In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.
The Echo of the Pulpits.
The Echo of the Pulpits.
The echo of the valiant warrior.
A sermon by the honorable Sheikh
Khalid Ibn ‘Abdullah al-Hammudi,
may Allah preserve him.
Praise be to Allah, the Exalted, the Most High,
to Whom belong the most beautiful names and the most sublime attributes.
Praise be to Allah, filling the heavens,
filling the earth, and filling all that is between them,
and filling whatever else our Lord wills thereafter.
He is the possessor of praise and glory; the most truthful thing a servant can say—
and we are all servants of Allah—
O Allah, to You is all praise until You are pleased,
and to You is all praise when You are pleased,
and to You is all praise after You are pleased.
I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone, with no partner,
“All that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth glorifieth Allah; unto Him belongeth Sovereignty and unto Him belongeth praise, and He is Able to do all things.” (64:1)
and there is no refuge or escape from Him except to Him.
If a person seeks protection from people,
he rushes to one who grants protection, yet is not protected himself.
So where can one flee from Him, except to Him?
When the path of escape becomes narrow for the servant,
I stand at the door of Your generosity, O my God,
a poor man having no one but You as a neighbor.
So grant me Your pleasure, O my Master, through Your pardon,
and through a grace that covers the night and the day.
I bear witness that our master, our prophet, and our beloved, Muhammad, is the servant of Allah and His messenger,
His chosen one and His intimate friend.
He is the one with the most radiant face,
and the most luminous forehead.
Souls yearn for him,
and the tree trunk longed for him.
The tree trunk longed for you, O best of creation;
how then could souls not yearn for you?
May the peace of Allah be upon you as long as the sun shines for us,
and as long as leaves tremble here.
O Allah, send peace, blessings, and increase upon
Your servant, messenger, prophet, and beloved, Muhammad,
and upon his good and pure family,
and upon his noble and blessed Companions,
and grant them abundant peace until the Day of Judgment.
Now then, servants of Allah,
I advise you and myself to fear Allah.
“O ye who believe! Observe your duty to Allah with right observance, and die not save as those who have surrendered (unto Him)” (3:102)
“O ye who believe! Observe your duty to Allah with right observance, and die not save as those who have surrendered (unto Him)” (3:102)
O you who are beloved for the sake of Allah,
we shall speak today
about a people who are the best of this Ummah:
the most righteous in heart,
the deepest in knowledge,
the least pretentious,
and the strongest in faith.
They are a people whom Allah chose to be the Companions of His prophet,
His beloved, and His chosen one,
Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdullah,
may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
They were upon the straight guidance;
they were the Ansar of the faith,
the supporters of the religion,
the lions of the battlefield,
the lions of the battlefield,
and the guides of mankind.
Allah praised them in His Book,
declared them upright, and vouched for them,
and He made clear their honor and their precedence.
He informed us of His pleasure with them,
and their pleasure with Him.
The Almighty praised them in the Qur’an,
and indeed in the Gospel and the Torah.
Yes, servants of Allah,
He praised them in His heavenly scriptures,
for He, the Glorified, said:
"Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah;
and those with him are forceful against the disbelievers,
“Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. And those with him are hard against the disbelievers and merciful among themselves. Thou (O Muhammad) seest them bowing and falling prostrate (in worship), seeking bounty from Allah and (His) acceptance. The mark of them is on their foreheads from the traces of prostration. Such is their likeness in the Torah and their likeness in the Gospel - like as sown corn that sendeth forth its shoot and strengtheneth it and riseth firm upon its stalk, delighting the sowers - that He may enrage the disbelievers with (the sight of) them. Allah hath promised, unto such of them as believe and do good works, forgiveness and immense reward.” (48:29)
merciful among themselves;
you see them bowing and prostrating,
seeking bounty from Allah and [His] pleasure."
“Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. And those with him are hard against the disbelievers and merciful among themselves. Thou (O Muhammad) seest them bowing and falling prostrate (in worship), seeking bounty from Allah and (His) acceptance. The mark of them is on their foreheads from the traces of prostration. Such is their likeness in the Torah and their likeness in the Gospel - like as sown corn that sendeth forth its shoot and strengtheneth it and riseth firm upon its stalk, delighting the sowers - that He may enrage the disbelievers with (the sight of) them. Allah hath promised, unto such of them as believe and do good works, forgiveness and immense reward.” (48:29)
“Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. And those with him are hard against the disbelievers and merciful among themselves. Thou (O Muhammad) seest them bowing and falling prostrate (in worship), seeking bounty from Allah and (His) acceptance. The mark of them is on their foreheads from the traces of prostration. Such is their likeness in the Torah and their likeness in the Gospel - like as sown corn that sendeth forth its shoot and strengtheneth it and riseth firm upon its stalk, delighting the sowers - that He may enrage the disbelievers with (the sight of) them. Allah hath promised, unto such of them as believe and do good works, forgiveness and immense reward.” (48:29)
"And their description in the Gospel
is as a plant which produces its offshoots
and strengthens them,
“Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. And those with him are hard against the disbelievers and merciful among themselves. Thou (O Muhammad) seest them bowing and falling prostrate (in worship), seeking bounty from Allah and (His) acceptance. The mark of them is on their foreheads from the traces of prostration. Such is their likeness in the Torah and their likeness in the Gospel - like as sown corn that sendeth forth its shoot and strengtheneth it and riseth firm upon its stalk, delighting the sowers - that He may enrage the disbelievers with (the sight of) them. Allah hath promised, unto such of them as believe and do good works, forgiveness and immense reward.” (48:29)
so it delights the sowers—
so that He may enrage by them the disbelievers."
"Allah has promised those who believe
and do righteous deeds among them
forgiveness and a great reward."
These are the Companions of Muhammad,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
They are the model,
and they are the example
after the Prophet Muhammad,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
They did not change,
they did not alter,
they did not distort,
and they did not break their word.
Rather, they remained true to the covenant and the pledge
that they gave to their leader,
their messenger,
their beloved,
their model,
and their example, Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdullah,
may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
We shall speak today
about one of them,
one of these heroic men
who were true to what they pledged to Allah.
A valiant, courageous hero—
whenever strength and courage are mentioned,
the name of this man is mentioned.
And whenever his name is mentioned,
strength and courage are recalled.
His enemies nicknamed him
"The Naked Devil."
Do you know why?
Because he would charge
and attack his enemies alone.
They thought, due to the intensity of his might,
that he was a devil.
And they indeed gave him
the title of "The Bare-Chested Devil."
He is the noble Companion,
the valiant hero,
and the charging knight.
He is Dirar Ibn al-Azwar,
may Allah be pleased with him and grant him satisfaction.
Dirar Ibn al-Azwar was
a fighter of the highest caliber,
courageous,
and bold.
He would pierce through the ranks
without fear or hesitation,
which made Khalid Ibn al-Walid
rely upon him heavily
in his conquests in the Levant,
to the extent that Dirar became
the second man
in the army after Khalid.
As for the reason for the strange nickname
that his enemies gave him,
it was during the Battle of Ajnadayn
between the Muslims and the Byzantines.
The number of the Byzantines was
ninety thousand fighters,
while the number of the Muslims
was only approximately thirty thousand fighters.
Dirar distinguished himself in this battle,
causing great slaughter
in the ranks of the Byzantines,
despite their numerical superiority.
During the battle,
and with the intensity of the heat,
Dirar took off
his armor and his shirt
so that he could move
with agility.
As soon as the enemies saw him bare-chested,
they said, "This is the opportunity
that must not be missed
to kill the man
who has troubled us since the beginning of the battle.
He is now
without armor to protect him."
So the soldiers gathered around him
until he could barely be seen due to their numbers.
The battle grew fierce,
and the fighting intensified,
yet he killed them all.
He killed them all without exception,
and emerged from among them without a scratch.
Thus, they gave him
the title of "The Bare-Chested Devil."
This legend spread
through the ranks of the enemies with terrifying speed.
It even went beyond this army
to the other Byzantine armies.
After that, he began
to fight bare-chested intentionally
to terrify the enemies.
As soon as they saw him,
they would flee before him,
saying, "The Bare-Chested Devil has come!
The Bare-Chested Devil has come!"
What of that battle?
