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PREACHING DURING CALIPHATE OF
OMAR BEFORE A BATTLE continued
ABDULLAH, SON OF MU’TAM
AMR, SON OF AL ‘AS
SALAMA, SON OF QAIS ASH’JA’E
ABU MOSA ASH’ARI
ABU DARDA
Hayatus Sahabah by Muhadith Kandahlawi (Kandhelvi)
Rendered into current English
by
Khadeijah Abdullah Darwish (Anne Stephens)
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ABDULLAH, SON OF MU’TAM AND THE TRIBE OF
TAGHLIB AND THE BATTLE OF TIKRIT
Talha and others narrate that during the battle of Tikrit, the Romans saw that every
offensive they launched against the Muslims backfired on them, and that every time they
fought against the Muslims they suffered defeat. With this realization they deserted their
leaders and loaded their belongings on boats (to leave).
When spies from the (Arab-Christian) tribes of Taghlib, Iyad and Nanir sent the news to
Abdullah, son of Mu’ta, (the Muslim commander) they requested a peace treaty between
the Muslims and their tribes, and also added that their tribes were willing to accept Islam.
Abdullah sent a message back to them saying, “If you are sincere, you should bear
witness that there is no god except Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.
In addition to this, you must accept everything the Messenger of Allah, praise and peace
be upon him, brought from Allah. You should then inform us of your decision.” The
messengers took Abdullah’s message and returned with the news that the people had
accepted Islam.
THE PREACHING OF AMR , SON OF AL ‘AS BEFORE
THE BATTLE OF EGYPT
Khalid, the son of Waleed and Ubadah narrate that Amr, son of Al ‘As marched to Egypt
after Omar had returned to Medina (from Al Shams). Zubair followed him (with another
contingent) and the two joined up with Amr Al ‘As at a place called Illyon.
Upon their arrival they were met by a High Priest of the Christian Coptic Church in Egypt
whose name was Abu Maryam accompanied by another high priest and the Egyptian
army that had been sent to defend Egypt.
When Amr arrived, the Egyptians had already prepared themselves for battle, but Amr
sent a messenger to tell them not to be too hasty and should first listen to their reason
for coming to Egypt and then decide upon what course of action to take. The Egyptian
attack was put on hold and Amr sent another message saying that he was coming (to
talk) and asked that Abu Maryam and his companion should also come forth. The
Egyptians accepted and each party guaranteed the safety of the other.
Upon meeting the two high priests, Amr said, “You are two senior priests of this country,
so (I ask you to) listen. Allah has sent Muhammad with the truth and ordered us to follow
His truth. Muhammad, praise and peace be upon him, has conveyed this command to us
together with all the commands Allah has issued. Muhammad, praise and peace be
upon him, passed away – may Allah’s choicest blessings and mercy be showered upon
him and fulfilled his duty and left us on a clear path. Amongst his instructions to us was
to wish goodness for people and therefore we invite you to accept Islam. Whosoever
accepts Islam will be one of us but whosoever refuses to accept is to be given the option
of paying the head tax (Jizya). In return we will do everything without our capacity to
provide protection. The Messenger of Allah, praise and peace be upon him, also
informed us that we will without doubt conquer you and advised us to be good to you
and to maintain the family ties that exist between us (the mother of his son Ibrahim was
Egyptian). If you accept this option (Jizya), you will have in your favor another right (of
being family) in addition to the right of protection. Among the commands that our leader
gave were that we treat the Copts well because the Messenger of Allah, praise and
peace be upon him, reminded us that they are our relatives and deserve to be well
protected.”
The high priests said, “It is only the prophets who would maintain such distant relations.
(Referring the Lady Haggar who was an Egyptian and wife of Prophet Abraham) they
said, “She was indeed an honorable lady who was the daughter of our king. She
belonged to the House of Manf who were the ruling family. However, the House of
Aynush Shams attacked them, killing many and seized their kingdom and those who
remained were forced into exile. After a while she became the wife of Prophet Abraham,
peace be upon him. Your coming is a most welcome and happy event for us. Leave us
in peace and we will return to you (after consulting with the others).” Amr, son of Al ‘As
said, “You will be unable to deceive us and have three days to think over the matter and
to consult with your people. Otherwise we will have to attack you.” The two priests
requested the time to be extend, and Amr gave them an extra day. They asked for more
time and he added another day.
