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The Firsts (Sahaba Stories) | The Forerunners of Islam
Murarah (ra) and Hilal (ra): The Companions Who Waited Too Long | The Firsts
The story of Hilal and Murarah (ra) is one we should emulate.
They made a mistake, and the Prophet ﷺ gave them specific instructions for their tawbah. Instead of being arrogant and refusing to take responsibility, they owned their mistake and made repentance.
In this episode, Dr. Omar Suleiman details their little-known experience. Reflect on how you can apply these lessons in your own life.
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings.
00:00As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh, dear brothers and sisters, welcome back to
00:10the first. Alhamdulillah wa salatu wa salamu ala Rasulullah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala. So I wanted to continue along this theme of people that were redeemed in the lifetime of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. And again, these are people who are
00:25not defined by their opposition to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, but instead they are defined by their righteousness. But they made a critical mistake and we can learn from those mistakes and we can also learn about the way that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala brought
00:37them back to him subhanahu wa ta'ala. And these are shorter episodes, they are meant to be short reflections, but on people that you rarely hear about in the seerah. And today
00:49in fact I would call these two the forgotten two that you read about in your Qur'an. They are the forgotten two from those that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, and upon the three
01:01that were left behind or that stayed behind. Now usually when you think about the story of Tabuk, you think about the most famous story of repentance, which is the story of
01:14Ka'b ibn Malik radiyallahu ta'ala anhu. It is literally one of the most gripping and emotional stories of a man coming back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, you read it in Riyadh al-Saliheen, and of course you read it in the books of Sahih, and you will find
01:28that there is this mention of the other two people besides Ka'b ibn Malik radiyallahu ta'ala anhu, but there isn't much about them. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala did not reveal
01:39in the Qur'an that Allah forgave Ka'b. Instead Allah azawajal reveals that he forgave these three people whose pain was just as real as Ka'b ibn Malik radiyallahu ta'ala anhu,
01:51and whose predicament was just as real as the predicament of Ka'b ibn Malik radiyallahu ta'ala anhu. So while we have all of these details of Ka'b radiyallahu ta'ala anhu and his very emotional story with the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, and subhanAllah the irony is that he
02:05is the one who actually preserves the memory of the other two men, we tend to focus only on him radiyallahu ta'ala anhu, and for good reason. There is so much in the story of Ka'b
02:16and his longing and waiting for that tawbah from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, that repentance from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and of the three men he is certainly the most famous
02:24companion even outside of what happened in this particular incident of Tabuk. Now let's go to the tafsir of Surah al-Tawbah verses 118 and 119 where Allah azawajal mentions
02:40the three men who stayed behind, and Hafiz Ibn Kathir rahimahu Allah ta'ala he identifies them as Murarat ibn Rabi' and Hilal ibn Umayyah al-Waqifi radiyallahu ta'ala anhuma, and he
02:53says these are the two people that Ka'b ibn Malik radiyallahu ta'ala anhu identifies in his own narration when he talks about his own tawbah back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
03:04where he says rajulayni salihayni qad shahida Badr, he said they were two righteous men that witnessed Badr, so subhanallah you have the story again of Badriyyun, the two men
03:19that we are going to talk about today being Murarat and Hilal are amongst the best companions that ever walked the face of the earth and by extension the best human beings that ever
03:29walked the face of the earth and so he said that these were two righteous men who were Badriyyun, qad shahida Badr and he said fihimaa lii uswa that in them there was an example
03:42and Ibn Hajar rahimahu Allah ta'ala he says in Fath al-Bari he says fawasafahumaa bil-salahi wa bishuhuodi Badr allatihiya a'zamu al-mashahid he said that so he described them with their
03:55righteousness and with their witnessing Badr which was the greatest of all events to witness, the greatest of all battles and so when he's saying in them I had an example he's not just
04:06saying I had an example of you know staying back or I had an example of how to observe my difficulty in the sense that the legal restrictions that were placed upon them also
04:16applied to me but also in the way that they would carry this predicament in the way that they would witness this predicament in the sincere pain that they felt for the mistake that they committed and in the sincere tawbah that they made back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
04:31there's an example of them there's an example in them in what they did before this incident and there's an example in them and how they carried themselves throughout this incident so let's talk about these two men bi'idhnillahi ta'ala first and foremost Murarat radiyallahu
04:45ta'ala anhu, Murarat ibn Rabi' who is an Ansari from the tribe of Banu Amr ibn Awf. Now if you remember when we spoke about the people of Quba, Banu Amr ibn Awf was the tribe
04:57that actually occupied the area of Quba and so whether it's Kulthum al-Hadim or Sa'd ibn Khaysamah or others may Allah be pleased with them all that hosted the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam and took care of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam they were from this
05:10tribe of Banu Amr ibn Awf and Allah azawajal praised Quba praised the construction of the masjid and he praised the people of Quba both those that were native to that area and
05:20those that came from the Muhajirun and the Ansar seeking that elevation with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and building a masjid upon the taqwa that was in their hearts out of the two companions
05:31Murarat and Hilal we don't know too much about Murarat radiyallahu ta'ala anhu except for his background in this regard and that he was a person again who witnessed Badr and that is
