'Pact of Brotherhood' Between Meccan Muslims - Our Prophet 5 - Road To Medina

So the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi, he tells the Muslims that we have to now soon migrate. The Prophet does something important before the migration, right before the migration, within those few days or weeks or maybe the last two to three months before the migration, the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi, does something very important, and that is the 'Mu'akhat' and the 'Pact of Brotherhood'.

We have heard about the Pact of Brotherhood that the Prophet did, normally where do we hear about it? In Madinah, between whom? The Muhajirin and the Ansar, the people of Madinah and the Muhajirin, those who migrated from Makkah. That was in reality the second Pact of Brotherhood. There was another Mu'akhat or 'pact of brotherhood', that the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi, did in Makkah right before the migration.

Now, why did the Prophet do this? This was going to be a very big step. The migration to Habasha [Abyssinia-latter day Ethiopia] was a temporary migration. But this migration is going to be a permanent one and people will permanently leave their city, leave their belongings and leave their hometown. So, it was a very difficult move. So, the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi, to make this easy on everyone as many of them would be leaving family and friends behind, he makes a pact of brotherhood between the Muslims in Makkah so that they feel as if they are one family. It is like we are one family migrating to Madinah. This would give them more courage. It would strengthen their hearts.

So, right before the migration the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi, assigns the Muslims as brothers to each other. The pact meant that they will support one another in times of difficulty. And the pact also made them equal to one another, and this was a great achievement that the Prophet made. The Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi, chooses those two whom he assigned in the Pact of Brotherhood in Makkah. He chooses two from very different backgrounds often in order to equate between them.

For example, the Prophet assigns his uncle Hamza to be the brother of his formerly adopted son, Zayd. Zayd was a slave. Having your uncle Hamza, a very prestigious member of Bani Hashim being the brother of who? Zayd, who was a slave. That was a powerful message the Prophet was sending that you O Muslims, as you are starting on this migration realize that you are all brothers, you are all equal. In fact, that brotherhood was so strong and solid the companions thought they would actually inherit one another. They were under the impression that they would inherit one another. Then later on in Madinah, Allah reveals a verse that, no, there is no inheritance except from blood relatives. But that is how strong this pact was.

So, the Prophet made the brotherhood between the rich and the poor, between the master and the slave. And this was just phenomenal. So, who did he assign as brothers? According to historical accounts, he assigned Abu Bakr to 'Umar. They were brothers. He assigned Hamza, his uncle to Zayd Ibn Harithah, his formerly adopted son. He assigns 'Uthman Ibn Affan to 'Abdur Rahman Ibn 'Awf.

By the way in choosing these brothers. We will comment on this later when we talk about the Pact of brotherhood in Madinah. The Prophet also sometimes would make brotherhood between two who are like-minded, right, same type of endeavour, same type of thinking. He assigns Zubayr, his cousin, to Ibn Mas'ud. He assigns Bilal as the brother of 'Ubadah Ibn Al-Harith.

So, when he assigned them as brothers, only one Muslim man was left who did not have a brother yet. Who was he? Imam 'Ali Ibn Abi Talib, 'alayhi as-salam, So, then finally, the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi, designates Imam 'Ali to be his brother. Then the Prophet asks him, 'Ama tarda an akoona akhak?' look at the wording that the Prophet uses. By the way, this comes from Sunni Hadith too, this wording. 'Ama tarda an akoona akhak?'- 'Are you not satisfied that I am your brother?' Now, why did the Prophet say that?

It seems that when he assigned everyone as brothers except Imam 'Ali, Imam 'Ali was put in an awkward situation, everybody got a brother except me. So, the companions are looking, maybe the Imam, he knew what the Prophet's plan was, but it was an awkward situation. So, maybe the Imam signaled, you know what is going on? How come I do not have a brother? So, then the Prophet tells him, 'are you not satisfied that I am your brother?' 'Qala bala!, ya Rasul Allah, raditu'. He said, 'Of course, I am satisfied.' Then the Prophet tells him, 'Anta akhee fi al-dunya wa al-akhirah'- 'You are my brother in the world and in the akhirah'. Sallu 'ala Muhammad Wa ali Muhammad [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa ali Muhammad].