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Thereafter the two priests returned to the king who seriously considered the alternatives.
However, a person by the name of Artabon (a Roman general defeated in Palestine who
fled to Egypt) refused to submit and ordered an attack against the Muslims. The two
priests told the people, “We will do our best to defend you without returning to the
Muslims. However, there are still four days left in which we can hope for nothing except
peace from them.”
The army of Farqab launched an attacked against Amr.and Zubair at night, however,
Amr was prepared for the attack. They engaged the enemy and slew Farqab’s people
and those who were with him (Artabone was amongst those killed).those who survived
fled. Amr and Zubair (and their army) then left for Aynush Shams.
Abu Haritha and Abu Othman narrate that on the 4th day when Amr set up camp at
Aynush Shams, the Egyptians said to their king, “What do you wish to do against the
people who have defeated the Persians and Caesar and occupied their lands? Enter into
negotiations with them and draw up a treaty without fighting them or leading us against
them.” However, the king refused and the Egyptians attacked the Muslims.
The Muslims repulsed the attack and Zubair managed to climb the wall of their
stronghold. When the Egyptians saw this, they opened the gates for Amr and came out
to enter into negotiations. Amr accepted their submission and Zubair climbed down from
the wall as conqueror.
PREACHING PRIOR TO A BATTLE UNDER THE
LEADERSHIP OF SALAMA, SON OF QAIS ASH’JA’E
Sulayman, son of Buraydah narrates that whenever a Muslim regiment was assembled,
the Prince of Believers, Omar appointed someone to be their commander who was
knowledgeable and whose judgment was sound.. His choice at one time was Salama,
son of Qais, Ash’ja’e who was the leader of one of the contingents. Salama addressed
the army saying, “March in the Name of Allah and for the pleasure of Allah, you should
fight those who disbelieve. When you meet the unbelieving enemy, invite them to accept
one of three options: Invite them to Islam, if they accept and choose to remain in their
own homes, they will still have to pay the obligatory charity from their wealth but will
have no share of the spoils of war Muslims receive. However, if they chose to join you
they will enjoy the same privileges that you do and will be obligated to bear the same
responsibilities that you do. If they refuse to accept Islam, ask them to pay the head tax
(Jizya). If they agree to this fight their enemies for them thereby freeing them to pay the
head tax. Do not place responsibilities on them beyond their capacity. If they refuse even
this, fight them and Allah will assist you against them. If they take refuge in a fortress
and ask you to allow them to come out on the conditions of Allah and His Messenger,
praise and peace be upon them, do not permit it because you know the injunctions and
they do not .know what Allah and His Prophet, praise and peace be upon him, issue
concerning them. Should they ask to be allowed to come out in under the protection of
Allah and His Messenger, do not allow it, rather allow them to come out under your
protection. If they fight you, ensure that you do not steal from the spoils of war, do not
deceive, neither mutilate nor kill children.”
Salama said, “We marched and when we met the unbelieving enemy, we spoke to them
about Islam as the Price of Believers had instructed. When they refused to accept Islam,
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and when we called upon them to pay the head tax they refused. So we fought them and
Allah assisted us to defeat them. We killed their soldiers, captured their families and
collected their wealth (the spoils of war).” The narration continues in great detail.
THE PREACHING OF MOSA ASH’ARI BEFORE THE
BATTLE OF ISFAHAN
Abu Umayah narrates that when Mosa Ash’ari struck camp at Isfahan he invited the
people to accept Islam. Upon their refusal he proposed the head tax and they opted to
enter into negotiations with him. Although they had opted for peace that night, the
following morning they betrayed the Muslims and launched a surprise attack. However,
Allah made the Muslims victorious.
