What Shaykh Hamad al-Ansaari[1] said About
Makkah & Madinah[2]
Compiled & translated
By
Abbas Abu Yahya
1 – The Heat of Makkah
AbdulAwal bin Hamad al-Ansaari said:
My father said: ‘Indeed there are many benefits to the heat of Makkah. This country of the Haramain (Makkah & Madina) is not for recreation, but rather it is for worship.’[3]
AbdulAwal bin Hamad al-Ansaari said:
I heard him say: ‘Once a very elderly man said to me: ‘Why is it that al-Madina and Makkah have very severe heat and cold, and the air in them is dry?’
Shaykh Hamad answered him:
‘The wisdom behind this condition is that Allaah made these two places for worship and for seeking goodness, not for recreation. Because if the land was green in these two places, then the people would come for recreation and not for worship.’[4]
2 – ‘Mawlid an-Nabi’
‘There used to be in Makkah al-Mukarramah – may Allaah honour it, Ameen – a place called ‘Mawlid an-Nabi’, and this place was were they used to gather the donkeys, and these donkeys belonged to the deviants. When it came to the month of Rajab they would ride them to Madina, this was in the year 1369 A.H. until the government prohibited them from this action. They would do this even though there were cars and planes, but they used to worship ar-Rahman (Allaah) in this way. So the religious endowment built a library there which is still there till now called the ‘Maktabah al-Haram al-Makki’.’[5]
3 – A Place of Knowledge
AbdulAwal bin Hamad al-Ansaari said:
‘There never used to be a place in the Masjid al-Haram in Makkah except that there was a teacher teaching.’[6]
4 – King AbdulAzeez
‘When King AbdulAziz entered the Hijaz (Makkah & Madina area) there were a lot of deviants living in it. King AbdulAziz placed one of the scholars of Najd in authority over it, and he used to deal harshly with them, whereby he would bring them to his office and he would command them to write their repentance in returning back, away from Bida’. However, they would agree to the contract but they would not fulfil the contract, and most of them died upon their ‘Aqeedah opposing that what the Salaf as-Salih were upon.’[7]
5 – Different Nationalities in Madina
AbdulAwal bin Hamad al-Ansaari said:
‘A person asked me about the reason for the different nationalities of people in al-Madina an-Nabaweeyah?
So I said to him: ‘These different nationalities of people has been spoken about by the Prophet -sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam- in his statement: ‘Indeed al-Eemaan will return and be established in al-Madina just like a snake returns back to its hole.’
AbdulAwal bin Hamad al-Ansaari said:
‘I heard my father more than once say: Indeed a snake does not have a hole, because it cannot dig so it enters another animal’s hole. Likewise people come from many different lands to Madina and it is not their country yet they become resident there.’[8]
[1]For a Brief Biography of the Shaykh refer to : http://followingthesunnah.wordpress.com/2012/09/13/a-brief-biography-of-shaykh-allaama-al-muhaddith-hamad-al-ansaari/
[2]The statements here were taken from the biography of the Shaykh, which was compiled by the Shaykh’s son AbdulAwal bin Hamad al-Ansaari who is a teacher in the faculty of Hadeeth in the prestigious Islaamic University of Madina. The Collection is called:‘al-Majmoo’ Fee Tarjama al-Allama al-Muhaddith ash-Shaykh Hamad bin Muhammad al-Ansaari -Rahimullaah- wa Seeratahi wa Aqwaalihi wa Rihlatihi’. It is a large two-volume collection of the sayings, wisdom and various biographies of the Shaykh. The statements in this translation are all from his son AbdulAwal unless stated otherwise.
[3] [Vol. 2 P. 571 No. 141]
[4] [Vol.2 P. 571 No. 221]
[5] [Vol.2 p. 688 No. 40]
[6] [Vol.2 p. 683 No. 6]
[7] [Vol.2 p. 491 No. 113]
[8] [Vol.2 p. 761 No. 13]