Bismillah hir-Rahman nir-Rahim
The Macho Men Today by Sheikh Zahir Mahmood
You know what kind of man Abu Bakar was? He wasn’t a big guy. But he had a big heart. Today we have many big guys. The big guys do it for the wrong reasons. And we don’t have enough people who have big enough heart for the truth and that's the problem. We have enough sell outs. We have enough people. You know, who will go and beat up some other innocent person or somebody who’s weaker than them but will they ever do anything strong for the sake of Allah? They won’t because it dents their machoness. That's what it is, and the Prophet SAW spoke about the strong man said “A strong man is the one who can control his anger”. Not he who can punch out somebody’s lights.
And Abu Bakar RA, you know what kind of man he was? Aisha RA narrates : “He was thin, he was so thin that his trousers would not remain around his waist”. Subhanallah, “He was so thin that his eyes had sunk in”. That you could see the bones in his fingers, they would protrude because he was so thin. And when he walk, he didn’t walk with a step. He didn’t walk with an attitude. He actually walk with a stoop. They say Abu Bakar RA was the weakest in body but when it came to the commands of Allah, he was the strongest!
When you look at macho man and you make them your role models, then why don’t you compare them to the Prophet SAW? The Prophet SAW fought with people, for what? Not to beat people up, to bring them closer to Allah. In the time of the Prophet SAW there was a man called Rukana and Rukana was the undisputed wrestler of his time. In those days, Umar Ibn Khattab RA and Khalid Ibn Waleed RA were wrestler. But nobody ever had defeated Rukana. And upon occasion he came to the Prophet SAW. And he said “Oh Muhammad, if you beat me i will embrace Islam”. And the Prophet SAW got happy. He got elated. He said “Will you actually embrace Islam if i beat you?”. He said “Yes”. And he grabbed Rukana and his floored him. And Rukana had never been floored before that day. And he stood up and he gave it the usual “Oh, i weren’t looking”. “You know, my foot slipped”. But the ulama mention look at this, the Prophet SAW was ready. Subhanallah! He was ready to fight with people to bring them to the Haq!
Compare that with us! You know this sick concept of macho man that we have nowadays. This sick concept that we have. You know, somebody who can make somebody an orphan, somebody who can push drugs, who can carry a piece (gun), these are role models for our youngsters, why? The reason is because we have failed to give them alternative role models. If you had just told you child about Khalid bin Waleed RA,before they slept, they wouldn’t have looked up to local drug dealer. If you had given them examples of Abdullah Ibn Mubarak RH, they wouldn’t have looked at to other people. But did we do that? No! We told them Cinderella! That’s what we told them about.
And Rukana stood up again and he said “Give me another chance”. And the Prophet SAW grabbed him and he decked him again! And Rukana was shocked. That never happened to him before. And the Prophet SAW said “Oh Rukana, if hang around with me, i will show you greater things than me battering you!”. And Rukana said “What could be more greater than this?”. And the Prophet SAW indicated towards a tree and the tree ripped through the earth. And it stood in front Prophet SAW and it bore witness that there is no God but Allah and “You are his messenger!”. And the Prophet SAW turn to Rukana and his said “Oh Rukana, i told you hang around with me and i will show things which are greater than me battering you”.
But this was the life of Prophet SAW and the examples go on and on. We live in a shallow society. Where you know, you judge people by how good looking you are. So you got plenty of hair. Then you might become prime minister, that’s where William Hague lost out. You know you’re good looking, but good looks are, you know only skin deep. But if that is what you looking at, then is there anybody looks who can compare with the looks of the Prophet SAW. Jabir RA mentions “I saw the Prophet SAW on the night of the full moon and i looked at the face of the Prophet SAW, and i looked at the full moon, and i looked at the face of the Prophet SAW, and then i looked at the full moon, and then i looked at his face again and i looked at the full moon”, he said “I swear by Allah, the face of the Prophet SAW was more radiant and more beautiful then the full moon”.
You know what the story? Tell your children this story tonight of Zulaikha is? Zulaikha was the wife of the Aziz. She was an honorable woman. And she fell i love with Yusuf AS who was a slave. And the news spread around that she was infatuated with this slave. So the other honorable woman started saying, you know “How did she?”. “How did she fall in love with him?”. Let me put it in a context that you can understand it. “How did Raja Shahib’s daughter fall in love with so and so?”. And i wont mention “How did Raja Shahib’s daughter fall in love with him?”. So she gathered all the woman and she gave them an apple and she said “Cut the apple”. And whilst they were cutting the apple, she told Yusuf AS to walk past.
The Prophet SAW said “Yusuf AS was given half of the beauty of humanity”. And when he walked past they saw his beauty. They were so immersed in his beauty whilst they were cutting the apples, they cut through their fingers. And they did not even feel the pain. Aisha RA mentions: “If the women of Zulaikha had seen my Muhammad SAW, they would’ve cut their hearts and and felt no pain”.