In that battle, servants of Allah,
the Battle of Ajnadayn,
Dirar, may Allah be pleased with him, reached
the Byzantine commander, Wardan,
and identified himself to him,
"I am the Bare-Chested Devil."
A fierce duel took place between them,
and Dirar’s sword pierced
Wardan’s chest,
and the sword completed its task,
severing his head.
Dirar returned with the head of Wardan
to the Muslims. At that moment,
from the Muslim camp, there erupted
shouts of "Allahu Akbar" (Allah is the Greatest),
"Allahu Akbar,"
seeking victory.
During the siege of Damascus,
Dirar Ibn al-Azwar entered
the army of the disbelievers.
He began striking them down, right and left,
until they were seized with fear.
They were unable to fight him
face-to-face,
so they resorted to shooting arrows at him from a distance.
They adopted the tactics of cowards
to finish off Dirar,
until he fell captive to the disbelieving Romans.
They then intended
to take him alive
to the Roman Emperor,
Heraclius,
to present him as a gift.
And what a gift they were presenting to him:
the "bare-chested devil,"
as they called him,
so that he might kill him himself.
But alas,
the Muslims rescued him.
If you knew who rescued him,
you would be astonished.
Khalid Ibn al-Walid,
may Allah be pleased with him,
arrived with a full army
to support the Muslim forces
and attempt to rescue Dirar.
Within that army was
a young,
strong,
masked knight,
whose eyes were all that could be seen.
This strong youth
began charging toward the disbelievers,
killing them,
then withdrawing,
until the Romans were driven to madness.
They cried out, "Kill this knight!"
A whole battalion
pursued this knight,
but he lured them in
until he slaughtered them all.
Khalid Ibn al-Walid went to him
and said,
"O knight,
you have filled our hearts with admiration;
tell us who you are."
The knight looked at him
without answering,
then set off to charge once more
against the disbelievers,
killing and slaughtering them.
At this point, Khalid ordered a full-scale
assault by the Muslim army
against the army of the disbelievers.
Khalid insisted, "Who are you, O knight?
By Allah, we shall honor you."
And then,
Khalid Ibn al-Walid was stunned
when he heard that voice—
the voice,
the voice of a young woman.
It was Khawlah
bint al-Azwar,
the sister of the bare-chested knight,
Dirar Ibn al-Azwar.
She began pleading with Khalid Ibn al-Walid
to allow her to fight
in an army where women do not usually fight.
But this valiant female knight,
this heroic woman
from that mighty family,
the family of al-Azwar,
the family of chivalry,
had rescued her brother
from the hands of the disbelievers
and brought him back to the Muslims.
Khawlah
bint al-Azwar was classified
as the bravest woman in Islamic history.
May Allah be pleased with them all
and grant them His pleasure.
This is our history, O servants of Allah,
which is worthy
of our pride
and our honor.
Those were fathers;
bring me their like!
It is enough for these heroes,
it is enough for these stellar men,
it is enough for them in terms of honor and pride
that they
saw the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,
listened to his hadith,
supported him,
and aided him.
May Allah be pleased with them and grant them His pleasure,
and reward them with the best reward for what they did,
and gather us with them and those we love
in the Abode of Eternity.
Allahumma amin.
“And the first to lead the way, of the Muhajirin and the Ansar, and those who followed them in goodness - Allah is well pleased with them and they are well pleased with Him, and He hath made ready for them Gardens underneath which rivers flow, wherein they will abide for ever. That is the supreme triumph.” (9:100)
and the Ansar and those who
followed them in righteousness.
Allah is pleased with them
and they are pleased with Him.
Allah is pleased with them and they are pleased with Him.
May Allah bless me and you
through the Great Qur'an,
and benefit me and you with the verses
and the Wise Reminder it contains.
I say what you hear and I ask Allah for forgiveness for me and for you;
so seek His forgiveness, for He is the All-Forgiving,
the All-Merciful.
Praise be to Allah.
I bear witness that there is no god but Allah,
and I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah,
may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
To proceed, O servants of Allah:
The goal is not to reach the end,
for everyone
can do that.
Rather, the goal is to remain steadfast.
