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Abu Lubabah (ra): A Rope Only the Prophet ﷺ Could Untie | The Firsts
Abu Lubabah (ra) was a top chief and one of the very first to pledge allegiance to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. But when he made a devastating mistake, he didn’t run, deny, or cover it up. He went straight to the Prophet ﷺ’s masjid and did something extraordinary.
Learn what his powerful story teaches us about true self-accountability, honesty, and the mercy of Allah.
The verse that was revealed about him:
“Some others have confessed their wrongdoing: they have mixed goodness with evil. It is right to hope that Allah will turn to them in mercy. Surely Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” (Qur’an, 9:102)
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings.
00:00The next person we'll talk about, very similar story, very similar background, and he has
00:15a special connection to Medina that you will never look at the masjid of the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, the same. I promise you. Okay? You're going to see a very specific place in the masjid of the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, and I hope that you'll remind me if Allah facilitates your 'umrah or hajj
00:29and you'll say, "Oh wow, that's that pillar." And he is the companion Abu Lubabah ibn al-Mundhir, radiallahu ta'ala anhu. Abu
00:38Lubabah, radiallahu ta'ala anhu, ibn al-Mundhir. His actual name is Bashir. He's named Abu Lubabah because of his daughter Lubabah. Okay?
00:53So, this is a man who has a pillar in the masjid of the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam that's dedicated to him, the pillar of Abu Lubabah, radiallahu ta'ala anhu.
01:05And what is the story of this man, Abu Lubabah, radiallahu ta'ala anhu? Very similar to what we mentioned of Hatib. He was a loyal companion of the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
01:19His name, as we said, was Bashir. Some of the scholars said, Rifa'ah ibn Hibban says, and the first opinion that Bashir is more correct.
01:27And he was one of the twelve nuqaba', one of the twelve chiefs who gave bay'ah to the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, from the Ansar.
01:37So he's one of the twelve supreme Ansar who came to the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam initially in Mecca and gave the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, the pledge and received the Messenger of Allah, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, in al-Medina.
01:52So he's one of the first Muslims from the Ansar and one of the chiefs of the Ansar.
01:58And he is so trusted that Istakhlafahu Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam 'ala al-Medina, haythu kharaja ila Badr. The Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, actually left him in charge of Medina when he went to Badr.
02:13So he was the Sahabi from Medina in charge of Medina when Badr happened. And the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, allotted for him a share and a reward.
02:25The Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, counted him as someone who fought in Badr because he played a role in Badr. He did what the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, told him. He watched Medina and catered to al-Medina and made sure that it was okay as the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam went out to Badr.
02:39He also istakhlafahu Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam hayna kharaja ila ghazwat al-sawiq. When the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, went out to Ghazwat al-Sawiq, Ghazwat al-Sawiq— what is sawiq? You guys know what sawiq is? It's barley.
02:54It's an interesting ghazwah. Most of the battles of the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, never actually ended up in battles. They were expeditions. And in fact, I remember in one of the museums about the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
03:07in Medina, they actually showed you how many battles did not actually end up in any fighting. But the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, was repelling something and moving forward. Ghazwat al-Sawiq is one of those like unknown battles. So I'll tell you what Ghazwat al-Sawiq is.
03:21Ghazwat al-Sawiq is after Badr. Remember Abu Sufyan avoided Badr. He took his caravan and he avoided Badr, right? Now when he heard the news of what happened at Badr, he initially thought, let me catch
03:36the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, off guard. And so he collaborated with Banu Nadhir in Medina, one of the Jewish tribes in Medina.
03:45Sallam from Banu Nadhir, and he took 200 horsemen and he was plotting an attack on the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and collaborating with Banu Nadhir, one of the chieftains of
03:57Banu Nadhir, to hurt the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, unexpectedly because he was driven by rage that he missed Badr. And this is before he's even going to go back to Mecca. Like he doesn't want to show his face in Mecca because what shame. You fled Badr with your caravan.
