Part 12

~Uthmaan presented to him his decision in a very kind and friendly way. He said to him, "Stay here beside me. You will be endowed with blessings day and night." Abu Dhar then answered, "I don't need your world.”

Indeed, he did not need people's world. He was one of those saints who searched for the enrichment of their soul, dedicating his life to giving, not to receiving!

He asked the Caliph ‘Uthmaan (May Allah be pleased with him) to allow him to go out to Ar-Rabadhah, and he allowed him.

Despite his fierce opposition, he stayed close to Allah and His Prophet (PBUH) in a very honest way, always keeping within his soul the Prophet's advice never to carry a sword. It was as if the Prophet had seen the whole of Abu Dhar's destiny and future, so he bestowed upon him this precious advice.

Abu Dhar never hid his annoyance when seeing those who liked to ignite the flames of civil strife by using his words and opinions as a means to satisfy their passionate desire and cunning deceits.

One day, while in Ar-Rabadhah, a delegation from Kufa came to ask him to raise the flag of revolution against the caliph. He drove them back with decisive words: "By Allah, if ‘“Uthmaan was to crucify me on the longest board or on a mountain, I would patiently obey, for Allah's reward would be waiting for me, and I see it to be

the best for me. And if he was to force me to walk from one end of the horizon to the other, I would patiently obey, for Allah's reward

would be waiting for me, and I see it to be the best for me. And if he was to force me back to my home I would patiently obey, for Allah's

reward would be waiting for me, and I see it to be the best for me."

He was a man who was not interested in any worldly gain; thus he was blessed with insight by Allah. He realized again the tremendous danger involved in armed civil strife; therefore, he abstained from it. But he also realized the tremendous danger involved in silence; therefore, he abstained from it. That is why he raised his voice, not his sword, and raised the word of truth and sincerity.

He was not tempted by greedy desires nor hindered by worldly obstacles.

Abu Dhar kept himself busy with and devoted himself to sincere, honest opposition.

He spent his whole life focusing on the faults of power and the faults of money. Thus power and money possessed the temptation. Abu Dhar was afraid his brethren would fall into their traps — his

same brethren who had carried the standard of Islam with the Prophet (PBUH) and whom he wanted to remain the carriers of the Prophet's message (PBUH).

Power and money were, furthermore, the backbone of societies and communities. If misused, the destiny of people would encounter serious and imminent danger.

Abu Dhar wished so much that the Prophet's Companions would not be appointed as governors and would not collect fortunes, but would rather stay as they always had been: as spiritual guides to the right path for Allah's worshipers.

He knew well the voracity of life and the voracity of money, and he knew that the example of Abu Dhar and ‘Umar was never

going to be repeated! How often did he hear the Prophet (PBUH) asking his Companions to be aware of the temptation of authority saying, "It's a deposition in trust, and on the Day of Resurrection it will be a shame and regret except to the one who was endowed with it justly and accomplished his duty."

Abu Dhar went so far that he avoided his brethren if he did not boycott them, for no other reason than that they had become rules and, of course, had become wealthier.

Abu Muusaa Al-Ash*ariy once met him. He had hardly seen him when he stretched his arms with joy and delight shouting, "Welcome Abu Dhar! Welcome my brother!" But Abu Dhar held himself back saying, "I am not your brother; I was so before you became an administrator and governor."

In the same way, Abu Hurairah once met and embraced him in welcome, but Abu Dhar pushed him back and said, “Isn't it you who became goveror, then extended your buildings and possessed plantations and cattle?" Abu Hurairah defended himself, trying to prove his innocence and refute those rumors.

It may seem that Abu Dhar had an exaggerated position towards power and wealth, but he had a logic which was shaped by his sincerity to himself and his faith. Thus, Abu Dhar stood with his dreams, deeds, behavior, and viewpoints according to the same standard the Prophet (PBUH) and his two Companions Abu Bakr and “Umar had left behind.

If some people saw that standard to be an out-of-reach ideal, Abu Dhar saw it to be an example charting the path of life and toil especially for those who had actually experienced the Prophet (PBUH), prayed behind him, taken part in jihaad with him, and sworn the oath of allegiance to him.

In addition to that — as mentioned before — his inspired intellect knew the decisive influence of power and property in

determining people's destiny. Therefore, any disturbance which might afflict the trustworthiness of power or the fairness of wealth represents an imminent danger which must be resisted and opposed.

