Uqbah
Ibn Aamir
After a long and exhausting journey, the
Prophet, peace be on him, is at last on the outskirts of
Yathrib. The good people of the city go out to meet him.
Many crowd the narrow streets. Some stand on roof-tops
chanting La ilaha ilia Allah and Allahu Akbar in sheer joy
at meeting the Prophet of Mercy and his loyal companion,
Abu Bakr as-Siddiq. The small girls of the city come out
gaily beating their daffs and singing the words of
welcome:
Tala 'a-l badru alaynaa
Min Thaniyaati-l Wadaa' Wajaba-sh shukru
alaynaa
Maa da'aa lillaahi daa' Ayyuha-l mab
'uthu finaa
Ji'ta bi-l amri-l mutaa' Ji'ta
sharrafta-l Madinah
Marhaban yaa khayra-d daa'.
"The full moon has come upon us.
From beyond the hills of Thaniyaati-l Wadaa Grateful we
must be. For what to God he calls? O you who has been sent
among us? You came with a mission to be obeyed. You came,
you honoured the city; Welcome, O best of those w ho call
(to God).
As the procession of the blessed Prophet
wended its way, all around there were joyful hearts, tears
of ecstasy, smiles of sheer happiness.
Far away from these scenes of jubilation
and delight was a young man named Uqbah ibn Aamir
al-Juhani. He had gone out to the bawadi, the open
expanses of desert, to graze his flocks of sheep and goats
on the sparse vegetation. He had wandered far in searc h
of fodder for his hungry flock. It was difficult to find
suitable grazing grounds and he was constantly afraid that
his flock would perish. They were all he possessed and he
did not want to lose them.
The happiness which engulfed Yathrib,
henceforth to be known as the radiant city of the Prophet,
soon spread to the near and distant bawadi and reached
every nook and corner of the land. The good news of the
Prophet's arrival finally reached Uqbah as he t ended his
flocks far away in the inhospitable desert. His response
to the news was immediate as he himself relates: "The
Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, came to
Madinah while I was tending my sheep. When I heard the
news of his coming, I s et out to meet him without delay.
When I met him I asked:
'Will you accept my pledge of
allegiance, O Messenger of God?' 'And who are you?' asked
the Prophet. 'Uqbah ibn Aamir al-Juhani ,' I replied.
'Which do you prefer,' he asked, 'the pledge of a nomad or
the pledge of someone who has migrated?' 'The pledge o f
someone who has migrated,' I said. So the Messenger of God
took the same pledge from me as he did from the Muhajirin.
I spent the night with him and then went back to my flock.
There were twelve of us who had accepted
Islam but we lived far from the city tending our sheep and
goats in the open country. We came to the conclusion that
it would be good for us if we went to the Prophet daily,
so that he could instruct us in our reli gion and recite
for us whatever revelation he had received from on high. I
told the others:
'Take turns to go to the Messenger of
God, peace be on him. Anyone going may leave his sheep
with me because I am too worried and concerned about my
own flock to leave them in the care of someone else.'
Each day, one after another of my
friends went to the Prophet, leaving his sheep for me to
look after. When each returned, I learnt from him what he
had heard and benefitted from what he had understood.
Before long, however, I returned to my senses and sa id to
myself:
'Woe to you! Is it because of a flock of
sheep that you remain thin and wretched and lose the
opportunity to be in the company of the Prophet and to
speak directly to him without an intermediary':' With
this, I left my flock, went to Madinah and stayed in the
masjid close to the Messenger of God, may God bless him
and grant him peace."
Uqbah had no reason to regret having
taken this fateful decision. Within a decade, he had
become one of the outstanding scholars among the
companions of the Prophet, a competent and beautiful
reciter of the Quran, a military commander and later on
one of the eminent Muslim governors as Islam spread east
and west with astonishing rapidity. He could never have
imagined as he left his flock to follow the teachings of
the noble Prophet, that he would have been among the
vanguard of the Muslim forces that libe rated fertile
Damascus - then known as the "mother of the
universe" and that he would have a house for himself
among its verdant gardens. He could never have imagined
that he would be one of the commanders who liberated
Egypt, then known as the "emerald o f the
world", and that he would be one of its governors.
The fateful decision however was taken.
Alone, without possessions. or relatives, Uqbah came to
Madinah from the hawadi. He stayed with others like him on
the Suffah or elevated part of the Prophet's mosque, near
his house. The Suffah was like a reception point where
people like Uqbah would go because they wanted to be close
to the Prophet. They were known as the "Ashab
as-Suffah" and the Prophet once described them as the
"guests of Islam".
Because they had no income, the Prophet
always shared his food with them and encouraged others to
be generous to these "guests". They spent much
of their time studying the Quran and learning about Islam.
What a marvellous opportunity they had! They were i n
close and regular contact with the Prophet. He had a
special love and concern for them and took care to educate
them and look after them in all respects. Uqbah gave an
example of how the Prophet trained and taught them. He
said:
"One day, the Prophet, may Allah
bless him and grant him peace, came out to us while we
were on the Suffah and asked:
'Which of you would like to go out to
the open country or a valley every day and fetch for
himself two beautiful, black camels?' (Such camels were
considered prize possessions. )
'Everyone of us would like that, O
Messenger of God,' we all replied.
