Marwan Part 2

Alhamdulillah, I've recovered (after a nice sleep) so I'm ready to post the remainder of my notes from dars. [By the way spring is finally here - fairly mild today :) ]

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[Continued...Lesson 123, Hadeeth 531, Book of the Two Eids (كتاب العيدين)]

The Shaykh then went on to discuss how the Ummayids were not the best of examples. They were chosen largely due to nepotism rather than due to their piety. The Ummayid princes were historically opposed to the families of Ali (رضى الله عنه) and Abbas (رضى الله عنه). The dispute was due to age-old differences as well as due to the unfortunate differences between Muawiyah (رضى الله عنه) and Ali (رضى الله عنه). The Ummayids would abuse the families of Abbas (رضى الله عنه) and Ali (رضى الله عنه) even on the pulpit. Hassan al Basri (رحمة الله عليه) used to say that ‘May Allah have mercy, we live in such a time that we cannot even say the name of Ali (رضى الله عنه)’. During this time, the khulafah had disappeared – due to nepotism the ruling system had become a monarchy.

Hajaj ibn Yusuf was one of the main Ummayid governors. He was a real tyrant and it is reported that once he ordered 120,000 people to be killed in front of his own eyes. He also martyred some sahabah including Abdullah ibn Zubair (رضى الله عنه), the grandson of Abu Bakr (رضى الله عنه). It is narrated that he was a real orator – extremely eloquent. Some of his sentences in his speeches actually sounded like verses of the Qur’an to a non-hafidh. He was appointed as a governor over the people of Iraq. Shaykh mentioned how the people of Iraq have always suffered and some ulema stated that historically it may be related to their persecution of Ali (رضى الله عنه) and his family and others e.g. Sa’d (رضى الله عنه) against whom the people of Iraq had levelled many accusations including usurping wealth.

Someone from amongst the tabi’een is reported as saying that although Haja ibn Yusuf was a tyrant he would ascend the minbar and start telling the people of his favours to them and their lack of gratitude to him until he would descend the minbar, and the people would believe him and belie themselves! It is reported that the only person more eloquent than Hajaj ibn Yusuf was Hassan al Basri (رحمة الله عليه).

Now going back to the hadeeth, before the minbar was built, Marwan would have the minbar taken from the masjid. He then had a minbar from clay built by Kathir ibn as-Salt. Kathir ibn as-Salt was a tabi’ee who was born during the time of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) but he didn’t get to see him. It is important to note that Kathir ibn as-Salt had a house built which is referred to in the ahadeeth, however this does not refer to his house but the plot of land where the house now stood as the house was not present at the time of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and hence is was just used as a reference point in the hadeeth.

The ruling derived from this hadeeth are as follows:

• According to Imam Abu Hanifah (رحمة الله عليه) and Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (رحمة الله عليه), it is sunnah to pray Eid salah in the musalla and not in the masjid.
• According to Imam Malik (رحمة الله عليه), it is desirable/preferred to pray in the musalla. It is undesirable to pray in the masjid without a valid reason.
• According to Imam Shafi (رحمة الله عليه) it is better to pray in the masjid unless there is a valid reason e.g. it is too crowded in the masjid.
• With regard to the minbar, all the ulema agree that the pulpit should not be taken to the musalla from the masjid, but a pulpit can be purpose-built in the musalla.

An important point that Shaykh raised was that there is no hadeeth that states that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) delivered two khutbahs like jumu’ah with a pause in between where he would sit down. For example, in this hadeeth we learn that there was no minbar so the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) was standing throughout. However, it is the practice of the entire ummah to have two khutbahs on Eid. This is because there is no direct reference from the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) so this practice is taken from another established situation i.e. jumu’ah.

Also, according to the Hanafi school of though, Shaykh stated that unlike jumu’ah, the Eid khutbah doesn’t have to be in Arabic. Furthermore:

• According to Imam Abu Hanifah (رحمة الله عليه) and Imam Malik (رحمة الله عليه), Eid salah is still valid if the khutbah is first although it is wrong and against the sunnah.
• According to Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (رحمة الله عليه) and Imam Shafi (رحمة الله عليه) it is a condition that the salah is first.
• According to Imam Shafi (رحمة الله عليه) and Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (رحمة الله عليه), there must be at least 40 people present for Eid salah to be valid. According to Imam Abu Hanifah (رحمة الله عليه), there are no conditions on numbers.

A very important lesson which Shaykh derived from this hadeeth is how we should act and behave during the days of fitna. Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (رضى الله عنه) pulled the clothes of Marwan and when he ascended the minbar contrary to the sunnah and told him that is was not the way that he knew. Despite all this, he didn’t cause any fitna – he still prayed behind Marwan. This is an important lesson for us. We should try and avoid conflict and avoid fitna, for ‘fitna is worse than murder’. One utterance during the days of fitna can be worse than a blow of the sword. There will always be differences of opinions e.g. moon sightings etc and in terms of fiqh. Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (رضى الله عنه) was a learned sahabi and he set an important example. In summary, the ummayids were corrupt and guilty of nepotism but the sahabah avoided fitna.

May Allah allow us all to act on this hadeeth and benefit from the ilm of the Shaykh. May Allah preserve the Shaykh, forgive his sins, and increase him in ilm. Ameen. May Allah forgive any errors I have made in my note-taking.

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For the rest of the week, I'll be posting notes from previous daroos from the Book of Jumu'ah insha'Allah. Wasalaam.