Allah (swt) has given some people to whom if We give them power or authority in the world, they will establish prayer and enjoin good and forbid evil. The outcome of every action is with Allah. Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) explained this verse that these verses are about the Muhajirun. Because they are those people who were unjustly expelled from their homes and Allah (swt) said about them that if He gives them power or authority in the land, they will establish prayer in the land, give zakat, enjoin good and forbid evil. He also said that this narration applies to the rightly guided Caliphs because they did the same thing. Allah (swt) gave them authority in the land. They enjoin good and forbid evil. He was very conscious of preserving the purity of Islam and any kind of innovation or those that are forbidden to be introduced into Islam. But those that are not part of Islam. He strictly controlled all these things. First of all, we will go into this context. There was a bad tradition in Egypt. There was a shirk tradition. They thought that if we did not sacrifice a virgin girl to this Nile River every year, if we did not float her in the river, then the water of this Nile River would not flow. This was a misconception. At that time, the governor appointed by our Khattab in Egypt was Amr Ibnul Azad. The people in Egypt came to Amr Ibnul As and after coming told him that the water of the Nile River would not flow. We have a rule that we float a virgin girl to this Nile River every year at a certain time, we sacrifice that girl to the Nile River, we bring the girl who was living with her parents and we give some money to her father. Then we threw the girl into this river after dressing her in beautiful clothes and jewelry. That was a false belief of those people in Egypt. They thought that if this was not done, the Nile would never flow. He said that Islam came to eradicate all these evil practices. As Muslims, you are no longer allowed to follow these old customs. He banned them. Subhanallah, a test came from Allah Almighty. In reality, it was seen that after banning this practice, the water level of the Nile River decreased completely, it was not flowing. A test from Allah. On the one hand, the theoretical aspects of Islam will be in mind, but when we go to apply them in reality, many times a test comes from Allah Almighty. It may be seen that in reality the situation is completely opposite to that. In that case, will we remain steadfast to Allah Almighty or will we do something opposite? Allah Almighty often tests us by causing opposite events. The same test was happening in Egypt with Omar. People came and said, “Look, we did not do that to that woman, which you forbade us to do, and now the water of the Nile has stopped. A very difficult test. But even then, Amr ibn al-As, he remained steadfast in his decision. The situation was actually getting so bad that the water level of the river was dropping so low that people were forced to leave Egypt and start thinking about settling somewhere else. Because the only water flow in those areas of Egypt is through this Nile River, and all their work is dependent on the water of the Nile River. The news of the situation was sent to the Caliph Omar ibn al-Khattab through a letter. He told him that such a bad custom was prevalent among them. But I understand that Islam completely prohibits these things, it is forbidden. What did the Caliph write in response? Omar ibn al-Khattab wrote in response in a letter. He said that what you did was right and what am I sending you. I am sending you a piece of paper with it. I want you to throw this piece of paper into the Nile. What was written on that paper? Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, wrote on that paper this letter from the servant of Allah and the Commander of the Faithful, Umar ibn al-Khattab, to the Nile, the symbol of the people of Egypt. O Nile, if you are flowing by your own will, then stop. You do not need to flow anymore. We do not need you anymore. And if you are flowing because Allah Almighty has made you flow, I ask Allah Almighty to make you flow.
