91. Be brave and start from now! (cont.)

Mu‘adh would pray ‘Isha with the Prophet , and then return to his people to lead them in ‘Isha in their mosque. Hence, the second prayer for him would be voluntary but obligatory for those praying behind him. One night, Mu‘adh  returned to his people, entered the mosque and initiated the prayer. A young man also entered the mosque and joined the congregation. When Mu‘adh finished al-Fatihah by saying,“walad-daalleen” and the people said, “Ameen”, Mu’adh began to recite Surah al-Baqarah! It needs stating that in those days, people would tirelessly work in the fields and with their cattle all day long.They would impatiently wait for ‘Isha so they could go to sleep. The young man joined the congregation as Mu‘adh continued to recite. When the prayer became too long for him to bear, he isolated himself from the congregation, finished the prayer on his own, and left the mosque for his house. When Mu‘adh finished Use the right flavour the prayer, some people said to him, “O Mu‘adh, so-and-so joined our congregation, but since your prayer was too long he left.” Mu‘adh became angry and said, “He has the disease of hypocrisy! I will inform the Prophet  about him!” They told the young man what Mu‘adh had said. He replied, “And indeed, I too will inform the Prophet  of what he has done!” They went to the Prophet  and Mu’adh told him what the young man had done. The man replied, “O Messenger of Allah, he stays with you for a long time, and then comes to us and prays for a long time. By Allah, O Messenger of Allah, we go late to the prayer knowing that Mu‘adh will prolong the prayer.” The Prophet  asked Mu‘adh, “What do you recite?” Mu‘adh informed the Prophet  that he would recite alBaqarah and other long Surahs. The Prophet  became angry when he realised that the people delayed attending the prayer because he prolonged the prayer. He now knew why the people felt overburdened with the prayer. He turned to Mu‘adh and said, “Are you a troublemaker, O Mu‘adh?” Meaning, why are you distressing the people and repelling them from the religion? Recite, “was-Sama’i wat-Tariq”, “was-Sama’i That al-Buruj”, “was-Shamsi wa Dhuhaha” and “wal-layli itha yaghsha.” He then turned to the young man and said very kindly, “What do you do, dear nephew, when you pray?” He said, “I recite the Fatihah, then I ask Allah for paradise and seek His refuge from Hell.” The man then remembered that he Use the right flavour often saw the Prophet  making long supplications and Mu‘adh doing the same. He said, “I do not know what you and Mu‘adh chant.” Meaning, I do not know what type of long supplication you make. The Prophet  said, “Mu’adh and I make the same supplication.” Meaning, they both make supplications about paradise and hell. The young man was greatly affected by Mu‘adh’s accusation of hypocrisy against him. He said, “Rather, Mu‘adh will come to know on the day the people come to tell us that the enemy is approaching!” Meaning, Mu‘adh will discover what I will do in Jihad in the path of Allah, where my faith will become clear to Mu‘adh, as he has accused me of hypocrisy. Not long afterwards, there occurred a battle in which the young man was martyred. When the Prophet  found out about it, he said to Mu‘adh, “What happened to your opponent?” Meaning, the one you accused of hypocrisy, O Mu‘adh. Mu‘adh said, “O Messenger of Allah, he was truthful and was not a hypocrite. He has been martyred.” Notice the difference between people’s nature and their status, and how it affected the Prophet’s way of dealing with them. Look at how the Prophet  dealt with Usamah bin Zayd, who was from the most beloved of all people to him, as he had grown up in his house... The Messenger of Allah  dispatched a group of his Companions to al-Huraqat, a sub-tribe of Juhaynah. Usamah bin Zayd was one of the warriors. The battle commenced in the morning, Use the right flavour the Muslims became victorious and the enemy fled.A man from amongst the pagans saw that his men were defeated, so he threw his weapons and fled.A man from the Ansar and Usamah began to chase him as he attempted to escape in terror, until he hid behind a tree. Usamah and the Ansari caught up with him and raised their swords to strike him. When he saw the two swords above his head about to come down on him, and realised that death was at his doorstep, he said, “There is no one worthy of worship but Allah and Muhammad is His Messenger!” Usamah and the Ansari were puzzled; did he accept Islam sincerely or did he simply say this to save his neck? They were in the middle of a battle and surrounded by bodies, blood and flesh, as the man looked on.