The Prophets Of Allah

Religious Status of the World -2

Does this mean that the entire society was idolatrous? No. History records that there were some exceptions to this rule. And it is very interesting to look at these exceptions and to derive some benefit and wisdom from this. And the book of seerah mentioned that there were a handful of people called Hanif, Hunafaa (plural, Hunafaa; singular, Hanif). And Hanif means, 'turning away from'. So the Hanif or Hunafaa are turning away from shirk/associating others with Allah and turning to Allah SWT. This is what Hanif means. That they're turning away from shirk; and they're turning to Allah.

We mentioned some of the stories of the Hunafaa; one of the most interesting Hunafaa -which we only have literally four, five paragraphs of knowledge about-, is Quss ibn Sa'ida. Quss ibn Sa'ida was not from the Quraish. He was from the Banu Iyad, a tribe that was far away. In modern day, around Oman and Bahrain, that area. And Quss ibn Sa'ida was probably around 80, 90 when the Prophet SAW saw him as a young man. So the Prophet SAW met Quss ibn Sa'ida when he was in his twenties. And Quss ibn Sa'ida would come to Makkah for the hajj. Remember the hajj is a universal right, people from all over Arabia are coming. So Quss ibn Sa'ida came from the Banu Iyad and he was preaching against idolatry. And it is mentioned that he was one of the most eloquent of the poets. And his poetry (or his rajs, which is not quite poetry. It's a manner of speaking), some people have said: it is the most resembling of the language of the Qur'an. And this shows us that he was upon the fitrah, and the closest to the religion of Islam. So for example he has (and I quote some Arabic here):

يا أيها الناس، اسمعوا وعوا، وإذا سمعتم شيئا فانتفعوا، إنه من عاش مات، ومن مات فات، وكل ما هو آت آت

And it goes on. "O people. Listen to me and understand. And when you hear, then benefit. Because whoever lives of a surety will die. And whoever dies has...finished (there's nothing more for him to do). And everything that Allah has decreed will indeed come about."

And he has:

يا معشر إياد، أين ثمود وعاد، وأين الآباء والأجداد، أين المعروف الذي لم يشكر، والظلم الذي لم ينكر، أقسم قس بالله إن لله لدينا أرضى من دينكم هذا

"O people of Iyad, where is Thamud where is 'Aad? Where are your fathers and where are your grandfathers? And who will reward the one who does good but he was never rewarded? And who will punish the one who does injustice but he was never punished?" In other words: 'Do you think this is it? Do you think there's no hereafter? Who's going to reward the one who does good but he was never rewarded? And who's going to punish the one who does evil but he was never punished?' - he's referencing to the Day of Judgment. "I swear by Allah that there must be a religion better than the religion you are upon." - he doesn't know it because there's no prophecy. He doesn't know it because the Prophet SAW has not yet been sent.

And it is said many many years later in the ninth year of the Hijra; this is 50 or 40 years after the Prophet SAW's first met Quss, that when the Banu Iyad came to accept Islam, the Prophet SAW said: "Where is Quss ibn Sa'ida? Who amongst you knows him?" So they said: "He died a long time ago - for a decade or something ago." So the Prophet SAW said: "I remember him on a camel, a red camel, and I remember that he had mesmerizing speech. Can anybody amongst you remind me of it?" So they reminded him of that speech, in this is some of what I narrated to you right now. So they reminded him of what Quss said and the Prophet SAW liked what Quss had said. - And this shows that there was some remnants of tawheed/Oneness of God.

The most important Hunafaa were four. Quss is one of them, but the most important were four.

And we have a number of details about them. Ibn Hisham narrates, -very beautiful story-, he says that: before the coming of the Prophet SAW, the Quraish held a huge festival outside of Makkah and they invited the entire city to celebrate with their idols. And they exalted their idols, they sacrificed, they did tawaf around their idols; when the entire city of Makkah left, four people found themselves remaining behind. And they realize when they found themselves remaining behind, that they are all upon the same wavelength. They're too embarrassed to tell people about this. So they didn't want to go. When they let the whole society leave, -the city's empty for a few days-, lo and behold, they thought they're going to be alone, (but) four people were there. So when the four people realize that 'we're all in the same wavelength here', they said 'let us befriend one another; and let us not tell our people about our affair, that we disagree with this idolatry'.