12-26-2012, 07:53 AM
Bismillah
Praise be to Allah and prayer and peace be upon His Messenger Mohamed salla Allah a`lyhee wa sallam
In this Khutbah we are going to address the Ayah:" Then whoever disputes with you concerning him ['Iesa (Jesus)] after (all this) knowledge that has come to you, [i.e. 'Iesa (Jesus)] being a slave of Allah, and having no share in Divinity) say: (O Muhammad ﻢﻠﺳﻭ ﻪﻴﻠﻋ ﻪﻠﻟﺍﻰﻠﺻ) "Come, let us call our sons and your sons, our women and your women, ourselves and yourselves - then we pray and invoke (sincerely) the Curse of Allah upon those who lie." (Quran 3:61).
The reason of revealing this Ayah was that the Messenger salla Allah a`lyhee wa sallam sent a letter to the people of Najran which is located south of the Arabian Peninsula. They were Arabs who took Christianity as a religion. In his letter he gave them a number of alternatives between embracing Islam, paying Jizziah or war. This incident took place after the battle of Tabuk in which the Romans withdrew in front of the Muslim army who fought under the leadership of the Messenger salla Allah a`lyhee wa sallam. In response to the letter, Najran community decision makers saw to send a delegation to the Messenger of Allah salla Allah a`lyhee wa sallam in an effort to be acquainted with him, his message, and religion then return back with the required information. The delegation came to Medina, met the Messenger salla Allah a`lyhee wa sallam and discussed the religion with him. In the long discussion, the Messenger salla Allah a`lyhee wa sallam kept replying till they asked him about the position of Eassa (Jesus) prayer and peace be upon him in order to return to our people with the correct information. Given the fact that we are Nasarah, we would be pleased to listen to what you have to say about him. The Messenger salla Allah a`lyhee wa sallam told them: for the time being I have no information about him. I suggest though that you stay over till I will be able to bring to you what Allah Say about Essa. The next morning, Allah Revealed to him the following Ayahs:" Verily, the likeness of 'Iesa (Jesus) before Allah is the likeness of Adam. He created him from dust, then (He) said to him: "Be!" - and he was.* (This is) the truth from your Lord, so be not of those who doubt.* Then whoever disputes with you concerning him ['Iesa (Jesus)] after (all this) knowledge that has come to you, [i.e. 'Iesa (Jesus)] being a slave of Allah, and having no share in Divinity) say: (O Muhammad ﻢﻠﺳﻭ ﻪﻴﻠﻋ ﻪﻠﻟﺍ ﻰﻠﺻ) "Come, let us call our sons and your sons, our women and your women, ourselves and yourselves - then we pray and invoke (sincerely) the Curse of Allah upon those who lie.* " (Quran 3: 59-61).
But the delegation members rejected what Allah Revealed regarding Eassa salla Allah a`lyhee wa sallam insisting on their school of belief in this issue They claimed that Essa salla Allah a`lyhee wa sallam is God himself based on the argument that he revived the dead, healed the ill, and foretold the unknown. Having no human father, they also claimed that he is the son of God in addition to being a part of the trinity. They explained the trinity issue based on the fact that when Eassa spoke, he used the plural form saying we decreed, we created and we commanded. While if he was only one, he would have said I did, I commanded and I decreed.
Next morning, the Messenger salla Allah a`lyhee wa sallam came to the meeting point accompanied with his two grandsons AlHassan and AlHussayn, Fatima (his daughter) was walking behind him and Ali Ibn Abi Taleb (her husband) behind her. He was instructing them saying when I make Dua say ameen. When the delegation members saw this attitude, their chief told the other two: You are all quite aware that the whole population of the valley (referring to people of Najran) never took any action except through my opinion and decision and I swear to Allah that I see a difficult task here. Wallahi (I swear to Allah) that in case this man is a king, being the closest in location among the Arab to them and first to criticize him and reject his call, he and his companions will take much offense that they will not be satisfied unless they invade us. And in case he is a Prophet, and we accepted the challenge of praying to Allah to curse those who lie, we would be fully exterminated. His two companions told him: O Abu Mariam what do you think? He said: I see to allow him to judge our case for he seems like a man who never makes an unfair judgment. They agreed with him. His name was Shorahbeel. He went to the Messenger salla Allah a`lyhee wa sallam and told him: I thought of a better choice than standing for the option you gave which is making Dua for the lying party to be cursed by Allah.
The Messenger salla Allah a`lyhee wa sallam said: what is the alternative? He said: spend today and tonight till the morning thinking about a judgment about us. Whatever you come up with as judgment will be enforced. The Messenger salla Allah a`lyhee wa sallam put for them in writing a security agreement by which their money becomes safe provided they pay a thousand suits on each Rajab and each Safar.
They also requested that he sends with them an honest man. He picked up Abu Ubaida Ibn AlJarrah and described him as the protector of this Ummah (Hodhaifa/ Bukhari, Muslim, Termidhi, Nasai, and Ibn Majeh). In another narration: For each nation there is a protector and the protector of this Ummah is Abu Ubaida Ibn AlJarrah (Annas/ Bukhari). Yunus Ibn Bakeer, who was a Nasari and embraced Islam, related this part of the story (reported by Bayhaqi).
After the delegation returned back home, Najran Bishop, with a delegation of the elite of community, went to the Messenger salla Allah a`lyhee wa sallam. He provided them accommodation for few days. Upon their departure, the Messenger salla Allah a`lyhee wa sallam gave a written agreement to Bishop Abi AlHareth and other Bishops of Najran who would succeed him stipulating:
Bismillah ArRahman ArRaheem: From Mohamed the Prophet to Bishop Abi Al Hareth, Najran bishops, ministers and monks and whatever they own, little be it or much, is entitled for the protection and security of Allah and His Messenger. Not a bishop, a monk or a minister shall be forced, now or in the future after the Messenger by any other Muslim, to change their identities or positions, loose their rights, authorities or established status. They shall continue enjoying the protection of Allah and His Messenger as long as they adopt an improvement oriented attitude, as long as they provide correct advice without being subjected to unjust or cause unjust to others.
Mogheerah Ibn Sho`ba wrote down the agreement.
A hadeeth:
Narrated Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, he said: Abu Jahl said: If I see Mohamed pray at Ka`ba, I will come to him till I step on his neck. The Messenger of Allah salla Allah a`lyhee wa sallam commented saying: if he did, angles would take him immediately in front of the eyes of everybody, if the Jews wished (prayed for) death, they would have died and watched their positions in Hell, and if those who were supposed to stand in confrontation of the Messenger salla Allah a`lyhee wa sallam went out for the meeting, they would have gone back finding no money or family (Bukhari, TErmidhi, and Nasa`i).