Part of Glimpses from the Lives of the Tabi‘un (the Successors) (series completed)
· Lesson 23 of 37
Pictures from the lives of the followers | D. Abdul Rahman Raafat Al-Basha | H (23) | Al-Qasim bin Muhammad bin Abi Bakr, may God have mercy on him
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Transcript
Machine translation — may contain errors
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In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
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The best of generations in their conduct and example,
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Following the Messenger whenever he strove or spoke.
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Mawaddah Association
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Presents:
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Portraits from the Lives of the Tabi'un
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By Dr. Abd al-Rahman Ra'fat al-Basha,
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May Allah have mercy upon him.
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Al-Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr,
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May Allah have mercy upon him.
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Has the news of this noble Tabi'i reached you?
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He gathered glory from all its corners,
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Until nothing of it escaped him.
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For his father was Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr al-Siddiq,
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And his mother was the daughter of Kisra Yazdegerd,
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The last of the Persian kings.
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His paternal aunt was 'A'ishah, the Mother of the Believers, may Allah be pleased with her.
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And above all that,
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He crowned his head with the crown of piety and knowledge.
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Do you think there is any glory above this for which competitors might vie?
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That is al-Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr al-Siddiq,
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One of the seven jurists of Medina,
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The most knowledgeable of the people of his time,
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The sharpest of them in intellect, and the most intense of them in piety.
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So let us begin the story of his life from its inception.
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Al-Qasim ibn Muhammad was born in the final years of the caliphate of 'Uthman ibn 'Affan, may Allah be pleased with him.
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But the young child had barely begun to stir in his nest,
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When the violent winds of discord (fitnah) swept through the lands of the Muslims.
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The devout and ascetic Caliph, the Possessor of the Two Lights, was martyred,
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While he was bent over the pages of the Qur'an.
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Then the great conflict erupted between the Commander of the Believers, 'Ali ibn Abi Talib,
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And Mu'awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan, the governor of the Levant.
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In a terrifying and staggering series of successive events,
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The young child found himself being carried with his sister from Medina to Egypt.
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For they had to join their father,
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After he had become its governor on behalf of the Commander of the Believers, 'Ali ibn Abi Talib.
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Then he saw the bloody claws of discord reach out to his father,
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Killing him in the most heinous of ways.
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He then found himself being moved once again from Egypt to Medina,
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After the supporters of Mu'awiyah had seized control of it.
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He had become an orphan, bereft and alone.
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Al-Qasim would speak of this journey of suffering, his eyes filled with tears,
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Saying: "When my father was killed in Egypt,
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My uncle 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr came,
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He took me and my little sister and brought us to Medina.
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No sooner had we reached it,
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Than my aunt 'A'ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, sent for us.
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She took us from my uncle's house to her own,
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And raised us in her care.
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I have never seen a mother or father more kind than she,
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Nor more compassionate.
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She would feed us with her own hands, while she herself would not eat with us;
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If any of our food remained, she would eat it.
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She would show us the tenderness of a nursing mother toward a weaned child,
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Washing our bodies and combing our hair,
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And dressing us in the purest white garments.
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She never ceased to urge us toward goodness and habituate us to its practice,
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While forbidding us from evil and compelling us to abandon it.
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She was diligent in teaching us what we could grasp of the Book of Allah,
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And narrating to us what we could understand of the hadith of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
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She would increase our joy and delight during the two Eids;
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When the eve of 'Arafah arrived,
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She would trim my hair,
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And wash me and my sister.
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When morning came,
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She would dress us in new clothes,
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And send us to the mosque to perform the Eid prayer.
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When we returned from it,
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She would gather me and my sister and provide for us.
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One day,
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She dressed us in white clothes,
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Then she sat me on one of her knees,
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And sat my sister on her other knee.
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She had summoned my uncle 'Abd al-Rahman.
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When he entered,
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She greeted him and then spoke,
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Praising Allah, the Almighty and Majestic,
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And extolling Him as He deserves.
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I have never seen a speaker, man or woman, before or since,
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More eloquent in tongue or sweeter in expression than she.
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Then she said:
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"O my brother,
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I have continued to see you turning away from me since you took these two children from you,
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And I brought them to myself.
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By Allah, I did not do that out of arrogance toward you, nor out of suspicion of you,
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Nor out of accusing you of falling short in their care.
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But you are a man with wives,
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And they are two small children who cannot manage their own affairs.
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I feared that your wives might see something from them that they would dislike,
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And thus not be pleased with them.
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I found that I was more entitled than they to take charge of their affairs in this situation.