05:42enough because of the great honor that comes from being amongst those that attended Badr the second one is Hilal ibn Umayyah and there's actually more about Hilal radiyallahu ta'ala anhu in terms of
05:55his background to study here he's from the tribe of Banu Waqif and we'll talk about this at the end of this episode about the significance of that and why I mention it he's
06:07also the nephew of Kulthum al-Hadim radiyallahu ta'ala anhu the man who hosted the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam when he first came to al-Madinah al-Munawwarah and according to some
06:19narrations the first person to be buried in al-Baqi so Kulthum was the senior tribal leader to host the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam when he first arrived in Madinah as a Muhajir, salallahu alayhi wa sallam
06:33and he's the first person to be buried in that incredible graveyard of al-Baqi right next to the masjid of Rasul Allah salallahu alayhi wa sallam so his mother, Hilal's mother is Unaysa
06:46bint al-Hadim the sister of Kulthum al-Hadim meaning that Kulthum al-Hadim may Allah subhana ta'ala be pleased with him is the maternal uncle of Hilal radiyallahu ta'ala anhu so Hilal goes
06:59down as one of those who witnessed not only Badr but who witnessed Uhud as well and he's described as one of the early Muslims from the Ansar the early recipients of the da'wah of Mus'ab radiyallahu
07:13ta'ala anhu and there's something really important I want to mention here that just as you know in Mecca you had a long stretch of people embracing Islam at different periods in Madinah though it
07:24was a shortened period you know you're talking about especially that year that Mus'ab radiyallahu ta'ala anhu spent amongst the people you still have degrees and grades of people that were coming
07:35to the da'wah of Mus'ab radiyallahu ta'ala anhu which was the da'wah of Rasul Allah salallahu alayhi wa sallam to the city of Yathrib which would be the city of Madinah and so when someone
07:44is described as one of the early Muslims in that regard it could be not just that they were early from the Ansar but also that they were from those who embraced Islam early on within the Ansar and
07:57Ibn Sa'd says that he was the one that broke the idols of Banu Waqif so this actually shows his status of nobility right that he not only embraced Islam because his tribe embraced Islam but
08:11Hilal radiyallahu ta'ala anhu embraced Islam from a place of believing in what the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam brought so much so that he not only precedes many people in his city
08:22and becomes a Badri and someone who also attends Uhud but he's someone who takes that message of tawhid and who breaks the idols of his tribe in Banu Waqif another note by the way subhanallah
08:33he is also the one who is described in the process of li'an of uh you know taking an oath when it comes to your spouse if there is an accusation if there is a dispute in Surat an-Nur
08:47so he's actually the one who is in dispute with his wife in Surat an-Nur in this process of li'an and the accusation towards his wife as well as Sharik ibn Sahma may Allah be
09:02pleased with them all Allahumma ameen so he's actually in that case part of two ayat of the Qur'an right he's part of the ayah of Surat at-Tawbah as well as the ayah of Surat an-Nur so let's get
09:12back to the incidents in which these two men actually find their stories intersecting with the story of Ka'b ibn Malik radiyallahu ta'ala anhu it comes back to Tabuk now Tabuk is a very
09:24different campaign from the expeditions and campaigns of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam as you'll note it doesn't actually result in any battle but it was a test of the faith of the Ansar
09:39and the Muhajirun in Madinah as well it was a test of their faith and it was also an exposure of the hypocrites why because it comes at a certain time both in terms of the year as well as
09:51the maturity of the message of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam and the community of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam so this is coming in the later Madani years it's an expedition
10:02that's going to take place in the summer it's a time of great difficulty it is a faraway distance it's potentially confronting a great empire so this is no longer just a skirmish between
10:14the Muslims in Madinah and Quraysh in Mecca right or the allies of Quraysh in Mecca this is potentially now opening up the front with the Roman Empire the shade is so pleasant in Madinah
10:27the fruit is ripening people are finally resting they're getting to a place of ease and in that process hypocrisy is taking a different turn right so Abdullah ibn Ubay ibn Salul really has to keep
10:39pivoting to keep spreading nifaq in Madinah and trying to take people away from the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam by undermining the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam so he has a strategy of slandering our mother Aisha and he has a strategy here with Tabuk as well so the hypocrites
10:52obviously will stay behind and they will give their excuses to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam and Allah exposes the munafiqun but it's these three that are singled out precisely because
11:03they are not munafiqun these are just like the archers of Uhud who came down from the mountain
11:11right they're great Muslims that made a mistake right they're Badriyyun they're the best of the companions of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam and what makes this particular sin
11:25very interesting is that this sin was not rejection the sin was actually procrastination right all these three men did was they waited too long to join alongside the Prophet salallahu
11:36alayhi wa sallam and by the time they finally decided to make their move and left the comfort of their homes the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam and his men were already on their way to Tabuk
11:49ok so these are not munafiqun these are rajulayni salihayni qad shahida Badr as Ka'b radiyallahu anhu describes them two righteous men who witnessed Badr so
12:01this is not a you know bad bad people finally getting exposed moment right like in the hadith of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam where a person is destined for hell and so you know just as
12:12they're about to get to Jannah or they're doing the deeds of the people of Jannah as it appears their decree overtakes them and so they got exposed in the moment no this is not you know bad people getting exposed in a moment this is great people who are