For Sumayyah,
Yasir,
Mus'ab, Anas
Ibn al-Nadr, Hamzah
Ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib,
'Abdullah Ibn Jahsh,
Sa'd Ibn al-Rabi',
and 'Amr Ibn al-Jamuh—
these people did not see the glory of Islam
nor its wider
establishment.
They did not witness the conquests
and victories of Khalid,
nor did they witness Harun al-Rashid
when he said,
"O cloud,
rain where you will,
for your tribute will come to me."
They began the path
and died at its beginning;
they did not reach its end.
May Allah be pleased with them all.
So do not ask, O servant of Allah,
do not ask about the end of the path.
What matters
is that you are on the path.
Even if you die
at its beginning
or in its middle,
it will not harm you at all.
You will be among those of whom Allah said:
"Among the believers are men..."
“Of the believers are men who are true to that which they covenanted with Allah. Some of them have paid their vow by death (in battle), and some of them still are waiting; and they have not altered in the least;” (33:23)
[who have been true to their covenant] with Him.
“Of the believers are men who are true to that which they covenanted with Allah. Some of them have paid their vow by death (in battle), and some of them still are waiting; and they have not altered in the least;” (33:23)
"And among them are those who await [their turn],
and they did not alter [the covenant] by any alteration."
We are walking on the path,
and we ask Allah
for steadfastness and acceptance.
The goal is not
to reach the end,
but the goal
is to die on the path.
Allah is the Guardian of His religion.
So let us renew our intention in every matter,
in every hour,
and in every moment,
for we do not know when we will die,
nor do we know when we will meet Allah.
We ask Allah
to make us steadfast
and to grant us a good ending.
So trust in Allah, O servant of Allah;
trust in Allah in all circumstances.
For Moses, as an infant,
did not drown
while he was at the peak of his weakness,
yet Pharaoh drowned
while he was at the peak of his tyranny.
Whoever is with Allah,
his weakness will not harm him,
and whoever is not with Allah,
his strength will not benefit him.
The lesson is
to be with Allah,
to remain steadfast,
and not to live only for yourself,
but to carry the burdens of
your Muslim brothers.
For whoever lives for others
lives great
and dies great,
while whoever lives for himself
lives small
And he passed away while still young.
O Allah, grant us a good ending.
Make us steadfast in all our affairs.
And keep us firm upon Your religion until we meet You.
Do not let us fall into trials.
And do not test us in a way that exposes our shortcomings.
Adorn us with Your beautiful veil of protection.
And place beneath that veil.
Righteous deeds that You are pleased with.
O Allah, O Hearer of supplications.
O Giver of vast bounty.
O You whom nothing can frustrate on earth.
Nor in the heavens.
Keep us firm upon Your religion until we meet You.
Do not let our hearts deviate.
After You have guided us.
Grant us mercy from Your presence.
Indeed, You are the Bestower.
Make our deeds sincere.
Truthful and righteous.
And do not let anyone else have a share in them.
Nor any portion.
O Allah, make us the happiest of Your creation through You.
And the closest of Your servants to You.
O Allah, forgive us for what has passed.
And rectify for us what remains.
And decree for us Your pleasure.
Your pardon, and Paradise.
O Allah, O Allah.
O Possessor of Majesty and Honor.
O Ever-Living, O Sustainer.
O Allah, grant relief to every patient soul.
O Allah, grant relief to every patient soul.
And healing to every sick person.
And well-being to everyone afflicted.
And offspring to those who are barren.
And grant righteousness and success.
To our children.
And the children of the Muslims.
O Allah, grant us.
And all Muslims, relief from every concern.
And a way out from every distress.
And well-being from every trial.
O Allah, rectify the state of the Muslims.
O Allah, the state of the Muslims everywhere.
O Allah, grant us security in our homelands.
And rectify our leaders.
And those in authority over us.
O Allah, support our leader with Your guidance.
O Allah, provide him with righteous advisors.
O Allah, grant victory to our soldiers.
On the borders.
O Allah, grant victory to our oppressed brothers everywhere.
We have called upon You in our distress.
Just as You have commanded us.
So answer us just as You have promised us.
“Glorified be thy Lord, the Lord of Majesty, from that which they attribute (unto Him)” (37:180)
And peace be upon the messengers.
And praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.