regarding the hadith: (Were it not that my people drove me out of you, I would not have resided in anyone other than you).

The questioner : Our Shaykh, the hadith of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): ... .

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : This hadith is in "Sahih al-Jami'"; I mean, how did it become ... figurative? How, I mean, ... in the country?

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : So I do not know, I mean, is this address called figurative or literal?

The Shaykh : This is the Arabic style; this is a method in the Arabic language where they address dwellings, homelands, countries, inanimate objects, the sun, and the moon as if they were persons who hear what is said to them. This is a known style in the language, and it does not mean the apparent reality of such an address. The address and the reality: observing this opens the way for the one who is well-versed in religion and knowledgeable of the Arabic language and its styles not to understand some of the legal texts in a wrong way that conflicts with the explicit evidence from another aspect. By the way, when I recently decided in a session answering some questions that the dead do not hear after one has left, one of them blocked my path and said: "Has it not been authentically reported from the Messenger (peace be upon him) that when he visited the graves he would say: etc.?" I said: Yes, this has been authentically reported, but this does not contradict what was previously mentioned regarding the fact that the dead do not hear. I was content with this answer because I was on my way, and now I want to say: that such an address does not mean that the dead hear, because it follows this Arabic style. Rather, of this type is the saying of the Companions in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and in response to his teaching them, their saying in the tashahhud: "Peace be upon you, O Prophet, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings" etc. This does not mean at all that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) taught them a text meaning that he hears their salam when they say it to him in prayer while they are scattered in their places, in their countries, in their regions. All of this stems from this Arabic style, that the addressed party does not always and forever understand the address of the one addressing him. Accordingly, the addressing of the Messenger (peace be upon him) to Makkah does not mean that Makkah hears and understands what is said to it in the address. This style is known in prose and poetry, just as he says:
"O night, rise! O dawn, set!" How?
"O night, rise! O dawn, stop! O sun!" Do you not remember this poetry?
"O night, rise! O ..." Finally, he says: "O sun, stop, do not rise!"
This does not mean that he is addressing someone who understands and hears. In short, this is an Arabic style, and thus it came in the Prophetic hadiths, including the addressing of the Messenger (peace be upon him) to Makkah.
Yes.