Habib Muhammad bin Alwi Al-Haddad on the Leadership of Prophet Muhammad (salallah alaihi wasalam)

Bismillah.

Alhamdulillah wa shukrulillah.

I watched the recording of Habib Muhammad's post-Subuh lecture at Masjid Namira, South Jakarta the other day. I've revisited it today and translated it cos it's absolutely worthy of sharing. It is not fully verbatim, but almost.

The recording was published on Nabawi TV Facebook on 1st Feb 2020.

Habib Muhammad bin Alwi Al-Haddad began by praising Allah and making salutations to the Prophet salallah alaihi wasalam; and he recited this du'a among others:

Alhamdulillahil lazi hada na li haza
wama kunna linah tadiya lau laaa an hada nallah.
[Praise be to Allah for guiding us,
had He not guided us, we will never be guided.]

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Dear all,

We gather here this morning to reminisce, to remember, to discuss the one and only leader; Allah has not created a leader greater than him; a leader of zahir and batin, not just a leader in dunya but also a leader in akhirah, a leader who is not only concerned about his family and cronies but a leader for the entire humanity who will eventually witness his leadership on the Day of Qiyamah. Such a great position he holds, our honorable Rasulullah salallah alaihi wasalam. His position is extremely lofty that it is difficult for us to deliberate. It is a complex subject. 

There is a line from Qasidah Burdah by Imam Busiri:
'Verily, the eminence and holiness of  Prophet Muhammad's rank is unbounded.'

If it was bounded, anyone would be able to articulate it. His position is amazingly eminent that it is hard for us to discuss the Prophet's position comprehensively.

Habib Ali Al-Habsyi in his narration in Simtud Duror says: "Our tongues cannot explain, except for a tiny speck of the Prophet's characteristics." Nevertheless, let us try to look into his leadership qualities based on what we have read from historical records as related by the sahabah.

A leader is expected to possess several criteria. A leader must be one who is bighearted. Do you not think the Prophet is one who is beneficent?

Prophet Musa made a request to Allah, as in the oft-quoted du'a: Rabbish rahli sadri... (O my Lord, expand my heart.). Prophet Musa pleaded to Allah, whereas Prophet Muhammad did not ask for it, yet he was given: Alam nashroh laka sadrak... "Did We not expand for you [O Muhammad] your heart...?"

Imagine the vastness of the Prophet's heart. He is a leader of dunya and akhirah. How expansive is his heart?! I cannot fathom discussing the expansiveness of the Prophet's heart.

There is a story about one student who approached his guru. The student was confused and complaining to his guru about his problems, this and that. 'Come let's do this', said the guru. 'Take a handful of salt. Use your hand. Put it in a glass of water.' The student did as told. 'What do you think of the water now?' asked the guru. 'It must be very salty' the student replied. 'Now take a handful of salt and follow me'. The guru then took the student to a lake and made him throw the salt into the lake. 'Now taste the water, let's see if it has become salty.' The salinity of the water at the lake did not change obviously. 'Do you understand me now?' asked the guru.

If you were glass and you have a handful of problems, you'd feel it. But if you were a lake and you had to face the same amount of problems, you wouldn't be affected at all. Therefore, have a big heart. Your heart should be upgraded. Upgrade your heart as requested by Prophet Musa: Rabbish rahli sadri.

   

A leader is surely confronted with all kinds of problems and complaints channeled to him. If his heart is small, he would surely find it difficult, he would feel chaotic. But if his heart was as large as a lake, he would not be disturbed. The challenges are the same, but he won't feel it.

Now imagine the Prophet's heart?

We are a normal human being with common physical attributes. The tallest among us is maybe 2-meter in height. How much does our body weigh? Our physique is limited. But our batin is capable of an upgrade just like the Prophet salallah alaihi wasalam.

We are all leaders. Kullukum ra'in. You may be a leader for your family, you may be a leader for yourself, a business, or a community. Therefore we should be asking from Allah as did Prophet Musa, and as granted by Allah to Prophet Muhammad salallah alaihi wasalam so that He expands our hearts.

In a hadith qudsi, Allah describes the earth and the heavens as being relatively small by His measure. The earth by our measure is indeed huge. How many hectares do you reckon? The skies are even bigger if we were to measure. It is extremely vast, but to Allah, it is not. So 'What is big then to You O Allah?'  'The heart of my servant, the heart of a Mukmin is huge. I can pour anything I wish onto the heart of my servant that even the earth and the heavens cannot contain.'

So, we can only marvel at the capacity of the Prophet's heart.

There is a verse in the Quran where Allah says: Lau anzalna hazal Quran... 'Had We sent down this Quran upon a mountain, you would have seen it breaking asunder...' The mountains will be crushed. Yet Allah revealed the Quran to the Prophet's heart.

As a leader, no matter how small our circle of influence, we need to have what the Prophet salallah alaihi wasalam has -- a heart that is wide and far-reaching. May Allah expand our hearts InshaAllah. Aamiin.

A leader is usually judged by the service or facilities that he could offer. But the Prophet did not have much to offer in this aspect. There was a time when he had to pawn his armored-shirt to buy some food for his family. Why did the Prophet do that? Why didn't the Prophet ask for a loan from the sahabah? Imagine if he were to do that? The sahabah would have gladly given the Prophet what he needed for free. They would have competed to do the Prophet a favor. But Rasulullah salallah alaihi wasalam did not wish to take advantage of his followers. Imagine how much the Prophet was revered and loved by the sahabah who were ever willing to give up their wealth, even their lives for the sake of Prophet Muhammad salallah alaihi wasalam. Yet Rasulullah chose to transact with his Jew neighbor instead. Surely the armored shirt was highly valuable and could fetch a big sum of money, so much more than the value that he had pawned. He did not seek the money to renovate his home or buy a car. It was for his family's provision. It was clear that the Prophet was not willing to take advantage of his position.

