Moral Education Through the Prophetic Biography - The Prophet's ﷺ First Sermon in Medina

Occasion: From a weekly lesson on the Prophetic biography and its moral lessons, whose recording was uploaded on 18 September 2024Source: A transcription of a video khutbah by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

The Prophet ﷺ arrived in Medina, and from that day Yathrib was named "the City of the Messenger." So what did he say to its people in the first sermon he gave them? It is related from Abū Salama ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf that the first sermon the Prophet ﷺ gave in Medina was that he stood, praised Allah and extolled Him as He deserves, then said:

«أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ، قَدِّمُوا لِأَنْفُسِكُمْ، تَعْلَمُنَّ وَاللهِ لَيُصْعَقَنَّ أَحَدُكُمْ ثُمَّ لَيَدَعَنَّ غَنَمَهُ لَيْسَ لَهَا رَاعٍ، ثُمَّ لَيَقُولَنَّ لَهُ رَبُّهُ، لَيْسَ لَهُ تَرْجُمَانٌ وَلَا حَاجِبٌ يَحْجُبُهُ دُونَهُ: أَلَمْ يَأْتِكَ رَسُولِي فَبَلَّغَكَ؟ وَآتَيْتُكَ مَالًا وَأَفْضَلْتُ عَلَيْكَ، فَمَا قَدَّمْتَ لِنَفْسِكَ؟ فَيَنْظُرُ يَمِينًا وَشِمَالًا فَلَا يَرَى شَيْئًا، ثُمَّ يَنْظُرُ قُدَّامَهُ فَلَا يَرَى غَيْرَ جَهَنَّمَ، فَمَنِ اسْتَطَاعَ أَنْ يَقِيَ وَجْهَهُ مِنَ النَّارِ وَلَوْ بِشِقِّ تَمْرَةٍ فَلْيَفْعَلْ، وَمَنْ لَمْ يَجِدْ فَبِكَلِمَةٍ طَيِّبَةٍ، فَإِنَّ بِهَا تُجْزَى الْحَسَنَةُ عَشْرَ أَمْثَالِهَا إِلَى سَبْعِمِائَةِ ضِعْفٍ، وَالسَّلَامُ»^[1]

(O people, send ahead something for yourselves. You will know, by Allah, that one of you will be struck down, and will leave his sheep with no shepherd. Then his Lord will say to him, with no interpreter and no doorkeeper to bar him from Him: Did My messenger not come to you and convey to you? And I gave you wealth and bestowed favor upon you, so what did you send ahead for yourself? He will look right and left and see nothing, then he will look in front of him and see nothing but Hell. So whoever is able to protect his face from the Fire, even with half a date, let him do so; and whoever does not find it, then with a good word, for by it the good deed is rewarded ten times over up to seven hundred fold. And peace.)

If we read it again, it would not take three or four minutes, and yet it gathered the means of salvation before Allah on the Day of Resurrection, and it gave us a complete action plan under whose shade the servant walks to the meeting with his Lord.

"Send Ahead for Yourselves": Planning for Tomorrow and Vigilance in Every Moment

The Prophet ﷺ begins with his saying: «قدّموا لأنفسكم» (send ahead for yourselves), that is, how we prepare ourselves for tomorrow and how we take the means in the best way. Then he moves us in a complete shift from this world to the Hereafter at the moment of decision: «لَيُصعَقَنَّ أحدكم ثم ليدعنّ غنمه ليس لها راعٍ» (one of you will be struck down, and will leave his sheep with no shepherd). Imagine that a person, at one moment, leaves everything behind. And even if we had in this chapter nothing but this depiction, it would suffice us to be mindful of Allah at every moment; for none of us knows whether he will rise from his place or be carried, whether he will return to his home or not reach it, whether he will rise from his bed after his sleep or sleep a long sleep. He does not know when it will be sealed for him, nor how, nor where. That is why the Prophet ﷺ swore: «تعلمنّ والله» (you will know, by Allah), to arouse the attention of the listeners.

So he teaches us two concepts that come together: future planning that draws up plans and strategies over the span of time, and a moment-to-moment caution against falling into error from one moment to the next. I liken that to an engineer who makes a machine that carries you a long distance, and he is extremely careful about an error that might occur at any moment. In this way the world becomes cheap in the eye of the believer; he leaves it in a moment or it leaves him, and he cannot ask for one more moment, because the appointed time has come.