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Now they have grown,
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And have become capable of managing their own affairs.
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So take them and bring them to yourself."
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My uncle 'Abd al-Rahman took us and brought us to his house.
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However, the young boy of the house of Bakr
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Remained with his heart attached to the house of his aunt, the Mother of the Believers, may Allah be pleased with her.
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For it was on the ground of her house, perfumed with the scents of Prophethood, that he grew up,
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And in the care of its mistress that he was raised and nurtured,
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And from her overflowing compassion that he drank and was satisfied.
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So he began to divide his time between her house and his uncle's house.
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The memories of his aunt's fragrant, gentle, and sheltering home remained
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Alive in his mind as long as he lived.
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Listen to some of his accounts of those memories, as he says:
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"I said one day to my aunt 'A'ishah, may Allah be pleased with her:
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'O Mother, uncover for me the grave of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
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And the graves of his two companions, for I wish to see them.'
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The three graves were still inside her house,
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And she had covered them with something that concealed them from sight.
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So she uncovered for me three graves, neither raised high nor flattened,
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Which had been leveled with the small red pebbles that were in the courtyard of the mosque.
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I said: 'Where is the grave of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him?'
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She pointed with her hand and said: 'This one.'
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Then two large tears rolled down her cheeks,
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And I hastened to wipe them away so that I would not see them.
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The grave of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, was placed in front of the graves of his two companions.
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I said: 'And where is the grave of my grandfather, Abu Bakr?'
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She said: 'Here it is,' and he was buried at the head of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
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I said: 'And this is the grave of 'Umar?'
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She said: 'Yes,' and the head of 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, was at the waist of my grandfather,
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Close to the feet of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him."
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When the young man of the house of Bakr grew up, he had memorized the Book of Allah, the Almighty and Majestic,
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And had taken from his aunt 'A'ishah the hadith of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
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As much as Allah willed for him to take.
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Then he turned toward the noble Prophetic Sanctuary,
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And devoted himself to the circles of knowledge that were scattered in every corner of it,
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Just as the bright stars are scattered across the face of the sky.
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He narrated from Abu Hurayrah, 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar, 'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas,
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'Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr, 'Abdullah ibn Ja'far,
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'Abdullah ibn Khabbab, Rafi' ibn Khadij,
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Aslam the freedman of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab,
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And others, may Allah be pleased with them, until he became an independent scholar (mujtahid) and leader.
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He became one of the most knowledgeable people of his time regarding the Sunnah.
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For a man was not considered a man among them until he had mastered the Sunnah.
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When the young man of the house of Bakr had completed his tools of knowledge,
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People flocked to him, seeking knowledge from him with passion,
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And he turned to them, bestowing it upon them with generosity.
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He would come to the mosque of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, every morning,
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At a time he never missed.
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He would pray two rak'ahs to enliven the mosque,
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Then he would take his place in front of the door of 'Umar in the noble Rawdah,
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Between the grave of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and his pulpit.
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Students of knowledge would gather around him from every place,
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And drink from his pure, refined sources,
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Which filled their thirsty souls.
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Not much time passed,
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Before al-Qasim ibn Muhammad,
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And his cousin Salim ibn 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar,
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Became the two trusted leaders of Medina,
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Its two obeyed masters,
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And its two influential figures,
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Even though they held no office or authority.
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The people made them their leaders,
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Because of the piety and godliness they possessed,
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The knowledge and fiqh they carried in their hearts,
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And the asceticism they displayed regarding what was in the hands of others,
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And their desire for what is with Allah, the Almighty and Majestic.
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Their status in the hearts of the people reached such a point
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That the Umayyad caliphs and their governors
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Would not decide any matter
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Regarding the affairs of Medina
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Except with their counsel.
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Among these instances was when al-Walid ibn 'Abd al-Malik
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Resolved to expand the noble Prophetic Sanctuary.
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He could not achieve this cherished wish
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Unless he demolished the old mosque from its four sides,
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Removed the houses of the wives of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
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And incorporated them into the mosque.
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These were matters that were difficult for the people,
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And they were not pleased with them.
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So he wrote to 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz, his governor in Medina, saying:
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"I have decided to expand the mosque of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
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Until it becomes two hundred cubits by two hundred cubits.
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Demolish its four walls,
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Incorporate into it the chambers of the wives of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
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Purchase the houses in its surroundings,
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And move the qiblah forward if you are able.
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You can do this because of the status of your maternal uncles, the family of al-Khattab,
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And their position in the hearts of the people.
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If the people of Medina refuse you that,
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Then seek the help of al-Qasim ibn Muhammad and Salim ibn 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar,
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And involve them with you in the matter.