THE CHARACTER AND ACTIONS OF THE COMPANIONS
Regarding Amr, son of Jamoh acceptance of Islam and the role that his son and Mu’adh,
son of Jabal played, the son of Isaac narrates that after some of the Ansar had pledged
allegiance to the Messenger of Allah, praise and peace be upon him, (in Mecca) they
returned to Medina and Islam started to manifest it there. However, there remained
among their tribe some unbelievers who adhered to their religion. Amongst such people
was Amr, son of Jamoh, whose son Mu’aadh had been one of those who had pledged
allegiance to the Messenger of Allah at Aqabah.
Amr was a chieftain of the tribe of Banu Salsa, and one of the most respected people
among them. It was customary at that time that noble people such as Amr kept a
wooden idol named Manat in their homes. Amr worshipped it and always kept it clean.
After accepting Islam, several youths from the tribe of Banu Salma together with others
who had pledged their allegiance to the Messenger of Allah, praise and peace be upon
him, at Aqabah including Mu’adh, son of Jabal and Amr’s son who was also named
Mu’adh would take the idol and throw it head first into one of the garbage dumps. In the
morning, Amr, son of Jamoh would say, “Woe to those who have mistreated our god last
night” and he would go in search of the idol. Eventually when he found it he would wash
and cleanse it thoroughly then perfume it swearing by Allah that if he found out who the
culprits were who did this he would put them to shame. However, the same youths
would return and repeat what they had done the previous night as soon as Amr went to
sleep. The same thing happened again night after night and he would retrieve it once
more from the garbage dump, cleanse and perfume it, however, this time he hung his
sword around its neck saying, “By Allah, I have no idea who is doing this to you. If you
have the courage, you should defend yourself now that you have this sword with you.”
When night fell and Amr had gone to sleep the youths seized the idol and after having
removed the sword from its neck tied it to a dead dog and threw it into the unused well of
Abu Salma that was used for a garbage dump. The next morning when Amr did not find
the idol in its alcove, he went out in search for it and found it lying on its head in the well
with the dead dog tied to it. When he saw what had happened it was then that he
realized the worthlessness of his idol.
The Muslims spoke to him about Islam and Amr accepted and became an excellent
Muslim. May Allah shower His Mercy upon him.
Another narration states that when several members of the tribe of Banu Salma
accepted Islam, the wife and son of Amr, son of Jamoh also accepted Islam whereas
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Amr did not. He said to his wife, “Do not allow any of the children to go to your family
until I look into what they are doing.” She replied, “I will do as you ask, but won’t you
listen to your son who has heard from that person (the Messenger of Allah, praise and
peace be upon him)?” Amr said, “Perhaps he has become irreligious.” “No” replied his
wife, “he was just one of the people.” Amr asked his son to come to him then said, “Tell
me what you heard from that person.” Whereupon his son recited:
“Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds,
the Merciful, the Most Merciful,
Owner of the Day of Recompense.
You (alone) we worship; and You (alone) we rely for help.
Guide us to the Straight Path,
the Path of those upon whom You have favored,
not those upon whom is the anger, nor the astray.” Koran Ch. 1 1-5
Amr declared, “This is most excellent and beautiful, is all his speech like this? His son
said, “Yes, dear father. Do you wish to follow him? Most of our people are already doing
so.”
Amr replied, “I won’t do so until I have consulted with Manat and see what he says.”
When the unbelievers attempted to speak with the idol Manat, an old woman would
stand behind the idol and impersonate by speaking on its behalf. However, the woman
was not there when Amr approached it. As he stood by the idol he praised it excessively
and then said, “O Manat, you should know that you are being faced with a serious
danger of which you are unaware. A man has come who forbids us to worship you and
who instructs us to get rid of you. I did not want to pledge allegiance to him until I had
consulted with you” and he continued to speak to the idol for a long time, but there was
no response. As there was no reply, Amr said to it, “You seem to be angry with me, but I
have done nothing impolite to you.” Then Amr broke the idol into pieces.
