The Life of Muhammad ﷺ Chapter 1: The House of God (2021-12-04) ​

0:00:02 in this video i'm going to be reading a
0:00:04 chapter from muhammad his life based on
0:00:07 the earliest sources by martin lings
0:00:11 this is a truly extraordinary biography
0:00:15 and on the inside cover it says the
0:00:17 following and i heartily endorse these
0:00:19 words
0:00:20 martin ling's life of muhammad is unlike
0:00:24 any other
0:00:25 based on arabic sources of the 8th and
0:00:28 9th centuries
0:00:30 it owes the freshness and directness of
0:00:33 its approach to the words of the men and
0:00:35 women who heard muhammad speak and
0:00:38 witness the events of his life
0:00:41 martin lings has an unusual gift for
0:00:44 narrative
0:00:46 he has adopted a style which is at once
0:00:49 extremely readable and reflects both the
0:00:51 beauty and the simplicity and grandeur
0:00:54 of the story
0:00:56 the result is something that can be read
0:00:58 with equal enjoyment by those already
0:01:01 familiar with muhammad's life
0:01:03 and those coming to it for the first
0:01:06 time
0:01:07 and the book won a number of awards when
0:01:10 it was first published
0:01:12 so in this video i'm just going to read
0:01:14 chapter one each of the chapters in this
0:01:16 book uh is conveniently quite bite-sized
0:01:19 someone can read a chapter in each video
0:01:22 and i might just do that god willing so
0:01:24 in chapter one entitled the house of god
0:01:29 muhammad assad writes
0:01:32 the book of genesis
0:01:34 tells us that that abraham was childless
0:01:37 without the hope of children
0:01:40 and that one night god summoned him out
0:01:43 of his tent and said to him
0:01:45 look now towards heaven and count the
0:01:48 stars if thou art able to number them
0:01:52 and as abraham gazed up at the stars he
0:01:55 heard the voice say
0:01:57 so shall thy seed be
0:02:01 abraham's wife sarah was then 76 years
0:02:05 old he being 85 and long past the age of
0:02:09 child bearing
0:02:11 so she gave him her handmade hagar an
0:02:14 egyptian
0:02:15 that he might take her as his second
0:02:18 wife
0:02:20 but bitterness of feeling arose between
0:02:22 the mistress and the handmaid and hagar
0:02:26 fled from the anger of sarah and cried
0:02:29 to god in her distress
0:02:33 and he sent to her an angel with the
0:02:35 message
0:02:37 i will multiply thy seed exceedingly
0:02:41 that it shall not be numbered for
0:02:43 multitude
0:02:45 the angel also said to her behold thou
0:02:48 art with child and shall bear a son and
0:02:52 shall call his name ishmael
0:02:55 because the lord hath heard thy
0:02:57 affliction
0:02:59 then hagar returned to abraham and sarah
0:03:02 and told them what the angel had said
0:03:05 and when the birth took place abraham
0:03:08 named his son ishmael
0:03:10 which means god shall hear
0:03:15 when abraham had reached his 100th year
0:03:18 and sarah was 90 years old god spoke
0:03:21 again to abraham and promised him that
0:03:24 sarah also should bear him a son
0:03:28 who must be called isaac
0:03:31 fearing that his elder son might thereby
0:03:33 lose favor in the sight of god
0:03:36 abraham prayed
0:03:38 o that ishmael might live before thee
0:03:41 and god said to him
0:03:44 as for ishmael i have heard thee
0:03:46 behold i have blessed him and i will
0:03:49 make him a great nation
0:03:52 but my covenant will i establish with
0:03:55 isaac
0:03:56 which sarah shall bear unto thee at this
0:03:59 set time in the next year
0:04:02 that's genesis chapter 17 verse 20.
