اَلسَّلاَمُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ
بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ
[Photo Illustration Only]
The early Muslims right now. And there is another Khalid. And what if I told you that this Khalid, Khalid Ibn Sa'ad Ibn Al-As رضي الله عنه, is said to have embraced Islam within a few hours of Saiyiduna Abu Bakr As-Siddiq رضي الله عنه. That's as early as it comes. I'm gonna talk about this story InshaAllah Ta'ala because it truly is a fascinating story. We talk about how early he is. So Khalid Ibn Sa'ad Ibn Al-As رضي الله عنه is not one of the du'afa of Makkah. He's not one of the weak ones of Makkah. In fact, he's from Banu Umayyah. So he's from a very powerful tribe in Makkah. Now he doesn't seem to be someone, though he has a prominent lineage and someone who has wealth and position. He doesn't seem to be someone who assumed any political role in Makkah. But at the same time, again, just being from Banu Umayyah, and being a son of Sa'ad Ibn Al-As is a big deal. What we find from him is that Khalid Ibn Sa'ad رضي الله عنه, he had a nickname of the Taj, the possessor of the crown.
And that was because when he wore an imamah when he wore his turban in a certain style or a certain color, no one else would dare to wear the same turban as him. So he wore a unique turban. And when he would change that turban, other people would start to wear it, but you didn't wear the same turban as him. So he was distinguished even in his turban, رضي الله عنه, to where you called him, the Taj, the possessor of the crown. Now his coming to Islam, so beautiful. He sees a dream of himself. And this is before he has heard that Rasulullahﷺ is even calling to this religion. But this is Allahﷻ showing something to him. He sees this dream and he says, in this dream, I was standing in front of a valley full of fire. And that fire was consuming itself because of how severe, how hot it was.
So he's seeing a valley of hellfire. He was terrified by that fire. Suddenly he says, while I'm looking at that valley of fire, I see my father behind me, Sa'ad ibn al-As, and he comes to me and tries to push me into it. And when I resist, he literally starts to wrestle with me and he tries to throw me into that fire. And so he says, as I'm in the dream, fighting off my father's effort to throw me into the fire, Rasulullahﷺ comes to me and Rasulullahﷺ grabs me by the waist belt and he pulls me away from the fire. Rasulullahﷺ then woke me up. SubhanAllah, I mean, there's of course great symbolism in this, but also the fact that Rasulullahﷺ described this as an analogy, a parable of himself. He said, I to you, I'm like a man that is standing in front of a fire and some fireflies are trying to jump into the fire and Rasulullahﷺ said, I'm trying to grab you all and stop you from falling into it. And I'm grabbing you by the waist belts, but some of you are slipping from my hands.
So in the case of Khalid bin Sa'ad bin As he's literally seeing that dream where Rasulullahﷺ pulls him by the waist belt and saves him from falling into the fire. So when he wakes up from that dream, he leaves his house. He knows Rasulullahﷺ, but he hasn't even heard of a new religion. And as he is coming out of his home, he runs into Saiyiduna Abu Bakr As-Siddiq رضي الله عنه. And he says to Saiyiduna Abu Bakr As-Siddiq رضي الله عنه, because Saiyiduna Abu Bakr As-Siddiq رضي الله عنه was known for his ability to interpret dreams amongst other things, Saiyiduna Abu Bakr As-Siddiq رضي الله عنهinterpretation of dreams and his knowledge of lineage and ancestry. He says to Saiyiduna Abu Bakr As-Siddiq رضي الله عنه, he said, I saw this strange dream last night. Let me run it by you. So Saiyiduna Abu Bakr As-Siddiq رضي الله عنه says, what is it?
