"We are immensely grieved at your parting Oh Ibrahim..."

Assalamu alaikum, below are my notes for Hadeeth 662 of Lesson 174, Book of Funerals of al Tajrid al Sarih (The Abridged Saheeh al-Bukhari) by Shaykh Abu Yusuf Riyadh ul Haq which was delivered on Friday 23rd November 2007.

Hadeeth 662-664 were covered in this lesson and I'll be posting the remainder of my notes from this lesson soon insha'Allah.

Also, I'd like to remind you that the daroos will be resuming this friday insha'Allah with Lesson 193.

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باب: قَوْلُ النّبِيّ صلى الله عليه وسلم: إنّا بِكَ لَمَحْزُونُونَ

CHAPTER 23. The saying of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم (at the death of his son Ibrahim), ‘Indeed we are grieved by your separation.’

662. وعَنْه رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ: دَخَلْنَا مَعَ رَسُولِ اللهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم عَلَى أَبِي سَيْفٍ الْقَيْنِ, وَكانَ ظِئْرًا لإِبْرَاهِيمَ عَلَيْهِ السّلاَمُ, فَأَخَذَ رَسُولُ اللهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم إِبْرَاهِيمَ فَقَبّلَهُ وَشَمّهُ, ثُمّ دَخَلْنَا عَلَيْهِ بَعْدَ ذلِكَ, وَإِبْرَاهِيمُ يَجُودُ بِنَفْسِهِ, فَجَعَلَتْ عَيْنَا رَسُولِ اللهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم تَذْرِفانِ, فَقَالَ لَهُ عَبْدُ الرّحْمنِ بْنُ عَوْفٍ رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ: وَأَنْتَ يَا رَسُولَ اللهِ فَقَالَ: (يَا ابْنَ عَوْفٍ, إِنّهَا رَحْمَةٌ). ثُمّ أَتْبَعَهَا بِأُخْرَى, فَقَالَ صلى الله عليه وسلم: (إِنّ الْعَيْنَ تَدْمَعُ, وَالْقَلْبَ يَحْزِنُ, وَلاَ نَقُولُ إِلاّ ما يَرْضي رَبّنَا, وَإِنّا بِفِرَاقِكَ يَا إِبْرَاهِيمُ لَمَحْزُونُونَ). رواه البخاري: 1303

662. Narrated (Anas bin Mâlik) رضى الله عنه : We went with Allâh’s Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم to the blacksmith Abu Saif, and he was the husband of the wet-nurse of Ibrâhim (the son of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم ). Allâh’s Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم took Ibrâhim and kissed him and smelled him and later we entered Abu Saif’s house and at that time Ibrâhim was in his last breaths, and the eyes of Allâh’s Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم started shedding tears. ‘Abdur Rahmân bin ‘Auf said, O Allâh’s Messenger even you are weeping! He said, O Ibn ‘Auf, this is mercy. Then he wept more and said, The eyes are shedding tears and the heart is grieved, and we will not say except what pleases our Lord, O Ibrâhim! Indeed we are grieved by your separation. (2:390O.B.)

Hadeeth 662 - Shaykh Abu Yusuf Riyadh ul Haq began commentary of this hadeeth by giving some background information. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) had four daughters – Zaynab (رضى الله عنها), Ruqaya (رضى الله عنها), Umm Khulfum (رضى الله عنها) and Fatima (رضى الله عنها), all of whom were born from Khadijah (رضى الله عنها). The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) had two sons. The eldest was Qasim (رضى الله عنه) who passed away in early childhood. He was born either just before or just after Rasulullah’s (صلى الله عليه وسلم) prophethood. The Prophet’s (صلى الله عليه وسلم) other son, Abdullah (رضى الله عنه), also died in childhood. Two other names are reported as names of the Prophet’s (صلى الله عليه وسلم) son – Tahir and Tayib, however, most scholars are of the opinion that these were alternate names of Abdullah. All of these children were born before the hijrah and were the children of Khadijah (رضى الله عنها). None of the other wives bore the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) any children.

