti (H.849–911/ G.1445–1505)

11- Imam al Rabbani Mujaddid-i Elf-i Sani(20) (H. 971- 1033 / G. 1563-1624)

12- Shah Waliyullah Dehlevi (H.1114–1176 / G. 1702–1762)

13- Mevlana Halid-i Baghdadi(21) (H.1193–1242 / G. 1779–1826)

14- Bediuzzaman Said Nursi. (H.1293 – 1380 / G. 1876–1960)

Mustafa Ismet Efendi, a student of Mevlana Halid-i Baghdadi, clearly states in his work “Risale-i Kudsiye” about the Halidiya branch of Nakshibendi Tariqa, written in Ottoman language, that ahl-i kashf indicates that Mahdi will come as mujaddid after Mevlana Halid and there will not be any other mujaddids and also teaches this to his students. (22)

Bediuzzaman Said Nursi took over Mevlana Halid’s a hundred years old cloak via Küçük Aşık, grandfather of Asiye Hanım. (23) Therefore, it was confirmed in all aspects that he was a mujaddid.

An obvious and distinguishing feature of Bediuzzaman is that he showed “Risale-i Nur” and not his own self as mujaddid. The duty and function of renovation passed over to a book from a human being. Bediuzzaman declares this as a “thanksgiving to the endowment”. (24) Again by calling it “Metaphysical Self of Risale-i Nur”, he implied that people should not wait for another mujaddid to come after him and expressed with a fine political way that he was the last mujaddid.

Except for mujaddids, there are leaders and guides of tarigas who have been the guides to righteousness, such as Abdulkadir Geylani, Ahmad Yasawi, Muhyiddin-i Arabi, Shazali and others… However, leaders of tariqas cannot reach the level of mujaddids and mujtahids, no matter how knowledgeable and pious they might be. They have to follow mujaddids and mujtahids as well; because it is not important if a muslim does not do what a leader of tariqa says, yet it is sinful if they contradict to jurisprudence of a mujtahid and mujaddid. For this reason, all tariqa leaders follow a true madhhab approved by sharia and also warn their members to follow it. Actually, a mujaddid or a mujtahid who is an imam in sharia resembles the imam and khalifa of the time. All tariqa leaders of that time resemble governors and headmen working for them. Everyone can rule and control their members as much as they know their limits and follow the imam, and they can gain the contentment of Allah. All tariqa leaders have protected these limits very well.

Mahdi is from al-i bayt, that’s, descendent of the Prophet, for he is going to be the last mujaddid. This issue is also appropriate for the fact that he will be from Al-i Resulun and Al-i Ibrahim. The fact that salawat supplication, which every muslim cites in tahiyya of prayers, asks Allah for this right way is quite meaningful.

Majority of mujaddids came from the lineage of the Prophet (pbuh). Some of them are from the descendants of Hasan and some are from those of Hussein. For this reason, the Prophet (pbuh) said: “I leave two things for you: One of them is the Book of Allah. And the other is my Ahl-i Bayt (25)” “I will ask you to account for these two things on the Day of Judgment” (26).

Allah the Glorious said: “The Messenger of Allah does not expect any remuneration from you; he only expects you to love his Ahl-i Bayt.” (27) It is because, “My Ahl-i Bayt is like Noah’s Ark. Whoever takes refuge in it is saved.” (28) And Imam Rabbani narrates the hadith: “Loving my Ahl-i Bayt is the capital of ahl-i sunnah.”(29)

The continuous supplication of the believers, salawat-i Peygamberi, “Allah, bless the family of Muhammad, like You blessed the family of Ibrahim” was accepted. This can be understood from the fact that just as prophets came out from the family of Ibrahim, also came mujaddids and mujtahids from the family of Muhammad. By ordering his followers to love Ahl-i Bayt, the Prophet wanted his ummah to be on the right way. He eloquently stated that love for his Ahl-i Bayt would lead one to the right way.

When the Day of Judgment is close, Mahdi will unite all mujaddids and mujtahids and carry out the last duty of guidance. Allah’s true walis are these mujaddids and mujtahids; because Imam-i Azam said: “If scholars are not the walis of Allah, there is no wali on Earth.”

And the Prophet (pbuh) said about walis: “Allah stated, whoever is enemy to my wali and saintly servant, I wage war upon them. Amongst what My servants do in order to be closer to Me, the one I love the best is worships which I made fard for them. My servant continues to approach Me by nawafil prayers, too. Eventually, I love him/her. When I love him/her, I become his/her ear that s/he hears with, his/her eye that s/he sees with, his/her hands that s/he holds with, and his/her feet that s/he walks with. If s/he asks something from Me, I surely give him/her. If s/he seeks refuge with Me, I protect him/her. If s/he asks something from Me, I accept it.” (30)

Ibn-i Hajar says: “Wali is someone who knows Allah and always obeys Him and who is sincere.” Shavkani from Yemen accepts this. As a matter of fact, while describing a wali, Allah the Supreme takes “faith and taqwa” as basis. (31)

Wali is servant of Allah’s, who sincerely tries to follow Divine Orders and does not stray from Allah’s contentment. In this sense, for a wali is not sinful, whoever is enemy to him and contradicts to what he does, indeed becomes an enemy to faith, worship and morals represented by him.

Walis who reach the level of sincerity and endowment perform prayers not because of receiving remuneration or escaping punishment, but because of their love and loyalty to Allah. Worshipping is the nutrition for their souls. It is their vehicle to approach Him.

Avoiding harams is fard worship, too. Invocation, dhikr, supplication, and contemplation (meditation, tafakkur) are also nawafil prayers. The hadith means: I become his ears and eyes because of My light that I placed in them and they do not disobey My orders and stray from My contentment. I help them with this light, in everything they do, so what they do becomes appropriate and proper.” (32) Shawkani wrote a work on this hadith, named “Katru’l Wali ala Hadisi’l Wali.”

The Prophet (pbuh) said “My Ahl-i Bayt resembles Noah’s Ark. Whoever seeks refuge with it is saved.” (33) This hadith means that whoever follows one of those mujaddids and mujtahids are saved. Of course, people in a century should follow the mujaddid of that century. Actually, there is a hadith on this: “Whoever does not recognize the imam of the century dies as one of Jahiliyya.” If one knows what Jahiliyya means, it is not difficult for him to understand the meaning of this hadith.

Footnotes:
(1) al-Qur’an, Fatir, 35:28
(2) The Letters, (1998) 425; Kastamonu Appendix. (2001) p.145
(3) Shemsu’l-Hak Muhammad al-Azimabadi, Avni’l-Ma’bud fi Sherh-i Sunen-i Abi Dawud, (Madina, 1389/1969) XI: 385 Abu Dawud, Melahim, 1; Abu Dawud, Mishkat, 1: 82; Keshfu’l- Hafa, 1: 243–244
(4) Avnu’l-Ma’bud, XI: 386
(5) Jalaleddin-i Suyuti, at-Tehaddus bi-Nimetullah, Publising: E. Sartain (Cambridge, 1975) 11:216
(6) Azimabadi, Avnul-Ma’bud, XI: 386
(7) Suyuti, Tahaddus bi-Nimetilllah, 1:225–226
(8) al-Qur’an, Al-i Imran, 3:164; al A’raf, 7:103, Yunus, 10:74; al-Isra, 17:15; al-Qasas, 28:59; al-Mu’min, 40:34, 62:2
(9) Suyuti, Tahaddus bi-Ni’metillah, 1:218
(10) Sirhindi, Mektubat, (Karachi, 1393/1973) 2:21 ve 1:390
(11) Avni’l- Ma’bud, 11: 386
(12) Sikke-i Tasdik-i Gaybi, (2001) p. 230–231; The Rays, (1997) p. 677
(13) Sikke-i Tasdik-i Gaybi, 230–231
(14) The Words, (1998) p. 706
(15) Ibn-i Hajar al- Askalani, Fethu’l-Bari, 13:213
(16) Bukhari, Ahkam, 51; Muslim, 3:1452; Ibn-i Hibban, Sahih, 15:43; Hâkim, Mustedrek, 3:715
(17) In terms of khalifate.  Zuhri, Ahmad bn. Hambal, some imams of mutekaddidimin and müteharrin agree on this name. (Avnu’l- Ma’bud 11: 384–387)
(18) While Ahmed bn. Hambel accepts him as mujaddid, (Keshf’l- Hafa, 1: 244) Mevdudi accepts the imams of four madhhabs as one mujaddid. (İslamda İhya Hareketleri, Mevdudi, p. 55–56)
(19) Keshfu’l- Hafa, 1:244
(20) The Rays, 152
(21) Bediüzzaman, Sikke-, Tasdik, 15
(22) Mustafa İsmet Efendi, Risale-i Kutsiye, (Osm.) p. 76
(23) Kastamonu Appendix, 62; Sikke-i Tasdik, 14–16; Sikke-i Tasdik-i Gaybi, 44, 46, 47
(24) Duha, 93:11
(25) Tirmidhi, 2:308; Muslim, Fazail-i Sahabe, 1
(26) Abu Nuaym, Hilyetü’l Evliya, 1: 355
(27) al-Shura, 42:23
(28) Hilyetü’l - Evliya, Ebu Nuaym, 4:306
(29) Imam-ı Rabbani, Mektubat, vol:2; 36th Letter
(30) Bukhari, Rikak, 28
(31) Yunus, 10:62–64
(32) Shewkani, Katru’l- Wali ala Hadisi’l- Wali, p.427–436
(33) Mektubat-i Rabbani 1: 51st Letter

1- To believe in Allah
2- To believe in Prophets sent by Allah
3- To believe in Holy Books revealed to some Prophets by Allah
4- To believe in Angles
5- To beleive in hereafter
6- To believe in fate

Ibrahim an-Nahai is a hadith narrator. He is a well-known person who is considered to be trustworthy by well-known hadith authorities such as Ibn Main, Nasai, Daraqutni, Ijli and Ibn Hibban (Ibn Hajar, Tehzib, 1/126).
Ibrahim an-Nahai is also one of the well-known Islamic jurisprudents in Kufa. He is the teacher of Hammad b. Abi Sulaiman who is the teacher of Imam Azam. He lived in the time of tabiin (Muslims who met and took lessons from the companions of Prophet Muhammad). (compare: Ibn Hajar, ibid, III/16; al Fiqhu’l-Islami).

Hijri (migrational) Calendar (Islamic lunar calendar) has started with the migration of Prophet Mohammad (pbup) from Mecca to Medina. This date corresponds to 16th July, 622. As the calendar is regulated based on the rotation of Moon, it has been called “Hijri Lunar” and “Year of Moon”. Hijri calendar was prepared as a result of the confusion on calculating the days, after the death of Prophet Mohammad (pbuh).

Hijri Calendar accepts the first night with crescent moon as the beginning of the New Year. The period of time until the crescent moon appears again is considered one month, and 12 months equal to one year. According to this calendar, rotation of Moon around Earth is accepted to be 29 and a half days. Thus, while one month is considered as 29 days, every other month is considered as 30 days. Therefore, Lunar calendar includes 364 days, while Solar calendar includes 365 days. For this reason, Hijri months arrive eleven days earlier than Gregorian months every year. As a result of this, Hijri months correspond to different seasons. Therefore; Ramadan, which is a month of Hijri calendar, sometimes arriving in Summer, sometimes in Winter and sometimes in other seasons, sees all the months, weeks and days of the year. A person, who fasts for 36 years, eventually fasts in every month and day of the year.

In Hijri Calendar, the New Year’s Day is the first of Muharram. Month of Muharram is followed by Safar, Rabi’al- awwal, Rabi’al-Akhir, Jumada al-awwal, Jumada al-akhir, Rajab, Sha’aban, Ramadan, Shawwal, Dhu al-Qi’dah and Dhu al-Hijjah.

We are all muslims, alhamdulillah (thanks to Allah), yet we all do not live as Islam requires us to live, unfortunately. We call living as a true Muslim “piety”. Whoever lives according to the requirements of the belief, we attribute the adjective “pious” to him, and call him “a pious man”. He already deserves to be called so.

You can also consider piety as an armor worn to be protected from era’s perversity and sedition. In fact, piety is a life style which not only leads the one who lives it to Heaven, but also brings peace and happiness on earthly life for him.

Thusly, you can see how the pious ones and the non-pious ones lead their lives on new year’s days corresponding to the birth of prophet Jesus and the migration of prophet Mohammad, the former of which is the beginning of Gregorian Calendar and the latter is that of Hijri Calendar.

The pious ones, while thinking on New Year’s eves, say, even though sub-consciously:

- The New Year’s Day means that another year of the life has come to an end, we are closer to the inevitable end called death, and days of elderliness are closer, while the days of youth are coming to the end. Thusly, more white hair is growing amongst dark hair every New Year, signaling that we are getting older.

Therefore, instead of being taken with more misery and profligacy on new year’s eves, it is necessary to lean more to the Hereafter and the Eternal Life. Forasmuch as this swift travel is towards the grave and the Hereafter, whether you admit it or deny it.

As piety makes one think more and behave carefully, pious people regret about their past years less. However, strayed people who do not consider themselves bound by the religious limits do not make a slight judgment or do not think even slightly about themselves. They are totally deprived of consciousness and perception. At the night which is an evidence to getting closer to death, they suffer the losses of their morality, spirituality and money, and continue to commit acts that they will regret later. What follow this entertainment and profligacy of a few hours are despair and regret that last for a lifetime.

What causes them to regret forever results from their lives which are not led according to the requirements of Islam, that’s to say, it is because of non-piety.

If they gained a strong belief to stay faithful to the requirements of the religion, an indication of piety, it would enable them to think vice-versa on every new year’s eves, would pull themselves together and eventually advance in belief and morality, and they would neither regret their past nor be taken with misery and profligacy.

It can be concluded that what causes some people to degenerate and some to sublime on new year’s eves is nothing but being pious or not.

It is clear that what makes one think, and lead him to happiness is piety, and it is a fact that what deprives one of self-judgement and leads to profligacy is levity with religion.

That’s to say, this is a world of examinations. It is open to both ways. Anyone can go this way or that way. Some cancel their consciousness on New Year’s eves and some elevate it.

We praise Allah for our piety, give thanks to Him, who makes us think and behave so.

Those who spent (freely), before the Conquest are not equal with those who did so later. There are two views about what is meant by the word conquest in the verse. First: It is the conquest of Makkah. Makkah had been conquered in the month of Ramadan in the sixth year of migration. (January 630) (1)

The state of Muslims was very critical in the years before of the conquest of Makkah. The conditions were dangerous and severe. The period between the beginning of the Prophethood and migration was the most merciless, perilous and bitter period against Muslims. Although Muslims reached peace as a result of migration, they experienced probably the most dangerous days of Madinah period in their relations with the Jews of Madinah and during the Battle of Badr in the second year of migration. In third year of migration, coming to the front of Uhud Mountain with an army three times bigger than the Muslim army, Quraishis arrived there to eradicate Muslims by covering a distance of hundreds kilometers. They were very sure of themselves and of the victory. They had the same attitude during the Battle of Badr too.

Although the Battle of Uhud seemed in favor of Muslims with the defeat of Quraishis at first, the war ended with the defeat of Muslims. Moreover, even the rumor of the death of Allahs Messenger (PBUH) was spread. Many Muslims notably Hazrat Hamza was martyrized. While entombing their martyrs, Muslims had difficulty even in finding shroud for them. (2)

There were difficulties in the fourth year of migration, too. The most significant event in the fifth year of migration was the Battle of Khandaq (Ahzáb) (3) Muslims resisted the ten thousand people army consisting of the alliance of Jews and the tribes of idolaters by digging holes around Madinah. (4) Following the Battle of Khandaq, the sons of Kurayza who joined the enemies during the war were surrounded. In the sixth year of migration, apart from the campaigns to Kurata, the sons of Likhyan, Gabe and Iss, Muslims visited Makkah for Umrah (visiting Kaaba out of hajj season). Meanwhile, many lives were sacrificed. Makkah idolaters kept weaponless Muslim out of Makkah and prevented them from performing their Umrah worship. (5)

In the seventh year of migration, delegates were sent to kings; Khyber was conquered by fighting Khyber Jews, who were as dangerous as Makkah idolaters for Muslims. Muslim reached peace to some extent eventually. In the same year after the conquest of Khyber, Muslims made up for the Umrah which they had failed to perform in the previous year.

After the Peace Treaty of Hudaybiyah, the number of people embracing Islam increased day by day. In the eighth year of migration after the Campaign to Mute, Makkah was conquered. That conquest became a milestone for Muslims. Moreover, Allahs Messenger (PBUH) expressed the importance of migration for Muslims by saying: After the conquest of Makkah, there is no migration for Muslims.

Therefore, the financial aids and fights before the conquest are regarded better than the ones after the conquest. It is because Muslims became superior after the conquest.

Before the conquest only veracious people believed in Islam. However, after the conquest, Islam emerged with a great appearance. People embraced Islam in groups. (6)

That is, embracing Islam and being a companion of the Prophet (PBUH) was more difficult before the conquest. As the rewards of deeds increase in parallel to the hardship and severity, what Muslims did during the earlier times of Islam gained more importance as it is stated in the noble verse. The most virtuous group of the Companions, Hulafay-i Rashidin (Four Rightly Guided Caliphs) and Ashara-i mubashshara (the ten Companions who were given the glad tidings of Paradise) were the first period Companions as well; and Those are higher in rank than those who spent (freely) and fought afterwards... (7)

According to the most of the scholars of Islam, what is implied by the word conquest is the conquest of Makkah. According to some others, the conquest implies the Peace Treaty of Hudaybiyah signed in the sixth year of migration. (The month of Zulqaedah, 628) After that treaty, Muslims of Madinah and Makkah idolaters started to have peaceful relations. Those who came to Madinah and observed the community of Islam began to embrace Islam. The obstinacy and hostility of the idolaters were eliminated by that peace treaty. During the two years between the Peace Treaty of Hudaybiyah and the conquest of Makkah, a few times larger number of people embraced Islam than the number of people who embraced Islam between the beginning of the prophethood of Allahs Messenger (PBUH) and the Peace Treaty of Hudaybiyah. While there were 1400 Muslim men present in the Peace Treaty of Hudaybiyah, that number became ten thousand in the conquest of Makkah. Was it not a big conquest? If the aim in conquering cities and places was to convey Islam, that aim was realized without fighting after the Peace Treaty of Hudaybiyah. By the expression of Quran, the Peace Treaty of Hudaybiyah was a manifest conquest.

References:

1. See el-Vakıdi, Muhammad b. Umar, al-Magazi I-III, Egypt 1965 II, 876 etc: al-Halabi, Ali b. Burhanuddin, İnsanul-Uyûn I-III, Beirut 1980, III, 4 vd; Tafsirul-Kuranil-Azim IV, 306.
2. See Abu Muhammad Abdulmalik b. Hisham, Sirat u Ibn-i Hisham, I-IV, Darul-Fikir, ty. yy. III, 3, 15, 49 etc.
3. Siratu Ibn-i Hisham III, 241 etc.
4. Ibni Sad, Muhammad, at-Tabaqatul-Kubra, I-VIII, Beirut, 1978 II, 66 vd; Siratu Ibn-i Hisham III, 240 etc.
5. Siratu Ibn-i Hisham III, 355 etc.
6. Tafsirul-Kuranil-Azim IV, 306.
7. See Chapter al-Hadíd, 57/11.
8. See Chapter Al-Fath the first verse; Sirat u Ibn-i Hisham III, 369, 372 (Zukhri, a scholar of Islam, says before the victory of Hudaybiyah there existed not a bigger victory in Islam.)

The Prophet did not directly appoint Hazrat Abu Bakr to caliphate. However, we can deduce from some of his words and practices that he wanted Hazrat Abu Bakr to be the first caliph.

The Status of Four Caliphs amongst Other Companions

It is stated that the most decent of all ummah are the companions and that Hazrat Abu Bakr deserved the title of “siddiq” (trustworthy, loyal) because of affirming Hazrat Muhammad’s prophethood and Miraj without any hesitation. (1) Although this explanation is short and not clear, we deduce a reason why Abu Bakr was the most decent of all companions from it. This reason is the fact that he was very faithful and submissive. His loyalty to Allah and His Messenger was unwavering. There are some other reasons which make him the most decent of all companions in addition to these. Factors such as that he was a leader in faith, paved way to the good and he played a significant role in the belief of generations after him, he supported the Messenger of Allah both physically and financially in the most risky times, his understanding of Islam and his worshipping elevate him to the highest degree amongst ummah and companions.

At-Taftazani stated that Hazrat Omar was given the title of “Faruq” (discerning truth from falsehood) because he distinguished truth from falsehood in his judgments and causes. (2) This points out to that he deemed truth, Islam which is the truth more important than anything and that he submitted himself to the truth. When he converted into Islam, he challenged fearlessly Kuraish and the whole world in the name of theirs (3). It is understood that how he sided with the truth and how strongly he believed in truth. This indicates that this was one of his superiorities. (4)

Then he stated that Hazrat Othman firstly married Ruqiyya, a daughter of the Messenger of Allah, and when she died, he married his other daughter Ummu Gulsum and thus he was named “Zinnurayn” (having two lights), and that the Prophet said “If I had one more daughter, I would marry her to you again”. (5) We deduce from this that the Prophet was very pleased with Hazrat Othman; he loved him a lot, and appreciated him. Of course, he would not love anyone because of his personal interests. Hazrat Muhammad’s dearest friends were true believes and people with taqwa. If he loved Hazrat Othman, appreciated him and stated that he was pleased with him, we need to follow the Messenger of Allah and appreciate Hazrat Othman, love him and have high opinions of him, and we should not criticize him. If the Prophet loved him that much and married his daughters to him, this shows that he was a true believer and he had taqwa; because Muslims do not marry their daughters to unbelievers. This means he was a believer. He was a muttaqi (one with taqwa; God-conscious) as the Messenger of Allah put it. And angels respected him (6).

At-Taftazani then stated that Hazrat Ali al-Murtaza was one of good servants to Allah and proved his sincerity. (7) Nasafi and other ahl-i sunnah interpreters of Quran named Hazrat Ali as Murtaza in order to stress that Allah and His Messenger were pleased with him (8). Allah and His Messenger love Hazrat Ali a lot. He loves them both a lot, too and pleased them. This was mentioned in hadiths, too (9). Taftazani states that Hazrat Ali was outstanding in his worship, sincerity and asceticism. One who is loved by Allah and His Messenger, one with whom they were pleased, and one who was son-in-law of the Messenger of Allah was of course a true believer, God-conscious and worthy of praise and love. Moreover, Allah the Glorious stated that he was friend to the Messenger of Allah (10).

According to at-Taftazani, the companions put four caliphs in superiority order according to their caliphate order. At-Taftazani says “It is clear that they would not have decided this if they had not had proofs.” (11)

2) Some hadiths point out to caliphs’ order of virtuousness:

If hadiths are examined for the purpose of this issue, it will be seen that they have got signs pointing out to the degrees and order of caliphate of four caliphs:

Hazrat Ali, the father of Muhammad bin Hanafiyya, was asked: “Who is the most virtuous person after the Messenger of Allah?” Hazrat Ali answered clearly by listing in order “Abu Bakr, Omar and Othman.” (12) The hadith related to the ones given the tidings of deserving Heaven states that the first to arrive at Eris Well was Abu Bakr, then Omar and then Othman. (13) This may be an indication of their order of virtuousness. Moreover, one day the Messenger of Allah, Abu Bakr, Omar and Othman climbed up Uhud Mountain. Then when the mountains started to tremble, the Messenger called to the mountain: “Stop O Uhud! There are the Prophet, Siddiq and two martyrs on you!” (14)

Bukhari mentioned the names of companions in the hadith above in this order: “Abu Bakr, Omar, and Othman.” Also, the Messenger of Allah mentioned Abu Bakr after himself in the hadith above, and after Abu Bakr, mentioned Omar and Othman. Is it not a sing of Abu Bakr’s superiority that the Prophet mentioned him right after himself? Moreover, this hadith harbingered that Hazrat Omar and Hazrat Othman were going to be martyred.

In another hadith narrated from Hazrat Ali, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said: “I became one with Abu Bakr and Omar. I worked with Abu Bakr and Omar. I walked with Abu Bakr and Omar…” (15) This indicates that Abu Bakr ranks in first place in terms of superiority and then comes Omar amongst other companions and the ummah.

Again in another hadith from Bukhari’s book, Abdullah bin Omar narrated: “He said: ‘We would not deem anyone equal to Abu Bakr, and then to Omar and then to Othman in the time of the Prophet (pbuh). After that, we quit comparing the companions of The Messenger of Allah according to their superiority.” (16),

When this hadith is taken into consideration, there are several aspects one comes up with:

First: Abdullah bin Abbas (death H. 68), as a knowledgeable and wise companion, speaks of a matter which was agreed upon and known by everyone in the time of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh). It is that none of the companions were deemed equal in virtuousness to the four caliphs, especially to Hazrat Abu Bakr. (17) Of course, the Messenger of Allah knew that his companions thought like that. He thought the same, too. If he had not thought like this, he would have corrected their opinions.

Second: Abdullah bin Abbas, while narrating the hadith, firstly mentions Hazrat Abu Bakr, and then caliphs in order. It can be deduced from this that Hazrat Abu Bakr was the leading one in virtuousness and also that Abdullah bin Abbas agreed with it.

Third: According to this hadith, the four caliphs are superior to all companions. And the degree of superiority between them is based on this order.

Fourth: Companions deemed the companions in question superior to others according to the given order; however, they did not ever compare other companions in superiority. This problem of superiority emerged later. (18)

The order of their caliphate, their works and services during their caliphates and events that occurred during their caliphates can also be considered to be signs of their virtuousness.

After discussing this problem, at-Taftazani says: “Salaf (companions and tabiin) agreed on Othman’s superiority over Ali and accepts their order of caliphate as it is. (19) Then he explains how each of them was promoted to caliphate one by one. In his opinion, the caliphate of the four caliphs was the result of consensus of Islamic scholars. Conflicts and wars which happened related to the caliphate of Hazrat Ali were not because of disagreement over his caliphate indeed, but because of the fault in deduction (of judgment; ijtihad).” (20)

As it is seen, Taftazani considers wars during the time of Hazrat Ali as the result of deduction and faults in deduction, like other ahl-i Sunnah scholars. It is not meant to criticize and oppose to the companion here; conversely, it is meant to exalt him. Taftazani blames them with hypocrisy and heedlessness. He states that Hazrat Ali was right on his judgment and Muawiya was faulty in his judgment. Muawiya, who was faulty in his judgment, is not criticized or blamed with straying and hypocrisy but commemorated nicely as a mujtahid, because mujtahids will earn sawabs even though they are faulty in their judgments. A mujtahid who made a mistake in his judgment cannot be blamed with straying or hypocrisy. (21)

Bediuzzaman Said Nursi says that some Quranic verses point out to the four caliphs to come after the death of the Messenger of Allah, together with their order, and hints who they are by telling their most known features:

“Muhammad is the Prophet of God, and those who are with him are strong against unbelievers, [but] compassionate among each other. You will see them bow and prostrate themselves....” (surah-al-Fath)
Through telling of the elevated qualities and characteristics which were the reason for the
Companions being the most elevated of human kind after the prophets, the start of this verse describes through its explicit meaning the excellent qualities which would mark the class of the Companions. And through its implied meaning, the verse alludes to the Rightly-Guided Caliphs, who would succeed to the office of the Prophet (PBUH) after his death through the institution of the Caliphate, and gives news of the fine attributes which were what most distinguished each of them and marked them out. It is as follows:

“And those who are with him” alludes to Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, who was distinguished and famous for being among the Prophet’s special followers and party to his conversation, and again for entering among his special followers by being the first to die.

“While are strong against the unbelievers” points to Umar, who in the future would cause the countries of the globe to tremble at his conquests, and with his justice would descend on tyrants like a thunderbolt.

“And compassionate among each other” gives news of Uthman, who, in the future when the most serious dissension was being fomented, would sacrifice his own life and spirit out of perfect kindness and compassion so that the blood of Muslims should not be spilt, preferring to be martyred wrongfully while reading the Qur’an.

And so too, “You will see them bow and prostrate themselves [in prayer], seeking grace from God and [His] good pleasure” tells that with his complete worthiness to undertake the Caliphate and government, and his heroism, and his choosing perfect asceticism, worship, poverty, and frugality, and whose bowing and prostrating in prayer was corroborated by everyone, Ali (May God be pleased with him) was not responsible for his position in the future and the wars and strife in which he was involved, and that his intention and wish was for Divine favour.

The phrase, “This is their similitude in the Torah” makes predictions concerning the Unseen in two respects: It gives news of the qualities of the Companions mentioned in the Torah, which was as though the Unseen for an unlettered person like the Prophet (Upon whom be blessings and peace).

The sentence, “and their similitude in the Gospel is: like a seed which sends forth its blade, then makes it strong; it then becomes thick, and it stands on its own stem, [filling] the sowers with wonder and delight. As a result, it fills the unbelievers with rage at them”, gives news of the Unseen in two respects:
The First is the prediction concerning the Companions in the Gospel, which was like the Unseen for the unlettered Prophet (PBUH).

At the start the Companions would appear to be few and weak, nevertheless they would burgeon like seeds, grow, thicken, and find strength. When they were about to be overwhelmed and smothered by the rage that this would cause the unbelievers, they would subjugate mankind with their swords and prove that the Prophet (PBUH), their leader, was the Ruler of the World. The verses express exactly the meaning of the above verses of Sura al-Fath.

Second Aspect: These sentences predict the following: the Companions certainly accepted the Pact of Hudaybiya out of their weakness and small number, but within a short time they so grew and acquired such strength and loftiness that, planted by the Hand of Power in the field of the face of the earth, they multiplied in most elevated, powerful, fruitful, and plentiful fashion. Especially in relation to the shoots of mankind at that time, which were short, weak, defective, and scant due to neglect and heedlessness. They would grow strong and cause glorious states to rage at them in envy, jealousy, and anger. Yes, the future verified this prediction in most brilliant fashion.

There is in this prediction the further following slight hint: it indicates through the word forgiveness that, although while praising the Companions’ excellent qualities they should have been promised the greatest rewards, in the future serious faults would arise among the Companions, due to strife. For forgiveness indicates the existence of faults. And at that time the thing most demanded by the Companions, the greatest bounty, would be forgiveness. (22)

The Hint about the Four Caliphs

In addition to this last verse of surah al-Fath which hints the caliphs to come after the Messenger of Allah, the verse “All who obey God and the Messenger are in the company of those on whom is the Grace of God, - of the prophets (who teach), the sincere (lovers of Truth), the witnesses (who testify), and the Righteous (who do good): Ah! What a beautiful fellowship!” (al-Nisa, 69) also indicates the same truth.

This verse describes the people of the Straight Path and the groups of the Prophets, the caravan of the Veracious, the community of the Martyrs, the class of the Righteous, and those who follow them, who are those among mankind who truly receive the Divine bounties, and furthermore, explicitly pointing out the most perfect of those five groups in the World of Islam, it then indicates the leaders and chiefs of those five groups through mentioning their well-known attributes. In addition, with a flash of miraculousness giving news of the Unseen, it specifies in one respect those chiefs’ positions in the future.

Yes, of the Prophets looks explicitly to the Prophet Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace), and the phrase the Veracious looks to Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (the Veracious). It also indicates that he would be second after the Prophet (Upon whom be blessings and peace), and first to succeed to his place, and be known with the special title of ‘Siddiq,’ and be seen at the head of all the veracious.

Then the Witnesses [or Martyrs] mentions Umar, Uthman, and Ali (May God be pleased with all of them) together. It indicates indirectly that the three of them would succeed to the Caliphate of the Prophet after ‘al-Siddiq,’ that the three of them would be martyred, and the merits of martyrdom added to their other virtues.

The Righteous alludes to distinguished persons like the Companions of the Bench, and of Badr and Ridwan.

While the explicit meaning of “And how goodly a company are these!” encourages others to follow them, and its implicit meaning, through showing the generation that succeeded them to be honoured and illustrious, alludes to Hasan (May God be pleased with him), who as the fifth Caliph affirmed the Hadith “After me the Caliphate will last thirty years” (23) -in order to show its great value despite its brief duration. (24)

And the word “goodly” in the Quranic verse which is translated as “And how goodly a company are these!” is “hasune” in Arabic text. And in Arabic writing, Hassan and Hasune are written in the same way.

As it is seen, there are many sings and hints pointing out to the Unseen, stated either explicitly or implicitly in Quranic verses. They also hint in which order the four caliphs will be promoted to the caliphate.

Footnotes:

(1) Hashiyatu'l-Kestelli p. 177-178.
(2) ibid., p. 178.
(3) History of Islam, p. 172 ff.
(4) The Messenger of Allah declares Hazrat Omar’s piety by means of a dream. Sahihu'l-Bukhari, IV, 201.
(5) Hashiyatu'l-Kestelli p. 178.
(6) For hadiths about him, see Sahîhu'l-Buhârî IV, 196 (those who were given the news of deserving Heaven), IV, 202 ff.
(7) Hashiyatu'l-Kestelli p. 178.
(8) Sherhu'l-Akaid p. 322.
(9) Sahîhu'l-Bukhârî IV, 207 (This is explained in the hadith related to the war of Haybar) Moreover, while on war expedition of Tebuk, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) stated that his position with him was like that of Moses’ with Aaron.
(10) See. Al-Maidah 5/55; at-Taberi, Muhibbuddîn Ahmad b. Abdullah Zehairu'l-Ukba,
Cairo, 1357, p. 102 ff.
(11 Hashiyatu'l-Kestelli Ala Sherhi'l-Akaid p. 178.
(12) Sahîhu'l-Bukhârî IV, 195 (Fezai'l-Bab, 5).
(13) Sahîhu'l-Bukhârî IV, 196.
(14) Sahîhu'l-Bukhârî IV, 197; 204.
(15) Sahîhu'l-Bukhârî IV, 197.
(16) Sahîhu'l-Bukhârî IV, 203.
(17) For the word “adala”see al-Mu'jemu'l-Wasît p. 588; al-Mufredat p. 325.
(18) For the issue of that Companions are more virtuous than all ummah and that four caliphs are more virtuous than the others, see  al-Haytami, Ahmad b. Hajar, as-Sawaiku'l-Muhrika, s.
210, 213; Subulu's-Selam IV, 127 (witnesses/martyrs); Hashiyatu'l-Kestelli p.
(19) Hashiyatu'l-Kestelli , alâ Sherhi'l-Akâid s. 179.
(20) Hashiyatu'l-Kestelli 'ala Sherhu'l-Akâid s. 180.
(21) Bk. Şerhu'l-Akâid s. 325, Hashiyatu'l-Kestelli 'alâ Şerhi'l-Akâid, s. 180-181.

(22)See. Nursi, The Flashes, p. 29-32.
(23) Tirmidhi, Fiten, 48.
(24)See. Nursi, The Flashes, p. 33-34.

Prof. Dr. Murat Sarıcık

When Hazrat Husayn was in Makkah, people came to visit him and asked him how he was. They were the people from places around Makkah that had come for umrah. Ibn Zubayr, who performed prayers and circumambulated the Kaaba all day was also there and visited him. 

Ibn Zubayr was the most important person for Hazrat Husayn then because when Husayn was in Makkah, people of Hejaz would not give an oath of allegiance to Ibn Zubayr.  

On the other hand, when it was heard in Kufa that after the death of Muawiyah, people began to give allegiance to Yazid, people of Kufa began to talk against Yazid. Shiites gathered in the house of Sulayman b. Surad, one of the notables of Shiites, and evaluated the situation. In the meeting there, they decided to write letters to Hazrat Husayn to invite him to come to Kufa for their allegiance to him. They sent about one hundred and fifty letters. When Hazrat Husayn received the letters, he wrote the following answer to the people of Kufe: 

«I see what you want to do. I am sending my brother, my uncle’s son, Muslim b. Aqil, one of my relatives that I trust to you now. I told him to write me a letter after arriving there about your situation and your thoughts. If all of the people and the notables agree on the thoughts that you have written to me, I will go there soon. I swear that the Caliph cannot be a person other than someone who acts in accordance with the Quran, who never abandons justice and who practices the true religion.»

Then, Husayn sent for Muslim b. Aqil and told him to go to Kufa. He told Muslim not to deviate from the way of Allah and to keep the issue secret. He told Muslim to inform him about the situation as soon as possible if the people of Kufa agreed on it. Muslim set off for Kufa. Numan b. Bashir was the governor of Kufa then. When Muslim arrived in Kufa, Shiites started to come and see him. When Numan was informed about it, he made a short speech on the pulpit in the mosque. Numan, who was actually a mild and kind person, spoke as follows: 

«O Muslims! Do not compete with one another for mischief and separation because they will cause the elimination of people, shedding blood and plundering goods. Know it very well that I will fight those who fight against me and attack those that attack me. I will not awake those who sleep. I will not punish anyone without any evidence. However, if you express your situation openly and cancel your allegiance and rebel your Caliph, I swear that I will cut your head with my sword. No one can save you from me. I hope those who can see the truth are more than those with wrong ideas among you. »

When Numan made that speech, one of the Umayyad followers stood up and said, «Only a brave person can prevent this chaos. Only weak people put forward ideas like yours. » Numan said to the man, «It is better for me to be a weak man in the way of Allah than a strong man who opposes Allah. » and walked down the pulpit.

Then, that man wrote a letter to Yazid informing him that Muslim b. Aqil had come there and that people started to give allegiance to him. He added the following:

«If you are not prepared to sacrifice Kufa, send Kufa a strong man who will fulfill your commands and who can take measures that you take against your enemies. Numan is a weak person. »

Thereupon, Yazid unseated Numan and appointed Ubaydullah b. Ziyad, who was the governor of Basra instead of him. Ubaydullah, who came to Kufa with order of Yazid to catch Muslim and execute or banish him, addressed the people of Kufa as follows: 

«The Caliph appointed me as the governor of your city and to collect the taxes. He ordered me to treat the oppressed ones well, to feed the poor, to treat those who obey the state well and to treat those who rebel and cause chaos harshly. I will carry out his orders and fulfill his requests here. I will act like a compassionate father for those who are good and like a brother for those who obey. I will use my sword and whip against those who do not accept my orders and who oppose me. Now you can do as you wish. » While walking down the pulpit, the governor threatened them saying, «You must write down the names of the strangers, Shiites, Kharijites, mischievous people and separatists and inform me about them. Those who give me the list of them will be safe. Those who do not must guarantee me that there will be no opposition or rebellion from among the people in their families. I am not responsible for the people who do not fulfill one of those two alternatives. It means their immunity of property and lives will be canceled. If a dissident of the Caliph is caught in the house of any of you, the owner of that house will be executed at the gate of his house. »

When Muslim heard about the speech Ibn Ziyad made, he took shelter in the house of Hani b. Urwa. The landlord and Muslim did it unwillingly. Shiites began to go to the house of Hani. When Ibn Ziyad found out that Muslim stayed there, he summoned Hani and recited the following poem when Hani arrived: «I want him to stay alive, but he wants to kill me. Whoever was let from murad can forgive you only. » Hani asked him, «What is the matter? » Ibn Ziyad said, «O Hani! What is planned in your house for the Caliph and Muslims? You admit Muslim into your house and collect arms and soldiers for him. Do you think it will remain as a secret? » Hani could not object to his words. Thereupon, Ibn Ziyad wanted him to surrender Muslim to him. However, Hani did not accept it because he was afraid that people would blame him. Having been arrested by the men of Ibn Ziyad, Hani was imprisoned in the palace of the governor. Having been informed about Hani, Muslim shouted, «Fa Mansur!», which was a password among them,  to his men.

The number of people who gave allegiance to Muslim until then was eighteen thousand; four thousand of them were around the house where Muslim stayed, keeping watch. People gathered around Muslim. After making a speech that provoked people, Muslim headed for the palace of the governor. The mosques and the streets were full of people. At that time, there were only thirty guards and about twenty people from the notables of Kufa and their slaves with the governor. He consulted the notables and called Kathir b. Shihab. He told Kathir to take action and drive people away from around Muslim. He told Muhammad b. Ash'as to go out with the man subject to him and declare people that those who joined them would be safe. He asked the same things from some other notables. He kept a few people with him. The notables fulfilled what the governor wanted. Those who stayed in the palace addressed the people and told them that those who were loyal to the state would be protected. They threatened the rebels. Thereupon, people began to disperse. They dispersed so fast that only thirty people remained in the mosque with Muslim. Muslim was appalled; he ran away and hid somewhere. However, the governor found out where he had hidden. He sent Muhammed b. Ash'as and fetched Muslim. When Muslim was caught, he said to Muhammad,

«I see that you cannot protect me now. However, can you send a messenger to Husayn and tell him on my behalf to return and not to trust the people of Kufa because he knew what they did to his father? »

Muhammad fulfilled the request of Muslim. Muslim, who was brought to the presence of the governor, was killed there. Then, Hani was killed, too.

On the other hand, Husayn, who was in Makkah, had decided to go to Kufa. Amr b. Abdurrahman b. Harith came to him and said,

«I hear that you are going to Iraq. I find it risky for you to go to a city where the governor, officials and treasures of the Caliph are. Today, people worship money. I fear that those who promise to help you will kill you. »

Husayn only thanked Amr. Then Ibn Abbas came. He said, «People say you are going to Iraq. Will you explain me what you are doing? » Husayn said, «I will set off in one or two days. » Ibn Abbas said, «May Allah not let you do such a thing. Tell me, are you going to a nation that killed their governor that owned their state and that discarded their enemies? If you think that they did not do something like that, then go. However, if they call you to a war, I fear that they will deceive you, they will give up and oppose you, that they will leave you alone and that they will rebel you and do the worst thing to you. »

Hazrat Husayn said, «I will think about it and see what will happen. » Ibn Abbas came again the next day and said,  

«O my uncle’s son! I force myself to show patience but I cannot be patient. If you do what you are thinking about, I fear that you will suffer a misfortune. Iraqi people are fickle people. Never approach them. Stay here. You are the master of Hejaz people. If Iraqis really want you as they wrote to you, write to them and tell them to discard their governor and your enemies, and then you can go. If you definitely want to go, go to Yemen. There are different groups in Yemen. Yemen is a large country. There are the followers of your father, there. You can settle somewhere there, write letters, send them to people, send your messengers and propagators. Then, the atmosphere that you want may appear. »

Hazrat Husayn did not agree with what Ibn Abbas said. Ibn Abbas added, «If you do not give up the thought of going there, I fear that you will be martyred in front of your women and children. The cautionary words of Ibn Abbas did not affect Husayn at all.

Then, he set off with his women and children. He met Farazdaq, the poet, on the way. He asked Farazdaq about the situation of the people in the place where he was coming from. Farazdaq said, «People’s hearts are with you but their swords support Umayyad. The destiny comes from the sky. Allah is doing what He wishes. »

In addition, on the way, he received a letter from Abdullah b. Jafar, who swore in the name of Allah and asked him to return; he also received a letter from Amr b. Said, the governor of Madinah, who asked him to return and declared that he would protect them. Having rejected the requests in both letters, Husayn continued to go. On the way, he met Abdullah b. Muti'. Abdullah reminded him the risky situation, swearing by Allah and said, «If you want to acquire the Caliphate that Umayyad have now, they will kill you and then there will be left no one that they will fear. Please, do not go there for the sake of Islam, Quraysh and Arabs. Do not go to Kufa; do not meet Umayyad! »

However, Hazrat Husayn did not agree on any idea except continuing. When they reached Sa'labiya, they heard that Muslim b. Aqil had been killed. Some people around him said, «Return now for the sake of Allah. You have no helpers and followers in Kufa. We even fear that they will be against you. » Muslim’s children leapt forward and said, «We will take our father’s revenge or will be martyred like our father. We shall never return. »

They continued until they reached Aqaba. There, an Arab that they met said, «Return for the sake of Allah. You are going toward the swords and spears. If those that called you had prevented the war and arranged the things before you arrived, I would not have said anything to you. However, now, there is only one thing to do: to return. »

As soon as Hazrat Husayn and those with him left Shiraf, they met a troop of about one thousand cavalrymen led by Hurr b. Yazid. Husayn said to them,

«O people! Allah knows and you also know that I came here because of the letters and messengers you sent to me. You wrote to me that you did not have a Caliph and that your situation would be improved with my coming. If you intend to keep your promise, I will enter your city. Otherwise, if you do not keep your promise and feel disturbed by my coming, I will return to the place where I have come from. »

When nobody answered, Hurr spoke, «we were ordered to catch you as soon as we met you and take you to Ubaydullah b. Ziyad in Kufa.» Hazrat Husayn murmured, «Death is better than this situation» and told his men to mount and that they would return. However, Hurr did not let them go. When Husayn shouted to Hurr, «May your mother lose you! What do you want? », Hurr answered, «If anyone other than you had said it, I would have answered him back in the same way. However, I cannot mention your mother’s name using bad words. I can mention her name only in the best way. »

Then, he started to follow Husayn in order to prevent him from returning to Madinah. Husayn headed toward the north and reached Ninawa. There, he met another troop led by Umar b. Sa’d b. Abi Waqqas that Ibn Ziyad had sent to fight him. Umar sent a messenger to Husayn and asked him why he had come there. Husayn said, «Your citizens sent me letters to go to them. That is why I came. If they do not want me now, I will return. » When Ziyad received a letter from Umar informing him about the situation, Ibn Ziyad recited the following poem, «Does he want to be saved from us now, when we have reached out our claws? It is not the time for being saved now. » He sent Umar a letter and ordered him to take allegiance from Husayn for Yazid. He wrote, «If Husayn accepts this offer, the issue is over. Otherwise, surround them and cut their connection with the only water source there, leaving them without water. » Hazrat Husayn said that he would return to the place where he had come from if they let them. The narrations that he accepted to swear allegiance to Yazid are not true. Although Hazrat Husayn told them that he wanted to return to Madinah, they did not accept it and asked him to consent to the judgment that Ibn Ziyad would give about them. It was something that Husayn could not accept under any conditions. There was nothing left but to fight.  

On Muharram 10 of the Hegirah year 61 (10 October 680) they started to fight. The Iraqi army, in which there was not even one Syrian, fought against a small group that consisted of at most eighty people. Soon, Husayn and his men were martyred. Seventy people died from Husayn’s men. Eighty people died from Umar’s army.   

They took the head of Husayn, his daughters, siblings and little son Ali, who was ill, to Ibn Ziyad. Ibn Ziyad sent them to Yazid. When they arrived in Damascus and Yazid was informed about what had happened, he started to cry and said,

«I asked you to make Husayn swear allegiance to me without killing him. May Allah damn Ibn Sumayya (Ziyad). If I had met Husayn, I would have forgiven him. Do you know why these things happened? Husayn said, 'My father is superior to his father; my mother is superior to his mother, my grandfather is superior to his grandfather. I am superior to him. I deserve Caliphate more than him.' Allah knows whose father is superior. Both of them went to the presence of Allah. Besides, people know whom the arbitrators regarded superior. 

Doubtlessly, his mother Fatima, the daughter of the Messenger of Allah, is superior to my mother. His grandfather is superior to my grandfather. A person who has belief in Allah cannot think that there is anyone similar to him. However, Husayn uttered the last word based on his own ijtihad. He did not read this verse:  'Say: "O Allah! Lord of Power (and Rule) Thou givest Power to whom Thou pleasest and Thou strippest off power from whom Thou pleasest”'(Aal-i-Imran, 26). »

Then, he ordered the women of Husayn to be taken to his home. All women from Yazid’s family came one by one to pay their condolences to them. They paid the equivalents of the property and jewels that were lost to them.  Yazid called Ali b. Husayn and arranged the necessary things for them to go to Madinah and told him to write to him if they needed anything in Madinah. Thus, that deplorable event ended leaving scars that could not be covered.

We will try to explain the expressions in the question in two categories: The first one is what Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), said to our Mother Fatima and the second is that the Prophet’s knowing the Ghaib (the unknown).
1- What the Prophet said to Fatima
Fatima was the only living daughter of the Prophet. She was the sole daughter with whom the Prophet satisfied the love of offspring.
Fatimatu'z-Zahra was the most similar one to the Prophet among his offspring in high ethics, and in manners.
On the last day of his illness, the Prophet summoned Fatima, his beloved daughter, who is a symbol of high ethics and refinement.
When Fatima came, he made her sit on his right side. He secretly said something to her.
Suddenly an air of sadness settled on Fatima. Then tears rolled down her eyes.
The Prophet said something else secretly to the distinguished daughter of his. This time, Fatima, who burst into tears a while ago, smiled and rejoiced.
The Prophet's wife, our Mother Aisha, who was present at that time, asked her the reason for this. Fatima said:
“Firstly, he said to me that he would leave this world and me very soon. Therefore, I cried.
After that, he said “In my family you will be the first to reach me”, which made me rejoice.” 1
Reference: Salih Suruç, Peygamberimiz'in Hayatı (The Life of Our Prophet)
2- Ghaib means the unknown. The verse which says that no one except Allah can know the Ghaib reminds us this truth.
In Surah the Jinn (Al-Jinn), in the 26th verse, it is expressed that Allah alone is the Knower of the unknown (what lies beyond human sense-perception). However, in the following verse, we are informed that He discloses this unknown (information about the future and the past) to His servants with whom He is well-pleased. Therefore, if Allah informs them, the beloved servants of Allah (awliya) can also know the unknown.
Thus, the expression “Allah alone knows the unknown” should be understood as “If Allah does not inform, no one can know the unknown.” Indeed, the Prophet informed certain events that would occur after him and that had occurred before him with the permission and will of Allah.
Allah may inform one of His beloved servants (prophet or awliya) of the unknown, as He wills. Then, those esteemed people can inform us about an event before it happens. In other words,  before an event takes place, Allah may also inform people of it. This is also an evidence for the free will of Allah. If we claimed that prophets and awliya could not know of the unknown by saying that no one but Allah knows it, we would then be both marring the health of the verse and accepting a view in advance, which put limits to the will of Allah. This is against our beliefs.
Revelation comes only to prophets. Inspiration (Allah's inspiring truthful meanings into hearts), though, can be experienced by any of the awliya (those loved by Allah).
“He, my Lord knows all the unknown. He knows both the relative and the absolute unknown.”
1. Tabaqât, 2:247; Bukharî, 3:92; Muslim, 4:1904.

Arabs lived as nomads in the Arabian Peninsula before Islam. Their livelihood was based on animal breeding, and some Arabs were engaged in farming in oases in the inner parts of Arabia. In addition to this, one of the most important ways of livelihood was also robberies of caravans which were the custom of the desert. The way of being organized of Arabs before Islam was the classical Badawi system (nomadic way of living).
According to that system, there was a committee whose members were respectable persons of tribe. In tribal life, rules were formed according to the ancestors’ way of living and there was no private land. Meadows, waters, and sometimes even herds were common property of the tribe. Makkah turned into a commercial center because of its convenient position and people were settled there. The settled life, development of trade, and private riches earned as a result of it accelerated the collapse of tribal life. 
Tribal ties became loose. Economic concerns and the idea of earning more replaced tribal solidarity. The fact that Makkah was getting urbanized more and more and due to the hierarchy among tribes and members of tribes, a new separate regime emerged. According to that regime, the city was governed by a council. As for the council, it consisted of ten leaders who had different roles inside that regime and whose powers inherited from father to son. Thanks to the Kaaba which was worshipped, Makkah was considered as Holy Land. Among tribes, peace was announced by the city government for development of trade and tribes went on pilgrimage by visiting the temple in Makkah in that period. Loots and robberies against caravans which were the cornerstones of trade still went on although if they decreased within that period. The continuing wars and tribalism, though they were about to disappear, were the biggest obstacles to social life and trade. There was a need for an institution which would organize life and relationships among tribes. That would be a state.
Tribal life in Arabia started to be shaken to the foundation. However, there was no slavery in progress. After primitive communal society, the next step as a result of natural development would be slavery society. However, slavery had not developed, that is, labor of slaves had never been crucial to social development and production. Although there were slaves owned by people within the society, they were mostly used for housework, protection of caravans, and as concubines (female slaves). It was rare to see labor of slaves in the production.
Dominant religion before the rise of Islam was paganism. Each tribe had many idols each of whom were symbol of a god. The idols had been sculptured as figures such as a woman, bird, lion etc. the inside Kaaba, which was considered holy by all tribes. It was full of idols and there were also about one hundred temples far from the Kaaba in Arabia. Judaism and Christianity had also entered Arabia through merchants. However, Arabs did not show interest in those religions that they did not see close to themselves. Those religions had very little support within Arabia. Islam, unlike Christianity, arose within those historical conditions. When Christianity arose, the state of Rome was a slavery society. Christianity also existed by rejecting the authority of that state and giving hope to the oppressed class. However, tribal system was still dominant although it was about to collapse in the conditions in which Islam arose. Therefore, Islam’s development process would be different from Christianity.

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh), who became ill in the eleventh year of the Migration, passed away on Monday, the 13th of the month of Rabiul-Awwal (June 8, 632). The Muslims who heard his death became very sorry and they did not know what to do a first. However, he was also an ephemeral human being.

