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ABU
UBAYDAH IBN AL-JARRAH Radhia
Allahu Anaha
His
appearance was striking. He was slim and tall. His face
was bright and he had a sparse beard. It was pleasing to
look at him and refreshing to meet him. He was extremely
courteous and humble and quite shy. Yet in a tough
situation he would become strikingly serious and alert,
resembling the flashing blade of a sword in his severity
and sharpness.
He
was described as the "Amin" or Custodian of
Muhammad's community. His full name was Aamir ibn Abdullah
ibn al-Jarrah. He was known as Abu Ubaydah. Of him
Abdullah ibn Umar, one of the companions of the Prophet,
said:
"Three
persons in the tribe of Quraysh were most prominent, had
the best character and were the most modest. If they spoke
to you, they would not deceive you and if you spoke to
them, they would not accuse you of Iying: Abu Bakr
as-Siddiq, Uthman ibn Affan and Abu Ubaydah ibn
al-Jarrah."
Abu
Ubaydah was one of the first persons to accept Islam. He
became a Muslim one day after Abu Bakr. In fact, it was
through Abu Bakr that he became a Muslim. Abu Bakr took
him, Abdur Rahman ibn Auf, Uthman ibn Maz'un and al-Arqam
ibn abi al Arqam to the Prophet, upon whom be peace, and
together they declared their acceptance of the Truth. They
were thus the first pillars on which the great edifice of
Islam was built.
Abu
Ubaydah lived through the harsh experience, which the
Muslims went through in Makkah, from beginning to end.
With the early Muslims, he endured the insults and the
violence, the pain and the sorrow of that experience. In
every trial and test he remained firm and constant in his
belief in God and His prophet. One of the most harrowing
experiences he had to go through, however, was at the
battle of Badr.
Abu
Ubaydah was in the vanguard of the Muslim forces, fighting
with might and main and as someone who was not at all
afraid of death. The Quraysh cavalry were extremely wary
of him and avoided coming face to face with him. One man
in particular, however, kept on pursuing Abu Ubaydah
wherever he turned and Abu Ubaydah tried his best to keep
out of his way and avoid an encounter with him.
The
man plunged into the attack. Abu Ubaydah tried desperately
to avoid him. Eventually the man succeeded in blocking Abu
Ubaydah's path and stood as a barrier between him and the
Quraysh. They were now face to face with each other. Abu
Ubaydah could not contain himself any longer. He struck
one blow to the man's head. The man fell to the ground and
died instantly.
Do
not try to guess who this man was. It was, as stated
earlier, one of the most harrowing experiences that Abu
Ubaydah had to go through, how harrowing, it is almost
impossible to imagine. The man in fact was Abdullah ibn
al-Jarrah, the father of Abu Ubaydah!
Abu
Ubaydah obviously did not want to kill his father but in
the actual battle between faith in God and polytheism, the
choice open to him was profoundly disturbing but clear. In
a way it could be said that he did not kill his fatherÑhe
only killed the polytheism in the person of his father.
It
is concerning this event that God revealed the following
verses of the Qur'an:
"You
will not find a people believing in God and the Last Day
making friends with those who oppose God and His messenger
even if these were their fathers, their sons, their
brothers or their clan. God has placed faith in their
hearts and strengthened them with a spirit from Him. He
will cause them to enter gardens beneath which streams
flow that they may dwell therein. God is well pleased with
them and they well pleased with Him. They are the party of
God. Is not the party of God the successful ones?"
(Surah al-Mujadilah 58:22)
The
response of Abu Ubaydah at Badr when confronted by his
father was not unexpected. He had attained a strength of
faith in God, devotion to His religion and a level of
concern for the ummah of Muhammad to which many aspired.
It
is related by Muhammad ibn Ja'far, a Companion of the
Prophet, that a Christian delegation came to the Prophet
and said, "O Abu-l Qasim, send one of your companions
with us, one in whom you are well pleased, to judge
between us on some questions of property about which we
disagree among ourselves. We have a high regard for you
Muslim people."
"Come
back to me this evening," replied the Prophet,
"and I will send with you one who is strong and
trustworthy.';
Umar
ibn al-Khattab heard the Prophet saying this and later
said:
"I
went to the Zuhr (midday) Prayer early hoping to be the
one who would fit the description of the Prophet. When the
Prophet had finished the Prayer, he began looking to his
right and his left and I raised myself so that he could
see me. But he continued looking among us until he spotted
Abu Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah. He called him and said, 'Go
with them and judge among them with truth about that which
they are in disagreement." And so Abu Ubaydah got the
appointment."
