Continuation of the explanation of the hadith of Anas (may Allah be pleased with him): ( . . .

The Shaykh : As for his statement in the third paragraph, after he said: Anas is citing an example of the courage of the Messenger (peace be upon him), in addition to the many examples in the books of biography regarding his courage (peace be upon him). As for Anas, he is narrating this incident in which the courage of the Messenger (peace be upon him) is manifested. So Anas said: They heard a loud sound in the quiet of the night in Madinah. Madinah at that time should be imagined as a small village today, so any sound from any of its sides would reach the entire city. So this sound was a loud, terrifying one. Therefore, the people of Madinah were frightened and feared that an enemy had ambushed and attacked them. And naturally, the men wake up when they hear the sound and head toward the direction of the sound. And lo, they are surprised by what Anas clarified in the completion of the hadith by his saying: The Messenger (may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him), due to his courage first, and his concern for the interests of his Ummah second, was the first of the people to that sound. And so, the other people had barely come out of their houses when they saw the Messenger (peace be upon him) coming toward them, having preceded them to the sound, and he was addressing them by his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): This is from the terror, from the fear. He means he is reassuring them that there is nothing for which you are terrified and from which you are afraid. He means, be at ease, for there is nothing that frightens you. And from the completion of the courage of the Messenger (peace be upon him) and his prominent heroism in this hadith is the saying of Anas, while he (peace and blessings be upon him) was on a horse belonging to Abu Talhah, which was bare. In addition to the fact that the Prophet (peace be upon him) had preceded them to the sound and returned while they were going out toward the sound, having preceded them to the sound, on what did he precede them? He preceded them on a bare horse, a horse that was not saddled. Usually, a rider is able to control his horse through the saddle. So he rode a bare horse with no saddle on it, and yet he went out on it and went out to outside the city. When he did not find anything to frighten him, he returned to them to remind them by his saying (peace be upon him): He was like this on a horse belonging to Abu Talhah, bare, with no saddle on it. And on his neck was the sword. So he said: I found it to be a sea, or it is indeed a sea. He means that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), in his riding of this horse, even though there was no saddle on it, found it to be a sea: that is, very fast in its gait. This is also another allusion that, in addition to the fact that he (peace be upon him) rode it without a saddle, it was faster for him, so he knew that it was a noble horse, fast in running. And this is something that only the courageous heroes can do, and the Messenger (peace be upon him) was the most courageous and most prominent of them. This is our lesson today in this hadith, to the extent of our ability.