"Did My Messenger Not Come to You?": The Consequences of Deeds

Then the Prophet ﷺ moves a third shift to considering the consequences of deeds: «ثم ليقولنّ له ربه، ليس بينه وبينه ترجمان: ألم يأتك رسولي فبلّغك؟ وآتيتك مالًا وأفضلت عليك» (then his Lord will say to him, with no interpreter between him and Him: Did My messenger not come to you and convey to you? And I gave you wealth and bestowed favor upon you). It is as if Allah makes me feel the amount of resources available to me in this universe. If I wanted to make a machine for planning the future, I would first need the tools: do I have what I need, or is a screw missing that I cannot find, so production breaks down? And Allah the Most High tells me that the tools are there. Then He teaches me to be cautious: if the worker tightened your car's wheel wrongly, what would be the consequences of the wheel coming off while you are on the road? So I look at the resources, and I proceed with caution, and I keep in mind what could result from any error of any degree, and I go on toward the lifespan that Allah has decreed for me.

The Real Product at the End of the Day

The Prophet ﷺ reminds us that the servant before Allah will see nothing but the work he sent ahead. Philosophies of life are just words that vanish into the air; what do we accomplish, and what comes out in our hands at the end of the day as a product? Imagine a man who opened a large, splendid restaurant with wonderful resources, and all day long he holds the brush cleaning, and whenever a customer enters and asks him for fūl and ṭaʿmiyya he tells him: I am cleaning. People come in and go out, and at the end of the day he says: Look at the beauty we have made. And it is said to him: We want an accomplishment.

There is a great difference between a man who talks a great deal with the one who asks for his need and then does not fulfill it for him, so he collects nothing from him, and a man who does not bother with verbal courtesies but perfects his work, so people come to him from every direction. You say to someone: What takes you to this man who made the koshary, and he does not smile? He says: But his food is good and his craft is well done, and the quality of what he has is not found elsewhere. So it is as if the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is telling me to be attentive to the real product with which I go out to the world with real accomplishments. And I ask: what have I accomplished for this mosque, for the house of Allah, in the last six months, and in the last year?

Half a Date

Then he ﷺ said: «فَمَنِ اسْتَطَاعَ أَنْ يَقِيَ وَجْهَهُ مِنَ النَّارِ وَلَوْ بِشِقِّ تَمْرَةٍ فَلْيَفْعَلْ» (so whoever is able to protect his face from the Fire, even with half a date, let him do so).^[2] Whenever I mention this text I ask: where is the first half? It is impossible to find half a date in anyone's hand unless he has eaten the first half. So whoever has half a date in his hand has nothing else, and owns nothing of the goods of this world but this. If he gives it in charity, his accomplishment is greater than the accomplishment of one who owns far more and gave a small part. So what of one who owns dinars, hundreds or thousands or hundreds of thousands or millions, and then is miserly toward the house of Allah, and miserly toward himself and his own condition?

The Good Word

And he ﷺ said: «وَمَنْ لَمْ يَجِدْ فَبِكَلِمَةٍ طَيِّبَةٍ» (and whoever does not find it, then with a good word). It is as if it were an indication that the believer does not know what he spends: if there is no money, then a word, or a smile, or advice, or a gentle courtesy, or extended feelings that make your companion feel safe when he meets you. And Allah the Most High said: ﴿وَمَن يُوقَ شُحَّ نَفْسِهِ﴾^[3] (and whoever is protected from the stinginess of his soul)

So the matter is not tied to numbers, but to a giving disposition or a withholding disposition. The giving disposition offers anything, and you find on its face a constant smile, a good joke with others, and a kind word. And the withholding personality frowns and is miserly even with feelings, so it does not express what it has.

And this short sermon, as I said, is a constitution with which we proceed in our lives, and we will continue, Allah willing, next week.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: The sermon is mentioned in the books of the Prophetic biography, among them the Sīra of Ibn Hishām, from the narration of Abū Salama ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān (who was one of the Tābiʿūn, so the report is mursal and its chain is not established); and the speaker took it from "al-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm." The speaker ended the text with the words "and peace." The wording here was fixed according to the well-known form because of the disorder of the transcript, so it is for familiarity and not for certainty about its wording. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: Reported by al-Bukhārī and Muslim from the ḥadīth of ʿAdī ibn Ḥātim (may Allah be pleased with him) with the wording: «اتَّقُوا النَّارَ وَلَوْ بِشِقِّ تَمْرَةٍ» (Protect yourselves from the Fire, even with half a date). ^[3]: Editor's documentation: The completion of the verse is ﴿فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ﴾ [الحشر: 9] (it is those who are the successful) [Sūrat al-Ḥashr: 9], and it comes with its wording in Sūrat al-Taghābun (16); and the speaker did not specify its location nor its completion.