بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

1. بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم Introduction to the Sira of Our Habib PBOHLesson PlanThe Meccan PeriodClass Two Imam Ibrahim A. Rahim Sister Mariam N. Ismail TA

2. Week #2 The boy who was a shepherd. The man the merchant and the moral lessons in between. • Group Presentation: • Demonstrate and discuss the importance of teaching our children the values reflected in the work of shepherding as seen in the story of our Habib PBOH. Demonstrate and discuss the ethical aspects of the life of a righteous merchant and the relationship between morality and commerce as given in the Sira of our Habib PBOH.

3. The Greatest Day Ever! • Imam Al-Khadhry: Imam Muhammad Al-Khadhry Bek records the date as: Monday the 9th day of Rabi Al-Awwal Year of the Elephant corresponding to April 20th 571 AD (2009) in his book Nurul Yaqeen.

4. Muhammad the Infant PBOH • 1or·phan noun \ˈȯr-fən\ • Definition of ORPHAN • 1 : a child deprived by death of one or usually both parents • Ya teem (يتيم) To become alone (one/singular) الانفراد: the loss of a parent within the human species فقدان الأب عند الناس.

5. His Father Abdullah passed away while our Habib PBOH was still in Aminah’s womb. When she gave birth to our Habib PBOH, she sent news to his grandfather Abdul-Mutalib and said: a boy has been born to you انه ولد لك غلام. She then told Abdul Mutalib the following account: “she was “approached” [a reference to Jibriel] and informed that this child is the Sayyid سيد [master] “chief” or “overlord” of his Ummah-Community أمة. When he is born, pray over him and say: “I protect him by He who is One from the evil of every envier.” And then name the child Muhammad.”

6. “I protect him by He who is One from the evil of every envier.” And then name the child Muhammad.”أعيذه بالواحد من شر كل حاسد[The term Sayyid also means Shareef or nobleman or high-born. We believe that Prophet Muhammad is the most noble and high-born human being ever created by Allah SWT].

7. Then Abdul Mutalib took the newborn and entered the Ka’ bah and there he stood praying to “Allah” and thanking “Allah” for the gift of this child. He sought the protection of Allah for the newborn in prose offering the following poem to Allah:الحمد لله الذي أعطاني هذا الغلام الطيب الأردانقد ساد في المهد على الغلمان أعيذه بالبيت ذي الأركانحين يكون بلغة الفتيان حتى أراه بالغ البنيانأعيذه من كل ذي شنان من حاسد مضطرب العنانذي همة ليس له عينان حتى أراه رافع الشانأنت الذي سميت في القران في كتب ثابتة المثاني

8. Praise be to Allah who Gave me, this good boy and made him superior.He was born a superior nobleman as an infant the most elevated newborn, I seek the protection of this house over him.I seek protection that remains with him as he grows amongst all other boys, protection that remains with him until he’s a man.I seek his protection from every form of hatred, protection from every conflicted clouded envier.I also seek his protection from every from those consumed with nerves and who are unable to see with the gift of their two eyes, I seek his protection until I see rise and raise our condition.[Muhammad] you are the one mention in every [Quran], you are mentioned in within the firm books which are often repeated.

9. Mother – Dry-Nurse [Nanny] – Wet-Nurse [Foster Mother] While Prophet Muhammad PBOH was born an orphan losing his father before he was born. We also consider the additional supplemental resources Allah Put in his life. While it is true that our Habib was born into a system of orphanage, he was also born into a system ofnursing رضاعة. It was the custom of Quraysh to send their infants away with wet-nurses out of the environment of the city to the countryside for the first two years of their lives.

10. Halimah As-Sa’ Diyyah became our Habib’s wet-nurse حليمة السعدية. She was from Bani Sa’d Ibn Bakr. She was married to Al-Harith Ibn Abdul Uzza. Her name is Arabic and it means: Patience الصبر, perseverance الأناءة, intelligence العقل and to forgive when you have the power to العفو عند المقدرة. His name is also Arabic and it means: tiller, cultivator and/or planter حارث.

11. In part, the academic mandate of ECI is: Transformative Education (TE). TE expands the conversations we have about religion. When we fail to expand our discourse regarding the knowledge we extract from the “foundational sources,” we become paralyzed ineffective and unable to address the contemporary challenges in front of us.

12. (٢٦)خِتَـٰمُهُ ۥ مِسۡكٌ۬‌ۚ وَفِى ذَٲلِكَ فَلۡيَتَنَافَسِ ٱلۡمُتَنَـٰفِسُونَ Verse (83:26) - (sūrat l-muṭafifīn):Sahih International: The last of it is musk. So for this let the competitors compete.