04:11You let your companions be killed at Badr. What shame, right? The Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, found out about his plot and Rasulullah, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, basically chased him. So Abu Sufyan had made it to Uraid, which was somewhere like the cornfields outside
04:26of Medina. It's a few miles out of Medina. Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, found out, and Rasulullah, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, pursued Abu Sufyan with those companions after Badr, in the immediate aftermath of Badr,
04:38and Abu Sufyan had to run away from the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, now, and they had to lighten the load of their camels and their horses. So they dropped back the sawiq, their barley. So it became known as Ghazwat al-Sawiq.
04:51So when the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, went out to pursue, or his type of flour, the barley, when he went out to pursue them, he left also Abu Lubabah, radiallahu ta'ala anhu, in charge of Medina.
05:04So Abu Lubabah is considered a Badri companion. He's one of the twelve nuqaba' of al-Medina. He witnessed Uhud, radiallahu ta'ala anhu, and he also witnessed all of
05:15the other, sa'ir al-mashahid, all of the other campaigns with the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Now, his incident also comes from a place of goodness, like a human goodness.
05:26It's actually not vulnerability, but something good that pulled on him. Because he was considered one of the seniors of the Ansar, he was from Banu 'Amr ibn 'Awf,
05:39which was one of the chief tribes of al-Aws. And Aus had a relationship with Banu Qurayza, the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza, right?
05:53And Abu Lubabah was someone who was loved, someone who was respected, and the Messenger of Allah, someone dealing with the treachery of these tribes, he actually gave them the ability to have say in who will judge. And so they wanted Sa'd ibn Mu'adh. Why?
06:07Because they were close to Sa'd, Sa'd will judge, right? So after the Khandaq, after the Battle of al-Ahzab, when the treachery of Banu Qurayza
06:18was known, and Banu Qurayza was worried now that the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, will come after them because of what they did, they actually tried to kill the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and his companions. I mean they actively collaborated with those that were coming from the outside.
06:33They asked the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, that the ambassador between them and him will be Abu Lubabah, right? Because we know Abu Lubabah and we love Abu Lubabah, we have a good relationship with him,
06:44so they're hoping for some mercy. So Abu Lubabah, radiallahu ta'ala anhu, he comes to meet Banu Qurayza and he sees them crying
06:55and he sees them afraid and they're playing the emotional card with Abu Lubabah: you remember who we are to you, we have this qarabah, we have this closeness to you. Can you intercede
07:07on behalf of us with the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, so that we're not taken to task for what we've done? And what do you think the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, is intending, like can you give us a hint, like what's coming next?
07:21Abu Lubabah wants to give them a hint, so Abu Lubabah, when they're asked like: should we prepare like for the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, to come after us now? Like they've
07:32been pushing and agitating, but this was like they tried to go for the kill of the Messenger of Allah, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam—like they literally attacked. So they said: should we, you know, should we prepare, what do we do here?
07:46And Abu Lubabah, out of a sense of old friendship, he actually says to them, listen, you understand? What does that mean?
07:58He's coming, like no, the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, is actually going to, the battle is going to happen, like he's going to come after you because of what you did here. You should prepare yourselves for battle here. This is not a small thing.
08:12This was the gesture, just: you're in trouble. That's my sign to you. If Abu Lubabah doesn't tell the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, what he did, which he's compromising the mission now too, similar to Hatib, right?
08:27But if he keeps it to himself, no one knows. He comes back to the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. This is what happened, delivers the message, and the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, makes his preparations for the battle
08:37of Banu Qurayza. After what happened, Abu Lubabah could sneak off. But look at his sincerity.
08:43He said: as soon as I did that, my feet didn't move except that I realized I just betrayed
08:57Allah and the Messenger, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. What I did was treason here. This is betrayal. So what does he do? Does he prepare his excuse so when the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, asked me—because like the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, finds everything out? He's a Nabi.