So he said, I saw this dream where I was standing in front of a valley of fire and I was about to fall into the fire. My father was behind me trying to push me into the fire. And then Muhammad Ibn Abdullah [Muhammad Rasulullahﷺ], he came to me and he grabbed me by the waist belt and he pulled me away from the fire. So Saiyiduna Abu Bakr As-Siddiq رضي الله عنه , he smiles and he says, Wallahi ya Khalid, laqad aradallahu bikakhayr. He said I swear by Allah, oh Khalid, Allah wants good for you. So he says to him, this is [Muhammad Rasulullahﷺ] He is calling to the worship of one God and protecting us in the process from the punishment of the hereafter. So Khalid says, take me to him. Khalid says Saiyiduna Abu Bakr As-Siddiq رضي الله عنه took him to him and Rasulullahﷺ was in ajiyat and he was supplicating to Allahﷻ.
Al-Bayhaqi narrated his story:
فَلَقِيَ أَبَا بَكْرِ بْنَ أَبِي قُحَافَةَ فَذَكَرَ ذَلِك لَهُ، فَقَالَ أُرِيدَ بِكَ خَيْرٌ، هَذَا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ فَاتَّبِعْهُ، فَإِنَّكَ سَتَتَّبِعُهُ وَتَدْخُلُ مَعَهُ فِي الْإِسْلَامِ... فَلَقِيَ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ وَهُوَ بأجياد،
فَقَالَ: يَا رَسُول الله يَا مُحَمَّد إلام تَدْعُو؟ قَالَ: " أَدْعُوكَ إِلَى اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ وَأَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ، وَتَخْلَعُ مَا أَنْتَ عَلَيْهِ مِنْ عِبَادَةِ حَجَرٍ لَا يَسْمَعُ، وَلَا يضر، وَلَا يبصر: وَلَا يَنْفَعُ، وَلَا يَدْرِي مَنْ عَبَدَهُ مِمَّنْ لَا يَعْبُدُهُ ".
قَالَ خَالِدٌ: فَإِنِّي أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّكَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ.
Saiyiduna Abu Bakr As Sidique رضي الله عنه, told him: (Allah) wanted better for you. This is Rasulullahﷺ, so follow him. When you follow him you will enter with him into Islam.e met Rasulullahﷺ in Ajyad (a valley far from the center of Makkah) and said: O Rasulullahﷺ, O Muhammad, what do you call for?
The Messenger Rasulullahﷺ said: I call you to serve Allah alone with no partner and to believe in me as his servant and Messenger; stop what you are doing of serving stones, that do not hear, nor harm, nor see, nor benefit and are not aware of who serves them.
Khalid رضي الله عنه said: "I testify there is no god but Allah, and you are Rasulullahﷺ." He was worshiping Allah. So he found them in a place of making du'a to Allahﷻ. He said, "I asked him, Ila ma tad'u ya Muhammad, what are you calling to? Oh Muhammad, tell me about this religion that you are calling to." He began to explain the religion that Rasulullahﷺ described to him, stating, "I'm calling you to the worship of one God and to abandon allathu al-izzah, all of these idols, these stones, that do not benefit you, nor do you benefit them, nor can they do anything to the one who worships them or to the one who abandons them. So I'm calling you to the worship of one God." At that moment, Khalid رضي الله عنه embraced Islam. Some of the scholars of Seerah, in their narrations, mention that this occurred within hours of Saiyiduna Abu Bakr As-Siddiq رضي الله عنه making him khamisu khamsa fil-Islam, the fifth of five in Islam.
So after Ali رضي الله عنه and Saiyiduna Abu Bakr As Sidique رضي الله عنه, after Saidatuna Khadijah Binti Kuwalid رضي الله عنه, Saiyiduna Abu Bakr As Sidique رضي الله عنه, Saiyiduna Ali ibn Abu Talib رضي الله عنه, may Allah be pleased with them, that he is the very next person to embrace Islam, but that his Islam was on the same day of Saiyuduna Abu Bakr as-Siddiq رضي الله عنه. I mean, that is incredible, right? I mean, how early on and how blessed is he to have seen that dream that night and what Allahﷻ wanted for him as a result of that. So he embraced Islam right away.. As we said, we're talking about some of these companions, who was first, you have this group of people that you could all make a claim, right? You know, to who's the fourth, who's the fifth at this point. But that's how early he is رضي الله عنه,. Now his father, of course, you can derive from the dream that he had, was not a very good man and was someone who was indeed trying to call him to the hellfire.