What is our source for this pact of brotherhood and this hadith? Mustadrak al-Hakim by al-Hakim Naysaburi [Nishapuri], a prominent Sunni scholar. In his book Al-Mustadrak, he mentions this. Sirah Al-Halabiyyah, one of the Sunni works on the Sirah of the Prophet mentions this, and many other works also mention this. Ibn Sa'd in his Tabaqat, for example, al-Baladhuri, also mentions this. So, we have this narrated by many prominent Sunni scholars. Yes, brother?

[Does this also have to relate to the fact that there was a blood relationship between the two as they are family before or is that something that that he did not take that into consideration?] No, the Prophet when assigning these brothers, did not consider any family relationships between them. So, they were completely unrelated sometimes and he would assign them as brothers. Yes, he did not consider that as a factor. Maybe some of them were distantly related, but that was not a factor that the Prophet considered.

Having all these sources, yet we have someone like Ibn Taymiyyah, the very extremist Sunni scholar, right, who rejects this incident. He says, no, I do not accept that the Pact of Brotherhood happened in Makkah. Why? What is his argument? He says, well, my argument is that this did not serve any purpose. Why would the Prophet assign them as brothers? They already knew each other. The Muslims in Makkah, they knew each other.

The Pact of Brotherhood in Madinah makes sense, because now you have the people of Madinah, the Ansar, and you have the people of Makkah, they do not know each other, the Prophet says, I have assigned you as brothers. Help each other out, get to know one another. But the people in Makkah, they already knew each other. What is the point? And especially the Prophet's and Imam 'Ali. What does it mean for the Prophet to take Imam 'Ali as his brother? They knew each other, they grew up with one another. So, what purpose did it serve? So, he just refutes it.

See, Subhana Allah, how they used their opinions to refute historical accounts. Yes, he accepts the Madinah one, I think even there he has some issues with some aspects of it. He accepts the Madinah one, but he refutes this one. But they try to refute that. But yes, that one in Madinah is well established. The phrasing of this one, I think, is what disturbed him, that the Prophet says, 'Are you not satisfied that I am your brother? I think they probably have a problem with that phrase. So, they try to discredit it. Yes?

[When did he [Ibni Taymiyyah] live?] About seven centuries ago, roughly, he lived in the Syrian region about seven centuries ago, during the era of Allamah al-Hilli. So, about 700 years ago.

So, he tries to refute this. But we mentioned, we just mentioned the reasons why the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi, declared them as brothers. This was going to be a huge move, a permanent migration, you need each other's support. Secondly, the Prophet was equating between them, making the master like the slave, the wealthy like the poor. You are now all one family. Let us migrate as one family to Madinah. In fact, it made perfect sense for the Prophet to do that pact of brotherhood.

And the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi, shows Imam 'Ali Ibn Abi Talib, 'alayhi as-salam, as his brother, to make it clear in history, so no one has an excuse. No companion could say, I did not know, it was not clear to me. The Prophet made it very clear that only the one who is qualified to be in my status, in my position as my successor, is 'Ali Ibn Abi Talib, he is my brother. Be careful of what you will do after him.

And Subhana Allah, even this virtue, they denied him, even this virtue. After the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi, when the attack happened, and they brought Imam 'Ali to force, by force to the Masjid and they threatened him- 'Give allegiance!'. He said, what happens if I do not? That one said to the Imam, we will kill you. This is in historical accounts. What did Imam 'Ali tell them? He told them, if you kill me, then you will have killed the servant of God and the brother of his Prophet. What did he respond to him? He told him, as the servant of God yes, we will give that to you. You are the servant of God. But as for the brother of the Prophet, no, you are not! Allahu Akbar! [Allah is the Greatest!]The Prophet two times assigns him as his brother, Yet they denied this virtue. They refuted it. They told him, no, you are not the brother of the Prophet.

So, the Prophet, in doing this pact of brotherhood and assigning Imam 'Ali, 'alayhi as-salam, as his brother, is making a powerful statement, so no one has any doubts. No excuse! Can not falsify the truth. He is the brother of the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi.