Part 49

achieve such success. Do you know any better and brighter wisdom than that of this wise man?

His companion Abu Qalaabah, tells us about him: One day Abu Ad-Dardaa' passed by a man who had committed a sin, and people were insulting him. He prohibited them and said, "If you found him in a ditch, would you not take him out of it?" They said, "Yes." He said to them, "Don't insult him. Praise Allah that He protected you from such an evil." They said to him, "Don't you hate him?" He said, "No, I hate his deed, and if he leaves it, he will be my brother."

If this is one of the two aspects of worship, the second phase is knowledge and learning. Abu Ad-Dardaa' as a wise man and as a worshipper sanctified knowledge to a great extent and so he said, "None of you can be pious unless he is knowledgeable, and he cannot enjoy knowledge unless he applies it practically."

Yes, knowledge, in his opinion, was understanding, behavior, learning, method, idea, and life. Because this sanctification is of the wise, we find him claiming that the teacher is like the student in

favor, recompense, and position. He saw that the greatness of life was dependent on goodness before anything else. He said, “Why do I see your scholars going away and your ignorant people learning nothing? The teacher and the student of goodness are equal in recompense and there is goodness in the other people besides the two." He also said, "People are of three types : a_ scholar, an educated person, and a savage."

As we have seen before, knowledge was not separate from following the wisdom of Abu Ad-Dardaa’ (May Allah be pleased with him). He said, "The greatest fear of my soul is that it should

say to me on the Day of Resurrection, in front of all the creatures, O owner, did you know? and I would reply, Yes . It will say to me, What did you do with what you knew?

He used to respect scholars and honor them very much. Moreover, he used to pray to Allah saying, "O Lord Almighty, I take refuge in You against the curse of the scholars’ hearts.

It was said to him, “How could you be cursed by their hearts?" He said, "Their hearts hate me.” Do you see, he believed that the scholars hate is an unbearable curse; therefore he implored Allah to grant him refuge.

The wisdom of Abu Ad-Dardaa' (May Allah be pleased with him) recommended fraternity and established human relations on the basis of human nature itself. Thus he said, "To admonish your brother is better than to lose him. Give your brother advice and be tender with him, but do not agree with his covetousness lest you should be like him. Tomorrow death comes and you will lose him.

And how can you weep over him after death when you did not give him his right while he lived?"

The fear of Allah in His servants is the strongest and hardest

basis upon which Abu Ad-Dardaa' established the rights of fraternity. He (May Allah be pleased with him) said, "I hate to wrong

anyone but I hate more and more to oppress the person who resorts to Allah, the Most High and the Most Great, for help against my

Abu Ad-Dardaa’, what a great personality and bright soul you are! He warned people against delusion when they thought that unarmed weak people fell easy prey in their hands and power. He reminded them that those in their weakness have a destructive power when they implore Allah in their disability and offer their plea and the disgrace done to them by people.

This was Abu Ad-Dardaa’, the wise man. He was Abu AdDardaa’ the hermit, the worshipper, ever seeking Allah. When

people praised his piety and asked him to implore Allah for them, he replied in humility, “I can't swim well and I fear drowning."

All your wisdom, and you can not swim well, O Abu AdDardaa’? But what an astonishment, and you are nutured by the Prophet (PBUH), a student of the Qur'aan; son of early Islam, and a

companion of Abu Bakr and ~Umar and the rest of those men!

(26) ZAID IBN ALKHATTAAB The Hawk of The Day of Al-Yamaamah

One day the Prophet (PBUH) sat with a group of Muslims, and while they were talking, the Messenger paused, then spoke to those who were sitting around him saying, "Among you there is a man whose molar in Hell is greater than Mount Uhud."

Fright and terror appeared upon the faces of all those present because each one of them was afraid lest he should be the person about whom the Prophet (PBUH) prophesied a dreadful end.

Years passed and all those Companions met their ends as martyrs except Abu Hurairah and Ar-Rajjaal Ibn ‘Unfuwah, who were still alive. Abu Hurairah was extremely terrified by that prophecy and did not feel comfortable until fate revealed the secret of the unfortunate man: Ar-Rajjaal Ibn ‘Unfuwah, who apostatized from Islam and joined Musailamah the Liar, and thus witnessed the fulfillment of prophecy upon him.

One day, Ar-Rajjaal Ibn ~Unfuwah went to the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) and acknowledged him and learned the teachings of Islam. Then he went to his people and did not return to AlMadiinah till the death of the Prophet and the choice of As-Siddiiq as the Caliph of the Muslims. Ar-Rajjaal told Abu Bakr the news of

the inhabitants of Al-Yamaamah and their support for Musailamah and proposed that he be sent to Al-Yamaamah as an envoy in order to confirm Islam among them. The Caliph gave him permission.