His father was one of the people who used to work in the construction of the idols and the festivals and the pilgrimages and the sacrifices to the idols. And of course, politically held a very high place with bin Umayyah as well. So his father immediately, when he heard about Rasulullahﷺ calling to Islam, became a staunch enemy of Rasulullahﷺ. Banu Hashim, Banu Umayyah. I mean, that says it all. So when he heard the news that Rasulullahﷺ was calling to Islam, he immediately wanted to fight Rasulullahﷺ and stop him from going any further, as was the case with bin Umayyah. Now, as he is declaring his enmity, he hears from some of his other children that they heard that Rasulullahﷺ had reached his own son, Khalid. So what does he do? He sends his other two sons, okay, to go and to get him and to bring Khalid to him. So his other two sons, whose names are Amr and Aban.
Amr and Aban. So Amr and Aban go to get Khalid and bring him to his father. Khalid is brought to him and he says to him, is it true what I've heard? And he said it's true. He said, I've embraced the religion of the one God and I've abandoned these idols that you call us to worship. And he said to him, you will leave this religion now and come back to the religion of your father and your forefathers. Khalid insisted that he would not. He said I will not obey you in the disobedience of Allahﷻ. So when he said that, Sa'ad took a stick and he cracked his skull. He hit him right across the head and he cracked the skull. And so the blood came running down and he ordered Khalid to be imprisoned and to be starved for three days.
So Khalid is taken to a particular corner or chamber in the home and he's guarded and no food reaches him for three days while he's in that situation. And then he sends a messenger to see if he changed his mind, hoping that he broke under those circumstances because he'd never seen anything like that. I mean, this is a man who lived a very privileged life. So he'd never seen that type of persecution. So usually someone who had a relatively easy life or privileged life would crack quicker under persecution. Instead, when he sends his messenger to him, he says, wallahi, I will not follow him in the disobedience of Allahﷻ. And here's where this gets even more interesting. He sends, Sa'ad ibn Aas sends Amr and Aban to convince him to leave his religion.
What ends up happening instead is that Amr and Aban become Muslim رضي الله عنه,. So now Khalid has converted his brothers as well. So Khalid, Amr, and Aban are among the early Muslims in this regard, but of course, Khalid preceded all of them in Islam. When the migration to Abyssinia takes place, Khalid has to escape persecution. Of course, as we said, the persecution of some of the privileged and the elite was behind closed doors, but of course, it still was severe for some of them. So Khalid was one of those who was under severe persecution by his father and by Banu Umayyah in general.
So he takes his brothers and goes to Abyssinia and that is where he is going to settle until Rasulullahﷺ gives him permission to come to Madinah. Now, what role does he play in Abyssinia? And again, sometimes these names come up and you don't even think twice about them. When Rasulullahﷺ proposed to Umm Habibah رضي الله عنه, the daughter of Abu Sufyan, who was in Abyssinia and her husband had passed away. And we've talked about Umm Habibah رضي الله عنه in detail. Remember Rasulullahﷺ chose An Najashi رضي الله عنه, to represent him.
So Najashi is going to conduct this nikah of Rasulullahﷺ in Abyssinia while Rasulullahﷺ is absent and Najashi is his representative, right? Officially his representative in this wedding. And he says to Umm Habibahرضي الله عنه, to choose a wali, okay? Her father of course was Abu Sufyan. And so her wali would be the closest relative and that was Khalid ibn Sa'ad ibn al-'As, Why? Because of course, the same tribe and the closest relative. And of course, Khalid was known for his righteousness رضي الله عنه,. And that is when An Najashiرضي الله عنه, holds this nikah, this wedding in his palace. He dismisses all of his guards.