0:04:07 sarah gave birth to isaac and it was she
0:04:10 herself who suckled him
0:04:12 and when he was weaned she told abraham
0:04:15 that hagar and her son must no longer
0:04:19 remain in their household
0:04:22 and abraham was deeply grieved at this
0:04:25 on account of his love for ishmael but
0:04:28 again god spoke to him and told him to
0:04:30 follow the council of sarah and not to
0:04:34 grieve
0:04:35 and again he promised him the ishmael
0:04:38 should be blessed
0:04:41 not one
0:04:42 but two great nations were to look back
0:04:45 to abraham as their father
0:04:48 two great nations that is two guided
0:04:52 powers two instruments to work the will
0:04:55 of heaven
0:04:57 for god does not promise as a blessing
0:04:59 that which is profane
0:05:02 nor is there any greatness before god
0:05:05 except greatness in the spirit
0:05:09 abraham was thus the fountainhead of two
0:05:12 spiritual streams which must not flow
0:05:15 together
0:05:17 but each in its own course
0:05:20 and he entrusted hagar and ishmael to
0:05:23 the blessing of god and the care of his
0:05:26 angels in the certainty that all will be
0:05:29 well with them
0:05:32 two spiritual streams two religions two
0:05:36 worlds for god two circles therefore two
0:05:40 centers
0:05:42 a place is never holy through the choice
0:05:44 of man but because it has been chosen in
0:05:48 heaven
0:05:50 there were only there were two holy
0:05:52 centers within the orbit of abraham one
0:05:55 of these was at hand the other perhaps
0:05:58 he did not yet know
0:06:00 and it was to the other that hagar and
0:06:03 ishmael were guided
0:06:05 in a barren valley of arabia
0:06:08 some 40 camel days
0:06:11 south of canaan
0:06:13 the valley was called becca
0:06:16 some say on account of its narrowness
0:06:19 hills surrounded on all sides except for
0:06:22 three passes
0:06:24 one to the north one to the south and
0:06:26 one opening towards the red sea which is
0:06:29 50 miles to the west
0:06:32 the books do not tell us how hagar and
0:06:35 her son reached becca
0:06:38 according to the traditions of the arabs
0:06:40 accepted by most muslims ishmael was
0:06:43 still a babe in arms when hagar brought
0:06:46 him to the valley of becker
0:06:50 perhaps some travellers took care of
0:06:52 them for the value was one was on one of
0:06:55 the great caravan routes sometimes
0:06:58 called the incense route
0:07:01 because perfumes and incense and such
0:07:03 wares were brought that way from south
0:07:06 arabia to the mediterranean
0:07:09 and no doubt hager was guided to leave
0:07:11 the caravan once the place was reached
0:07:15 it was not long before both mother and
0:07:18 son were overcome by thirst
0:07:22 to the point that hagar feared ishmael
0:07:25 was dying
0:07:27 according to the traditions of their
0:07:29 descendants he cried out to god from
0:07:31 where he lay in the sand and his mother
0:07:34 stood on a rock at the foot of a nearby
0:07:38 eminence to see if any help was in sight
0:07:43 seeing no one she hastened to another
0:07:46 point of vantage
0:07:48 but from there likewise not a soul was
0:07:51 to be seen
0:07:53 half distraught she passed seven times
0:07:57 in all between the two points
0:08:00 until at the end of her seventh course
0:08:03 as she sat for rest on the further rock
0:08:07 the angel spoke to her
0:08:10 in the words of the book of genesis
0:08:14 and god heard the voice of the lad and
0:08:17 the angel of the lord called to hagar
0:08:20 out of heaven and said to her
0:08:23 what elith the hagar
0:08:25 fear not for god hath heard the voice of
0:08:28 the lad where he is
0:08:30 arise and lift up the lad and hold him
0:08:33 in thy hand
0:08:35 for i will make him a great nation
0:08:39 and god opened her eyes
0:08:41 and she saw
0:08:43 a well of water
0:08:46 that's genesis chapter 21 verses 17
0:08:50 onwards