In the 7^th year of Hijrah, the patriarch of Alexandra (Northern Egypt), Emperor Muqawqis had received the letter from the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) inviting him to Islam. He did not embrace Islam but honoured the Prophet. He sent gifts to the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) including two sisters as concubines. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) did not want to keep both sisters, Maria and Sireen who were both Coptic Christians. He kept Maria al-Qibtiyya (رضى الله عنها) and gave Sireen to ibn Thabit (رضى الله عنه). Allah made her halal for the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم). In the 8^th year of Hijrah she bore the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) his first child from any wife other than Khadijah (رضى الله عنها). All of the other wives were jealous of Maria (رضى الله عنها) and would join forces against her. This was part of the reason why Allah revealed Surah Tahrim. She was initially housed with Umm Sulaim (رضى الله عنها) (see my last post), and was then moved to an upper area of Madinah, which was a great distance from the masjid. This area still exists today.

It was in the month of Dhul Hijjah 8 AH when Maria al-Qibtiyya (رضى الله عنها) gave birth to Ibrahim (رضى الله عنها). Jibril visited the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and said to him ‘Peace be unto you, oh father of Ibrahim’. Thus, in the 61^st year of his life, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) was blessed with a son and he was overjoyed. He was very affectionate with Maria al-Qibtiyya (رضى الله عنها) and with Ibrahim (رضى الله عنها).

The women of the Ansaar began competing with each other as to who would breastfeed Ibrahim (رضى الله عنه). First, he was breastfed by Umm Burdah and then Umm Saif, who was the wife of the blacksmith Abu Saif (رضى الله عنه)). The husband would have a responsibility in the upbringing of the child, and thus both the husband and the wife would be known as wet-nurses.

Ibrahim (رضى الله عنه) suddenly fell ill, and the hadeeth refers to this with the words ‘he was giving up his soul’. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said ‘Indeed the eyes weep and the heart grieves but the tongue does not utter except that which pleases Allah. To Allah we belong and to Allah we shall return. Indeed to Allah belongs that which he takes and to Allah belongs that which he gives. And everything is fixed with an appointed time by Allah. And indeed we are immensely grieved at your parting Oh Ibrahim’. This longer statement in not in this hadeeth of Bukhari but is found in other narrations.

At the time of Ibrahim’s (رضى الله عنه) burial, one of the things that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said was that if Ibrahim (رضى الله عنه) had lived to grow old he would have become a Prophet of Allah. He did not survive as there is no prophethood after Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم). Some people attempt to use this narration to prove that there is prophethood after Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم). But in other narrations, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) has made it extremely clear that there would be no prophet after him.

Ibrahim (رضى الله عنه) died at the time of the eclipse which was on 29^th/30^th Shawwal 10 AH (27^th January 632 CE at 10:46 AM). Ibrahim (رضى الله عنه). He was in his 23^rd month of life at the time and as we learn from this hadeeth he was still being breastfed. In an authentic hadeeth, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said ‘My son has died whilst still being breastfed but he shall have a wet-nurse in Jannah who shall continue to breastfeed him’.

A question one could ask is how long can you breastfeed a child for? We learn that Ibrahim (رضى الله عنه) was breastfed up to his 23^rd month of life. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) had said that he would bury his family members close to the grave of Uthman bin Maz’un (رضى الله عنه) – see my notes on this great sahabi which were posted last year when we covered Hadeeth 636 -

http://bukhariblog.blogspot.com/2007/07/uthman-bin-mazun.html

The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) had Ibrahim (رضى الله عنه) buried next to Uthman bin Maz’un (رضى الله عنه).

We also learn from this hadeeth that it is permissible to lament the loss of a deceased relative as the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said words addressing Ibrahim (رضى الله عنه). This does not contravene the shariah.