Tarbiyah

Umar ibn Khattab RA knew what was most worthy and most valuable. And he wanted to give the sahabah a lesson. So they were sitting in a room, and he said:

"Taman-nau! Make a wish!"

One of the sahabah said: "I wish that this room would be filled with gold..so I can spend it in the path of Allah."

And Umar said: "Taman-nau! Make a wish!"

Another sahabah said that, "I wish that this room would be filled with jewels and gems..so that I can spend it in the path of Allah."

He said, "Make a wish!"

"O amirul mu'minin, we don't know what to say. You want to fill this room with what?"

Umar ibn Khattab said: "MY wish, is that Allah 'azza wa jall fills this room, with the likes of Abu 'Ubaidah Amr ibn Al-Jarrah (in another narration Abu 'Ubaidah and Muaz ibn Jabal), so that I can send them in the path of Allah." Umar (radiyaAllahu 'anhu) is telling us and telling them that your human resources are more important than your financial resources. Theyre more important than your brick and moor. They are more important than everything you have. It is your human resources that counts.

Rasulullah SAW when he passed away, he didn't leave behind any glamourous buildings. The masjid of Madina was mud and clay. The floor was merely sand. The roof were palm leaves, and it would drip water on them when it rained. Rasulullah SAW did not pave any roads. He did not establish a financial network or business. He did not leave behind even books!

All that Rasulullah SAW left behind was alQuran. And he left it behind, not in mushafs, not in books, but he left it behind engraved in the hearts of the sahabah radiyallahu 'anhum. That was the product that Rasulullah SAW left behind. That was the effort of the da'wah of Rasulullah SAW. He left behind, the Sahabah. And every blessings that we enjoy today is because of that.

The religion did not spread much in the time of Rasulullah SAW, no. It spreads in the time of Abu Bakr and Umar (radiyaAllahu 'anhuma). In the time of Khilafah Bani Umayyah and Banu 'Abbas. Rasulullah has the Sahabah that were with him. In Madina, or Makkah, their number were not many; a hundred plusplus. These are the ones who started off with him in Makkah. But every one of these men, you could just throw them anywhere in the world and leave them. Alone! And they'd take care of the religion.

Umar ibn Khattab RA is saying, "I want such men; like Abu 'Ubaydah and Muaz ibn Jabal RA so that i can send them out, fi sabiliLLAH"

So tarbiyah is the most important thing. It is more important than your buildings, more important than the institutions. The most important thing, is the Tarbiyyah! And that, is how Islam will carry on.

[Lecture from Imam Anwar al-Awlaki on the life and times of Ummar ibn al-Khattab radiyallahu 'anhu.]