Amr ibn al-As took this piece of paper on which these things were written. If the water of the river flows by the will of Allah, then let it flow. And if not, if it flows by its own will, then we no longer need the water of that river. He threw such a thing into the river in front of all the Egyptians. Subhanallah, in just one day or one night, the water increased and it increased to 16 cubic feet or a single amount. So the letter thrown by the Amir increased our water. Where it was written that if the water flows by the will of Allah, then let it increase and if it flows by its own will, then we have no need of the water of the Nile. So from this incident we can see that in reality I was not only an Amir here, he was the guardian Amir of all the rivers of this world. So in reality he was the representative Caliph on behalf of Allah Subhanallah on this earth, whose responsibility is to maintain everything on this earth, starting from humans to all creation. According to the instructions, we see the incident that Ibn Kathir (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned in his Al-Biryani Haya. The famous incident, in front of the Egyptians, the issues of Tawheed became clear that the water of the rivers or the natural things of the sky and the earth are not controlled by any other reason, but everything is controlled by Allah Almighty alone. If we ask for any help, we should go to Allah Almighty. We cannot get anything by dedicating such a bad custom to anyone. The path of shirk is the path of ignorance and stupidity. In the second incident, we go to the incident of Hajr-e-Aswad. During the Hajj season, he was kissing Hajr-e-Aswad. At that time, during the Hajj season, people were performing Tawaf. Then he said loudly to the people that I know that you are only a stone. You cannot harm anyone or benefit anyone. If I had not seen the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) kissing you, I would never have done this. So what was the purpose of this statement? Our Khattab revealed his inner intention through his words. People see that the Caliph is appearing. This is his external work but why is he kissing with what intention inside? There was no opportunity to see that. But our Khattab revealed it through his words. He says that the reason behind Khattab’s statement was that at that time people were opening up new lands for Islam. There were new Muslims entering Islam. They were living very close to the pre-Islamic era. They wanted to confirm the past events of Umar ibn al-Khattab that he was kissing a stone. Seeing this, they did not associate it with any of their pre-Islamic era beliefs. So he made it clear through his words that he did not have the power to do good or evil. He did not expect any blessings from it. Rather, he only followed the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) did this and so he is following him. He does not expect anything good or bad from the stone. This incident is narrated in Bukhari. Ibn Hajar Asqalani, commenting on this incident, said that there is an important lesson we learn from this incident and that is that we surrender to Allah (swt) and follow the Sunnah, the path shown by the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). Even though we do not know what the wisdom behind it is? Or it becomes difficult for us to understand it. Even after this, do we follow the path shown by Allah (swt) unconditionally, without question. Amr ibn al-Khattab pointed out that you are just a stone. I am kissing you only because I am following the Messenger of Allah. So our first mindset should be when we know that what Allah (SWT) has done and the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) has done, without any question, what is the wisdom behind it, what is the reason, what is the purpose, we have to follow it. This is the right approach. If we know any additional purpose, we can know it. Following, obeying, the only command of Allah, the Sunnah of the Messenger. That is why this should be enough for us. If someone asks that during Hajj, I saw Muslims turning around the Kaaba in four directions and its direction of rotation is anti-clockwise or counterclockwise or circling it seven times, what does this mean or why do Muslims turn counterclockwise or why do they turn clockwise or why do they not turn clockwise? If the question is asked, then the first answer is that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) did it and taught us that this is why we do it.
We are going to the next incident. Amar Khatar, he is Amr ibn al-Khattab, he wanted to ensure that during his caliphate, as the Caliph, the Commander of the Faithful, for the Ummah that no door of confusion could be opened. So that people would not be confused. At that time, there was a tree. In Arabic, the tree is called the Night of Ridwan. That tree was the tree under which the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) sat and took the oath of allegiance from the companions. There was a special motive behind the loyalty. When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) came to perform Umrah with the companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). That incident of Hudaybiyah, the Quraysh created obstacles there and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) sent Uthman ibn Affan (may Allah be pleased with him) as a representative to Mecca to negotiate. But after going there, it was seen that a long time had passed. But Uthman was not coming back. They spread and killed him. At that time, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) took an oath from the companions that each of us would avenge the killing of Uthman. The oath was taken on the basis of Jihad over war. Although the companions did not bring any weapons of war with them at that time. They brought with them the sacrifice and the common knife-like weapon for slaughtering them. That much was all they had. But even then, emphasizing the importance of a Muslim’s life, the importance of Uthman’s life, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) took an oath of war from the companions. So they swore that we would swear after death that we would also die, but we would not kill Uthman. It turned out that the Quraysh were afraid. They came to a compromise and although it was proven, Uthman was not killed. That was a false rumor. That incident of that oath took place. Under that tree, it was a hugely significant event in history. Which is called the Prayer of Ridwan. Those who swore under that tree that day. Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala was pleased with them. In this regard, Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala says in the Quran, “Verily, Allah is pleased with those Muslims who swore allegiance to you under that tree.” That was a historical event. That tree was a historical memory. People would come to see it today, visit it, and worship around it. My Ibn al-Khattab, what did he do then? My Khattab gave the order to cut down the tree and it was cut down. A common man might be disappointed to hear this incident, thinking that if there was a chance, the tree would have remained as it was. Then we might have gone and seen it. But why did my Khattab cut down that tree? The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and his companions were present under that tree. They were sitting there. My Ibn al-Khattab was cutting it down. Omar Ibn Al-Khattab did not want that tree to become an object of worship or for people to come and visit that tree and expect any blessings from that tree. So the tree is actually a tree like other trees that cannot harm anyone or benefit anyone. It is true that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) sat under it. But that tree has no power of its own to do good or bad to people. He was not an emotional person. He did not make any decisions based on emotions. He was a person with a clear vision and used his conscience to make decisions. He gave priority to intelligence and logic over emotions.