Hz. Umar said the Prophet (pbuh) went to meet his Lord like Hz. Musa (Moses) and added that he would cut off the hands of anyone who said, "he died". When the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) felt well, Hz. Abu Bakr took permission from him and went to see his daughter. As soon as he heard that the Messenger of Allah had died, he returned and kissed the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) on his forehead. He said,

"O Messenger of Allah! May my father and mother be sacrificed for you! You are as beautiful as you were alive. The institution of prophethood ended with your death. Your fame and honor is so great that you are free from crying over it. O Muhammad! Do not forget us near your Lord! Remember us!"

Then, he went out and silenced Hz. Umar. He said,

"O people! Allah is one; there is no god but Him. Muhammad is His slave and messenger. Allah is the clear truth. Whoever worshipped Muhammad should know that Muhammad is dead, but whoever worshipped Allah, should know that Allah is alive and eternal. I want to remind you the following order of Allah:

'Muhammad is no more than an Messenger: many were the Messengers that passed away before Him. If he died or was slain, will ye then turn back on your heels? If any did turn back on his heels, not the least harm will he do to Allah; but Allah (on the other hand) will swiftly reward those who (serve him) with gratitude.' (Aal-i Imran, 3/144)

"He who holds fast the book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah finds the truth; he who separates them goes astray. Do not let Satan deceive you with the death of the Prophet and make you deviate from your religion! Do not allow Satan to approach you!" (Ibn Hisham, as-Sirah, IV/335; Tabari, Tarikh, III/197,198).

With this talk, Hz. Abu Bakr calmed down the people there and started to prepare the body of the Prophet for burial. Meanwhile, Ansar gathered in the shed of Banu Sa'idah; they wanted to choose Sa'd b Ubada, the leader of the tribe of Khazraj, the caliph. Hz. Abu Bakr, Hz. Umar, Abu Ubayda and a group of Muhajirs went to Banu Sa'idah at once. After talking to Ansar and negotiating about the caliphate, Hz. Abu Bakr stood between Umar and Abu Ubayda and asked people to pay allegiance to one of them. He did not put himself forward as the caliph. After Hz. Abu Bakr's speech, Hz. Umar rushed forward and paid allegiance to Hz. Abu Bakr. He said,

"O Abu Bakr! You led the prayer to the Muslims upon the order of the Messenger of Allah. You are his caliph and we pay allegiance to you. We pay allegiance to you, who are more beloved to the Messenger of Allah than all of us."

Upon this, sudden act of Hz. Umar, all of the people there paid allegiance to Hz. Abu Bakr.

After this initial allegiance, Hz. Abu Bakr delivered a sermon to the people in Masjid an-Nabawi the next day and people paid allegiance to him formally. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) was buried on Tuesday. When a disagreement occurred about where to bury him, Hz. Abu Bakr showed his prudence and reminded the people the following hadith: 

"Every prophet is buried in the place where he dies."

The janazah prayer of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) was performed in groups without an imam. It is reported that Hz. Ali came together with Banu Hashim and his supporters in the house of Hz. Fatima and that he did not pay allegiance at first. According to some narrations, when Hz. Ali heard that the big allegiance took place, he put on his clothes hurriedly and rushed in order to pay allegiance to Hz. Abu Bakr. (Tabari, Tarikh, III/207). The news that he did not pay allegiance to Hz. Abu Bakr for months is probably contrary to the truth. For, the fact that he knew the superiority of Abu Bakr, the speeches he made and the course of history are contrary to the other narrations.

Disagreements and differences of opinions sometimes occurred among the closest Companions of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) - even between Abu Bakr and Umar - , but they acted together as it is seen during the time of the first two caliphs. Differences of traits and characteristics played an important role in most of the incidents that seemed to be disagreements. For instance, Abu Bakr acted mildly but Umar was a hardliner. However, they always acted together. Hz. Ali and Zubayr b. Awwam were among those who made decisions about the wars of Riddah under the leadership of Hz. Abu Bakr and they performed prayers behind Hz. Abu Bakr. (Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya wan-Nihaya, V/249)

Hz. Ali said if the Messenger of Allah had had a will, he would have fulfilled it before his death (Tabari, ibid, IV/236) but he rejected Ibn Abbas when he wanted to go to the Messenger of Allah and ask him about the caliphate. That is, nobody opposed the caliphate of Hz. Abu Bakr. Besides, what was natural, reasonable and practical was the caliphate of Hz. Abu Bakr.

Hz. Prophet (pbuh) did not leave a written will but he spoke about the virtue of Hz. Abu Bakr in the mosque, called him to his bed when he was ill and appointed him as the imam on behalf of him.

Ka'bul- Ahbar is one of the famous scholars of Sons of Israel. He is a Yemeni Jew; he became famous for his vast knowledge on the Torah. He learned the attributes of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) from holy books and became a Muslim. He tried to persuade the Jewish scholars around him. He was accepted as the most reliable among the narrators of the People of the Book. He had a copy of the Torah that had not been distorted during the emergence of Islam; he encouraged the scholars to accept Islam by giving examples from the verses of the Torah that indicated the Prophet (pbuh). Some of those verses are mentioned in Risale-i Nur Collection and the phrase "one of the great scholars of Sons of Israel" (Mektubat: Letters, p. 167) is used for him.

His full name is Abu Ishaq Ka'b bin Mati bin Heynu (Haysu) al-Yemeni. Ka'b's exact date of birth is not known. When the narration that he died at the age of 104 is considered, his year of birth can be accepted as 551. He is from Yemen and is a member of the Zuruayn tribe living there.

It is narrated that he has vast knowledge; he was given the nickname "ahbar" because he wrote his writings in ink. Ahbar is the plural form of the word hibr (ink). It is also stated that he is known as al-Ahbar because of his vast knowledge about the Bible.

There are different narrations about Ka'b's becoming a Muslim. According to a narration, it is stated that he became a Muslim during the time of the Prophet when Hz. Ali went to Yemen and talked to him. According to another narration, he went to Madinah during the caliphate of Hz. Abu Bakr or Hz. Umar but he could not find the Caliph there; then, he went to Jerusalem and became a Muslim in the presence of the Caliph there. It is clearly stated in all three narrations that he became a Muslim.

Ka'b, who is the son of a Jewish scholar, learned some of his religious knowledge from his father. However, his father wrote some of the Torah, gave it to him and wanted Ka’b to content himself with it; he put his books in a closet and locked it. Besides, his father made him promise that he will not read except the copies that he gave him. After that, when the Prophet emerged and the religion of Islam started to spread everywhere, he read the books that his father had hid and had a lot of knowledge about the properties of the last Prophet.

Ka'b, who had a version of the Torah that had not been distorted yet, knew about the sound and fabricated information included in their books.He could discern what was true and what was wrong in them. He had knowledge about the last Prophet based on the information in the Torah; therefore, he believed in him and tried to persuade other scholars to believe in him.

Ka'b narrated the hadiths that he learned from the Companions including Hz. Umar. The hadiths he narrated are included in the books of Abu Dawud, Darimi, Tirmidhi and Malik. He benefited from the Companions; and the Companions and Tabiun benefited from his knowledge. Hz. Umar, Abdullah bin Zubayr, Abdullah bin Abbas, Abu Hurayra and Muawiya are among the Companions that benefited from his knowledge. In addition, some Tabiun reported the hadiths they learned from him. Ka'b also told some stories in his meetings but when he heard that telling stories was prohibited except by the people whom the Caliph appointed, he gave up telling stories.

It is stated that the only undistorted copy of the Torah was left to him by his father and that he made interpretations based on this copy. Some of the interpretations made by him about Quranic verses were found to be compatible with hadiths by the Companions and they were approved. The information reported by him about the last Prophet is mentioned in various Islamic resources; some of his reports from the Torah are included in Risale-i Nur Collection. It is reminded that Abdullah ibn Salam and Ka'bul-Ahbar showed and announced the following verse from the Torah:

"O Prophet ! We have sent you as a witness (for Allah's True religion) And a giver of glad tidings (to the faithful believers), And a warner (to the unbelievers) And guardian of the illiterates. You are My slave and My messenger (i.e. Apostle). I have named you "al-Mutawakkil" (who depends upon Allah). You are neither discourteous, harsh nor a noisemaker in the markets And you do not do evil to those Who do evil to you, but you deal With them with forgiveness and kindness. Allah will not let him (the Prophet) die till he makes straight the crooked people by making them say: "None has the right to be worshipped but Allah." (Mektubat: Letters, p. 167)

In the verse above, the Prophet (pbuh) is mentioned by the name "Mutawakkil", he is mentioned as Muhammad in another verse:

"Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. Makkah is his place of birth, Madinah is the place of his migration and Damascus belongs to him. His ummah are people who praise Allah." The following is stated in another verse of the Torah: "You are my slave and messenger. I gave you the name Mutawakkil." (Mektubat: Letters, p. 167-168).

The discussions about the reliability and personality of Ka'b reached today. Along with the narrations stating that some great Companions including Hz. Umar benefited from him and his advice, there are also narrations that he was threatened to be dismissed from Madinah if he did not give up reporting things. Ibn Masud criticized Ka'b due to some issues he included in his narrations. On the other hand, Ibn Hibban who reports the view of Abu Darda states that Ka’b was a knowledgeable scholar and that it is agreed that he had a great amount of knowledge. Besides, Dhahabi, who studied his biography, emphasizes his vast knowledge and religious personality; he did not include any information criticizing Ka’b. Some other writers included Ka’b in their works in detail, showing that they gave great value and importance to him. (M. Yaşar Kandemir; "Kâ'b el-Abhâr", TDVİA. Vol. 24. p. 2)

Ka'b's personality necessitated sensitive studies and separate evaluations about the issues like his sincerity in Islam and the evaluation of the information he included in his narrations. It seems that there are no negative evaluations and attitudes toward him that will overshadow his sincerity in accepting Islam since some Companions reported from him. However, it is not fair to accuse him of including Israiliyyat with the intention of destroying the religion. It is known that certain customs and habits remaining from Sons of Israel continued after the adoption of Islam. However, it is not appropriate to think that all of them are malevolent. What matters is to filter them and to remove those that are incompatible with the spirit of Islam.

It is important to keep in mind that Ka'b is regarded among the most reliable narrators of the People of the Book. However, it should be taken into consideration that some reports changed in the course of time, in some cases the texts were mixed with interpretations, sometimes interpretations were combined with the original statement, and that they were not done entirely with malicious intentions.

Ka'bul-Ahbar spent his last years in Homs, where he settled. He participated in the war against the Byzantines. He passed away in 652. His year of death is also stated to be 653. It is also reported that he died in Damascus and that he was buried in the Cemetery of Babussaghir.

Hajar al-Muallaq, which means, Floating Stone, is in Qubbatus-Sahra. This is the rock from which the Prophet (pbuh) is regarded to have ascended to the sky on the night of Miraj (Ascension). The widest part of this rock is 18 meters and the narrowest part is 13.5 meters. There are eleven steps in order to go down into the rock. The inside of the rock is a place that is about 1.5 meters high; its width is 4.5 meters; its length is also 4.5 meters. When you look at the ceiling from inside, it looks as if it is floating; therefore, it is called Hajar al-Muallaq.

Along with being the stone from which the Prophet (pbuh) ascended to the sky on the night of Miraj, it is also believed that this is the stone that Hz. Ibrahim used in order to slaughter his son.  

Its being completely in the air is contrary to the secret of testing. For, everybody would have to believe in the face of such a test. However, it is the necessity of testing to open the door to the mind, not to show it one obligatory direction and to present different choices.

Nevertheless, if this piece of rock known as Floating Stone remained in the air without any support, it would not be something astonishing. For, it is not difficult for the Being that makes hundreds and thousands of globes float in the air in the universe without any support and that make some of them turn seventy thousand times faster than a cannon ball to make it float in the air. As a matter of fact, the earth, on which we stand, is in the air.

It will be appropriate to answer the question in a few items:

1. The narration regarding the issue is included in “al-Imama was-Siyasa” and “Kanzul-Ummal”. (see Ibn Qutayba ad- Dinawari, Abdullah b. Muslim, al-Imama was-Siyasa, I- II, Darul- Ma’rifa Beirut, nd I, 19- 20)

2. Kanzul-Ummal received this narration probably from Ibn Abi Shayba’s Musannaf. The narration in Ibn Abi Shayba is as follows:

“…From Zayd b. Aslam; he narrates from his father Aslam:

"When allegiance was paid to Abu Bakr, after the death of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh), Ali and Zubayr used to go to Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet, for consultation. When this fact was known to Umar bin Khattab, he went to Fatimah and said:

‘O daughter of the Prophet! I did not love anyone as much as I loved your father, nor anyone after him is more loving to me as you are. However, I swear by Allah that if these people (those who have not paid allegiance to Abu Bakr) assemble here with you, this love of mine will not prevent me from setting your house on fire.’" 

The narrator added the following: “After Umar left, they came to Fatima’s house. She addressed them as follows:

‘You know that Umar came to me and swore by Allah that if you were to come back, he would surely burn the door with you inside. By Allah, he shall certainly fulfill what he swore. So, go away in peace, flee from your opinion, and do not come back to see me.’”

They returned and finally paid allegiance to Abu Bakr.” (see Ibn Abi Shayba, al- Musannaf, Darul- Fikr, 1989, VIII, 572; Alauddin Ali al-Muttaqi, Kanzul-Ummal, I- II, al- Baytul-Afkarud-Duwaliyya, Jordan, 2005, I, 681, no. 141138)

In the narration in Kanzul-Ummal, the phrase "demolishing the door" is used instead of "burning the house".

3. As it is seen, Hz. Umar is very sensitive and uncompromised related to the issues that could cause mischief and chaos. We know some incidents in his previous life when he wanted to kill those who wanted to cause mischief and chaos.

4. To interpret the issue as enmity toward Ahl al-Bayt or Hz. Fatima means to twist the issue. Besides, Hz. Umar told Hz. Fatima that he loved the Prophet and her and warned her related to this sensitive issue. As a matter of fact, his warning became effective and the dissidents paid allegiance to Hz. Abu Bakr. What Hz. Umar did was to warn, to prevent mischief, to preserve the unity of Islam and to prevent chaos. The issue should be viewed from this aspect. This attitude seems to be an appropriate one in terms of administration.

5. We should remember that when there was nothing else to do, Hz. Ali had to declare war against the dissidents. The Battle of Jamal, Battle of Siffin and the battles against the Kharijites were wars like that. For, the verses related to rebels gave him this authority.

The cloth of the Kaaba is not made black at one time. First it is dyed in red, then green and then in black. There are black woven embossed embroideries on the covering. There are the 99 names of Allah, kalima at-tawhid and tasbihat in embroidery. There is a band of 47-meter long on the top one-third part of the covering. There are Quranic verses related to hajj on the band. Those verses are woven with silver threads dipped in gold water.

The Kaaba has always maintained its identity of a holy shrine that arouses religious enthusiasm and tranquility in the spirits of Muslims. Therefore, looking at the Kaaba is regarded as a kind of worshipping. The place of the Kaaba in the universe is resembled and compared to the place of the heart in the human body. In other words, the Kaaba is the heart of the universe. The Muslims that circumambulate around the Kaaba in waves express the beating of that heart. Each Muslim that circumambulates the Kaaba feels some, whether little or much, enthusiasm and grandeur. Al-Batanuni expresses his feelings about it in his book called ar-Rihla al-Hijaziyya as follows:

“The whole congregation gathered with a feeling of the deepest awe in front of the grandiose dominance and lofty splendor, in front of which the greatest spirits felt themselves as nothing. If we had not seen the movements of the bodies during the prayer (salah) and the raising of the hands during the supplication, had not heard whispering of the words uttered and the beating of the hearts in the presence of that endless grandeur, we would have thought that we had been transferred to another realm and life. In fact, we were in a different realm, then. We were in the house of Allah and in the presence of Allah.  Our heads were bent down; our tongues were tied. Our hands were turned upwards; our eyes were full of tears; our hearts were full of awe and our inner selves were full of good and clean feelings.”

In another place, he also said, “Makkah is the peak of His power and will and the place where His revelation was sent down; the Kaaba is His shrine and the place of His grandeur and help.”

The feeling of respect toward the Kaaba became manifest by putting the covering around it. There are different narrations about who put the first covering around the Kaaba. Although it is reported that Hazrat Ismail (Ishmael) (pbuh) put the first covering around the Kaaba, it is more widely accepted that As’ad Abu Karib, a Yemeni King, put the first covering around the Kaaba. According to a narration, once As’ad Abu Karib traveled to Makkah and stayed there for six days; he sacrificed animals and gave the meat away to the people of Makkah and to the poor.  While he was in Makkah, he saw in his dream that he put a covering around the Kaaba. In the morning, he realized what he saw in his dream and put a covering from the fabric that he saw in his dream around the Kaaba. On the second night, he saw in his dream that he put a covering from another fabric around the Kaaba and on the third night yet another covering. Every morning, he realized what he saw in his dream. Thus, he was known as the first person to put a covering around the Kaaba. Therefore, Our Prophet (pbuh) said, “Do not curse Tubba (As’ad Abu Karib) because he is from the People of Oneness.”

There are several narrations that Hazrat Prophet (pbuh) put a covering around the Kaaba. According to the narrations, the Kaaba was covered by woolen fabrics during the Era of Ignorance. Hazrat Prophet (pbuh) covered the Kaaba with a covering of Yemeni fabric. Hazrat Umar and Hazrat Uthman covered it with thin Egyptian fabric. The narrations agree that the Prophet covered the Kaaba but there are different narrations about the type of the fabric. However, the scholars explaining hadiths say that it is possible that the Messenger of Allah put coverings of different fabrics at different times around the Kaaba.

During the Era of Bliss and the Four Caliphs, the covering was changed every year. Hazrat Muawiyah changed it twice a year, and Mamun changed it three times a year.

He covered it with a red fabric on the day of Tarwiyah, one day before the day of Arafah, a fabric called Qabati on the first day of the month of Rajab and a white fabric on the twenty-seventh day of the month of Ramadan. During the Era of Fatimis, a white covering was put around the Kaaba. Sultan  Mahmud Sebuk Tekin put a yellow covering around the Kaaba. During the time of Abbasid Caliph Nasir, the Kaaba was covered with a green covering. Then, during the time of the same Caliph, it was changed to black.  From then on, the covering of the Kaaba is black.  During the history of Islam, the covering of the Kaaba was never ignored; in Hijri 750, Salih Ismail bin Nasir set up a foundation in a village near Cairo, and he allocated that village for the covering of the Kaaba; the covering of the Kaaba was renewed every year with the income of that foundation.

It is reported in narrations that the covering of the Kaaba was renewed every year during the time of Hazrat Umar and that the covering that was removed was divided among hajis. Those who go to Makkah from Jeddah using the old motorway today see separate buildings in an area of 100.000 square meters just before entering Makkah. In those building, about 300 workers and artisans work on a very blessed thing. They manufacture “Kiswa”, the great fabric that covers the Kaaba.

Until 1962, the covering of the Kaaba was manufactured in Egypt. Then, King Saud had a factory to produce Kiswa built in Makkah. Today, the covering of the Kaaba is woven and produced in that factory by skillful artisans, weavers, calligraphers and technical experts.  Every year, 24 million riyals (according to 1988) are allocated for Kiswa.  670 kilograms of pure white silk and 720 kilograms of dye and acid are used for the covering.  Kiswa consists of 47 parts. Each part is 14 meters long and 95 centimeters wide. The total are of the covering is 650 square meters. The chapter of al-Ikhlas is embroidered with gold on each corner. Other verses are woven on the panels under the band. 120 kilograms of gold and silver were used on the silk dyed black. The ratio of gold to silver is 1 to 4. The weaving, dyeing and embroidering process of Kiswa takes about 1 year. Kiswa is completed one month before Hajj and it is delivered to the family of ash-Shaibi. When the Kaaba is washed for the second time, the old covering is removed and the new one is placed. The old covering is cut into pieces and distributed to Muslims.

Note: We advise you to read the following article on the chapters and verses written on the covering of the Kaaba and in Masjid an-Nabawi.

THE VERSES IN MASJID AL-HARAM (THE KAABA) AND MASJID AN-NABAWI

Decorating various works of art especially historic buildings with verses is an important part of our Quranic culture. Verses, hadiths and aphorisms are quoted in both literature and works of art; it is thought that these phrases shine like a jewel on the building and add an artistic quality and value to it.

What things are taken into consideration when verses are quoted from the Quran and works of art and especially buildings are decorated with verses?We will seek answers to this question related to Masjid al-Haram and Masjid an-Nabawi.

Verses and chapters about whose virtues there are hadiths

Verses and chapters about whose virtues there are hadiths are seen on the buildings in the holy land as they are seen in almost all buildings; along with Bismillahirrahmanirrahim, which is seen at the beginning of chapters and verses as well as independently, ayat al-kursiyy, and the chapters of al-Ikhlas and al-Fatiha are seen almost everywhere.  

The chapters of al-An’am, al-Kahf, Maryam, al-Muzzammil, Muddaththir, Yasin, ad-Duha, al-Jumu’a, ar-Rahman, ash-Shams, al-Layl, al-Mulk, an-Naba’, al-Inshirah, at-Takathur, al-Fath, al-Qadr, al-‘Alaq, al-Ikhlas, al-Mu’awwizatayn, al-Fatiha, , the first five verses of al-Baqara and Amanar-Rasulu (verses 285 and 286 of al-Baqara) are written on the skirting of the dome of the old part of Masjid an-Nabawi.

The chapters of an-Nasr, al-Waqi’a, al-Jumu’a, al-Mulk, Muhammad, Yasin, ad-Duhan, al-Hujurat, al-Inshirah, al-Ikhlas and al-Mu’awwizatayn are written on the bands of the new part of Masjid an-Nabawi.

Some verses of the chapter of al-Fath, the chapters of al-Hujurat, al-Jumu’a, Yasin, al-Qadr and ar-Rahman, verse 34 of the chapter of Ibrahim, the chapters of an-Nasr, al-Asr and al-Kawthar are written on the skirting of the dome of Masjid Quba, and Ayat al-Kursiyy, the last three verses of the chapter of al-Hashr (Huwalluhulladhi) and the last two verses of the chapter of al-Baqara (Amanar-Rasulu) are written on its walls.   

These three mosques are interesting in that they include almost all of the verses and chapters about whose virtues there are hadiths. In the buildings in Turkey, let alone all of them, even only the whole chapter of al-Fath is rarely seen to be written because they cover a lot of space. 

The verses about the Quran can also be evaluated in this context; for instance, the verses starting with Dhalika min anbail-ghayb nuhiha ilayk… (Aal-i Imran, 3/44), Fa-idha qara’tal-Qur’ana... (an-Nahl, 16/98), La ya’tihil-batilu min bayni yadayhi wa la min khalfih… (Fussilat, 41/42) on the façade of Rawda al-Mutahhara.

Verses directly related to the building, the construction of the building or its function

The most beautiful examples of writing verses that aredirectly related to the building are as follows: the verses about the construction of the Kaaba, its being the first temple, its being the qiblah, the obligation of hajj and entering the Kaaba in safety and security are written on the covering (kiswa), lock and keys of the Kaaba; The verse Inna fatahna… (al-Fath, 48/1), in which the verb “to open” is mentioned, and the verse ‘Indahu mafatihul-ghayb… (al-An’am, 6/59) in which the word “key” is mentioned are written on thelock and keys of the Kaaba; the verse innas-Safa wal-Marwata…(al-Baqara, 2/158) is written on the Ottoman porticos and on the skirting of the new dome at the exit of Safa-Marwa; the verse wattakhidhu min maqami Ibrahima musalla… (al-Baqara, 2/125) is written on Maqam Ibrahim; the verse la-Masjidun ussisa ‘alat-taqwa…, which is related to Masjid Quba, (at-Tawba, 9/108) is written on the mihrab (niche) of this mosque and on a stone column outside; the verse Qad nara (al-Baqara, 2/144) written on the mihrab (niche) of Masjid Qiblatayn.

Verses directly or indirectly related to the person who caused the building to be constructed or a person who lived or was buried there

Examples: The verses related to Hz. Ibrahim’s calling people to the Kaaba and constructing the Kaaba with his son are written on the covering of the Kaaba; on the gates of Majid al-Haram –the ones remaining from the Ottoman period or previous periods -, the verses related to the people who had them made are written; on the wall of the qiblah of Masjid an-Nabawi and on the coverings of the Room and altar, etc., the verses related to the Prophet (pbuh) (about his prophethood, his being a model for the ummah, that it is necessary to show respect to him by uttering salawat, etc.) especially the verses including the words Muhammad and nabi are written; on the back door of the Room, the verse Wasiqalladhinattaqaw Rabbahum ilal-Jannati zumara (az-Zumar, 39/73) is written; on the front wall of Rawda, the verse Muhammadun rasulullah walladhina ma’ahu…, (al-Fath, 48/29), which is related to the Prophet and the Companions who laid the foundations of the Islamic state in this mosque, is written; on Qayitbay and Qanuni niches, the verse at-Taibunal-‘abiduna…, which mentions the properties of the Companions (at-Tawba, 9/112), is written; on the gate of women of Masjid an-Nabawi,  the verses Wa man yaqnut minkunna… (al-Ahzab, 33/31-34) are written,on the gate of Jibril, the verse Fa-innallaha huwa mawlahu wa Jibril… (at-Tahrim, 66/4) is written.

One of the most beautiful examples of it is the verse Innahu min Sulaymana wa innahu Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim written on the magnificent altar sent to the Kaaba as a present from Qanuni Sultan Sulayman. In fact, the phrase Innahu min Sulaymana … is related to the letter written by Hz. Sulayman to the queen of Sheba but the verse is quoted in the sense of “This altar is a present to the Kaaba from Qanuni Sultan Sulayman” by changing the reference of the pronoun hu (it). Asit is known, when a verse/hadith is written somewhere – like the quotations in literature –, the original meaning of the sentence does not have to be meant.

Verses related to the function of any unit of a building

Examples: The verse Qad nara… fa-walli wajhaka.. (al-Baqara, 2/144), which is the verse of the qiblah, is written on the three niches in Rawda al-Mutahhara; the verse Kullama dakhala alayha Zakariyyal-mihrab (Aal-i Imran, 3/37), which includes the word mihrab (niche) is written on Qanuni and Qayitbay niches there.

Secondly, it became a tradition to write kalima at-tawhid (La ilaha illalah), which reflects the basic creed of the state, on the doors of altars since altars have a political property because sermons are delivered on behalf of the sultan/caliph there. Kalima at-tawhid is written on the entrance of Murad III altar in Masjid an-Nabawi. The purpose of writing verses from the chapter of al-Jumua related to Friday (Jumua) prayer on altars is understood when the connection of altars with Friday prayer is considered; similarly, the purpose of writing the verse Innallaha wa malaikatahu yusalluna ‘alan-Nabiyy… (al-Ahzab, 33/56) on altars is understood when it is considered that salawat is uttered for the Prophet (pbuh) in the sermons delivered in altars.  

Verses/phrases reflecting the basic creed of Islam

Kalima at-Tawhid, which can be seen almost anywhere, emphasizes the Islamic character of the state; The names Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali, which we see on the covering of the Kaaba, porticos of Masjid al-haram, etc., and especially the phrase Radiyallahu ‘an Abi Bakr wa Umar wa Uthman wa Ali wa ‘anis-sahaba ajma’in (May Allah be pleased with Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali and all of the Companions) on the covering of the Kaaba, which embraces all Companions without excluding any of them, reflects the Sunni character of the state.  

It is stated by the verse Qul kullun ya’malu ‘ala shakilatih… (al-Isra, 17/84), which we see on the bands of the Kaaba among writings, that all religions have a qiblah, that everybody acts in accordance with their own value judgments and that only Allah knows who is on the right path. 

Verses mentioning the things that the building can be likened.

If the building is likened to something as a whole, and if there is a verse about it, this verse can be written on this building. Nice examples of this are as follows: The verse Wa saqahum Rabbuhum sharaban tahura (al-Insan, 76/21), which is related to Allah’s treating ‘a clean drink’ to the people of Paradise is written on Zamzam Well;  The verse Udkhuluha bi-salamin aminin (al-Hijr, 15/46), which asks the people of Paradise in Paradise, is written on all of the gates of the new part of Masjid an-Nabawi, which is likened to Paradise.

Another example is the verse Rabbi adkhilni… (al-Isra, 17/80), which can be read and written at the entrance of any place, and the verse Fi buyutin adhinallah... (an-Nur, 24/36-38), which is about mosques, written on the gate of Babussalam of Masjid an-Nabawi.

Firstly, if it is taken into consideration that the verse (prayer) Rabbi adkhilni … (al-Isra, 17/80) was advised upon the attempts of the polytheists to expel the Prophet (pbuh) from Makkah or to kill him (al-Isra, 17/76), it is clear that the places mentioned as “mukhraj sidq” and “mudkhal sidq” in the prayer is Makkah and Madinah respectively. Then, the secret of this prayer to be written on the first gate of the general headquarters in Madinah, that is, Masjid an-Nabawi is understood.

Secondly, the relationship between buyut (masjids) where Allah’s light shines brightly and Allah’s name is mentioned and rijal (men) who glorify him in the morning and evening and Masjid an-Nabawi and the Companions is clear.

Verses related to the construction and improvement of the building

For instance, it is understood that the verses Wa ma taf’alu min khayr… (al-Baqara, 2/197), Ulaika yusari’un… (a-Mu’minun, 23/61), Masalulladhina yunfiquna … (al-Baqara, 2/261-263), Inna la nudi’u ajra man ahsana ‘amala (al-Kahf, 18/30) and especially Innama ya’muru masajidallah… (at-Tawba, 9/18) are written on buildings indicating that the charity was done for the sake and consent of Allah.

Verses giving various messages to visitors

In fact, there is a certain message in all of the examples above but the message is more intense in the examples below:

The verses Ya ayyuhalladhina amanu la tarfa’u aswatakum… (al-Hujurat, 49/2-3) written on the Room of the Prophet (pbuh) asks believers “to be quiet”.

The verses Wa sari’u ila… wal-kazimina‘l-ghhayza wal-afina ‘ani’n-nas wallahu yuhibbul-muhsinin (Aal-i Imran, 3/133-35) on the Safa gate of Masjid al-Haram do not only remind people for whom Paradise is prepared but also include a very appropriate and befitting warning for a place  where furious, intolerant and unpleasant deeds can be committed.

Allah’s vast mercy is emphasized and despair is rejected by the verses Nabbi’ ‘ibadi… (al-Hijr, 15/49), Wa idha saalaka ‘ibadi… (al-Baqara, 2/186), Wa bashshiril-mu’minina… (al-Ahzab, 33/47), Man ya’mal suan… (an-Nisa, 4/110), Wa inni la-ghhaffar.. (TaHa, 20/82) on the covering of the Kaaba along with the verses Qul ya ‘ibadiyalladhina asrafu… (az-Zumar, 39/53), Ghafiridh-Dhanb, qabilit-tawb (Ghafir, 40/1-3), Kataba Rabbukum ‘ala nafsihir-rahma (al-An’am, 6/54) on the gate of the Kaaba.

On the gate of women of Masjid an-Nabawi, the verses Wa man yaqnut… (al-Ahzab 33/31-34) give some advice to the wives of the Prophet in particular and believing women in general and the verse Lir-rijali nasib... (an-Nisa, 4/33) in the same place advises women and men to act as women and men and not to resemble the opposite gender; On Masjid Quba, the verses Alif Lam Mim dhalikal-kitab… (al-Baqara, 2/1-5) indicates who will attain salvation and the verse Wa sari’u ila maghhfiratin min Rabbikum wa Jannatin (Aal-i Imran, 3/133) on the outer windows encourage people to worship; the verses at-Taibunal-‘abidun… (at-Tawba, 9/112), Qul sadaqallah… (Aal-i Imran, 3/95) and Inna awlan-nas... (Aal-i Imran, 3/68) on Qanuni and Qayitbay niches and the chapter of Quraysh on the covering of the Kaaba remind the visitors the characteristics that a believer needs to have and that they should worship Allah by following the way of Hz. Ibrahim.

In conclusion,

It is seen that in the tradition of quoting from the Quran in architecture, short, concise and impressive verses are preferred except for writings on the bands. These verses generally describe Allah concisely, summarize the Quran and reflect the basic faiths of Islam concisely.

In this tradition in which nice connections are established between a verse

1. and a building or the function of any unit in a building and

2. the person who caused the construction to be built or the people buried there, it is not necessary for the original meanings of the verses to be meant.

As for the verses and chapters written on Masjid al-Haram and Masjid an-Nabawi, theyare mostly on Masjid al-Haram, Hz. Prophet, the qiblah, hajj, prayers, Allah’s vast mercy and Hz. Ibrahim. Nice connections are established between the verses and the building; the people who come to the sacred places are taught certain things by reminding them that it is possible to repent of any sins.  

This tradition was continued by the authorities of Saudi Arabia, not in Masjid al-Haram, but in the other buildings. The phrases Bismillahirrahmanirrahim, La ilaha illallah and Muhammadun rasulullah are written in kufi form separately on the main gates of Masjid al-Haram like King Fahd and King Abdulaziz, which are among the 95 gates of Masjid al-Haram, an on any suitable places on the walls, especially in places where porticos meet.

Turkish calligraphers wrote verses and chapters on the walls of the new parts of Masjid an-Nabawi, on the walls and skirtings of domes of Masjid Quba.However, the writings to be written in the middle of the dome necessitates a more skilled/circular arrangement of the letters;  not all versesabout whose virtues there are hadiths have circular arrangements; forming those arrangements will be difficult; skirtings of domes will allow more verses to be written; therefore, the tradition of writing inside the dome and on the ceiling was not continued. It is seen that different verses were preferred for the gate, covering and key of the Kaaba from time to time.

It is known that the name of the Prophet, that is, “Muhammad” (in addition, Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali) is written with the word Allah almost in all places. As a matter of fact, this is seen in the covering and porticos of the Kaaba, Masjid an-Nabawi, etc. However, in Masjid Quba, the verse Latifun bi-‘ibadih… (ash-Shura, 42/19) is written in smaller letters under the word “Allah”, which is written in big letters, and under the name "Muhammad", which is written in big letters,  the verse Rasulullah walladhina ma’ahu ashidda’u ‘alal-kuffari ruhamau baynahum (al-Fath, 48/29) is written with smaller letters so as not to regard the names of others as equal to Allah, who has a completely different ontological structure from them; thus, the impression that the words that are written side by side and with the same size are not the names of Allah and the Prophet but the verses in which these names are mentioned. The traces of the same faith can be seen in the transformation of the phrases Ya Allah Ya Muhammad into Ya Allah Ya Majid, which were written during the time of Sultan Ahmad, on the front wall of the room where the Prophet is buried.

(Assoc. Prof. Murat SÜLÜN, Haremeyn’deki Belli Başlı Mâbedlerde Yazılı Âyetlere Dâir Mülâhazalar - 1, MÜ.İlahiyfat Fakültesi Dergisi, 2003/1)

The Qurayshi polytheists had erected three hundred and thirty-six idols around the Kaaba. Those idols had been pinned with leads.

The Messenger of Allah, who had destroyed the idols in the minds, spirits and hearts with the belief of oneness he brought, and who had made  thousands of people turn around the light he brought like moths, started to clean the Kaaba from the idols.

He pointed at each idol with the stuff in his hand and read the following verse:

"Truth has (now) arrived, and Falsehood perished: for Falsehood is (by its nature) bound to perish." (al-Isra, 17/81)

Each idol that was pointed at by the Prophet fell down. Whenever the Prophet pointed at the face of an idol, it fell off face down. Thus, all of the idols in the Kaaba were demolished.

After cleaning the Kaaba and Makkah from the idols, the Prophet wanted to eliminate the idols around the city. He sent Khalid b. Walid with a group of thirty people to demolish the idol Uzza, which was in Nahla. Upon this order, Khalid demolished Uzza, which was regarded as the greatest idol among the Qurayshis.

The Prophet sent Sa’d b. Zayd al-Ashhal in order to demolish Manat, the idol on the mount of Mushallal. It was the idol of Aws and Khazraj tribes. Upon the order of the Prophet Sa’d b. Zayd went there with the Muslims near him, demolished Manat and returned.

Another famous idol of the polytheists was Suwa. It was in a place about three miles away from Makkah. The Messenger of Allah sent Amr b. As to demolish that idol, which was the idol of the Sons of Kinana, Huzays and Muzaynas. Amr fulfilled his duty and returned to Makkah.

With the conquest of Makkah, both the inside of Makkah and the places around it were cleaned of idols; the hearts of the Qurayshis were also cleaned of polytheism and became spotless with the light of oneness.

- M. Asım Köksal, İslam Tarihi

It would be appropriate to answer the question in a few articles:

1. The narration regarding the issue is included in “al-Imama was-Siyasa” and “Kanzul-Ummal”. (see Ibn Qutayba ad-Dinawari, Abdullah b. Muslim, al-Imama was-Siyasa, I- II, Darul- Ma’rifa Beirut, no. I, 19-20)

2. Kanzul-Ummal probably took that narration from Ibn Abi Shayba’s Musannaf. The narration in Ibn Abi Shayba is as follows:

“…Zayd b. Aslam narrates from his father Aslam:

“When Abu Bakr received the pledges of allegiance after the Messenger of Allah (pbuh), Ali and Zubayr used to enter the presence of Fatima, the daughter of the Messenger of Allah, and consult with her regarding allegiance. When that news reached Umar ibn al-Khattab, he came out and walked until he entered Fatima’s house. He said to her,  

’O Daughter of the Messenger of Allah! No one is more dearly beloved to me than your father, and none is more beloved to me after him than you. However, by Allah, this shall not prevent me, if that group gathers in your house, from ordering the house to be burned while they are inside the house!”

The narrator adds the following information and says: ‘When Umar left the house, those people came to Fatima. She addressed them as follows:

“You know that Umar came to me and swore by Allah as follows: If you return to me (to my house), he will indeed burn this house on you, and by Allah, he will fulfill what he swore on it. Then, go back as informed and reasonable people, see the situation, and do not return to me (my home).”

Thus, they returned and eventually paid allegiance to Abu Bakr.” (see Ibni Abi Shayba, al-Musannaf, Darul-Fikr, 1989, VIII, 572; Alauddin Ali al-Muttaqi, Kanzul-Ummal, I- II, al-Baytul-Afkarud-Duwaliyya, Jordan, 2005, I, 681, no. 141138)

In the narration in Kanzul-Ummal, the phrase “burning the door” is used instead of “burning the house”.

3. As it can be seen, Umar (ra) is sensitive and uncompromising related to the issues that may cause mischief and turmoil. We know about his offers of beheading those who caused mischief and turmoil in his previous life.

4. Interpreting the issue as hostility toward Ahl al-Bayt or Fatima (ra) means decontextualization. Besides, Umar (ra) himself said to Fatima that he loved her and warned her about a sensitive issue. As a matter of fact, the warning showed its effect and thereupon, the opponents pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr. What Umar (ra) did was to warn, to prevent mischief, to preserve Islamic unity and to prevent turmoil. The issue should be approached from this perspective. His behavior appears to be appropriate behavior from the management point of view.

5. We should remember this: Ali (ra) even resorted to war when there was no remedy for the dissidents of his time. The battles of Jamal and Siffin and the wars with the Kharijites were such battles because the verses about uprising gave him that authority.

"The Era of the Four Caliphs", after the death of Hz. Muhammad (pbuh) is a period when the religion of Islam spread by going beyond the Arabian Peninsula. This period, in which bright victories were gained and Muslims lived in peace and welfare, is a nice example of the Golden Age, which was informed by the Prophet (pbuh).

In this period, the boundaries of the Islamic state expanded to Tripoli in the west, Khorasan in the east and Caucasia in the north; thus, Islam, which spread beyond the Arabian Peninsula, was adopted by various nations in Asia and Africa. The political and legal foundations of the new Islamic state to be established were laid in this period. Hz. Abu Bakr, Hz. Umar, Hz. Uthman and Hz. Ali, who became caliphs in this order, followed the way of the Prophet (pbuh) and continued the just system in which the ethics of the Quran was dominant by spreading it to a vast area. Therefore, the period of the four caliphs is called "the Period of Khulafa ar-Rashidun" meaning "the Period of the Rightly Guided Caliphs". The same period is also called 'the Period of Republic' since the caliphs were chosen.

The Era of Hz. Abu Bakr (632-634)

Hz. Abu Bakr, who was a friend of the Prophet’s (pbuh) before his prophethood, was one of the first Muslims. Hz. Abu Bakr accepted Islam when the Prophet (pbuh) was alone and when he had not started to proclaim Islam openly. Hz. Abu Bakr, who was a close friend of Hz. Muhammad’s (pbuh) and a good representative of the Islamic ethics, became a means of guidance for many people like Hz. Uthman, Talha b. Ubaydullah, Sa'd b. Abi Waqqas, Zubayr b. Awwam, Abdurrahman b. Awf, and Abu Ubayda b. Jarrah.

When Hz. Muhammed (pbuh) became ill, he gave the duty of imamate (leading prayers) to Hz. Abu Bakr. After his death, upon the offer of Hz. Umar and his friends, Hz. Abu Bakr was chosen as the caliph. The following speech made by Hz. Abu Bakr after undertaking the duty of the caliphate to the people, which exists in historical resources, is quite significant:

"O people! I was elected as your administrator though I am not the best of you. If I do good deeds, help me. If I do bad deeds, show me the right way. Honesty is trust. Telling lies is treason. The weakest of you is strong near me; I will defend his right. The strongest of you is weak near me; I will take others’ rights from him."1

With these words, Hz. Abu Bakr summarizes the qualities that need to be present in an ideal administrator in the best way. Although his caliphate lasted for a short time (two years), this period is full of many achievements.

After the death of Hz. Muhammad (pbuh), Hz. Abu Bakr established the authority of the state by gathering the Muslims among whom conflicts occurred.He made great efforts regarding the compilation and protection of the Quran. He became a means of spreading Islam outside the Arabian Peninsula, in Syria, Palestine and Iraq, for the first time. He declared war against the movements that did not exist in the essence of the religion and liars who claimed to be prophets. Thus, he enabled the Quran and Islamic ethics to be practiced just like in the period of the Prophet (pbuh).

Hz. Abu Bakr is one of the distinguished names among the Companions with his good character, mercy, humble personality, and his meticulousness in practicing the Islamic ethics.  He was always loved and respected by the public due to these characteristics. He had a character that did not welcome people's arrogant attitudes and that helped the poor and the needy; he felt very happy when he entertained guests. He saved many Muslim slaves; he paid significant amounts of money to the masters of the slaves in order to set them free.

Hz. Abu Bakr, who was a rich person engaged in trade, spent all of his money to spread Islamic ethics. Therefore, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) stated the following about him:

"The person who is in the first place in sacrificing his wealth is Abu Bakr. What a nice friend Abu Bakr is. There is Islamic brotherhood and love between us." 2

In conclusion, Hz. Abu Bakr maintained the unity of Islam with his strong belief, genius and qualities of superior statesman, leaving a strong state to those coming after him. 

The Era of Hz. Umar (634-644)

Hz. Umar, who was one of the notables of the Qurayshi tribe, was affected by the resoluteness of the Muslims who made no concessions about their faith despite all kinds of oppressions, and became a Muslim. According to a narration, he was the first person to declare that he was a Muslim openly. As Abdullah Ibn Masud puts it, "Umar's acceptance of Islam was a conquest."3 After that day, he was with the Prophet (pbuh) and became one of the leading defenders of Islam with his strong personality and resoluteness. He spent what he had to spread Islam. He was chosen as the caliph after the death of Hz. Abu Bakr and set a good example to his successors with his just administration.

Hz. Umar is known for his efforts in applying the ethics of the Quran and justice. He treated everybody equally when he applied justice; he never allowed elements like nobility, richness, kinship and ranks to prevent justice. He took all kinds of measures in order to apply justice fully on the land under his administration. Social justice became fully dominant in his period. He always acted with a feeling of responsibility toward the people. According to historical resources, his statement, "If a camel dies by the Euphrates, I will feel responsibility for it" regarding the issue is famous.

The importance Hz Umar gave to consultation

As a necessity of the ethics of the Quran, Hz. Umar consulted the views of Muslims and discussed with them whenever an issue occurred before making a decision. Thus, the most accurate idea emerged and he would act accordingly. This attitude of his caused people to do their own affairs by discussing with one another. Thus, a large scale of a tradition of consultation was established regarding important issues.

Many innovations took place in the period of Hz. Umar. The country was divided into administrative units. Qadis who were subject to the Caliph and governors were appointed. Thus, with the appointment qadis in justice, the administrative and judicial affairs were separated. The establishment and application of Hijri calendar, the establishment of a parliament, in which important issues of the state were discussed, and state treasury took place in this period.

During his caliphate, great conquests outside Arabia took place; Iraq, Iran, Khorasan, Syria, Palestine and Egypt were included in the Islamic land. In this period, the spread of the state to a wide geographical area made it necessary to organize in administrative, political, economic, and military fields. Hz. Umar laid the foundations of an institutional Islamic state to meet this need.

According to the historical resources, the letter sent to the qadis of the period by Hz. Umar became a guide for all the administrators coming after him:

"Never allow haste, shouting and the deeds that will degrade the parties while trying a case. For, calm and seriousness are essential for justice to be served. When the truth becomes manifest, it gains divine justice reputation. If the intention of a Muslim is good, Allah improves his relations with people. However, if his inside is different from his appearance, Allah will give him misfortunes. Therefore, the duty of the judge is to distribute the treasures of Allah's providence and mercy among His slaves."3

With the ethics of the Quran he had, Hz. Umar ruled the Islamic community in a way that gained people’s hearts and contributed a lot to the spread of Islamic ethics – with the permission of Allah.  

The Era of Hz. Uthman (644-656)

Hz. Uthman, who had high ethical virtues, was one of the superior people who accepted Islam. He was chosen as the caliph after Hz. Umar. Nobody objected to his caliphate due to the thought in the Islamic community that he was worthy of this duty; everybody paid allegiance to him. Before, his caliphate, he was close to the Prophet (pbuh). He was one of the revelation scribes. He was outstanding with his high ethics and rhetoric. He was an orator. He had a good memory; he memorized the whole Quran. 

One of the greatest services of Hz. Uthman to the religion of Islam was the reproduction of the Quran.During his period, a committee was established and the only copy of the Quran was reproduced because some people pronounced the verses of the Quran differently due to the difference of dialects. One copy was kept in Madinah and the other copies were sent to the other provinces like Makkah, Damascus, Kufa, Basra and Egypt; thus, the original of the Quran reached today. 

Hz. Uthman was careful about appointing appropriate people to the posts in his period. He gave importance to zoning and agriculture in order to elevate the level of welfare of the people living in Islamic land. He tried to improve vineyards and orchards. Many people living in the Islamic land accepted Islam in his period. A remarkable development of this period is that the Muslims became rich and started to lead a better life.

Besides, during the period of Hz. Uthman conquests continued in Iran, Caucasia and Africa; and the first armada was established; Cyprus, which was an island with a great strategic significance in the Mediterranean, was conquered. Great victories were gained against the Byzantine Empire; law and order was established in the land that was conquered.

The Era of Hz. Ali (656-661)

Hz. Ali is the son of Abu Talib, the paternal uncle of the Prophet (pbuh). As it is stated in historical resources, he was brought up by Hz. Muhammad (pbuh) and educated by him.  

The most outstanding characteristics of Hz. Ali were courage, knowledge and rhetoric. It is accepted by everybody that he is one of the most knowledgeable people of the Islamic community. As the Prophet (pbuh) put it, Hz. Ali is "the door to the land of knowledge." He was with the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) since his childhood and was his scribe. He did not leave the Prophet (pbuh) until he died. Thus, he attained a high level of knowledge regarding religious issues. Therefore, he was one of the first people that Hz. Abu Bakr, Hz. Umar and Hz. Uthman consulted.

After he became the caliph, he established a school so that Muslims would learn knowledge and science. He gave great importance to education. The Era of the Four Caliphs, which was one of the brightest periods of Islam, ended when Hz. Ali was martyred.

Footnotes:

1. Hz. Muhammed ve Hayatı, DIB Yayınları, Ankara, 1996, p. 435.

2. Bukhari, Salat, 80, Fadailus-Sahaba, 3; Muslim, Fadailus-Sahaba, 1;Tirmidhi, Manaqib, 15.

3. Usdul-Ghaba, IV/151.

For detailed information,

- see Prof. Dr. Murat SARICAK, Dört Halife Dönemi.

Hz. Hasan, who lived in Madinah for ten years, (Dhahabi, Siyar A'lamin-Nubala, Beirut 1406/1986, III/246, 264) sent somebody to Hz. Aisha when his death approached to tell her that he wanted to be buried next to the Prophet. Hz. Aisha accepted it. Thereupon, Hz. Hasan said to his brother,

"When I die, ask permission from Hz. Aisha to bury me next to the Prophet. I received permission from her beforehand. She did not reject me. Maybe she felt shy and did not reject. If she allows, bury me in her house. However, I think Sons of Umayy will not allow it. If they oppose, do not struggle against them. Bury me in the cemetery of Baqi."

When he died, Hz. Husayn went to Hz. Aisha and talked to her. Hz. Aisha said about Hz. Hasan's will, "I will gladly accept it." (According to Ya'qubi, Hz. Aisha opposed to it severely. (Ya’qubi, II. 225) However, nobody except Ya’qubi puts forward this claim.

When Marwan and Sons of Umayyad were informed about it, they said, "By Allah! He can never be buried next to the Prophet (pbuh)." Hz. Husayn was informed about it. He and the people near him took their weapons.

Hz. Abu Hurayra saw the graveness of the situation and first said it would be cruelty to prevent Hz. Hasan from being buried there. Then, he went to Hz. Husayn and talked to him in order to dissuade him. He reminded Hz. Husayn about his brother’s will and that he said, "If you fear that mischief will occur, bury me in the cemetery of Baqi." Hz. Husayn feared that mischief would occur and buried his brother in the cemetery of Baqi, where many Companions were buried.

Yazid (646-683) is the second caliph of the Umayyads. The caliphate turned into a sultanate with him. Because he was held responsible for the martyrdom of Hz. Husayn and the Karbala Incidence, he led to a great reaction in the Islamic world. He was cursed by some scholars but others acted cautiously regarding the issue considering the possibility of his regret and repentance afterwards.  In Risale-i Nur, his name is mentioned in the context of the debate whether it is permissible to curse him; attention is drawn to the fact that cursing him will not gain a person anything and that there are disadvantages of it.

Yazid was born in Damascus in 646. His childhood and youth passed in Damascus due to the governorship of his father. He was well educated during his childhood. He was interested in art afterwards. He joined the army that was sent against Byzantium before he was appointed as the heir to the throne. This expedition was organized in order to help the Armenians who rebelled against the Byzantine Empire and who asked help from the Umayyads.

The Islamic army that was established against Byzantium took action in 668. When they arrived at Kadıköy, they asked for help. Thereupon, the auxiliary forces prepared under the command of Yazid crossed the Bosphorus and besieged Istanbul (669). The siege that  continued over the summer was lifted when winter approached. During this siege, some of the Companions including Abu Ayyub al-Ansari were martyred. As a result of the siege, a peace treaty was signed on the condition that Byzantium would pay tax.

After establishing the order and civil peace in the country, Hz. Muawiya, the Umayyad caliph, appointed his son, Yazid, as the heir to the throne upon the encouragement and suggestion of Mughira bin Shu'ba, the governor of Kufa. Muawiya wanted to learn the thoughts of the Islamic elderly in Madinah about this decision. However, Hz. Husayn, Abdullah bin Umar and Abdullah bin Zubayr opposed it. Despite this opposition, Muawiya summoned the administrators from different lands of the country and asked them to pay allegiance to Yazid as the heir to the throne.

In 679, Yazid became the Caliph when Muawiya, his father, died. With this, the caliphate was transformed into sultanate. Those who opposed him as the heir to the throne did not pay allegiance to him. He wrote a letter to Walid bin Utba, the governor of Madinah so that those people would accept his caliphate.  However, the governor of Madinah did not succeed in this attempt. Meanwhile, the people of Kufa sent envoys to Hz. Husayn and stated that they would recognize him as the caliph. Thereupon, Muslim, his paternal uncle's son, went to Kufa and accepted their allegiance on behalf of Husayn. The governor of Basra, who was also appointed as the governor of Kufa, took action and killed Muslim.

Unaware of his latest incident, Hz. Husayn set off to Kufa. On the way, he learned that Muslim had been killed. However, he did not return. An army of four thousand men was sent against Husayn, who reached Karbala. Seeing that there were not enough people with him and that he would not receive help from Kufa, Hz. Husayn wanted to return but, the governor, Ubaydullah bin Ziyad, told him to pay allegiance to Yazid and that he would allow him to return after that. Hz. Husayn did not accept his offer and was martyred in 680 (61 H, Muharram10) along with seventy people with him.

