Part 57

But every member of the group expressed a desire to obey the orders of the Prophet 38. They said if they had a thousand lives they would sacrifice all of them for him, and would go with their Commander to Nakhlah as commanded by the Prophet 38.

All the Mujahideen advanced together and finally reached Nakhlah. They hide along the roadside so as to keep an eye on the Quraish. They saw a caravan consisting of four merchants with a lot of goods apparently on a trading mission. Among them were ‘Amr bin Hadhrami, Hakam bin Keesan, ‘Uthman, and Nofil bin ‘Abdullah bin Mughairah.

They have two opinions about action to take. It was the last day of the sacred months when bloodshed is forbidden. If they killed these people during these days it would be wrong and cause a lot of unrest among the Arabs. If they gave them some respite, then these people would enter the limits of the Haram. Once they were within the limits of the Ka‘bah they would not be able to do anything at all. Finally, after a lot of thought and discussion they resolved to altack these people and kill them. As soon as they reached a final decision, they assaulted these traders. They killed one of them, and captured two others. The fourth member of the caravan managed to escape.

“T had not ordered you to take any such action. My instructions were to keep an eye on the movements of the Quraish and to keep me informed only.”

He kept both the prisoners with him until he could reach a just decision regarding them. And he did not touch any of the captured goods.

One day as these Mujahideen were sitting, grieved and desolate, a man came and congratulated them. He informed them that Allah 3% had absolved them and had condoned their deed. He had revealed Verses of the Noble Qur’4n to the Prophet 38 exonerating them from guilt. They leapt with joy and all the Companions, embracing and congratulating each other, started reciting these Verses revealed in favor of their action.

“They ask you concerning fighting in the Sacred Months, Say, ‘Fighting therein is a great but a greater with Allah is to prevent mankind from following the Way of Allah, to disbelieve in Him, to prevent access to Al-Masjid Al-Haram and to drive out its inhabitants, and Al-Fitnah is worse than killing.” (2:217)

When these Verses were revealed the Prophet 38 was overjoyed. He took the goods which had been confiscated, released the two prisoners who had been captured. He then embraced and praised ‘Abdullah bin Jahash and the other Mujahideen. This is considered to be the first military exploit in the history of Islam. It was the very first time that

spoils of battle were taken, It was also the first time that a small band of Muslim soldiers had killed an enemy of Islam, and taken two enemies prisoner.

Sa‘d bin Abu Wags 4 relates a memorable incident from the life of ‘Abdullah bin Jahash 4:

“When the Battle of Uhud was about to take place, ‘Abdullah bin Jahash took me aside and asked me if I would not like to offer supplications to Allah. I answered that of course I would like to do so and prayed thus: ‘O Allah 38, Lord of the Worlds! When I enter the battlefield let me come face to face with an enemy who is a great and furious warrior. Let us both engage in a hand to hand fight and give me control over him until I finally overpower him completely. Tren I should kill him and take away all his belongings. ‘Abdullah bin Jahash said ‘Aameen’ after | completed my prayer. Then he offered supplications to Allah 3% thus: ‘O Allah please give me the ability to fight against an enemy who is a furious, brave and experienced warrior. I should fight only to gain your pleasure and blessings. Then he should succeed in overpowering me and cut off my nose and ears. When I come into Your presence on the Day of Judgment.’ You should ask me, ‘Abdullah why were your ears and nose cut off?’ Then I should answer you thus, ‘For Your sake O Lord!’ And You should say, ‘You are absolutely right.”

The supplication of ‘Abdullah bin Jahash 4 was much better than my, and Allah 3% accepted it. In the evening I saw that he had been killed and the enemy had strung his ears and nose on a string. He achieved the honourable status of a martyr like his maternal uncle, Amir Hamzah.

“Come back to your Lord, well-pleased (yourself) and wellpleasing (unto Him)!” (89:28)

of Emperor Khosro Parvaiz clad in simple clothes which was the everyday dress of the Arab labourer, and displaying complete

indifference to the pomp and show on display, started walking directly towards the throne. His faith gave him complete confidence and his heart was filled with reverence for Islam and love for Allah. So all this grandeur

of the Iranian Emperor meant nothing to him.”

‘Abdullah bin Hathafah <2

“O Prophet of Allah 38! Who is my father?” The Prophet 38 replied: “Hathafah is your father.”

His mother, however, did not appreciate his sense of humor and got very annoyed with him. She expressed her disapproval of his behaviour and asked him:

“What kind of a question is that? Is that the question you should have asked the Prophet 3? Don’t you know the identity of your father?”

‘Abdullah bin Hathafah -% apologized to his mother very respectfully saying that he was only trying to lighten the atmosphere and everyone, including the Prophet 38, had enjoyed his absurd sense of humour.

The Prophet 38 appointed him Commander of an army, which included many of his great Companions and sent him to fight a war. He gave him a letter and told him to open it when he encamped with his troops. The army camped ina field to rest. It was quite chilly, so the soldiers built a fire to ward off the cold and also to cook some food. As they were sitting around the fire, ‘Abdullah bin Hathafah .% opened the letter and read it. The Prophet 3% had urged the men to obey the orders of their Commander. When he read it, his innate sense of humour got the better of him. He read out the letter to all the men, and then asked them.

“Have I been appointed your Commander?” They answered in chorus that he was. Then he asked them: “Have you not been told to obey your Commander?” Again they answered together: “Yes, of course!” Then he told the men: “Lorder you all to jump into this fire!”

The men were stunned and started looking at each other. Some of them got up and got ready to leap into the fire. He quickly stepped forward and held their arms to prevent them from doing so. He told them,

“T was joking with you. The orders of your commander are always subject to the Commands of Allah.”

The Prophet 38 had given him this letter for the troops because he knew that he was known among the Companions as a jovial man. He feared that this pleasant light-hearted nature of his might weaken the unquestioning obedience which is due to a leader. This joke of his did amaze some of his Companions, who took it seriously, for a moment. They thought to themselves:

“We followed the path shown by the Prophet 38 in order to escape the fires of Jahannum, but here we are being asked by our leader to jump into this fire in the world itself!”

But when their General explained the point he had been trying to make, they all broke into smiles. Their worried frowns changed to smiles, and the sober and serious atmosphere lightened. When this army returned to Al-Madinah, ‘Abdullah bin Hathafah <4 entered the presence of the Prophet 3 and narrated to himall that had taken place at the camp.

The Prophet 3 then commented:

By Allah, if they had jumped into the fire, they could never ever have come out of it. The rule of obedience to the commander is applicable only in acts of virtue and goodness. Certainly the orders of a commander are subject to and subservient to the commandments of Allah Almighty. When the commands of a leader are opposed to the commands of the Creator one cannot obey the temporal leader.”