As long as he lived, Abu Dhar upheld the standard of the Prophet (PBUH) and his two Companions’ good example. He was a great figure in the art of predominance over the temptation of power and wealth. The governorship of Iraq was once offered to him, but he said, "By Allah, you will never tempt me with your world."

Once, one of his companions saw him wearing an old gown and asked him, "Don't you have another one? I saw you a couple of days ago with two other gowns in your hands." Abu Dhar replied, "O cousin! I gave them to someone who needed them more than I do." He said to him, " By Allah, you need them!" Abu Dhar then answered, "May Allah forgive us. You glorify this life! Can't you see that I am wearing a gown? And I own another one for the congregational Friday prayer. Moreover, I own a goat which I milk and a donkey which I ride. Is there a better blessing?"

He once sat down talking to people and said, "My friend

advised me to do seven things:

* He asked me to love the poor and to get closer to them.

* He asked me to look to those who are inferior and not to those who are superior.

* He asked me never to ask anyone for anything (i.e. to abstain from begging).

* He asked me to be kind to my relatives.

* He asked me to say the truth, no matter how sour it may be.

* He asked me never to be afraid of a critic's censure.

* And he asked me to frequently say, ‘There is no power nor might except Allah's.’ "

He lived according to this advice until he became a living conscience moving among his people.

Imam ~Aliy once said, "There is no one nowadays who is nonchalant about people's criticism — as far as Allah and His rules are concerned — except Abu Dhar."

He lived opposing the abuse of power and the monopoly of property. He lived resisting ail that was wrong and building all that was right. He lived devoted to the responsibility of good advice and warning.

When he was hindered from spelling out his fatwaa (formal legal opinion in Islamic law), he raised his voice and said to those hindering him, "By the name of the One in Whose hands my soul is, if you put the sword to my neck and I still thought that I could carry out a word I've heard from the Prophet (PBUH) before you cut, | would carry it out.”

Had the Muslims listened on that day to his advice, a lot of civil strife and turmoil would have been prevented — turmoil that reached its peak and dangers that became grave, serious, and imminent. The state, society and Muslim nation had to face all that

rebellion and aggrevated, alarming danger.

But then Abu Dhar was suffering the agony of death in ArRabadhah, the place he chose to stay in after his disagreement with ‘Uthmaan (May Allah be pleased with him). Let us go to him to give him farewell and let us see how the last scene of his admirable life is.

This slim dark-skinned woman sitting crying] beside him is his wife. He is asking her, "Why do you cry and death is true?" She answers crying, "You are dying and I don't have a gown which suffices to be a winding sheet!!" He smiles like a passing evening glow and says to her "Calm down. Don't cry. I heard the Prophet (PBUH) once saying while I was sitting among a number of Companions, 'One of you will die in a desert land, and a group of the faithful will witness him.’ All those who were sitting with me at that assembly

have died, whether in a village or among a congregation. No one is left except me, and now I am dying in a desert land. Watch out, a group of the faithful will soon show up. By Allah, I didn't lie in my life." He passed away. Blessed was he.

There is a caravan which sets off on a journey across the desert. It consists of a group of the faithful with ‘Abd Allah Ibn Mas‘uud, the Prophet's Companion, at their head. Ibn Mas‘uud visualized the scene before he reached it: a scene of an out-stretched body like that of a dead person and beside him a crying woman and boy.

He redirects his camel's bridle and the whole caravan follows him towards the scene. He has hardly taken a look at the dead body, when he realizes that it is his companion and brother in Islam, Abu Dhar.

His tears roll down abundantly while he stands in front of this virtuous body saying, "The Messenger of Allah was truthful. You will walk alone, die alone, and resurrect alone.”

Tbn Mas‘uud (May Allah be pleased with him) narrated the interpretation of the statement "You will walk alone, die alone,. and resurrect alone,” to his companions:

That was in the ninth year after Hijrah, during the Battle of Tabuuk, when the Prophet (PBUH) had ordered full preparation to meet the Romans, who had begun to carry out their conspiracies and cunning tricks against Islam.

The days in which people were asked to go out for jihaad were very hot, distressful, and hard. The destination was far away and the enemy terrifying.