This event, which was known as the "Tragedy of Karbala" in the Islamic history, was a black mark for the Umayyads, especially Yazid. Before his death, Hz. Muawiya had asked, his son, Yazid, to treat Hz. Husayn and his family well. It is reported that when Yazid heard that Husayn was martyred, he was very distressed; he cursed the governor Ubaydullah, who had martyred Husayn and cried. There are some people who say that Yazid did not order Hz. Husayn to be killed but there are also some people who state that Yazid supported his governor fully. It is reported that Yazid took Hz. Husayn's his children to Damascus and that he treated them very well. However, all this could not prevent the reaction against him in the Islamic world.

This tragic incident that took place during the reign of Yazid caused great sadness among Muslims and in the world of scholars. Not only Shiites, but also Sunnis avoided the name Yazid.  Although they gave the names Ali, Hasan and Husayn to their children a lot, they avoided giving the name Yazid.  Among the scholars, there was a debate over this name. There were some scholars who cursed him but others acted cautiously regarding the issue considering the possibility of his regret and repentance afterwards.

His name and discussions about him are mentioned in Risale-i Nur.

“…no bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another…” (al-An’am, 6/164)

The following is pointed out in the interpretation of the verse above: Despite the divine warning, people act contrarily in social and political life and it causes big murders:

“A person is not regarded as an accomplice in a murder even if the murderer is his brother, tribe or party. He can only be held responsible in the hereafter, not in the world, if he agrees with it, becoming a spiritual sinner…”

After it is explained, it is stated that the students of the Quran try to prevent this big crime but those who accuse these people, who work altruistically, of being retrogressive reactionaries and act by

“… preferring the oppression of cursed Yazid to the justice of Umar…” (Emirdağ Lahikası, 1997, p. 319-320),

stating that they prefer the law of the jungle to the just decree of the Quran.

The word “cursed” is used for Yazid and some warnings are made regarding the issue:

“Sadaddin Taftazani, the great kalam scholar, said for people like Hajjaj az-Zalim, Yazid and Walid, 'It is permissible to curse (damn) Yazid' but he did not say 'cursing is wajib (necessary)'. He did not say, 'It is a good thing and you gain thawabs'. For, there are so many people who deny the Quran, the Prophet, and all the blessed talks of the Companions. There are a lot of people like that around. If a person does not mention and curse those cursed people, he will not be harmed religiously.” (Emirdağ Lahikası, p. 178)

For cursing is not like praising. Love is included among righteous deeds but cursing gains man no thawabs and rewards. What is more, cursing and defaming people wrongly and incorrectly can cause enormous harm.

Only Hz. Abdullah bin Zubayr was left to oppose Yazid after Hz. Husayn was martyred. The forces sent against Abdullah in Makkah could not be successful. Makkah was besieged in 683. As the siege was going on, the death of Yazid was heard. Thereupon, the siege was lifted without any success. At that time, forces were sent against the people of Madinah , who did not accept to pay allegiance to Yazid. First, they were given three days to pay allegiance. When this time expired and they did not pay allegiance, the soldiers entered Madinah and made those who did not pay allegiance pay allegiance by force.

Yazid died in 683 and at the age of thirty-seven in the Hawran village of Damascus. After his death, he was succeeded by his son. During the caliphate of Yazid, all of North Africa was conquered by the Islamic army under the command of Uqba bin Nafi. He has been mentioned badly among the Muslims because of the terrible incidents that took place during his sultanate. The appointment of him as the heir to the throne and his becoming the caliph after his father caused caliphate to be transformed into sultanate, ending the system of being the caliph through election.

Asad b. Zurara met the Prophet (pbuh) for the first time in the 11th year of the prophethood during the season of hajj. He and five people of Khazraj met the Prophet (pbuh) at Aqaba. When the Prophet (pbuh) found out who they were, he said he wanted to talk to them a bit. They agreed and sat down.

Hz. Prophet (pbuh) introduced himself to them. Then, he read some verses of the Quran (Ibrahim, 14/35, 52). They realized immediately that he was the Prophet that was expected. They said to one another, "By Allah, he is the prophet that Jews intimidate us with. Jews should not believe in him and follow him before us." Thus, they accepted Islam.

The people that became Muslims with Asad bin Zurara are as follows:

- Rafi b. Malik b. Ajlan,
- Awf b. Harith b. Rifa'a,
- Qutba b. Amir b. Hadida,
- Uqba b. Amir b. Nabi,
- Jabir b. Abdullah b. Ri'ab.

They were aware of the importance of Islam for the people of Madinah. They told it to the Prophet (pbuh) as follows: "We have outstripped both our tribe and a tribe (Jews) other than our tribe who have enmity and evil between them. We hope Allah will bring them together thanks to you."

They promised to meet the Prophet (pbuh) again next year and try to spread Islam in Madinah.

Will you please click on the link given below;

How did the first and second Pledges of Aqaba known as Pledges of Aqaba in the history of Islam take place? What happened in this process?

Al-Hasan b. Ali b. Abi Talib al-Hashimi al-Qurashi is the oldest son of Hz. Ali and Hz. Fatima; he is one of the beloved grandsons of the Prophet (pbuh) and his “Rayhana” (pleasant-smelling plant). He is regarded as the fifth of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs. He is the second of the twelve imams according to Imamiyya.

He was born in Madinah in the middle of the month of Ramadan in the third year of the Migration. There are also some narrations stating that he was born in the month of Shaban in the fourth or fifth year of the Migration but the soundest one is that he was born in the third year of the Migration. (Ibnul-Athir, Usdul-Ghaba, II, 10; Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Tahdhibut-Tahdhib, Hyderabad 1325, II, 296). When Hz. Hasan was born and Hz. Prophet (pbuh) heard that he had a grandchild, he went to Hz. Ali's house at once and said, "Bring me my son. What did you name him?" When he heard that they named him"Harb", he did not like this name. He gave the child the name "Hasan", which was not known during the Era of Jahiliyya. He also gave the child the nickname "Abu Muhammad". Then, he read a supplication and called adhan into his ear. (Ibnul-Jawzi, Abul-Faraj, Sifatus-Saffa, Aleppo (nd), I, 759; Usdul-Ghaba, II, 10; Tahdhibut-Tahdhib, II, 296). When Hz. Hasan became seven days old, the Messenger of Allah ordered an animal to be sacrificed (aqiqa), his hair to be cut and silver as much as the weight of hair to be given to the poor. (adh-Dhahabi, Siyar A'lamin-Nubala, Beirut 1406/1986, III, 246)

Hz. Hasan was educated and trained by Hz. Prophet. The narrations in many Islamic books including sound hadith books stating that the Prophet (pbuh) took care of his grandson so much and that he loved him so much show this fact. The hadiths stating that he took care of his grandson all the time, that he was almost always with him, that he climbed up his back in prayers and that the Prophet lengthened the prostration so as not to hurt him express the love between the grandfather, who received revelation, and his "rayhana".(Ahmad b. Hanbal, III, 493, 494; Nasai, Tatbiq, 82). When the Prophet (pbuh) was in ruku’, his grandson would pass through his legs. (al-Haysami, Majmauz-Zawaid, Beirut 1967, IX, 175; Tahdhibut-Tahdhib, II, 296) The Prophet did not react to this. He sometimes put him down slowly when he was on his back in prostration. Once, the Prophet was reciting a sermon on the pulpit when he saw Hasan and Husayn enter the mosque slithering, wearing long red clothes. He stopped the sermon, went down, held them and hugged them. He said, God Almighty said, "Your possessions and your progeny are but a trial.' (at-Taghabun, 64/15) It is so true. I could not stand seeing them on the ground." This incident is narrated in hadith books. (Ahmad b. Hanbal, V, 254; Abu Dawud, Salat, 233; Tirmidhi, Manaqib, 31; Ibn Majah, Libas, 20; Nasai, Salatul-Ideyn, 27; Dhahabi, ibid, III, 256).

Many hadiths stating that Hz. Prophet (pbuh) went to the mosque with his two grandsons on his shoulders (Ahmad b. Hanbal, III, 493) and that he walked outside with Hz. Hasan on his shoulders (Tirmidhi, Manaqib, 31) show that the Prophet (pbuh) took care of his grandsons and tried to meet their needs. That he got up and brought water to Hasan when he asked for water in bed during his visit to his daughter Hz. Fatima and gave water to Hasan and his brother (Ahmad b. Hanbal, I, 101; Tayalisi, II,129-130) and his similar acts are signs of the compassion and mercy of the grandfather. That Hz. Prophet loved his two grandsons and prayed for them by saying "O Allah! I love them; You love them too" (Tirmidhi, Manaqib, 31) showed this love and care with the expression of his tongue. (Bukhari, Adab, 18; Muslim, Fadailus-Sahaba, 56-60)

On the other hand, Hz. Prophet kissed his grandsons (Ahmad b. Hanbal, IV, 93 ; Tabarani, hadith no: 2658) and said that both of his grandsons were the masters of the youths of Paradise. (Tirmidhi, Manaqib, 31; Ahmad b. Hanbal, III, 3; al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Tarikhu Baghdad, Beirut (nd), I,140) Furthermore, the supplications of the Prophet that he wanted Allah to love those who loved his grandsons are included among narrations. (Ahmad b. Hanbal, II, 249, 331; Tahdhibut-Tahdhib, II, 297 ff)

Hz. Hasan looked like his grandfather, the Prophet, physically.  (Tirmidhi, Manaqib, 31). Once, Hz. Abu Bakr was walking with Hz. Ali after the afternoon prayer; they saw Hz. Hasan playing with other children. Hz. Abu Bakr placed him on his shoulder and recited a line:  "May my father be sacrificed for you! O the boy who looks like the Prophet but who does not like Ali." (Bukhari, Fadailul-Ashab, 22) Hz. Ali smiled when he heard this.

Hz. Hasan was eight years old when Hz. Prophet died. Since he was very young then, the number of the hadiths he directly reported from his grandfather is very few. One of them narrated by Abul Hawra is the following,:

"I asked Hz. Hasan‘What hadith do you remember from Hz. Prophet?’ He narrated me the following incident:

‘I remember this incident: I took a date from the dates of zakah and put it in my mouth. Hz. Prophet removed it from my mouth along with the saliva accompanying it. The people who were there asked, ‘O Messenger of Allah! Why did you remove the single date this boy put in his mouth?" He said, ‘Sadaqah (zakah) is not halal for the family of Muhammad.’

Another hadith I remember is ‘Leave the things that do not interest you and take care of the things that interest you.’

My grandfather taught me the following prayer:

"O Allah! Guide me among those whom You have guided, give health to me among those You have given health, turn to me in friendship among those on whom You have turned in friendship. Bless me in what You have bestowed, and save me from the evil of what You have decreed. For, verily he is not humiliated whom You have befriended."(Ahmad b. Hanbal, I, 200; Abu Dawud, Salat, 340; Tirmidhi, Abwabus-Salât, 341 Nasai, Qiyamul-Layl, 50; Usdul-Ghaba, II, I1).

However, apart from those hadiths, there are many hadiths that Hz. Hasan narrated from his father Hz. Ali and from many Companions.

Hz. Aisha, his son Ali b. Husayn, his two sons Abdullah and al-Baqir, Ikrima, Ibn Sirin, Jubayr b. Nafir, Abul Hawra, Rabia b. Shayban, Abu Mijlaz, Hubayra b. Barim, Shayban b. al-Layl, Sha'bi, Shaqiq b. Salama, al-Musabbib b. Nuhba, Ishaq b. Bashshar and other narrators reported hadiths from Hz. Hasan. (Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, al-Isaba fi Tamyizis-Sahaba, Egypt 1358/ 1939, I, 327-330; Ibnul-Athir Usdul-Ghaba, II, 10; Tahdhibut-Tahdhib, II, 295-296).

Both tabaqat and hadith books include narrations about Hz. Hasan's childhood like the ones above but they do not include much information about the period of his life between the martyrdom of Hz. Ali and his caliphate. One of the few issues that is known about him is the information that when Hz. Umar established the institution of diwan, he allocated a share of five thousand dirhams to Hz. Hasan and Hz. Husayn by adding them to the share of their father. (Dhahabi, ibid, III, 259) Another incident is that Hz Hasan was among the people who defended Hz. Uthman against the people who rebelled against Hz. Uthman. (Dhahabi, ibid, III, 260)

Hz. Hasan appeared as a historical personality after Hz. Ali was martyred and after he was chosen as the caliph when the people of Kufa pay allegiance to him. (h. 40/660)

It is said that the first person who paid allegiance to Hz. Hasan (ra) when he was chosen as the caliph was Qays b. Sa'd. Hz. Ali had appointed him as the commander of the army that was sent to Azerbaijan and that was formed by Iraqis. He was also the commander of another army that was formed by Arabs and that consisted of forty thousand people. This army vowed that they would defend Hz. Ali until they died. Qays, who was one of the commanders that Hz. Ali had the greatest trust in, asked Hz. Hasan to give his hand and told Hasan that he would pay allegiance to him based on the Book of Allah and Sunnah His Messenger, and fighting the rebels.  Hz. Hasan objected to his words. He said that he couldpay allegiance to him based on the Book of Allah and Sunnah His Messenger and that they contained all of the conditions that he mentioned and did not.Thereupon, Qays paid allegiance without saying anything. After him, the other Iraqis paid allegiance. (Tabari, Tarikhur-Rusul wal-Muluk, Darul-Maarif 1963, IV, 158)

After the allegiance, Hz. Hasan delivered a long sermon in the mosque. Then, he summoned Abdurrahman b. Muljam, the murderer of his father. After questioning him, Hz. Hasan decreed death penalty for him. (Ya'qubi, Ahmad b. Abi Ya'qub, Tarikhu Ya'qubi, Beirut, nd. II, 214)

The people of Iraq reminded the caliph the murder of his father and encouraged him to attack Damascus in order to fight Muawiya b. Abi Sufyan, who was there. Hz. Hasan accepted their offer, prepared an army and set off in order to fight.  (Zirikli, ibid, II, 214); (For a different view, see Ibn Hibban, as-Siratun-Nabawiyya, Beirut 1407/ 1987, p. 554) Hz. Hasan was about 37 years old then. He reached Madain with his army of twelve thousand people. He appointed Qays b. Sa'd, who had paid allegiance to him first, as the commander of the army. According to another narration, he appointed Ubaydullah b. Abbas as the commander and Qays as his deputy and ordered Qays to obey all orders of the commander. (Ya’qubi, II, 214)

When Hz. Muawiya, who was one of the four geniuses of Arabs, heard that Hz. Hasan set off in order to fight him, he left Damascus and settled in Masikan, one of the towns of al-Anbar. (Tabari, V, 159) Only eighteen days after Hz. Ali was martyred, two armies confronted because of political concerns. (Ya’qubi, II, 214)

Muawiya analyzed the situation and resorted to various things in order to obtain a favorable result. His biggest trump was the inexperience of his enemy (Hz. Hasan) and his having a soft heart that did not like violence, fearing mischief, loving Muslims a lot and not wanting the blood of even only one Muslim to be shed. Therefore, the first thing Muawiya did was to cause a disorder among the army of Hz. Hasan under the command of Qays b. Sa'd. (Tahdhibut-Tahdhib, II, 299) A few people in the army of Hz. Hasan started to shout, "Qays b. Sa'd was killed!" According to another source, they said that Qays made an agreement with Muawiya and joined him, that Hz. Hasan offered Muawiya to make peace and that Muawiya accepted it. Thus, they spread rumors in the army. (Ya’qubi, p. 214-215) A disorder started in the army of Hz. Hasan. A big panic broke out. Then, this panic was transformed into plundering. The soldiers started to plunder everything. They even plundered the tent of Hz. Hasan including the mattress on the ground. This plundering spread everywhere. After this plundering, the army scattered. (al-Isaba, I. 327-328; Tabari, V.158-159)

A person called al-Jarrah b. Sinan al-Asadi wanted to benefit from this chaos and attacked Hz. Hasan, who wanted to leave the town at night. He stabbed Hz. Hasan on the calf. However, he defended himself and killed the attacker. (Ya’qubi, II, 228; al-Isaba, I, 327-328). After that, Hz. Hasan had nothing to do but to return to "al-Maqsuratul-Bayda" in Madain. At that time the governor of Madain was Sa'd b. Mas'ud. Al-Muhtar b. Abi Ubayd, who appointed this very young governor, made him an offer. He said he would make him a very rich and honorable person if he tied    Hz. Hasan and took him to Muawiya. The young governor rejected this offer and said, "May Allah damn you! You want me to grab and tie the son of the daughter of the Messenger of Allah? What a disgusting person you are!" (Tabari, V, 159-160)

Hz. Hasan analyzed the situation. He realized that he had an army that he could not trust and a powerful enemy. Besides, he was a person that hated mischief and shedding blood. Therefore, he could not find any solution but to waive the caliphate and leave it to Muawiya for the safety of himself and the ummah of Islam.  He started to find a way to make a treaty and a solution that both parties would agree. He called Amr b. Salama al-Arhabi and sent him to Muawiya with a letter that included an offer to make a treaty. (al-Isaba, I, 327-330) Muawiya accepted this offer, which he received and which he was expecting. He sent Abdullah b. Amir al-Kurayz and Abdurrahman b. Samura as messengers to Hz. Hasan. These two messengers arrived in Madain and said to Hz. Hasan that they would accept what he wanted and that they would undertake the responsibility of this treaty. (Ibn Hajar, Fathul-Bari fi Sharhi Sahihil-Bukhari, Egypt, 1959, VI. 235, Bukhari narration)

Meanwhile, Hz. Husayn was informed about the situation and opposed to the offer of making a treaty. He told his brother not to make this treaty because it would approve the rightness of Muawiya and deny the cause of Hz. Ali. Hz. Hasan silenced him and insisted on making a treaty by telling Hasan that he knew administration better than him. (Tabari, V. 160)

Meanwhile, Ubaydullah b. Abbas, one of the commanders of the army, understood that Hz. Hasan would leave the caliphate to Muawiya; he sent a letter to Muawiya to join him. He said he would surrender if his wealth was not touched and if he was not killed. Muawiya accepted his offer. Ubaydullah left his army and joined Muawiyah.  Then, Hz. Hasan's army paid allegiance to Qays b. Sa'd and vowed that they would fight Muawiya to the last drop of blood in order to protect the blood and wealth of followers of Hz. Ali. According to another view, Qays was already their commander; so it can be understood as renewing their allegiance. (Ibnul-Athir, al-Kamil fit-Tarikh, Beirut 1385/1965, III, 408)

Finally, the messengers of Muawiya made a treaty with Hz. Hasan. According to this treaty, Hz. Hasan would leave the caliphate to Muawiya on the condition that Hz. Hasan would be the caliph if Muawiya died first. In addition, five million dirhams would be given to Hz. Hasan. Muawiya would stop the custom of cursing Hz. Ali and his followers in the sermon. (Tabari, V, 158-159) They accepted these terms. When Muawiya's messengers, who accepted the treaty, left Hz. Hasan, they said, "Thanks to the grandson of the Messenger of Allah, shedding blood was prevented, mischief ended and peace was made." (Ya’qubi, II, 214-215)

Hz. Hasan, whose wounds got worse, stood up and delivered a long sermon to the people of Iraq. He reminded them that Allah made people find the right path through the Prophet (pbuh), his grandfather, and prevented blood from being shed through himself. He said that he had made a treaty with Muawiya. He asked them to pay allegiance to Muawiya.(Ya’qubi, II, 215) He also told them that he left them because they killed his father, attacked him and plundered his wealth. (Tabari, V. 158)

In accordance with the treaty, Muawiya went to Madain. He entered Kufa with Hz. Hasan. Hz. Hasan handed Kufa over to Muawiya at the end of the month of Rabi’ulawwal in 4 H. Thus, the following hadith of the Prophet (pbuh) became apparent:   

"There is no doubt that this son of mine is a chief, and Allah may make peace between two groups of Muslims through him." (Bukhari, Fitan, 20, Sulh, 9; Abu Dawud, Sunnah, 12...)

When Hz. Hasan entered into the presence of Muawiya, Muawiya said to him, "I will reward you in a way that I have never rewarded before and I will never reward in the future." Then, he gave Hz. Hasan 400.000 dirhams. (al-Isaba, I, 327-328) He also allocated one million dirhams to him every year. However, he limited most of it later and gave him very little money.

Imam Sha'bi, who witnessed this treaty between Hz. Hasan and Hz. Muawiya, narrates the incident as follows:

"Muawiya said,

'Stand up and tell people that you left and handed the caliphate over to me.'

Hasan stood up and spoke as follows after praising Allah:

'The cleverest one among the clever ones is the one who has taqwa; the most stupid one among the stupid ones is the one who is fajir (sinner). This issue, which is a disagreement between Muawiya and me is the right of somebody who deserves it more than me or my right. I left the caliphate to him so that the ummah will be in peace, the unity will not be broken and blood will not be shed.' Then, heread the following verse:  ‘I know not but that it may be a trial for you, and a grant of (worldly) livelihood (to you) for a time.' (al-Anbiya, 21 / I 11)

Thus, he finished his sermon." (Hilya, 11, 37)

There are different narrations in the resources about how long Hz. Hasan served as a caliph but the strongest view is 6 months 5 days. (Zirikli, II, 214-215)

After this handover ceremony, Hz. Hasan sent a letter to Qays b. Sa'd, the commander of his army, and asked him to work under the command of Muawiya. Qays consulted his army regarding the issue. He asked them if they wanted to obey an imam who is in deviation or fight without an imam. When he received the answer from them that "they preferred obeying an imam even if he is in deviation", he paid allegiance to Muawiya and worked under his command. (Tabari, V, 160)

According to Ya'qubi, Muawiya sent Qays b. Sa'd one million dirhams and some goods before the treaty and asked him to give up his cause and to join him. Sa'd did not fall into this trap by saying, "You are trying to deceive me about something related to my religion." (Ya’qubi, II, 215) According to another resource, when Hz. Hasan made a treaty with Muawiya, Muawiya wrote a letter to Qays and asked him to obey him. He also sent him a sealed and signed blank sheet of paper and told him to write anything he wanted on it; he said what he had written would be given to him.  Qays, who felt desperate, accepted to be under the command of Muawiya based on the safety of his life and wealth. (Ibnul-Athir, al-Kamil, III, 408. For the other view, see Tabari, V, 158-159)

After leaving the caliphate to Muawiya, Hz. Hasan set off toward Madinah and spent his remaining life (ten years) there. The people of Kufa started to cry when he was leaving but he told them that it was impossible to trust in them. He also reminded them about what they had done to Hz. Ali, telling them that their end would not be good and that he pitied them.

On the way, somebody insulted Hz. Hasan by shouting, "O black sheep of Muslims!" Hz. Hasan tried to remind him that Sons of Umayyad were destined to attain this rank by reporting a hadith from the Prophet (pbuh) (Ibnul-Athir, al-Kamil, III, 407) When another person shouted "O shame of the leader of the believers", he said to him, "Shame is better than fire." (al-Isaba, I, 327-330)

Hz. Hasan, who lived in Madinah for ten years (Dhahabi, ibid, III, 264), sent somebody to Hz. Aisha when his death approached to ask her to give permission to him to be buried near the Prophet (pbuh). Hz. Aisha accepted it. Thereupon, he told his will to his brother as follows:

"When I die, ask permission from Aisha to bury me near the Prophet. I received this permission from her. She did not object. Maybe she felt shy. If she allows, bury me there. I do not think Sons of Umayyad will object to it. However, if they do, do not discuss with them. Bury me in the cemetery of Baqi."

Hz. Hasan was ill for forty days. He died on 5 Rabiulawwal 50 H (2 April, 670). (Sifatus-Safwa, I, 762). (Some scholars say his year of death was 49, 50, 51, even 54 H. (al-Isaba, I, 330) It is said that he was poisoned. It is also narrated that the one who poisoned him was his wife Ja'da bint al-Ash'as b. Qays. When he was ill, his brother asked him who had poisoned him but he avoided answering him. He said he had been poisoned three times before and that he managed to get rid of them. He said to his brother that this poison was different and that he would probably die. (Ibnul-Athir, Usdul-Ghaba, II, 15).

When he died, Hz. Husayn went to Hz. Aisha and talked to her. Hz. Aisha said about Hz. Hasan's will, "I will gladly accept it." (According to Ya'qubi, Hz. Aisha opposed to it severely. (Ya’qubi, II. 225) However, nobody except Ya’qubi puts forward this claim. When Marwan and Sons of Umayyad were informed about it, they said, "By Allah! He can never be buried near the Prophet (pbuh)." Hz. Husayn was informed about it. He and the people near him took their weapons. Hz. Abu Hurayra saw the graveness of the situation and first said it would be cruelty to prevent Hz. Hasan from being buried there. Then, he went to Hz. Husayn and talked to him in order to dissuade him. He reminded Hz. Husayn about his brother’s will and that he said, "If you fear that mischief will occur, bury me in the cemetery of Baqi." Hz. Husayn feared that mischief would occur and buried his brother in the cemetery of Baqi, where many Companions were buried.

Nobody except Said b. al-Ass, who was the governor of Madinah, from Sons of Umayyad took part in the janazah prayer of Hz. Hasan. Hz. Husayn offered the governor to lead the janazah prayer. The governor accepted it and led the prayer. There were so many people in his janazah prayer that the place burst at seams. (Ibnul-Athir, Usdul-Ghaba, II. 15). When Hz. Hasan died, he was 47 years old. (Tahdhibut-Tahdhib, II, 301)

Hz. Hasan was very generous. He took after the Prophet (pbuh) physically and ethically.  He was very pious. It is known that he made hajj fifteen times by walking from Madinah to Makkah.

He liked charity a lot. He distributed all of his wealth to the poor twice; he did "qasama" with Allah three times. That is, if he had two pairs of shoes, he gave away one pair. It is written in resources that he gave one handful of his food to the poor and left one handful to himself, and that he distributed his things to the poor like that in a just way. He had several aphorisms about high ethics and treating food to others. For instance, when he was asked what the ethics of the Prophet was, he summarized it as follows: Telling the truth, giving to someone who wants, high ethics, visiting relatives, feeling ashamed about neighbors, observing the rights of friends, entertaining visitors and last but not least modesty (chastity). (Hilya, II, 37-38; Usdul-Ghaba, II. 13; Ya’qubi, II. 225 ff)

Hz. Hasan was famous for marrying and divorcing a lot. Once, Hz. Ali, his father, told the people of Kufa clearly not to give their daughters to Hasan fearing that the tribes of the women that married to him and were divorced would be enemies to his family. However, somebody stood up and said they would continue giving him their daughters by vowing. Then, he said, “We will give him our daughters; and he may retain whomever he wishes and may divorce whomever he dislikes." (Dhahabi, ibid, III, 267)

He had ten or twelve sons: 1. Hasan b. Hasan (his mother is Hawli bint Manzur al-Fazariyya), 2. Zayd (his mother is Umm Bashir bint Abi Mas'ud al-Ansari al-Khazraji), 3. Umar, 4. Qasim, 5. Abu Bakr, 6. Abdurrahman (their mothers are slaves) 7.Talha, 8. Ubaydullah. (Ya’qubi, II, 228). There are also narrations that she had one daughter. (Zirikli, II, 215)

The descendants of Hz. Prophet (pbuh) continued through his grandsons, Hz. Hasan and Hz. Husayn. Those who came from the descendants of Hz. Husayn are called "sayyid" and of Hz. Hasan are called "sharif" or "amir" by people.

It is reported that Muhammad b. Hanafiya said,

"Along with Husayn, seventeen males were killed. They were all children of Fatima."

According to a narration, Hasan al-Basri said,

"Along with Husayn, sixteen males were killed. They were all from his family; there were no people like them on the earth on that day."

Other said,

"Along with Husayn, twenty-three males, among whom were his children, brothers and family, were killed.

The following children of Hz. Ali were killed: Jafar, Husayn, Abbas, Muhammad, Uthman and Abu Bakr.

The following children of Hz. Husayn were killed: Aliyyul-Akbar, Ab­dullah.

The following children of Hz. Husayn's brother Hz. Hasan were killed: Abdullah, Qasim and Abu Bakr.

The following children of Abu Bakr Abdullah b. Jafar were killed: Awn and Muhammad.

The following children of Uqayl were killed: Jafar, Abdullah and Abdurrahman."

Uqayl's child Muslim had been killed in Kufa beforehand. They were Uqayl's children. Two of his grandchildren had also been killed: Abdullah b. Muslim b. Uqayl and Muham­mad b. Abi Said b. Uqayl. Thus, the number of Uqayl's offspring that were killed was six. A poet wrote the following about them:

"Cry for Ali's nine children that were killed and Uqayl's six children that were killed.

The Prophet said they would be killed in Ghawdar. The enemy attacked with bright and sharp swords."

Among those who were killed along with Hz. Husayn in Karbala was his foster brother Abdullah b. Baqtar. According to another narration, he had been killed beforehand. When Hz. Husayn sent him to the people of Kufa with a letter, Ibn Ziyad attacked and killed him.

Seventy-two of Hz. Husayn's men were killed. The people of Ghadiriyya buried them the next day. They were from the tribe of Banu Asad.

(see Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya wa'n-Nihaya, Çağrı Publications: 8/286-327)

Answer 1:

- There is no information in verses or sound hadiths stating that Hz. Maryam never menstruated. Besides, some scholars state that she menstruated twice before she was pregnant with Hz. Isa (Jesus). (see Razi, the interpretation of verses 22-23 of the chapter of Maryam)

- Hz. Maryam’s quality called “Batul” is famous. BATALA lexically means to cut off / break off. Some people may have interpreted it as “she never menstruated”. However, it is wrong. The quality “Batul” was given to Hz. Maryam because she devoted her life to Allah in the temple and cut off her relationships with the world and anything except Allah, not because she never menstruated.  

- One of the qualities of Hz. Fatima is also BATUL. For, she was distinguished from the women of her age with her chastity, worship and taqwa and had a different position. Therefore, she was deemed worthy of this quality of Hz. Maryam’s.

To sum up, we have no definite information showing that Hz. Maryam did not menstruate.

Answer 2:

There is no sign or trace of such information in the Quran.

- There is hardly any information stating that Yusuf Najjar was Hz. Maryam’s fiancé in the Islamic resources. The information that exists is of Israiliyat. The following information generally exists in the Islamic resources:

When Hz. Maryam stayed in the temple, one of her paternal uncles’ son, Yusuf Najjar, also worshipped there (in another part of the temple). Once, Yusuf saw that Maryam looked like pregnant and had to talk to her about it despite his good thoughts about her and asked her: “Maryam! Have you ever seen grains coming into being without a seed, a tree without a pip, a plant without water and a child without a father?”

Hz. Maryam, who was aware of the situation, said, “Yes, why not? Did Allah not create grains for the first time without a seed? Did Allah not create trees for the first time without pips? Did Allah not create Hz. Adam and his wife without parents?”

Yusuf continued to believe her after this answer. However, when it was heard that she was pregnant, people tried to associate her pregnancy with Yusuf Najjar. (see Tabari, Razi, Ibn Kathir, the interpretation of verses 22of the chapter of Maryam)

- The information that Yusuf Najjar is Hz. Maryam’s fiancé exists in the Bible:

“This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew: 1/18-21)

Thus, it is understood that the information about Yusuf’s being Hz. Maryam’s fiancé existing in some resources is of Israiliyat because there is no such information in the Quran and hadiths.

Not all girls were buried. The people whose conscience did not accept it did not bury their daughters. However, those people walked unhappily in the community and felt ashamed.

It is not mentioned in history books when they started to bury girls first. They named this bad deed committed inthe Era of Jahiliyyah as "Burying Girls Alive".

They did it in order to protect their honor or they regarded it as a shame to have daughters and sometimes because they were born disabled or ugly.Inthe Era of Jahiliyyah, most of the girls were buried alive in certain places and in certain parts of the community.

This savage custom was applied by some people with a strange effort of Jahiliyyah, by others due to financial difficulty, by others with fear that their wealth will be transferred to other people through their daughters and by others with the loyalty to their tribe.

No matter why it was applied, it was savagery and it had to be abolished and it was abolished. Several orders in the Quran and Sunnah played an important role in the abolishment of this custom.

When Hazrat Husayn was in Makkah, people came to visit him and asked him how he was. They were the people from places around Makkah that had come for umrah. Ibn Zubayr, who performed prayers and circumambulated the Kaaba all day was also there and visited him.

Ibn Zubayr was the most important person for Hazrat Husayn then because when Husayn was in Makkah, people of Hejaz would not give an oath of allegiance to Ibn Zubayr.

On the other hand, when it was heard in Kufa that after the death of Muawiyah, people began to give allegiance to Yazid, people of Kufa began to talk against Yazid. Shiites gathered in the house of Sulayman b. Surad, one of the notables of Shiites, and evaluated the situation. In the meeting there, they decided to write letters to Hazrat Husayn to invite him to come to Kufa for their allegiance to him. They sent about one hundred and fifty letters. When Hazrat Husayn received the letters, he wrote the following answer to the people of Kufe:

«I see what you want to do. I am sending my brother, my uncle’s son, Muslim b. Aqil, one of my relatives that I trust to you now. I told him to write me a letter after arriving there about your situation and your thoughts. If all of the people and the notables agree on the thoughts that you have written to me, I will go there soon. I swear that the Caliph cannot be a person other than someone who acts in accordance with the Quran, who never abandons justice and who practices the true religion.»

Then, Husayn sent for Muslim b. Aqil and told him to go to Kufa. He told Muslim not to deviate from the way of Allah and to keep the issue secret. He told Muslim to inform him about the situation as soon as possible if the people of Kufa agreed on it. Muslim set off for Kufa. Numan b. Bashir was the governor of Kufa then. When Muslim arrived in Kufa, Shiites started to come and see him. When Numan was informed about it, he made a short speech on the pulpit in the mosque. Numan, who was actually a mild and kind person, spoke as follows:

«O Muslims! Do not compete with one another for mischief and separation because they will cause the elimination of people, shedding blood and plundering goods. Know it very well that I will fight those who fight against me and attack those that attack me. I will not awake those who sleep. I will not punish anyone without any evidence. However, if you express your situation openly and cancel your allegiance and rebel your Caliph, I swear that I will cut your head with my sword. No one can save you from me. I hope those who can see the truth are more than those with wrong ideas among you.»

When Numan made that speech, one of the Umayyad followers stood up and said, «Only a brave person can prevent this chaos. Only weak people put forward ideas like yours. » Numan said to the man, «It is better for me to be a weak man in the way of Allah than a strong man who opposes Allah.» and walked down the pulpit.

Then, that man wrote a letter to Yazid informing him that Muslim b. Aqil had come there and that people started to give allegiance to him. He added the following:

«If you are not prepared to sacrifice Kufa, send Kufa a strong man who will fulfill your commands and who can take measures that you take against your enemies. Numan is a weak person.»

Thereupon, Yazid unseated Numan and appointed Ubaydullah b. Ziyad, who was the governor of Basra instead of him. Ubaydullah, who came to Kufa with order of Yazid to catch Muslim and execute or banish him, addressed the people of Kufa as follows:

«The Caliph appointed me as the governor of your city and to collect the taxes. He ordered me to treat the oppressed ones well, to feed the poor, to treat those who obey the state well and to treat those who rebel and cause chaos harshly. I will carry out his orders and fulfill his requests here. I will act like a compassionate father for those who are good and like a brother for those who obey. I will use my sword and whip against those who do not accept my orders and who oppose me. Now you can do as you wish. »

While walking down the pulpit, the governor threatened them saying,

«You must write down the names of the strangers, Shiites, Kharijites, mischievous people and separatists and inform me about them. Those who give me the list of them will be safe. Those who do not must guarantee me that there will be no opposition or rebellion from among the people in their families. I am not responsible for the people who do not fulfill one of those two alternatives. It means their immunity of property and lives will be canceled. If a dissident of the Caliph is caught in the house of any of you, the owner of that house will be executed at the gate of his house.»

When Muslim heard about the speech Ibn Ziyad made, he took shelter in the house of Hani b. Urwa. The landlord and Muslim did it unwillingly. Shiites began to go to the house of Hani. When Ibn Ziyad found out that Muslim stayed there, he summoned Hani and recited the following poem when Hani arrived:

«I want him to stay alive, but he wants to kill me. Whoever was let from murad can forgive you only.»

Hani asked him, «What is the matter?»Ibn Ziyad said,

«O Hani! What is planned in your house for the Caliph and Muslims? You admit Muslim into your house and collect arms and soldiers for him. Do you think it will remain as a secret?»

Hani could not object to his words. Thereupon, Ibn Ziyad wanted him to surrender Muslim to him. However, Hani did not accept it because he was afraid that people would blame him. Having been arrested by the men of Ibn Ziyad, Hani was imprisoned in the palace of the governor. Having been informed about Hani, Muslim shouted, «Fa Mansur!», which was a password among them,  to his men.

The number of people who gave allegiance to Muslim until then was eighteen thousand; four thousand of them were around the house where Muslim stayed, keeping watch. People gathered around Muslim. After making a speech that provoked people, Muslim headed for the palace of the governor. The mosques and the streets were full of people. At that time, there were only thirty guards and about twenty people from the notables of Kufa and their slaves with the governor. He consulted the notables and called Kathir b. Shihab. He told Kathir to take action and drive people away from around Muslim. He told Muhammad b. Ash'as to go out with the man subject to him and declare people that those who joined them would be safe. He asked the same things from some other notables. He kept a few people with him. The notables fulfilled what the governor wanted. Those who stayed in the palace addressed the people and told them that those who were loyal to the state would be protected. They threatened the rebels. Thereupon, people began to disperse. They dispersed so fast that only thirty people remained in the mosque with Muslim. Muslim was appalled; he ran away and hid somewhere. However, the governor found out where he had hidden. He sent Muhammed b. Ash'as and fetched Muslim. When Muslim was caught, he said to Muhammad,

«I see that you cannot protect me now. However, can you send a messenger to Husayn and tell him on my behalf to return and not to trust the people of Kufa because he knew what they did to his father?»

Muhammad fulfilled the request of Muslim. Muslim, who was brought to the presence of the governor, was killed there. Then, Hani was killed, too.

On the other hand, Husayn, who was in Makkah, had decided to go to Kufa. Amr b. Abdurrahman b. Harith came to him and said,

«I hear that you are going to Iraq. I find it risky for you to go to a city where the governor, officials and treasures of the Caliph are. Today, people worship money. I fear that those who promise to help you will kill you.»

Husayn only thanked Amr. Then Ibn Abbas came. He said, «People say you are going to Iraq. Will you explain me what you are doing?» Husayn said, «I will set off in one or two days.» Ibn Abbas said,

«May Allah not let you do such a thing. Tell me, are you going to a nation that killed their governor that owned their state and that discarded their enemies? If you think that they did not do something like that, then go. However, if they call you to a war, I fear that they will deceive you, they will give up and oppose you, that they will leave you alone and that they will rebel you and do the worst thing to you.»

Hazrat Husayn said, «I will think about it and see what will happen.» Ibn Abbas came again the next day and said,

«O my uncle’s son! I force myself to show patience but I cannot be patient. If you do what you are thinking about, I fear that you will suffer a misfortune. Iraqi people are fickle people. Never approach them. Stay here. You are the master of Hejaz people. If Iraqis really want you as they wrote to you, write to them and tell them to discard their governor and your enemies, and then you can go. If you definitely want to go, go to Yemen. There are different groups in Yemen. Yemen is a large country. There are the followers of your father, there. You can settle somewhere there, write letters, send them to people, send your messengers and propagators. Then, the atmosphere that you want may appear.»

Hazrat Husayn did not agree with what Ibn Abbas said. Ibn Abbas added, «If you do not give up the thought of going there, I fear that you will be martyred in front of your women and children.» The cautionary words of Ibn Abbas did not affect Husayn at all.

Then, he set off with his women and children. He met Farazdaq, the poet, on the way. He asked Farazdaq about the situation of the people in the place where he was coming from. Farazdaq said,

«People’s hearts are with you but their swords support Umayyad. The destiny comes from the sky. Allah is doing what He wishes.»

In addition, on the way, he received a letter from Abdullah b. Jafar, who swore in the name of Allah and asked him to return; he also received a letter from Amr b. Said, the governor of Madinah, who asked him to return and declared that he would protect them. Having rejected the requests in both letters, Husayn continued to go. On the way, he met Abdullah b. Muti'. Abdullah reminded him the risky situation, swearing by Allah and said,

«If you want to acquire the Caliphate that Umayyad have now, they will kill you and then there will be left no one that they will fear. Please, do not go there for the sake of Islam, Quraysh and Arabs. Do not go to Kufa; do not meet Umayyad!»

However, Hazrat Husayn did not agree on any idea except continuing. When they reached Sa'labiya, they heard that Muslim b. Aqil had been killed. Some people around him said, «Return now for the sake of Allah. You have no helpers and followers in Kufa. We even fear that they will be against you.»

Muslim’s children leapt forward and said,

«We will take our father’s revenge or will be martyred like our father. We shall never return.»

They continued until they reached Aqaba. There, an Arab that they met said,

«Return for the sake of Allah. You are going toward the swords and spears. If those that called you had prevented the war and arranged the things before you arrived, I would not have said anything to you. However, now, there is only one thing to do: to return.»

As soon as Hazrat Husayn and those with him left Shiraf, they met a troop of about one thousand cavalrymen led by Hurr b. Yazid. Husayn said to them,

«O people! Allah knows and you also know that I came here because of the letters and messengers you sent to me. You wrote to me that you did not have a Caliph and that your situation would be improved with my coming. If you intend to keep your promise, I will enter your city. Otherwise, if you do not keep your promise and feel disturbed by my coming, I will return to the place where I have come from.»

When nobody answered, Hurr spoke,

«We were ordered to catch you as soon as we met you and take you to Ubaydullah b. Ziyad in Kufa.»

Hazrat Husayn murmured, «Death is better than this situation» and told his men to mount and that they would return. However, Hurr did not let them go. When Husayn shouted to Hurr,

«May your mother lose you! What do you want?», Hurr answered,

«If anyone other than you had said it, I would have answered him back in the same way. However, I cannot mention your mother’s name using bad words. I can mention her name only in the best way.»

Then, he started to follow Husayn in order to prevent him from returning to Madinah. Husayn headed toward the north and reached Ninawa. There, he met another troop led by Umar b. Sa’d b. Abi Waqqas that Ibn Ziyad had sent to fight him. Umar sent a messenger to Husayn and asked him why he had come there.

Husayn said,

«Your citizens sent me letters to go to them. That is why I came. If they do not want me now, I will return.»

When Ziyad received a letter from Umar informing him about the situation, Ibn Ziyad recited the following poem,

«Does he want to be saved from us now, when we have reached out our claws? It is not the time for being saved now.»

He sent Umar a letter and ordered him to take allegiance from Husayn for Yazid. He wrote,

«If Husayn accepts this offer, the issue is over. Otherwise, surround them and cut their connection with the only water source there, leaving them without water.»

Hazrat Husayn said that he would return to the place where he had come from if they let them. The narrations that he accepted to swear allegiance to Yazid are not true. Although Hazrat Husayn told them that he wanted to return to Madinah, they did not accept it and asked him to consent to the judgment that Ibn Ziyad would give about them. It was something that Husayn could not accept under any conditions. There was nothing left but to fight.

On Muharram 10 of the Hegirah year 61 (10 October 680) they started to fight. The Iraqi army, in which there was not even one Syrian, fought against a small group that consisted of at most eighty people. Soon, Husayn and his men were martyred. Seventy people died from Husayn’s men. Eighty people died from Umar’s army.   

They took the head of Husayn, his daughters, siblings and little son Ali, who was ill, to Ibn Ziyad.Ibn Ziyad sent them to Yazid. When they arrived in Damascus and Yazid was informed about what had happened, he started to cry and said,

«I asked you to make Husayn swear allegiance to me without killing him. May Allah damn Ibn Sumayya (Ziyad). If I had met Husayn, I would have forgiven him. Do you know why these things happened? Husayn said, 'My father is superior to his father; my mother is superior to his mother, my grandfather is superior to his grandfather. I am superior to him. I deserve Caliphate more than him.' Allah knows whose father is superior. Both of them went to the presence of Allah. Besides, people know whom the arbitrators regarded superior.

Doubtlessly, his mother Fatima, the daughter of the Messenger of Allah, is superior to my mother. His grandfather is superior to my grandfather. A person who has belief in Allah cannot think that there is anyone similar to him. However, Husayn uttered the last word based on his own ijtihad. He did not read this verse:  'Say: "O Allah! Lord of Power (and Rule) Thou givest Power to whom Thou pleasest and Thou strippest off power from whom Thou pleasest”'(Aal-i-Imran, 26).»

Then, he ordered the women of Husayn to be taken to his home. All women from Yazid’s family came one by one to pay their condolences to them. They paid the equivalents of the property and jewels that were lost to them.  Yazid called Ali b. Husayn and arranged the necessary things for them to go to Madinah and told him to write to him if they needed anything in Madinah. Thus, that deplorable event ended leaving scars that could not be covered.

(For detailed information and sources; see Asım Köksal İslam Tarihi, volume XI. read pages between 167-212.)

Immediately after the death of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh), Ansar gathered in a place called Thaqifah of Sons of Saidah and wanted to choose Sa'd b. Ubada as the Caliph. However, there were different views among them regarding the issue.

While the discussions about the issue were going on, Hz. Abu Bakr arrived there with Hz. Umar and Hz. Abu Ubayda. Hz. Abu Bakr began to speak and said that Muhajirs were also mentioned with praise in the Quran along with Ansar. However, he said that Arabs would not obey anyone except Qurayshis in this regard and wanted them to pay allegiance to either Abu Ubayda or Umar. However, both of them refused it and said that it was necessary to choose Hz. Abu Bakr as the Caliph.

All of the people who were there, primarily, Bashir b. Sa'd, Abu Ubayda and Hz. Umar, paid allegiance to Hz. Abu Bakr. Sa'd b. Ubada, Hz Ali, who was not there, and some other Hashimis paid allegiance to him afterwards. Hz. Abu Bakr ascended the pulpit three times with intervals and said each time that he did not want to accept this duty and wanted the Muslims to choose somebody else as the caliph but they insisted.

Thus, Hz. Abu Bakr was chosen as the caliph.

References:

Ibn Sa'd Tabaqat, III, 178 ff; Ibnul-Athir, al-Kamil, Beirut,1400/1980; 220 ff; Ibn Qutayba I, 7-20; Kandahlawi, II, 606, 616; Hamidullah, İslam Peygamberi, translated by S. Tuğ, Istanbul 1969; II, 315-319; Ashab-ı Kiram, I, 177-184; Shibli, Asr-ı Saadet, IV, 33-40 ff.

Such an incident is narrated in historical resources (Ibn Ishaq and Ibn Hisham). As you have mentioned, Hz. Bilal wanted to kill him by saying "the head of unbelief". For, Umayya, who was the leader of the Jumah clan of Quraysh was really one of the leaders of unbelief.

In addition, he was the previous master of Hz. Bilal, who was a slave, and had tortured Bilal very much. Therefore, Bilal Habashi shouted, "If he lives, I will not live." The water carriers of who were captured before the Battle of Badr mentioned his name when they listed the fifteen leaders of Quraysh.

The verses related to the prisoners of war had not been sent down yet; therefore, it will not be appropriate to mention a law of prisoners of war based on verses. Umayya thought he would be released in return for a ransom. Various views were put forward related to the prisoners of war after the Battle of Badr. One of those views was to kill them; it is among the possibilities.

Though Hz. Bilal caused the death of Umayya, the Prophet (pbuh) did not blame or criticize him. 

References:

Martin Lings, Hz. Muhammed'in Hayatı, İz Publications, Istanbul, 1996, p. 241, 245, 253- 254 (Siratu Ibn Hisham, Vüstenfeld impression, p. 448- 449); al-Anfal, 8/ 67.

We do not know about any famous incidents of protest in the history of Islam. However, the first deeds of the revolt against Hz. Uthman can be regarded as a kind of protest.

Islamic scholars have different views regarding the issue. According to the fatwas of some contemporary scholars, it is not permissible to hold a demonstration - with or without permission. Sheikh Uthaymin and Sheikh Muqbil b. Hadi al-Wadii hold this view.  

The reasons that the scholars who say protesting is not permissible put forward are as follows in brief:

a. Non-existence of protests in the Era of Bliss and the first three centuries of Islam called “the Era of Salaf as-Salihin” shows that it is not appropriate. 

b. Protests generally take place in the form of harming others. There are people who tend to cause anarchy, who are not sensible and who do not think about halal and haram among protesters. What they do usually consists of destruction.

c. It is a fact that the property of innocent people is harmed during protests.

“Neither harming nor being harmed exists in Islam.”

The deeds that are contrary to the hadith above cannot be accepted.

The reasons that the scholars who say protesting is permissible put forward can be summarized as follows:

a. Protests are a system of demanding rights accepted by the contemporary world. The real target of protests is to demand some things that the society needs and wants, to inform the authorities about some social problems and to solve them. It is a legitimate target.

b. The protests that are organized related to an issue that interests the whole Islamic ummah, not a certain part of the community, are regarded not only as permissible but also as jihad.

c. These kinds of protests organized by Muslims show that they are in unity and act together for the same target; this will intimidate the enemies of the religion of Islam and will dissuade them from oppressing Muslims. This issue is very important.

“…Nothing could they (Muslims) suffer or do, but was reckoned to their credit as a deed of righteousness,- whether they suffered thirst, or fatigue, or hunger, in the cause of Allah, or trod paths to raise the ire of the Unbelievers, or received any injury whatever from an enemy: for Allah suffereth not the reward to be lost of those who do good.” (at-Tawba, 9/120)

It is possible to understand that this issue is encouraged by the verse above.

In our opinion, protests to be organized based on the conditions to be listed below are permissible; otherwise, they are not permissible.

1. The aim of the protest must be to the point. That is, the aim must not be to display hostile attitude toward the administrators and to take revenge but to invite them to the truth and to help them make correct decisions. Otherwise, it might not be possible to obtain a good result from a protest in which personal hatred is involved.

“…Let not the hatred of some people in (once) shutting you out of the Sacred Mosque lead you to transgression (and hostility on your part). Help ye one another in righteousness and piety, but help ye not one another in sin and rancor: fear Allah: for Allah is strict in punishment.” (al-Maida, 5/2)

“O ye who believe! stand out firmly for Allah, as witnesses to fair dealing, and let not the hatred of others to you make you swerve to wrong and depart from justice. Be just: that is next to piety: and fear Allah. For Allah is well-acquainted with all that ye do.” (al-Maida, 5/8)

It is possible to understand this fact from the verse above.

2. The aim of the protests organized in Islamic countries must be peace, not war. For, as Badiuzzaman Said Nursi states, sword is not used within the borders of Islamic land. Therefore, the protest demonstrations to be organized within the borders of Islamic countries must be free of armed action.   

“…So bring to remembrance the benefits (ye have received) from Allah, and refrain from evil and mischief on the earth.” (al-A’raf, 7/74),

“...Nor withhold from the people the things that are their due; and do no mischief on the earth after it has been set in order: that will be best for you, if ye have Faith.” (al-A'raf, 7/85)

We can understand it from the verses above and the hadith below:

Neither harming nor being harmed exists in Islam.”(Ahmad b. Hanbal; Ibn Majah)

3. It is not expected from Islam, which is a religion of repair, to approve of protest demonstrations that cause material harm and destruction. It is a fact that destruction caused by harming others’ property will not make any contribution to any repair and obtaining rights; on the contrary, such deeds will make a person who is right wrong and a person who is oppressed an oppressor.

4. In the actions with arms, innocent people are harmed more than oppressors. This does not comply with the consciousness and compassion of belief.

The following statement by Badiuzzaman Said Nursi sheds light on the issue:

“Secondly: Compassion, conscience and truth prevent us from politics (material conflict). For, if there are two irreligious and hypocritical people, there are seven or eight innocent, helpless, weak and ill children and old people. If a misfortune hits, those innocent people will be affected. Those two irreligious and hypocritical people might be affected less than them. Therefore, Risale-i Nur prevents its compassionate, merciful, truthful and honest students from entering politics because it might cause violation of peace and the result is doubtful.” (Tarihçe-i Hayat, p. 312; Kastamonu Lahikası, p. 240 -Envar Neşriyat-).

“The compassion, reality, and truth of the Risale-i Nur prevents us from involvement in politics. For innocents are afflicted with calamities and we would have been unjust towards to them. Some people wanted an explanation of this, and I told them:"

"In the present stormy century, the egotism and racialism proceeding from cruel civilization, and the military dictatorships resulting from the Great War, and the pitilessness arising from misguidance have led to such extreme tyranny and excessive despotisms that if the people of truth defend their rights through physical force, or through severe tyranny, numerous unfortunates will be burnt on the pretext of partisanship, and in that situation, they too will be excessively tyrannical and will be defeated. For those who act and attack out of the above feelings, on some petty pretext, strike at twenty to thirty people because of the mistakes of one or two, and destroy them. If on the way of truth and justice, the people of truth strike only at the one who struck, they win only one in the face of thirty losses, and are then in a position of defeat. If, in accordance with the unjust rule of responding in kind, the people of truth also crush twenty to thirty people due to the errors of one or two, they will then perpetrate a ghastly injustice in the name of right.” (Tarihçe-i Hayat, p. 426)

Ibn Taymiyya states the following regarding the issue:

“According to the most well-known view of Ahl as-Sunnah scholars, it is not permissible to revolt against the ruler even if he is an oppressor. This view is supported by many hadiths. The mischief, chaos and injustice caused by armed conflict is worse than the oppression and mischief caused by the ruler. History shows that the mischief, chaos and injustice caused by those who revolted against the rulers by weapons always became worse than the mischief, chaos and injustice they tried to eliminate.