12:26falling short in a moment and subhanallah it shows you how procrastination can become such a major sin in this regard it shows you how comforts can become such a fitna for us and this is especially true for the privileged Muslims and I would presume that the vast majority of us fall in that category right because if you think about privilege privilege is not living in a war zone privilege is having a bed to sleep in privilege is having clean water comfort can become a serious fitna for us and so it was a fitna for these men and their people of Badr even the people of Badr can have a bad day but the bad day does not erase them being the people of Badr and this is kind of the theme that
12:41we're running with as we're going through these stories so in any case these three men stay behind and they look around Madinah and they see nothing but munafiqun nothing but hypocrites and Ka'b radiyallahu ta'ala anhu when he describes the land itself starting to feel strange to him and the weeping of his two companions he mentions that as the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam comes back and the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam is taking the
13:11excuses and the hypocrites what do they do they lie to get out of their lie they lie to get out of their life right and so they might escape consequences in this world but they're going to face their consequences in the hereafter these righteous people instead they're very honest with the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam and as a result they face the consequences in this life rather than the hereafter and this is a narration from the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam right that when Allah azawajal loves a servant then he hastens their punishment for them in this
13:41world and in the hereafter there's no punishment for them so this is perhaps a sign in fact we know it's a sign of Allah azawajal's love for these three men because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala praises their tawbah in the Qur'an they could have disappeared in the ranks of the hypocrites that technically got off the hook in this life but instead they chose to face their consequences on purpose so it's also not like Hatib radiyallahu ta'ala anhu getting caught right this is no or Abu Lubabah radiyallahu ta'ala anhu coming to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam saying i made this mistake
14:11and i need to be punished this is two men or three men of course when you include Ka'b radiyallahu ta'ala anhu that knew they did something shameful and when the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam asked them
14:41they did not try to hide their shame with another lie but instead they embraced the consequences
14:53and so when the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam orders them to be essentially boycotted until Allah reveals what he will reveal in their regard Ka'b radiyallahu ta'ala anhu says
15:07as for my two companions that they stayed in their homes all these two men did was they stayed in their homes and they cried and they cried and they cried
15:22and they cried and this is actually something very interesting that three people here are going to be somewhat emotionally distinct from one another right Ka'b radiyallahu anhu when you read about
15:34how he was processing this he's trying to get in front of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam he's trying to understand what his rank is going to be he's waiting anxiously and he's the
15:44younger person he's someone who's more familiar to the rest of the companions in terms of how regular he is in the presence of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam so he's trying to get in front
15:58of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam and the companions and waiting for that tawbah to come in his of the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and the companions and waiting for that tawbah to come in his regard, right? So he's in the marketplaces, in the masjid, waiting until basically the excommunication
16:12becomes more difficult for him, and he's watching the lips of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, to see if salam is going to come back to him. Hilal and Murara, they stay at home and cry and just make du'a, and Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, says:
16:40"And upon the three who were left behind, until the earth, as vast as it is, became narrow for them."
16:48This is actually a description of someone who is in pain—that "I feel like I'm suffocating." Their own souls became narrow for them, and they knew that there was no refuge from Allah except
17:02in Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala. Allah is telling us about their inner pain, and Allah is telling us about their inner sincerity here—the pain that some of you, or all of us at some point in our
17:12lives, have probably felt: at times feeling like we're suffocating, even if you're in a vast place, even if you have a lot of people around you, even if you can look for practical ways—you're
17:24doing your favorite thing, or you have your favorite dish—or everything feels narrow and constricted, right? So these three men, they're feeling the narrowness of the earth, they're fear,
17:36they're feeling the constriction even of themselves—like they're choking out of suffocation and crying in front of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala. But they also knew that there is no escape from Allah
17:50except to Allah, and this is something we say before we go to bed, right? That there is no escape, no refuge from You except back to You. We're not going to find refuge in anything
18:05but You, O Allah. So even if the punishment that we fear is from Allah, we're not running away from Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala. We know we have to run back to Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala. So Allah is praising
18:14their sincerity in this regard as well. So Hilal and Murara are both in their homes weeping, crying, at the 40-day mark. You might remember that the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, ordered
18:27that these three men be separated from their wives, and Ka'b certainly talks about his pain in that regard. And as for Hilal, his wife came to the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and she said:
18:50She said, "O Messenger of Allah, Hilal ibn Umayyah is a helpless old man. He's not someone that can take care of himself, and he has no servant. So would you dislike that I serve him?
