Assalaamu alaykum,

The following are pearls and summaries from the series ‘Blast From The Past’ – Seerah in the 21st century, Season 2, Episode 9.

– The importance of having a good friend circle. A person is upon the way of his companions – we learn this from the death of Abu Talib. Upon his death Abu Talib was surrounded by the disbelievers Abu Jahhal and faced pressure from them, such that when rasullulah (SAW) called upon Abu Talib to say that which would be a means of rasullulah (SAW) defending him in front of Allah,that which would be coolness of rasullulah (SAW) ears and heart, the bad influence that was present, made him question whether he would leave the way of his forefathers preventing him from doing so. It is narrated that Abu Talib said to the prophet “If it is not what they would say, I would have said that which pleases you O Muhammed.”

– A means of attaining taqwa is to have a righteous friend circle. Our objective in life is to worship and the objective of worship is to obtain taqwa.

– Rasullulah (SAW) likens a person who has a good friend circle to a person who has a friend that sells perfume and a person who has a bad friend circle to that of a person who has befriended one who works at a blast furnace. The net result of having a good friend circle is that you will always attain goodness be it a great benefit (being given a whole bottle of perfume), a medium benefit (not being given a bottle but being able to use some of the friends perfume) or even a little benefit (smelling the fragrances that come from the surroundings of the friend who sells the perfume) whereas the net result of having a bad friend circle is you will always lose, be it a great loss (experiencing the burn from the sparks coming out the blast furnace) a medium loss (experiencing the black smoke from the furnace) or a little loss (breathing in the poisonous gases released in the air from the furnace).

– The prevention of a harm takes precedent over the attainment of a benefit – no matter the benefit a person has to you, as long as there is harm that can be gained from interacting with them, the benefit is if no use.

– Character over personality (see lesson 10) – we also learn this from the death of Abu Talib. The presence of his bad friend circle upon his death bed being a means of preventing Abu Talib accepting the oneness of Allah is being a person of personality, a person trying to appease the masses. A person of character is a person who lives to please Allah not the people. Allah says “there is no obedience to the creation in the disobedience of Allah.” If it is wrong to Allah then do not worry about the people.a person of character keeps Allah happy.

– When Allah loves a person he summons jibreel (AS) and commands him to love that person aswell. Then jibreel will tell the Angels of Allah’s command and the Angels will also start loving that person until the skies are over flowing with love for that person so much so that the love for him/her settles in the hearts of the people on earth.

– Actions are judged by their endings – a lesson from the death of Abu Talib who lived his entire life as a disbeliever yet Rasullulah (SAW) still pleaded with him on his death bed to declare the oneness of Allah which would be a means for rasullulah (SAW) to defend Abu Talib which would be a means of his entry into jannah.

From this we also learn:

1) To never lose hope in the mercy of Allah – do not worry about the past and ask Allah for forgiveness. Indeed Allah is upon all able. No matter the beginning If your ending is strong, Allah will make your beginning as if it was good.

2) To never become content with ourselves, there is always room for improvement. It is reported that rasullulah (SAW) said to Abu Hurairah that when looking at the matters of the dunya,to look at those that have less than oneself so that one never belittles the gifts that Allah has bestowed upon him/her but when looking at matters of the hereafter, to look at those who do more than oneself so that one will always strive towards their endeavors towards Allah.

3) Tawbah is accepted for as long as the soul does not leave us.tawbah is an act of worship.

Taubah and its acceptance has conditions:

1) That the tawbah is for the sake of Allah alone

2) The person making Tawbah regrets having disrespected Allah and feels the hurt of having practiced that major sin;

3) The person must remove themselves from the sin;

4) The person must have a strong resolve never to commit that sin again;

 The Tawbah must be done before either:

A) The sun rises from the west or;

B) The soul reaches the gargling point of the throat.

– Maintaining family relations – we learn this from the rasullulah (SAW) and his conduct. He rushed to the death bed of Abu Talib in his attempt to look after Allah’s commands, to maintain family relations and to maintain goodness for the father figure and strongest defender of him.

Note: we see this again in the character of the prophet (SAW) – he rushed to Abu Talib on his death bed for no other purpose but to plead with him to do the one thing that would help rasullulah (SAW) intercede for Abu Talib in front of Allah. Rasullulah (SAW) was a merciful man, a proactive man and we see these qualities remain static throughout the seerah of the prophet.