We started the conquest of Mecca and we will continue from where we left off.

We
mentioned the prophet PBUH did not inform anyone where he was heading until the
very last minute. Most likely the day before he told them so they can properly
preapre and know they will possible face a battle.
What happens? One of the sahaba, Hatib ibn Abi Balta'ah, decides to warn the Qur
aysh that the prophet PBUH is coming. This story will take up a long time to go
through. It is a story that has a lot of benefits; a lot of contraversy exists t
o this day about this story. Hatib according to the strongest opinion was a mawl
a from Yemen i.e. someone with an immigrant status. He was a mawla to one of the
Qurayshis - so he has a second class citizenship in Mecca. He converted to Isla
m and had immigrated to Madinah, but for reasons not mentioned his family, child
ren and according to one report his mother remained in Mecca. The other opinion
is that Hatib was a slave who had won his freedom and purchased his freedom; and
this opinion clearly shows why his family are still in Mecca i.e. they are stil
l slaves. In any case, both opinions say Hatib was not pure Qurayshi and he was
an Arab; either a mawla or a slave. The main point is his family is still in Mec
ca. And Hatib wrote a letter to the people of Mecca. One report mentions that "t
he prophet PBUH and the muslims are leaving with an army; he might be heading to
Mecca OR another place so take precautions". So according to this report Hatib
wrote this letter obviously before the prophet PBUH announced they ARE going to
Mecca. Another report mentions Hatib wrote to the Quraysh that "the prophet PBUH
is heading towards YOU with an army 'like the night' (very dense and powerful)
and he is rushing towards you like a river, and I swear by Allah even if he was
to come to you alone, Allah will help him over you because Allah will fulfill hi
s promise". Therefore Hatib spilled the beans and gave away the secret of the pr
ophet PBUHs coming to the Quraysh.
How did he write this letter? He found another mawla lady from Abdul Muttalibs B
anu Hashim, and he paid her some money to smuggle this letter to the Quraysh. He
didn't tell her the contents; just to deliver it - and so she took this letter,
folded up and tied the letter in the braids of her hair so no-one could ever no
tice it. And she then began the trek back to Mecca. Notice Hatib chose a person
that's not famous, nor noble so attention would not be drawn to her. And he didn
't even tell the contents for secrecy - the only thing he said was to deliver th
e letter to the Quraysh. And there is no way anyone will find out Hatib was the
one who did this. Walahi even the lady messenger did not know what the letter co
ntained, had it not been for divine intervention. Allah sent Jibreel AS down and
Jibreel AS told the prophet PBUH "this lady is taking the letter so you had bet
ter stop her". And so the prophet PBUH told Zubair ibn Awwam and Ali ibn Abi Tal
ib, that "go to such a place, you will find a lady on such a caravan, stop her a
nd bring the letter she possesses back to me". So he told the sahaba where to fi
nd the lady; he described what she will riding and told them to take the letter
from her. Look at the detailed knowledge the prophet PBUH had, and exactly as th
e prophet PBUH described they found her. So Ali and Zubair told her to give the
letter but she denied and said "I don't know what you are talking about". So the
y searched through her belongings, searched the camel, searched the saddle etc b
ut it was not found. So when it is clear it's not in the belongings, Ali RA said
"I swear by Allah, neither has the prophet PBUH been lied to nor have we been l
ied to". That is "Jibreel AS did not lie to him, and the prophet PBUH did not li
e to us" i.e. "you MUST have the letter". So Ali RA said "either you hand it ove
r OR we will strip you completely". You can imagine their anger, so when she saw
this, she told them "turn around" and so they did - she untied her hair and gav
e them the letter. They then brought her with the letter back to the prophet PBU
H.