Allah does not propose revolting against a cruel ruler in any way.

“If two parties among the Believers fall into a quarrel, make ye peace between them: but if one of them transgresses beyond bounds against the other, then fight ye (all) against the one that transgresses until it complies with the command of Allah; but if it complies, then make peace between them with justice, and be fair: for Allah loves those who are fair (and just).”

The issue is clearly stated in the verse above. How does Allah allow armed struggle against rulers?” (see Minhajus-Sunnatin-Nabawiyya, 3/391)

The following should not be forgotten: If the Muslim people in any Islamic country organize peaceful demonstrations – free from armed actions, destruction and injustice – and if the despotic governments shoot them, the responsibility will belong to those fascist states and governments.

To sum up enjoining what is good must be fulfilled within the boundaries of good deeds and forbidding the evil must not involve doing evil deeds.

The murderer of Hz. Uthman was al-Ghafiqi, a Yemeni Jew. With the martyrdom of Hz. Uthman, Ibn Saba made a great achievement in his cause. The seeds of mischief started to yield fruit. This saddening incident prevented Muslims from spreading the religion of Islam to other countries. The period of conquests and proclamation ended; a period of stagnation and conflicts started.

After this stage, Ibn Saba prepared a new plan in order to make Hashimis confront Umayyads. Hz. Uthman was an Umayyad and Hz. Ali was a Hashimi. He agitated Umayyads by spreading a rumor that Hz. Ali had Hz Uthman killed and that he wanted to be the caliph after Hz. Uthman. On the one hand, Ibn Saba spread this ugly slander against Hz. Ali and on other hand, he worked openly to make Hz. Ali the caliph; thus, he wanted the people to believe in this slander.  

To this end, he chose a group of delegates headed by Ibn Maymun, a Jewish who came from Egypt with a caravan, and sent him to Hz. Ali. The delegates said to Hz. Ali,

"As you know, this ummah has been left without a leader. You are the one that deserves to be the caliph the most. We want you to undertake this duty."

Hz. Ali rejected this offer and dismissed them.

When Hz. Ali gave this answer, he sent a group of delegates from Kufa to Hz. Zubayr and a group of delegates from Basra to Hz. Talha. Hz. Zubayr and Hz. Talha rejected their offer of caliphate like Hz. Ali and dismissed them.

When Ibn Saba could not get what he wanted from them, gave Ghafiqi, the Jew who controlled and led the rebels, the following order:

"Gather the people of Madinah in the mosque and tell them to choose a caliph at once. Otherwise, threaten them with your swords."

Upon this order, the rebels under the command of Ghafiqi gathered the people ofMadinah in the mosque and said to them, 

"Choose yourselves a leader as soon as possible. If you do not do it now, we will put all of you including Ali, Zubayr and Talha to sword."

After hearing this threat, the people of Madinah went into the presence of Hz. Ali and asked him to accept the duty of caliphate. Hz. Ali had to accept the duty of caliphate though he did not want it due to the chaotic state.

After a while, Hz. Talha and Hz. Zubayr went to Hz. Ali and asked him to act in accordance with the Book and punish the murderers of Hz. Uthman. Hz. Ali said to them,

"You are right but the state has not suppressed the rebels fully yet. Therefore, it is necessary to wait for the state to control the situation."

Hz. Ali wanted the criminals to be determined one by one, to be questioned and to be punished. Hz. Aisha, Hz. Zubayr and Hz. Talha held the following view:  

"Mischief got bigger; it targeted the state; the caliph was martyred. The issue is not the issue of finding the murderer of Hz. Uthman only. It is necessary to kill the majority of those who took part in this movement of mischief. Therefore, the rebels should be punished at once."

Acting upon the verse of the Quran “No bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another”, Hz. Ali did not agree with them saying, "No one can be held responsible for the mistake of another person".

After finding out Hz. Ali's view, Hz. Zubayr and Hz. Talha met Hz. Aisha in Makkah and decided to go to Basra in order to find soldiers to suppress the rebels.

When Hz. Ali heard that Hz. Aisha, Hz. Talha and Hz. Zubayr went to Basra, he moved toward Basra with his army so that there will not be a breakdown and division in the unity of the state and settled in Dhiqar. Hz.Ali sent an envoy called Qa’qa’ to Hz. Aisha, Hz. Talha and Hz. Zubayr and told him to tell them about the evil of discord and the importance of unity that that everything would be settled better with peace. Upon this order, he went to Hz. Aisha, Hz. Talha and Hz. Zubayr and told them about Hz. Ali's views; he said that the cure for this problem was calmness, that all kinds of measures could be taken after people calmed down and that mischief and conflict would occur otherwise, which would bring about big problems for Muslims. They said, "If Ali holds this view, there is no disagreement between him and us."

Both parties were pleased of this unity. Thus, a state of calmness occurred. Everybody went to their tents feeling in safety and peace. 

Ibn Saba, the munafiq, who was very disturbed by this peace, gathered his followers and said to them,

"We definitely need to do something to start war and to make Muslims fight one another. If we cannot do it, all of our efforts will be fruitless; we will not be able to reach our target."

They prepared a new plan to start war. In accordance with this plan to be applied toward the morning, Ibn Saba placed his men around the tents of Hz. Ali, Hz. Zubayr and Hz. Talha. Then, they attacked the tents of both parties. When Hz. Zubayr and Hz. Talha woke up with the noise, they asked, "What is the matter? What is happening?" Ibn Saba’s men said, "Hz. Ali's men (the people of Kufa) attacked us at midnight."

Thereupon, Hz. Talha and Hz. Zubayr said, "It is understood that Hz. Ali was not sincere when he said he wanted peace." On the other hand, when Hz. Ali heard the noise, he asked, "What is happening?" Ibn Saba’s men said, "The other party attacked us at midnight and we repelled the attack." Hz. Ali said,"It is understood that Talha and Zubayr do not agree with us about peace." Thus, the Incidence of Camel, which claimed the lives of ten thousand people, took place. Hz. Talha and Zubayr were martyred. Thus, after the murder of Hz. Uthman, Ibn Saba realized an important stage of his target.

Question: How should Muslims view the disagreements that occurred among the Companions?

Answer: "Ismah (innocence)", that is, the attribute of being protected from sins with divine protection belongs to prophets only. Only prophets are without mistakes. Since the Companions do not have this attribute, it cannot be said that they are completely free of mistakes. However, when a Muslim makes a mistake, he does not exit Islam; similarly, when a Companion makes a mistake, he does not lose the honor of being a Companion. 

All mujtahids of the four true madhhabs hold the following view about the disagreements among the Companions:

"Each Companion is a mujtahid. It is their right before everyone else to make ijtihad related to the issues that are not clearly expressed in the Quran and hadiths. It is a definite rule of the science of fiqh that if a person is a mujtahid, he does not have to obey the ijtihad of another mujtahid. The disagreements, conflicts and battles that occurred among the Companions were due to ijtihad difference. Their wishes and desires have no share - God forbid - in these disagreements. For, they were purified from bad attributes like hatred, enmity and hostility thanks to listening to the talks of the Prophet. Their souls were free from such mean things and they became lofty."

Yes, each Companion is a mujtahid in Islam. As it is known, a person who makes an ijtihad gains two thawabs if he is right; he gains one thawab if he is wrong. The ijtihads of those distinguished people, who belonged to Islam with their lives and wealth and who had no other goal other than elevating and spreading Islam, aimed to elevate Islam. This love and determination was so high in them that they did not hesitate to express a view contrary to that of the Prophet (pbuh) at the Battle of Uhud. They clearly said, "We see the success of Islam in this." The Prophet (pbuh) had to act in accordance with the view of the Companions since the majority of the Companions made an ijtihad opposite to that of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh). The incidents that occurred afterwards showed that the Prophet (pbuh) was right. Although the Quran was being sent down gradually at that time, Allah Almighty did not send down a verse to warn the Companions. He did not give them a warning; on the contrary, he ordered the Prophet (pbuh) to keep consulting them. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) did not blame them; he still loved them and continued asking their views. Only this incident is enough to show clearly that the Companions are valuable in the eye of Allah and His Messenger and that they had the right of ijtihad in the religion.   

Now let us think mercifully. Can we judge the Companions, who were not warned by Allah or the Messenger of Allah though they thought differently from the Prophet and made a different ijtihad, due to the disagreements among themselves? A person who has even very little conscience and foresight must not resort to this crime.

If a Muslim oversteps the limit and tries to judge that distinguished group, who shed their blood for Islam during the first years of Islam, and says that one of them was right and another one was wrong, he will not blemish those stars of guidance but will harm himself.

Besides, the people that he judges are the notables of the Companions. Some of them were given the glad tiding that they were the people of Paradise. The Quran and the Prophet (pbuh) praised those people whom he criticizes.

We should not forget this issue and should act very carefully about the disagreements among the Companions and avoid overstepping the limit. 

If the disagreement of the Companions had not been legitimate and reasonable in the eye of Allah Almighty, he would have sent down an order and prevented it. As a matter of fact, when the Companions talked loudly in the presence of the Prophet (pbuh), the following verse was sent down to warn them:

"O ye who believe! Raise not your voices above the voice of the Prophet, nor speak aloud to him in talk, as ye may speak aloud to one another lest your deeds become vain and ye perceive not." (al-Hujurat, 49/2)

The believers are ordered to avoid having bad thoughts about their believing brothers:

"Would any of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother?" (al-Hujurat, 49/12)

Allah Almighty informs us in this verse that backbiting is a deed that is as disgusting as eating the flesh of a dead person and that does not fit a believer. You can understand the danger of the issue if the person who is backbitten is a Companion and especially one of the notables of the Companions.

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) stated the following in a hadith:

"Backbiting eats up good deeds just as fire eats up wood."

Thus, he warns us severely.

It is necessary to listen to these facts in terms of our life in the hereafter and the future of Islam. Since a believer is prohibited from having bad thoughts about another believer, it is clearly understood how grave and dangerous it is to have bad thoughts about the Companions and the notables among them, who laid the foundations of Islam, who were the friends of the Prophet in daily life and wars and who were the means of the guidance of all of the Muslims of today. 

The safest way for clever people is to avoid speaking ill of them. It will be understood after thinking a little that people will not be sent to this world to analyze the problems among the Companions and to decide which party is right and which one is wrong. To have a view about this issue cannot be the purpose of the creation of a person. Man was not created to have an issue about it; he was created to worship Allah properly. That is, our religion calls us to fulfill or duties to worship Allah, not to analyze the disagreements among the Companions.

The great Companions, from the caliph to the ordinary ones lived with same sustenance and felt the same excitement. They worked openly and secretly, day and night, in the development, spread and elevation of Islam. They make jihad with their lives and blood and made unmatchable sacrifices. They opposed their tribe for the love of the Quran and the Prophet and they sacrificed their families, children, property and wealth. They preferred the Prophet to their own lives, children, family and parents. They shed their blood in order to lay the foundations of Islam.  

They became a means of the worldly and otherworldly happiness of all of the Muslims beginning from that day to the Day of Judgment. It is our duty in terms of justice and conscience to feel gratitude to them, to pray, praise and thank them.

Let us summarize the narration in question first:

Zubayr (ra) and Talha (ra) and some people who did not pay allegiance to Abu Bakr (ra) and met at Ali’s (ra) house were in Fatima’s (ra) house. The Caliph Abu Bakr (ra) told Umar (ra) and Khalid b. Walid (ra) to fetch them by using force if necessary. They took those people to Abu Bakr (ra).

Referring to that event, Abu Bakr (ra) said:

فَوَدِدْتُ أَنِّي لَمْ أَكْشِفْ بَيْتَ فَاطِمَةَ عَنْ شَيْءٍ وَإِنْ كَانُوا قَدْ غَلَقُوهُ عَلَى الْحَرْبِ

“Whatever the reason, I wish I had not opened Fatima’s house (to inspect who was inside) even if they had closed / locked it (the door of the) with the intention of fighting (against us).” (Tarikhu Tabari, 3/430)

- Besides, the origin of this narration exists in Tabarani - with the last sentence being slightly different. (al-Mujamul-Kabir, 1/62)

There is no need to give other sources because the narration in question is weak. One of the narrators, Ulwan b. Dawud, is very weak and “matrukul-hadith” (one whose hadith is abandoned) apart from other weaknesses. (see Aqili, ad-Duafa, 3/421; ad-Daraqutni, al-Ilal, 1/181)

Bukhari, Dhahabi, Ibn Hajar and Hafiz Haythami state that this narrator is “munkarul-hadith” (one whose hadith is denounced). (see Dhahabi, al-Mizan, 3/108; Ibn Hajar, Lisanul-Mizan, 4/188; Haythami, Majmauz-Zawaid, 5/203)

To sum up, in more than twenty Sunni sources we have researched, it is reported that this narration is weak, abandoned and denounced.

Sunni researchers have very serious and scientific refutations about this narration, which is included a lot in Shia sources.

BADIUZZAMAN SAID NURSI

Badiuzzaman Said Nursi, the author of Risale-i Nur, divided his life into three periods: He called the period of his life from his birth to 1926, which was the year when he started to write Risale-i Nur, as Previous Said, the period of his life between 1926 and 1950 as New Said and his life after 1950 as Third Said. However, this division is a change method rather than thought. He applied different methods in each of the three periods based on time and space in terms of service to the religion and belief.

Badiuzzaman Said Nursi was born in 1878 in Nurs village, İsparit, Hizan in the province of Bitlis.

He started his education in the madrasah in the village of Tağ when he was nine years old. His education life was very active. He looked for a madrasah that was suitable for him in the region and studied in various madrasahs for very short periods. This search lasted for about three years. During this period, he read the whole Quran and read the introductory books of madrasah method. However, the most important part of his education life was the three months he spent in Doğubeyazıt; he was educated by Sheikh Mehmet Celâlî, in this period and he studied more than eighty books that were among the basic books of madrasah education. Then, he got his diploma and left Doğubeyazıt.

After that, Said Nursi went to Bitlis and joined the academic debates, which was a tradition among madrasah scholars at that time. He was appreciated by everybody due to his accomplishments, intelligence and memory. At the end of these debates, he made everybody accept his diploma, which he got when he was thirteen years old and proved his academic maturity; they started to call him ‘Badiuzzaman’, which means “the wonder of the time”.

When Hasan Pasha, the governor of Van, heard the fame of this young scholar, he invited him to Van. Said Nursi remained in Van for a long time and continued his studies. He had the opportunity to study the books related to exact sciences in the big library of Tahir Pasha, who was appointed as the governor after Hasan Pasha, and he became interested in physics, chemistry, geography, astronomy and philosophy.

The years Said Nursi spent in Van was a period when important formations took place in his world of thought. The statement of Gladstone, British Minister of Colonies, that it was necessary to eliminate the Quran or to alienate Muslims from the Quran affected Badiuzzaman a lot and he devoted his remaining life to the understanding of the Quran.

Thinking that it was necessary to establish a university, where madrasah sciences and exact sciences will be studied together, in order to meet the need for education in the East, Said Nursi went to Istanbul in 1907 in order to convey this idea of his to the government and to attempt to realize this project. When he stayed in Şekerci Han in Malta (Fatih/Istanbul), he had academic meetings with the notable scholars of Istanbul. He wrote the following sentence on the door of his room: “All questions are answered here but no questions are asked.” This attracted the attention of the palace, academic circles and people.

He informed the palace about his ideas related to the establishment of the university he wanted in the East with a petition. However, the government of that period could not understand the importance of this need and they did not make any attempts to realize this project. On the contrary, the palace, which suspected the slightest movement, began to suspect him due to his attitudes that did not accept any force in his earlier life and people gathering around him in Istanbul due to his attitudes. They sent him to a mental hospital, but the doctors who examined him reported: "If there is a grain of insanity in this man, then there must be no sane person in the whole world."

In those years, discussions on freedom and constitutional monarchy were on the agenda of Istanbul. Said Nursi also participated in these discussions and argued that that freedom and constitutional monarchy were not contrary to Islam but that authoritarian and autocratic governments were contrary to Islam with his articles published in the newspapers. In addition, on the third day of the proclamation of the constitutional monarchy, he made a speech supporting constitutional monarchy in Istanbul. He repeated the same speech in front of a large group of people at Hürriyet Square in Thessaloniki. He took part in a lot of political movements that emerged in the atmosphere of liberation brought by the constitutional monarchy; and he took part in many political events.

Despite the speeches he made to prevent chaos and his soothing role during the incident of March 31, 1909, he was arrested and was put on trial with the demand of execution in ‘the court martial’ and he was acquitted. Afterwards, he published his defense in this court under the name İki Mektebi Musibetin Şehadetnamesi.

He left Istanbul in 1910 and returned to Van; he visited the tribes in the region and gave explanatory information to the local people related to the issues like constitutional monarchy, liberty, constitution and parliament. In the same year, he wrote his book, Münazarat, which summarized these talks.

When he was in Damascus in the winter of the same year, upon the invitation of the scholars in the region, he addressed the scholars in Damascus Umayyad Mosque about the problems of the Islamic world. This sermon was published in 1911 under the name Hutbe-i Şamiye. He left Damascus and went to Istanbul; in the same year, he joined Sultan Reşad on his journey in Rumelia including the groundbreaking ceremony of a university in Skopje, as a representative of the eastern provinces of Turkey. Said Nursi, who persuaded the Sultan to apply this project, which was not completed due to the Balkan wars, in the East, left Istanbul in 1912 and returned to Van. In 1913 he laid the foundation of the university named 'Medresetü'z-Zehra' with the Governor of Van. However, when the First World War broke out, he went to the front with his students and the university project, which he made a lot of efforts for, was left unfinished due to the war.

During the war, he began to write his tafsir book called İşârâtü’l-İ’câz. Many of his students were martyred in this war, and he was enslaved by the Russians in 1916. His slavery, which lasted about two and a half years, ended when he escaped during the chaos caused by the Russian revolution. He reached Istanbul through Siberia, Berlin, Warsaw and Sofia in 1918.

Both academic circles and the people of the palace showed him great interest in Istanbul; he was appointed as a member of Darü’l-Hikmeti’l-İslâmiye. In the years when he was in Istanbul, he wrote his booklets called Nokta, Sünuhât, Lemeât, Katre, Habbe, Zerre andŞemme; he published twenty-two more books along with them. Among these published books are the book called Kızıl İcaz, which is related to logic and İşârâtü’l-İ’câz, which is a book of tafsir.

Istanbul was occupied by the British in 1920. Said Nursi tried to awaken the people against the occupation with the booklet Hutuvat-i Sitte, which he published as a reaction to the occupation; and he supported the Kuva-yı Milliye movement by publishing a fatwa against Sheikhulislam’s fatwa, which described the Anatolian movement as a "rebellion". Because of his activities in Istanbul, the British issued a decree to execute Said Nursi. He was insistently invited to Ankara by the Grand National Assembly in Anatolia. As a result of these invitations, he went to Ankara on November 19, 1922 and was welcomed with an official ceremony by the Assembly.

However, he issued a declaration to warn the members of parliament for their indifferent attitudes toward the religion. His activities caused him to argue with Mustafa Kemal. When the members of parliament consoled themselves with the victory against the Greeks, he published his Arabic booklet called Zeylü’z-Zeyl, which criticized naturalism and determinism. In addition, he wrote his works called Hubab and Zeylü’l-Hubab. The Ankara Government offered him to be a member of parliament, the general preacher of the East, a member of religious affairs, etc. However, he refused to accept any of them, left Ankara in May 1923 and went to Van.

In Van, he retreated to Mount Erek and was engaged in worshipping. That he rejected the official posts proposed to him by political authorities, that he kept away from politics and was engaged in worshipping on a mountain were the signs of a new era for Said Nursi. As a result of the questioning that started from the time of his captivity, a new era which he called "New Said Period" started; in this era, he wrote Risale-i Nur, in which he described the Quran in a manner congruent with the understanding of the people of 20th century.

The authorities pestered him all the time in this New Said period. Using the Sheikh Said rebellion, which started in 1924, as an excuse, they deported him from Erek Mountain by the order of the Ankara Government and sent him to Burdur for an obligatory stay. He was kept in isolation during the period that started with Burdur.

In Burdur, he wrote his book called Nur’un İlk Kapısı. Said Nursi, who was sent to Isparta from here in 1926, stayed in Isparta for a little while; then, he was sent to Barla Village of Eğirdir District for an obligatory stay. During his nearly eight-year obligatory stay in Barla, he wrote most parts of his works called Sözler, Lem'alar and Mektubat.

They brought him back to the center of Isparta by the order of the government of Ankara in order to observe closely and control Said Nursi, whom they disturbed by various oppressions and persecutions such as poisoning, violation of private life and arbitrary prevention of meeting his friends during Barla period. When those who feared the name Said Nursi realized that it would not be possible to prevent him by surveillance, they started looking for ways to send him to prison; and in 1935 they used his work Tesettür Risalesi as an excuse and accused him of establishing a secret organization, opposing the regime and shaking the foundations of the regime; thus, they sent Said Nursi and his students to Eskişehir prison.

He was sentenced to one-year imprisonment by the verdict on August 19, 1935 and one-year obligatory stay in Kastamonu under surveillance. He was sent to Kastamonu after a year of imprisonment in Eskişehir.

He wrote his works entitled Ayet-ül Kübrâ, Birinci Şua, İkinci Şua, Yedinci Şua and Sekizinci Şua during his seven-year stay in Kastamonu. This time, he was tried at Denizli court due to a file sued against the booklet called Ayetü’l-Kübrâ. He was acquitted but he was sent to Emirdağ district of Afyonkarahisar for an obligatory stay upon the instruction of the Ankara government. A new file was sued against him by Afyon Heavy Penal Court in 1948; he was acquitted in 1949. However, his books were confiscated. Upon the appeal against the confiscation verdict, Afyon Heavy Penal Court decided in 1956 that Risale-i Nur could be printed and distributed. After the verdict of the acquittal by Afyon court, he returned to Emirdağ.

The third term, which he called Third Said, is the period of propagation and spread of Risale-i Nur. This period is a period when Badiuzzaman focused on services for spreading and making Risale-i Nur understood and was engaged in social life for the future of his religious service. These years were years of a bit of relief and liberty. Different layers of people were informed about the truths of Risale-i Nur; university circles started to read Risale-i Nur.

In 1952, he went to Istanbul to participate in the trial for the file sued against his book called Gençlik Rehberi; he was acquitted there too.

He went to Emirdağ from Istanbul. However, due to a new file sued against him in Samsun, he came to Istanbul again in order to go to Samsun. Since he was very tired and sick, he got a hospital report and testified in Istanbul courts upon his request. As a result of his testimony sent by the rogatory court to Samsun, he was acquitted.

Said Nursi, who returned to Emirdağ from Istanbul, then went to Isparta from Emirdağ and spent the last periods of his life by paying short visits to Emirdağ and Istanbul.

In his travel that started in January 1960, he went to Istanbul, Ankara, Konya and Emirdağ; then, he returned to Isparta.

Although Said Nursi got sick on March 20, 1960, he was taken to Urfa by his students due to his insistent request. His illness deteriorated there; he passed away in the plain room of the hotel in which he stayed on March 23, 1960.

There is no narrating stating that Allah wanted Hz. Uthman to marry Umm Kulthum. The narrations in the books of Islamic history regarding the issue are as follows:

- Umm Kulthum, the daughter of the Messenger of Allah married to Utayba b. Abu Lahab but their marriage reception had not been held yet. The Prophet’s daughter Ruqayya married to Abu Lahab’s other son Utba and their marriage reception had not been held yet either. When the Prophet (pbuh) was given the duty of prophethood and the chapter of Lahab was sent down, Abu Lahab addressed his sons as follows:  

“If you do not divorce Muhammad’s daughters, I will never be with you again.” Their mother, who was Harb b. Umayya’s daughter said to them,

“Divorce both daughters of Muhammad because they went astray like their father.” Thereupon, they divorced the daughters of the Prophet (pbuh). When Utayba divorced Umm Kulthum, he said to the Messenger of Allah,

“I deny your religion and have divorced your daughter. I will not come to you from now on and I do not want you to come to me.” Then, he attacked the Prophet (pbuh) and tore his shirt. Utayba was about to go to Damascus on business at that time. The Prophet (pbuh) looked at his face and said,

“I want Allah to send a dog to attack you.” Then, Utayba set off with Qurayshi merchants and arrived at a place called Zarqa. When they arrived there, a lion started to walk around them. Utyaba shouted,  

“I swear by Allah that this lion will kill me because of the curse of Muhammad. Ibn Abi Kabsha (Muhammad) is in Makkah but he is my murderer.” The lion left after walking around them a few times. They slept by placing Utayba in the middle of them. The lion returned, passed through them and crushed Utayba’s head with his claws.  

* * *

Hz. Uthman married Ruqayya first. After her death, he married Umm Kulthum. (see Haythami, 6/18)

Hz. Uthman did not take part in the Battle of Badr with the permission of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) because Ruqayya, his wife, was very ill. Ruqayya died when the army was in Badr. She was buried when the good news that Muslims had won a victory arrived in Madinah. Although he did not take part in the Battle of Badr, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) regarded him as one of the participants and gave his share from the booty. (Usdul-Ghaba, 3/586; Suyuti, Tarikhul-Khulafa, p. 165; H. I. Hasan, Tarikhul-Islam, 1/256)

Hz. Uthman took part in all of the wars against the polytheists and the enemies of Islam except the Battle of Badr.

After the death of Ruqayya, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) married his other daughter Umm Kulthum off to Hz. Uthamn. When Umm Kulthum died, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said,  

"If I had forty daughters, I would marry them off to Uthman one by one until none of them left."

He also said to Hz. Uthman, "If I had another daughter, I would definitely marry her off to you. (Usdul-Ghaba, ibid)

Hz. Uthman was given the nickname, “Dhun-Nurayn” meaning the owner of two lights because she married two daughters of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh). The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) appointed him as his deputy in Madinah during the Expeditions of Dhatur-Riqa and Ghatafan. (Suyuti, ibid, 165)

* * *

Hz. Hafsa, who had been born before the Messenger of Allah was given the duty of prophethood, married Khunays b. Hudhayfa. When Khunays died, Hafsa became a widow. 

Hz. Umar asked Hz. Uthman politely to marry his daughter; when Uthman did not give a positive answer, he asked Hz. Abu Bakr. However, he did not give a positive or negative answer.

Feeling sorry after those talks, Hz. Umar went to the Messenger of Allah and told him what had happened. When the Prophet noticed the hearty wish of Hz. Umar, he did not want to leave him sad and said, “Shall I tell you the name of a better son-in-law than Uthman for you and a better father-in-law than you for Uthman?” Hz. Umar said, “Yes, O Messenger of Allah!” The Messenger of Allah said, “You marry your daughter Hafsa off to me and I will marry my daughter Umm Kulthum to Uthman!” Hz. Umar was pleased by this offer very much and accepted it at once. Thus, the Prophet included Hz. Hafsa among her clean wives and married his daughter Umm Kulthum off to Hz. Uthman. Hz. Uthman had been married to Ruqayya, the daughter of the Prophet that died later. When he married Umm Kulthum, he was given the nickname, “Dhun-Nurayn (the Owner of Two Lights)”. (Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqat, 8/81-83)

- According to the findings of the researchers, the information regarding the issue has not been confirmed.

There are some people who believe in the existence of Yeti but most scientists think that this probability is very low according to the available data, and hence it is a legendary creature.

There is no possibility that this legendary character is Cain and it is highly likely that the pictures of Yeti are fake.

- First of all, neither the verses of the Quran nor hadiths contain any information about what happened after Cain killed his brother. Therefore, almost all of the news on the issue is of low scientific value and is based on Israiliyyat – that can neither be confirmed or denied.

However, there are some contradictions in the information. There are different interpretations that Cain was cursed by Allah, by his father Adam, or by the earth or some of the beings on it. Therefore, we can say that we could not find any sound source of the information in the question.

- According to some scholars, Cain is an unbeliever; according to others, he is a sinner. (Mawardi, the interpretation of al-Maida, 5/27)

According to a narration from Ibn Umar, the Prophet (pbuh) said,

“The repentance of three people will not be accepted; Iblis, the leader of unbelief, Cain, the murderer of Abel, and the murderer who kills a prophet.” (see Mawardi, the interpretation of al-Anam, 158)

Our recommendation is to prefer to deal with other useful issues instead of dealing with such issues that are of no use either in this world or in the hereafter.

The Mosque of Qurtuba (Cordoba), which is by the river of Guadalquivir (Wadil-Kabir) passing through the middle of the city of Cordoba (Qurtuba), Spain, is one of the biggest and oldest mosques in the world.

The mosque, which was built by Abdurrahman I and started in 785, was completed in one year. When it was first built, it was 75 meters wide and 100 meters long. The sultans that came later enlarged the mosques with various additions. In 833, Abdurrahman II added a part to the east and west of the mosque, increasing the number of the parts to 11. In 961, Hakam II added 11 parts and 11 arches, increasing the length to 47.5 meters. These additions were made without deforming the first shape and style.

After these additions, the temple became a magnificent building with a length of 175 m and with a width of 134 m. There is a big wall with a height of 12.20 m around the mosque.  

The temple with the most columns in the world isthe Mosque of Qurtuba. 19 parallel ways consisting of columns intersect 36 alleys at right angles. Most of the 850 columns are made of granite and some of them are made of stone. Columns support the arches made of bricks and white stones.

The most beautiful parts ofthe Mosque of Qurtuba are its niche (mihrab) and pulpit (minbar). The mihrab is in the form of horseshoe. The columns that support the arch of the mihrab are magnificent.

The Arches ofthe Mosque of Qurtuba

The outer decorations of the mosque have been harmed a lot but the inner decorations are still dazzling. Another characteristic of the mosque is that its arches are double-tiered; this characteristic exists only in this mosque.

It is said that a congregation 100.000 people used to perform prayers at the same in this mosque.

The Mosque of Qurtuba was transformed into a cathedral when Fernando III captured the city in 1523. The Spanish king did not demolish the mosque completely but built a cathedral in the middle.

It can be useful to read the following article in order to get brief information about the present state of Islam in Spain:

The Revival of Islam in Spain

On November 10, 1992, the Islamic Commission of Spain was officially recognized in this country, which had expelled from Muslims and Jews and which introduced itself as a Catholic country for centuries. This meant a real cultural revolution. A strict, even bigoted, Catholic country recognized Islam for the first time and granted rights to the Muslims living in its own country.

They had to give this right because Spanish intellectuals had begun years ago to revive the memories of Andalusia and to mention the unjust persecution inflicted upon Muslims. As a matter of fact, under the influence of those intellectuals, San Carlos de la Rapita Municipality built a monument in 1990; and the following sentence was written on it:

"Between 15 June and 16 September 1610, 41.000 Spanish Muslims were expelled from Spain."

The number of the Muslims in Spain started to increase beginning from 1980s, with the increase of the Muslims coming from outside and the Spanish people accepting Islam. First, a mosque was built in Granada, where painful memories of the Islamic world are still kept. Not long after that, the cities of Sevilla (Ishbiliyya), Cordoba (Qurtuba), Malaga, Almeria and other cities followed. Spanish cities and towns began to have mosques.

Along with the increase of the Muslim population, slaughtering animals according to Islamic methods started. "Halal meat" chain stores were formed.

Later on, an Islamic University opened in the name of Ibn Rushd, who grew up in Andalusia and enlightened the West. Then, the Muslim Cultural Center in Madrid opened. In Costa del Sol, Marbella and Fuengirola, spectacular mosques were built.

According to Spanish official authorities, there are 600,000 people who formally declare that they are Muslims today in Spain. Those who conceal themselves due to various reasons are definitely not included this number. The two largest Muslim Federations in the country have about four hundred associations under their roofs.

The following is stated in the preamble to the law granting rights to Muslims in Spain: "The religion of Islam has a tradition of a few centuries old and a significant importance in the formation of the Spanish identity." Acting upon this, the rights and responsibilities of Muslims are listed one by one.

The worshipping places of Muslims are approved as inviolable and untouchable places. Certain sections are allocated for Muslims in cemeteries. The beliefs and lifestyles of Muslims based on the Quran and the Sunnah are guaranteed. The imams appointed by Muslim communities are included in the scope of social security. When Muslims are taken into military service, if they want, they are employed in missions that will not disrupt their worshipping.

The marriage of Muslims is accepted and recorded in front of two witnesses. Measures are taken in hospitals, barracks and prisons according to the religious needs of Muslims.

Like other religions, Muslims are guaranteed religious education and given religious education lessons in public schools. Religious education lessons are given by the teachers chosen by Muslim communities and their salaries are paid by the state.

Mosques and places used for religious needs of Muslims are exempted from tax.

Muslims who work for the state or in private enterprise are given permission for Friday prayers.

Muslims are officially allowed a holiday for eid al-fitr and eid al-adha. The tests and other duties that need to be done on those days are postponed to other days.

It is also stated in the law that it is necessary to have halal meat at schools, barracks and other public institutions and to observe the food needs of Muslims.

Today's Muslims in Spain, who obtained numerous rights, are regarded as a hope and a first step toward the revival of the Andalusian civilization lost by Spanish intellectuals.

The fact that these nice initiatives, which will be an example to other western countries, were started in a strict Catholic and very bigoted country like Spain indicates that the Andalusian spirit still lives in that land without losing its influence.

Four hundred years later, the beautiful land of Andalusia is waking up again with sounds of adhan. Sounds of adhan rise to the sky of Andalusia. After centuries, Islam is announcing itself once again in Spain, which was the cradle of the Andalusian civilization.

Battle of Siffin took place between Hz. Ali, the fourth one of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs, and Hz. Muawiyah, the governor of Damascus, who did not accept his caliphate. The battle took place in 657 in Siffin, which is in the east of Raqqa; many Muslims were martyred in this battle.  

The reason for the outbreak of the war was based on a difference of ijtihad (view) on an issue. Since the issue was a political one, it ended up as a war. If the difference of view had been about knowledge only, it would have remanined in books. The way to war took place as follows in brief:

When Hz. Uthman was the caliph, a group of rebels arrived in Madinah. They besieged Hz. Uthman for a while; one or some of the people in the group martyred Hz. Uthman.

Thereupon, Hz. Ali declared his caliphate and started to look for the murderer of Hz. Uthman. However, the murderer in the group could not be identified. Hz. Muawiya, who was the governor of Damascus at that time, said “the rights of individuals are sacrificed for the salvation of the nation” by supporting relative justice and wanted all of the members of the rebellious group to be punished. Hz. Ali said “Rights are rights. The rights of an individual cannot be sacrificed for anything.” by supporting absolute justice; he continued working in order to find the real murderer(s) among the group. When the determination of the murderer delayed, the unrest increased. With the instigation of the mischief-makers who wanted to weaken Islam, the armies of the two parties confronted.

Meanwhile, the incident of Camel took place. After this incident, Hz. Ali sent an envoy to Hz. Muawiya, who proceeded to Kufa, to inform him that the Companions of both Muhajirs and Ansar accepted his caliphate and wanted him to accept his caliphate and obey him. Hz. Muawiya stalled Jarir bin Abdullah and consulted Hz. Amr bin al-As. He told the envoy that if the murderers of Hz. Uthman were not punished at once, he would proceed with his army. Hz. Muawiya left Damascus with his army of eighty-five thousand people. On the other hand, Hz. Ali left Kufa with his army of ninety thousand people and headed to Kufa.  

Hz. Ali sent envoys to Hz. Muawiya to make him give up. However, he did not receive a positive reply. While minor clashes continued between the units of two armies, envoys communicated between two armies in order to sign a peace treaty up to the end of the month of Muharram in 37 H. However, there was no hope for peace. The battle started again on the first day of the month of Safar.

As a result of the severe attack by Hz. Ali’s army, the army of Damascus was about to scatter. They were about to win the battle when Hz. Amr bin al-As said to the soldiers of Damascus, “Put the Quran pages on the tip of your spears and raise them.” They fulfilled this order and shouted at the soldiers of Hz. Ali’s army, “Let the book of Allah be a judge between us.” The act of Hz. Amr bin al-As started to take effect and the Iraqi soldiers started to say, “Let us accept the call to the book of Allah.” Hz. Ali tried to tell his soldiers that it was a ruse of war but he failed. They wanted a judge to be chosen from both parties and a decision in accordance with the Quran to be made. Hz. Ali’s supporters accepted it gladly. The people of Damascus chose Hz. Amr bin al-As as their judge and the people of Iraq supporting Hz. Ali chose Hz. Abu Musa al-Ash’ari as their judge. They met at Dumatul-Jandal in the month of Safar in 37 H and wrote an “arbitration agreement”, which included the principles which would form the basis for the decision to be made. This incident is called “the Incident of Hakam (Judge)” in Islamic history.

Andalusia is a name given by Muslims to Spain. Today it is the name of a province in the south of Spain. Andalusia, which was conquered by Muslims between 711 and 714 as a natural extension of early Islamic conquests, remained an Islamic country for eight centuries though its geographical boundaries narrowed over time.

The history of Andalusia is divided into six separate periods:

1. The Era of Governors (715-756)

In this period, Andalusia was administered as a province of the Umayyad State in the east. The most important development then was the military expeditions that the Muslim conquerors made over the Pyrenees to conquer Europe. During these expeditions, Muslims reached Paris in 732. Efforts were made in order to establish a new social order in Andalusia. A free religious environment was created by ending the oppression on the Jews and the Arianists applied with the provocation of the Catholic Church during the period of Visigoths. Thus, the old social order based on the principle of classes was abolished.

2. The Era of Andalusian Umayyads (756 - 1031)

Having made Andalusia an independent state in 756 based on the model of eastern state order, Andalusian Umayyads established an independent army to maintain their political entity on the one hand and sent a lot of students to the favorite centers of ilm (knowledge/science) like Cairo, Mecca, Madinah, Baghdad and Damascus, transferring the scientific developments in these centers to Andalusia on the other hand.

In this period, there were very few people who could read and write except for the priests in the churches in Europe but almost all of the people in Andalusia were literate. Along with the increase in the economic and public works activities, Qurtuba (Cordova), the capital city, became a diplomatic center. Thanks to the tolerant environment that was provided, mosques, churches and synagogues were able to remain side by side without any fighting.

As a result, Andalusia became the most powerful state in Europe during this period.

3. The Era of "Small Sultanates" (1031-1090)

When the Umayyad State declined due to internal disorders in 1031, Andalusia entered a process of division politically. In this process, almost every city was transformed into an independent state. Despite this political division, the rise in civilization continued in Andalusia. The most important indication of this was that almost every city turned into a Qurtuba. Significant developments took place in literature, astronomy, medicine and philosophy. However, the political disunity led to the fall of Tuleytula (Toledo), the second largest city of Spain in 1085. Thereupon, Andalusians had to ask for help from North Africa.

4. The Era of Murabits (Almoravids) and Muwahhids (Almohads) (1090 - 1228)

Murabits, who helped Andalusians in 1086 and who established a big state in North Africa, ruled Andalusia as a province subject to them until 1147. After this date, the administration of Andalusia was undertaken again by Muwahhids, who came from North Africa. In this period, the Christian Europe made Andalusia the target of crusade attacks with the direction of the Pope. For this reason, this period was spent mostly through defensive wars against the crusaders. However, the developments in the field of civilization did not stop. As a matter of fact, the upbringing of scholars and philosophers such as Ibn Rushd (Averros), Ibn Bajja (Avempace) andIbn Tufayl, who affected Europe deeply, took place in this period.

5. The Emirate of Granada (1231 -1492)

Upon the decline of the administrationof Muwahhids in 1228, Christian Spain began a rapid invasion movement on the Andalusian territory. Losing the power to defend themselves, the Andalusians lost all of the territories except Granada, Malaga and Almeira in the south. In 1231, the Nasri dynasty declared its independence in these remaining territories. This small Granada sultanate succeeded in surviving for two and a half centuries thanks to the politics it pursued. The Alhambra Palace, which is one of the most popular works of both Islamic architecture and the world architecture, belongs to this period. Granada, which was besieged by Christian armies in 1490, was delivered to Christians with an agreement made in 1492 on condition that the religious and civil rights of the Muslims would be guaranteed. Thus, the domination of Islam, which continued for eight centuries in Spain, came to an end.

6. Moriscos (1492 -1609)

Upon the decline of the Emirate of Grenada, a large number of Muslims remained under Christian domination in Spain. In 1497, the Catholic King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella decided to force Muslims to be Christianized, disregarding the agreement they made. They put Muslims in closed places and sprinkled baptized water on them; then, they were declared to be Christians. The Quran and other Arabic works were confiscated, libraries were emptied and traditional clothing was forbidden. They forbad the Muslims to teach Arabic to their children. The mosques were transformed into churches. Those who acted contrarily were sent to the inquisition courts.

According to some Spanish sources, the Inquisition decreed death penalty for more than three thousand Muslims; they were either impaled or burnt. Despite this oppression, Muslims were able to practice their religion secretly. In 1609, the Spanish kingdom made a decision with the church and decided to expel the Muslims living within the borders of Spain. Some of them were expelled to France and others to Africa. In these exiles, hundreds of thousands of Andalusian died. Although the Muslims were expelled from Spain, their influence continued afterwards.

That the Umayyads made Andalusia an independent state and ensured its political unity in 756 formed a serious obstacle to Christian progress. Thanks to it, a decline that could have happened much earlier was prevented.

The Umayyad dynasty, which successfully ensured and represented the political unity of Andalusia until 976, began to lose its power and influence after this date. The emergence of the Amiris as a rival power overturned all of the balances of the state and made the system impossible to produce solutions. This weakness of the central government eventually led to the strengthening of the local aristocracy and the division of the country.

Andalusia, has always been out of mind for Anatolian Muslims maybe because it was out of sight as it is now. Today, there are very few people who remember Spain with its Muslim identity. The "Western cultural imperialism", which imposes its own values ​​and assumptions, and makes people forget their freedoms that are contrary to it, becomes evident here. Once, I asked in a classroom with thirty students in the third grade of the Faculty of Theology, who really need to establish this relationship, what nationality the following scholars were and what they thought about them: Baqi Ibn Makhlad, Abu Bakr Ibn al-Arabi, Muhyiddin Ibn al-Arabi, Ibnu Mada, Abul Abbas al-Mursi, Abu Amr ad-Dani, Abu Hayyan, Ibn Atiyya. Unfortunately, nobody knew that these people were Andalusian.

The state of a huge country where Muslims dominated more than eight centuries, the tens of thousands of scholars who were brought up there, the tremendous civilization that was established there, and their present inheritors should not be like that. Yes, the Christian bigotry, which established sovereignty there by defeating the Muslims five centuries ago, which is not a distant past, may have done its best to erase the Islamic identity with a rarely seen savagery there. However, this persecution should have made the Muslims more sensitive to them. Intensive studies should have been made to search and to inform people about the end of the Muslims there, their laws, the properties of the great civilization established there, the works that remained from them and/or were destroyed. It was not possible to do these during the period of Inquisition and bigotry but it is possible to do it in the atmosphere of liberty of this century. I do not know how many people go there with this idea though we have so many possibilities and potentials.

However, Westerners have tried to find some traces belonging to two thousand years ago in Anatolia; and if they cannot find any, they make up some Christian elements such as Mother Mary's healing water in Kuşadası and the legend of Santa Claus in Demre and try to connect them with Turkey. They cherish the memory of the Christian domination of this land one thousand years ago, and write  and pronounce the Christian names of the cities and towns like  Constantinople (Istanbul), Smyrna (Izmir), Cappadocia (Kapadokya), Cilicia (Kilikya), Bithynia (Bitinya), Ephesus (Efes), Hierapolis, etc. They come here to repeat the travels of the disciples like Paul, Pierre, and Barnabas to spread Christianity and perform the sacred pilgrimage. The Muslims transform their cemeteries of thirty to forty years old into green space first, divide into plots after that and finally construct residences there but the cemeteries of Christians that are more than centuries old are not touched.   

According to a newspaper that I have read recently, there are seventy-five churches belonging to the Greek population of about five thousand in Istanbul. They are maintained though most of them are not used. However, Andalusia, which was a Muslim land until five or six centuries ago, is unprotected.  

At least the Qurtuba Mosque, which somehow survived the bigotry, should be given to Muslims and revived. I believe that Muslims will restore it, prepare it for prayers on their own and by spending their own money if they are allowed. (These restorations are sometimes carried out with the financial support of Muslim countries here.) Some other historical monuments can be repaired after it. Unfortunately, we saw some Muslim statesmen who tried to revive the sacred places of Christians under the pretext of tourism.  

Some Muslims celebrated the 500th anniversary of the end of Islam in Spain with Christians. Muslims, however, should have declared this 500th anniversary in 1992 as a call to search, worldwide, for the rights of the millions of Andalusian Muslims that were killed, deported or Christianized by force. Alas no. How can we, weak Muslims, who cannot do anything about the Middle East, which has become a blood bath and which is seen by the whole world through the means of media, search the rights of the Muslims five hundred years ago?

Abu Hanifa’s ideas and advice about people, society and the community in which he lived are the views of an experienced scholar who knew the spiritual mood of people thoroughly and who experienced good and bad incidents in life. His advice to his student Yusuf b. Khalid Samti (1) contains many of his most valuable thoughts. Some of them are as follows:

Know it very well that if you do not get on well with people, they will become your enemies; they will not like you even if they are your mothers and fathers. If you get on well with the people who are not your relatives, they will become like mothers and fathers to you. Now, I imagine the following: You go to Basra and start to oppose the people there and you do not spend time together with them. You abandon them and they abandon you. You curse them and they curse you. You accuse them of misguidance and bid’ah and they accuse you of misguidance and bid’ah. Bad words are uttered about you and us and you have to leave that place. Know that it is not something good. For, a person who does not manage well the people whom he has to manage until Allah shows him a way out is not regarded a wise person.

When you go to Basra, the people will welcome, visit and appreciate you. Put each person in his proper position. Treat the people of honor and knowledge well and esteem them. Show respect to old people and compassion to young people. Try to get close to people. Tolerate the sinners but choose your friends from good people. Do not despise administrators. Do not hurt anyone. Do not act carelessly about your dignity. Do not reveal your secret to anyone. Do not trust anyone until you test them. Do not make friends with mean people. Do not establish relationships with people who do not fit you. Do not talk to up to ignorant people. Do not accept anyone's invitation or gift.

Try to get along well with people, to show patience and endurance against the evil deeds you are exposed to and to have high ethics and a good heart. Let your clothes be clean and new. Pick yourself a good animal to ride. Use plenty of nice scents. Give yourself enough time to meet your personal needs. Keep an eye on your family. Take the initiative to educate and train them. Be soft-hearted related to education. Do not condemn people too much when you warn them about their mistakes because this will decrease the possibility of their regret and returning from their mistakes. Do not try to educate people yourself so that your prestige in their eye will not be harmed.  

Take care of your prayers. Treat people from your food because a stingy person can never gain the respect of the society and lead them. Find a confidant who will keep you informed of the situation of the people so that you will be able to correct something bad when you hear about it. When you hear some good news, increase your interest in people and help them.

Visit the ones who visit you and who do not visit you. Treat all people well whether they treat you well or not. Be forgiving. Enjoin what is good. Do not get involved in the things that do not concern you. Keep away from the people who can hurt you. Give everyone their due.

When one of your friends becomes ill, visit him personally and take care of him through your men. Ask and search about your friends who keep away from you. Visit those who do not come to you; ask about their state and health. Do not break off relationships with those who break off relationships with you. Entertain the people who visit you. Treat well the people who treat you badly. Speak well of a person  who speaks badly of you.

When one of your friends dies, pay his due to his inheritors and fulfil your duties toward him. Congratulate anyone who achieves something. Console anyone who is hit by a misfortune and share his sorrow.

If a person asks you for help, help him. Do not avoid helping the people who are in need. Treat people with mercy even if they are bad.

If you meet others in a gathering or join them in a mosque and if you encounter with views that are contrary to your views, do not start the discussion. However, if you are asked, mention their views first and say, “There are other views regarding the issue” and try to prove them. If they listen to you, they will appreciate you. Give some knowledge to the people who do not have the same view as you so that they will think about it. Try to persuade them based on clear information; do not try to persuade them with some complicated knowledge that will confuse them.   

Be friendly with the people who join the gatherings of ilm (knowledge). Make jokes with them from time to time and ask about their health. If you do so, their interest in you and in knowledge will increase. Invite them to dinner from time to time. Overlook their faults. Meet their needs, be kind to them and show tolerance. Do not make them feel that you are bored with them. Be like one of them. Treat them in the same way as you want them to treat you. Do not deprive them of interest and compliments that you would like for yourself. Do not forget about your responsibilities toward yourself. Take care of your special needs.

Do not provoke people. Do not show that you are bored with anyone who are bored with you. Listen to the people who listen to you. Do not burden people with the responsibilities that they do not burden with you. If people are pleased with something about themselves, you also be pleased with it. Always have good intentions about them.

Do not make concessions about your honesty. Do not act arrogantly. Do not betray people even if they betray you. Deliver what is entrusted to you to its owner even if what you have entrusted to someone has not been delivered to you. Do not give up loyalty. Hold fast to taqwa. Maintain your relationship with the members of other religions based on their own tendencies.

If you keep my advice, I hope you will attain salvation.”

Three conclusions drawn from the advice above

That was the advice of Abu Hanifa to one of his students. He gave the advice above to his student Yusuf who went to Basra. It clearly show us the three values of this Great Imam. They are as follows:  

1. We clearly see his degree of high ethics and his loyalty to virtue here. They virtually became his nature and his faculties. There is nothing to wonder that Abu Hanifa’s ethics is like that because he improved himself based on high ethical virtues and spiritual values. He always kept away from mean and bad deeds.  

We understand Abu Hanifa's sagacious views on social issues and ethics of people from his advice. A person who is engaged in the improvement of the community must win the hearts of people. He should make people love one another and unite them. He should not cause separation and hatred. He should tell people what they are used to, what they like and what they can tolerate. He should not say things that they will not accept. If he has an idea that contradicts their ideas, he should not utter it suddenly; he should not scare them. First of all, he should listen to what they say and then he should express his own view by saying, “There are other views regarding the issue.” He should support his view by presenting his evidences. He should not directly say that it is his view. If they ask whose view it is, he should say, “It belongs to a scholar.” He should present his views like that to make it easy for his views to be accepted.

3. We learn from this advice how a teacher should treat his students. How will he teach them what he knows, how will he make them familiarized and how will he instill his ideas into them? He should give good advice as an experienced teacher. The teacher should give information to his students according to their degrees, inclinations and natural abilities. He should make them familiarized with knowledge. He should not scare them by asking them hard questions that would discourage them. He should start from simple and easy topics and move gradually to hard and ambiguous ones. He does not find all those enough; he advises his student to talk to his students related to a variety of topics as a teacher, to gain the love and trust of them in order to make them be interested in the lessons, and even to make jokes with them, to overlook their mistakes and faults. Thus, we understand that it is necessary to treat students softly and nicely. He should work insistently, without getting bored. He should regard himself as one of the students in order to arouse their interest.

Those who give lessons will acknowledge how valuable and appropriate the advice above is. It is the most important thing to make the students love knowledge (ilm), to make it easy and to make the students interested in the subject. (2)

References:

1.  Yusuf bin Khalid as-Samti is one of the previous students of Abu Hanifa. He is included in the chains of narrators of Ibn Majah. He died in 189 H. For detailed information, see al-Jawahirul-Mudiyya, 3/1842
2. Osman Keskioğlu, Ebu Hanife, M. Ebu Zehra, p. 217-219.

The claim that Hz. Ali did not want to pay allegiance to Hz. Abu Bakr mentioned in the book called İslam Tarihi is not true. For, the reason why Hz. Ali paid allegiance late was his being busy with the burial and funeral of the Prophet (pbuh).

The Death of the Prophet (12 H /632 AD)

When Hz. Ali heard that the Prophet (pbuh) died, his knees gave way; when Hz. Uthman heard it, he became tongue-tied due to his sorrow; when Hz. Umar heard it, he was terrified and could not accept it; those facts show that they loved the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) very much. They were his beloved ones. Those incidents are not seen in most of the people who lose their closest relatives. Those incidents seen in the Companions when he died indicate that they loved him very much.   

Hz. Abu Bakr’s state shows that he was more cold-blooded and had the feeling of responsibility. He came out of his daughter Hz. Aisha’s room into the mosque. He addressed the people there as follows: "O people! Whoever worshipped Muhammad, Muhammad is dead, but whoever worshipped Allah, know that Allah is Alive and shall never die."

