Transcript
1 turns · 52 minBismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim. Respected brothers, elders, mothers and sisters. I'd like to start today's session with a Hadith of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. When he mentions Don't ever speak negative about any of my companions. Oftentimes we translate this as don't swear, don't curse my sahaba. However, the word in Arabic for swearing, cursing is shatama. And that's not the word that's used in the hadith. The word that is used in the hadith is la tasubbu fumsabba. Which means don't say anything negative about any of my companions. Fawalladee nafsi biyadihi. Oh, I swear by Allah Ta'ala. If one of you was to spend the equivalent of the mountain of Uhud in gold, you would not be able to compete with even a small amount that one of my companions gave. Whatever you do in life, you will never be able to reach the rank, the maqam of the noble companions radiallahu anhum. So don't ever say anything negative about them. The reason why I'm starting with this hadith is because the sahabi that we will discuss today, Muawiyah radiallahu anhu, has unfortunately become the subject of many attacks Unfortunately, many Muslims also have very negative views, very negative perception of Sayyidina Muawiyah radiAllahu anhum. Right from his name, his very name Muawiyah, some people have attacked and they've said that it means A dog, when a dog barks, so that's what Muawiyah means. But this is an incorrect understanding. Muawiyah comes from the word awa, the root letters in Arabic, awa, which means to be compassionate, to be kind, to be helpful. Yes, one of the meanings is also, it can also refer to a dog barking, but that's not why his name was Muawiyah. His name was Muawiyah from awa, to be compassionate, to be a helper. Had it had a negative meaning, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam would have changed his name. As it had occurred with many other people when they accepted Islam and they had names which were inappropriate, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam changed their name. So the fact that he left his name as Muawiyah shows that there's no bad meaning to his name. If we look at his lineage, then he is a distant relative, a distant cousin of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam himself. If you recall in the lineage of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is as follows, Muhammad bin Abdullah bin Abdul Muttalim bin Hashim bin Abdi Manaf. So he goes back to Abdi Manaf. And now if you look at the lineage of Muawiyah Radiallahu Anhu, then he's Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan bin Haram bin Umayyah bin Abdi Shams bin Abdi Manaf. So you see both of them meet up at this common ancestor Abdi Manaf. No, they came from two different tribes of the Quraysh. The Prophet ﷺ coming from the Banu Hashim tribe and Muawiyah radiAllahu anhu coming from the Banu Umayyah tribe. But four or five generations above, the ancestor is the same, Abd al-Manaf. So they're distant cousins. And likewise, this is from the father's side. From the mother's side, Muawiyah radiAllahu anhu's mom, her lineage also goes back to Abd al-Manaf. So from both the father's side and from the mother's side, he was a relative of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Muawiyah radiallahu