09:12Allah tells him. Even if I don't tell him, Jibreel 'Alaihi Assalam is going to tell him. I mean, letters get pulled out of women's braids. The Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, tells the leaders in Mecca about some secret meeting that they're having. Al-'Abbas, what he's hiding in his home, Quraysh about the letter and what happened to the letter
09:24in the Ka'bah. Abu Lubabah knows the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, and he believes in the Prophet, Sallallahu Abu Lubaba knows the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and he believes in the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. So does he sit there and like prepare his excuse and then count on the Hatib Radiallahu
09:37Anhu method of just the kindness and the mercy of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam says, let me go. No, Abu Lubaba immediately does what? He goes to the Masjid of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. He has a rope with him.
09:52He goes to a pillar right in the middle of the Masjid, ties himself up, calls his daughter and tells her, tie me up. Makes himself a prisoner in the Masjid of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
10:07You walk into the Masjid, what are you doing? Right? Like this is what was done to a chief, right? Does anyone remember his name?
10:22The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam tied up, right? And he came, who was it? You're close. You're close. There's a particular, I'll let you all think about it.
10:35I'm actually not going to give you the answer. There was a chief that plotted against the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. And he wanted to hurt the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, you got his last name, Sheikh. Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam tied him up because he foiled his plot in the Masjid
10:49and he let him watch the Muslims for three days. Okay. All right. I'll let you think about it later, Insha'Allah. No, I'll tell you now, so you don't think about it, Thumamah, Thumamah ibn Uthah, Thumamah, right? And the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, Atliq Thumamah, let Thumamah go when
11:03he saw the Muslims and he kept on trying to bribe the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, let him go after three days. And he became Muslim, came back and became a huge source of victory for Islam.
11:14Abu Lubaba tied himself to the pillar and people are walking up to him like, what are you doing? And he says, I betrayed Allah and the Messenger Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
11:27And I'm going to sit here until Allah forgives me. I'm going to stay in this Masjid. Lack wa-Ashrab. I'm not going to eat. I'm not going to drink. I'm not going to go home until Allah reveals my forgiveness.
11:44How beautiful, sincere. And no, please, if you make a mistake, don't tie yourself to the pillar in Valley Ranch Masjid or any other Masjid and say, this is my tawbah. You know, until I'm forgiven, I'm not going to let go. We only have, Alhamdulillah, two pillars in the Masjid.
11:58So we don't have too many pillars. We don't have enough for you to do that. But on a serious note, yeah, it's overboard. You don't have to do that. But is it sincere? The man is practically putting himself out there
12:12and actively holding himself accountable and saying, I committed this major sin. Extremely sincere. And it teaches you a lesson in tawbah, by the way, that when you commit a sin,
12:26are you more worried about getting caught or Allah forgiving you? Most people get mad only when they get caught. And their sadness, their greater sadness is about the worldly consequence
12:39over the possibility of losing Allah's love, of losing that position with Allah Azza wa Jal. Are you sadder about the public fall or are you sadder about the fall of divine pleasure towards you?
12:53What's actually bothering you? You know, I always give this example. I remember when, it used to be a scandal when someone cheated on their wives. Back in the day, before it was like, I mean, before the Epstein files and all this stuff,
13:07that the new world that we live in where this khubuth, this filth is actually like prevalent, right? I remember like when Tiger Woods, I don't know if any of you remember that time, when like Tiger Woods first got caught, like affairs with like 20 women and it was like humiliating.
13:20And like, I remember, so I'll never forget this, that before he did his press conference to apologize, the commentators were talking about how will we know if his apology was sincere? And then after the press conference, they were analyzing his facial expressions,
13:35what he said, did he really appear sincere or is he just mad because he got caught? Right? Allah knows the hearts. A'lam ma tuwaddun wa ma kuntum taktumun. I know what you hide, I know what you put out. When you commit a sin,
13:48are you mad you got caught by your parents? Are you mad you got caught by your friends? Are you mad you got caught and scandalized or whatever it may be? Or are you mad that you committed the sin and disobeyed Allah?
14:02Abu Lubaba is putting himself on the pillar. So what does he do? Every Salah, his family comes in, unties him.