SubhanAllah you have to see here even though she is a non muslim she has the hay
aa of covering her hair, so much so she told them to turn around so they don't s
ee her hair. This was the custom and culture of all civilised society. Even in s
uch a time she tells them "turn around". Many of us don't have the hayaa that th

is lady has which is sad. So they took her as a prisoner to the prophet PBUH, sh
e tells the prophet PBUH what happened that Hatib paid her some money to deliver
a letter to the Quraysh. And, she is not mentioned after this so we can assume
she was let go. At the end of the day she did not willingly commit a crime. Then
the prophet PBUH called Hatib, and the lady is there and the letter is there. S
o the prophet PBUH shows Hatib the letter, the entire plot is exposed, and Hatib
confesses "yes this is my letter". He confesses. And Umar RA immediately said "
Ya RasulAllah allow me to chop of the head of this munafiq, he has become a kafi
r". But the prophet PBUH said "Ya Hatib WHY would do something like this?" And H
atib response is recorded in many books of hadith. And this story is mentioned i
n every single book of hadith. Bhukari, Muslim, Imam Ahmed, ibn Ishaaq etc. It's
one of the most common stories in the conquest of Mecca and it's mentioned in a
lot of detail. And Hatib's response has been pieced together: "Oh RasulAllah wh
y would I want to leave imaan in Allah and His messenger? I did not do what I di
d leaving my faith, nor did I prefer kufr over Islam, and I haven't changed who
I am. I did not want to betray Islam or be a munafiq. I knew Allah would fulfill
his promise and execute his command (i.e. the prophet PBUH will conquer Mecca).
Rather, I wanted to establish a favour with the Quraysh so that my family and p
roperty is protected. For all of your other companions have family that would pr
otect their other relatives but I don't have any". Meaning none of the Ansar hav
e relatives in Mecca, and all the muhajir belong to one of the clans of Quraysh.
No matter what relatives they have they won't harm since they are the clans of
Quraysh! But Hatib is saying his whole family is there and he does not belong to
ANY tribe. So he wanted to have some kind of favour with the Quraysh - but at t
he same time he has full imaan Allah will protect the muslims.
So the prophet PBUH said "Hatib has spoken the truth. Nobody should say anything
bad about him except good". But Umar RA was still fuming and said "Ya RasulAlla
h he has betrayed Allah and His messenger so let me kill him". Note the first ti
me Umar said he is a pure kaafir. But the prophet PBUH said he has spoken the tr
uth i.e. he has imaan. So now Umar RA is saying "he might be a muslim but he has
kiyaana i.e. betrayal. He is a spy so allow me to kill him." This shows us Umar
first asked to kill Hatib as if he was a murtad; the second time Umar asked to
kill Hatib as a punishment for betraying the trust". So the prophet PBUH said "d
id he not witness Badr? And how do you know oh Umar? Perhaps Allah has looked up
on all of those in Badr and said "do as you please for I have forgiven all of yo
u". So Umar RA began to cry and said "Allah and His messenger know best". At thi
s Allah revealed Surah Mumtahina which begins
"O you who have believed, do not take My enemies and your enemies as allies, ext
ending to them affection while they have disbelieved in what came to you of the
truth, having driven out the Prophet and yourselves [only] because you believe i
n Allah , your Lord. If you have come out for jihad in My cause and seeking mean
s to My approval, [take them not as friends]. You (secretly) try to befriend the
m, but I am most knowing of what you have concealed and what you have declared.
And whoever does it among you has certainly strayed from the soundness of the wa
y."
So this ayat deals with Hatib. And Allah says to him and anyone else that "do no
t take as allies those who are your enemies and my enemy". Indeed anyone who is
an enemy to Allah is an enemy to us. And don't befriend them because "they've ex
pelled you only because you worship Allah". Other than being a participant of Ba
dr Hatib does not appear at all in the seerah before this. He also participated
in the bayaatul Ridwan. And also the prophet PBUH chose him to be the emmisary t
o Muqawqis and he died in 30H in the khalifah of Uthman AS. 107 years after him,
one of his descendants, Ziyaad as Shabatoon, became one of the main students of
Imam Malik. And Ziyaad was one of the narrators from Imam Malik, and he spread
the maliki madhab in North Africa. Two or three of Imam Malik main students went
to north Africa who studied with him directly and Ziyaad was one of them at a t
ime when Unduloos was opening. So Ziyaad was a descendant of Hatib.

Now this story has so many benefits. Of the benefits:

1. We see the infinite knowledge of Allah - that nothing escapes Allah. We learn
in Bhukari a lady who complained about her husband came to the house of the pro
phet PBUH, and Aisha RA says "walahi I was trying my best to hear what she was s
aying from behind the curtain but I couldn't hear a phrase and Allah heard it fr
om above the seven heavens". Allah says "Allah hears the one who comes to you co
mplaining about her husband". SubhanAllah. Aisha RA is saying "I was in the same
room and I couldn't hear!" But Allah heard.
2. Dua is the weapon of the believer. Our prophet PBUH made a dua that "oh Allah
do not allow my plans to be known to them". This dua was answered. The prophet
PBUH made this precaution and Allah answered it.