13. When we look closely at the custom of nursing within Quraysh Society, we learn that although what we would consider “normal” education did not exist, an educational system of considerable impact was in place. While children were not learning to “read” letters, they were learning to read life. And in learning to read life, they acquired the all-important “art-form” of eloquence فصاحة! They learned how to “read’ life and to interpret this “reading’ of life into a certain kind of oral prose and offer the results of their reading in beautiful lines-of-poetry.

14. This is why the miracle of the Holy Quran in their tongue is that much more compelling: they spoke the purest form of Arabic ever known, yet they were unable to duplicate one line of Quranic Prose! Yet, when they surrendered their eloquence to Quranic Prose: they became “complete” human beings!

15. Yes, our Habib PBOH was void of “formalized” education, but he possessed natural eloquence and when Allah SWT combined it with His Spirit-Word: our Habib changed the world forever with Allah’s degree, not Harvard’s.

16. The transformative moment that we must all have at this juncture is to realize that as Muslims, we all have to be “Nursed” within this religion just like our Habib PBOH. A spiritual nursing has to occur within our “religious lives.” So, that we come out of that nursing process in possession of a certain and specific kind of “eloquence” pointing us toward a greater love for Islam and specifically for our Habib PBOH.

17. While playing behind the house, our Habib was approached by two angels. They approached in white clothing took our Habib laid him down and split open his stomach and started splashing his insides. His foster brother ran into the house to get his parents who ran out to our Habib’s aid. When they reached him, he was holding his cheeks with his head tilted and they asked him was he okay. He responded PBOH that two men dressed in white came and took him and laid him down and they opened his stomach and they found something in it which I did not recognize.

18. Halimah returned our Habib PBOH back to his mother who immediately became curios as to why she brought him back after begging to keep him. Aminah pressed Halimah until she confessed that she feared that a Shaitan may be trying to do something to him. Aminah responded: There’s no way Shaitan can hurt this boy. My son has a certain significance شأن. Shall I not then tell you his full story? Halimah said yes. Aminah informed her that “when I gave birth to him I saw a light shoot out from inside my womb that landed in northern Arabia. His was the lightest most pain-free carrying of any child. When he came out, he immediately pushed himself up with his two hands and stared at the sky. So, keep him with you, he’ll be fine.”

19. Now people without understanding and who are consumed with prejudice act is though we say a complimentary word about her that we’ve sinned a great sin because she was not a convicted Muslim. What’s odd to the student of Sira is that everything about the Prophet’s mother “screams” Islam.

20. These are people who are void of eloquence and who assume the posture of Allah when they cast judgment upon other people. Particularly around the issue of assuming they know whose going to go to Hellfire and who is not. Logic dictates in a very “eloquent” manner that if we love our Habib, we MUST also “love” the origins that made him possible: his parents. If they were evil and unworthy of Allah’s Mercy, why would he choose them to be the vessels to bring forward the most high-born child in creation?

21. What sort of religion is Islam when it congratulates you on accepting your Shahadah and then in the same breath it tells you to hate your parents? People void of eloquence curse their parents!

22. The lesson we learn from the splitting of the spiritual stomach of man is simple: we have to cleanse our spiritual heart of every remnant of non-eloquence clouding its plain-of-sight.

23. He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Prophet PBOH I am the du A’a of Prophet Ibrahim. And I am the good news told by Prophet Isa. My mother saw a light emit from inside her when she gave birth to me. Alight that illuminated the entire sky from Mecca to the castles of Northern Arabia. I was nursed within the tribe of Bani Sa’ Ibn Bakr. When I was with my brother one day, two men in white clothing approached me and they had a golden basin full of ice. Then they took me and split my stomach and extracted a dark ring and threw it away. Then they washed my heart (emotions) and my stomach (appetites) with the ice (numbing agent) and purified me.

24. Then one angel said to the other: now measure him against 10 people from his Community and they did and I outweighed them. Then the angel said: measure him against 100 people from his Community and they did and I outweighed them. Then he said: measure him against 1000 people from his Community and they did and I outweighed them فوزنتهم. Then he said, leave him be, by Allah were you to measure him against everyone within his community, he would outweigh them [spiritually]

25. Aminah dies Abdul Mutalib Steps in He had a couch that would be set out for him at the Ka’ Bah and no one was allowed to sit on it. Young Muhammad PBOH would always wander about and sit upon the couch and play and his uncles would remove him in deference to their father Abdul Mutalib.

26. Abdul Mutalib stopped them and said: leave him be by Allah he has certain significance شأن. Then he would sit our Habib PBOH upon his lap and rub his back with his hand و يمسح ظهره بيده. When our Habib PBOH reached the age of eight, Abdul Mutalib returned to Allah SWT.

27. The High-Priest Ba Heera Baheera went over to him and said: young man, by Laat اللات and U’zzeh العزى, please allow me to ask you a few questions. Our Habib PBOH, responded, don’t ask me anything upon the authority of these idols: they are the most despised things to me. So, Baheera said, then by Allah I would like to ask you a few questions. Our Habib PBOH, responded, ask as you wish. The Priest asked him about his life, his eating habits, his sleeping habits, and other common questions and our Habib PBOH answered each one. Then he looked at the boys back and there he saw the “Seal of Prophethood” between his shoulders the greatest signs of all خاتم النبوة بين كتفيه.