He sets up these beautiful gardens, this beautiful feast, this meal, and he gathers Ja'far Ibn Abu Talib رضي الله عنه,, Abdullah ibn Hudhafa رضي الله عنه, who we've already spoken about, and Khalid ibn Sa'ad رضي الله عنه,. And he conducts this nikah with Umm Habibah رضي الله عنه, and he is the one who proposes on behalf of Rasulullahﷺ. And this man Khalid ibn Sa'ad رضي الله عنه, responds by praising Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and sending salawat. And he says, I have married to you Umm Habiba. I have married Umm Habibah to Rasulullahﷺ under what was said. So Khalid said, fabarakAllahu li Rasulillah.
So may Allahﷻ bless Rasulullah. Allahﷻ, he congratulates Rasulullahﷺ in that regard. And then An Najashi رضي الله عنه brings out the feast as he says, it is the sunnah of Rasulullahﷺ that when a marriage is carried out, there is a walimah, that there's a feast as well. So this was Khalid's role in Abyssinia as well. Now, when does he come to Madinah? Khalid comes to Medina after Khyber, Khyber. So Rasulullahﷺ was, you know, when he saw Khalid, he was so happy to see him, that he embraced him and he put Khalid Rasulullahﷺ in charge of Yemen. So this would, he would also go on to become a governor of Yemen and he put Aban, his brother, in charge of what would become Bahrain and Amr in charge of Khyber.
So actually Khalid and his brothers all become leaders under Rasulullahﷺ and when Rasulullahﷺ passes away, Khalid رضي الله عنه serves as a commander under Saiyiduna Abu Bakr As-Siddiq رضي الله عنه, who of course was the one who initially called him to Islam within hours of embracing it himself and he was commanded, he was appointed particularly as a commander in the campaign against the Byzantines and in the year 634, he was married to Umm Hakim رضي الله عنه. Umm Hakim bint al-Harith ibn Mughirahرضي الله عنه. Umm Hakim رضي الله عنه was the widow of Ikram ibn Abi Jahl رضي الله عنه.
So Umm Hakim رضي الله عنهwas his widow and she became Muslim, of course in the Fath, in the conquest of Makkah and right before this battle, which was known as Marj al-Sufar, she married Khalid ibn Sa'id ibn Asرضي الله عنه. So it was literally the night before this battle of Marj al-Sufar that they got married and it was in this battle that Umm Hakimرضي الله عنه actually, with her own hand, would pick up a sword and she would kill seven from the opposing army herself the day after her wedding night, to Khalid ibn Sa'idرضي الله عنه but her husband, Khalid ibn Sa'id رضي الله عنه, would pass away on this day and he would be a shahid in this particular battle. My Allahﷻ be pleased with him.
So, SubhanAllah, he goes from seeing this dream of Rasulullahﷺ and his father getting an interpreter by Saiyuduna Abu Bakr As Sidique رضي الله عنه, living this glorious life alongside Rasulullahﷺ up until he serves under Saiyuduna Abu Bakr As Sidique رضي الله عنه, and is martyred in the process and in the process attains eternal life as the shuhada do. My Allahﷻ be pleased with him and reward him for his sacrifices. My Allahﷻ be pleased with him the companions, all of the companions, and the family of Rasulullahﷺ.
Conclusion
Allahumma Amiin. JazakumAllahu khayran. InshaAllah Ta'ala, I will see you next time.
اَلسَّلاَمُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ
References
Ibn Kathir, as-Seera al-Nabawiyyah, Ibn Kathir, al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah
(Ibn Kathir, as-Seera al-Nabawiyyah, Vol. 1, pp. 444-445; Ibn Kathir, al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah, Vol. 3, p. 32)