Hz. Abu Bakr's words were important. The prophets, who were the most superior people and who were appointed by Allah, who is pre-eternal and post-eternal, as the messengers and were chosen by Him, were mortal. They were Allah’s slaves and messengers. The greatest prophet was like that too. Human beings should not be idolized and the great prophets should not be made idols. This took place in the Era of Jahiliyya where idols increased and the idol Lat emerged, in the Greek and Roman states and other civilizations. The only deity to be worshipped is Allah. He is always alive and eternal. Only a deity that is always alive and eternal can deserve to be worshipped. Then, he recited the following verses:   

"Muhammad is no more than a messenger: many Were the messenger that passed away before him. If he died or were slain, will ye then Turn back on your heels? If any did turn back on his heels, not the least harm will he do to Allah; but Allah (on the other hand) will swiftly reward those who (serve Him) with gratitude."(1)

The Companions were so astonished and sorrowful that they did not seem to hear him. However, the verse awakened them. Yes, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) was the master of human beings but he was a messenger like the previous ones. He came to this guesthouse and left like the previous prophets. Allah stated in the verse that he would pass away one day. When he died, the Muslims would follow his way (Sunnah). Therefore, if they returned, they would be losers. For, Allah is Samad; He does not need His creatures, their deeds and worship. However, Lordship necessitates worshipping. A patient needs doctor’s advice and prescription. Similarly, slaves need worshipping. When the verse was recited, his knees gave way and fell down.

Hz. Abbas, Hz. Ali and the other members of Ahl al-Bayt started to wash and enshroud his dead body. Along with crying and feeling sorry, it was necessary to choose a caliph to carry out the affairs of the ummah to succeed the Messenger of Allah (pbuh. The person who deserved it was Hz. Abu Bakr, who was the friend of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) in the cave and who was the most superior among the Companions. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) regarded him superior to everybody. He kept only Hz. Abu Bakr’s door open among the doors that opened to the mosque; he also appointed Hz. Abu Bakr the imam to lead the prayers when he was ill.

Allegiance to Hz. Abu Bakr

The views that emerged related to the caliphate when the Prophet (pbuh) died

A few views emerged upon the death of the Messenger of Allah related to the caliphate. (2)

First View: It is the view Ansar. As it is known, before the Migration, twelve leaders were appointed among Ansar. Two of those twelve leaders were Sa'd b. Ubada and Usayd b. Khudayr. If one of them had been chosen as the caliph, it would have caused the other to be his rival. The competition between Aws and Khazraj could have emerged. For, the members of the Aws tribe wanted Sa'd to be the caliph and the members Khazraj wanted Usayd. They gathered around their leaders separately. After the speech Ubada made in the presence of Ansar in Thaqifah Bani Saida, people almost paid allegiance to him.

Second View: It is the view of the majority of the Companions. They took the power and qualification necessary to conduct the affairs of the ummah into consideration. Quraysh was the most honorable, powerful and influential tribe among Arabs. That the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) belonged to Quraysh was a special virtue for Quraysh. Therefore, it was necessary to choose the most virtuous one among them. Islam eliminated tribalism and racism (3) and introduced the unity of Islam and brotherhood of belief but they took into consideration the possibility that the other tribes of Quraysh would not obey a caliph that did not belong to Quraysh and that there would be conflicts among the ummah. They also guessed that Aws and Khazraj tribes would not obey a caliph that would be chosen outside Quraysh. If a caliph were chosen from Quraysh, both Aws and Khazraj and the other Arab tribes would obey him. There would not be conflict and disagreement about caliphate.

Third View: It is the view of Hashimis. They took kinship to the Messenger of Allah into consideration. Sons of Hashim were the most honorable tribe among Quraysh. Besides, the Prophet (pbuh) belonged to them. Since Sons of Hashim were the closest relatives of the Prophet, the caliph needed to be one of them. They wanted to pay allegiance to Hz. Ali. Hz. Abbas was the closest relative of the Messenger of Allah but he accepted Islam late and he was the last Muslim who migrated to Madinah. When there were the first muhajirs and the ten people who were given the glad tidings of Paradise, it would be out of question to pay allegiance to him. Then, it was best to pay allegiance to Hz. Ali. The disciples of the Prophet from Ashara al-Mubashshara,  Zubayr b. Awwam who was Hz. Abu Bakr's son-in-law due to his daughter Asma, Miqdad b. Aswad, Salman al-Farisi, Abu Dharr, Ammar b. Yasir and Ubayy b. Ka'b, who were among the notables of the Companions held this view.  

If people were to pay allegiance to the Umayyad, it would be Abu Sufyan, Muawiya’s father. For, he was a great person in terms of his tribe and nobility. However, he became a Muslim late and his service was not sufficient. For, what the Muslims suffered in Uhud in the third year of the Migration because of him (4) was still remembered; on the other hand, that Abu Sufyan became a Muslim when Makkah was conquered decreased his importance though he was a strong Muslim after that. Therefore, the only person who could be the caliph from Sons of Umayyad was Hz. Uthman.

When Hz. Abu Bakr, Ali and some other Companions were busy with washing and enshrouding the Prophet (pbuh), Mughira b. Shu’ba, who was a Muhajir, went to Hz. Umar and said, "Ansar gathered in Thaqifa. If they decide something, there will be a war between us and them." Thereupon, Hz. Umar, Hz. Abu Bakr and Abu Ubayda went to Thaqifa. Ansar almost paid allegiance to Sa'd b. Ubada (5). When Hz. Abu Bakr made a nice speech mentioning the superiority of Muhajirs, who had accepted Islam earlier, and stating that Arabs would not obey anyone accept Quraysh, Ansar said, "Let there be one caliph from us and one from you." However, Hz. Umar said, two swords would fit in one sheath. When Abu Ubayda made a speech that supported him, the members of Ansar and Muhajirs who were there paid allegiance to Hz. Abu Bakr.

Hz. Ali was in the house of his wife, Hz. Fatima. Zubayr b. Awwam, Miqdad, Salman, Abu Dharr, Ammar and Ubayy b. Ka'b were there too. They felt offended because they had not been consulted but there was no time to consult them. Meanwhile, Hz. Abbas said to Hz. Ali, "Allow us to pay allegiance to you; then, people will pay allegiance to you too. However, he did not accept it fearing that there would be mischief. Abu Sufyan did not pay allegiance to Hz. Abu Bakr considering that his tribe was small and supported Hashimis. When he wanted to pay allegiance to Hz. Ali, Hz. Ali addressed him as follows: "O Abu Sufyan! Do you want to cause conflict among the ummah of Islam?" Thus, he rejected Abu Sufyan’s offer. On the other hand, Hz. Umar, Abu Ubayda and Hz. Abu Bakr objected to Hz Ali’s retiring into his house by saying, "Why did Hz. Ali not come to Thaqifa and intervene?" When Hz. Ali heard statements like "Hz. Ali wanted to be the caliph; he did not accept the caliphate of Hz. Abu Bakr", he got angry. (6) In fact, he preferred to keep away because he could not overcome the shock of the death of the Prophet.

Thus, after the incidents that we mentioned above took place on the day when the Prophet (pbuh) died on Rabiulawwal 12 (Monday) in the 11^th year of the Migration, Hz. Abu Bakr became the caliph of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh). The next day (on Tuesday), he went to the mosque and the general allegiance took place there. (7)

Hz. Ali's delay in allegiance

Hz. Ali and Hz. Abu Bakr avoided causing mischief and conflicts in the Islamic ummah but Hz. Ali had not paid allegiance to Hz. Abu Bakr yet. The majority of the Companions had paid allegiance to Hz. Abu Bakr and they would not return. However, the people around Hz. Ali insisted on his caliphate. What is more, Hz. Abu Bakr's son-in-law, Zubayr b. Awwam insistently said, "I will not sheathe my sword unless allegiance is paid to Ali." However, Hz. Umar said, "Take his sword and hit a stone with it." (8)

Hz. Abu Bakr showed patience for a while but when it continued for a long time, he feared that the two parties would fall out and that some gullible, ignorant people would intervene and conflicts would occur; therefore, he decided to consult Hz. Umar regarding the issue. While he was talking to him, Abu Ubayda arrived; Hz. Abu Bakr appointed Abu Ubayda to talk to Hz. Ali and settle the issue.

Ubayda b. Jarrah informed Hz. Ali about what Hz. Umar and Hz. Abu Bakr told him. Hz. Ali said that he had preferred to retire into his house due to the shock caused by the death of the Prophet and that he had been busy with the Book of Allah (9). Then, he spoke as follows: "If I had not promised, I would take my mouth out with my ring finger and little finger and I would plunge into the vast place of the word with the bottom of my feet and top of my head. However, I will not open my mouth until I rejoin my Lord. I will try my case in the presence of my Lord. I will go to the congregation tomorrow morning and pay allegiance to your friend. I will show patience to this state, which saddens me and which pleases you, so that the decree of qadar will take place. Allah owns everything."

Abu Ubayda informed Hz. Abu Bakr about what he said. The next day, Hz. Ali entered the mosque, walked through the congregation and paid allegiance to Hz. Abu Bakr. Hz. Abu Bakr apologized to Hz. Ali, who sat next to him because he did not take part in the consultation. Then, Hz. Ali asked permission to leave and left. When Hz. Umar saw him off, Hz. Ali said to him, (10)

"The reason why I have not come so far is not because I do not accept your friend (Abu Bakr). I have not come today because I fear. I know what my eyes see, where my foot steps on, where I draw my bow and where my arrow reaches. However, I held the reigns of my horse when a misfortune came after another."

What he meant by "a misfortune coming after another" was the death of the Messenger of Allah and claims and demands of caliphate for him. When Hz. Ali paid allegiance to Hz. Abu Bakr (11), "ijma (consensus) ummah" occurred in the caliphate of Hz. Abu Bakr.

 Remarkable issues related to Hz. Ali's delay in allegiance

 It is necessary to highlight some points regarding the issue:

1) With the settlement of the disagreement, a dangerous conflict that might have occurred between the majority of the Companions and Hashimis was prevented. 

2) Hz. Abu Bakr became the caliph with the consensus of the ummah. As the Messenger of Allah stated, the ummah would not agree unanimously on something wrong. 

3) Hz. Abu Bakr did not act furiously and did not walk up to Hz. Ali. Hz. Ali said he would pay allegiance one day later and asked some time to persuade his supporters.  

4) Perhaps it was a good thing that Hz. Ali did not go to Thaqifa; thus, the addition of Hashimis to the disagreement was prevented, which was a mercy.

5) Those who say they have tremendous love for Hz. Ali, who disparage him, and whose creed necessitates accusing him of immorality say,  

"Although Hz. Abu Bakr and Hz. Umar acted unjustly, Ali feigned approval for them."

According to Shiite terminology, he dissimulated. That is, he was frightened of them and behaved hypocritically (God forbid). How can it be possible to accuse a person who won the title “Asadullah,”2 deservedly, who was the commander and guide of the veracious people of hypocrisy, cowardice and simulating love for people he did not love, and of feigning approval for them in fear for more than twenty years? It does not mean to love him. Hz. Ali would not accept such a love. Thus, Ahl as-Sunnah, the People of truth, do not disparage Hz. Ali or level accusations of immorality at him; they do not attribute cowardice to such a remarkable hero of courage. Ahl as-Sunnah say, "If Hz. Ali had not considered the Rightly-Guided Caliphs to be truthful, he would not have recognized them for a minute or obeyed them. Since he thought them right and preferable, he surrendered his endeavor and courage in the way of truth.

They all show that the people of Ahl as-Sunnah love Hz. Ali more than Alawites do. In that case, they are regarded Alawites more than them. They also support him. The following four issues indicate it:

1) Firs of all, they mention Hz. Ali with praise that he deserves in all of their prayers (duas) supplications and sermon. 

2) The great majority of the saints and pure people of Ahl as-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah regard Hz. Ali as "Murshid (Guide)" and "Shah al-Walayah (Shah of Sainthood)".

3) Besides, it is regarded as overstepping the mark for those who lived after the Companions to question them because the best period of Islam the period of the Companions. (12) Each of them is a star of guidance. They conveyed the Quran to us and we learned tafsir from them. Hadiths were heard from them. Religious decrees were taken from them too. Can we question them with what we learned from them? To err is human. Mujtahids also make mistakes in their views but even if they do, they get thawabs. Therefore, we cannot and will not say bad things about and criticize Hz. Ali, Hz. Abu Bakr and the others.

4) The Companions are the pillars of Islam. The disagreements and debates among them are like discussions about ijtihads. Even if they make a mistake in ijtihad, they accept the truth when they see it. Even if they address one another harshly for the sake of the truth, they appreciate one another. Partiality and self-love were not dominant in them but love of truth was. If they had acted partially, would Zubayr b. Awwam had supported Hashimis instead of Hz. Abu Bakr, his father-in-law? Although they did not hold the same view related to the caliphate, Hz. Umar was among the people that appreciated Hz. Ali most. When Hz. Ali found an answer to a problem he mentioned, he said, "I take refuge in Allah from the emergence of a hard issue in a congregation where Ali is not present." (13) Hz. Ali sometimes said, "After the Messenger of Allah, the best people of this ummah are Abu Bakr and Umar." (14)

To sum up, their disagreement was ijtihad; they were free from worldly interest, love of leadership and politics. However, the people living today have completely different views and ideas. Intentions and ideals today are related to the world more. The people living with those ideas today think the Companions were like them too. 

Footnotes:
1- For the issue of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) being the messenger of Allah, see al-Baqara, 2/119,252; al-An'am, 6/14, 19, 48; Aal-i Imran, 3/62, 79, 114, 159; an-Nisa, 4/105, 106; al-Maida, 5/67, 99; Sad, 38/65, 70.
2- Ibn Kathir, Izzaddin Abul Hasan, al-Kamil fit-Tarikh, I-XII, Beirut 1996, II, 335 ff.
3- Sarıcık, Murat. İnanç ve Zihniyet Olarak Cahiliye, Isparta 1988; for Zann al-Jahiliyya, Hukm al-Jahiliyya and Asabiyya, see p. 18-45; Muhammed Khudari Bak, Nurul-Yaqin, Beirut, nd. p. 125-127; Yazır, Hamdi. Hak Dini Kuran Dili, I-IX, Istanbul 1979, III, 1618; at-Taj, V, 22, 46: the interpretation of "the Prophet’s asabiyya"
4- Abu Sufyan was the commander of the polytheists in Uhud. He became a Muslim immediately before the conquest of Makkah. His real name was Sahr b. Harb. He was the father of Umm Habiba, one of the wives of the Messenger of Allah. He took part in the Expedition of Hunayn and Taif. He lost one of his eyes in the Siege of Taif and Battle of Yarmuk. The Messenger of Allah prayed for him a few times. Once, the Messenger of Allah called Hz. Ali and told him that he was pleased with Abu Sufyan. al-Bukhari, Mughira b. Bardizbah, Sahihul-Bukhari, IV-III, Istanbul, nd, VI, 126; at-Taj, III, 376; for the virtue of Abu Sufyan, see Siratun-Nabawi, IV, 198; Tafsirul Quranil Azim, IV, 254; being sent to break the idol Lat into pieces.
5- at-Taj, III, 391-392; for Sa'd b. Ubada and Usayd b. Khudayr, see al-Kamil, II, 332.
6- For the evidences of the Shiite about the caliphate of Hz. Ali and the answers given to them, see Ehli Beyt, p. 65-99; Sahihu Bukhari, IV, 207 ff; at-Taj, III, 330 ff; Suyuti, Abdurrahman b. Abi Bakr. Tarikhul-Khulafa, Egypt 1952, s. 166; Tarikhul-Khamis, II, 44-45; Ibn Majah, Sunanu Ibn Majah, I-II, Istanbul, nd I, 44 ff.
7- al-Kamil, II, 332.
8- Kısas-ı Enbiya, I, 291.
9- Hz. Ali put together all of the chapters and verses based on a different arrangement and prepared a mushaf with a special order after the death of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh).
10- Kısas-ı Enbiya, I, 294; al-Masudi, Ali b. Husayn, Murujudh-Dhahab, I-IV, Beirut 1986, II, 330. The views about when Hz. Ali paid allegiance.
11- Ibn Kathir states that Hz. Ali, Sons of Hashim and Zubayr b. Awwam did not pay allegiance until Hz. Fatima died. see al-Kamil, II, 331.
12- Sahabe modeli, p. 192, 231 ff 239; Sunanun-Nasai, VIII, 94; Sunanu Ibn Majah, II, 137; Sah. Bukhari, VIII, 94; Sah. Muslim, No: 210, 215.
13- See also Ehl-i Beyt, p. 150, 155 ff.
14- Kısas-ı Enbiya, I, 301.

EXPEDITION OF ANMAR: This expedition is also called "Expedition of Dhu-Amr" and "Expedition of Ghatafan" along with "Expedition of Anmar".

Awrath bin Harith, who was the bravest member of Sons of Muharib and who was full of the feeling of revenge and fury due to the Battle of Badr, provoked people and gathered a troop of soldiers. They settled in a place called Dhu-Amr in Najd. After a while, Awrath bin Harith ascended on a rock and addressed his soldiers as follows:    

- O heroes! We have not forgotten Badr and we will not forget it. It is an inerasable black mark on our foreheads.

Some soldiers shouted by raising their spears:

- Revenge! Revenge!

- Calm down please!!

Awrath continued:

- Revenge, of course, but what kind of a revenge?

When he spoke, he squeezed his teeth and clenched his fist as if he was crushing something unseen.

- Let us take such a revenge that we shall plunder anything around Yathrib. We shall take away whatever we can carry and break and burn the others.

They shouted all together:

- Let us beat and break. Let us burn and demolish!

...

It was the twelfth or Rabiulawwal in the third year of the Migration.

...The place, number and intention of the enemy were told to the Prophet by the intelligence of the Muslims. The Prophet (pbuh) appointed Uthman bin Affan as his deputy and proceeded to the region where the enemy settled with four hundred and fifty Companions.

...

When some Companions encountered Jabbar from Sons of Thalaba on the way, they caught him and started to question him:  

- O Jabbar! Stop! Where are you going?

- To Yathrib.

- Are you going to Madinah like that to travel while your tribe is getting ready to attack Madinah?

- No. I do not know about what Sons of Thalaba are doing. However, I heard that Awrath bin Harith was trying to gather people for an expedition.

- What else?

- That is all. I do not know anything else.

...

Jabbar was quite calm and he sounded trustable.
 

...The Companions who caught him took him to the Messenger of Allah and told him about the conversation that took place. Jabbar was probably worried about his life but he was surprised by an offer. He was caught by the Muslims when his tribe was getting ready to attack Madinah though he was unaware of it. They could have harmed and even killed him…

However, they did not kill him because they were Muslims; they were distinguished slaves of Allah. Jabbar was worried about his life but he was not even harassed and insulted. What is more, the Prophet (pbuh) invited him to accept Islam with a warm and soft voice. Jabbar became a Muslim at once without any difficulty.

He gave the Muslims the following information:

- O Messenger of Allah! They cannot dare to encounter you. If they hear about the advance of the Islamic army, they will probably flee to the mountain. I can guess where they will hide. If you allow me to come with you, I will show you their points of hiding.

...If there is jihad somewhere, it is fard for every Muslim to take part in that jihad. It was also fard for Jabbar since he became a Muslim.  

The Prophet (pbuh) accepted his offer assigned him to Bilal al-Habashi.

...

When the glorious Islamic army arrived at Dhu Amr, it began raining intensely.

...It turned out to be as Jabbar said. The so-called heroic army of the polytheists ran toward the mountainous area when they heard that the Islamic army was coming.

...As the Islamic army was proceeding, the rain got heavier. Those who had shields tried to protect themselves from the rain but the believers and the Prophet got completely wet.  

...It rained heavily for a while and subsided. The sun appeared and the grey clouds moved away. A rainbow appeared and it started to get warmer. Everybody was trying to dry their clothes.   

...

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) went to a desolate place in the valley, took off his clothes and hung them on a short tree to dry out. The Prophet (pbuh) lay down on the soft sand under the sun while his clothes were drying. He lay down on his right side and placed his right hand under his right cheek.

Those who were watching the believers from the places they were hiding on the mountain ran to Awrath, gasping for breath.

- O Awrath! Muhammad is away and alone under a tree. It is time to do whatever you can now. Come on.

Awrath said,

- You stay here; I will kill him.

... He took his sword and approached the tree under which the Prophet (pbuh) was lying by concealing himself. He stood at the head of the Prophet. He was facing his enemy with his sword. He was shivering a bit. The person whom everybody wanted to kill him was sleeping alone in front of him.  

The Prophet (pbuh) opened his eyes, realized what was happening and stood up suddenly but he could not reach his sword.  

Awrath, who felt sure that he would kill the Prophet (pbuh), shouted. His sound was harsh; his hands were full of greed and his right hand, holding the sword, was in the air.

- O Muhammad! Who shall protect you against me now? We are alone. You have no sword but I have one. Tell me. Who will save you from me?

Awrath was shouting and he relied on his power and sword; he thought he would beat the magnificent person facing him. What a wretched thought!

The Prophet (pbuh) gave a calm answer, which surprised Awrath:

- O Awrath! Allah will save me and embarrass you...

Awrath felt a bit afraid when he saw that his opponent was so calm despite his own fury and severity. He spoke very little but confidently. Just then, Jibril (Gabriel) arrived and struck him in the chest hard.  

Awrath fell back, dropping the sword from his hand; the sword stopped in front of the Prophet (pbuh). The Prophet picked up the sword and stood at the man's head suddenly; Awrath was like an insect on the sand and the Prophet (pbuh) was like a formidable mountain with the sword. Awrath thought, “Alas! That is all. I was going to kill him but now he is going to kill me.” He was in sweat.

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) asked the man lying near his feet:

- O Awrath! Who shall protect you against me now?

...His own sword was shining in the sun, ready to cut off his head; the yellow soil, yellow sand and the face of Awrath assumed the same color. The wind that blew could not make his hair, which had stuck to his forehead, move. He wiped the salty sweat that came to his eyes with his sleeve. He tried to soften his throat, which had dried, by gulping. Then, he started to beg softly:  


- I have made a mistake!

- Yes, you have made a mistake but your real mistake is insisting on unbelief. The source of your mistakes is your unbelief. The absolute truth will not change whether you believe or not. Come and bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

Awrath was in astonishment. He spoke by stuttering:  

- You could have killed me.

The Prophet (pbuh) smiled. His cheeks were pink like rose buds:

- We have not come to kill people. We inform people about the eternal life.

...The heart of Awrath softened. His eyes were full of warm tears. He started to utter kalima ash-shahada as he was getting up:

- Ashhadu anla ilaha illallah wa ashhadu anna Muhammadan abduhu wa Rasuluhu.

The Prophet (pbuh) passed the sword to Awrath with a smile that became more beautiful with his snow-white teeth.

...When his shy hand reached out for the sword passed by the Prophet, this new believer grasped wisdom fully.

- O Messenger of Allah! You are the best person among people.

...

Definitely...

He is the best and most superior person among people and creatures.


...

The Prophet (pbuh) sent Awrath back to his troop. When he approached his soldiers, they started to ask him:

- As far as we could see from this distance, you were over Muhammad with your sword but you suddenly fell down. We could not understand what happened.

Awrath sat on a high rock, took off his turban, wiped the sweat of his forehead and answered their questions one by one:

- Yes, what you saw was true. I was standing next to him when a tall person in white, whom I could not understand from where he came, hit me on the chest very hard. It was such a hard blow that I fell down to one side and my sword to the other side.  

The soldiers were surprised. One of them asked,

- Who was the person that hit you?

- Jibril, the angel that brought revelation to our Prophet.

The soldiers started to talk and move. They said,

- O Awrath! You said, "our Prophet". Was it a slip of tongue?

Awrath stood up from the rock he was sitting on and looked at his soldiers; then, he started to talk:

- Alhamdulillah, I became a Muslim. I advise you to become Muslims too. Whatever Muhammad says is true.

The face of Awrath was shining brightly.

...

Some of the members of the Sons of Thalaba and Sons of Muharib embraced Islam. Thus, it became clear why the Prophet sent him back to the polytheists. Those who did not embrace Islam could not say anything to him because it was impossible for them to resist this hero, whose strength increased with belief.

Answer 1:

First of all, we should state that this information is not sound.

a) There are other narrations that do not include the use of force in Tabaqat. These narrations, which are more than one, are more likely to be sound.

b) “Ali b. Zayd (b. Jad’an)” included in the narration in the question, is a rather weak narrator. (see Ibn Hajar, Taqribut-Tahdhib, 1/401)

c) There are expressions in the narration of the story that the mind will not accept. For example; “After the intercourse, Umar said, “Oh. Oh. Oh.” Then, he left Atiqa.” Who heard it from whom? Although it is not acceptable - in many aspects - to go near a newly married ordinary couple at midnight, no one can dare to get close to a distinguished, majestic caliph, Umar - on the first night of his marriage.

d) It would only fit Shiites who hold a grudge against Umar (ra) to claim that someone like Umar did such ugly things as forcibly marrying a woman and having a fight in the nuptial chamber and forcibly going to bed with a woman though she did not want to.

Answer 2:

Atiqa bint Zaid (r. anha)

Atiqa bint Zayd b. Amr al-Qurashiyya (d. 40/660) is the sister of Said b. Zayd, one of Ashara al-Mubashshara; she was one of the first women Companions who embraced Islam and was a poet.

After becoming a Muslim in Makkah, she migrated to Madinah. She married Abdullah, son of Abu Bakr (ra), there. When she impressed her husband with her beauty and charm, causing him not to fulfill his jihad duty and similar responsibilities properly, Abu Bakr forced his son to divorce Atiqa. Abdullah felt very upset and divorced his wife. However, one night when Abu Bakr heard his son’s touching poems expressing the pain of this separation, he allowed his son to marry Atiqa again.

When Abdullah died in Madinah from an arrow wound he received during the Siege of Taif, Atiqa felt very sad and sang an elegy for her husband, stating that she would cry until she died.

However, a year later (12/633) she married Umar (ra). Before getting married, she got a promise from Umar that he would not prevent her from praying in congregation in Masjid an-Nabawi. As a matter of fact, Atiqa was in the mosque when Umar (ra) was martyred by Abu Lulu in the mihrab.

It is also narrated that before Umar, she married Zayd b. Khattab, Umar’s elder brother and that when Zayd was martyred in Yamama, Umar married her.

After the martyrdom of Umar, Atiqa made her third (or fourth) marriage with Zubayr b. Awwam. Upon the martyrdom of Zubayr, she sang an elegy for him too.

It is said that, after Zubayr, Ali b. Abu Talib wanted to marry her, but she did not consent to this marriage by reminding him the widespread rumor among the people of Madinah that Ali (ra) said, “Whoever wants to be a martyr should marry Atiqa.”

It is also narrated in some sources that Atiqa married Ali’s son Husayn, that she even saw Husayn being martyred in Karbala, that she lifted his face from the ground, that she cursed those who committed this terrible murder, and that she cried for Husayn by singing an elegy.

Atiqa, who was a very good poet who sang elegies for each of her deceased husbands and whose poems could be shown as good examples of elegy, also wrote an elegy about the Prophet (pbuh).

References:

Ibn Sa’d, at-Tabaqat, II, 332.
Ibn Qutayba, Uyun al-Akhbar, IV, 114-115.
Abul-Faraj al-Isfahani, al-Aghani, Beirut 1959, XVIII, 7- 13.
Abdulqadir al-Baghdadi, Khizanatul-Adab, IV, 350-352.
Ibn Abdulbarr, al-Isti’ab, IV, 364-367.
Ibnul-Athir, Usdul-Ghaba, VII, 183-185. Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya, VII, 250.
Ayni, Umdatul-Qari, Cairo 1348, VI, 194-195.
Zaynab bint Yusuf, ad-Durrul-Manthur, Bulaq 1312.

(See TDV İslam Ansiklopedisi, Atike bint. Zeyd item)

The Prophet (pbuh) ordered Hz. Ali to remain in Madinah until he returned the things that the Qurayshi polytheists had entrusted to the Prophet. Hz. Ali remained in Makkah for three days and nights to do it. (1)

He stood next to the valley of Makkah and called out:

"If you have entrusted anything to the Messenger of Allah, come to me. I will return them."

After giving people their possessions (2), he set off to go to Madinah (3). He walked at night and hid during the day. (4) He reached Quba in the middle of the month of Rabiul-Awwal. (5)

When he arrived in Quba, the soles of his feet had swollen and torn; they were bleeding.

When the Prophet (pbuh) heard that Hz. Ali had come, he said,

"Tell Ali to come here." They said,

"O Messenger of Allah! He is too tired to walk."

The Prophet (pbuh) stood up at once and went to see him. When he saw his state, he started to weep due to his mercy and compassion.

He wiped the soles of his feet with his hands and prayed to Allah to heal him. Thus, Hz. Ali felt no pain. (6)

It is also stated in some narrations that Hz. Ali left Makkah with Fatima, the daughter of the Messenger of Allah, and his own mother, Fatima, and that he caught up with the Prophet in Quba. (TDV. İslam Ansiklopedisi, II/371)

Footnotes:

1. Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Hisham, Sirah, Vol. 2, p. 138, Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqatul-Kubra, Vol. 3, p. 22, Masudi, Murujudh-Dhahab, Vol. 2, 285, Muhib at-Tabari, Riyadun-Nadra, Vol. 2, p. 211 Abul-Fida, al-Bidaya wa'n-Nihaya, Vol. 3, p. 197.
2. Ahmad Zayni Dahlan, Sirah, Vol. 1, p. 169.
3. Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqat, Vol. 3, p. 22.
4. Ibn Athir, Usdul-Ghaba, Vol. 4, p. 96.
5. Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqatul-Kubra, Vol. 3, p. 22.
6. Ibn Athir, Usdul-Ghaba, Vol. 4, p. 96, Halabi, Insanul-Uyun, Vol. 2, p. 233.

(see M. Asım KÖKSAL, İslam Tarihi, Köksal Yayıncılık: III/22-23.)

Husayn is the grandson of the Prophet (pbuh) born of his daughter Hz. Fatima. He is the second son of Hz. Ali and Hz. Fatima. He was born on the fifth of the month of Shaban in the fourth year of the Migration.

The Prophet himself named him. When Hz. Husayn was born, Jibril came and said, "O Muhammad! Your Lord sends his greetings. He wants you to give your grandson the name of Harun's son."

The Prophet asked, "O Jibril! What is the name of Harun's son?"

Jibril said, "Shabir".

The Prophet said, "My language is Arabic."

Jibril said, "Then, name him its equivalent in Arabic, Husayn." (Diyar Bakri, al-Khamis, 1,471).

Hz. Husayn resembled the Prophet (pbuh) a lot. Hz. Ali said, "The body of Hasan resembled the Messenger of Allah from his chest to his head. The body of Husayn resembled the Messenger of Allah from that part below." (Ahmad b. Hanbal Musnad, 1, 108)

Hz. Prophet (pbuh) loved Hz. Hasan and Hz. Husayn very much. He said,

"O Allah! I love them. You love them too." (Tirmidhi Sunan V, 661);

"Hasan and Husayn are my basils that I smell in this world." (Ahmad b. Hanbal, Musnad, II, 288);

"He who loves Hasan and Husayn loves me; he who nurtures grudge against them nurtures grudge against me." (Ahmad b. Hanbal, Musnad, II, 288)

The Prophet (pbuh) accompanied Hz. Hasan and Hz. Husayn so that they would play as they wished and played with them as if he was a child. When Hz. Husayn wanted the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) to be a camel, he would bow down and allow them to ascend to his back. Then, he would say, "Can there be a better camel than this?"

Once, the Prophet was sitting in the place where dead bodies were placed. Hz. Hasan and Hz. Husayn started to wrestle. The Prophet smiled and said, “Come on, Hasan! Catch Husayn!” He supported Hz. Hasan. Hz. Ali said, “O Messenger of Allah! I think you should support Husayn because Hasan is older.” The Prophet (pbuh) said, “Look! Jibril is supporting Husayn by saying, ’Come on, Husayn! Go for it!" (Dhahabi, Siyar Alamun-Nubala, 111, p. 190-191)

Hz. Husayn, who was one of the grandchildren of the Prophet (pbuh), spent his childhood with the Prophet. Hz. Husayn, who was educated by the Messenger of Allah and who grew up with belief, became a martyr. Hz. Husayn, who realized that no decree other than the decree of Allah and His Messenger could be valid in man’s life, did not tend to the people who overshadowed this truth; on the contrary, he resisted them heroically.

Muawiya died in Damascus in the middle of the month of Rajab in 60 H. After the death of Muawiya, the people of Damascus paid allegiance to Muawiya b. Abu Sufyan’s son Yazid.

Yazid's coming into power was in the form of sultanate. Yazid knew it very well that many Companions, primarily Hz. Husayn, would not accept his coming into power like that and that he would get strong reactions. He acted very quickly so as not to lose the caliphate. He sent a letter to Walid b. Utba b. Abi Sufyan, the governor of Madinah.

He wrote the following in his letter: "When you receive my letter, find Husayn b. Ali and Abdullah b. Zubayr; make them pay allegiance to me. If they reject to pay allegiance, kill them and send their heads to me. Do the same thing to those who reject to pay allegiance as you will do to Husayn b. Ali and Abdullah b. Zubayr."

It is also written in resources that Yazid wanted the governor of Madinah to make Hz. Husayn and the notables of the Companions pay allegiance and not to act slowly and tolerantly regarding the issue in the letter he wrote.

After Yazid's coming into power, the people of Kufa sent letters after letters to Hz. Husayn, invited him to Kufa and stated that they would declare him the Caliph if he came to Kufa. They said they could not perform Friday prayers because they did not have an amir/imam.

Hz. Husayn went to Makkah from Madinah and started to correspond with the people of Kufa. He sent Muslim b. Aqil, his cousin, to Kufa to find out about the state of the people of Kufa. Muslim wrote a letter to Hz. Husayn stating that the situation in Kufa was good and that the people were ready to pay allegiance to him. After this news, Hz. Husayn decided to go to Kufa and started preparations.

While Hz. Husayn was preparing for the journey to Kufa, Abdullah Ibn Abbas asked him insistently to give up this journey. Similarly, Abdullah Ibn Umar and Imam Sha’bi, one of the notables of Tabiun scholars, asked Hz. Husayn not to go to Kufa emphasizing that the people of Iraq could not be trusted. However, Hz. Husayn was determined to go to Kufa.

When Yazid heard that Hz. Husayn headed toward Kufa, he changed the governor of Kufa and gave the duty of the governorship of Kufa to Ubaydullah Ibn Ziyad, who was also the governor of Basra.

When Ubaydullah b. Ziyad became the governor of Kufa, the first thing he did was to kill Muslim b. Aqil brutally.

Yazid gave the following order to Ubaydullah b. Ziyad, the governor of Kufa, about Hz. Husayn:

"You continue acting as I want. You fulfilled my order in a skilled and wise way. You attacked like a persistent and determined hero. You completed this task without needing anybody else to help you. According to the news I received, Husayn b. Ali left Makkah and is coming toward you. Send your spies immediately. Place guards on the ways. Do your best about this issue. Do not fight anybody unless they fight you. Write to me about what happens every day."

The news that Hz. Husayn received on the way to Kufa was not very good. When he received the news that Muslim b. Aqil was martyred, it was not possible to return. Many people on the way told him not to go to Kufa and to return immediately.

Despite those adverse conditions, Hz. Husayn continued proceeding to Kufa in a determined way. Meanwhile, traps were set against him. Due to the adverse conditions, Hz. Husayn said to the people who were with him, "Those who wish can return. I do not want to force you to come with me." However, nobody left him. (Dhahabi, A'lamun-Nubala, 111, 201-202)

Hz. Husayn confronted a cavalry unit of one thousand soldiers under the command of Hurr b. Yazid at-Tamimi. Hurr b. Yazid acted in accordance with the order of Ubaydullah b. Ziyad. He drove Hz. Husayn toward Karbala as Ubaydullah ordered him.

Ubaydullah b. Ziyad realized that the situation was very serious. Umar b. Sa'd, who was appointed as the governor of Marw, was preparing in Kufa.  However, Ubaydullah wanted to use Umar b. Sa'd against Hz. Husayn. He sent him an order and told him to go to Karbala with his army. Umar b. Sa'd did not want to confront Hz. Husayn. When Ibn Ziyad found out about it, he said, "If you do not go to confront him, I will dismiss you from the duty of the governorship of Marw, demolish your house and kill you." (Dhahabi, ibid)

The situation was getting worse. Hz. Husayn made the following offers to Umar b. Sa’d in order to ease the situation and prevent blood from being shed: "O Umar! Accept one of my three offers:

Let me go to the boundaries to make jihad. Or, let me go to Yazid to talk to him. Or, allow me to return to Madinah." (Dhahabi, A'lamun-Nubala, 111, 208-209) However, Ibn Ziyad did not accept any of these offers and did not want to allow Hz. Husayn to leave.

Umar b. Sa'd did not make any attacks against Hz. Husayn. Days passed like that. Ubaydullah b. Ziyad gave his last order. He wrote the following to Umar b. Sa'd:

"I did not send you there so that you would spend days with Husayn, wish his safety and survival and be his intercessor. Tell them to accept my decree at once. If they surrender to you, send him and the people around him to me. If they do not accept, walk against them because he is a rebel."

After this order, attacks on Hz. Husayn started. A few mujahids around Hz. Husayn, women and children from Ahl al-Bayt resisted against the army consisting of thousands of soldiers. They were martyred one by one. Hz. Husayn fought heroically as the last man and was martyred as a result of thirty-three spear wounds and thirty-four sword wounds.

Seventy-two people from the relatives of Hz. Husayn were martyred in Karbala. They virtually wanted to eliminate the whole Ahl al-Bayt. Eighty-eight people from Kufa also died.

Hz. Husayn was martyred on Muharram 10, in 61 H. When he was martyred, he was fifty-seven years old.

The martyrdom of Hz. Husayn affected Umar b. Sa'd and Yazid deeply and saddened them. However, this sadness was of no use. It was Yazid who caused the martyrdom of Hz. Husayn.

Şâmil İA

In the Battle of Khandaq, which was a turning point in the history of Islam, six Muslims were martyred by arrows shot from the opposite side of the trench; on the other hand, eight enemy soldiers were killed. (Waqidi, Kitabul-Maghazi, 2/495)

The enemy army came to the vicinity of Madinah with twelve thousand people and established its headquarters. The number of Muslims was about three thousand people. (Hamidullah, İslam Peygamberi, 1246)

The polytheists were surprised because they faced the trench defense for the first time, and they could not decide how to fight. The Muslims took turns to guard and watch the trenches. In the Battle of Khandaq, where there was no clash between the Makkan polytheists and the Muslims, both parties shot arrows and some brave people tried to cross the trench, but very few people succeeded; most of them failed.

There are narrations stating that this process lasted fifteen days or a month. (see Ibn Sad, Tabaqat, 2/70; Ibn Hisham, as-Sirah, 3/207)

The lengthening of the war, which the Makkan polytheists thought would be short, put them in a difficult situation; their own food and the food of their camels ran out. Although extra food was sent, they had to retreat due to the effective wind.

The Muslims suffered great difficulties in the Battle of Khandaq and were alarmed by the large enemy army. The fact that the Prophet (pbuh), who never missed any prayers under any circumstances, had to perform the noon, afternoon, evening and night prayers together at night during the siege clearly shows the difficult conditions under which the Prophet (pbuh) and his Companions were fighting.

In the Chapter of al-Ahzab, which gave its name to this war, the fear of Muslims in the face of allied armies is mentioned and it is stated that it was a test of belief; it is also stated that Allah supported the Muslims with invisible armies. (see al-Ahzab 33/9-12, 25)

The Companions who were martyred:

Sad b. Muadh.

Anas b. Aws.

Abdullah b. Sahl.

Tufayl b. Numan.

Thalaba b. Ghanama

Kab b. Zayd. (see Waqidi, ibid)

Some narrations about those who died from enemy soldiers:

A few of the enemy cavalry managed to cross the trench on their horses. One of them, Amr b. Abduwud, who was known for his courage, challenged the Muslims for a one-to-one fight; upon the order and prayer of the Messenger of Allah, Hz. Ali fought him and killed him there. (Waqidi, 2/463-464)

Upon the challenge of Amr b. Abd, who also crossed the trench and who was known for his courage, Hz. Ali fought him and killed him. Thereupon, the enemies escaped; and while escaping, Nawfal b. Abdullah fell off his horse in the trench and was stoned to death there. (Waqidi, 2/470-471)

A polytheist was killed in the battle and his body remained in the hands of the Muslims. The polytheists said, “Give us the dead body; we will give you ten thousand dirhams?” When the Prophet (pbuh) was informed about the offer, he said, “We need neither their dead bodies nor their money! Both their dead bodies and money are dirty.” (Ibn Abi Shayba, Musannaf, 7/379)

During the battle, one of the polytheists stood up and said, “Who will fight against me?” Upon the request of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh), Zubayr got up. The Prophet (pbuh) said, “Whoever gets on top of his opponent will kill him.” Zubayr got on top of his opponent and killed him. (Ibn Abi Shayba, Musannaf, 7/379)

The attacks of the Qurayshi polytheists against Madinah, which started after the Migration, ended with the Battle of Khandaq.

After this battle, the Prophet (pbuh) changed his war tactics and prevented the attacks of the enemy forces, which were preparing to attack the Muslims, by acting before them.

"Those who brought forward the lie (about the wife of the Prophet) are a body among yourselves: think it not to be an evil to you; on the contrary it is good for you: to every man among them (will come the punishment) of the sin that he earned, and to him who took on himself the lead among them, will be a penalty grievous. "(an-Nur, 24/11)

The following is stated at the beginning of the verse: "Those who brought forward the lie (about the wife of the Prophet) are a body among yourselves."  This expression shows that some Muslims took part in the incident of slander. They are Hassan b. Thabit, Mistah b. Uthatha, Hanna bint Jahsh.

The verse continues as follows: "Think it not to be an evil to you; on the contrary it is good for you." This expression shows that the incident of slander is not an evil but something good for the family of Abu Bakr. For, this incident caused the family of Abu Bakr to be mentioned in a good way in this world and to show that they were chaste. It is a reason for them to attain great thawabs in the hereafter.

The following is stated at the end of the verse: "And to him who took on himself the lead among them, will be a penalty grievous." What is meant by the person who undertook the greatest share of the slander is Abdullah b. Ubayy b. Salul according to the preferred view. The reason why he is regarded as the person with the greatest share in the slander is that he made up the rumor and spread it. 

"Why did not the believers - men and women - when ye heard of the affair,- put the best construction on it in their own minds and say, "This (charge) is an obvious lie"(an-Nur, 24/12)

Allah reproaches the believers in the verse above because they found the slander possible and calls them to avoid such deeds. It is a deed that does not fit the believers to think that Hz. Aisha, who was a believer and a wife of the Prophet (pbuh), did something like that. As a matter of fact, when Khalid b. Zayd Aba Ayyub al-Ansari’s wife said to him, "Have you not heard what people say about Aisha?" Aba Ay­yub said, "Yes, I have. It is a lie. O Ayyub's mother! Would you do something like that?" She said, "No, by Allah, I wouldn’t." Thereupon, Aba Ayyub said, "By Allah, Aisha is superior to you."

"Why did they not bring four witnesses to prove it? When they have not brought the witnesses, such men, in the sight of Allah, (stand forth) themselves as liars."(an-Nur, 24/13)

The verse above teaches how to distinguish between a slander and a true statement and that the way to do it is to determine the trueness of the incident through four witnesses. In this incident, the slanderers cannot bring any witnesses; thus, it becomes clear that they are liars. (see Tabari, Tafsir, Hisar Publications: VI/126-127)

"Were it not for the grace and mercy of Allah on you, in this world and the Hereafter, a grievous penalty would have seized you in that ye rushed glibly into this affair."(an-Nur, 24/14)

"O those who gossip about Aisha! If it were no for the grace and mercy of Allah on you in this world and the hereafter, you would have been punished severely due to the slander you committed."

Believers like Hassan b. Thabit, Mistah b. Uthatha, Hanna bint Jahsh and hypocrites like Abdullah b. Ubayy b. Salul were not included among those who gossiped but whose repentance was accepted and who attained Allah’s mercy. (see Tabari, ibid.)

Some scholars hold the view that it is unbelief to slander and claim that any of the wives of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) committed adultery. For, the following verse was sent down about those who slandered the wives of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) and threatened them with a grievous penalty: 

«Those who slander chaste women, indiscreet but believing, are cursed in this life and in the Hereafter: for them is a grievous Penalty.»

Furthermore, according to Ibn Abbas, their repentance is not accepted. According to those scholars, to slander that the wives of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) committed adultery means to denigrate and defame the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) openly. Anyone who regards defaming the honor of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) permissible definitely becomes an unbeliever.  

Alusi states the following: "The apparent meaning of the verse above indicates that those who slander that the wives of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) committed adultery are unbelievers. For, Allah states that He will punish those who slander with a penalty peculiar to unbelievers and hypocrites. The decree about the issue is that those who slander the wives of the Prophet will become unbelievers. For, it is clearly stated in the verse that they are clean and free from all kinds of evil. However, there is no apparent evidence showing that those who slander before that verse was sent down will become unbelievers. Nevertheless, if they aim to defame the Messenger of Allah when they slander, there is no doubt about the unbelief of people like Abdullah bin Ubayy—May Allah’s curse be upon him. However, if they utter it by following others and without aiming to defame the Messenger of Allah (pbuh), they (people like Mistah and Hassan bin Thabit) will only be condemned severely."

There is no doubt that anyone who regards it halal to slander that a believing woman committed fornication becomes an unbeliever. It is definitely unbelief to regard it halal to slander that the clean, chaste and honorable wives of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh), primarily Hz. Aisha, whose acquittal was sent down from the heaven,  committed fornication. Doubtlessly, to speak ill about them after that verse was sent down means to deny the verses of Allah and to harm the Messenger of Allah (pbuh). To deny verses and to harm the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) are regarded as unbelief and make a person an apostate. For, Allah states the following:

"Those who annoy Allah and His Messenger - Allah has cursed them in this World and in the Hereafter, and has prepared for them a humiliating Punishment." (al-Ahzab, 33/57)

It is clearly stated in the verse above that those who annoy Allah and His Messenger (pbuh) will be punished by the penalty peculiar to unbelievers and hypocrites.

Information about Uzza is mentioned in historical sources. (see as-Siratul-Halabiyya, 3/275)

That black woman was not a real human being. She was the idol of Uzza herself. As a matter of fact, according to this narration, the Prophet (pbuh) also stated that she was an idol.

The content of the following poem uttered by Khalid b. Walid in Arabic also shows it:

“O Uzza! May thou be blasphemed, not exalted! Verily I see that God hath abased thee.” (as-Siratul-Halabiyya, 3/275)

Waqidi also briefly mentions the issue in different parts of his book.

Both of those sources agree that the woman in question is Uzza herself. (see Waqidi, al-Maghazi, 3/873-874)

It is written in other sources that the Prophet (pbuh) “stated that the woman in question was Uzza.” (Ibn Kathir, al-Bidayah wan-Nihayah, 4/314-315)

There were also other women next to other idols. Sometimes they called out to their servants from jinn/demons and encourage them to worship idols. That must be one of the underlying reasons for the continuation of idolatry.

To sum up, the woman in the question has no relation to a human being. And her being split into two can never be interpreted as the killing of a woman (human being).

Some narrations regarding the issue are as follows:

a) Muadh b. Jabal narrates: The Prophet (pbuh) stated the following (about the events in the end times):

“The flourishing of Baytul-Maqdis will be followed by the destruction of Yathrib. The destruction of Yathrib (Madinah) will be followed by a great war. This great war (great killing) will be followed by the conquest of Istanbul. After the conquest of Istanbul, the Antichrist (Dajjal) will emerge...” (Ibn Hanbal, h. no: 22023; Abu Dawud, h. no: 4294)

b) Hakim also narrated the same hadith and he reported it as Muadh’s words. As a matter of fact, Dhahabi said, “This narration is sound, but it is mawquf” indicating that this information was the word of Muadh. (see Hakim, no: 8297; Dhahabi, Talkhis, ibid)

c) We could not find a hadith narration stating, “there will be a caliphate in Jerusalem (Quds)” as it is mentioned in the question.

We think that attention was drawn to this caliphate with the comments made based the narrations quoted above and similar narrations. In particular, the expression “the flourishing of Baytul-Maqdis” in the hadith has been the focal point regarding the issue. Accordingly, it may have been understood that the Islamic caliphate will dominate the world in the future and the center of the caliphate will be Jerusalem. As a matter of fact, similar comments are made on Arabic websites.

It is very difficult to determine the exact time of the events mentioned in the hadiths because expressions such as “end times” or “in the future” cover a period of about 15 centuries. It is not very easy to determine which ones occurred and which ones will occur...

There are two different narrations regarding the issue in Waqidi's book called al-Maghazi.

According to the first narration, when the polytheists were making military preparations to take part in the Battle of Badr, Addas saw that his masters, Utba and Shayba were repairing their weapons and armor and asked them why they were doing so. They said,

“Once, a man had come and stopped at our orchard in Taif and we had sent you to treat him some grapes; we are getting ready to fight that man." Thereupon, Addas said to them,

“By Allah, he is a prophet; never fight him." However, they did not heed his words and took part in the battle. Addas did not want to take part in the Battle of Badr but he had to go with his masters. He was killed during the battle together with his masters. (Waqidi, al-Maghazi, p. 29)

According to the second narration,

Addas stopped somewhere on the way to Badr and when Utba and Shayba arrived, he hugged them and said to them, " By Allah, he is a prophet; never fight him. By Allah, you are running toward death." When they heard the famous dream of Atika, Utba went to his brother Shayba and said, "That dream shows that what Addas says is true." Then, they decided to return. However, Abu Jahl followed them and forced them to take part in the battle though they did not want to. However, Addas returned and did not take part in the battle. According Waqidi, the second narration is stronger. (ibid, p. 30-34 – al-Maktabatush-Shamila; A. Köksal, İslam Tarihi, II/113)

Hz. Abu Bakr served as the caliph between 632 and 634. He was born two years after the Incident of Elephant, in 571, and died in 634.

Hz. Umar served as the caliph between 634 and 644. He was born thirteen years after the Incident of Elephant, in 582, in Makkah and died in 644.

Hz. Uthman served as the caliph between 644 and 656. He was born six years after the Incident of Elephant, in 575, in Makkah and died in 656.

Hz. Ali served as the caliph between 656 and 661. He was born twenty-three years before the Migration and died in 661.

The identity of the Master Badiuzzaman Said Nursi becomes manifest only in his works: He said,

“I am in the current of belief. Before me is the current of unbelief. I have no connection with other currents or movements.” (1)

Thus, that great person carried out spiritual jihad throughout his life in the same line and became a means of salvation for the belief of millions of people. The basic resource to learn about his life is his biography titled Tarihçe-i Hayat. This book, which was edited by Nursi himself, is a good answer to your question.

However, we will present a summary of his life here:

Said Nursi was born in 1876 in Nurs village, Hizan in the province of Bitlis. In his childhood, he studied in the madrasahs around. Due to his extraordinary intelligence and memory, he was first known as “Mulla Said, the Famous”. Afterwards, he became known as “Badiuzzaman”, which means “the Wonder of the Time”.

During the years when he was a student, he memorized ninety books. He revised one of them every night. Those revisions became a means of understanding the verses of the Quran in depth and he saw that each verse of the Quran encompassed the whole universe. 

He went to Istanbul, which was the center of the caliphate, in early 1900s with the intention of establishing an Islamic university in the east called Madrasatuz-Zahra, in which religious and exacts sciences will be studied together; he made efforts to realize this idea throughout his life. He could not establish the university but he established a madrasah system that had branches all over the country.

During the First World War, he worked as a volunteering regiment commander in the eastern front. He was wounded during the war and was captivated by Russians. He was a prisoner of war for two and a half years when he escaped by making use of the chaos caused by the Bolshevik revolution in 1917. When he returned, he was appointed by the general staff as a member of Darul-Hikmatil-Islamiyya, which was the highest religious consultation center of the Ottoman State. During the years when Istanbul was under the occupation of the British, he published a booklet called Khutuwat as-Sitta against them.

He supported the struggle of independence started in Anatolia.

While he was busy with teaching in Van in 1925, he was exiled to Burdur, then to Isparta and after that to Barla due to the revolt started by Sheikh Said as a precaution though he was against that revolt. He remained there for eight years. He wrote most parts of his tafsir of the Quran called Risale-i Nur there. He was sent to Eskişehir Court due to his books and ideas.

He continued writing his works in Kastamonu, where he was exiled. He was sent to Denizli Court in 1943 and Afyon Court in 1948. He was acquitted in both courts.

When the multi-party system started in Turkey in 1950, religious rights and freedom increased. Said Nursi had his books printed in printing houses in that period.

Badiuzzaman Said Nursi died on March 23, 1960 in Urfa.

(1) see Mektubat, On Altıncı Mektup.

For more information, please click on the link given below;

What is Risale-i Nur? Will you give detailed information about it?

We are entering the hijri year of 1441. We, as the family of Questions on Islam, congratulate our all brothers and sisters on their new hijri year. Hereby, we would like to give some brief information related with the following questions:

- What is Hijri calendar; Since when has it been in use?

- Is there a prayer exclusive to Muharram, which is the first month of new Hijri year?

- How did our Prophet meet the new year?

- What is the Day of Ashurah? Is there a sort of prayer exclusive to the Day of Ashurah?