Ar-Rajjaal went to Al-Yamaamah, and when he saw the numerouss supporters of Musailamah, he believed that they would be the victors. His perfidious nature caused him to reserve a place in the prospective state of Musailamah. Consequently, he apostatized from Islam and joined Musailamah, who promised him a prosperous future.

Ar-Rajjaal was more dangerous to Islam than Musailamah himself because he exploited his previous association with Islam and the period he had lived with the Messenger in Al-Madiinah, memorizing many verses of the Holy Qur'aan, and his intercession to Abu Bakr (May Allah be pleased with him), the Caliph of the Muslims. Ar-Rajjaal exploited all those things for evil purposes and cunningly supported and confirmed the sovereignty of Musailamah and his false prophethood.

He walked among people saying that he heard the Messenger of Allah say that he had taken Musailamah into partnership and when the Messenger (PBUH) died, he was worthy of carrying the banner of prophethood and revelation after him.

The number of Musailamah's supporters increased to a great extent because of the lies of Ar-Rajjaal and his cunning exploitation of his previous relationships with Islam and the Messenger (PBUH). When the news of Ar-Rajjaal reached Al-Madiinah, the Muslims were exceedingly angry because of the lies of this dangerous apostate who used to mislead people. His evil words and deeds expanded the range of the war and intensified the conflict the Muslims had with their enemies and adversaries. The most anxious and the most eager to meet Ar-Rajjaal was Zaid Ibn Al-Khattaab, whose heroism and fame was outstanding in the biographies and books of Islamic history.

Iam sure that you have heard about Zaid Ibn Al-Khattaab. He was the brother of ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattaab (May Allah be pleased with both). Yes! he was his elder brother. He was older than “Umar Ibn Al-Khattaab and he embraced Islam and gained the honor of martyrdom before him.

He was the ideal hero whose motto was "Actions speak louder than words.” His faith in Allah and His Messenger and His religion was strong and firm. He never stayed away from the Messenger in any setting, and in every battle he sought martyrdom more than he sought victory.

On the Day of Uhud, when the fight between the believers and the polytheists was very fierce, Zaid was fighting boldly. His brother “Umar Ibn Al-Khattaab (May Allah be pleased with him) saw him as his shield fell down and he was within reach of the enemies. ‘Umar cried, "O Zaid, take my shield and fight with it!" Zaid replied, "I want martyrdom as you want it." He continued fighting without his shield with astonishing herosim.

As we mentioned before, Zaid (May Allah be pleased with him) was longing to meet Ar-Rajjaal, wishing to put an end to his devilish life.

In Zaid's opinion, Ar-Rajjaal was not only an apostate but also a hypocrite and self-seeker. Zaid was like his brother ‘Umar Ibn AlKhattaab in his abhorence of hypocrisy and lying, especially when hypocrisy aimed at selfish gain and mean purposes. For those mean purposes Ar-Rajjaal committed his atrocious acts, resulting in the numbers of Musailamah's supporters greatly increasing and causing great numbers of deaths in the Apostate Battles . First he deceived them, and finally he led them to their deaths for the sake of his devilish hopes.

Zaid prepared himself to conclude his faithful life by annihilating that impiety not only in Musailamah's person but also in Ar-Rajjaal Ibn “Unfuwah, who was more dangerous and more cunning.

The Day of Al-Yamaamah began gloomy and dim. Khaalid Ibn Al-Waliid gathered the Army of Islam and directed it to its positions and left the leadership of the army to Zaid Ibn Al-Khattaab, who fought Bani Haniifah, the followers of Musailamah, boldly and fiercely. At the beginning, the battle was leaning towards the side of the polytheists, and many of the Muslims fell as martyrs. Zaid saw the feelings of horror in the hearts of some Muslims, so he climbed a hill and cried, "O people! Grit your teeth, fight your enemy and go straight. By Allah, I'll never speak till Allah beats them or I meet Him

and then I give my evidence." Then he descended, gritting his teeth, pressing this lips, never moving his tongue with even a whisper.

His only hope was to kill Ar-Rajjaal, so he began to penetrate the enemy army like an arrow searching for its target, until he saw

Then he began to attack him from right and left. Whenever the deluge of the battle swallowed Ar-Rajjaal and hid him, Zaid dived towards him until the waves pushed him to the surface again. Zaid approached him and stretched out his sword towards him, but the furious human waves swallowed Ar-Rajjaal again. Then Zaid followed and dived after him so as not to allow him to escape.

At last, Zaid held him by his neck and with the sword, he cut off his head which was full of vanity, lies, and villainy. By the death of the great liar, the ranks of its whole army began to fall.