Summary: Salaamu alaykom wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu.<br> <br> In shaa Allah, I’d like to share with you a few section of the Qur’an, and instead of sharing with you detailed accounts of a number of sahaba, I’ll share with you the accounts of one particular sahabi that we can draw specific lessons from in shaa Allah.<br> <br> But before I do, I’d like to share with you another type of sahabi; a different type of companion, not one that’s a role model, but one that you would look down upon. We find in the Qur’an another messenger mentioned, and his companions mentioned in detail.<br> <br> And the amazing thing is, because these are people that have passed, Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) speaks to the sons of Israel at the time of Mohammad (ﷺ), but He speaks to them in second person: “wadthkuru”, and “na’amat Allahi ‘alaykom”, “idth ja’atkom Musa bil bayinaat” - “when Musa came upon YOU”. Now notice, he didn’t come upon ‘them’, who did he come on? He came on their forefathers. But He speaks of them in the second person only to make it highlighted, just as Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) speaks to those who have iman: “ya ayuhaladhina aamanu” is also in second person – “O those of you who believe”. So all of those ayat you find in second person, particularly in surah Al-Baqarah.<br> <br> And so I’d like to begin with the negative and move towards the positive, in shaa Allah ta’ala. For all of us, we have not seen Mohammad Rasool Allah (ﷺ), and for the sahaba that were seeing him, they had not seen Allah. They had not seen miracles from the sky, or anything supernatural, save a few of them who saw some particular incidents that we can pinpoint.<br> <br> But for these specific companions of Musa (‘alayhee salaat wa salaam), imagine this; you’re about to be executed by a tyrant ruler, you’re lost in the desert with this man who promises that he can save you, and you’re crying to him saying, ‘you lied to us – here the army is coming upon us to destroy us and you brought us in the middle of this desert to be slaughtered like sheep!’, and he strikes his staff and a body of water parts, and you walk right through it. If you were an atheist before, or if you were just tagging along for the ride before, thinking, ‘hey, maybe he’s right, maybe he’s wrong, I’ll take my chances. If I stay in Egypt, then for sure I’ll be slaughtered”.<br> <br> So notice in the Qur’an, Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) doesn’t say “wallannu’mina bika” – Bani Israel don’t say ‘we’re not gonna believe you’, they say “wallannu’mina laka”, “nu’minu bee”, and “nu’mina la”. Big difference…“nu’minu bee” is “to believe in”, to confirm that he brought the truth. “Nu’minu la” in the Arabic terminology refers to “to accept” – “we’ll go along with what you’re saying”.<br> <br> The same thing Firaun said to Musa (‘alayhee salaam). He said, ‘I’m not gonna let them go’, and he said, “walannu’mina laka”. The chiefs of Firaun said, ‘we’re not gonna accept what you’re saying. Your demands are to let these people go, we’re not gonna accept what you’re saying’. Their statement wasn’t, ‘we’re not gonna believe in you’ – they had already given that as a statement before, ‘we’re not gonna believe in you no matter what’.<br> <br> So the point was now to accept what he’s saying, to follow him. So among the Bani Israel there are those who might have been in doubt: ‘maybe this guy’s crazy, maybe he’s right, maybe he’s wrong, why not take our chances, because for sure we’re gonna die here’. They go, they see a body of water part, they pass right through it, and that Firaun – who they saw people make sajda to, that armies used to crumble before him – they saw him perish before their own eyes. So if nothing else made you believe in Allah before that, and if it didn’t make you take Musa (‘alayhee salaam) seriously before that, I would think this incident would open your eyes, right? This is a pretty big thing to watch, to see a body of water just open up!