Abu
Ubaydah was not only trustworthy. He displayed a great
deal of strength in the discharge of his trust. This
strength was shown on several occasions.
One
day the Prophet despatched a group of his Sahabah to meet
a Quraysh caravan. He appointed Abu Ubaydah as amir
(leader) of the group and gave them a bag of dates and
nothing else as provisions. Abu Ubaydah gave to each man
under his command only one date every day. He would suck
this date just as a child would suck at the breast of its
mother. He would then drink some water and this would
suffice him for the whole day.
On
the day of Uhud when the Muslims were being routed, one of
the mushrikeen started to shout, "Show me Muhammad,
show me Muhammad." Abu Ubaydah was one of a group of
ten Muslims who had encircled the Prophet to protect him
against the spears of the Mushrikeen.
When
the battle was over, it was found that one of the
Prophet's molar teeth was broken, his forehead was bashed
in and two discs from his shield had penetrated into his
cheeks. Abu Bakr went forward with the intention of
extracting these discs but Abu Ubaydah said, "Please
leave that to me."
Abu
Ubaydah was afraid that he would cause the Prophet pain if
he took out the discs with his hand. He bit hard into one
of the discs. It was extracted but one of his incisor
teeth fell to the ground in the process. With his other
incisor, he extracted the other disc but lost that tooth
also. Abu Bakr remarked, "Abu Ubaydah is the best of
men at breaking incisor teeth!"
Abu
Ubaydah continued to be fully involved in all the
momentous events during the Prophet's lifetime. After the
beloved Prophet had passed away, the companions gathered
to choose a successor at the Saqifah or meeting place of
Banu Sa'aadah. The day is known in history as the Day of
Saqifah. On this day, Umar ibn al-Khattab said to Abu
Ubaydah, "Stretch forth your hand and I will swear
allegiance to you for I heard the Prophet, peace be upon
him say, 'Every ummah has an amin (custodian) and you are
the amin of this ummah.' "
"I
would not," declared Abu Ubaydah, "put myself
forward in the presence of a man whom the Prophet, upon
whom be peace, commanded to lead us in Prayer and who led
us right until the Prophet's death." He then gave
bay'ah (the oath of allegiance) to Abu Bakr as-Siddiq. He
continued to be a close adviser to Abu Bakr and his strong
supporter in the cause of truth and goodness. Then came
the caliphate of Umar and Abu Ubaydah also gave him his
support and obedience. He did not disobey him in any
matter, except one.
The
incident happened when Abu Ubaydah was in Syria leading
the Muslim forces from one victory to another until the
whole of Syria was under Muslim control. The River
Euphrates lay to his right and Asia Minor to his left.
It
was then that a plague hit the land of Syria, the like of
which people had never experienced before. It devastated
the population. Umar despatched a messenger to Abu Ubaydah
with a letter saying:
"I
am in urgent need of you. If my letter reaches you at
night I strongly urge you to leave before dawn. If this
letter reaches you during the day, I strongly urge you to
leave before evening and hasten to me.
When
Abu Ubaydah received Umar's letter, he said, "I know
why the Amir al-Mu'mineen needs me. He wants to secure the
survival of someone who, however, is not eternal." So
he wrote to Umar:
"I
know that you need me. But I am in an army of Muslims and
I have no desire to save myself from what is afflicting
them. I do not want to separate from them until God wills.
So, when this letter reaches you, release me from your
command and permit me to stay on."
When
Umar read this letter tears filled his eyes and those who
were with him asked, "Has Abu Ubaydah died, O Amir
al-Mu'mineen?"
"No,"
said he, "But death is near to him."
Umar's
intuition was not wrong. Before long, Abu Ubaydah became
afflicted with the plague. As death hung over him, he
spoke to his army:
"Let
me give you some advice which will cause you to be on the
path of goodness always.
"Establish
Prayer. Fast the month of Ramadan. Give Sadaqah. Perform
the Hajj and Umrah. Remain united and support one another.
Be sincere to your commanders and do not conceal anything
from them. Don't let the world destroy you for even if man
were to live a thousand years he would still end up with
this fate that you see me in."
"Peace
be upon you and the mercy of God."
Abu
Ubaydah then turned to Muadh ibn Jabal and said, "O
Muadh, perform the prayer with the people (be their
leader)." At this, his pure soul departed.
Muadh
got up and said: "O people, you are stricken by the
death of a man. By God, I don't know whether I have seen a
man who had a more righteous heart, who was further from
all evil and who was more sincere to people than he. Ask
God to shower His mercy on him and God will be merciful to
you."
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