Devotion turns a humble life into a legacy
“It wasn't just knowledge without action but he practiced what he preached.”
The life of Abu Hurayrah, a poor orphan nicknamed 'father of the kitten' who became the most prolific narrator of hadith, shows that total devotion to knowledge, worship, and obedience to Allah and His Messenger turns the humblest person into someone with a golden legacy.
The khutbah in 7 steps
- Opening with Tufayl ibn Amr's story: he removed the cotton from his ears, heard the Quran, and accepted Islam
- Introduction of Abu Hurayrah: the orphan Abd al-Rahman, nicknamed 'father of the kitten,' who migrated with 70-80 households to Medina
- His poverty as one of Ahl al-Suffa living in the back of the Prophet's mosque
- His public service: governor of Bahrain under Abu Bakr, questioned by Umar, later put in charge of Medina by Marwan
- The miracle of the cloak that cured his weak memory, making him the most prolific hadith narrator with over 5,300 hadiths
- His devotion in worship and the famous story of the miraculous bowl of milk for the people of Suffa
- Marwan's test of his letter-perfect memory and closing duas asking for a legacy like his
In the khateeb's words
“if what he says is good I'll accept it and if it's nonsense then I'll reject it”
“it wasn't just knowledge without action but he practiced what he preached”
“he said but there was no escape from obeying Allah and his messenger”
“but whenever you obey Allah and his Messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam it always ends up being good”
For the dinner table
Today's khutbah told the story of Abu Hurayrah, a companion nicknamed 'the father of the little kitten.' He was a poor orphan who came to Medina with nothing and lived in the back of the Prophet's mosque, but he spent every moment learning from the Prophet. Even though his memory was weak, Allah gave him a miracle through the Prophet's cloak, and he went on to narrate more than 5,300 hadiths, more than any other companion. In the most famous story, he was starving with a stone tied to his stomach, yet he obeyed the Prophet and served a small bowl of milk to all the poor companions before himself, and miraculously, everyone drank their fill. The khateeb reminded us that obeying Allah and His Messenger always works out for good, even at work or school, and encouraged us to never give up fasting three days a month, the duha prayer, and the witr prayer. We asked Allah to give us a legacy of knowledge and action like the father of cats.
- Abu Hurayrah served everyone else milk before himself while he was starving, would you have found that easy or hard?
- If you had a nickname based on something you love, like 'father of the kitten,' what would yours be?
- What's one thing that's hard to memorize for you, and what could you do to keep trying like Abu Hurayrah did?
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