14:14He prays jama'ah, ties him back up. When he needs to use the bathroom, his family comes in, unties him. He goes and he uses the restroom and he says, tie me back up to the pillar.
14:27And the Sahabah are like, Abu Lubaba, stop. And he's saying, until Allah forgives me, until Allah forgives me, until Allah forgives me. Hatta yatuba allahu alayh. Till Allah forgives me.
14:41So the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam doesn't say anything to him. He leaves him. He stays in that way for 10 days. Okay? And actually if you can put it up on the screen, Insha'Allah Ta'ala.
14:54This is Ustuwanatu at-Tawbah, the pillar of tawbah in the Rawdah of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. It's the ustuwanah, it's the pillar of Abu Lubaba. It's the exact pillar that he tied himself to.
15:08And actually if you show the second picture, how will you know? Or actually go back to the other one. That is the mark right there. You can actually zoom into it and you can look up and it will show you the exact location of that pillar in the Masjid.
15:23The ustuwanah, the pillar of tawbah that Abu Lubaba Radiallahu Anhu tied himself up to. The pillar of repentance. So this is a close shot and you can go back to the other one. This is a wide shot. It's the fourth pillar from the minbar of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
15:37And you can imagine walking into the Masjid. Next time you look at that pillar in Masjid an-Nabi, I want you to remember the story of Abu Lubaba tied up to it. So 10 days later, Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala reveals a verse and so it's a tawbah.
15:52wa akharoon i'tarafoo bi dhunubihim And another group of people who acknowledge their sins. khalatoo amalan salihan wa akhara sayyi'ah They mixed some good deeds
16:07with some bad deeds. asallahu anyatubu alayhim It may be that Allah 'azza wa jall forgave them. inna Allah ghafoorun rahim Verily, Allah is all forgiving and all merciful.
16:22The Sahaba heard that this verse came to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam and they came to Abu Lubaba and they said to Abu Lubaba that abshir, glad tidings,
16:35Allah revealed a verse in regards to you. So let us take you out. And he's happy, but he says, laa yuhilluni illa rasool Allah
16:47No one will untie me except the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam Staying until the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam comes. So the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam comes to Abu Lubaba in the masjid and he starts to untie him himself salallahu alayhi wasalam
17:02Abu Lubaba is so emotional. He's crying. He says, ya rasool Allah I'm going to abandon every person from Jahiliyyah every place in Jahiliyyah I'll never go back to those people again. I'll never touch those people again. Ya rasool Allah
17:15All my money, lillah wa li rasoolihi I'm donating all of my money for Allah and the messenger of Allah salallahu alayhi wasalam Just imagine him breaking down in front of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam and the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam tells him you don't have to do all that.
17:28He says, if you want to donate up to a third and that's enough, right? And subhan'Allah, he comes out embraced by the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam loved by the messenger of Allah salallahu alayhi wasalam It's okay.
17:42You made a mistake. The biggest lesson you take from him is the seeking accountability before being forced to be held accountable. And Allah 'azza wa jall mentions people
17:55who come forth in tawbah before they are apprehended before they are exposed before something tragic happens. And it's a lesson by the way to many people who will do shameful things
18:08and they'll be more worried about getting found out than whether or not Allah 'azza wa jall will forgive them. And that's one of the major tricks of Shaitan. No, the main priority that I have this doesn't mean by the way, publicize your sins
18:23but the main thing that I do when I realize I've committed a sin I acknowledge the sin I seek forgiveness from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and I look for Allah's forgiveness. And if there are consequences that have to happen
18:36I take that and I say, alhamdulillah let the consequences be part of my tawbah let the consequences be part of my repentance. There's another endearing story about Abu Lubaba radiyallahu anhu which I hope again, you look at that pillar
18:48and then you tell me when you come back inshallah ta'ala when you identified it, when you saw it. It's a story with the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam and it's in Dalail al-Nubuwa where you have a sanad that is hasan
19:02so it's a good chain where the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam was in the midst of a drought making du'a for rain. So he was on the minbar and he said, Allahumma asqina Oh Allah, give us rain.