19:01Can I continue to serve him even if I've been separated from him?" So the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, allows for service because of how old he is and how difficult it is for him to live
19:13alone versus Ka'b. But at the same time, the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, indicates that there can't be any marital intimacy, and subhan'Allah, she basically responds saying that he doesn't desire
19:25anything anymore—like he's lost an appetite for everything—and that's a sign of his sadness. "Wallahi, ma azala yabki mundhu kana min amrihi ma kana ila yawmihi hadha"—that he has not stopped
19:38crying. I swear by Allah, he has not stopped crying since his matter began until this very day. So Hilal is at home crying—an old man has no appetite, has no desire except to be forgiven
19:53from Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala. Murara as well—no one is speaking to them. It reaches the 50-day mark,
20:00and then Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, reveals the ayah—not just the tawbah of Ka'b, not just, "O Ka'b, the best day of your life since your mother gave birth to you," but also for Hilal and Murara—these
20:15two men, the best day in their lives since their mothers gave birth to them—when Allah, subhana
20:20wa ta'ala, forgave them. Allah, 'azza wa jall, says: subhan'Allah, they knew that there's no refuge from Allah
20:30except back to Allah, so Allah turned towards them so that they could turn towards Him. You don't repent to Allah, or you don't turn to Allah first—Allah turns towards you to invite you
20:42to turn towards Him. "Inna Allaha huwa al-Tawwab, al-Rahim"—Verily, Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, is the Acceptor of Repentance and the Merciful. So much to say here in terms of the tafsir here, right? They
20:54knew they could not run away from Allah, 'azza wa jall. They had to run back to Allah, and Allah, 'azza wa jall, is saying that in order for you to turn back to Allah, He had to turn towards you. And so, just as
21:05it's a sign that Allah is to accept your du'a if you are granted the ability to make du'a, it's a sign that Allah, 'azza wa jall, is to accept your tawbah if you're given the ability to make tawbah in the
21:17first place. And so Hilal and Murara are ecstatic as they come out of their painful moments where
21:27they were alone, suffocated, and felt the pain of their sin, the pain of their procrastination. And even though subhan'Allah, Ka'b, radiyallahu ta'ala anhu's story is the one that gets preserved in
21:38the memory of the Muslims, their story also is preserved because of the story of Ka'b, radiyallahu ta'ala anhu. And of course, beyond that, Allah, 'azza wa jall, did not let the fame of Ka'b overshadow the pain
21:49of the other two. He includes all three of them in a single ayah, subhanahu wa ta'ala. And this is actually extremely important because sometimes Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, will write down your
21:59repentance, and Allah, 'azza wa jall, will write down your pain even if nobody else witnesses it, and no one else knows your words. We don't know anything about what they said, about how they dealt with it, because
22:10they were very quiet. Because they took this pain and they turned it only to Allah, 'azza wa jall. And their individual tawbah is not traced or not recorded in history. But what we do know is that
22:23on the day of Fath Makkah, on the day of the conquest, if you would have seen the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, approaching with his companions, that it wasn't just Ka'b, radiyallahu ta'ala anhu, next to the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, with his poetry. It was also Hilal, who
22:37the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, gave the blessing of carrying the banner of Banu Waqif on that day. And so the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, gives another sign of redemption: that just as Hilal was
22:50the first one to break the idols of his tribe, and just as Hilal was a Badri and someone who witnessed Uhud with the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, that on the day of Fath Makkah, despite him falling back
23:03on the day of Tabuk, he will carry the banner of his people. And may Allah, 'azza wa jall, make us amongst those who are constantly turned back to Him in tawbah.
23:15Allahumma ameen. Jazakum Allahu khayran, wa assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.































































































































































