We are going through several more incidents. How he used to command good deeds and forbid bad deeds, etc. Once he saw a person, that person was walking on the road very unsteadily. How he was walking with his arms and legs spread out. Sometimes we see many times different people who are called to sing songs. They walked on the road waving their arms and legs like this. Umar ibn al-Khattab saw such a person. He saw him and said to him, “Tell him to stop walking like this.” I can’t, I’m used to it like this.” He called him and whipped him. But even then, the person was seen walking on the road waving his arms and legs. He called him a second time and whipped him again and said, “Flog me.” If there is a person who is worthy, then who else can I whip besides this person? After this happened a second time, the person came to Umar ibn al-Khattab and said, “O my God, have mercy on you. It was nothing but a devil. He used to force me to walk like this. Because of the beating, that devil left me. Walking on the road in such a pompous and arrogant manner is immortal, he would correct them. On the contrary, there were some people who walked on the road in such a humble manner that they looked as if they were dead people with their arms and legs eaten away. Somehow moving forward on the road. They tried to be modest in their movements. Seeing such a person, my preacher hit him with a stick and said that on this day of Islam, do not turn it into a religion of the dead, may Allah kill you, may Allah kill you
Umar, he used to participate in various dhikr halaka. I am going to tell you a story in this regard. After the Isha prayer, if someone sat in the mosque without doing anything, gossiping, he did not like it. He would forbid it. You have prayed the Isha prayer. You can remember Allah after praying. When the prayer was over, he would encourage them to go home and sleep quickly and he would say that by doing this, he would only give them the benefit of praying Tahajjud by going to bed earlier and it would be easier to get up at night. It would be even better if he came to the mosque like this after the Isha prayer. He saw some people sitting in the mosque talking and doing dhikr. You asked who they were? They said that they were your people. Your loyal ordinary Muslims. My ibn Khattab went to him and asked him why you were sitting after the prayer was over. They said that we were remembering Allah. We remember Allah. He also joined them. He also sat there and he told everyone that each of you pray to Allah one by one and I am also participating in your prayer. So like a circle or a cycle, everyone was offering different prayers to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala and the rest were saying Amen Amen like this. In this way, going around, finally, a common servant came to him. He had to pray. That person had some inertia in speaking in front of everyone. I don’t know how to pray? What to pray? My Khattab said, at least you can say this much, O Allah, forgive us, have mercy on us, have mercy on us, forgive us. That is enough. You pray in your own language. Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) also taught him this.
My He was very attentive to the financial sources of the Caliphate, visiting the business and trade markets, these things. Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that he once saw Umar visiting the market. He was wearing a turban and no clothes. In his usual state, he was wearing a turban and was naked, carrying a stick in his hand. He used to say to the traders, “If you do not know our business, if you do not know how to do business, what is illegal, where is the transaction, what is interest? You will get involved in this interest. If you do not know these things, then you have no permission to come here and do business. So, to do business in the market, you must first acquire the knowledge about this matter. In today’s language, this matter is equivalent to the kind of certificate we need to do any work.