19:16Abu Lubaba stood up and he said, Ya Rasulullah, inna at-tamra fil marbad Ya Rasulullah, but I have my dates on the drying sheets. You know, so what is the marbad
19:30is when you pick the dates and you wash them and you basically wanna leave them out to dry. So you put something like imagine stringing something together and you put your crops out there so that they can be taken care of. So he's like, Ya Rasulullah, I gotta keep my dates dry.
19:43Like, wait, wait, Allahumma asqina I don't want the rain to come too far. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam says again, Allahumma asqina Oh Allah, send us rain in the middle of this drought. Abu Lubaba says, but if the rain comes
19:57and my dates are gonna be ruined, Ya Rasulullah. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam said, Allahumma asqina hatta yaqoma Abu Lubaba 'uryanyan fa yassiddu tha'labahu marbadih bi 'izarihi Oh Allah, let the rain fall
20:12so much so that Abu Lubaba will have to go and take off his clothes to try to protect all of his dates. Let the rain fall on us abundantly. And as soon as the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam
20:22made that du'a, the rain started to fall on Medina so much. Abundant rain on Al-Madinah. So Abu Lubaba went running from the masjid and the Sahaba, they said, subhan'Allah, that it's exactly as the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam
20:35said, Abu Lubaba looked at his dates as the rain was falling, took his izar and he went and he started to try to protect his dates. And at that very moment, the rain stopped exactly as the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam said
20:49until Abu Lubaba goes and he protects his dates, let the rain fall upon us. They said at that very moment, precisely as if the rain was responding and Allah 'azza wa jall was indeed responding to the du'a of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam
21:02with precision as he made that du'a and then the sky cleared entirely afterwards. And so, subhan'Allah, this was one of the endearing moments between Abu Lubaba and the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam and then something that, and I'll end with this,
21:16inshallah ta'ala, that is actually very beautiful because again, like, are you forever gonna kind of be marked by that sin? Like, you showed weakness when you made that mistake. On the day of Fatah Makkah, Abu Lubaba, who came to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam
21:30as one of the 12 in Makkah to embrace Islam as one of the nuqaba of the Ansar, the chiefs of the Ansar, the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam appointed him as the leader of his tribe to carry the banner of Banu 'Amr ibn 'Awf marching alongside the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam
21:45on that day. And Abu Lubaba radiyallahu ta'ala anhu remains forever embodied by that pillar where you have the pillar marked as this is the pillar of tawbah.
21:58This is the pillar of Abu Lubaba radiallahu ta'ala anhu. He was survived by his children, Assa ibn Abdur Rahman and Lubaba, and they narrated from him. And he died in the khilafah of Sayyidina Ali radiallahu ta'ala anhu.
22:13We ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to be pleased with all of the Companions. We ask Allah Azawajal that as we learn from the mistakes and the mercy that was shown after these mistakes, that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
22:25allows us to turn to him with our mistakes, seeking his mercy. And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala allows us to show mercy and to show that same forbearance and that forgiveness and that tolerance towards one another. We ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to purify our hearts of sin,
22:40to purify them of grudge. And we ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to guide us to what is pleasing to him. Allahumma ameen. Insha'Allah ta'ala, the next time we have a session, which will be two weeks from now, we'll cover some other biographies, bi idhnillahi ta'ala, along the same theme.
22:54People that were condemned and Allah Azawajal made something great of their story after that. Barakallaahu feekum, Assalamualaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu Wa salamu ala mursalin wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma'in




























































































































































































