Part 11

The Islamic campaigns continued, thus bringing under control more regions. At the same time, desires and longing for ambition to enjoy the comforts and luxury of life started to float to the surface. In these events, Abu Dhar saw the impending danger. The banners of personal glory were about to tempt those whose role in life was to lift the standard of Allah. Life with its false embellishments and its wild arrogance was about to tempt those whose role was to make out of life a plantation of good deeds.

Money — created by Allah to be obedient to His servants for the benefit of mankind — was about to turn into a tyrant master. A master of whom? The Prophet's Companions.

The Prophet (PBUH) died with a pawned shield, although piles of war booty were under his service. The excellence of the earth — created by Allah for all human beings and with their rights upon it

mutually corresponding — was about to turn into a monopoly and

Power — a responsibility that pious people tremble at when

thinking about its horrible charge in the Hereafter — turned into a means of authority, wealth, and destructive Juxury.

Abu Dhar realized all that. He did not search for his duties or responsibilities, but rather took his sword, waved it in the air and set out to face his society with his unbeatable sword. But soon the echo of the Prophet's (PBUH) advice struck his heart, so he returned it to its scabbard. He remembered the Prophet (PBUH) had said he should not lift it in the face of a Muslim.

< It is not lawful for a believer to kill another believer except

His role was not to fight but to oppose. The sword was not a means of change and reformation, but the truthful, sincere, and brave word was. The fair word does not lose its path, and its consequences are not terrifying. The Prophet (PBUH) once said, while surrounded by his Companions, that the earth never carried above it, nor did the sky ever shade a more truthful tongue than Abu Dhar's.

Why should someone who owns such a truthful tongue and truthful conviction need a sword ?

A single word by him hit the target more than uncountable swords. Therefore, Abu Dhar was to encounter all the governors, the wealthy, and all those who worshipped the worldly life and relied upon it, thereby representing an even greater danger to the religion which came to be a guide, not a tax collector; prophethood, not dominion; mercy, not afflication; humbleness, not superiority; equality, not differentiation; satisfaction, not greed; sufficiency, not luxury and a life of ease full of temptation, with this life the only goal.

So Abu Dhar went out to face all those challenges, and Allah will judge truthfully between him and them, and Allah is the Most Just of Judges.

Abu Dhar went out to the strongholds of power and wealth, attacking them one after the other. Within a short time he became the standard around which the laborers of Islam and the masses gathered. Even in the remote districts where people had not yet met him, word about him got around and he became well known until he hardly passed through a land in which his name had not reached the ears of some of the people and without crucial questions being raised which threatened the welfare and worldly interests of the powerful and wealthy.

If this honorable, rebellious Companion was to select an appropriate standard for himself and his movement, he would not find a better one than an iron, a glowing, hot, and flaming iron. Thus he turned the following words into his chant and earnest appeal, repeating them every time and every place he went. People repeated them after him as if they were an anthem :

Announce to those who hoard up gold and silver, the warning of branding irons with which their foreheads and bodies will be branded in the hereafter.

He never ascended a mountain or descended a valley or entered a city or faced a ruler without repeating the same words, so much so that people would always welcome him when he approached them by repeating "Announce to those who hoard up gold and silver, the warning of branding irons."

This statement turned into "signature time" for his message to which he devoted his life. That was because he saw wealth being accumulated and monopolized for power and being turned into a means of supremacy and abuse. He saw an overwhelming passion

for life which was about to erase all beauty, piety, devotion, and sincerity built up during the previous years of the great mission of the

When he began his attack, he started with the most authoritative and horrible stronghold: there in Syria, where Mu’ aawiyah Ibn Abi Sufyaan was ruling one of the most fertile lands in the world of Islam, granting and distributing money carelessly, thereby bestowing undeserved privileges upon people of power and rank in order to guarantee his future, a future he aspired to promote.

There in Syria, the country of overwhelming palaces, country estates and fortunes which tempted the remnants of the carriers of the Islamic message, he began his attack. Abu Dhar wanted to confront the center of danger before it ruined and destroyed all Muslims.

The leader of the opposition to corrupt worldly power wore his humble gown and hastened as fast as lightning towards Syria. Ordinary people hardly heard about his arrival before they hurried to welcome him with great enthusiasm and longing desire, surrounding him wherever he would go or stay. "O Abu Dhar, please tell us. . . O, Companion of the Prophet (PBUH) please tell us...”

Sharp-eyed, he would take a glance at the multitude around him, seeing the majority of them suffering from poverty and need. He then directed his eyes to a place not too far away where he saw many palaces and landed estates. Then he shouted to those around him, "I wonder why those who don't find something to eat don't go

out holding their swords ready to fight?"

Then he immediately remembered the Prophet's admonition to replace opposition and rebellion with patience, and to replace the sword with brave and daring words, abandoning the language of war and returning to logic, reason, and conviction; teaching people that they are all equal like the teeth of a comb; that they are all partners as far as the means of living are concerned; that no one is superior to another except in piety; and that their ruler should be the first to

starve if the people suffer hunger and the last to satisfy his appetite if they become sated.

He decided to create by means of his words and bravery a public opinion all over the Muslim countries which would represent, through its intelligence, indomitability, and strength, a hindering force to the deviations of the rulers and the rich and wealthy, in order to hinder the appearance and spread of a powerand wealthmonopolizing class.

Within a few days, the whole of Syria turned into what resembled a bee-hive which had found its queen. If Abu Dhar would have given the slightest passing gesture of revolt, the whole of Syria would have been set on fire. But, as mentioned before, he focused his interest on creating a respectable public opinion. His words turned into the subject of conversation everywhere, inside mosques, during meetings, and even on roads.

Danger increased and reached its peak for Abu Dhar, speaking about the newly acquired privileges of the rich and powerful, on the day in which be argued with Mu‘aawiyah in front of the masses.

Every witness of that debate told those whe missed it, so that its news spread as fast as wildfire.

Abu Dhar, who possessed the most truthful tongue on earth, as the Prophet (PBUH) described him, stood up. He asked Mu*aawiyah about his wealth before and after being in power, about the house in which he was living in Makkah, and the castles he owned in Syria. Then he raised the question to the Companions who had accompanied Mu‘aawiyah to Syria and were now owners of estates and castles.

After that he cried to them, "Is it you among whom the Prophet lived when the Qur'aan was being revealed?" Then he answered himself, "Yes, it is you! The Qur'aan was revealed among you. It is you who experienced with the Prophet (PBUH) all the different scenes.

Then he asked them again, "Can't you find this verse in the Book of Allah? <... and those who hoard up gold and silver, and do not expend it in the cause of GOD, announce to them a painful chastisment —On the Day when it shall be heated in the Fire of Hell, and with it their foreheads, and their bodies, and their backs shall be branded, "This is what you treasured for yourselves, so taste the evil of what you were treasuring ." > (9: 34-35).

However, Mu’aawiyah wanted to end the whole dispute by arguing that this verse was mentioned regarding the People of the Book (i.e. the Jews and Christians). Hereupon cried Abu Dhar, "No, it has been revealed for us all.”

Abu Dhar then continued his talk, advising Mu*aawiyah and his followers to give up their landed estates, castles, money, and all their possessions, and to abstain from saving for themselves more than their daily need.

Through the people's assemblies, congregations, and meetings, the news of the debate spread and reached everyone's ears.

Louder and louder was Abu Dhar's anthem to be heard everywhere: "Announce to those who hoard up gold and silver the warning of branding irons." Mu*aawiyah felt the danger of the words of the great, honorable, and rebellious Companion who terrified him. Yet Mu*aawiyah appreciated his value and did not harm him, but he immediately wrote to the Caliph ‘Uthmaan (May Allah be pleased with him), “Abu Dhar spoils the people in Syria."

*Uthmaan sent for Abu Dhar, asking him to come to Al - Madiinah. Abu Dhar set off from Syria with kindness, affection, and honor. His farewell day was celebrated in Syria in a manner

Damascus had never witnessed the like of.

"I don't need your world!" That is what Abu Dhar said to the

Caliph “Uthmaan after he reached Al-Madiinah and a prolonged conversation took place between them.

After this conversation and after having heard the news coming from all different regions of the Muslim world, it was confirmed that Abu Dhar's opinions had actually agitated the multitudes, who began to crystallize around them. It was at that time that ‘Uthmaan began to truly realize the actual danger of Abu Dhar's opinion and its strength. He therefore decided to keep him beside him at AlMadiinah.