By: Shaykh Ahmad Musa Jibril
Actually,
let me tell you this story and this will tell you what Raghbah is. Not only
Raghbah, but all three of these Ibaadaat that we will mention today Inshaa
Allah. It will tell you what Raghbah, Rahbah and Khushoo’ are and how they
pertain to and affect your Ibaadah, and in particular the story I am going to
tell you is how it affects Salah. The chain of this story is authentic, had it
not been authentic you would think it is a fictional story or a figment of
someone’s imagination.
The story
is about ‘Urwah Ibn az-Zubayr Ibn al-‘Awwaam radhiallahu ‘anhuma. ‘Urwah was a
man with a golden ancestry. His father is az-Zubayr Ibn al-‘Awwaam, one of the
ten people promised to go to Jannah and the companion who was one of the six
people that Umar radhiallahu ‘anhu chose when he was stabbed, to choose the
destiny of this Ummah after he dies. His mother is Asmaa’ Bint Abu Bakr, that
makes his maternal grandfather Abu Bakr as-Siddeeq radhiallahu ‘anhu. His
paternal grandmother was Safiyyah Bint Abdul-Muttalib. If his mother is Asmaa’,
that means his aunt is Aishah radhiallahu ‘anha. That is why he used to enter
upon Aishah, if you know Hadith where he used to narrate Ahaadith from her and
he used to learn with her. And because of that, he became one of the top seven
Fuqhahaa’ in Madina. May Allah honour this Ummah with the likes of Aishah and
Asmaa’ who play their proper model role in raising revivers and Mujaahideen for
this Ummah.
After the
death of the Messenger sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, he remained in Madinah.
When he grew older, he decided to visit Bilaad ash-Shaam. During his journey or
possibly before it, he was infected with some kind of disease in his foot that
began to spread during the journey where it reached the shin area (somewhere
between the knee and the ankle). When he arrived in Bilaad ash-Shaam, they
brought him the doctors who told him this leg needs to be amputated otherwise
it is going to spread and kill you. And back then, they used alcohol for
anaesthesia, that is what reduced the pain when they operated in these kind of
surgeries. ‘Urwah held himself to a higher standard. If it was permissible for
normal people in such circumstances, it is not something ‘Urwah would allow
upon himself. He held himself to a higher standard and this is our point here,
he said let me make Salah and when you see me get into my Salah, amputate my
leg as you wish. You know what he meant by that? What he meant is let me get
into my Salah, let me stimulate and rev up my Raghbah, Rahbah and Khushoo’ and
then amputate my leg.
Why ‘Urwah?
Because when a heart elevates in that Ibaadah of Raghbah, Rahbah and Khushoo’
during Ibaadah, it numbs the feeling of the limbs. You are present in your
body, but in reality you are in another world. You may see a bodybuilder or
someone very athletic in the peak of his fitness abilities, you tell him your
son just got hit by a car and if it affects him and moves him internally. That
strong and athletic man will drop down to his knees in weakness. Where are his
muscles? Where are his athletic abilities? The heart feeling overwhelms and
overpowers his physical strength and paralyses the limbs. While ‘Urwah was deep
in his Raghbah, Rahbah and Khushoo’ (and this is precisely how the story goes),
they cut with a knife. It is by a bone area (by the shin area) and when they
got to the bone area, they heated a saw and began to saw it off. First cut,
then saw. At that time, out of his seven sons his most beloved son Muhammad
went to a stable for the leader (al-Waleed Ibn Abdul-Malik) and a horse or a
camel booted and stamped him to death.
When the
people began to visit him and among them was al-Waleed Ibn Abdul-Malik, they
gave him condolence about his leg and then they informed him and gave him
condolence over his son. Why? First my leg and now my son? Problem after
problem. My grandfather is Abu Bakr radhiallahu ‘anhu and he gave victory to
Islam. I am one of the top seven Fuqhahaa’ in Madinah. Why me? I am the son of
the man who gave your Messenger victory Yaa Allah. Is that what he said? That
is not ‘Urwah Ibn az-Zubayr. Listen to what he said.
He said:
اللهم كانوا سبعة ، فأخذت واحدا وأبقيت ستة
Oh Allah they were seven, You took one and You left me six. He means about his sons, he had seven. He said You took one and You left six. Look at the positive thinking, You have been so gracious and kind to me Yaa Allah.
وكن أربعا ، فأخذت واحدة وأبقيت ثلاثا
Now he is talking about his limbs. Oh Allah they were four (two hands and two legs), You took one and You left me with three. You have been so gracious and kind to me. Look at the positive thinking in the middle of a calamity.
Then he
said:
اللهم لك الحمد ، فلئن
إن كنت قد أخذت فقد أبقيت
Allah if You took, You left me with plenty. You took one of my limbs and You left me with three. You took one of my sons and You left me with six.
وإن كنت قد ابتليت فلطالما عافيت
And if You tested me, you kept me sound and well for such a long time.
فلك الحمد على ما أخذت وعلى ما عافيت
All thanks to you Allah for what You took and for what You kept.
This story
has a few narrations to it and what will stun you is the addition in Ibn Abi
ad-Dunya. He said the night that happened (he lost his leg and he lost his
son), he did not miss his Qiyaam. Take a break ‘Urwah, mourn your son, wait
until your pain eases and then resume your night recitation. These were men who
were born for the Aakhirah, he did not miss his night recitation that night.
It gets
more amazing, and I remember mentioning this in one of the first Jumu’ah
Khutbahs I gave. It had to have been one of the first ten that I delivered
maybe twenty or twenty five years ago and I said back then what I will still
say today. For me the most amazing and astonishing part of it is what Ibn
Katheer stated that al-Awzaa’ee said.
وقال الأوزاعي : لما نشرت رجل عروة قال :
اللهم إنك تعلم أني لم أمش بها إلى سوء قط
When his leg was cut, ‘Urwah said oh Allah, You know I never used this leg to walk to a sin before. How many of us can look at their legs today and say that? Or look in the mirror at their eyes and say the same statement? Or at their tongues or at their hands and say Allah You know we never used this for a sin? Do you know it is the opinion of some of the Hanafiyyah that whoever says Allah You know (Ya’lamullah (يعلم الله)) I did this or that and he is a liar, that he becomes a Kaafir. Because in reality, by that statement and by that lie, he claims that Allah does not know. That is the opinion of some of the Hanafiyyah and it may be the weaker of two opinions on that issue, but what I am trying to say is it shows you how dangerous it is to say Ya’lamullah on a lie, it is more dangerous than saying it on an oath. Saying Wallahi and lying is easier than saying Ya’lamullah on a lie. ‘Urwah was so sure of his past that he said oh Allah, You know I never used this leg to commit a sin before.
Listen to
the icing on the cake of this story. I told you his leg was amputated in Bilaad
ash-Shaam, so he returned back to Madinah with no son and no leg. He lost his
son and he lost his leg. When he returned back to Madinah, they said Wallahi we
never heard him complain about his foot or about his son. Men raised by
Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. Before we get carried away, this story
has so many lessons in it, however our point for this class and why I mention
it for this class is the affect Raghbah, Rahbah and Khushoo’ have on someone’s
Salah. The affect that it has is that it numbs and paralyses the limbs, because
Raghbah, Rahbah and Khushoo’ take a person to another world. A true, spiritual
world. A true Imaanic world. Some make superficial Salah, as many or most do.
Others have Raghbah, Rahbah and Khushoo’ in them, like ‘Urwah.
Source: The Amputation: A Story For Those in Distress - Shaykh Ahmad Musa
Jibril
Transcribed: Explanation of Three Fundamental Principles