3. Look at how Allah worked what he wanted to do. If Allah wanted a lightening b
olt could have struck the women; the camel would have got lost etc. But Allah wa
nts US to do as much as we can, and then He does the rest. Even when Allah is di
rectly intervening, He still wants us to do work. The prophet PBUH had to send p
eople, stop the girl, search her and then bring her back with the letter. Subhan
Allah. This is the sunnah of Allah. We still have to do effort and give 100%, an
d then you put your trust in Allah.
4. The penalty for treason is death. And that is clearly shown in Umars second q
uestion. "Ya RasulAllah he has betrayed us so let me execute him". And this is t
he agreed upon rule still applied to this day across the globe. The reality is t
reachery and treason is not an excusable event in any time or place. Can a treac
horous person be forgiven? There is a lot of contraversy about this in the hadit
h books. If a muslim betrays the trust of the Islamic state, can he be forgiven?
Many scholars say no. Ibn al Qiyyam says it's up to the ruler as it was up to t
he prophet PBUH; but scholars argue the prophet PBUH only forgave because of the
battle of Badr which is specific only to 313 people. Therefore anyone else will
not be excused. The crime of Hatib was only forgiven in light of the battle of
Badr. Who can compete with Badr? No one. So a large group says there is no forgi
veness for the spy. But 30% say it's up to the khalifah.
5. The humanity of even the sahaba. A badari, a person who participated in the g
reatest battle of Islam, can fall in such a major error. And this gives us so mu
ch hope. Why? We are all sinners. And who amongst us can claim to be sinless? If
even the sahaba made mistakes, and yet Allah forgave them when they repented, h
ow about us? In fact Allah describes this act of "going FAR away" but Allah did
not call him a kafir. He did not strip away the imaan of Hatib.
6. The forgiving nature of the prophet PBUH - he defended the life of Hatib and
did not allow Umar RA to execute him. Contrastingly we also see the nature of Um
ar RA and we understand his sterness. And that sterness was coming out of a love
and protection of Islam. Umar wanted to make sure no one would do this again. A
nd walahi his strictness was a mercy to this ummah when we needed it. At times i
t worked, but at other times you need it soft. And Allah gave the ummah Umar RA
when they needed it. And indeed it was in the time of Umar RA most of the conque
sts took place.
7. We judge people based upon the sum total of who they are and what they are do
ing; not just their bad. This is a very important point. You assess overall what
people are doing. The righteous person who commits one mistake is not the same
as continous sinner who makes the same mistake. And there is a hadith which supp
orts this. The prophet PBUH said "the people of nobility and statis, when they f
all in a mistake then 'cut them some slack'". This shows us when a person of sta
ture and nobility who've done something positive for the community, if they do s
omething wrong, we should cut them slack and overlook it. We look at the overall

positive and negative and never judge only looking at the negative. This is a c
ommon problem: we are blind to the good people are doing. This includes the scho
lars of knowledge. It's not possible that they will never make a mistake. After
all the sheikh talk all day. And these days everything they do gets onto youtube
. And it's impossible someone who has 1000s of hours of talk will be mistake fre
e. And these will be genuine mistakes. But for someone to go collect these error
s, it is a disease of the heart. Here is a sheikh that has a thousand lectures,
and you only find 3 minutes of talk to critique him on. This is wrong. Even if t
hose 3 minutes of talk are completely wrong, you have to look at all the good th
at is done. The sunnah is to look at the good. Hatib is judged in light of who h
e is i.e. he is a badari.
8. We also see the importance of confirming reports. It's amazing the prophet PB
UH has the letter, and the women is literally in front of him relaying the story
in detail, yet he still calls Hatib and says "did you do this?" Think about thi
s. Forget the lady and letter, Jibreel AS has told him Hatib has done this. Is t
here any more evidence needed?! Yet the prophet PBUH still calls Hatib and confi
rmed. Did the prophet PBUH doubt Hatib did it? Of course not. Jibreel AS told hi
m. Why is he doing it? To show you have to always verify and confirm. After Hati
b confirmed, still he then asks Hatib for an explanation. Which shows you have t
o always give a chance to the other party. Even if he did it, what is his reason
ing? And this paticularly shows us just because you confirm a person did somethi
ng without hearing his story, you cannout prenounce a verdict. This shows us a m
ajor difference in Islamic law and western law. Western law is codified meaning
the judge opens up the book, says you are guilty of X therefore the law mandates
you recieve Y. The judge has no power (besides fine tuning i.e. 5 or 7 years) i
f the jury prenounce a guilty verdict. In Islamic law, the 'qadhi' (judge) will
look at the human factor. Islamic law was not cannonised. Why? People have diffe
rent reasons for doing crimes. And sometimes the circumstances truly matter. In
Calafornia there is a barbaric law of 'three strikes and you're out' meaning if
you do three minor things you are given life in jail. There are hundreds of case
s where the judge himself has said "I'm sorry I wish I could help you but I can'
t control the law". Back to Hatib: there are extenuating circumstances so the ju
dge can decide what to do independantly.
