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Al-Baraa
Ibn Malik Al-Ansari
His hair looked dishevelled and his
whole appearance was unkempt. He was thin and wiry with so
little flesh on his bones that it was painful to look at
him. Yet in single- handed combat he defeated and killed
many opponents and in the thick of battle he was an
outstanding fighter against the mushrikeen. He was so
courageous and daring that Umar once wrote to his
governors throughout the Islamic state that they should
not appoint him to lead any army out of fear that he would
have them all killed by his daring exploits. This man was
al-Baraa ibn Malik al- Ansari, the brother of Anas ibn
Malik, the personal aide of the Prophet. If the tales of
Baraa's heroism were to be told in detail, pages and pages
could be written. But let one example suffice. This
particular story begins only hours after the death of the
noble Prophet when many Arabian tribes took to leaving the
religion of God in large numbers, just as they had entered
it in large numbers. Within a short space of time only the
people of Makkah, Madinah and Taif and scattered
communities here and there, whose commitment to Islam was
unwavering, remained within the religion. Abu Bakr
as-Siddiq, the successor to the Prophet, stood firm
against this blind and destructive movement. From the
Muhajireen and Ansar, he mobilized eleven armies each
under a separate commander and despatched them to various
parts of the Arabian peninsula. Their purpose was to make
the apostates return to the path of guidance and truth and
to confront the leaders of the rebellion. The strongest
group of apostates and the greatest in number were the
Banu Hanifah among whom Musaylamah the Imposter arose,
claiming that he was a prophet. Musaylamah managed to
mobilize forty thousand of the best fighters among his
people. Most of these however followed him for the sake of
asabEyyah or tribal loyalty and not because they believed
in him. One of them in fact said, "I testify that
Musaylamah is an imposter and that Muhammad is true but
the imposter of Rabi'ah (Musaylamah) is dearer to us than
the true man of Mudar (Muhammad). "
Musaylamah routed the first army sent
against him under the leadership of Ikrimah ibn Abi Jahl.
Abu Bakr despatched another army against Musaylamah led by
Khalid ibn al-Walid. This army included the cream of the
Sahabah from both the Ansar and the Muhajireen. In the
front ranks of this army was Baraa ibn Malik and a group
of the most valiant Muslims. The two armies met in the
territory of the Banu Hanifah at Yamamah in Najd. Before
long, the scale of battle tilted in favour of Musaylamah
and his men. The Muslim armies began to retreat from their
positions. Musaylamah's forces even stormed the tent of
Khalid ibn Walid and drove him from his position. They
would have killed his wife if one of them had not granted
her protection. At that point, the Muslims realised in
what a perilous situation they were. They were also
conscious of the fact that if they were annihilated by
Musaylamah, Islam would not be able to stand as a religion
and AllahÑthe One God with whom there is no partnerÑwould
not be worshipped in the Arabian peninsula after that.
Khalid mustered his forces once more and began reorgamsing
them. He separated the Muhajireen and the Ansar and kept
men from different tribes apart. Each was put under the
leadership of one of its own members so that the losses of
each group in the battle might be known.
The battle raged. There was much
destruction and death. The Muslims had not experienced
anything like this in all the wars they had fought before.
Musaylamah's men remained firm amidst the tumult, as firm
as immovable mountains although many of them had fallen.
The Muslims displayed tremendous feats of heroism. Thabit
ibn Qays, the standard bearer of the Ansar, dug a pit and
planted himself in it and fought until he was killed. The
pit he dug turned out to be his grave. Zayd ibn alKhattab,
brother of Umar ibn al-Khattab, may God be pleased with
them both, called out to the Muslims: "Men, bite with
your jaw teeth, strike the enemy and press on. By God, I
shall not speak to you after this until either Musaylamah
is defeated or I meet God." He then charged against
the enemy and continued fighting until he was killed.
Salim, the mawla of Abu Hudhaifah, and standard bearer of
the Muhajireen displayed unexpected valour. His people
feared that he would show weakness or be too terrified to
fight. To them he said, "If you manage to overtake
me, what a miserable bearer of the Qur'an I shall
be." He then valiantly plunged into the enemy ranks
and eventually fell as a martyr. The bravery of all these,
however, wanes in front of the heroism of al-Baraa ibn
Malik, may God be pleased with him and with them all. As
the battle grew fiercer and fiercer, Khalid turned to
al-Baraa and said, "Charge, young man of the
Ansar." AlBaraa turned to his men and said, "O
Ansar, let not anyone of you think of returning to
Madinah. There is no Madinah for you after this day. There
is only Allah, then Paradise."
He and the Ansar then launched their
attack against the mushrikeen, breaking their ranks and
dealing telling blows against them until eventually they
began to withdraw. They sought refuge in a garden which
later became known in history as The Garden of Death
because of the many killed there on that day. The garden
was surrounded by high walls. Musaylamah and thousands of
his men entered and closed the gates behind them and
fortified themselves. From their new positions they began
to rain down arrows on the Muslims. The valiant Baraa went
forward and addressed his company, "Put me on a
shield. Raise the shield on spears and hurl me into the
garden near the gate. Either I shall die a martyr or I
shall open the gate for you." The thin and wiry
al-Baraa was soon sitting on a shield. A number of spears
raised the shield and he was thrown into the Garden of
Death amongst the multitude of Musaylamah's men. He
descended on them like a thunderbolt and continued to
fight them in front of the gate. Many fell to his sword
and he himself sustained numerous wounds before he could
open the gate. The Muslims charged into the Garden of
Death through the gates and over the walls. Fighting was
bitter and at close quarters and hundreds were killed.
Finally the Muslims came upon Musaylamah and he was
killed. Al Baraa was taken in a litter to Madinah. Khalid
ibn alWalid spent a month looking after him and tending
his wounds. Eventually his condition improved. Through him
the Muslims had gained victory over Musaylamah.
In spite of recovering from his wounds,
al-Baraa continued to long for the martyrdom which had
eluded him at the Garden of Death. He went on fighting in
battle after battle hoping to attain his aim. This came at
the battle for Tustar in Persia. At Tustar the Persians
were besieged in one of their defiant fortresses. The
siege was long and when its effects became quite
unbearable, they adopted a new tactic. From the walls of
the fortress, they began to throw down iron chains at the
ends of which were fastened iron hooks which were red hot.
Muslims were caught by these hooks and were pulled up
either dead or in the agony of death. One of these hooks
got hold of Anas ibn Malik, the brother of al-Baraa. As
soon as al-Baraa saw this, he leapt up the wall of the
fortress and grabbed the chain which bore his brother and
began undoing the hook from his body. His hand began to
burn but he did not let go before his brother was
released. Baraa himself died during this battle. He had
prayed to God to grant him martyrdom.
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