Hijri Calendar starts with the migration of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) from Mecca to Medina. However, this date was accepted as the beginning of the calendar in the era of the Caliph Umar. Prior to this, Arabs did not have a certain date system. They used to accept some important historical events (such as Prophet Abraham’s being thrown into fire and the Incident of Elephant) as the beginning of history.

Sixteen years after the migration (638), The Caliph of the era, Umar ordered for a council to gather and find a solution to the date problem. With the suggestion of Hz.Ali and the approval of other council members, the migration of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was determined to be the beginning of the Islamic history and Muharram was determined to be the first month of the year. Two points are put forward as the reason for the implementation of this system. Firstly, it was not figured out whether the due date on a promissory note shown in the era of the Caliph Umar was Sha’ban of the last year, or of the next. Secondly, in the same era, in a paper coming from the governer of Basra, Abu Musa al-Ash'ari', a rapid solution was wanted; for, it was not decided which of the papers sent from the Caliphate to Basra was before the other; eventually, it was not decided which one to be applied. For this reason, the migration formed the beginning of the Islamic history.

Hijri-Lunar year consists of twelve months. Arabs used to call the first month Muharram and months of Rajab, Dhul-Qadah and Dhul-Hijjah “ashur al-hurum” (forbidden months) and they would not fight and would keep away from all kind of violence in those months.

Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) advised his Companions to fast in the ninth, tenth and eleventh days of Muharram:

“The best of fast after Ramadan is in the month of Allah (honored with being related to Allah), Muharram.” (Riyadus-Saliheen, II, 504). Some other hadiths give the good news of the Day of Ashurah, which corresponds to the tenth of Muharram and on which many important events occurred: “Fasting the day of `Ashura' (is of great merits), I hope that Allah will accept it as an expiation for (the sins committed in) the previous year” (Riyad us-Saliheen, II, 509).

This day was accepted as a mourning day by Shias because of the fact that Husayn was martyred on Friday, the tenth of Muharram in the era of Yazeed, the second ruler of the Umayyad, and in the Hijri year of 61 and Gregorian year of 680. Later, this mourning day was widely accepted and gained a formal identity.

It has been narrated that many important events took place in history on the tenth of Muharram which is called the Day of Ashurah. It is possible to name some of these events as it follows:

1. The day that Noah’s ark was saved from the flood and landed on Mount Judi corresponds to this day. As already known, this event is the rescue of the ones believing Noah, with an ark and total destruction of unbelievers.

2. Adam’s repentance

3. Rescue of Abraham from the fire

4. Jacob’s reuniting with his son, Joseph took place on this day.

Moreover, it is also narrated that Jerusalem was determined as the qiblah on the sixteenth of Muharram, and on seventeenth of it the Owners of Elephants arrived.

The month of Muharram was of a special importance in the era of Ottomans. The poems written for the month of Muharram and therefore called “Muharramiya” are excessive in number. Moreover, in this month, at the beginning of every New Year, high officials of the government would come to the presence of the Sultan and congratulate him on New Year, and would accept Sultan’s gifts called “Muharramiya”.

The month of Muharram was named as "Muharram-al Haram" and abbreviated with the letter “Mim” (m) in Otoman archives. (Mefail Hızlı, from Şamil İslam Ansiklopedisi.)

for more information, please click on the link given below;

What is Hijri New Year's Day? How should we regard the celebrations of the New Year's Day?

There are no concubines (female slaves), etc. anymore. Islam aimed for this practice to disappear over time, and this goal was eventually achieved.

We think that asking about the decrees regarding slaves and concubines in the past and making everyone talk about it is harmful.

However, since the meaning of the verses has been asked, we find it appropriate to answer briefly in a few items.

1) A marriage contract is a contract made by a man and a woman, both of whom are free (and hence own their bodies), to establish a family and benefit from each other sexually - in accordance with its conditions. The contract and right that allows having a concubine (obtaining one through purchasing, inheritance, booty or donation...) is also a legal transaction, and this legal transaction also grants the owner and the concubine the right to live as husband and wife, and replaces the marriage contract in a stronger and more comprehensive way than it.

2) It would be utterly unreasonable and illogical to think that someone who is a bit sane and fair would prefer the interpretation mentioned in the question out of those two different interpretations.

It is definitely unreasonable to think that the words of the Quran had not been understood by millions of Islamic scholars, most of whom are originally Arabs or know Arabic very well, but was understood 15 centuries later by someone who is not originally an Arab and whose Arabic is not very good.

Such people are the addressees of the thread in the following verse of the Quran:

“If anyone contends with the Messenger even after guidance has been plainly conveyed to him, and follows a path other than that becoming to men of Faith, We shall leave him in the path he has chosen, and land him in Hell,- what an evil refuge.” (an-Nisa, 4/115)

According to the narrations, our Prophet (pbuh) said:

“Allah does not unite this ummah (or Muhammad’s ummah) in aberration (error). Allah’s hand is upon the congregation. Whoever separates from the congregation is separated into the fire.” (see Tirmidhi, Fitan, 7)

According to Tirmidhi, what is meant by the “congregation” in the hadith meaning “Allah’s hand is upon the congregation” is Islamic scholars, fiqh and hadith scholars. (ibid)

“My ummah does not unite in aberration. Therefore, when you see disagreement on an issue, follow the great majority.” (Ibn Majah, Fitan, 8)

3) One of the words / expressions that are discussed regarding the issue is “Fankihu”, another one is “Fa Wahidatan” and yet another one is “Aw ma malakat aymanukum”

The verse in which this issue is expressed is verse 3 of the chapter of an-Nisa:

وَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَلاَّ تُقْسِطُواْ فِي الْيَتَامَى فَانكِحُواْ مَا طَابَ لَكُم مِّنَ النِّسَاء مَثْنَى وَثُلاَثَ وَرُبَاعَ فَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَلاَّ تَعْدِلُواْ فَوَاحِدَةً أَوْ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُكُمْ ذَلِكَ أَدْنَى أَلاَّ تَعُولُواْ

If ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly with the orphans, marry women of your choice, Two or three or four; but if ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one, or (a captive) that your right hands possess, that will be more suitable, to prevent you from doing injustice. (an-Nisa 4/3)

- Let us have a look at the expression “فَانكِحُواْ مَا طَابَ لَكُم مِّنَ النِّسَاء مَثْنَى وَثُلاَثَ وَرُبَاعَ” first:

“The addressee of the order “fankihu / marry” at the beginning of the expression “(If you fear that you will not be able to act justly / rightly if you marry orphan girls) marry two, three and four women that you like” is the word “Ma” (the object of the verb).

The word “Ma (what)”, which means “Men (who)” here, is used because of its broad meaning. In other words: “Of the women other than orphan women, you may marry two, three or four women that you like - and naturally - those with whom it is permissible to marry.”

So, the order to marry here aims to eliminate the custom of marrying unlimited number of women in the age of ignorance and limit it to a maximum of four women.

4) فَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَلاَّ تَعْدِلُواْ فَوَاحِدَةً / “If ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly, be content with one”.

According to those who object, this interpretation is not correct. They claim that the meaning of being content with was made up even though it is not included in the verse.

However, the following point has been emphasized in dozens of tafsir sources: The word فَوَاحِدَةً (fa wahidatan) has been pronounced in two ways in the science of qira’ah (recitation), ending as -tun or -tan.

The meaning of the form ending as -tun is “choose one, prefer one”.

If it is pronounced as -tan, its meaning is: “one is enough for you, be content with one”. (For example, see Zamakhshari / Kashshaf; Abus-Suud; Shawkani; ad-Durrul-Masun, the interpretation of the verse in question)

According to some scholars, its meaning is “marry one”. (see Raghib, the interpretation of the verse in question)

Shawkani makes a clear explanation and states the following:

The sentence “Aw Ma malakat aymanukum” is a reference to the word “Wahidatan”. That is, “If you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly, marry only one or marry the concubines that your right hands possess (mulkul-yamin). However, what is meant by marrying concubines is not marrying them through real marriage contract but through mulkul-yamin.” (see Shawkani, the interpretation of the verse in question)

Historians like Ibn Hisham and Ibn Kathir narrated this incident in their books. (see Ibn Hisham, Sirah, 2/636-37; Ibn Kathir, as-Siratun-Nabawiyyah, 4/438) They wrote she had five boys, but did not mention that they were being “breastfed”.

According to the information that is given, the cause and result of the incident are as follows:

A woman named Asma bint Marwan used to condemn Islam and Muslims with her poems, and did not hesitate to agitate people against the Prophet (pbuh). She even encouraged people to kill the Prophet (pbuh), hurt and upset him.

As a matter of fact, in one of her poems, she revealed her inner thoughts and intentions as follows:

“O Sons of Malik, Nabit and Awf! March on the enemy as if you were in a race with one another!
O Sons of Khazraj! March on the enemy as if you were in a race with one another!
You have obeyed and bowed down to a person who is not from you and who has come to you; he is neither from Mudar nor from Mazhij!
After cutting off the heads, you still hope for him as you hope for cooked soup! Whoever hopes for anything from him will be deceived and will give up hope.”

With that poem and similar ones, Asma not only insulted Islam, the Prophet (pbuh) and Muslims but she also encouraged the tribes in and around Madinah to kill the Prophet (pbuh).

When the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) heard her insults, he said, “Is there no one who can overcome this woman?” Hearing this, Umayr b. Adi al-Hatmi, who belonged to the same tribe as the woman, immediately took action and somehow killed her. When he returned and reported it to the Messenger of Allah (pbuh), he said, “O Umayr! You have helped Allah and His Messenger.” When Umayr asked, “Is there any responsibility on me for what I have done?” (there is no mention of her breastfed children here), the Prophet (pbuh) said, “No two goats will butt together about her.”

It is understood that Umayr did not feel any moral responsibility for killing her; he mentioned the responsibility “for causing a fight between the tribes because of that woman”. The Prophet (pbuh) comforted Umayr with the words, “No two goats will butt together about her”, stating that no one would fight because of that woman.

As a matter of fact, after receiving this message, Umayr returned to his people/tribe and told them without hesitation that he had killed the woman and challenged them, saying, “All of you! Stand back to back and do whatever you can.” For the first time, the tribe of Sons of Hatma saw the glory of Islam and many people who saw it converted to Islam. (see ibid)

So, the killing of that woman caused many people to become Muslims sincerely. On that day, Islam became clear and widespread in the land of the Sons of Hatma because there were some who were Muslims but hid it because of fearing their tribes and clans. On that day, they were also able to come out and declare that they were Muslims.

“Let us see what Lord will do. Whatever He does He does well.”

Note: Such a practice can be done with the permission and order of the head of state. A person cannot take such a decision on his own and kill whomever he wants because he harms Islam. If it is done without the permission of the head of state, it will be regarded as a murder.

- We have not been able to find any specific information about when the Prophet (pbuh) realized the hypocrisy of Ibn Salul and others.

- It was not possible for the Prophet (pbuh) to recognize him during the Makkan period; so, the seeds of discord were sown in Madinah.

- We can list the different interpretations regarding the issue as follows:

a) Once, the Prophet (pbuh) was riding on a donkey and passing by a group of people among whom was Ibn Salul. When he saw them, he dismounted and wanted to have a talk with them. Ibn Salul said that they were “disturbed by the smell of the donkey and the dust and smoke it created” and suggested that he should have his talk somewhere else.

As a person who was in the ranks of the Muslims and went to mosque with them, he was known to be a hypocrite from then on.

b) His identity was revealed as he acted together with the enemies in the Battle of Khandaq.

c) In the battle of Sons of Mustaliq, a Muslim from Madinah wounded one of Ibn Salul’s friends during a dispute over a water source; when Ibn Salul found out about it, he said, “If we return to Madinah, surely the more honorable element (he meant himself) will expel therefrom the meaner (he meant the Messenger of Allah)”, mentioned in verse 8 of the chapter of al-Munafiqun, and this statement was conveyed to our Prophet (pbuh). Afterwards, his followers swore and claimed that they had never said such a thing, but their hypocrisy was verified when the chapter of al-Munafiqun was sent down.

d) During the Battle of Uhud, his leaving the army with 300 of his followers was accepted as a sign of hypocrisy.

According to the decrees of Islamic law of states, the temples belonging to the People of the Book in the countries that are conquered through peace are not touched; however, new ones are not allowed to be built. The ones that existed for a long time can be repaired.

Just the opposite is valid in the countries that are conquered through war. That is, if the Islamic sultan wants, he can eliminate all of the temples and deport all non-Muslims. Istanbul was conquered through war. This decree is the reason why St Sophia and some other churches were transformed into mosques. If that decree had been applied throughout Istanbul, all of the churches and synagogues in Istanbul would have been demolished.

Sultan Mehmed II (the Conqueror), who conquered Istanbul with the help of Allah and the strength of his sword, accepted a committee consisting of priests and rabbis into his presence after transforming St Sophia into a mosque.

The committee of priests and rabbis told Mehmed the Conqueror that he conquered Istanbul through war and that it was his right originating from the law of states not to leave any churches and synagogues in Istanbul if he wished. However, they asked him to treat them and their temples as if Istanbul had been conquered by peace and wanted their late entrance into his presence to be accepted as a means of this request.

Consulting the religious scholars around him, Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror accepted their requests and he did not intervene in the churches and synagogues that had not been transformed into mosques. A fatwa issued by the famous sheikhulislam Ebussuud Efendi of the Ottoman state shows that the real secret of the existence of the churches and synagogues that have survived up to now is Mehmed the Conqueror’s understanding of the freedom of religion and conscience. The fatwa is as follows:

“Did Sultan Muhammed II conquer Istanbul and the towns around it by force? The answer: It is known that he conquered Istanbul by force. However, old churches indicate conquest through peace. This issue was searched in 945. A person aged 130 years old and another person aged 110 years old were found; they witnessed that the group of Jews and Christians formed an alliance with Sultan Mehmed II secretly that they would not help the Byzantine rulers and that Sultan Mehmed II would not enslave them, and that Istanbul was conquered like that. Due to this witnessing, the old churches remained as they were. Written by Ebussuud.”

This fact is also confirmed by the information given by historians. Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror sent İsfendiyar oğlu Damad Kasım Beyas as an envoy to Byzantine on May 23 and sent with him the following message: The city will fall in the first general attack. The Empire, who is a real soldier, must accept this fact. If they surrender through peace, their lives and wealth will not be harmed; if it is conquered by war, blood will be shed and no responsibility will be accepted by Mehmed the Conqueror. Unfortunately, the Empire did not accept peace despite this message and Istanbul was conquered by force. However, Mehmed treated them as it is mentioned above. That Mehmed the Conqueror did not destroy all mosaics in St Sophia and that he did not burn the walls around Istanbul show his attitude regarding the issue.

As it is seen, the promise of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror “to permit the construction of a church near each mosque”practiced in Serbia was also applied in Istanbul. Does the existence of the ByzantinePatriarchate and the church next to the mosque in Abdi Subaşı District, Fener not show the freedom of religion and conscience in the real sense? Is it not one of the material evidences of this freedom to permit the construction of a Byzantine church opposite Mihrimah Sultan Mosque in Edirnekapı?

The claim that Istanbul was destroyed is not true. Instead of answering it in detail, we will quote a sentence from the determination made by CNN, Time and similar media companies mentioning the conquest of Istanbul among the most important hundred incidents of the last millennium:

"Before Istanbul was conquered by Mehmed the Conqueror, it was a dead city of ruins. After the conquest, it became the trade center of both Europe and Muslim countries and a prosperous world city. As a matter of fact, even the Russian historian Ouspensky said, 'In 1453, Turks treated people much more humanely and tolerantly than the Crusaders in 1204.'" (1)

References:

1) Molla Hüsrev, Dürer ve Gürer, I/282 ff.; Mevkufati, Multaqa Translation, I/343; Damad, Majma’ul-Anhu Explanation Multaqal-Abhur, I/643 ff; Ebussuud, Ma'ruzat, Ist. Uni. Library nd. no. 1798, paper. 130/a-b; Ibni Kemal, Tevârih-i Âl-i Osman, VII. Defter, p. 62 ff.; Baştav, Şerif, “XIV. Asırda yazılmış Grekçe Anonim Osmanlı tarihine göre İstanbul’un muhasarası ve zabtı”, p. 51-82; Cin-Akgündüz, Türk Hukuk Tarihi, Vol.1, p. 448 ff.; Âli, Künh’ül-Ahbâr, Vol. V, 251-260; Solakzâde, 191-201; Âşıkpaşa-zâde, p. 141-143; Clot, Fâtih, 60 ff.; for the opposite view, see Aydın, Erdoğan, Fâtih ve Fetih, Mitler ve Gerçekler, 66-67, 94-95, 127-128.; Akgündüz-Öztürk, Bilinmeyen Osmanlı, OSAV, İstanbul, 1999, p. 106-108.

Ahmet Akgündüz (Prof. Dr.)

It is impossible for such saints who obey Allah’s commands and prohibitions most and who do not abandon even a small good manner to abandon hijab, which was rendered fard by Allah. Therefore, it is not possible for her to go out without covering her head in places where non-mahram men can see her.

As a matter of fact, Jahiz, who is one of her contemporaries, states that Rabia al-Adawiyyah is one of the most religious three women with taqwa who were famous for obeying Allah’s commands and prohibitions most in that period. (see al-Bayan, 1/364, 3/127, 170, 193)

Will you give information about Rabia al-Adawiyya?

Rabia al-Adawiyya is a woman saint. She was brought up in Basra and died in Quds (Jerusalem) in 135 H (AD 752). Rabia al-Adawiyya was born in Basra as a poor child of a religious father; her parents died before she reached the age of puberty; she had to live as an orphan in poverty.

Allah is just; if He takes something, He gives something else. This poverty and deprivation caused the spiritual feelings of Rabia, who devoted herself to Allah, to develop. Rabia, who turned toward her inner realm, was soon appreciated by great saints of her age like Sufyan ath-Thawri and Hasan al-Basri.

A mat on the floor of her small hut and a small mattress full of data leaves, which were her only possessions, never made her sad; on the contrary, they gave her peace and caused her to attain divine enrapture.

As a matter of fact, when Sufyan ath-Thawri visited her, he said,  

“O Rabia! If you wish, your neighbors can help you and change this modest mat; you can have a tidy house.”

However, Rabia gave her the following definite answer:

“I never complain about my state; why should I need to apply to them? I did not even request help from the One who owns the world. How then could I ask weak people who own only some particles of it?  

According to what historians write, Rabia had only one criterion: spending her ephemeral life in the best way that is in compliance with Islam. If someone’s life were fully compliant with the religious commands, that was life that hit the target. It did not matter whether she spent her life on a mat or not, or even on the ground when she did not find a mat.   

Therefore, when Sulayman Hashimi one of the rich people of Basra, wrote her a letter mentioning his earnings and his wealth that would increase in the future and added,  “They will all be at your disposal if you agree to marry me”, Rabia gave him a sharp answer:

“Do not be proud of your earnings; do not trust in them. They are like foams. They can neither prevent death nor a misfortune predestined for you. Seek what will be necessary for you in the divine presence in the hereafter; find solace in it. Do not be deceived by a delusion that you will bequeath your wealth to somebody and that they will do charity with your wealth. Be your own trustee and spend your wealth to serve Islam before you die; fulfill your will yourself. Do not forget that what you have written in your letter to be at my disposal will be a burden to my heart and will darken my spirit. They are far from being attractive for me now.

Rabia often reminded her father of the following on the days before his death:

“Daddy! Fear from feeding us with haram food. I can show patience in the face of hunger in the world but I cannot put up with being burnt in hellfire.”

When women came to visit her, they would ask for advice. Once, she gave them the following advice:

“Hide your good deeds and favors just like you hide your bad deeds. To declare your good deeds and favors is like winnowing flour against the wind. It will scatter your good deeds; you will have nothing in your hands.”

Rabia devoted herself to belief and Islam; she did not think about anything but Islamic service. Therefore, she did not even think of getting married.

Once, they asked her why she did not marry. She gave the following answer:

“There are three things that fill my whole world. They do not leave me any time to think of getting married.” They asked:

“What are those three things?” She answered:

“Will I be able to die as a believer at the moment of death? Will the book of my deeds be given to me in my left or right hand in the Gathering Place? When people are divided into two on the way to Paradise and Hell, in which part will I be?”

Once, while Rabia was performing a prayer, a thief entered her home; when she understood that he found nothing to steal, she called out when she finished her prayer:

“O needy man! Make wudu with the water in the pitcher and perform a prayer of two-rak’ahs so that your efforts will not go down the drain.”

The thief was astounded and also scared. He made wudu and prayed. Then, Rabia opened her hands and prayed as follows:

“O Lord! This needy man could not find anything to take in my house. I have sent him to Your door. You are not like me. You will not send him back empty-handed.”

When she heard that the thief started to repent and ask for forgiveness after performing the prayer, Rabia begged Allah as follows:

“O Lord! This man stood by Your door for a few minutes and You accepted his prayer at once. I have spent a lifetime at Your door but I have not been accepted like that?” A voice responded in her heart: “Do not worry! We have accepted him for your sake.”

(see Jahiz, al-Bayan; Attar, Tadhkiratul-Awliya; Ömer Rıza Doğrul, Hazreti Rabiatü'l-Adeviyye)

According to what is expressed in the classical resources of the history of Islam, when the Prophet (pbuh) was wounded in the temple, the Companions tried to remove the ring of armor that entered the bone with their teeth; meanwhile Malik b. Sinan, one of the Companions, swallowed his blood. Thereupon, the Prophet (pbuh) said hellfire would not touch a person whose blood mixed with his blood. The same issue is mentioned in the books of the history of Islam that narrate the Battle of Uhud in detail. Acting upon the prayer of the Prophet (pbuh), some scholars hold the view that the blood of the Prophet is clean. Besides, the Prophet (pbuh) may have prayed for the Companion for his important service. (see Qadi Iyad, Shifau Sharif, Translated by Suat Cebeci, Rehber Yayınları, Ankara, 1992, p. 62)

It is haram to drink blood in Islam. This issue is understood better from verse 3 of the chapter of al-Maida and its interpretation.

In the Era of Jahiliyya, people put the blood of the animals they slaughtered in vessels and drank it when it was fresh or after making it wait for a while. Drinking blood was rendered haram (forbidden) by the verse mentioned above.

However, there is a special case about drinking the blood of the Prophet (pbuh); the Companion swallowed his blood while removing the ring of the armor. The Prophet (pbuh) never gave an order like 'drink my blood'. (see Sarıcık, Murat, İnanç ve Zihniyet olarak Cahiliye, Nesil Yayınları, İstanbul, 2004, p. 250; Sarıcık, Murat, İslam öncesi Dönem- Cahiliye kültürü, Fakülte Kitabevi, Isparta, 2002, p. 270 ff. see for types of eating blood in The Era of Jahiliyyah)

When Abdullah b. Zubayr, one of the Companions, was a child, he drank the cupping blood of the Prophet (pbuh). The incident took place as follows: According to what is reported in Daraqutni and other hadith books, when Abdullah was eight or nine years old, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) gave a vessel full of his cupping blood to Abdullah so that he would bury it. When Abdullah left with the blood, he drank it when he was alone instead of burying it. When he returned, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) asked him, "What did you do?" He said, "I eliminated it." The Prophet (pbuh) got suspicious and said, "You probably drank it." Abdullah said, "Yes, I did."

Thereupon, the Prophet (pbuh) said, "Hell will not touch a person whose blood mixed with my blood." Then, he added the following: "Waylun laka minan nas wa waylun lin-nasi minka = Woe to you for what will happen to you because of people and woe to people for what will happen to them because of you." (al-Asqalani, al-Matalibul-Aliya, 4:21; al-Haythami, Majma’uz-Zawaid, 2708; al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, 3:554.)

We can deduce the following from this incident:

a) The one that drank his blood was a child; he himself made such a decision and drank it. Although it is forbidden to drink blood, the child did not know about it or he showed his respect to the Prophet (pbuh) by doing something wrong like that.

b) He wanted to hide the fact that he drank the blood through his words. He thought the Prophet (pbuh) would not approve of this behavior.

c) The Prophet (pbuh) did not give him an order like 'drink my blood'; on the contrary, the Prophet told him to bury it.

d) According to the explanations of the Prophet, there is a different feature in his blood. Hell will not touch a person whose blood mixes with his blood. However, he does not advise and order people to be saved from Hell in this way.

e) The trueness of the words of the Prophet (pbuh) was proved when Abdullah b. Zubayr was martyred during the siege of Makkah in the Era of Umayyads. Many people were killed in Makkah in this incident and he was martyred. (See Tarikhul- Khamis, 354)

BOOKS OF SIYAR AND MAGHAZI

Muslims started to write books about the life and wars of the Prophet (pbuh), which were terminologically called "Siyar and Maghazi", beginning from the first century of the Migration, that is, the era of the Companions.

1. While mentioning Maghazi books, Katib Chalabi notes that there are some scholars who state that the first person to write a book on Maghazi was Urwa b. Zubayr (22-94) – apart from Ibn Ishaq. (1)

That Abdulmalik (D. 86), the Caliph, applied toUrwa b. Zubayr about some incidents in the history of Islam indicates that he was an authority in Siyar and Maghazi; the letters he wrote (2) supports the view that he was the firstSiyar and Maghazi writer.

Many narrations by Ibn Ishaq (85-151) related to very important incidents are based on Urwa.

2. After Urwa comes Aban b. Uthman b. Affan (death: 105) according to the date of death. Aban, who was one of the fiqh scholars of Madinah and who worked as the governor of Madinah for seven years, compiled the hadiths about the life of the Prophet (pbuh) in the form of pages.

Imam Zuhri (50-124), who is Ibn Ishaq’s teacher, learned hadiths from Aban. Ibn Sa'd states that Mughira b. Abdurrahman learned and narrated Maghazi from Aban.

3. Shabi (death: 109), who is one of the notables of Tabiun scholars, is one of the contemporaries of Urwa. He is known as a master in Hadith and Maghazi.

Once, he was narrating hadiths related to Maghazi; Abdullah b. Umar, one of the Companions, was among the listeners; he appreciated the knowledge and authority of Shabi in Maghazi speaking as follows:

"I was together with the people he mentions in those wars. However, this person (Shabi) memorized them in detail and knows them better than me."

Zuhri and the reliable scholars that came after him narrated many things based on Shabi.

4. Wahb b. Munabbihul-Yamani (death: 114) compiled the hadiths on Maghazi. One copy of his compilation is in Heidelberg, Germany today.

5. Asim b. Umar b. Qatada (death: 121),who wass one of the notables of Tabiun scholars, was a master in Siyar and Maghazi. It is recorded in Tahdhib at-Tahdhib that Halife Umar b. Abdul'aziz, the Caliph, appointed him to teach people Maghazi in Damascus Mosque.Asim b. Umar b. Qatada’s narrations are based on his father, grandmother and Anas b. Malik. It is seen that Ibn Ishaq bases many of his narrations on him.

6. Musa b. Uqba (death: 141), one of the famous maghazi scholars, states that Shurahbil b. Sa'd (death: 123) recorded the names of the Muslims who migrated to Madinah and who took part in the battles of Badr and Uhud.

Ibn Sa'd (168-230) records the narrations about the journey of the Prophet from Quba to Madinah based on Shurahbil. (Tabaqat, l / 237) Sufyan b. Uyayna (107-198) states that nobody knows Maghazi and the incident of Badr more than Shurahbil does.

It is stated that Shurahbil met and talked to the Companions Zayd b. Thabit, Abu Hurayra and Abu Said al-Khudri.

7. Suhayli states in his book that Muhammad b. Muslim b. Shihabuz-Zuhri (50-124) wrote a separate book on Siyar and that the first book written on Siyar in Islam was the book written by Zuhri. (3)

Halabi also states that the person to write the first book in Siyar was Zuhri; he adds that Zuhri states that the best ilm in the world and the hereafter was Siyar and Maghazi. (4) Masters of Siyar and Maghazi like Musa b. Uqba and Ibn Ishaq were students of Zuhri.

Yaqub b. Utba (death: 128), who is among the fiqh scholars of Madinah, is a master in Siyar and Maghazi and a reliable person in terms of knowledge. Governors benefitted from his views and knowledge.

Footnotes:

(1) Katib Chalabi-Kashfuz-Zunun, II/1746-1747.
(2) Tabari-Tarikh, II/267-269
(3) Suhayli, Rawdul-Unuf, l/122.
(4) Halabi, Insanul-Uyun, l/2,3,

(For detailed information, see M. Asım Köksal, İslam Tarihi)

Zayn al-Abidin (ra) (658-713 M) is Hz. Husayn's son and Hz. Ali's grandson. He is the fourth of the twelve imams. He is among the notables of Tabiun and he saw the majority of the notable Companions. It is stated in Risale-i Nur Collection that the descendants of Hz. Husayn are like spiritual mahdis. (Mektubat, p. 100) He is also among those who were martyred. He is called Sayyid as-Sajidin because Hz. Husayn’s descendants came through him. He became famous with the nickname "Zayn al-Abidin", which means Ornament of the Worshippers, due to his piety and worshipping a lot. His full name showing his family is Abu Muhammad (or Abul-Hasan) Ali bin Husayn bin Ali bin Abi Talib.

Zayn al-Abidin, whose real name is Ali, was born in 658 (according to some resources in 655 or 666) in Madinah. His father is Hz. Husayn and his mother is Shahr-Banu Ghazala, the daughter of the Persian sultan. She is one of the three daughters of the sultan, who were enslaved after the conquest of Iran. Hz. Ali married her off to Hz. Husayn; and Zayn al-Abidin was born out of this marriage. Since he lived in a period when mischief was intense, he was affected by the agonies of that period. He witnessed the martyrdom of many believers primarily his father in the Incident of Karbala.

Zayn al-Abidin was there when the Incident of Karbala took place. However, he was too ill to get out of the bed and he could not take part in clashes; therefore, he was not killed. However, a great majority of his family was martyred. He was taken to Yazid first. Yazid treated him well. Then, he left Yazid, went to Madinah and settled there. He tried to keep away from political affairs up to the end of his life. He did not take part in the rebellion against Yazid that occurred there.

The wisdom behind this tragic incident that affected Ahl al-Bayt in terms of qadar is mentioned in Risale-i Nur Collection. It is explained why divine destiny allowed them to be defeated though those blessed people were right and their points of action and purpose were right:

"Hasan and Husain and their family and descendants were destined to hold spiritual rule. It is extremely difficult to bring together worldly rule and spiritual rule. Therefore, divine determining made them feel disgust at the world; it showed them its ugly face so that they should cease to feel any attachment to it in their hearts. They lost a temporary, superficial rule, but were appointed to a splendid, permanent spiritual rule. They became the authorities of the spiritual poles among the saints instead of commonplace governors." (Mektubat, p. 58-59)

An example to Ahl al-Bayt feeling disgust at the world is Zayn al-Abidin. It is clearly seen that despite all of the mistakes of Yazid, his commanders and governors, he acted in a positive way so that Muslims would not be harmed and mischief would not continue. He determined his way by focusing on the service of belief and the Quran rather than political movements.

The love and interest the Prophet (pbuh) showed in his grandsons Hasan and Husayn encompasses their descendants too. Zayn al-Abidin and the others have their share in the Prophet’s loving and caressing them.

"Also, he embraced Husayn (May God be pleased with him) and showed him importance and tenderness on account of the illustrious Imams like Zayn al-‘Abidin and Ja‘far al-Sadiq, and the numerous Mahdi-like luminous persons, the true inheritors of prophethood, who would spring from his effulgent line, and for the sake of the religion of Islam and office of prophethood." (Lem'alar, p. 26)

Zayn al-Abidin devoted his life to service of belief and worshipping in Madinah. He became famous especially with his sensitivity in worshipping. He was given the nickname "Zayn al-Abidin", which means Ornament of the Worshippers, due to his interest in worshipping. Whenever he made wudu, he would virtually travel to another realm and his face color would go pale. When those who saw that his color and his realm changed asked the reason for it, he would say,

"Thinking about the Being into whose presence I will enter changes my world and encompasses my realm of meditation. My connection with this realm is cut off and I assume a different mood."

Zayn al-Abidin and the members of Ahl-al Bayt from his descendants became the most important followers of the sublime Sunnah and practiced it. The soundest and safest way, the criterion determined by the Quran for every age and the most important guide continued with the efforts and guardianship of this blessed chain.

One of the most important services of Zayn al-Abidin is that he is one of the means of transmitting Jawshan al-Kabir. Badiuzzaman Said Nursi states the following regarding the issue:

"New Said's private teacher Imam Rabbani, Gavth al-Azam and Imam Ghazali, Zayn al-Abidin; I have learned the supplication of Jawshan al-Kabir from these two imams. With the lesson I took from Hz. Husayn and Imam Ali, I have been in spiritual connection with them especially through Jawshan al-Kabir; I took the truth in the past and the way of current Risale-i Nur from them." (Emirdağ Lahikası, p. 183),

Thus, he shows the means of the transmission of Jawshan al-Kabir and his way based on Hz. Ali.

Zayn al-Abidin, who had great taqwa, made great efforts to help the poor and lonely people. Although he helped many poor people, he did not allow anyone to notice it dues to his principle of sincerity. He carried flour on his back at night to the needy people’s houses. Although he did it all the time, nobody noticed it. When he died and when his dead body was washed, people found out about it due to his callused back. He always gave the poor what he had and tried to find solutions to the problems of the believers.

One of the incidents showing that Zayn al-Abidin was a great philanthropist was the fact that he undertook to pay the debts of Muhammad Bin Usama. When Zayn al-Abidin went to visit him when he was ill, he saw Muhammad crying. The reason for his crying was the fear of entering into the presence of Allah before being able to pay his debt of fifteen thousand dirhams. When Zayn al-Abidin found out about it, he told the people around that he undertook to pay that debt and that he would pay any debts that Muhammed bin Usama had after that. He declared that Muhammed bin Usama had no debt left to pay.

Once, Zayn al-Abidin saw that his servant came late when he called him. He asked him the reason. The servant said he knew that Zayn al-Abidin was a tolerant and lenient person and hence he did not hurry. Zayn al-Abidin thanked Allah as follows when he heard this answer:

"My servant feels safe and is not afraid of me. I want to be a reliable person. Everybody must feel safe in my presence; they must not fear or feel worried."

Thus, he did not get angry with his servant; on the contrary, he expressed his gladness.

"It is very strange that a person avoids the food that will harm him when he is alive but he does not avoid the sins that will harm him when he dies."

Zayn al-Abidin, who uttered the statement above, died in 713 as a righteous slave "who avoided the sins that would harm him when he died". His dead body was buried next to his paternal uncle Hz. Abbas in the Cemetery of Baqi.

The Expedition of Sons of Qurayza

According to the treaty between Sons of Qurayza Jews and the Prophet, Sons of Qurayza Jews were supposed to defend Madinah, which was besieged by the enemy, together with Muslims during the Battle of Khandaq.[1]However, they did not do so; besides, they collaborated with the polytheists during the most critical point of the battle by violating the articles of the treaty. They insulted the delegates that the Prophet had sent to investigate the claims and to make peace by saying, “Who is the Messenger of Allah? We have no agreement or treaty with Muhammad.” They even said bad words against the Prophet.[2]What is more, they attacked on Madinah and tried to kill the Muslim women and children. Thus, they worried and panicked Muslims more than the worry about the battle. It was a clear betrayal and gratitude against the Prophet, who had treated them favorably.  

As a result of the Battle of Khandaq, the enemy army that consisted of ten thousand people was defeated heavily and had to retreat. Sons of Qurayza, who had supported the polytheists during the battle also retreated and took shelter in their strong castle, which was two hours away from Madinah, with disappointment. 

They were aware of their treacherous act. Therefore, they were worried that the Messenger of Allah would walk against them.

The Order Brought by Gabriel

As a matter of fact, the Muslims had just returned to Madinah. Gabriel gave the Messenger of Allah the following order:

“O Muhammad! Allah orders you to walk against Sons of Qurayza.”[3]

The Messenger of Allah had just taken off his armor and weapons and cleaned them. He summoned Bilal at once and told him to make the following announcement:

“Those who hear and obey the order of Allah have to perform the afternoon prayer in the land of Sons of Qurayza.”[4]

The Muslims who heard this call came together at once.

The Prophet gave the standard to Hazrat Ali and sent him before the army. He appointed Abdullah b. Umm Mak­tum as his deputy in Madinah.[5]

The Islamic army consisted of three thousand people. There were thirty-six cavalrymen among them. The army set off in order to punish Sons of Qurayza Jews, who violated the treaty they had signed with the Messenger of Allah in the most critical point of the battle, who betrayed Muslims and collaborated with the enemy.   

Hazrat Ali Arrives at the Land of Sons of Qurayza

Hazrat Ali, who had set off before the army, approached the castle of Sons of Qurayza and put the standard near the castle. Meanwhile, he heard some nasty words from Jews. Sons of Qurayza cursed the Prophet and talked against him. Thus, they made it clear that they did not regret the betrayal they had committed.

Hazrat Ali gave the standard to another Companion and returned. He met the Prophet on the way. He did not want the Prophet to hear those words and to grieve.

He said, “O Messenger of Allah! Is it not better for you not to approach those evil men?”

The Messenger of Allah asked, “Why not?”

Hazrat Ali kept silent because he felt ashamed to report the words he had heard from Jews.

The Prophet said, “You probably heard some words that would depress me from them.” He said,  “Yes, O Messenger of Allah!”

Thereupon, the Prophet said,

“The Prophet Moses heard worse words and felt very depressed. Go! If those enemies of Allah see me, they will not be able to utter any of those bad words.”[6]

The Prophet Talks to Sons of Qurayza Jews

The Messenger of Allah approached the castle of Sons of Qurayza Jews with the mujahids; he mentioned all of the names of Jewish notables and said to them, “O the brothers of those who were affected by the wrath of Allah and were turned to monkeys! Did Allah make you despicable and send His punishment down to you? You uttered bad words about me. Is that right?His His”

The notables of Jews became as timid as a mouse. They denied having uttered those words by saying,

“O Aba’l-Qasim! You were not a person who did not know what he said. We swear by the Torah that was sent to Moses that we did not utter any bad words against you.”[7]

Sons of Qurayza are Besieged

Sons of Qurayza Jews committed crimes over crimes. Instead of welcoming the Prophet and the mujahids, they talked against them and uttered bad words. It showed that they would not surrender and that they would resist.  

Thereupon, the Prophet ordered the mujahids to shoot arrows at them first. The mujahids started to shoot arrows at them. Sons of Qurayza started to shoot arrows from the castle at the Muslims. Thus, Sons of Qurayza were besieged.

The Munafiqs Encourage Sons of Qurayza

The munafiqs who seemingly supported the Messenger of Allah and the Muslims, and who actually collaborated with the enemies of Islam secretly sent some news to Sons of Qurayza Jews during the siege and said to them,

“Do not surrender! Even if they say, ‘Leave Madinah’, do not leave! If you keep fighting by rejecting their offer, we promise to help you with our bodies and weapons.”

Naturally, this secret news encouraged Sons of Qurayza. They continued resisting. 

They Become Tired of the Siege and Ask for Peace

The Prophet did not end the siege despite everything. He encouraged Muslims to make jihad and put up with troubles through his talks.

When Sons of Qurayza Jews saw that the siege prolonged, they started to get bored and tired. When no help arrived from the munafiqs, they were demoralized. They got very scared. Thereupon, they wanted to negotiate. The Messenger of Allah accepted their wish to negotiate. 

They sent Nabbash b. Qays to talk to the Prophet.

Nabbash said, “O Muhammad! Do not shed our blood like Sons of Nadr when they surrendered. Take our goods and weapons. Let us leave with our wives and children. Let each family take as many goods as a camel can carry with them except weapons.”

The Prophet said, “No! I will not accept this offer!”

Thereupon, Nabbash made another offer: “Then, do not shed our blood. Let us take our wives and children, and go. We will leave all of our goods to you.”

The Prophet said, “No! You have nothing to do but to surrender without any conditions!”

Nabbash returned to his tribe in a very bad and hopeless state. He told them about the talk between him and the Prophet.

The Offers of Ka’b b. Asad

Ka’b b. Asad was one of the leaders of Sons of Qurayza Jews. He understood the situation clearly after all those incidents. He said,

“O Jews! You see that you are face to face with a disaster. I will present three offers. You can accept any of them.”

Sons of Qurayza Jews asked curiously, “What are they?”

Ka’b started to present his offers:

“My first offer: Let us obey this man and accept his prophethood!

By Allah, you all know that he is the prophet whose attributes are written in our book, which was sent by Allah. If you believe in him, your blood, goods, wives and children will be saved.

The only reason why you do not obey him, is the jealousy you feel and the fact that he is not from Sons of Israel. However, it is something that Allah knows.

Do you not remember what Ibn Hirash told you when he came over to you. Had he not said, ‘I left Damascus, where there are all kinds of food and drinks, and came here, where there is only water dates and barley’ When he was asked, ‘what do you mean?’, he said, ‘A prophet will emerge in Makkah. If I am alive then, I will obey him and help him. If he comes after I die, do not try to deceive him! Obey him and be his friends and helpers.’?”

Sons of Qurayza Jews said, “No! We will not obey anyone who is not from one of us. We are a group that has a book!”

When Ka’b saw that nobody accepted this offer, he made his second offer:

“Then, this is my second offer: Let us kill our children and wives so that there will be nothing that will prevent us. Then let us draw our swords and attack Muhammad and his Companions. Let us continue to fight him until Allah decides between us. If we die, there will be no generation after us; if we defeat them, we will marry again and bring up children.”

Sons of Qurayza Jews did not accept this offer, either.

Thereupon, Ka’b made his third offer:

“This is my third offer: Tonight is Sabt (Saturday night). Muhammad and his Companions are sure that we will not do anything against them tonight; they might be heedless. Then, let us go out and attack them. We can kill them suddenly!”

Sons of Qurayza Jews answered this offer as follows:

“How can we violate the prohibition of working on Sabt? How can we do something that nobody except those who were transformed to monkeys and pigs due to their disrespect to the day of Sabt did?”

After those talks, Ka’b’s last words were:

“None of you has ever had even one night with precautions and right views from the day he was born up to now!”[8]

Then, a disagreement and disorder started among them. On the other hand, woman and children started to cry. They could not put up with their crying. They regretted what they had done.

Asad and Tha’laba from Sons of Sa’ya Embrace Islam

Meanwhile, Tha’laba and Asad b. Sa’ya, two brothers, stood up and gave Sons of Qurayza some advice: “O Sons of Qurayza! By Allah, you know very well that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. Both our scholars and the scholars of Sons of Nadr told us about his attributes. One of them is Ibn Hayyiban, whom we all love. When he was about to die, he told us about the attributes of that prophet. ”

Sons of Qurayza Jews said, “No! He is not the prophet that will come.” They denied the truth deliberately.

However, the two brothers did not give up their views. They repeated their views recklessly.

They said, “By Allah! He has the attributes of the prophet to come! Fear Allah and believe in Him.”[9]

Sons of Qurayza Jews had become the captives of their jealousy. They did not want to approve the prophethood of our Prophet.

Thereupon, Tha’laba and Asad, the two brothers, and Asad b. Ubayd, their cousin, left the castle and embraced Islam.[10]

Ibn Hayyiban was a Jew from Damascus. He was a scholar. Two years before the emergence of Islam, he was a guest of Sons of Nadr Jews. After living there for a while, he became very ill. When he realized that he was going to die, he said, “O Jews! Do you know why I came here?”

They said, “You know it better.”

Thereupon, Ibn Hayyiban told them why he had come.

“I came here to see the prophet whose time of emergence has approached and who will migrate here. I hope he will emerge soon and I will obey him. O Jews! You must obey him before everybody else.”[11]

Ibn Hayyiban, who gave the glad tidings of the emergence of the Prophet in his death bed, died before he attained what he had expected.[12]

Appointing an Arbitrator

After the siege that lasted for twenty-five nights, Sons of Qurayza Jews accepted to surrender realizing that they had nothing else to do. They asked the Prophet to appoint an arbitrator to decide about them. The Messenger of Allah said, “Choose anyone from my Companions as an arbitrator.”

Sons of Qurayza Jews said, “We will accept what Sa’d b. Muadh will decide.”

The Prophet said, “All right! Accept what Sa’d b. Muadh will decide.”[13]

Hazrat Sa’d b. Muadh, who had been wounded during the Battle of Khandaq, was in a tent in Masjid an-Nabawi for his treatment. The Muslims of Aws fetched him to the presence of the Messenger of Allah.

The Prophet said, “O Sa’d! They accepted to agree with the decision you will make. Now, tell me about your decision regarding them.”

Sa’d said, “O Messenger of Allah! I know very well that Allah ordered you what to do to them. Do what Allah ordered you to do.”

The Prophet said, “Yes, you are right, but tell me about your decision regarding them.”

Sa’d said, “O Messenger of Allah! I fear that I cannot make a decision that will be in accordance with the judgment of Allah.”

The Prophet insisted: “Make your decision about them.”[14]

Sons of Qurayza Jews were the allies of the Aws tribe in the past. Therefore, Sa’d wanted to obtain a promise from them. He asked the Aws tribe,

“Do you promise me by the name of Allah that you will accept the decision I will make about Sons of Qurayza?”

They said, “Yes, we do.”

Sa’d had to ask the Prophet about the issue since he was the arbitrator. Meanwhile, the Prophet was sitting somewhere together with some Companions. Due to his respect toward the Prophet, Sa’d felt ashamed to mention his name and to ask him directly. He turned his face to another direction and asked, “Does that person sitting there promise me by the name of Allah that he will accept the decision I will make?”

The Messenger of Allah said, “Yes...”

Upon the order of Sa’d, Sons of Qurayza Jews came out of their castles, left their weapons and surrendered.

Judgment

Sa’d b. Muadh expressed his judgment as follows:

“I decided that the males who reached the age of puberty would be killed, that their goods would be distributed among Muslims and their women and children would be held as captives.”

The Prophet congratulated Sa’d on making this decision and said, “You have made a decision that is in accordance with what Allah ordered over the seven skies.”[15]

Indeed, the judgment Sa’d b. Muadh made about Sons of Qurayza Jews was in accordance with the judgment of the Shariah of Hazrat Moses. This judgment is stated in the Old Testament as follows:

“When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace. If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labor and shall work for you. If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city. When the Lord your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it. As for the women, the children, the livestock and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the Lord your God gives you from your enemies. This is how you are to treat all the cities that are at a distance from you and do not belong to the nations nearby.”[16]

Sons of Qurayza Jews had to agree with the punishment they were given in accordance with the judgment in the Torah.

Upon the order of the Prophet, the hands of all of the males that reached the age of puberty were tied. Their goods were gathered in a place. The tied males, their goods and sheep were taken to Madinah. The booty was put in a house. The sheep were left to graze. Then, one-fifth of the booty was left to the Treasure. The remaining booty was shared among the mujahids.

As a necessity of the judgment, the males were killed. A woman called Nubata, who had martyred a Companion by throwing a stone at him from the castle during the siege, was also killed.

Meanwhile, a few Jews were forgiven. They had done some favors for Muslims beforehand. The Companions that they had helped asked the Messenger of Allah to forgive them and he forgave them.

Thus, the neighborhoods around Madinah were cleared of harmful elements. The Messenger of Allah and Muslims lived in peace and tranquility, without any wars for a long time after this incident.

FOOTNOTES

[1]Ibn Hisham, Sirah, Vol. 2, p. 147-148.

[2]Ibn Hisham, ibid, Vol. 3, p. 233; Ibn Sa’d, Tabaqat, Vol. 2, p. 74; Muslim, Sahih, Vol. 3, p. 1389.

[3]Ibn Hisham, ibid, Vol. 3, p. 244.

[4]Ibn Hisham, ibid, Vol. 3, p. 244-245; Ibn Sa’d, ibid, Vol. 2, p. 74.

[5]Ibn Sa’d, ibid, Vol. 2, p. 74.

[6]Ibn Hisham, ibid, Vol. 3, p. 245; Ibn Kathir, Sirah, Vol. 3, p. 228; Ibn Sa’d, ibid, Vol. 2, p. 77.

[7]Ibn Hisham, ibid, Vol. 3, p. 245.

[8]Ibn Hisham, ibid, Vol. 3, p. 246-247.

[9]Ibn Hisham, ibid, Vol. 3, p. 228; Ibn Hajar, al-Isaba, Vol. 1, p. 33.

[10]Ibn Hisham, ibid, Vol. 3, p. 227-228.

[11]Ibn Hisham, ibid, Vol. 3, p. 228.

[12]Ibn Hisham, ibid, Vol. 3, p. 228.

[13]Ibn Hisham, ibid, Vol. 3, p. 351; Ibn Sa’d, ibid, Vol. 3, p. 422.

[14]Ibn Sa’d, ibid, Vol. 3, p. 424-425.

[15]Ibn Hisham, ibid, Vol. 3, p. 251; Ibn Sa’d, ibid, Vol. 3, p. 426; Tabari, Tarikh, Vol. 3, p. 56.

[16]the Torah, Deuteronomy, 20, 10-15.

Hijri Calendar (Islamic lunar calendar) started with the migration of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) from Mecca to Medina. This date corresponds to 16th July, 622. As the calendar is regulated based on the movement of the moon, it is called “Hijri or Lunar Year”. Hijri calendar was prepared as a result of the confusion on calculating the days, after the death of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

Hijri Calendar accepts the first night when it is crescent moon as the beginning of the New Year. The period of time until the crescent moon appears again is considered one month, and 12 months equal to one year. According to this calendar, rotation of the moon around the Earth is accepted to be 29 and a half days. Thus, while one month is considered as 29 days, the other month is considered as 30 days. Therefore, the lunar calendar has 354 days, while the solar calendar has 365 days. For this reason, Hijri months arrive eleven days earlier than Gregorian months every year. As a result of this, Hijri months correspond to different seasons. Therefore, Ramadan, which is a month of Hijri calendar, sometimes arrive in summer, sometimes in winter and sometimes in other seasons; thus, it corresponds to all months, weeks and days of the year. A person, who fasts for 36 years fasts in every month and day of the year.

In Hijri Calendar, the New Year’s Day is the first of Muharram. The month of Muharram is followed by Safar, Rabi’ul- Awwal, Rabi’ul-Akhir, Jumadal-Awwal, Jumadal-Akhir, Rajab, Sha’aban, Ramadan, Shawwal, Dhul-Qadah and Dhul-Hijjah.

We are all Muslims, alhamdulillah (thank Allah), yet we all do not live as Islam requires us to live, unfortunately. We call living as a true Muslim “piety”. Whoever lives according to the requirements of the belief, we attribute the adjective “pious” to him, and call him “a pious man”. He already deserves to be called so.

You can also consider piety as an armor worn to be protected from the perversity and mischief of time. In fact, piety is a lifestyle which does not only put the one who lives it in Heaven but also brings peace and happiness in earthly life for him.

As a matter of fact, you can see how the pious ones and the non-pious ones spend their lives on new year’s days corresponding to the birth of prophet Jesus and the migration of the prophet Muhammad.

The pious ones, while thinking on New Year’s eves, say, even though sub-consciously:

- The New Year’s Day means that another year of the life has come to an end, we are closer to the inevitable end called death, and days of elderliness are closer, while the days of youth are coming to the end. As a matter of fact, more grey hair is growing amongst dark hair every New Year, signaling that we are getting older.

Therefore, instead of being taken with more debauchery and profligacy on new year’s eves, it is necessary to lean more to the Hereafter and the Eternal Life. For, this swift travel is towards the grave and the Hereafter, whether you admit it or deny it.

As piety makes one think more and behave carefully, pious people regret about their past years less. However, strayed people who do not consider themselves bound by the religious limits do not make a slight judgment or do not think even slightly about themselves. They are totally deprived of consciousness and perception. On the night which is an evidence to getting closer to death, they suffer the loss of their morality, spirituality and money, and continue to commit acts that they will regret later. What follow this entertainment and profligacy of a few hours are despair and regret that last for a lifetime.

What causes them to regret forever results from their lives which are not led according to the requirements of Islam, that is to say, it is because of non-piety. If they gained a strong belief to stay faithful to the requirements of the religion, an indication of piety, it would enable them to think vice versa on every new year’s eve, would pull themselves together and eventually advance in belief and morality, and they would neither regret their past nor be taken with debauchery and profligacy.

It can be concluded that what causes some people to degenerate and some to sublime on new year’s eves is nothing but being pious or not.

It is clear that what makes one think, and leads him to happiness is piety, and it is a fact that what deprives one of self-judgement and leads to profligacy is levity in religion.

That is to say, this is a world of testing. It is open to both ways. Anyone can go this way or that way. Some cancel their consciousness on New Year’s eve and some elevate it.

We praise Allah for our piety, give thanks to Him, who makes us think and behave so.