0:08:52 the water was a spring which god caused
0:08:54 to well up from the sand at the touch of
0:08:57 ishmael's heel
0:08:59 and thereafter the valley soon became a
0:09:01 halt for caravans by reason of the
0:09:04 excellence and abundance of the water
0:09:08 and the well was named zamzam
0:09:13 as to genesis
0:09:15 it is the book of isaac and his
0:09:17 descendants
0:09:19 not of abraham's other line
0:09:22 of ishmael it tells us
0:09:25 and god was with the lad and he grew and
0:09:28 dwelt in the wilderness and became an
0:09:31 archer
0:09:33 that's chapter 21 verse 17 17-20
0:09:36 after that it barely mentions his name
0:09:39 except to inform us that the two
0:09:41 brothers isaac and ishmael together
0:09:44 buried their father in hebron
0:09:47 and that some years later esau married
0:09:50 his cousin
0:09:52 the daughter of ishmael
0:09:55 but there is indirect praise of ishmael
0:09:58 and his mother in the psalm
0:10:00 which opens
0:10:02 how amiable are thy tabernacles o lord
0:10:05 of hosts
0:10:07 and which tells of the miracle of zamzam
0:10:10 as having been caused by their passing
0:10:13 through the valley
0:10:15 blessed is the man whose strength is in
0:10:18 thee in whose heart are the ways of them
0:10:21 who passing through the valley of baka
0:10:25 make it a well
0:10:27 that's psalm 84 verse 5 and 6.
0:10:32 when hagar and ishmael reached reached
0:10:35 their destination
0:10:37 abraham had still 75 years to live
0:10:41 and he visited his son in that holy
0:10:43 place to which hagar had been guided
0:10:47 the quran tells us that god showed him
0:10:50 the exact site
0:10:52 near to the well of zamzam
0:10:55 upon which he and ishmael must build a
0:10:59 sanctuary
0:11:01 and they were told how it must be built
0:11:04 its name
0:11:05 kaaba
0:11:06 cube is in virtue of its shape which is
0:11:10 approximately cubic
0:11:12 its four corners are four are towards
0:11:15 the four points of the compass
0:11:18 but the most holy object in that holy
0:11:21 place is a celestial stone which it is
0:11:24 said was brought by an angel to abraham
0:11:28 from the nearby hill abu kubays
0:11:31 where it had been preserved ever since
0:11:34 it had reached the earth
0:11:37 the prophet said it descended from
0:11:39 paradise whiter than milk
0:11:42 but the sins of the sons of adam made it
0:11:45 black
0:11:47 this black stone they built into the
0:11:49 eastern corner of the kaaba
0:11:52 and when the sanctuary was completed god
0:11:54 spoke again to abraham and made him
0:11:57 institute the right of pilgrimage to
0:12:00 becker
0:12:02 or mecca as it later came to be called
0:12:06 purify my house for those who go the
0:12:09 rounds of it and who stand beside it and
0:12:12 bow and make prostration and proclaim
0:12:16 unto men the pilgrimage that they may
0:12:19 come unto thee on foot and on every lean
0:12:23 camel out of every deep ravine
0:12:27 that's from the crown
0:12:29 now hagar had told abraham of her search
0:12:33 for help
0:12:34 and he made it part of the writer
0:12:36 pilgrimage that the pilgrims should pass
0:12:39 seven times between safar and mawa
0:12:43 for so the two eminences between which
0:12:46 she had passed came to be named
0:12:50 and later abraham prayed perhaps in
0:12:53 canaan looking around him at the rich
0:12:56 pastures and fields of corn and wheat
0:13:00 verily i have settled a line of mine
0:13:03 offspring in a toothless valley at thine
0:13:07 holy house
0:13:09 therefore incline unto them men's hearts
0:13:12 and sustain them with fruits that they
0:13:16 may be
0:13:16 thankful
0:13:18 that's the quran chapter 14
0:13:21 verse 37.
0:13:24 so this is a beautifully written book
0:13:26 martin ling's um as an englishman
0:13:29 himself a revert to islam
0:13:33 god willing i will read a chapter of
0:13:36 this in each succeeding video over the
0:13:39 coming weeks and maybe months
0:13:42 until next time