9. When the prophet PBUH asks him "why did you do this?" Hatib does not plead fo
r his life. He is arguing to defend him imaan, not his life. Subhan'Allah this t
ruly shows us he was a man of imaan. Umar RA is saying "let me kill this kafir".
What irritated Hatib was NOT the 'kill' part but rather the 'kafir' part. And H
atibs whole message was "ya RasulAllah I'm still the same person; I knew Allah w
ould protect you; I am not a kafir I am still on imaan". In fact, most likely Ha
tib knew he would be executed and he's resigned to that. He is worried about bei
ng labelled a kafir. The concern is not the sword, the concern is Islam and imaa
n. "I have always been a muslim; I have no desire to be a kufar" etc.
10. We see the softness of Umar RA. Instantly from the anger of wanting to kill
Hatib, when the prophet PBUH says to him "what do you know oh Umar? Allah looked
at the people of Badr and says 'do what you want I have forgiven you'". That on
e phrase was enough to reduce the anger of Umar to tears. We view Umar as being
a harsh and strict man, but under than was a very soft and tender heart. And Uma
r RA is crying perhaps because he is a badari and the blessing he's heard has ov
erwhelmed him. Or he is crying because he is saddened at his own quickness and e
agerness to kill Hatib when Allah has forgiven him. But in any case this one phr
ase made Umar so emotional.
11. When the prophet PBUH said "nobody should criticise Hatib after today". Subh
anAllah. He lives for 22 years after this, and never once did anyone utter again
st him "this is the traitor". Once the prophet PBUH said "nobody should criticis
e Hatib after today" that's it. Imagine what type of leader the prophet PBUH mus
t have been to have so much respect that for 22 years, up until now, no one crit

icises Hatib. SubhanAllah. What amazing respect the prophet PBUH has. Once he ha
s said this, Hatib HUGE crime becomes nothing, and we say nothing but good about
Hatib.
12. The story of Hatib has taken on a huge contraversy which deals with the stat
us of the muslim who helps an enemy against other muslims. The status of a musli
m who helps an enemy that are invading the muslims. Its the status of one who he
lps an invading force, and this force is invading a muslim land, and this muslim
s help him or is even apart of the army. Or maybe works for them. And is a compu
ter programmer etc. And there is a whole spectrum of opinion:
The first opinion is that anyone who helps an invading force against a muslim na
tion or land, that person has become a kafir by that action. Their primary evide
nce is "whoever allies with them shall be one of them". This group says therefor
e anyone who helps an invading force and betrays the muslims, that action is one
of kufr in and of itself. Equal to cursing Allah and His messenger etc. This is
the position of many of the medival scholars, in paticular Sheikh Muhammad ibn
Abdul Wahab who wrote a book "the 10 things that negate Islam", and the 8th on h
is list is to aid the kuffar against the muslims. To aid an enemy force against
the muslims 'destroys imaan'. This was also the opinion of the famous muhadith,
Sheikh Ahmed Shakir. He was alive during the time of the british occupation of E
gypt. Indeed Egypt was invaded by England, and it ruled Egypt for a century or o
ver a century. And he wrote a fatwah "anyone who helped the british in any form,
even by speech, such a person was a kaafir murtad. Either he's very ignorant, o
r he will accept Islam again and will repent". And this is a harsh position but
it is held my many scholars. Some among this group seperate between two concepts
: there are levels of cooperation with the oposing army 'tawalee' and 'muwaala'.
The higher level 'tawalee' would be to fight with the army or be a spy for them
. The lower level 'muwaala' is not kuffar. And this would be to sell fruits and
vegeatables to the army. It's a major sin but not kuffar. And they say Hatib was
a specific case - no one else will be forgiven by Hatib. This is the position o
f many scholars, Sheikh Uthaymeen, Bin Baaz etc. This is the standard position.
Any type of support to any opposing army IS kuffar.