In another narration it adds that when Amr accepted Islam and recognized the authority
of Allah, he composed some verses expressing his experience and spoke of the
helplessness of the idols. He also thanked Allah for saving him from spiritual blindness
and the deviation that had almost consumed him:
“I repent to Allah for the wrongs I committed in the past
And desire that Allah rescue me from the fire of Hell
Praise be to Him for His bounties
He who is the Lord of the Kab’ah and its covering
May He be glorified to the extent of the number of sinners
And the extent of the raindrops falling from the sky
He guided me when I was in darkness
When I was worshipping Manat and other stones
After my hair had turned white because of old age, He saved me
from the blight of idol worship and its shame
I was on the verge of being totally destroyed in darkness
But He rescued me by His tremendous might
Therefore I praise Him and thank Him as long as I live
He who is the Lord of mankind and All Powerful over them
When I say these words my only desire is
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to earn proximity to Allah in His home Paradise."
In condemnation of the idol Manat, Amr composed the following verses:
"By Allah! had you been a true god, you would never have been
thrown deep down in a well bound tied to a dog.
Curses to the place where you have been thrown,
lying there in disgrace despite being a god
we have now discovered your tremendous harmfulness
All praises belong to the Exalted Allah who bestows favors
The Giver, the Sustainer and the One who rewards every good- practice
It was He who rescued me
Before I became a grave trapped in darkness"
ABU DARDA EMBRACES ISLAM
Waaqidi says that it is commonly believed that Abu Darda was the last person from his
family to accept Islam. He was a devoted worshipper of his idol and kept it covered with
a cloth.
During the Time of Ignorance, Abdullah, son of Rawaha had been Abu Darda’s very
close friend and had constantly invited him to accept Islam but each time he refused.
One day, Abdullah, son of Rawaha saw Abu Darda leaving his house, so he entered the
house and surpised Abu Darda’s wife who was combing her hair. Abdullah asked her
were Abu Darda was and she replied, “Your brother has just left.” Then with axe in hand,
Abdullah entered the room in which the idol had been placed and smashed it into pieces.
As he smashed it, he mentioned the name of the idol and composed a short verse:
“Behold, everything that is worshipped other than Allah is false.”
Abu Darda’s wife had heard the noise of the axe and when Abdullah came out of the
room, she cried out, “O son of Rawaha, you have ruined me!” Abdullah had not long left
the house when Abu Darda returned and found his wife sitting crying, fearful of his
reaction. He asked her what the matter was and she told him, “Your brother Abdullah,
son of Rawaha came here by surprise and did what you see.” Abu Darda flew into a
towering rage, but then thought to himself that if his idol was of any good, it would have
defended itself whereupon he went to the Messenger of Allah, praise and peace be upon
him, and found Abdullah sitting with him and accepted Islam.
OMAR’S LETER TO AMR, SON OF AL ‘AS CONCERNING
THE HEAD TAX AND THE PRISONERS OF WAR
Ziyad, son of Zubaydi narrates a lengthy report about what happened after the Muslims
conquered Alexandria during the Caliphate of Omar. In this report he also mentions that
they stopped at a place called Balheb where they waited for Omar’s letter to arrive.
When it arrived Amr, son of Al ‘As read the letter to the Muslims which stated:
“Your letter has reached me with the news that the King of Alexandria has opted to pay
to pay the head tax on condition that all the prisoners of his country are returned to him.
By my life, the head tax we receive and what the Muslims after us receive is more
beloved to me than the spoils of war that are distributed then finished. Suggest to the
King of Alexandria that he should pay the head tax on condition that the prisoners in
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your custody should be given the choice of either accepting Islam, or remain in their
religion. Whoever among them accepts Islam would become of the Muslims and enjoy
the privileges all Muslims enjoy together with bearing the responsibilities all Muslims
bear. Those who choose the religion of their people will have to pay the same amount of
head tax fixed for the people of his faith. As for those prisoners who have been taken to
Arabia and reached destinations such as Mecca, Medina or Yemen, we will be unable to
return them to him, and we cannot enter into an agreement which we will be unable to
fulfill.”
