In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
"Send me a messenger from your soldiers so that I may speak with him."
Sa'd, may Allah be pleased with him, stood at the gates of the kingdom of Rustam, the commander of its army.
After some reflection, he sent Rib'i Ibn 'Amir to him, who was thirty years of age.
He was a young man among the scholars of the Companions.
Sa'd said to him, "Go, and do not change anything about your appearance."
"For we are a people whom Allah has honored with Islam."
"And whenever we seek honor in anything else, Allah will humiliate us."
This is an eloquent lesson: honor lies in Islam.
And seeking honor in anything else is humiliation.
Rib'i set out with his lean horse.
His worn-out clothes, and his simple spear.
When Rustam heard that the envoy of the Muslims was about to enter upon him,
He gathered the ruling family, the ministers, and the soldiers around him.
They prepared themselves to intimidate this envoy, hoping he would falter,
And be unable to speak.
When Rustam sat down, he said, "Bring him in to me."
He entered, leading his horse.
He leaned with his spear upon their carpets to show them that this world is insignificant,
And that it is cheap,
And that it is worth nothing in the sight of Allah.
Among the signs of its cheapness and insignificance,
Is that Allah gives it to those He does not love,
And causes those He does love to sleep upon the dust.
When he stood before him, Rustam said to him,
"Sit down."
Rib'i replied,
"I have not come to you as a guest that I should sit."
"I have only come to you as an envoy."
Rustam said, with the interpreter between them,
"What is the matter with you, O Arabs?"
"We have never known a people more humiliated than you,"
"Nor of lower status than you."
"You are a people of ignorance,"
"Chasing camels in the desert."
"So what has brought you here?"
Rib'i said,
"Yes, O King."
"We were as you said, and even worse."
"We were a people of ignorance, worshipping idols,"
"Where a relative would kill his own kin over a sheep."
"But Allah has raised us up,"
"To bring the servants out from the worship of servants,"
"To the worship of the Lord of the servants,"
"And from the narrowness of this world,"
"To the vastness of the Hereafter."
Yes.
This is how the Ummah rose,
On the day it held fast to its religion.
We were shepherds of sheep,
Then we became leaders of nations.
But when we abandoned our religion,
And immersed ourselves in sins and transgressions,
And became preoccupied away from precious things,
With base things,
Our enemies became ingenious in impoverishing us,
And in leading us astray and corrupting us.
The news is before you,
And reality is the best proof.
So when shall we return to leading the nations?