The Prophet (pbuh) ordered the Companions, his ummah and all humanity “not to go to a place if they hear of an outbreak of plague there and not to leave a place if plague breaks out there”. (Bukhari, Tibb, 30; Muslim, Salam, 92)

The Messenger of Allah asked people to keep away from leprous people (Bukhari, Tibb, 19); when he heard that there was a leprous person in the delegation coming from Thaqif to Madinah to pay allegiance to him, he wanted that person to return and stated that his allegiance was accepted. (Muslim, Salam, 126; Ibn Majah, Tibb, 44)

The Prophet (pbuh) also stated that animals with diseases should be separated from healthy animals. (Muslim, Salam, 104-105; Abu Dawud, Tibb, 24)

We have not found any information about an epidemic in the places where the Prophet (pbuh) lived when he was alive.

However, an epidemic called shireveyh broke out in Madain, the capital city of Sassanids in 627, when the Prophet (pbuh) was alive.  

The Period of the Companions:

When Hz. Umar, who set off for Syria, was informed that there was a plague epidemic in the region, he returned. (Bukhari, Tibb, 30; Muslim, Salam, 98; Tabari, Tarikh, IV, 57-58)

The plague epidemic called Amwas broke out in 639 affected the activities of the Muslims in Syria seriously. During the plague in which more than 20 thousand people died, notable Companions like Abu Ubayda b. Jarrah and Muadh b. Jabal died. A drastic famine occurred the same year.

A plague broke out in Kufa in 670. Mughira b. Shu’ba left Kufa so as not to be affected from the plague. He returned after the effect of the epidemic died away but he was infected and died.

The plague that broke out in Egypt in 685 caused the death of many people. 

Two years later, in 687, during the caliphate of Abdullah b. Zubayr, a drastic plague broke out in Basra. It was given the name the Jarif Plague, by being likened to flood’s dragging everything it comes across since it caused the death of many people. 

It is narrated that 80 people among the children and descendants of Anas b. Malik living in Basra died during this plague. The number may have been exaggerated but the narrations show how drastic the plague was. 

The effect of the plague that broke out in Damascus in 698 was also strong and caused the death of almost all people in the region.   

The Fatayat Plague, which broke out in 706, affected Basra, Wasit and Damascus. The reason why it was called Fatayat was the fact that it affected girls and women first.

In this article, we will mention the reasons why caliphate did not continue with Hz. Husayn and the reasons why he was killed.

If we try to classify superficially and generally various understandings, madhhabs and schools that emerged with the purpose serving the religion of Islam and making the religion dominant over life in the history of Islam, we will see that they adopted two main methods of serving Islam. The first one is the understanding that targets the individual, that is based on individuals and that does not find it necessary to grab the material power in order to make the religion dominant over life; the second one is the understanding that targets power, that brings politics in the foreground on behalf of the religion, in other words, that tries to shape the substructure by getting hold of “the state”, which is regarded as the superstructure.

That “the Makkan verses” of the Quran that were first sent down are about belief and ethics, the definition of “greater and lesser jihad” by the Prophet (pbuh), his refusing the offer by the polytheists to become their administrator in the first years of  introducing Islam by not thinking of benefitting from the position and advantages of being an administrator in the duty of conveying the message of Islam and guiding people show that the way of the Prophet (pbuh), Ahl al-Bayt and hence Hz. Hasan is the method of service that takes the individual to the foreground.

We understand from the advice of Hz. Hasan at his deathbed to his brother Hz. Husayn that Hz. Hasan knew that caliphate would not be left to Ahl al-Bayt. In his advice, he told his brother about his thought that Allah would not bring prophethood and caliphate together in them (Ahl al-Bayt); he wanted to explain why he made peace with Umayyads; he also wanted to prevent his brother from taking any action after him. (1)

The answer given to the question why Ahl al-Bayt did not have the caliphate and sultanate in the sense of power and authority though they deserved it more than others did by Badiuzzaman Said Nursi is very significant in that it sheds light on the issue.  

"Worldly rule is deceptive, and the Prophet’s (UWBP) Family had been appointed to preserve the decrees of the Qur’an and the truths of Islam. Not to be deceived by power, the one who was to hold it and the caliphate had to be as sinless as a prophet, or as purehearted and unworldly as the Four-Rightly Guided Caliphs, ‘Umar b. ‘Abd al-‘Aziz or the Mahdi of the ‘Abbasids..."

After that, he shows the caliphate of Fatimis, the government of Muwahhidin and the State of Safawi as example and expresses that worldly sultanate was not good for Ahl al-Bayt, that it made them forget their original duty, that is, maintaining the religion and serving Islam, and that they served Islam and the Quran in a bright and perfect way when they abandoned sultanate:

"Of the poles of sainthood descended from Hasan, especially the Four Poles (2) and above all ‘Abd al-Qadir Gilani, and the Imams of Husain’s line, especially Zayn al-‘Abidin and Ja‘far al-Sadiq, each became like a spiritual Mahdi, dispelled wrongdoing and spiritual darkness, and spread the light of the Qur’an and the truths of belief. In so doing each showed that he was a true heir of his noble forefather." (3)

Badiuzzaman Said Nursi answers a question about Hz. Ali related to his relative failure in terms of politics compared to the caliphs before him despite his extraordinary power, perfect intelligence and high qualifications as follows from the viewpoint of wisdom as follows:   

"That blessed person was deserving of weighty duties other than politics and rule. If he had been completely successful in politics and government, he would have been unable to acquire fully the meaningful title of King of Sainthood. Whereas he won a spiritual rule far surpassing the external, political Caliphate, and became a Universal Master; in fact, his spiritual rule will continue even until the end of the world."(4)

The fact that a great majority of the people of truth kept away from power beginning from the period of Hz. Muawiya and that being close to power and the palace caused the value of scholars to fall in the eye of the ummah is expressed with the following saying: "Being close to the sultan is destructive fire". Badiuzzaman Said Nursi does not associate many scholars and literary men’s being close to administrators with the ambition caused by their intelligence with thriftiness and dignity, criticizing them elegantly. (5)

It is possible to see a clear example of not approaching the people of power who represent the state by the people of truth in the attitudes of the four madhhab imams. All of those imams were oppressed by the current power when they lived. Abu Hanifa was against Umayyad sultans and he was imprisoned and tortured when he rejected the duty of being the chief judge during the period of Abbasids. Imam Malik was tortured by Abbasid sultan Mansur due to one of his ijtihads, which was not in compliance with the expectation of dominant power. Imam Shafii did not get on well with the people in power; after a short imprisonment, he had to go to Egypt, which was regarded as a distant province then, to study. It is known that Ahmad b. Hanbal was tortured severely in the palace of Ma'mun and that he died due to the effect of those tortures. (6)

It is possible to find many examples in the history of Islam showing that a great majority of both Sufis and scholars did not approach administrators very much so as to maintain the honor of ilm (knowledge/science) and so as not to be controlled by politicians. Some of them are as follows: 

Ibrahim b. Adham, the sufi, abandoned the sultanate he had but he became the sultan of hearts of millions of people even centuries after his death.  

What made Imam Ghazzali "Hujjatuul-Islam" was not becoming the head of the famous Nizamiya Madrasah but returning to his hometown by abandoning this duty and keeping away from the administrators of his time. He wrote tens of works including "İhyau Ulum'd-Din", "Kimya as-Sa’adah", "Ayyuhal Walad" in this period of seclusion. His statement, which is narrated to have been stated by him after his life of seclusion and while teaching people, is very famous: "In the past, I used to teach people the ilm that made them attain ranks and positions but now I teach them the ilm that make them abandon ranks and positions." (7)

Similarly, that no recordings showing that Mawlana Rumi, who lived in Konya, the capital city of Anatolian Seljuks, had a close relationship with the sultan exist can be shown as an example regarding the issue. (8)

References:

1. Bahaüddin Varol, Ehl-i Beyt Gerçeği, Şamil Publications, İstanbul n.d., p. 258
2. Seyyid Abdulkadir-i Geylani, Seyyid Ahmed-i Bedevi, Seyyid Ahmed-i Rufâi, Seyyid İbrahim Desuki (Osmanlıca-Türkçe Büyük Lûgat, Türdav Publications.)
3. Badiuzzaman Said Nursi, Mektubat, p. 100-101.
4. Bahaüddin Varol, Ehl-i Beyt Gerçeği, Şamil Publications, İstanbul n.d., p. 57
5. Badiuzzaman Said Nursi, Lem'alar, 19. Lem'a, 7. Nükte.
6. Metin Karabaşoğlu, Devletçilik: Bir Zihniyetin Anatomisi, Köprü Periodical, Issue 58, p. 14.
7. İbrahim Kâfi Dönmez, "Gazzali", TDV İslam Ansiklopedisi, Vol. 13, İstanbul 1996, p. 493.
8. Karabaşoğlu, ibid, p. 14.

(Hikmet HOCAOĞLU, Köprü Periodical, Issue 91, 2005)

Some other people have also drawn attention to the points mentioned in the question. However, the following hadith, which is included in a sound (sahih) source like Bukhari and is accepted by all Islamic scholars, does not allow us to ignore the meeting with Waraqa. After giving the translation of that famous hadith that we all know very well, we will try to make an evaluation:

According to what is reported from Aisha (r. anha), the mother of the believers, she said:

“The commencement of the Divine Inspiration to Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) was in the form of good dreams which came true like bright daylight, and then the love of seclusion was bestowed upon him. He used to go in seclusion in the cave of Hira where he used to worship (Allah alone) continuously for many days before his desire to see his family. He used to take with him the journey food for the stay and then come back to (his wife) Khadija to take his food likewise again”

“Finally, the Truth descended upon him while he was in the cave of Hira. The angel came to him and said, ‘Read’. The Prophet (pbuh) replied, ‘I do not know how to read.’ The Prophet (pbuh) said, ‘The angel caught me (forcefully) and pressed me so hard that I could not bear it any more. He then released me and again said, ‘Read’ and I replied, ‘I do not know how to read.’ Thereupon, he caught me again and pressed me a second time till I could not bear it any more. He then released me and said, ‘Read’ but again I replied, ‘I do not know how to read’ Thereupon he caught me for the third time and pressed me, and then released me and said, ‘Proclaim! (or Read!) In the name of thy Lord and Cherisher Who created, Created man out of a (mere) clot of congealed blood:  Proclaim! And thy Lord is Most Bountiful He Who taught (the use of) the Pen; Taught man that which he knew not.’” (al-Alaq, 96/1-5)

“Then, Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) returned with the Inspiration and with his heart beating severely. Then, he went to Khadija bint Khuwaylid and said, ‘Cover me! Cover me!’ They covered him till his fear was over and after that he told her everything that had happened and said, ‘I feared that something might happen to me.’ Khadija replied, ‘Never! By Allah, Allah will never disgrace you. You keep good relations with your kith and kin, help the poor and the destitute, serve your guests generously and assist the deserving calamity-afflicted ones.’”

“Khadija then accompanied him to her cousin Waraqa bin Nawfal bin Asad bin Abduluzza, who, during the pre-Islamic Period became a Christian and used to write the writing with Hebrew letters. He would write from the Gospel in Hebrew as much as Allah wished him to write. He was an old man and had lost his eyesight. Khadija said to Waraqa, ‘Listen to the story of your nephew, O my cousin!’ Waraqa asked, ‘O my nephew! What have you seen?’ Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) described whatever he had seen. Thereupon, Waraqa said: ‘This is the same one who keeps the secrets (angel Jibril) whom Allah had sent to Moses. I wish I were young and could live up to the time when your people would turn you out.’ “

“Thereupon, the Prophet said, ‘Will they drive me out?’ Waraqa replied, ‘Yes, anyone who came with something similar to what you have brought was treated with hostility; and if I should remain alive till the day when you will be turned out then I would support you strongly.’ However, after a few days Waraqa died and the Divine Inspiration was also paused for a while.” (Bukhari, Badul-Wahy, 1).

The phrase “returned from Hira with his heart beating severely” and the expression “I feared that something might happen to me” in the hadith show the effect of the incident on the Prophet (pbuh). That is why he said “Cover me “.

Scholars put forward “twelve different views” about what is meant by the fear mentioned in the hadith. According to Ibn Hajar’s preference, the following three views are the most acceptable ones:

1. Fear of dying from the severity of the shudder.

2. Fear of illness. Ibn Abi Jamra accepts this view.

3. Fear of the continuation of the disease (see Ibn Hajar, the explanation of the hadith in question)

It is possible to consider those three views together because being sick indicates that the disease will continue, and an ongoing illness can bring the anxiety of death.

In that case, the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), as a human being, felt a deep uneasiness after meeting with Jibril for the first time because, like every prophet, Muhammad (pbuh) is also a human being; he has human feelings; he has joys, sorrows and fears like other people. After this determination, we can view the following points:

a. In the face of an unseen event that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) encountered for the first time, Allah may have made him forget the wonders called “irhasat”, which he saw before and which showed his prophethood.

b. As stated in the hadith, “Jibril’s pressing him several times so hard that he could not bear it any more” may have shocked him and made him forget about the irhasat he had seen before. These pressings definitely have some reasons. One of them may be to cut off the relation of his human personality from the world with a shock treatment and to do some kind of therapy.

c. Accordingly, it is possible that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was shocked and frightened by such an extraordinary incident in the darkness of that night. It is normal for his heart to beat and for him to panic and say to Khadija (r. anha), “Cover me”; it does not contradict the prophethood.

d. The reason why Khadija (r. anha) took the Prophet (pbuh) to Waraqa b. Nawfal was not to confirm his prophethood, but to alleviate this shock effect, to relieve this human panic and to eliminate his worries. The reason why Khadija preferred him was that he was an old, dignified, literate wise person in that illiterate society, that he was a cultured person who read the Torah and the Bible, along with being a relative of hers. This identity allowed him to interpret events that were mysterious. As a matter of fact, it was immediately understood that it was very appropriate to go to Waraqa b. Nawfal. He said without hesitation that this incident was “a part of prophethood and that unknown person that was seen was Jibril”.

Ahmad Raza Khan was a Sunni scholar of Hanafi madhhab who lived in India/Pakistan. According to some, however, he was a Shiite.

According to Ihsan Ilahi Zahir, Ahmad Raza Khan’s family converted from Shiism to Sunnism. (al-Biralwiyya, p. 21)

Therefore, those who say that Ahmad Raza Khan was a Shiite may possibly be referring to the family’s previous status.

Ahmad Raza was born on 10 Shawwal 1272 (June 14, 1856) in the town of Ray Bireli in the state of Uttar Pradesh. His father Naki Ali Khan was a respected scholar. With the support of his father, Raza Khan studied religious sciences according to the madrasa curriculum and received his ijazah (diploma) at the age of thirteen and began to study fatwa under his father’s supervision. He also learned mathematics, medicine and geography from private teachers.

Among his teachers in Haramayn from whom he received his ijazah were Ahmad b. Zayni Dahlan, Abdurrahman al-Makki, Husayn b. Salih al-Makki, and Abu al-Husayin Ahmad an-Nuri can be mentioned.

In 1876, Raza Khan began issuing fatwas independently, and upon the death of his father in 1880, he took over the fatwa issuing.

In 1877, he took lessons and permission from Shah Aale Rasul Marhervi, the sheikh of the Qadiri order, and entered the Qadiri order. Later, he learned the manners of orders such as the Chishtiyya, Suhrawardiyya and Naqshbandiyya and received caliphate in the Qadiri order.

In 1897, Raza Khan left the Nadwatul-Ulama movement, in whose establishment he had been involved, and began to publish against it. He wrote about 200 fatwas against this movement and the scholars who were members of the movement, claiming that they had deviated into unbelief. He declared his leadership at the Majlis Ahl as-Sunnah wal Jama’ah held in Patna. He was given the title of the mujaddid of the twentieth century by his followers.

After this date, Raza Khan’s attitude toward the communities was not limited to Nadwa; he also strongly opposed Ahl al-Hadith and the Deobandis. His focus on issues related to the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) heated up the debates.

Due to the takfir movement he started, the reputation of the scholars (ulama) was damaged and a serious tension emerged in the society.

While his opponents claimed that Raza Khan supported the British and worked on their behalf, the writers belonging to the Barelvi school of thought said that he was actually against the British rule, but acted politically.

Those who take the middle path accuse Raza Khan of being an instrument to the British project to divide Muslims. It is stated the fatwa he issued in 1889 on the status of India under British rule and the fatwa he repeated in 1910, “According to Hanafi fiqh, India is dar al-Islam” was a result of this advocacy.

The Barelvi jama’ah (community), which Raza Khan started to form in 1880, continues in the same line today.

The community, which is influenced by an exaggerated Sufi understanding, strictly adheres to Hanafism in issues related to deeds (amal). Although the life and personality of the Messenger of Allah is the most important area of interest for Ahmad Raza Khan and his followers, they sometimes go to extremes in this regard.

- First of all, if Ja’faris/Shia had convinced us or if we had convinced them, there would be no such thing as quarrels and disagreements today. Since that disagreement has continued up to this time, it seems very difficult to completely eliminate that disagreement in the future.

 - If we, as Ahl as-Sunnah, collected all the evidence from the whole world, we might not be able to convince some Ja’faris.

- Besides, our duty is to teach and practice Ahl as-Sunnah, which is the way of the Prophet (pbuh) and the Companions, and its views. We do not and cannot have a duty to make people accept it. A person will use his own will, and Allah will make him accept it. We cannot interfere with it.

- When the peoples of the previous nations did not believe in their prophets, they were all destroyed. It is a sociological principle called the sunnah of Allah. Since it is out of the question for the Companions of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) to be destroyed collectively or individually, it means that they are sincere believers.

- However, the people of the ancient nations did not believe at first. There is no historical information showing that any nation apostatized as a whole after believing and was destroyed because of it.

However, the claim of Shia is that all of the Companions of the Prophet (pbuh) except three or five of them became apostates altogether after believing. The fact that they were not destroyed as a whole is clear evidence that Shia are liars and committed a major slander.

- The fact that the Companions fought some Bedouin tribes that apostatized during the caliphate of Abu Bakr is another evidence showing that the Companions were not apostates.

- Allah speaks highly of the Companions in various verses of the Quran, especially in the chapter of al-Fath. There is not even a single implication in any of the expressions of Allah regarding praise in those verses that this praise is for a temporary period. Thus, as those praises by Allah about the Companions witness, they did not become apostates.

- Ahl as-Sunnah and Jama’ah have tried to maintain their respect for the Companions, considering their greatness, which is determined by the Qur’an and Sunnah, in the eye of Allah.

- It is possible to see the expressions indicating the values ​​of the Companions in the eye of Allah in the verses below:

“Thus, have We made of you an Ummat justly balanced, that ye might be witnesses over the nations, and the Messenger a witness over yourselves.” (al-Baqara, 2/143)

“(O Ummah of Muhammad!) Ye are the best of peoples, evolved for mankind, enjoining what is right, forbidding what is wrong, and believing in Allah.” (Aal-i Imran, 3/110)

“Those who believe, and adopt exile, and fight for the Faith, in the cause of Allah as well as those who give (them) asylum and aid,- these are (all) in very truth the Believers: for them is the forgiveness of sins and a provision most generous.” (al-Anfal, 8/74)

“The vanguard (of Islam)- the first of those who forsook (their homes) and of those who gave them aid, and (also) those who follow them in (all) good deeds,- well- pleased is Allah with them, as are they with Him: for them hath He prepared gardens under which rivers flow, to dwell therein for ever: that is the supreme felicity.” (at-Tawba, 9/100) (Note: Those who accuse the Companions of apostasy will have denied this verse.)

“Allah’s Good Pleasure was on the Believers when they swore Fealty to thee under the Tree: He knew what was in their hearts, and He sent down Tranquility to them; and He rewarded them with a speedy Victory; And many gains will they acquire (besides): and Allah is Exalted in Power, Full of Wisdom.” (al-Fath, 48/18-19)

“Muhammad is the apostle of Allah. and those who are with him are strong against Unbelievers, (but) compassionate amongst each other. Thou wilt see them bow and prostrate themselves (in prayer), seeking Grace from Allah and (His) Good Pleasure. On their faces are their marks, (being) the traces of their prostration. This is their similitude in the Taurat; and their similitude in the Gospel is: like a seed which sends forth its blade, then makes it strong; it then becomes thick, and it stands on its own stem, (filling) the sowers with wonder and delight. As a result, it fills the Unbelievers with rage at them. Allah has promised those among them who believe and do righteous deeds forgiveness, and a great Reward.” (al-Fath, 48/29)

- There are many hadiths showing the virtue of the Companions. We regard the following comprehensive hadith in the soundest sources as sufficient for the time being:

“The best of my followers are those living in my generation and then those who will follow them and then those who will follow them...” (Bukhari, Fadailul-Ashab, 1; Muslim, Fadailus-Sahaba, 52)

“Allah has promised, to those among you who believe and work righteous deeds, that He will, of a surety, grant them in the land, inheritance (of power), as He granted it to those before them; that He will establish in authority their religion - the one which He has chosen for them; and that He will change (their state), after the fear in which they (lived), to one of security and peace: ‘They will worship Me (alone) and not associate aught with Me. ‘If any do reject Faith after this, they are rebellious and wicked.” (an-Nur, 24/55)

It is pointed out in the verse above that after the death of the Prophet (pbuh), those who were described as “those who believe and work righteous deeds” will become caliphs.

And this verse of the Quran is exactly in the 633rd place according to the system of arrangement of the verses sent down in Madinah, which is the beginning year of the caliphate of Hz. Abu Bakr. In other words, according to this system, 632 verses were placed before this verse.

- As it is stated clearly in the verse, the fact that all four caliphs, who were among “those who believe and work righteous deeds” and who were given the glad tidings of Paradise, became caliphs one after the other confirms the trueness of the verse. The Shia’s understanding of the caliphate completely contradicts the clear expression of the verse.

- The Islamic ummah believes in Allah’s Qadar as a principle and regards belief in Qadar as one of the principles of belief. Accordingly, the fact that all four rightly-guided caliphs became caliphs is a clear indication that Allah (as it is expressed in the verse) preordained caliphate for them. However, if Hz. Ali had been the first caliph, none of those three caliphs would have been the caliph because their lifespans would not have been enough.

- To sum up: It can be very difficult to agree with all Ja’faris and Shia in general on this ground. However, the first duty that falls on the shoulder of both parties is to avoid the deeds that will harm the “Union of Islam”, which is the only solution for Islam and Muslims to get out of the current miserable state they are in. It can only be achieved by not discussing such controversial issues.

- It will be the wisest and fairest thing for both parties to pay attention the call of Badiuzzaman Said Nursi, who is an Ahl as-Sunnah scholar and defender of the Ahl al-Bayt, and perhaps even the 12th Imam that Shia awaits: 

“O Sunnis, who are the people of truth, and ‘Alawis, whose way is love of the Prophet’s (UWBP) family! Quickly put an end to this meaningless, disloyal, unjust, and harmful dispute between you. Otherwise, the atheistic current which is now so influential will make one of you a tool against the other, and use the one to crush the other. And after defeating the one it will destroy the tool. As believers in divine unity, it is essential that you leave aside unimportant matters that cause division, for there are a hundred fundamental sacred bonds between you that enjoin brotherhood and unity.” (see Lem’alar, p. 26)

For additional information, will you please click on the links given below;

- Considering that hadiths reached us through many narrators, why should we trust hadiths and why should we not deny hadiths?

- Why do Shiite scholars not accept hadiths reported from Abu Hurayra?

Ibn Abbas narrates:

"Abdullah Ibn Sa'd Ibn Abis-Sarh was a revelation scribe of the Prophet (pbuh). Satan deceived him; he became an apostate and took refuge in the unbelievers. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) ordered him to be killed on the day of the Conquest. However, Hz. Uthman took him under his protection. The Messenger of Allah accepted this protection." [Abu Dawud Hudud 1, (4358); Nasai, Tahrimud-Dam 15, (7, 107)]

This hadith is included in a longer hadith in the interpretation of the chapter of an-Nahl in the chapter called tafsir as a Nasai narration.

"Anyone who, after accepting faith in Allah, utters Unbelief,- except under compulsion, his heart remaining firm in Faith - but such as open their breast to Unbelief, on them is Wrath from Allah, and theirs will be a dreadful Penalty." (an-Nahl, 16/106)

Muqatil states the following: The verse "Anyone who, after accepting faith in Allah, utters Unbelief, but such as open their breast to Unbelief, on them is Wrath from Allah" was sent down for Abdullah ibn Sa'd ibn Sarh al-Qurashi, Miqyaqs ibn Subaba (or Dubaba), Abdullah ibn Anas ibn Hatal, Tu'ma ibn Ubayriq, Qays ibnul-Walid ibnul-Mughira and Qays Ibnul-Faqih al-Mahzurni. (Ibnul-Jawzi, Zadul-Masir fi Ilmit-Tafsir, IV / 495; Qurtubi, al-Jamiu li-Ahkamil-Qur'an, Xl / 18; Bedreddin Çetiner, Esbab-ı Nüzul, Çağrı Publications: 2/550-552)

It is necessary to have a look at the events of the year 15 H (636-637 AD) for the answer to this question:

In 15 H, during the caliphate of Umar (ra), the Muslims conquered the “Land of Damascus”, that is, a part of the Middle East: First the city of Homs, which is currently a part of the Syrian state, was conquered, followed by Baalbek. Abu Ubayda b. Jarrah, the commander-in-chief of the Damascus region, also captured Hama in Syria, subjecting its Christian inhabitants to jizya and tribute. The Eastern Roman government was constantly retreating in the face of the Muslim advancement on all fronts in order to resist it in the future. Afterwards, Abu Ubayda’s army captured Shayzar, Ma’arra and Latakia through fighting. It then moved on to Raha/Urfa. The emperor Heraclius realized that he could no longer stand between the armies of Damascus and Iraq. One day, he looked longingly from a high hill at his former fertile land, the fertile crescent moon, and said,

“Farewell, a long farewell to Syria.”

Then, he evacuated all the fortresses between Iskenderun and Tarsus to go to Constantine, leaving an uninhabited desert between Antioch and the Greek / Roman border.

Following the conquest of Qinnasrin, Abu Ubayda invaded Halab and captured this beautiful city of Damascus through peace. Then, the enemy considered the situation and surrendered Antioch to him without resistance. After that, Abu Ubayda’s army captured Manbij. Thus, all the towns west of Damascus fell into the hands of Islam. Then, Abu Ubayda, the commander-in-chief, sent Khalid b. Walid to Marash. Khalid b. Walid captured Marash when the Romans were about to leave it.

Umar (ra)’s Meeting with the Commanders and the Keys of Jerusalem

After all these conquests, Abu Ubayda, the commander-in-chief of the Damascus region, went to Palestine. Shurahbil b. Hasana, who was under his command, and who was the commander of the Jordan region, conquered the Jordan valley. Amr b. As, the commander of the Palestinian region, was a clever man and had superior knowledge of warfare. He appointed his commanders Alqama and Masruq for the conquest of Jerusalem and sent Abu Ayyub to Ramla. 

Afterwards, Amr himself came to the aid of the Muslim army for Jerusalem and defeated the army of the Byzantine commander Artabon; Artabon retreated in defeat inside the walls of Jerusalem. (1) Amr, then, conquered the towns of Gaza, Nablus and Jaffa in the region of Palestine and sent word to the notables of the city for the surrender of Jerusalem. The notables of Jerusalem replied that they would only surrender the city if the caliph gave them a covenant and assurance of safety. When the Caliph Umar (ra) was informed of the situation, he appointed Ali (ra) as the acting head of state (2) and set out to meet the commanders of the Damascus region in Jabiyah. 

The first commanders who came to meet him were Abu Ubayda, Yazid b. Abu Sufyan (the elder brother of Muawiya) and Khalid b. Walid. Umar (ra) was wearing a patched shirt as he came toward them. He was riding a camel or a mare. (3) When he approached the commanders, he saw that they were riding the best horses and wearing nice clothes, and he became furious. He immediately jumped down from his horse and threw stones at them. He shouted at them as follows:

“How quickly you have changed your mindset and opinion! Have you come out to meet me dressed like this?”

Umar (ra), like the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) and Abu Bakr (ra), was against luxury and comfort and disliked extravagance. When he saw them dressed in beautiful and attractive clothes like the Romans, he was angry and rebuked them. Did these people start to like worldly things?

The commanders responded as follows to defend themselves

“This is just a show. We have only our weapons on us.”

Thus, they aplogized to the caliph. Accepting their apology, the caliph said “all right” and they reached Jabiyah together. Amr b. As and Shurahbil came and joined the group there. Amr and Shurahbil, the commanders of Palestine and Jordan, kissed the caliph’s knee. Umar (ra) hugged them.

The caliph and the commanders met with the notables of Jerusalem in Jabiyah. The keys of the city were handed over to the Caliph Umar (ra) on the condition that Umar (ra) would give them an assurance of safety and they would pay jizya (head tax). (4) Apparently, the people of Jerusalem wanted to secure their affairs, to be sure of the safety of their property and lives, and to hand over the city to the caliph after a treaty with him because of some considerations regarding their religion. The patriarch of Jerusalem was ready for peace, but he wanted the Caliph Umar to personally take the responsibility of the city upon himself. (5) Indeed, this assurance of safety points to the issues we have mentioned:

The Assurance of Safety Given to the People of Jerusalem

When Umar (ra) took over the city, he gave the inhabitants of Jerusalem an assurance of safety, which is very important for the dhimmis in history. This is an important document in terms of Islamic history, Islamic law and the people of the conquered countries. It is also important in terms of relations between Islam and Christianity. The document is as follows:

“In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate. (6)

This is the assurance of safety which the servant of Allah, Umar, the Commander of the Believers, has granted to the people of Aelia (Quds/Jerusalem). He has granted them safety for their lives and possessions, their churches and crosses, the sick and the healthy of the city and for the rest of its religious community.

Their churches will not be inhabited nor destroyed. Neither they, nor the land on which they stand, nor their cross, nor their possessions will be confiscated. They will not be forcibly converted, nor any one of them harmed. No Jew will live with them in Aelia.

The people of Aelia (Quds/Jerusalem) must pay the poll tax like the people of the other cities, and they must expel the Byzantines and the robbers.

As for those who will leave (migrate from Quds), their lives and possessions shall be safeguarded until they reach their place of safety; and as for those who remain, they will be safe (they will have safety of lives and property). They will have to pay the poll tax like the people of Aelia.

If those people of Aelia who want to leave with the Byzantines and take their possessions, their churches and crosses will be evacuated because they will be safe until they reach their place of safety. Those villagers who were in Aelia before the killing of so-and-so may remain in the city if they wish, but they must pay the poll tax like the people of Aelia.

Those who wish may go with the Byzantines, and those who wish may return to their families. Nothing will be taken from them until their harvest has been reaped.

The contents of this assurance are under the covenant of Allah, are the responsibility of His Prophet, of the Caliphs, and of the believers if the people of Aelia pay the poll tax according to their obligations.”

This assurance of safety was attested by Khalid b. Walid, Amr b. As, Abdurrahman b. Awf and Muawiya b. Abu Sufyan. The assurance of safety was written and came into force in (15 H / 637 AD). (7)

When Umar (ra) came to take the keys of the city from the Patriarch of Jerusalem in the fall of the year 15 H (637 AD), he gave the assurance of safety to the Patriarch.

In fact, the local Christians had not been able to get on well with the Greek and Roman Christians. One source gives the reasons for it as follows:

“For most of the first century after the Migration (Hijrah), the majority of the citizens of the Islamic State were Christians who enjoyed respect, freedom and new dignity that they had not enjoyed under the rule of Christian Rome or Greek Byzantium.

Both of those powers were imperialists (colonialists) and racists. They colonized the Near East and oppressed the natives who were not Roman or Greek.

Under Islamic rule, the Christians lived in peace and prospered for centuries.” (8)

This assurance of safety guaranteed many things that the racist and imperialist Romans and Greeks, who were Christians, did not to those who remained in Jerusalem, most of whom were Christian natives.

The Byzantine Greeks abandoned the land of the fertile crescent to the natives. The patriarch of Jerusalem had already heard about the Muslim attitude toward Christians. The assurance of safety granted by the Caliph Umar (ra), who came to Jerusalem, eliminated the oppression, discrimination and persecution of the imperialist and racist Greek Byzantium. This document first of all showed the social and cultural level of Islamic tolerance, and it was also an example of a civilized approach to non-Muslims in a humane and religious manner. This humane and compassionate attitude toward the natives had a significant impact on the continuation and continuity of the conquests.

The following lines summarize the approach of Islam to non-Muslims and the attitude of the Islamic State toward the Christians:

“Throughout this period (the spread of Islam), the Islamic State had oppressive Sultans and Caliphs along with equitable ones. If it had it been part of the Islamic idea to eradicate the Christians, it could have been easily accomplished without any signs. However, what protected the Christians was Islam’s respect for the Prophet Isa (Jesus Christ) as the Prophet of Allah and for his book, the Gospel, as the revelation sent to him, and its acceptance of them as such.” (9)

Footnotes:

1. Dhahabi, al-Khulafaur-Rashidun, p. 66; Ahmet Cevdet Paşa, I, 370.
2. He had also appointed Ali (ra), who was also his father-in-law, as the acting head of state, when he left Madinah before the Battle of Qadisiya.
3. Dhahabi, al-Khulafaur-Rashidun, p. 66, 100; Heyet, Doğuştan Günümüze, II, 93
4. Dhahabi, al-Khulafaur-Rashidun, pp.  66, 99; Mawardi, pp. 96-97; Ibnul-Athir, II 422, 502; Balazuri, II, 348; Sarıcık, Ehli Beyt, pp. 160-162.
5. al-Faruqi, I. Raji- L. Lamia, p. 239.
6. Hamidullah, Wasaiq, p. 488. no. 357.  Cf. al-Faruqi, I. Raji- L. Lamia, p. 220.
7. Hamidullah, Wasaiq, p. 489; Hitti, I, 233; Heyet, Doğuştan Günümüze, I, 93.
8. al-Faruqi, I. Raji- L. Lamia, p. 220, Chapter 9.
9. al-Faruqi, I. Raji- L. Lamia, p. 220.

Ali Ibn Abu Talha reports the following from Ibn Abbas: When the Messenger of Allah migrated to Madinah, the majority of the people of Madinah were Jews. Allah ordered the Prophet to turn toward Quds (Jerusalem). The Jews became very glad because of it. The Messenger of Allah performed prayers by turning toward Quds for about ten months. However, he wanted to turn toward the qiblah of Ibrahim. He prayed Allah all the time and looked at the sky. Thereupon, the following verse was sent down:

"We see the turning of thy face (for guidance to the heavens: now Shall We turn thee to a Qibla that shall please thee. Turn then Thy face in the direction of the sacred Mosque: Wherever ye are, turn your faces in that direction..." (al-Baqara, 2/144)

According to the narration of Tabrasi, when the Prophet (pbuh) was in Makkah, he performed prayers by turning toward the Kaaba. When he migrated to Madinah, he turned toward Masjid al-Aqsa. The aim was to be different from the polytheists who turned toward the Kaaba when they worshipped their idols. The Jews became very glad because of it. They interpreted the Prophet’s and Muslims’ turning toward the qiblah of Jews as a confession of their being on the right path and as a sign of the source of Muslims’ guidance being their guidance. Zamakhshari states that the Prophet (pbuh) started to perform prayers by turning toward Masjid al-Aqsa instead of the Kaaba in order to warm the hearts of the Jews toward Islam.

Both reasons are possible for the Prophet’s turning toward Masjid al-Aqsa. When the Jews started to refuse and confuse him and the Muslims and to act arrogantly and conceitedly, this became unendurable for the Prophet (pbuh) and the Muslims. Therefore, the Prophet (pbuh) had a desire in his heart about the change of the qiblah. 

On the other hand, the Jews increased their annoying deeds. Therefore, the Prophet (pbuh) expected a divine revelation related to the change of the qiblah. In addition, we can state the following:

"When the Prophet (pbuh) was annoyed by the Jews and when he lost his hope about their becoming Muslims, he realized that performing prayers by turning toward their qiblah would decrease the effect of his call to Arabs about Islam. Turning toward the first qiblah again would also warm the hearts of Arabs toward Islam. He knew that the Kaaba, which was Allah’s house and to which Arabs were deeply attached and showed respect, was the symbol of unity among Arabs. Arabs visited the Kaaba in congregation for hajj and worshipped together for hajj. They all caused the Prophet (pbuh) to ask Allah to turn his face toward the Kaaba."

A relationship can be established between this interpretation and the following part of a verse:

"...that there be no ground of dispute against you among the people..." (al-Baqara, 2/150)

The incident is true but it can be said that the information about the number of people who were killed is exaggerated. We will try to explain the issue in a few articles:

1. Jews of Sons of Qurayza signed an agreement with the Islamic state of Madinah. According to the agreement, both sides would defend the country of Madinah under all circumstances. In case of an attack on one party, the other party would regard that attack as an attack on itself and would fight against the attacker.

However, when the Battle of Khandaq took place, the Jews broke the agreement unilaterally - even if with the suggestions of some mischief-makers - and united with the enemy fighting against the Muslims and betrayed Muslims openly.

According to the customs of the people of that time - as it is today - the punishment for the traitor was death. Therefore, those who plotted and actually practiced the betrayal were sentenced to death by the arbitrator they themselves chose - based on full justice.

2. Think for a moment; you cannot even imagine what would have happened to the Muslims if that treacherous network together with other polytheist groups had been victorious. The recruitment of soldiers – unproportionally - by the enemy (more than ten thousand soldiers against the Muslims who amounted to three thousand) is a clear indication that they aimed to exterminate the Muslims.

3. The fact that the Prophet (pbuh) did not kill the Jews of Sons of Qaynuka and Sons of Nadir tribes - despite their treacherous plans and hostility toward Muslims - is an indisputable indication that the Jews of Sons of Qurayza who were killed had already deserved it.

It is understood that those Jews, unlike the previous Jews, stabbed the Muslims in the back during a very dangerous war when the other enemies besieged Madinah at a time when the Muslims were in great trouble and at a time when enemies attacked with armies of more than ten thousand soldiers to exterminate the Muslims, and that they deserved this punishment.

4. However, the number of the Jews killed in that war seems to be exaggerated a lot in addition to being reported differently. Those exaggerated numbers were reported as 400, 550, 700 and 900. It is stated that all of those narrations are weak in terms of chains of narrators or texts.

Ibn Ishaq, who reported those figures, was criticized by scholars as follows: Imam Malik, who was his peer said, “He is one of Dajjals.” Imam Ahmad: “He does not search the honesty of those from whom he reports.” Hisham b. Urwa: “He is a liar.” Ibn Nadim: “He was blamed/criticized by scholars.” Ibn Hajar: “He does TADLIS (giving a good image to a bad person) in his narrations from weak and unknown narrators.” Dhahabi: “Previous scholars accused him of narrating bad and strange things.” Khatib Baghdadi: “He got the information about battles mostly from Jews.” (see Salim al-Mashhur, the article titled “Usturatu Majzarati Bani Qurayza”)

5) It is interesting that Ibn Ishaq did not make any efforts to determine the exact number while giving the number of those who were killed. The information he gave was “between 600 and 900”. (see Ibn Hisham, as-Sirah, 2/240-241) There is a difference of 300 between the two figures. It shows that the Jews who gave that information preferred to give exaggerated numbers rather than the real number - to cause hesitation in minds - and Ibn Ishaq wrote down what he heard as it was without filtering.

It is also interesting that while describing that incident, Ibn Ishaq did not even give a sound chain of narrators; on the contrary, he regarded the following expression sufficient: “A scholar in whom I trust told me...”. It means that this narration is also weak in terms of chain of narrators.

6) In a narration that Abu Islam al-Maghribi verified and declared as “sound”, the number was determined as only 40. Accordingly, Sad b. Muadh decreed as follows: “The male Jews (who fought actually / who were warriors) will be killed; their families will be taken captive, and their property will be distributed (as booty)”. The Prophet (pbuh) applied that decree; however, he forgave only “Amr b. Sad” among the Jewish men - since he had not betrayed. (see Ibn Zanjuya, al-Amwal, h. no: 359)

However, in a narration that Tirmidhi describes as “sound”, the number is mentioned as 400. (Tirmidhi, h.no: 1582) Ibn Hajar states that the narrations determining the number of people who were killed as 400 are sound. (see Fathul-Bari, 7/414)

In fact, according to the information given by Ibn Ishaq, those who deserved to die were gathered in a woman’s house. (Ibn Hisham, ibid) A woman’s house could only accommodate 40 people especially under the conditions of that time. It is not possible to contain more people as expressed by other numbers. It shows that the numbers that are given are exaggerated. However, there are also narrations that those Jews were gathered in two houses. (see Ibn Hajar, ibid)

It is understood from all those explanations that only the fighting men of Sons of Qurayza Jews were killed. It is highly probable that most of them were killed during the battle. Others were executed after they were captured as punishment for betrayal. The number of those who were killed is between 40 and 400. No woman was killed except for one woman who was killed as retaliation. None of the young and old people who did not fight was killed.

No, there is no such information; it is false.

The person known as Ratan al-Hindi was a man who died in the late 6th and early 7th centuries of the Migration and claimed to be a Companion.

Imam Dhahabi strongly criticized him in his book entitled “The Smashing of the Idol of Ratan” and noted that he could not be a Companion in terms of science and Shari’ah.

Dhahabi, who saw that Ratan had become an idol more than a century after his death, strongly criticized him, saying that he was a big liar, that he appeared after the 6th century of the Migration and shamelessly claimed to be a Companion, and that this person dared to slander Allah and His Messenger and fabricated hadiths though the Companions did not lie.

Dhahabi used harder words about Ratan and said:

He is a slanderer, a liar, an old senile man who fabricated great lies and committed a great disgrace in order to muddle people. (1)

The most important evidence showing that Ratan is a liar is that he is not mentioned in the works of any author living before the 7th H (13th AD) century despite the fact that he is claimed to have many narrations and India was conquered in the 4th H (10th AD) century.

It is not possible for the rijal books, in which even those who have a single narration are examined, not to mention the life of a person who is said to have such extraordinary qualities. (2)

On the other hand, hadith scholars proved Ratan to be a liar based on the hadith, “None of those who are alive today will be alive in a century from now.” (3)

As a matter of fact, hadith scholars unanimously agree that the last of the Companions who saw and talked with the Prophet (pbuh) was Abut-Tufayl Amir ibn Wasila. (4)

To sum up, the person known as Ratan al-Hindi was not a Companion, but a man who lived at the end of the 6th and beginning of the 7th century H. (5)

References:

1) see Mizanul-I’tidal, 2/45 no: 2759; Dhahabi, al-Mughni fid-Duafa, thq. Nuraddin Itr, Aleppo, 1391/1971, 1/230, no. 2110; Dhahabi, Siyaru A’lamin-Nubala’, thq. Shuayb Arnaud, Beirut, 1405/1985, 22/367-368, nr. 231; Dhahabi, Tarikhul-Islam wa Wafayatul -Mashahiri wal-a’lam, Süleymaniye Library. Ayasofya Ksm. 3012, C. IX, var. 120 a.
2) Zabidi, Tajul-Arus, “rtn” iitem.
3) Bukhari, Ilm, 41, Mawaqit, 40; Muslim, Fadailus-Sahaba, 217-220.
4) see Ibn Hajar, al-Isaba, 2/525-529; Lisanul-Mizan, 2/450-452.
5) see Nevzat Aşık, Hicrî VI. Asırda Sahabi Olduğunu İddia Eden Abu’r-Ridâ Ratan el-Hindî.., DÜİFD, VII (1992), s. 47-65; TDV İslam Ansiklopedisi, Ratan b. Nasr item.

Abu Sufyan is among the Companions. According to Ahl as-Sunnah, there is no difference between him and the other Companions. We cannot know who entered the grave with belief except for the Companions who were given the glad tidings of Paradise. However, we have good thoughts about all Companions, righteous people and believers.

According to Ahl as-Sunnah scholars, Abu Talip did not die as a believer. Shi’a scholars hold the view that he died as an unbeliever.

Badiuzzaman Said Nursi states the following when he answers a question regarding the issue:

"You ask, ‘What is the most authentic narration concerning the faith of his uncle Abu Talib’

The Answer: The Shi’a agree that he believed, while most of the Sunnis do not agree. But what occurs to my heart is this:

Abu Talib loved most earnestly, not the Most Noble Messenger’s (Upon whom be blessings and peace) messengership, but his person and his self. That most earnest personal love and tenderness surely will not go for nothing. Yes, Abu Talib loved Almighty God’s Noble Beloved sincerely and protected and supported him; it was because of feelings like shame and tribal solidarity that he did not believe in him in acceptable fashion, not out of denial and obduracy. If due to this he goes to Hell, God Almighty may create a sort of particular Paradise for him, in reward for his good actions. As He sometimes creates the spring during winter, and for people in prison by means of sleep transforms the prison into a palace, so too He may turn a particular Hell into a sort of particular Paradise. Wal-ilmu indallah (The knowledge of it is with God alone). La ya'lamul-ghayba illallah (None knows the Unseen save God)." (Mektubat, p. 387)

Abul Bakhtari (Said b. Firuz) is a hadith narrator. Hadith narrators generally regard him as a "siqa-honest person". He tended to Shi’a a bit. He may have made mistakes like everybody. He is one of the normal believers. Allah knows the best about his end like the end of all believers. What we, believers, need to do is to have good thoughts about other believers. (For his life, see Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib, IV/72-73).

Muhammad b. Abdilwahhab b. Sulayman at-Tamimi an-Najdi (d. 1206/1792) is the founder of Wahhabism.

He was born in 1115 H (1703 AD) in Uyayna, a small settlement in the Najd region of ­the Arabian Peninsula. His family belongs to the tribe of Sons of Tamim, which raised important scholars in Hanbali madhhab. His father, ­Abdulwahhab b. Sulayman, was one of the well-known scholars of the Najd region.­

After learning basic religious knowledge from his father, who was the qadi of Uyayna, Muhammad went to ­Makkah and stayed there for a while; then, he went to Madinah. He learned religious sciences from prominent scholars of the period, especially Hanbali scholar Abdullah b. Ibrahim b. Sayf an-Najdi and Muhammad Hayat as-Sindi. Then, he went to Basra, where various religious groups were located. However, he was expelled from the city together with his teacher, Muhammad al-Majmui, because he opposed some practices in the religious life of the people. The practices he opposed may have been related to the visits to the tomb of the Shadhili sheikh of Basra, Muhammad Amin al-Qawwaz (d. 953/1546), to whom he made hostile references in his later writings, and the respect shown at the level of worship there.

Due to the inadequacy of his financial means, Muhammad b. Abdulwahhab could not go to Damascus, which was one of the important ­centers of Hanbali madhhab at that time, and returned to Najd via Lahsa (Ahsa). He moved to the town of Huraymila and settled there with his father after he had a conflict with the Emir of Uyayna. Although it is stated that he visited Baghdad, Aleppo, Hamadan, Isfahan, Qom, Ray, Damascus, Jerusalem and Cairo before returning to Najd, this information is not confirmed by Wahhabi sources.

After arriving in Najd, Muhammad b. Abdulwahhab was expected to take up a position as a scholar, but he started a reform movement against some religious practices that he regarded as polytheism after his father’s death in 1153 H (1740 AD). However, he faced serious opposition. After his opponents resorted ­to violence and attempted to assassinate him, he left Huraymila and returned to Uyayna. He was welcomed by the Emir Uthman b. Muammar, whom he had known before, ­there and received political support for the spread of his ideas. During this period, he not only spread his ideas but also demolished the graves of the tombs of some Companions who were martyred in the war against the supporters of Musaylimatul-Kadhdhab in Jubayla, ­which led to harsh reactions.

The sheikh of Sons of Khalid, one of the mighty tribes of ­Lahsa, began to press the Emir of Uyayna to kill Muhammad or send him into exile. ­Thereupon, Muhammad had to go to Dariyya, which was ruled by the Saud family, in 1158 H (1745 AD).

Settling in Dariyya was a turning point in Muhammad b. ­Abdulwahhab‘s life. The Saud family took care of him ­and supported the spread of his ideas. This support continued during the reigns of Muhammad b. ­Saud and his son and successor, Abdulaziz. This period is regarded as the most important period in terms of the future and effectiveness of the Wahhabi movement.­

Since Muhammad called his religious opponents polytheists, his followers started ­jihad against them. After a period of slow and irregular spread that lasted for about thirty years, the Wahhabi movement gained great momentum when the Saud family dominated the whole of ­Najd. During this period, Ibrahim b. Sulayman, important opponents such as Emir Ibn Dawwas and Zyad b. Zamil Emir, who had to leave Riyad in 1187 (1773), were ruled out.

In line with his thoughts on tawhid (oneness), Muhammad b. Abdulwahhab claimed that many of the Muslims of his time should be regarded as polytheists because of their deeds and he accepted jihad against them as one of the most fundamental duties of Muslims. ­Although the basic principles that Muhammad advocated were actually Islamic, even his contemporaries, who respected him, were disturbed by his uncompromising attitude in their implementation. Yemeni Emir as-San’ani, who had an important place among his contemporary scholars, partially supported the views of Abdulwahhab in the beginning but after the incidents of killing and plundering, he accused Abdulwahhab of understanding the ideas of Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Qayyim of incompletely and wrongly; he even ­wrote a poem that criticized Abdulwahhab.

Ibn Abdulwahhab had a great influence on future generations. Shortly after Kavalalı Mehmed Ali Pasha’s blow to the Saudis, who ­were the political supporters of Wahhabism in the region of Najd, the Saudis increased their influence in the region again. However, they gave up their old rigid and uncompromising stance about the implementation of Wahhabi principles.­

Wahhabism, which was based on the political and military support of the Saudis in its activity in Arabia, also affected non-Arab Muslims. It can be said that it is based on two main reasons. The first one of them is that there are some differences between the importance attached to the belief of oneness in Islam and the daily religious life and practices of societies. ­Wahhabism was able to spread more easily in societies where this difference was seen more. The second reason is that the principles laid down Muhammad b. Abdulwahhab, who developed his views in a region far from Western culture and influence, attracted the attention of many Muslims at a time when the cultural influence of Europe was ­beginning to take effect seriously. It is very important that Muhammad b. Abdulwahhab emphasized the principle of oneness in Islam and pointed out that religion should be ­purified from bid’ahs. In this respect, Wahhabism showed its influence also on the Salafiyya movement ­and guided today’s Islamic movements partly.

His Scientific Personality:

Born into a cultured family, Muhammad b. Abdulwahhab started his education under the guidance of his father. ­After memorizing the Quran, he read ­the Hanbali scholar Muwaffaquddin Ibn Qudama’s works on fiqh. He went to Makkah to improve his knowledge; since he could not find the scientific atmosphere he desired there, he moved to Madinah. The Hanbali ­scholar Abdullah b. Ibrahim b. Sayf an-Najdi became his most important teacher.

Muhammad b. Abdulwahhab studied and learned Imam Malik’s al-Muwatta, Shafii and Ahmed b. Hanbal‘s al-Musnads together with Kutub as-Sitta from Abdullah b. Ibrahim, who supported the new Hanbali school within the framework of Ibn Taymiyya understanding, and received his diploma. Among his other teachers in Madinah are Muhammad Hayat as-Sindi, Muhammad Sulayman al-Kurdi, Sheikh Ali Efendi ad-Daghistani and Abdullatif al-Afaliki al-Ahsai.

Muhammad b. Abdulwahhab, who went to Basra afterwards and stayed there for a long time, studied linguistics, hadith and sirah from Muhammad al-Majmui. He had the opportunity to learn about Shia and various Islamic sects in this city, where there were very different religious groups. ­Particularly, the respect shown to the saints at the level of worship by people ­and its practices incompatible with the sunnah laid the groundwork for him to put forward his thesis. Because of the ideas he put forward there, he and his teacher were expelled from the city.

Muhammad b. Abdulwahhab stayed with Abdullah b. Abdullatif ash-Shafii in Lahsa for a while and benefited from him; then, he ­moved to Huraymila. While attending his father’s tafsir and hadith lessons in this city, he also started to read the works of ­Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya. These works not only broadened his horizons, but also increased his power to struggle against non-Islamic movements. Along with the lessons he gave to the students gathered around him, he wrote his first work, Kitabut-Tawhid, there.

Ibn Abdulwahhab was influenced by the first Hanbali scholars, especially the doctrine of Ibn Taymiyya, and partly by the views of Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya. It is understood from his writings that he nurtured hostile feelings against the sects such as Shia, Mu’tazila and Kharijites, which were determined by Hanbalis not to comply with Ahl as-Sunnah.

It is regarded as polytheism to travel with the intention of visiting the graves of people who are known as ­saints by people, to hang things on their tombs to ask something, to mention their names with expressions of honor, and to ask them for the acceptance of prayers. Muhammad b. Abdulwahhab opposes common Sufi views, rejects spiritual ranks such as ghaws, aqtab, awtad and abdal, and regards them as bid’ahs that are haram.

Muhammad b. Abdulwahhab divides visits to graves into two. He states that the aim of legitimate visits is to remember the hereafter, to prevent the dead ­from being forgotten, and to pray to Allah for them. On the other hand, he states that visits made to seek help and intercession from the dead are haram. In addition, building a mosque on the grave and gather there for the purpose of worshipping and going on a journey for such visits are not permissible even if it is the grave of the Prophet.