'Now,' he said, 'each one of you should
go to the mosque and learn two ayats (verses) of the Book
of God. This is better for him than two camels; three
verses are better than three camels; four verses are
better than four camels (and son)."
In this way, the Prophet tried to bring
about a change in attitudes among those who had accepted
Islam, a change from obsession with acquiring worldly
possessions to an attitude of devotion to knowledge. His
simple example provided them with motivation an d a
powerful incentive to acquire knowledge.
On other occasions, the Ashab as-Suffah
would ask questions of the Prophet in order to understand
their religion better. Once, Uqbah said, he asked the
Prophet, "What is salvation?" and he replied:
"Control your tongue, make your house spacious for
guests and spurn your mistakes."
Even outside the mosque, Uqbah tried to
stay close to the Prophet. On journeys, he often took the
reins of the Prophet's mule and went wherever the Prophet
desired. Sometimes he followed directly behind the
Prophet, peace be on him, and so came to be call ed the
redif of the Prophet. On some occasions, the Prophet would
descend from his mount and allow Uqbah to ride while he
himself walked. Uqbah described one such occasion:
"I took hold of the reins of the
Prophet's mule while passing through some palm groves of
Madinah.
'Uqbah ,' the Prophet said to me, 'don't
you want to ride.'?'
I thought of saying 'no' but I felt
there might be an element of disobedience to the Prophet
in such a reply so I said: 'Yes, O Prophet of God.'
The Prophet then got down from his mule
and I mounted in obedience to his command. He began to
walk. Shortly afterwards I dismounted. The Prophet mounted
again and said to me:
'Uqbah, shall I not teach you two surahs
the like of which has not been heard before.'?'
'Certainly, O Messenger of God,' I
replied. And so he recited to me "Qul a'udhu bi
rabbi-l Falaq" and "Qul a'udhu bi rabbi-n
nas" (the last two surahs of the Quran). I then said
the Iqamah for Salat. The Prophet led the Salat and
recited these two surahs. (Afterwards), he said: 'Read
both these surahs when you go to sleep and whenever you
wake up.'"
The above instances show
"continuous education" at its best, at home, in
the mosque, riding, walking in the open school of the
Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.
Two objectives occupied Uqbah's
attention throughout his life; the search for knowledge
and jihad in the path of God. He applied his energies
totally to these objectives.
In the field of learning, he drank
deeply from the fountain of knowledge that was the
Messenger of God, peace be on him. Uqbah became a
distinguished muqri (reciter of the Quran), a muhaddith
(recorder and narrator of the sayings of the Prophet); a
faqih (jurist); a faradi (expert on the Islamic laws of
inheritance); an adib (literateur); a fasih (orator) and a
sha'ir (poet).
In reciting the Quran, he had a most
pleasant and beautiful voice. In the stillness of the
night, when the entire universe seems peaceful and
tranquil, he would turn to the Book of God, and recite its
overpowering verses. The hearts of the noble companion s
would be drawn to his recitation. Their whole being would
be shaken and they would be moved to tears from the fear
of God which his recitation induced.
One day Umar ibn al-Khattab invited him
and said:
"Recite for me something from the
Book of God, O Uqbah." "At your command, O Amir
al-Muminin," said Uqbah and began reciting. Umar wept
till his beard was wet.
Uqbah left a copy of the Quran written
in his own hand. It is said that this copy of the Quran
existed until quite recently in Egypt in the well-known
mosque named after Uqbah ibn Aamir himself. At the end of
this text was written: "Uqbah ibn Aamir al-Juh ani
wrote it." This Mushaf of Uqbah was one of the
earliest copies of the Quran in existence but it was lost
in its entirety with other priceless documents due to the
carelessness of Muslims.
In the field of Jihad, it is sufficient
to know that Uqbah fought beside the Prophet, peace be on
him, at the Battle of Uhud and in all the military
engagements thereafter. He was also one of the valiant and
daring group of shock troopers who were tested to their
maximum during the battle for Damascus. In recognition for
his outstanding services, the commander of the Muslim
forces then, Abu Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah, despatched Uqbah
to Madinah to convey the good news of the liberation of
Damascus to Umar ibn al-Khattab. Uqbah spent eight days
and seven nights, from Friday to Friday, in a continuous
forced march to bring the news to Umar.
Uqbah was one of the commanders of the
Muslim forces that liberated Egypt. For three years he was
the Muslim governor of Egypt after which he received
orders from the Caliph Muawiyah to mount a naval
expedition to the island of Rhodes in the Mediterranean
Sea.
An indication of Uqbah's enthusiasm for
jihad is the fact that he committed to memory the sayings
of the Prophet on this subject and became a specialist in
narrating them to the Muslims. One of his favorite
pastimes was to practice the skill of spear thro wing.
Uqbah was in Egypt when he became
fatally ill. He gathered his children together and gave
them his final advise. He said: "My children, guard
against three things: Don't accept; my saying attributed
to the Prophet, peace be on him, except from a reliable
authority. Do not incur debts or take up a loan even if
you are in the position of an imam. Don't compose poetry
for your hearts might be distracted thereby from the
Quran."
Uqbah ibn Aamir al-Juhani, the qari, the
alim, the ghazi, died in Cairo and was buried at the foot
of the Muqattam hills.
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