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Pay the people the prices of their houses generously.
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You have in this two righteous predecessors,
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They are 'Umar ibn al-Khattab and 'Uthman ibn 'Affan."
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'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz summoned al-Qasim ibn Muhammad and Salim ibn 'Abdullah,
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And a group of the notables of Medina,
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And read to them the letter of the Commander of the Believers.
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They were pleased with what the Caliph had resolved and hastened to implement it.
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When the people saw the two scholars of Medina and its two great leaders
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Participating in the demolition of the mosque with their own hands,
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They rose with them as one man,
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And carried out what was stated in the letter of the Commander of the Believers.
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The victorious armies of the Muslims
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Were at that time knocking on the doors of the fortresses leading to the city of Constantinople,
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And seizing them one after another,
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Under the leadership of the brave commander Maslamah ibn 'Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan,
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In preparation for the conquest of Constantinople itself.
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When the King of Rome learned of the Commander of the Faithful’s intention
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to expand the noble Prophet’s Mosque,
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he wished to appease him and draw near to him with what would please him.
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He sent him one hundred thousand mithqals of gold,
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and dispatched with it one hundred of the most skilled builders from the lands of Rome.
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He also provided the workers with forty loads of mosaic tiles.
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Al-Walid sent all of this to Umar Ibn Abd al-Aziz,
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so that he might use it to assist in the construction of the mosque.
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Umar spent it according to the counsel of al-Qasim Ibn Muhammad and his companions.
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Indeed, al-Qasim Ibn Muhammad was
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the person who most closely followed the example of his grandfather, al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him.
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To the point that people would say,
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"Abu Bakr did not leave behind a son who resembles him more than this young man."
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He resembled him in the nobility of his character and the excellence of his virtues,
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in the firmness of his faith and the intensity of his piety,
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and in his magnanimity and generosity.
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Many sayings and actions have been recorded from him that testify to this.
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Among them is that a Bedouin came to him in the mosque and asked,
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"Which of you is more knowledgeable, you or Salim Ibn Abd Allah?"
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He ignored him, so the man repeated the question.
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He said, "Subhan Allah," and the man repeated it a third time.
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He then said to him, "That is Salim, O son of my brother; he is sitting over there."
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Those in the gathering remarked, "May Allah bless his father!"
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He disliked saying "I am more knowledgeable than him," for that would be praising himself,
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and he disliked saying "He is more knowledgeable than me," for that would be a lie.
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Yet he was more knowledgeable than Salim.
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It was also seen once in Mina,
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while the people of the various lands, the pilgrims to the House of Allah, were crowding around him from every side,
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and they were asking him questions.
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He would answer them with what he knew,
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and regarding what he did not know, he would say to them,
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"I do not know, I do not know, I do not know."
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They were astonished by this,
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so he said to them, "We do not know everything you ask about,
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and if we did know, we would not conceal it,
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for it is not lawful for us to conceal it.
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For a man to live in ignorance after knowing what Allah requires of him
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is better for him than to speak of what he does not know."
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On one occasion,
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he exerted himself in distributing charity among those entitled to it.
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He strove in that as much as he was able,
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and gave everyone their due right.
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However, one of them was not satisfied with the portion he was given,
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so he came to him in the mosque while he was standing in prayer,
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and began to speak about the charity.
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His son said to the man,
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"By Allah, you are speaking about a man
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who has not taken a single dirham or daniq from your charity,
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nor has he even taken a single date from it."
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Al-Qasim shortened his prayer,
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turned to his son, and said,
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"My son, do not speak henceforth about what you do not know."
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People said, "His son spoke the truth,"
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but he intended to discipline him,
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and to guard his tongue from speaking excessively.
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Al-Qasim Ibn Muhammad lived
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until he was over seventy-two years old.
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However, he lost his sight when he was an old man.
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In the last year of his life,
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he set out for Makkah, intending to perform Hajj.
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While he was on his way, death came to him.
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When he felt his end approaching,
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he turned to his son and said,
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"When I die,
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shroud me in the garments I used to pray in:
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my shirt, my lower garment, and my cloak,
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for that was the shroud of your grandfather, Abu Bakr."
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"Then level my grave,
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and join your family.
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And beware of standing by my grave
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and saying, 'He was such and such,'
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for I was nothing."
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If I had any say in the matter,
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I would have appointed al-Qasim Ibn Muhammad to the Caliphate,
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said Umar Ibn Abd al-Aziz.
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They filled life
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with the pride of their deeds,
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and the world flourished through them.