Acting upon the thought of Ibn Taymiyya that religion ­is based on oneness and the principles of worship according to the principles set by Allah, Muhammad b. Abdulwahhab criticizes the science of kalam included in Sunnism in the first place and all forms of Sufism intended to be based on nass, as well as imitation, and regards them as ­bid’ah. Although he was under ­the influence of Ibn Taymiyya related to enjoining what is good and forbidding what is evil, it is ­seen that he outdid Ibn Taymiyya in the implementation of his ideas. Ibn Taymiyya set principles such as knowing what is good and bad, acting kindly in practice and being patient in the face of the difficulties to be encountered to carry out this task, but it is known that Abdulwahhab did not comply with them and ­drew the hatred of those around him that were not his followers.

Although most of Muhammad b. Abdulwahhab‘s ideas ­were criticized both in his own time and later, it is known that his system of thought was influential in a wide area and played an important role in the purification of religious values ­and awakening of Islamic consciousness during the period of the West’s occupation of the Islamic world. From the beginning, Muslims from various parts of the world, especially during hajj seasons, had the opportunity to get to know Wahhabi ideas. It is accepted that Ahmad Shahid, the founder of the Tariqatu Muhammadiyya movement in India was greatly influenced by the ideas of Muhammad b. Abdulwahhab related to the elimination of bid’ahs and returning to Salaf creed when he came to hajj in 1822, and that the Sanusiyya movement, which ­was started by Muhammad b. Ali as-Sanusi in North Africa, benefited from his views in the revolutions it carried out.

Muhammad b. Abdulwahhab’s thoughts and the movement he started were not approved in the Ottoman-Turkish society; he was regarded ­a rebel, and his thoughts were ­considered within the framework of the Kharijite view. His harsh criticisms on issues such as the extreme respect and devotion he regarded as similar to worshiping the created beings in line with the understanding of the oneness of divinity, visiting the graves, the inner life resembling mysticism, the systematization of the basic provisions of religion in terms of reason and science, and the interpretation of attributes based on khabar within this framework were regarded as excessive. Concerns were expressed that such an understanding of religion would lead to negative consequences like accusing sincere ­Muslims of polytheism, and transforming Islam from being a universal religion that appeals to all humanity into a tribal religion. In addition, the necessity of removing the notions and behaviors that will harm the belief of tawhid ­in its essence and harm the appearance of religion from the life of the Muslim community was also emphasized.

After the death of Muhammad b. Abdulwahhab, his descendants continued his scientific function. Abdullah b. ­Muhammad b. Abdulwahhab, who joined Saud b. Abdulaziz when he invaded Hejaz (1805-1806) and supported his movement in Iraq, wrote refutations against the Ithnaashariyya and Zaydiyya doctrines, which he regarded as the people of bid’ah. Sulayman, who was a grandson of Abdulwahhab, who became the qadi of Dariyya, and who became involved in politics, wrote a book called Kitabut-Tawdih, ­which deals with the relations between Wahhabism and Iraq. Muhammad b. Abdulwahhab’s scientific and political views ­have continued to be influential especially in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries.

Some of his Works:

1. Kitabut-Tawhid: It ­is the main work of the author, which he wrote by building his teachings on the Hanbali doctrine in the harshest way, dealing with the issues of polytheism, things leading to polytheism, intercession, etc. Various versions of the book, on which many studies were made and which were translated into foreign languages, were published.
2. Kashfush-Shubuhat: The ­work, which is a refutation of the Muslims who do not comply with true tawhid, has been published many times.
3. Kitabul-Usulith-Thalatha: The meaning of the name Rab was dealt with, the religious principles were ­tried to be explained and the life of the Prophet was briefly mentioned in this booklet similar to a catechism written upon the request of Abdulaziz b. Saud.
4. Kitabu Usulid-Din.
5. Kitabu Fadlil-Islam. It includes the issues such as the concept of Islam, major sins, bid’ah and the principles of belief.
6. Mabadiul-Islam. It was translated into English by Ahmed Jalal and Muhammad Ghali and was published together with its Arabic text.
7. al-Kabair: The last two works were published in the Majmu’atul-Hadith with the explanations of M. Rashid Rida.

(Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslam Ansiklopedisi, Muhammed b. Abdilvehhab item)

Hz. Hasan is the first one of the two great people of the chain of Ahl al-Bayt and the ancestor of sayyids. Hz. Hasan's full name is Abu Muhammad al-Hasan b. Ali b. Abi Talib al-Qurayshi al-Hashimi. He was born in the third year of the Migration in Madinah. Hz. Ali wanted to name his son Harb but the Prophet (pbuh) himself gave him name “Hasan”, which was not known before and which was not used in the Era of Jahiliyyah. The name Abu Muhammad was also given to him by the Prophet. On the seventh day after his birth, the Prophet (pbuh) had an animal (aqiqah) sacrificed for him and asked Hz. Fatima to give as much silver as the weight of his hair to the poor as sadaqah.

It is written in the resources that Hz. Hasan resembled his grandfather very much. It is even stated that Hz. Abubakr addressed him by saying, " O the boy who looks like the Prophet but who does not like Ali!" and that his father Hz. Ali smiled when he heard it.

Hz. Hasan and his brother Hz. Husayn worked in order to protect Hz. Uthman from the rebels and carried water to his house. Before this incident, they took part in the expedition to Khorasan under the command of Sad b. As.

Hz. Hasan went to Kufa with Ammar b. Yasir in order to persuade Talha b. Ubaydullah, Zubayr b. Avvam and the people of Kufa, who opposed to the caliphate of Hz. Ali. He was together with his Father in the Incident of Jamal and the Battle of Siffin. When Hz. Ali was asked about whether to pay allegiance to Hz. Hasan after him, he said, "I neither order nor prohibit it."

After Hz. Ali was martyred, the people of Kufa paid allegiance to Hz. Hasan. Hz. Hasan did not like the racist attitudes of the Umayyads due to the following reason: "As for Hasan and Husayn’s struggle against the Umayyads, it was a war between religion and nationalism. That is, the Umayyads founded the Islamic state on Arab nationalism and put the bonds of nationalism before those of Islam, causing harm in two respects." (Mektubat, p. 58) On the other hand, Muawiya took action in order to make the people of Kufa support him. Military preparations started and armies were prepared by both parties. When both armies started to move toward Madinah and a possibility of war occurred, correspondence started to settle the issue through peace.

When Hz. Hasan, who never showed consent to shedding blood, informed his supporters about his view, the Kharijites reacted, accused him of unbelief and attacked him. Then, they plotted to assassinate him and wounded him.

Hz. Hasan, who did not want the mischief and civil war to spread more, made a deal with Muawiya and renounced his right of the caliphate.

Spiritual rule instead of material rule

Hz. Hasan prevented blood from being shed by renouncing his right of the caliphate. However, he attained a spiritual rule instead of it. The lowdown of the issue is explained as follows in Risale-i Nur Collection:

"Hasan and Husayn and their family and descendants were destined to hold spiritual rule. It is extremely difficult to bring together worldly rule and spiritual rule. Therefore, divine determining made them feel disgust at the world; it showed them its ugly face so that they should cease to feel any attachment to it in their hearts."

"They lost a temporary, superficial rule, but were appointed to a splendid, permanent spiritual rule. They became the authorities of the spiritual poles among the saints instead of commonplace governors." (Mektubat p. 58, 59)

When Hz. Hasan renounced his right of the caliphate, he made a deal with Muawiya. According to this deal, nobody would be arrested with the purpose of revenge, security would be ensured for everybody regardless of their nationality, the crimes that had been committed would be forgiven, nobody would be appointed as the caliph after the death of Muawiya and the new caliph would be chosen by the participation of the Muslims.

After this deal with Muawiya, Hz. Hasan returned to Kufa. With this act, he confirmed a hadith of the Prophet (pbuh), prevented blood from being shed among Muslims and caused peace to be ensured. Once, the Prophet (pbuh) addressed the Companions from the pulpit as follows:  

"There is no doubt that this son of mine is a chief, and Allah may make peace between two groups of Muslims through him."

As a matter of fact, two big armies of Islam confronted forty years later. Hz. Hasan preferred to make peace with Muawiya, confirming the miracle of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh). (Mektubat p. 98)

Then, he moved to Madinah with his family and led a life away from politics. He was poisoned by his wife Jada binti Ashas bin Qays there and died after that.

Hz. Hasan is regarded as the fifth Rightly-Guided Caliph by Ahl as-Sunnah scholars because the period mentioned in the following hadith of the Prophet (pbuh) included the caliphate of Hz. Hasan "The caliphate will last thirty years after me."

The Messenger of Allah loved Hz. Hasan, who was one of his two grandsons, who continued his progeny. He showed this with his words and acts. Badiuzzaman Said Nursi explains this love of the Prophet (pbuh) as follows: "Indeed, the Messenger (UWBP) used to take Hasan (May God be pleased with him) tenderly into his arms and kiss his head  for the sake of the luminous, blessed, Mahdi-like  descendants  who  would  spring  from  him,  such  as  Shah  Geylani,  the Ghawth al-A‘zam,  who would be the inheritors of prophethood and would uphold the sacred Shari‘a of Muhammad." He explains the Prophet’s kissing Hz. Hasan's head as follows: "He saw with the eye of prophethood the sacred services they would perform in the future, and applauded them.  He kissed Hasan’s head as a sign of approval and encouragement." (Lem'alar p. 26). The people who come from the descendants of Hz. Hasan are called "sharif"

In addition, the Prophet (pbuh) purified the people of Cloak (Hz. Ali, Hz. Fatima, Hz. Hasan and Husayn). The Messenger of Allah covered them with his cloak and prayed as follows: "And Allah only wishes to remove all abomination from you, ye members of the Family, and to make you pure and spotless." (al-Ahzab, 33) Thus, he saw, with his prophetic foresight, the mischief and blood-shedding that would occur among the Muslims thirty to forty years later and attracted attention to the innocence of the people of the Cloak, who would live in that period. With this act, he "... congratulated Hasan and proclaimed the honor he would acquire by removing through reconciliation serious discord, and his supreme value for the Islamic community, and declared that Fatima’s descendants would be pure and honored." (Lem'alar p. 97)

Note: We ask you to refer to the resources for detailed information related to the events that took place in the history of Islam.

Hafsa bint Umar died in 41 H. / 661- 662 M. in Madinah. If it is assumed that she was thirty years old during the Migration, she probably died when she was seventy-one years old. 661- 71 = 590; she was born in the last years of the sixth century.   

Hz. Hafsa, who was Hz. Umar’s daughter, married Khunays bin Hudhafa. Khunays was one of the first muhajirs; he migrated to Abyssinia first and Madinah after that. He took part in the battles of Badr and Uhud; he was wounded in Uhud and was martyred in Madinah. (Bukhari, Maghazi, 12)

Acting upon the custom of marrying one’s daughter or sister off to a virtuous person, (Bukhari, Ni­kah, 33), Hz. Umar offered Hz. Uthman, who lost his wife (Ruqiyya, the daughter of the Messenger of Allah) to marry his daughter, Hafsa, who was a widow with no children.  

When Hz. Uthman said he did not want to marry, he offered Hz. Abu Bakr to marry her. 

Hz. Abu Bakr knew that the Messenger of Allah was thinking of marrying Hafsa but did not find it appropriate to tell this to Hz. Umar. When Hz. Abu Bakr kept silent, Hz. Umar felt offended and talked to the Messenger of Allah about it.

The Messenger of Allah told him that Hafsa would soon marry someone better than Uthman and that Uthman would marry someone better than Hafsa.

As a matter of fact, the Messenger of Allah married Hafsa in return for 400 dirhams in the third year of the Migration in the month of Shaban. (It is also stated that they married one year before this date.)

Hz. Uthman married Umm Kulthum, the other daughter of the Messenger of Allah. (see Tabaqat, 8/81-82; Usdul-Ghaba, 5/435; al-Isaba, 4/273)

As you know, the wives of the Prophet (pbuh) were forbidden to marry after his death by a divine decree.

"The Prophet is closer to the Believers than their own selves, and his wives are their mothers. Blood-relations among each other have closer personal ties, in the Decree of Allah than (the Brotherhood of) Believers and Muhajirs: nevertheless do ye what is just to your closest friends: such is the writing in the Decree (of Allah)." (al-Ahzab, 33/6)

It was rendered haram for believers to marry the wives of the Prophet (pbuh) after him. None of the wives of the Prophet (pbuh) married anyone else after his death.

The Prophet (pbuh) is more important to the believers than their own souls. He is more convenient than themselves in all their affairs because he takes cares of their affairs and observes what is beneficial for them and their salvation; he does not consent to their being wronged and harmed. However, the human soul is not like that. In that case, the Prophet is more beloved to them than themselves, and his orders are more valid than their own; their compassion for him must be more perfect than their compassion for themselves.

The wives of the Prophet are regarded as their mothers. In other words, they are like the mothers of the believers in terms of reverence and respect. It is haram to marry them; it is fard to respect them. Regarding other issues, they are like other non-mahram women.

There is no information showing that the Prophet got married and then divorced any of his wives.

The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was the most superior, virtuous, respectable and distinguished person in terms of his family, nobility and lineage like all other aspects.

Once, the Companions asked him about his lineage. The Prophet gave them the following answer:

“'Indeed, Allah created the creatures and made me from the best of them. Then, He made me from the best of the two categories (Arabs and Non-Arabs). Then, He chose among the tribes and made me from the best tribe (Quraysh). Then, He chose among families and made me from the best family. So, I am the best of them in person and the best of them in terms of family.”1

The following hadith exists in Bukhari regarding the issue:

“I was transferred from era to era and from family to family and chosen from the purest lineage of Sons of Adam. I was born from the tribe of Hashimis, in which I live now.”2

All of the ancestors of the Prophet (pbuh) were noble, well-behaved and honest people. They followed the religion of oneness. As it is narrated in detail in books of siyar, which narrate the life and struggle of the Prophet (pbuh), the light of the Prophet dates back to the Prophet Ismail; then, it was transferred to Kinana; after that it was transferred to Quraysh and finally to the Sons of Hashim. It is seen that this chain develops as it nears the Prophet (pbuh).

Ibn Sa’d, the writer of Tabaqatul-Kubra, gives the following information about the grandmothers of the Prophet (pbuh):

“I determined about five hundred grandmothers of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh). I did not see any indecent acts of the Era of Jahiliyya like fornication and any other bad deeds in any of them.”3

According to what is included in siyar books, the grandfathers and grandmothers of the Prophet (pbuh) followed the religion of Hanif, which is the religion of Hz. Ibrahim (Abraham). It is reported that none of them committed the bad deeds of polytheism. For, God Almighty protected the lineage of the person whom He chose among people from all kinds of bad deeds and bestowed upon him His grant and grace.

As for the grandmothers of the Prophet (pbuh), the name of his father’s mother is Fatima and the name of his mother’s mother is Barra. His maternal uncles were called Sons of Adiy bin Najjar. The grandmothers of the Prophet (pbuh) were not alive when Muhammad (pbuh) became a prophet; therefore, they could not be Muslims. However, they practiced the religion of Hanif and they did not worship idols like the Makkan polytheists.

Abdulmuttalib believed in the hereafter and penalty and reward in the hereafter:

"By Allah, there is another world after this world; those who do good deeds will be rewarded there and those who do bad deeds will be punished there." 4

Badiuzzaman Said Nursi makes the following short explanation upon a question he is asked about the belief of Amina, the Prophet’s mother, Abdullah, his father, and Abdulmuttalib, his grandfather:

“The Noble Messenger’s (Upon whom be blessings and peace) parents were believers and will be saved and go to Paradise. Surely Almighty God would not wound His Noble Beloved’s blessed heart with its filial tenderness.”5

That is, the father and mother of the Prophet (pbuh) are people of salvation. They are people of Paradise and belief. God Almighty will definitely not harm the blessed heart of His beloved Prophet and the compassion owned by that heart.

Footnotes:

1 Tirmidhi, Manaqib: 1.
2 Sahih-i Buharî Muhtasarı Tecrîd-i Sarih Tercemesi, 9: 272.
3 Ibn Sa’d, Tabaqat, 1: 60.
4 Shahristani, al-Milal wan-Nihal, Vol. 2, p. 240.
5 Mektubat, p. 361.

(Mehmed Paksu, Aileye Özel Fetvalar)

First of all, Islam restricted slavery to prisoners of war and did not allow other sources. In addition, it increased the ways for slaves to attain freedom by establishing the habit of voluntary slave emancipation, which was sincerely adopted by Muslims who wanted to attain the consent of Allah, and by stipulating the emancipation of slaves as atonement for certain sins. (al-Maida, 5/89; al-Mujadala, 58/3)

As a practice seen only in Islamic law, the state allocated a certain portion of its revenues to slave emancipation. (at-Tawba, 9/60)

On the other hand, Islam gave slaves a legal status close to that of free people in many respects; and by putting it into practice in social life, Islam provided them with the opportunity to live humanely until they regained their freedom. Encouragement of marriage with slaves and concubines (al-Baqara 2/221; an-Nisa 4/25), prohibition of mistreatment of slaves and making it a religious and legal responsibility to treat them well (an-Nisa 4/36; Musnad, I, 78; IV, 35-36; Bukhari, “Iman”, 22; Muslim, “Ayman”, 29-42) are examples of it.

In order to understand to what extent they reflect an advanced and humane understanding, it will be sufficient to compare the lives of slaves in Islamic society with the lives of slaves in other societies, especially in American society until recently.

After this brief introduction, let us try to answer the questions:

Answer 1:

Slaves and concubines are male and female human beings who are the property of a free person and have no rights of their own. Slavery and concubinage existed long before Islam. The way people viewed slaves and concubines, the rights they enjoyed and the way they were treated varied. When Islam emerged, slavery was widespread in the world and in Arabia. Sudden abolishment of slavery would have caused many social and economic problems because the economic and social life of slave owners was based on the existence of slaves. Slaves, who had never known and enjoyed freedom, would not have known what to do if they had suddenly been freed; perhaps they would have applied to their former masters and ask to become slaves. Therefore, instead of abolishing slavery all at once, Islam first preferred to reform the situation of slaves and grant them certain rights, including the right to work of their own free will and become free by paying for their labor. It also took measures and set rules for the complete abolition of slavery in the course of time.

Some examples of the measures taken to improve the situation of slaves:

Insulting and torturing slaves was forbidden; they were to be fed and clothed in the same way as their owners were fed and clothed; they were not to be forced to do work that they were not able to do or that would be difficult; and if they were, their owners were ordered to help them. These rights were so broad that Cevdet Pasha had to express the following concise sentence: “In Islam, to get a slave is to become a slave.”

For the measures taken to completely abolish slavery over time, it is enough to recall the following:

a) If a slave wants to become free by paying the price - provided that the slave is able to do so - the owner is to accept this offer and allow him to work for this purpose for some days.

b) Allowances were put in the zakah budget for the fee of the emancipation of slaves.

c) If the owner of a female slave sleeps with her and if she gives birth to a child, the child becomes free and the status of the mother changes; and the female slave, who is called “ummul-walad” after that, is no longer bought and sold; she becomes free when her husband dies.

d) The sources of permanent enslavement were eliminated, and it was deemed appropriate to distribute prisoners of war as slaves to the warriors on a temporary basis, mostly due to the necessity of retaliation. Apart from this, enslaving a free person was strictly forbidden; the Prophet (pbuh) said, “Those who do so will find me as a plaintiff against them on the Day of Judgment.” Since it is left to the rulers of the state to decide on the treatment of prisoners of war, if the rulers make a decision such as “freeing them for nothing, releasing them in return for a price and exchanging them with Muslim captives”, there will be no legitimate source of slavery left.

e) In many cases, such as breaking an oath, breaking the fast in Ramadan by sexual contact and killing a man by accident, the slave owner is obliged to free a slave. Great rewards have been promised to those who free slaves when there is no such obligation....

Despite all this, the continuation of slavery in the history of Islam, and the fact that other nations attempted to abolish this affront to humanity before the Muslims, albeit rather late, is the fault of some Muslims themselves; it happened because they did not understand their religion well, were not meticulous in realizing the purpose of Allah and His Messenger, and preferred the benefits of the world to those of the hereafter. (Hayrettin Karaman, Kölelik Meselesi)

Why did Islam not abolish slavery all of a sudden?

Why did Islamic law not abolish slavery all of a sudden though it aimed to abolish slavery gradually with such institutions? The Prophet (pbuh) gives an answer to the question that is very important from a socio-economic point of view: As it is known, the verse stipulates the following condition for the contract of emancipation: “If you know that it is good for them”. The Prophet (pbuh) explains this goodness with the following statement:

“That is, if they have a skill (profession) and are able to provide for themselves and have the strength to manage life on their own, make a contract. Otherwise, do not let them loose on people like dogs of prey.”

In other words, it is not always good to free slaves whether through a contract of emancipation or by other means. Imagine that fifty percent of the members of a society are slaves. Imagine that they were all freed at once and set loose on the streets. The life of society would be paralyzed. If you suddenly released people who were accustomed to working for others for years, maybe centuries, and who never tried independent life, it would mean leading those people to disaster both socially and economically. That is one of the most important reasons for the gradual abolition of slavery. (1)

Why did Islam not ban slavery and abolish it completely?

Since Islam found slavery to be established and accepted as natural in ancient civilizations and powerful contemporary states, it chose not to abolish it with a unilateral and decisive decision; it chose to form an environment that would allow it to disappear over time. There are three main reasons for it:

1. The most important and continuous source of slavery is the prisoners of war. The first of the common ways of eliminating prisoners of war is to kill them. This method, which has been used very frequently in every era and is still practiced today, has always disturbed human conscience and has not provided any benefit to the victors other than the satisfaction of their revenge feelings. The second is the release of prisoners of war through ransom or prisoner exchange.

However, this solution is also blocked in cases in which the defeated party is unable to pay ransom or does not have prisoners to exchange, or in which the victor is unwilling to take such a path that could result in strengthening the defeated party militarily. The release of prisoners of war gratuitously is a very humanitarian act, but it was rarely practiced, especially in the past.

The third way to eliminate prisoners of war is to keep them in a separate status from free people, that is, to use them as slaves.

Therefore, when it is not possible to release prisoners of war through ransom or gratuitously, one of these two ways remains: To be killed or to live as slaves.

Accordingly, slavery appears as an alternative to death. As a matter of fact, in today’s world, where slavery is prohibited, in cases where prisoners of war are not released, the fate awaiting them has often consisted of being killed individually or collectively in concentration camps. The principles developed today in international law regarding the treatment of prisoners of war are not always carried out in practice to the same extent. Therefore, Islam did not abolish slavery completely, but left the door open for it in practice, as it is usually an alternative to death. However, there is no rule in Islamic law that prisoners of war must be converted into slaves; they can be freed mutually or gratuitously depending on the circumstances. According to Islam, what is essential for human beings is freedom, not slavery. (2)

2. Knowing that the captured prisoners of war will be used as slaves prevents unnecessary bloodshed during the war to a certain extent, and it also prevents the massacre of prisoners after the end of the war because if the victorious soldier kills captives in the meantime, it will only result in reducing his share of the booty.

3. It is clear that abolishing slavery by a unilateral decision would have been to the detriment of the Muslim community at that time because freeing the captives in the hands of the Islamic state would have caused it to weaken while non-Muslim states practiced slavery and enslaved the Muslim captives they had.

Therefore, Islam did not abolish slavery, but it took successful steps to minimize its sources through various measures, to reduce the existing slaves gradually, to ensure that they were treated humanely when they were slaves, and finally to reintroduce them to humanity as free people.

What did Islam introduce as new aspects of slavery? What are its differences from other systems?

Islam transformed the institution of slavery, which existed in previous legal systems, into a civilized form in two respects:

The first: It decreased the reasons for slavery. It reduced the reasons for slavery from nine or ten, especially in Roman and similar legal systems, to two. Besides, it also took various measures to eliminate this institution, which is contrary to the nature of humanity. Examples of them include encouraging the freeing of slaves, giving slaves the opportunity to be freed on condition that they pay the price (mukataba), recommending zakah to be given to slaves in order to save them from slavery, and stipulating the freeing of slaves as the first alternative to the atonement (kaffarah) imposed as a religious sanction for some sins such as zihar, breaking oaths and similar crimes.

The second: The second way of Islam’s trying to civilize slavery is through insisting that slaves should be treated well within the legitimate framework. While some Muslims are killed by people who claim to be civilized just because they are Muslims even today and even their basic rights and freedoms are deemed too much for them, Islam has accepted and protected slaves as members of the family they are in. In fact, according to the court decisions found in the Ottoman archives, Christian slaves swore an oath in accordance with their religious beliefs; for example, saying, “I swear by God, who revealed the Bible to Jesus Christ...” is the clearest evidence of what we have mentioned.

In that case, we can describe the institution of slavery in Islamic law as a stage of transition from captivity and slavery to freedom. We will explain in detail how it worked a little later. When the religion of Islam emerged, slavery was a social phenomenon that continued horribly. By taking measures as we have explained above, Islamic Law made slavery an exceptional rather than a regular institution.

In a situation where nearly half of the society were slaves, it was socially and economically impossible to abolish the institution of slavery all of a sudden both for the slave owners and for the slaves who had always taken refuge with a master. It is also against the spirit of guidance for a prophet, whose goal is to save people from unbelief, to suddenly abolish this institution with which the members of the society had become accustomed for years, and with which they had been united morally and in terms of life. Therefore, Islam did not abolish the institution of slavery immediately. However, Islam did not leave it as it was. In order to abolish it gradually, it first encouraged people to dry up the source of slavery, to reduce its traces, and to treat slaves as normal human beings, contrary to the provisions in force at the time. I think it would be appropriate to quote the following observations of Gustav Lebon at this point:

“When the word slavery is spoken to a European who reads American novels and tales of the last thirty years, he pictures poor people shackled in iron chains being whipped. People who are not even fed enough and made to live in shabby, dingy cabins. It does not concern me whether the European slaves face these things or not, but there is no doubt the picture of a slave in Islam is absolutely different from the picture of the European slave.”

In other words, what we want to say with this second point is this: The institution of slavery and concubinage in Islam is not like the slavery known in the world of Christianity, and it is not as people who do not know Islam describe it. (3)

Answer 2:

It is necessary to evaluate everything in its own time. There are many things that were regarded as good at one time but as bad later. It can also be the other way around. Therefore, the institution of slavery, which preceded Islam by thousands of years, was never perceived as a crime against humanity in Islam. A slave was perceived as a servant, a wage earner. However, in pre-Islamic times, this institution was humiliated by unscrupulous people and a slave was virtually treated as an outcast inhumanely.

Islam has treated this institution humanely and restored it to a position where it can live humanely within the humanity.

According to this new status, which had never been seen before:

- No master is more valuable in the eye of Allah than his slave, except for virtue and piety. On the contrary, the slave who is more pious and virtuous is more valuable than his master in the eye of Allah.

- The fact that the Prophet (pbuh) appointed his freed slave Zayd and his son Usama as commanders over his Companions is an indication of the level this institution has reached - thanks to Islam.

- This positive practice of Islam, which encourages the freeing of slaves at every opportunity and which prescribes the liberation of slaves as an atonement for sins, is indeed worthy of applause.

- The fact that Muslim masters, in line with the recommendations of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), ate together with their slaves, clothed them with what they wore, made them eat and drink what they ate and drank, and did not expect any service from them beyond their abilities, are innovations unprecedented in the history of mankind.

- If the fact that bosses employ workers for very little wages or that a civil servant cannot go beyond the orders of his superior today is a crime against humanity, then we can call it a crime against humanity at that time. Do not misunderstand it; we do not equate them with slaves. Our intention is to draw attention to the fact that despite many years that passed, a status close to it can still be considered as such, depending on the perception. Trade unions have only recently emerged. Until now, the bosses - either individuals or corporations - gave whatever they wanted for a meager livelihood and the worker had no right to object. However, no one called it a crime against humanity. It is like that...

“If any slave runs away from his master, he is regarded as an unbeliever until he returns to his master.” (Muslim, Iman, 122).

Hadiths like that are statements intended to protect social order. When workers and civil servants do not fulfill their duties today, the state and society may be in a state of anarchy; similarly, certain drastic measures had to be taken in order to prevent the slaves, who were in a different status as workers and civil servants at that time, from leaving their jobs and running away.

However, the concept of unbelief used in this and similar hadiths has been interpreted in a number of ways:

- He who does so is regarded to have committed deeds like the deeds of the people of ignorance and unbelievers.

He who does so is regarded to have acted unthankfully, which means being ungrateful to his benefactor.

- It is an expression intended to draw attention to the fact that “In every sin is a path leading to unbelief.” (cf. Nawawi, the explanation of the hadith in question)

Answer 3:

In the status of slavery, the slave himself is the property of his master. Therefore, all his earnings are recorded in his master’s account. We think it is more useful to talk about modern slavery institutions rather than this institution, which does not exist today. Islam has not contributed anything to the continuation of the institution of slavery other than the good things like the positive positions it introduced to slavery.

Footnotes:

1) The Quran, the chapter of an-Nisa, Verse, 3; Qurtubi, Muhammad bin Ahmad, al-Jami’ li Ahkamil-Quran, Beirut 1965, Vol. V, pp. 17-18; Qasani, Badayi’us-Sanayi’, Vol. IV, p. 134; Kâmil Miras, Sahîh-i Buhâri Muhtasar-ı Tecrid-i Sarih Tercemesi ve Şerhi I-XIII, 3rd Imp. Ankara, 1973-1975, Vol. VII, pp. 465-467.
2) Ibn Qudama, al-Mughni, VI, 112.
3)Zarqa, Mustafa Ahmad, al-Fiqhul-Islami Fi Thawbihil-Jadid, Damascus 1967-1968, Vol. I, p. 44;  from Gustav Lebon, The Civilization of the Arabs, quoted by Ahmed Şefik Beğ, Ar-Riqqu Fil-Islam, Istanbul 1314, pp. 50-51.

We have not found any information about the management of the Kaaba being given to Jews. The information mentioned in the question is not true by any means.

The true story of the issue is as follows:

When Makkah was conquered, the key to the Kaaba was given to Uthman b. Talha, who had become a Muslim before Makkah was conquered. Uthman b. Talha belonged to Sons of Abduddar clan of Quraysh.

Sons of Abduddar had fulfilled the important duty of hijaba, the care and maintenance of the Kaaba, keeping the door and keys of the Kaaba, and opening it for visit since Qusayy, the forefather of Quraysh. This duty was handed down from father to son and reached Uthman b. Talha.

When Uthman b. Talha, who opposed the Prophet (pbuh) and other Muslims severely in the first years of Islam, found out that Musab b. Umayr, who was from the same clan, had become a Muslim and performed prayers secretly, he told his family about it. He caused Musab to be imprisoned at home so that he would not meet the Messenger of Allah.

When the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) came across Uthman in Makkah, he invited him to Islam. However, Uthman rejected his call and tried to advise the Messenger of Allah not to abandon the religion of his ancestors. The Messenger of Allah told him that he would have the keys to the Kaaba in the future and that would give them to whomever he wished. Uthman said something like that would humiliate Quraysh but the Prophet (pbuh) said the honor of Quraysh would be elevated on that day. (Waqidi, Kitabul-Maghazi, 2/837-838)

The enmity of Uthman b. Talha to Islam continued after the Migration too. He took part in the Battle of Uhud with all his relatives. His father, his four brothers and his paternal uncle, Uthman b. Abu Talha, were killed in this battle one after another while they were carrying the standard of the polytheists. He barely saved his life and escaped to Makkah. He also carried the standard of the polytheists in the Battle of Khandaq. He returned to Makkah after this Battle, which ended in failure.

What Uthman b. Talha saw and experienced during the Treaty of Hudaybiyya and Umratul-Qada decreased his enmity to Islam. When the Messenger of Allah went to Makkah for Umratul-Qada, he sent a message to the talented youngsters of Makkah including Khalid b. Walid and invited them to Madinah. When Khalid b. Walid talked to his close friend Uthman b. Talha about this offer, they decided to embrace Islam. Then, Amr b. As also joined them and they became Muslims in the presence of the Prophet in Madinah on Safar 1, 8 H (May 31, 629 AD). When the Messenger of Allah saw them coming, he expressed his gratitude by saying to the Companions near him, “Makkah gave its most beloved people to you.” (Ibn Abdulbar, al-Istiab 3/1034)

A short while after becoming a Muslim, Uthman b. Talha took part in the conquest of Makkah. He had given the keys to the Kaaba to his mother before he migrated to Madinah. When Makkah was conquered, the Prophet circumambulated the Kaaba and told Uthman to open the door of the Kaaba. The Prophet removed the pictures and statues inside the Kaaba and prayed there. When he came out, Hz. Abbas and Hz. Ali wanted the Messenger of Allah to give the keys to the Kaaba to them. Thereupon, the Messenger of Allah turned toward Uthman b. Talha and reminded him of the conversation between them about the keys to the Kaaba. Then, he gave the keys to the Kaaba to him and his cousin Shayba b. Uthman; he told them that the keys would be with them until Doomsday struck. (Ibn Sa‘d, Tabaqat, 2/136-137; Azraqi, Akhbaru Makkah, 1/266-267)

Besides, Ibn Hacer Asqalani states the following: The narration that Uthman b. Talha uttered kalima ash-shahadah when the Prophet gave him the key to the Kaaba on the day when Makkah was conquered is not true because Uthman b Talha, Amr b. As and Khalid b. Walid embraced Islam between the Treaty of Hudaybiyya and the Conquest of Makkah. (see al-Ijab, Dimam, 1997, 2/889-895; al-Isaba, Beirut, 1402, 4/450)

On the other hand, this issue is mentioned in the interpretation of verse 58 of the chapter of an-Nisa as a reason for the revelation of the verse. 

The verse in question is as follows:

“Allah doth command you to render back your Trusts to those to whom they are due; And when ye judge between man and man, that ye judge with justice: Verily how excellent is the teaching which He giveth you! For Allah is He Who heareth and seeth all things.” (an-Nisa, 4/58)

Accordingly, it can be deduced from this incident that when Muslims appoint people to carry out important tasks, it should be known that they should be given to the qualified and skilled people who could do them and who had experience in them, not to the relatives of the administrators. 

TABARANI (873-970)

There is not much detailed information about Tabarani, whose real name is Sulayman; there is limited information about him. It is not definitely known where he got his primary education, from whom he took lessons and where he went for his education. The information about him is limited with about his youth, ilm services and the hadiths he narrated. 

It is reported that Sulayman was born in the town of Tabariyya in Damascus in 873. His father’s name is Ahmad. It is stated that he left the town where he was born and that he settled in Isfahan. However, there is not much information about why he left his hometown and why he settled in Isfahan.

That Tabarani had a famous personality, that he narrated many hadiths and that he became famous for his strong memory show that he received a very good education. His wisdom in ilm and the level he reached indicates that he received lessons from the great scholars of that period. Among the scholars that he took lessons from are Abu Zura ath-Thaqafi, Hashim bin Murthad at-Tabarani, Ishaq ad-Dabri, Idris al-Attar, Hafs bin Umar, Bashir bin Musa, Abdullah bin Mahmud, Ali bin Abdulaziz al-Baghawi, Yahya bin Ayyub al-Allat. It is stated that he also benefitted from the knowledge of some other scholars.

Sulayman took lessons from famous scholars and he himself taught many scholars. Many people like Ibn Uqda, Abu Nuaym al-Hafiz, Abu Khulayfa al-Jamhi, Abu Husayn bin Fazishah and Abdan learned hadiths from him and became hadith reporters.  

Sulayman, whose sensitivity in collecting hadiths and learning them was known, was accepted as a reliable and sound person and as evidence in the ilm of hadith. It is known that he memorized thousands of hadiths. When he learned these hadiths, he did not memorize only the hadith texts but also the chains of narrators. His reputation spread everywhere because of the efforts he made and especially the distance he covered in the ilm of hadith. He became one of the well-known scholars in the Islamic world.

Tabarani put up with all kinds of trouble for the sake of ilm. He underwent material and spiritual troubles. It is stated that he slept on a mat for years and memorized thousands hadiths as a result of this effort of his. He abandoned his comfortable life for the sake of ilm. He led a plain life until he died. He travelled for thirty-three years in order to learn hadiths and to increase his ilm.

Tabarani regarded Allah’s consent superior to everything. While he was learning, he tried to help people find the true path. His students praised him in their books. He died in Isfahan in 970 after living about one hundred years. After he died, his dead body was buried near the grave of Hammad ad-Dawri, who was one of the Companions of the Prophet and whose tomb was in Isfahan.

Some hadiths reported by Tabarani are included in Risale-i Nur. The phrases “reliable and sound investigator” and “Imam Tabarani” were used for him. The following two hadiths reported from him are included in Risale-i Nur Collection:

“Abu Hurayra related: “The Noble Messenger (pbuh) commanded me:

‘Invite the poor Meccan migrants who have made the suffa of the mosque their home and who number more than a hundred.’

So, I went and searched for them and gathered them together. A tray of food was set before us, and we ate as much as we wanted, then we arose. The dish was as full as it had been when first set down, only, there were fingermarks on the food.” (Mektubat, p.116).

“Imam Tabarani, and Abu Nu‘aym in his Dalail an-Nubuwwa, relate from Nu‘man b. Bashir:

Zayd b. Kharija suddenly dropped down dead in the marketplace. We took his body to his house. That evening between sunset and the night prayer, while the women were weeping all around him, he exclaimed: ‘Silence! Silence!’ Then, saying: ‘Muhammad is Allah’s Messenger! Peace be upon you, O Messenger of Allah!’, he spoke most eloquently for a while. We looked: he was dead, without life” (Mektubat, p.156).

Some examples of the hadiths that Tabarani reported:

“Love and friendship among Muslims pass to children from fathers.”,

“It is enough as a bad deed for a person to be pointed at by fingers.”,

“Allah likes ease for the religion of Islam and regards difficulty as bad.”,

“Every pious person is from Muhammad’s (pbuh) ahl al-bayt.”,

“If a person goes out to work in order to make a living for his wife and children, he is in the way of Allah. If a person goes out to take care of his old parents, he is in the way of Allah. If a person goes out to work in order to protect his soul from harams, he is in the way of Allah. If a person goes out in order to show off and to boast, he is not in the way of Allah but in the way that Satan leads him.”

JALALUDDIN SUYUTI (1445-1505)

He is one of the greatest Islamic scholars. He is mentioned as follows in Risale-i Nur Collection: "who many times was honored in a waking state by the presence and conversation of God’s Noble Messenger" (Sözler, p. 451), and "differentiated the diamonds of authentic traditions from other sayings and fabrications" (Mektubat, p. 114). His real name is Abdurrahman. His nickname, Jalaluddin, was given to him by his father. His full name is Jalaluddin Abul-Fadl Abdurrahman bin Kamaluddin Abi Bekr bin Muhammad al-Huzayri as-Suyuti ash-Shafii.

Abdurrahman was born in the city of Asyut in Egypt in 1445. His name "Suyuti" comes from this city. His father, Kamaluddin Abi Bakr, was a Shafii fiqh scholar. He also has an important place in other branches of ilm. When Abdurrahman was six years old, his father died. He was educated and brought up under the guardianship of Qadi Izzuddin Ahmad bin Ibrahim Kinani, who was a friend of his father’s. This scholar gave him the nickname Abul-Fadl.

Abdurrahman read many books. He became specialized in many branches like tafsir, hadith, fiqh, nahw (syntax), maani (semantics), bayan (style), badi (rhetoric) and lugah (lexicology) at a very young age. He wrote his first book when he was seventeen years old. He took lessons from Taqiyuddin Shibli al-Hanafi, who was regarded as one of the most important scholars in hadith and Arabic at that time, for four years. He also learned from the great scholar Muhyiddin Kafiyaji. He received diploma from his teacher in the branches of tafsir, usul (methodology), Arabic, maani, etc.  

He became famous in a short time. Along with his students, some professors attended his classes. He became a specialist in the branch of hadith; the fatwas he issued in hadith were greatly accepted. His strong memory enabled him to read books in a very short time, to learn them and to answer all questions. He even answered a question about a book by knowing the number of the page and lines. He memorized two hundred thousand hadiths. 

He travelled to Damascus, Hejaz, Yemen, India and Sudan when he was young. He stayed in Makkah for a while when he went there for hajj. He also went to Dimyat, Fayyun, Alexandria and some other regions in Egypt.  

He started to give lessons after having wide knowledge in the field of hadith. Along with teaching, he wrote many books. He continued writing until he died. He lived in seclusion in an islet called ar-Rawda in the Nile to write books. He wrote the hadiths after presenting them to the Prophet (pbuh) in the realm of spirituality.

Suyuti's knowledge and expertise in the ilm of hadith is indicated in Risale-i Nur Collection. Badiuzzaman Said Nursi narrates in his booklet called Mucizat-ı Ahmediye how hadiths were filtered, how sensitively Islamic scholars acted regarding the issue and gives examples of the meticulous study done by the scholars and especially madhhab imams for centuries. He states the following regarding the issue:

"... Later, learned and exacting scholars like Jalaluddin Suyuti, who seventy times was honored in a waking state by the presence and conversation of God’s Noble Messenger (pbuh), differentiated the diamonds of authentic traditions from other sayings and fabrications.

Thus, the incidents and miracles we shall speak of, have come down to us through numerous, perhaps uncountable, strong and trustworthy hands, and have reached us in sound condition." (Mektubat, p. 114)

Thus, he indicates the praiseworthy studies done by Suyuti in the field of hadith.

Suyuti has an important place in the field of tasawwuf (sufism) too. His name is also mentioned in Risale-i Nur Collection when the reason why great saints cannot reach the Companions is explained: 

"The conversation of the Prophet was such an elixir that someone who experienced it for one minute received lights of reality equivalent to years of spiritual journeying. For in conversation there is reflection and a being coloured. It is well-known that through reflection and following and imitating, and through the sublime light of prophethood, a truly exalted level may be reached; –like through allegiance to his sovereign and following him, a sultan’s servant may rise to a position so high a king cannot rise to it.

It is due to this mystery that the greatest saints cannot reach the level of the Companions. Even saints like Jalaluddin Suyuti, who conversed many times with God’s Noble Messenger (PBUH) while awake, even if they do this and are honored in this world with his company, they still cannot reach the Companions. For through the light of Muhammad’s (PBUH) prophethood, the Companions’ conversation was with him as Prophet. While the saints saw him (PBUH) after his death and conversed with him (PBUH) through the light of his sainthood. That is to say, the personification and appearance of God’s Noble Messenger (PBUH) is in respect of his sainthood, not in regard to his prophethood. Since that is so, however much higher the level of prophethood is to that of sainthood, one should differentiate between the two conversations to that degree." (Sözler, p. 451)

One of the fields in which the name of Suyuti is mentioned is about the profession that was called soothsaying in the past and mediumship today and that can harm people a lot. This profession is of philosophic origin and can harm believers a lot. Ten wrong statements is added to a true statement in a topic and it becomes very difficult to distinguish between what is wrong and right. Since there is no criterion, the jinn that have bad spirits and that help Satan can harm both the hearts of the people who are busy with that profession and Islam. For, they give news contrary to Islamic facts and general rules under the disguise of spirituality and bad spirits present themselves as good spirits. Therefore, some people who think they are great saints utter words that are contrary to Islamic principles, change the truths and deceive some gullible people:

"Yes, 'calling spirits' (necromancy), which does not originate from religion but from the sensitivity of philosophy, is contrary to the truth and good manners. For, to bring those who are in the highest of the high and in holy levels to the table of the lowest of the low and to the board of toys, which is the place of lies, is complete betrayal and disrespect. It is like calling a king to a small hut. The truth, good manners and respect necessitate elevating like the elevation of saints like Jalaluddin as-Suyuti, Jalaluddin ar-Rumi and Imam Rabbani, approaching them and making use of them." (Emirdağ Lahikası, p. 379-380)

Everybody loved Suyuti because of his exemplary ethics along with his knowledge and career. He did not ask any grants or gifts from anybody and did not accept the ones given to him. When he was in real financial difficulty, he preferred selling some of the books in his big library to accepting gifts. He died in Egypt in 1505. His tomb is in Cairo near Babul-Qarafa.

His Books:

Jalaluddin Suyuti wrote about six hundred books in various fields. Most of his books were compilations and he quoted from various resources; however, this did not mean a deficiency in his studies; on the contrary, he contributed a lot by transferring some issues to the people living after him up to now enabling them to benefit from his works. He wrote in almost all fields. He classified his books under six headings: Quranic sciences, hadith, fiqh, language and literature, methodology and style, and miscellaneous issues.

Tarjumanul-Quran fi-tafsiril-musnad, Kitabul-Durr al-Manthur, Lubabun-Nuqul fi Ashabin-Nuzul are among the tafsir books that he wrote. His hadith collection called Jamius-Saghir has been an important book among Islamic works for centuries. Ottoman scholars gave great importance to that book. His book called al-Muzhir fi Ulumil-Lugha is an encyclopedic work with rich content for the fields of grammar and lexicology.

In addition, Suyuti left a great legacy by writing and compiling important books in history, ethics, medicine and many other fields.

''Ismah", that is, "divine protection from sins" belongs to prophets only. Since the Companions do not have the attribute of ismah, it cannot be said that they are free from making mistakes. However, a Muslim does not exit Islam when he makes a mistake; similarly, a Companion does not lose the honor of being a Companion when he makes a mistake. 

All mujtahids of the four true madhhabs regard the conflicts among the Companions as follows:

Every Companion is a mujtahid. It is their right before everyone else to make ijtihad related to the issues that are not clearly expressed in the Quran and hadiths. It is a definite rule of the science of fiqh that if a person is a mujtahid, he does not have to obey the ijtihad of another mujtahid. The disagreements, conflicts and battles that occurred among the Companions were due to difference of ijtihad. Their wishes and desires have no share - God forbid - in these disagreements. For, they were purified from bad attributes like hatred, enmity and hostility thanks to listening to the talks of the Prophet. Their souls were free from such mean things and they became lofty

Yes, every Companion is a mujtahid in Islam. As it is known, a person who makes an ijtihad gains two thawabs if he is right; he gains one thawab if he is wrong. The ijtihads of those distinguished people, who belonged to Islam with their lives and wealth and who had no other goal other than elevating and spreading Islam, aimed to elevate Islam. This love and determination were so high in them that they did not hesitate to express a view contrary to that of the Prophet (pbuh) at the Battle of Uhud. They clearly said, "We see the success of Islam in this." The Prophet (pbuh) had to act in accordance with the view of the Companions since the majority of the Companions made an ijtihad opposite to that of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh). The incidents that occurred afterwards showed that the Prophet (pbuh) was right. Although the Quran was being sent down gradually at that time, Allah Almighty did not even send down a verse to warn the Companions. He did not give them a warning; on the contrary, he ordered the Prophet (pbuh) to keep consulting them. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) did not blame them; he still loved them and continued asking their views. Only this incident is enough to show clearly that the Companions are valuable in the eye of Allah and His Messenger and that they had the right of ijtihad in the religion.  

Now let us think mercifully. Can we judge the Companions, who were not warned by Allah or the Messenger of Allah though they thought differently from the Prophet and made a different ijtihad, due to the disagreements among themselves? A person who has even very little conscience and foresight must not resort to this crime.

If a Muslim oversteps the limit and tries to judge that distinguished group, who shed their blood for Islam during the first years of Islam, and says that one of them was right and another one was wrong, he will not blemish those stars of guidance but will harm himself.

Besides, the people that he judges are the notables of the Companions. Some of them were given the glad tiding that they were the people of Paradise. The Quran and the Prophet (pbuh) praised those people whom he criticizes.

We should not forget this issue and should act very carefully about the disagreements among the Companions and avoid overstepping the limit. 

If the disagreement of the Companions had not been legitimate and reasonable in the eye of Allah Almighty, he would have sent down an order and prevented it. As a matter of fact, when the Companions talked loudly in the presence of the Prophet (pbuh), the following verse was sent down to warn them:

"O ye who believe! Raise not your voices above the voice of the Prophet, nor speak aloud to him in talk, as ye may speak aloud to one another lest your deeds become vain and ye perceive not." (al-Hujurat, 49/2)

The believers are ordered to avoid having bad thoughts about their believing brothers:

"Would any of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother?" (al-Hujurat, 49/12)

Allah Almighty informs us in this verse that backbiting is a deed that is as disgusting as eating the flesh of a dead person and that does not fit a believer. You can understand the danger of the issue if the person who is backbitten is a Companion and especially one of the notables of the Companions.

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) stated the following in a hadith:

"Backbiting eats up good deeds just as fire eats up wood." (See: Ghazali, Sulwat al-‘Arifin, Lebanon 1971, 1/233-234)

Thus, he warns us severely.

It is necessary to listen to these facts in terms of our life in the hereafter and the future of Islam. Since a believer is prohibited from having bad thoughts about another believer, it is clearly understood how grave and dangerous it is to have bad thoughts about the Companions and the notables among them, who laid the foundations of Islam, who were the friends of the Prophet in daily life and wars and who were the means of the guidance of all of the Muslims of today. 

The safest way for clever people is to avoid speaking ill of them. It will be understood after thinking a little that people were not sent to this world to analyze the problems among the Companions and to decide which party is right and which one is wrong. To have a view about this issue cannot be the purpose of the creation of a person. Man was not created to hold a view about it; he was created to worship Allah properly. That is, our religion calls us to fulfill or duties to worship Allah, not to analyze the disagreements among the Companions.

The great Companions, from the caliph to the ordinary ones lived with same sustenance and felt the same excitement. They worked openly and secretly, day and night, in the development, spread and elevation of Islam. They made jihad with their lives and blood and made unmatchable sacrifices. They opposed their tribe for the love of the Quran and the Prophet and they sacrificed their families, children, property and wealth. They preferred the Prophet to their own lives, children, family and parents. They shed their blood in order to lay the foundations of Islam.  

They became a means of the worldly and otherworldly happiness of all of the Muslims beginning from that day to the Day of Judgment. It is our duty in terms of justice and conscience to feel gratitude to them, to pray, praise and thank them.

The conquest of Makkah is remarkable in terms of the practices of the Prophet about the new Muslims.  After the conquest, the people of Makkah were not treated as if they were a nation that was defeated and inhabitants of a region that was invaded. On the contrary, they were elevated to the same level as those who defeated them in terms of rights and duties. Nobody’s wealth, house and property was grabbed. They were not regarded as booty.  

After the conquest, the mujahids did not spend the night by plundering; on the contrary, they spent the night by uttering Allahuakbar and La ilaha illallah and circumambulating the Kaaba until the morning.

The Prophet borrowed one hundred and thirty thousand dirhams from three rich people of Makkah and gave them to the Companions who were in need. Afterwards, he paid this debt through the booty of Hawazin. The Prophet did not leave any soldiers in Makkah and moved toward Hunayn; he appointed Attab b. Asid, a Makkan who had just become a Muslim, as the administrator of Makkah.  

After breaking the idol Uzza, Khalid b. Walid returned; the Prophet (pbuh) sent him to the tribe of Jazima b. Amir in the month of Shawwal to invite them to Islam. Khalid, who was not sent to fight them, went to Ghumays, which was the land of the tribe of Jazima, with a military unit of 350 soldiers including Muhajirs, Ansar and the tribe of Sulaym. The tribe of Sulaym confronted them with their weapons. Khalid wanted them to leave their weapons. They fulfilled his order and said, "Saba'na" meaning "we changed our religion". Khalid was not convinced that they had become Muslims. He reminded them they had cooperated with the enemies of Islam in the past; he enslaved them and distributed them among soldiers. The next morning, he told his soldiers to kill them. Thereupon, Sons of Sulaym killed about thirty slaves that they had. However, the soldiers of Muhajirs and Ansar did not obey Khalid and freed the slaves.

When the Prophet (pbuh) was informed about the incident, he became very sorry; he did not approve what Khalid did and said he was away from what Khalid did. Then, he sent Hz. Ali to the tribe of Jazima and paid blood money for the people killed during the incident.

The Prophet (pbuh) gave this sword to Hz. Ali as a present.

In fact it had been given to the Prophet (pbuh) as a present by the Egyptian King Muqawqis. When Amru bin Adud asked a warrior to fight against him, Hz. Prophet gave this sword to Hz. Ali and allowed him to fight Amru.

The poems written for this sword, which had two bifurcated blades, were called "Dhulfiqarnama". This sword was not designed by Muslims specially; on the contrary, it is a present of non-Muslims.  

There is a narration meaning, "There is no hero (youngster) like Ali and there is no sword like Dhulfiqar." (see Tabari, III/17)

According to Islamic historians, twenty-seven battles and expeditions took place under the command of the Prophet (pbuh).

They are as follows:  

Abwa, Buwat, Badrul-ula-Safawan, Dhu’l-Ushayra, Badr, Bani Qaynuqa', Sawik, Qarqaratul-Qudr, Ghatafan, Bani Sulaym, Uhud, Hamraul-Asad, Bani Nadr, Badrul-Maw’id, Dhatur-Riqa’, Dumatul-Jandal, Muraysi’ (Bani Mustaliq), Khandaq, Bani Qurayza, Bani Lihyan, Ghaba, Hudaybiyya, Khaybar, Conquest of Makkah, Hunayn, Taif and Tabuk.

Combat took place only in nine of them.