Prophet Muhammad salallah alaihi wasalam was a tawadhu' (humble) leader. He was very humble that he would carry his own stuff. Imagine if we were to see our guru carrying his groceries. We would quickly walk up to him to offer a hand. Prophet insisted on carrying his own bags. He refused help, saying: La. Sohibu syai ahakubi syai ihi. Sohibu syai ahakubi hamlih. One should carry one's own things.

Prophet Muhammad salallah alaihi wasalam was a leader who was very appreciative of his followers. Robi'ah bin Kaab was one of 60 ashabul suffah at Masjid Nabawi. The ashabul suffah did not have a home so they lived at the compound of Masjid Nabawi and would only eat if there was any food available at the mosque, otherwise, they would just fast. They were fuqara who lived a meager life. Saidina Abu Hurairah was their leader.

Robi'ah bin Kaab of Bani Aslam was among them. Robi'ah was one who often voluntarily prepared ablution water for the Prophet, for his night prayers, for anything at all, he was quick to volunteer. So one day, Rasulullah asked him, 'Tell me, what is it that you wish for, O Robi'ah?'

Imagine the Prophet making such an offer. Rasulullah salallah alaihi wasalam was one who never said no to people. He never said 'La' [No], for any requests made to him. Even his great-grandson Saidina Ali Zainal Abidin ibni Hussain would not say no to anyone. A poet by the name of Farazdah said: Imam Ali never said la except during tashyahud - Ash haduan la ilaha illallah....If not for tasyahud, all he would say is na'am [yes].  

So when the Prophet asked Robi'ah if he had any request; according to some riwayat, he responded immediately, and some said, he asked for a few days to think about it. The offer from Prophet Muhammad was certainly a golden opportunity, it would not come again. So he said he would come back after three days. 

When he met the Prophet after three days, Robi'ah mentioned his one and only request: As aluka mura faqotaka fil jannah. 'I want to be with you in Heaven.' 

Now, what about us? Imagine if we were to meet Prophet Khidir, let alone Prophet Muhammad. Imagine Khidir saying: 'Tell me what you want?' We would surely ask for worldly matters. Oh Khidir, I want to go to Hajj. I want to be this...I want that. But Robi'ah asked for something so great. He did not only want to go to Heaven, but he also wanted to be with the Prophet in Heaven! 

What about us? What chances do you think you have about going to Heaven? Some might say, yes it's easy, some would say no, it's not easy. Robi'ah did not hesitate to ask for such a big favor.

Well, we too ask for a big favor during mawlid. We say Rabbi balighna bijahi fi jiwari khayra maq'ad. We ask for the best Heaven, close to the Prophet. Did you realize what you were asking for? That's a big request. But that's all right because the Prophet told us to never ask for small things and to ask for Syurga Firdaus [the Highest Heaven]. If we were to rely on our ibadah to get to Heaven, we would surely fail because of the poor quality of our worship. 

Imagine how a dashboard product can get rejected due to a small defect. That's a Japanese standard. What about the quality of our solat? Imagine the difference between Japanese standards and Allah's standards? Of course, the latter is far greater.

Habib Abdullah bin Hussain bin Tohir, a grand wali said; "O Lord, we have not much amal. Our amal is so flawed." Indeed our solat is full of flaws. At times, in our Zohor prayers, we lose count on the number of rakaat. Our ibadah is far from perfect.

The Prophet salallah alaihi wasalam did not say no to Robi'ah. He said: 'Your request is a big one. Help me help you. Make plenty of sujud.' So make plenty of sujud.      

I wish to conclude my talk with a hadith. If we were to practice as told, we would surely be safe in Qiyamah. The Prophet's leadership would be clear for all to see during Qiyamah. As a leader, he would be ready to help us. When our deeds get measured on the mizan, that is where we will need shafaat from the Prophet. At that point, if you could see the Prophet there, you know you'll do fine.

There is a hadith, I have just read from a kitab by Abuya Sayyid Muhammad Al-Maliki. Rasulullah salallah alaihi wasalam said: 'Whoever helps fulfill the wishes of his family or neighbors...' For example, your neighbor needs to go to the hospital but he does not have transport. So you offer your car. Or whatever else that people might wish for, you fulfill.

If you do this, the Prophet said: I would intercede and help you at the mizan. If you have a lot of good deeds, then good for you. Should you lack good deeds and you have a lot of sins, that's where I will help you. I will grant shafaah. That is if you are one who is quick to help others.

Let us practice what we have learned from this hadith. May we get to gather with Prophet Muhammad salallah alaihi wasalam in akhirah. 

Forgive me for any mistakes in my speech, as it is entirely my fault. 

Wasalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.

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Allahu a'lam. May I be forgiven for any omissions and errors in the translation. If you can understand the Indonesian language, I encourage you to check out the recording at:

https://www.facebook.com/Nabawitv/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU_SXlL_rAo

Do highlight to me should you find any mistakes. Jazakumullahu khairan kasira for your moral support towards this blog, wal afuw minkum.

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