28. Accounts regarding the seal of Prophet are as follows: that it looked like a cupping mark أثر المحجمة, there are reports that the symbols was encased by the forms of two black stallions خيلان فيها شعرات أسود, other accounts state that it was in the form of an apple كالتفاحة, sequenced lines of a cherry color كرز الحجلة, some say it was like the form of the egg of a pigeon كبيضة الحمامة. A’yyath Ibn A’bdu A’mr says عياذ بن عبد عمرو: I saw the seal of Prophethood and it looked like the horns of a goat كان كزكبة العنز. See the Sira of Ibn Hisham for more details, page 206.

29. Moral Lessons Learned Regret ندامة holds no “eloquent” position in our life once we enter into the acceptance of Allah’s Qadr-Decree. Our hearts should be content within Allah’s Decrees أقدار الله.

30. Moral Lessons Learned Dr. Ali Muhammad As-Sal Laby says: و هذا درس لكل مسلم بأن يطمئن قلبه الى قدر الله و اختياره, و الرضا به, و لا يندم على ما مضى, و ما لم يقدره الله تعالى This is a lesson for every Muslim: that our hearts must become calmly content with Allah’s Decrees as He Selects things in life for us. We accept these things. And we must never develop remorse over these Decrees. And we must never fret over the things that were NOT decreed for us!

31. Moral Lessons Learned قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم: "ما بعث الله نبيا الا رعى الغنم." فقال أصحابه: و أنت؟ قال: "نعم, كنت أرعاها على قراريط لاهل مكة". “Every Prophet that Allah Sent was first a shepherd. The Companions asked him, even you. He said: (yes, I was a shepherd on the outskirts of Mecca.”

32. Moral Lessons Learned Of the many beneficial rewards gained from the vocation of shepherding is: Patience الصبر. A shepherd works the entire year, no vacation days from sun-up to sunset. Sheep eat slowly, they graze all day, they do nothing fast. It is extremely hot, especially in Arabia for the shepherd.

33. Moral Lessons Learned Of the many beneficial rewards gained from the vocation of shepherding is: Humble-Service التواضع. A shepherd is the literal servant of his sheep and the sheep are very demanding clients. In addition to monitoring the sheep الاشراف, the shepherd must also protect them الحراسة. These duties teach the shepherd how to “eliminate” the human habit of arrogance الكبر.

34. Moral Lessons Learned عن عبد الله بن مسعود قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم قال: "لا يدخل الجنة من كان في قلبه مثقال ذرة من كبر." قال رجل ان الرجل يحب أن يكون ثوبه حسنا و نعله حسنة, قال: "ان الله جميل يحب الجمال, الكبر بطر الحق, و و غمط الناس.“ “Anyone possessing an atoms weight of arrogance in their heart, will not enter Jennah.” A man stood up and said: some men like to look nice and wear nice shoes? Our Habib said: “arrogance is to disregard the truth and to undervalue people and to despise them.” Hadith #147

35. Moral Lessons Learned Of the many beneficial rewards gained from the vocation of shepherding is: Bravery الشجاعة. A shepherd must throw himself in front of predator animals الوحوش to defend his sheep, this is a very dangerous job.

36. Moral Lessons Learned Of the many beneficial rewards gained from the vocation of shepherding is: Mercy and Gentleness الرحمة و العطف. The shepherd must take care of the sheep when they are sick and nurse them back to health. They are healers.

37. Home Work • Q1 Discuss how you reason between Prophet Muhammad PBOH being the high-born child of the world and being born to non-Muslim parents. • Q2 Discuss how you reason that Allah used non-Muslim parents to be the vehicle of introduction to the world as his high-born creation and then use his non-Muslim grandfather and uncle to serve as his protectors? Whose job is it to judge what? • Q3 What is “eloquence” and how can it be used to “heal” Muslim Culture? • Q4 Discuss Allah’s Angels coming to Aminah; a non-Muslim, and commanding her to make a specific Du A’a for her child? What’s the theological lesson here and how does it calm rigid people (Muslims) down? • Q5 How did Abdul Mutalib know the word Quran 40 years before it was revealed?

38. Home Work • Q6 Consider the cultural difference between how a child is reared in your current-day culture and how children were reared in Quraysh Culture. • Q7 Discuss the use of poems as a vehicle of prayer within Qurush culture. • Q8. Expand this concept: Before we learn about Muhammad’s Sunnah in the Sira, we begin with the study of Allah’s Sunnah for the standards we assume in life. • Q9 Discuss the story of Baheera. • Q10 What the top three lessons we learn from the shepherd?