THE ACTIONS OF THE COMPANIONS DURING THE
CONQUEST OF ALEXANDRIA
Ziyad, son of Jaz adds, “Thereafter Amr, son of Al ‘As sent a letter to the King of
Alexandria, detailing the instructions which Omar, Prince of Believers had written to him.
The king accepted the proposal and we gathered the prisoners to us. When all the
Christian prisoners had been gathered, we approached them individually and offered
them the choice between Islam or Christianity. When those of them accepted Islam, we
exclaimed, “Allahu Akbar louder than we did when we conquered any town and took him
under our protection. Those who chose to remain as Christians would make a noise and
take him into their protection and we would impose the head tax upon him. When this
happened, we were so grieved that (he did not accept Islam) it almost appeared as if
one of us had defected to them.
Among those who came to us was Abu Maryam (whose name was) Abdullah. Another
narrator says he met Abu Maryam when he was with the chief of the tribe of Banu
Zubayd. Ziyad, son of Jaz continues saying, “When we approached Abu Maryam, whose
parents and brothers were all Christians to give him the choice between Islam and
Christianity, he opted to accept Islam. As we took him into our protection, his parents
and brothers darted across to pull him away from us, and tore his clothing. However, he
is now, as you can see, our chief.”
ALI’S SUIT OF ARMOR
Sha’bi narrates that Ali, the Prince of Believers went one day to the marketplace and
found a Christian selling a coat of armor that had belonged to him. Ali approached him
saying “That coat of armor belongs to me. Let us get a Muslim judge to decide the
matter between us.” The judge they called upon was Qadi Shuray and Ali asked him to
preside. Shuray asked, ”What do you have to say, Prince of Believers?” Ali told him,
“This coat of armor belongs to me. I lost it a long time ago.’ Judge Shuray then asked
the Christian, “What have you to day, O Christian?” The Christian replied, “No, the
Prince of Believers is mistaken, the armor is mine.” Judge Shuray ruled, “The armor
cannot be taken from the Christian unless you have proof (of ownership).” Ali submitted,
saying, “Shuray is right.” Having heard this the Christian said, “As for me, I bear witness
that it is certainly the judgment of the Prophets that the Prince of Believers can come to
a judge under his power who passes judgment against him, O Prince of Believers, I
swear by Allah that the armor belongs to you. As I walked behind you one, the armor fell
from your brown camel and I picked it up.” Thereafter he declared, “I bear witness that
there is no god except Allah, and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.”,
Whereupon Ali said to him, “Now that you have accepted Islam, you may have it,” and
the man took it and loaded it on his horse.
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In the narration of Hakim, he says that the amor of Ali had fallen from his camel and was
found by a person who sold it. When the armor was found in the possession of a Jew, Ali
took the case to Judge Shuray. Ali’s son Hasan and is freed slave Qambar testified in
favor of Ali. Judge Shuray then said, “Bring me another witness in place of Hasan.” Ali
asked, “Don’t you want to accept the testimony of Hasan? The judge replied, “No, I recall
that you told me it was not permissible for a son to testify in favor of his father.”
Yazid Tamemi reports a lengthy narration in which he states that Judge Suray said to
Ali, “We will accept the testimony of your freed slave but not that of your son.” Ali
exclaimed, “Have you not heard Omar report that the Messenger of Allah, praise and
peace be upon him, said, ‘Hasan and Nusain will be the leaders of the youth in
Paradise?’ Then, turning to the Jew Ali said, “You may have the armor, O Jew.”The Jew
said in astonishment, “O Prince of Believers. You take the case before the judge of
Muslims who passes judgment against you and you accept it! O Prince of Believers, I
swear by Allah you have spoken the truth. The armor is yours, I picked it up when it fell
off your camel.” Then he declared, “I bear witness that there is no god except Allah and
that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.”
Ali gave him the armor as a gift together with seven hundred dirhams. The former Jew
stayed in close company of Ali and was martyred in the Battle of Siffen.
May Allah be pleased with all the Companions.
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