‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattaab: “Those Who Came Before You Were Destroyed Because…”

‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattaab: “Those Who Came Before You Were Destroyed Because…”

Places Their Prophets Prayed

It was narrated with a saheeh isnaad that ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattaab was on a journey and he saw people frequenting a place and praying there.

He asked, “What is this?”

They said, “A place where the Messenger of Allaah prayed.”

He said, “Those who came before you were destrpyed because of this. They took the places where their Prophets went as places of worship. If a person is there when the time for prayer comes, let him pray, otherwise let him move on.”

Ignoring The Divinely Revealed Book

It was narrated from ‘Amr Ibn Maymoon that his father said:

“A man came to ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattaab and said, ‘O Ameer al-Mu’mineen (Leader of the Believers), when we conquered Al-Madaa’in we found a book in which were some amazing words.’

He said, ‘From the Book of allaah?’

He said, ‘No.’

He called for his stick and started hitting him with it and reciting the words:

“Alif-Lam-Ra. [These letters are one of the miracles of the Qur’an, and none but Allah (Alone) knows their meanings]. These are the Verses of the Clear Book [the Qur’an that makes clear the legal and illegal things, legal laws, a guidance and a blessing]. Verily, We have sent it down as an Arabic Qur’an in order that you may understand. We relate unto you [Muhammad] the best of stories through Our Revelations unto you, of this Qur’an. And before this [i.e. before the coming of Divine Inspiration to you], you were among those who knew nothing about it [the Qur’an].”

[Qur’aan, Surah Yusuf (12), Verses 1-3]

Then he said, ‘Those who came before you werre destroyed because they turned to the books of their scholars and bishops, and ignored the Torah and Gospel, until they were neglected and the knowledge in them was lost.’ ”

[Taken from ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattaab, His Life And Times, By ‘Ali Muhammad As-Sallaabi, Vol. I, Pp. 296-297 & 298]