Ibn Tammiyah had another opinion. If a person AIDS such an army for a personal r
eason and not a religious reason, it is possible that is a sin and NOT kufr. Now
, both groups agree anyone who aids the enemy of Allah out of a love for the ene
my because he's the enemy, and out of a hatred of the muslims, this is pure kuff
ar just by the emotions of the heart. If you want the enemy to win over the musl
ims, simply because these are enemies and believers, this is kuffar anyway. But
what if someone is helping for a personal reason. Ibn Tammiyah says "it is possi
ble a person loves these enemies for family reason, or for another 'maslahah' (w
ordly matter), then this would be a sin that diminishes imaan but does not make
him a kaafir. As what happened with Hatib when he warned the Quraysh and Allah r
evealed Surah Mumtahena". So how does ibn Tammiyah view the story of Hatib? That
he commited a SIN and not kuffar. Why? He didn't want to help the Quraysh becau
se he loved them out of a hate of Islam. If so this is kuffar. But he wanted to
help them out of a love for his mother and children. He prefered the love of his
children over the privacy of the prophet PBUHs plans - so this is a major sin,
but it is not kuffar. And this is what Hatib says in his entire speech that "I a
m still a believer etc" to the prophet PBUH.
Therefore this is very controversial. Why? Alot of the fitnah happening in our t
imes in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan etc was that this rule; firstly as a general
rule all the 'jihadi' groups (groups involved in a physical understanding of ji
had) - all of them follow the stricter positions about takfeer. They love the is
sue of takfeer. The jihadists groups are takfeeri groups i.e. they are very quic
k in making takfeer. ANYONE who dosen't agree with their version of Islam is a k
aafir. Not just a munafiq, but a pure blooded kaafir. Regardless of the theoreti
cal understanding of Hatib, even if you follow the stricter position of i.e. Muh

ammad ibn Abdul Wahab, the problem comes when you cut and paste his view and app
ly it to the situation today and your own group. So they believe their own group
is Islam, and any other group who dosen't agree with you, they become kaafir. A
nd in Syria we have the fanatical jihadists groups, and the moderate free syrian
army: both are fighting against Assad and his army. What happens? One group goe
s to excessive voilence. They start shooting and killing innocents. Another grou
p will tell this group to stop, and will try to stop this fanatic group. Then, t
he more hardcore fanatic group will invoke this principle: "you have aided the n
onmuslims by i.e. appealing to the UN. So you are kaafir murtad and munafiq, so
you are halal to kill". So they start killing one another and this is exactly wh
at is happening today. You have the fanatic groups and the moderate groups, both
fighting Assad and his army. But then the fanatic groups also fight other sunni
groups because they believe using the story of Hatib, that anyone who dosen't f
ollow them is a kaafir. This type of fanaticsm and extremism is more dangerous f
or the ummah than the invasion of the non muslims to muslim lands. This is a bat
tle from within. That when we criticise these extremists, the reaction comes "yo
u must be supporting the kaafir so you are kaafir". However we all agree the for
eign policy of this land is the source of all evil and anger. But this anger mus
t be expressed in a legitimate manner. Killing innocents is not legitimate - thi
s is not the jihad Allah has allowed. When someone tries to correct them, immedi
ately they become kaafir. Why? Beacuse you are criticising them so they think if
you criticise them it's as if you are critising Allah. This is the essense of b
eing khawarij - to think only YOU are on the true path.
Note also a person who commits an act of kufr does not become a kaafir. This is
unanimous among scholars. Hatib's story is the best example of 'taweel' which me
ans 'perveted logic'. Or another exmaple is complete ignorance. The prophet PBUH
gave the example of the man who sinned all his life and when he died told his c
hildren to gather his ashers and spread them everywhere. Allah brings him back a
nd asks "why did you do this?" He said "I was scared of you oh Allah". So Allah
forgave him because of that fear even though his act was an act of kufr i.e. thi
nking by spreading the ashes he could outsmart Allah. So Allah forgave him becau
se of ignorance. Or you can be forgiven because of being forced. The story of Am
mar ibn Yasir where the prophet PBUH asked him when he was forced to bow down in
front of the idol, "how was your heart?" Ammar said "my heart is firm on the fa
ith". Even though he did kufr he didn't become a kaafir. The issues with these g
roups is they are over zealous fanatics that think their position is the only ri
ght Islam. And these groups have caused more tension and damage to the ummah mor
e than invading armies.