In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Mawaddah Association is pleased
to present to you snapshots from the lives of the Companions,
by Abd al-Rahman Ra'fat al-Basha,
may Allah have mercy on him.
Abdullah ibn Jahsh, may Allah be pleased with him:
the Companion whose account we are listening to now,
was closely tied to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
and was one of the foremost pioneers in Islam.
He was the maternal cousin of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,
as his mother was Umaymah bint Abd al-Muttalib,
the paternal aunt of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.
He was also a brother-in-law of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,
as his sister, Zaynab bint Jahsh,
was a wife of the noble Prophet
and one of the Mothers of the Believers.
He was the very first person for whom a banner was tied in Islam,
and after that, he was the first to be called Commander of the Faithful.
He is Abdullah ibn Jahsh al-Asadi.
Abdullah ibn Jahsh embraced Islam before the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, entered
Dar al-Arqam,
so he was among the earliest converts to Islam.
When the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, permitted
his Companions to migrate to Medina
to flee with their religion from the harm of Quraysh,
Abdullah ibn Jahsh was the second of the emigrants,
for no one had preceded him in achieving this virtue
except Abu Salamah. Yet migrating for the sake of Allah
and parting from family and homeland in His cause
was not something new to Abdullah ibn Jahsh,
for he and some of his family members had already migrated
before that to Abyssinia.
However, his migration this time was far more comprehensive and complete:
his entire household and relatives migrated with him,
including all the children of his father—men and women,
elderly and young, boys and girls.
His home was a household of Islam,
and his clan was a clan of faith.
No sooner had they departed from Mecca
than their dwellings appeared somber and desolate,
becoming entirely empty and deserted,
as though no dweller had ever lived in them before,
and no evening gatherers had ever conversed within their grounds.
Not long after the migration of Abdullah and those with him,
the leaders of Quraysh went out making the rounds
through the neighborhoods of Mecca to find out who had departed
among the Muslims and who remained.
Among them were Abu Jahl and Utbah ibn Rabi'ah.
Utbah looked at the homes of
Banu Jahsh, where the blowing winds
were howling and their doors were violently
slamming, and he said, "The homes
of Banu Jahsh have become empty, weeping for their inhabitants."
Abu Jahl replied, "And who are these people
that the homes should weep over them?"
Then Abu Jahl seized the house of Abdullah ibn Jahsh—
which was the finest and wealthiest of those houses—
and began disposing of it and its contents
just as an owner disposes of his own property.
When news reached Abdullah ibn Jahsh
of what Abu Jahl had done to his home,
he mentioned that to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said to him:
"Would you not be pleased, O Abdullah,
that Allah will give you a house in Paradise in exchange for it?"
He replied, "Yes, O Messenger of Allah!"
He said, "Then that is yours."
Thus Abdullah was comforted and his mind was set at ease.
Hardly had Abdullah ibn Jahsh settled in Medina,
after enduring such hardship in
his first and second migrations,
and hardly had he tasted a bit of rest under the protection of the Ansar,
after suffering harm at the hands of Quraysh,
when Allah willed that he face
one of the most difficult trials he had ever known in his life,
and undergo the most severe ordeal he had experienced since becoming Muslim.
Let us lend an ear to the story of that
harsh and bitter ordeal.
The Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, appointed
eight of his Companions to carry out
the very first military expedition in Islam,
and he said:
"I will surely appoint over you the most patient of you
in enduring hunger and thirst."
He then tied their banner for Abdullah ibn Jahsh,
making him the first commander appointed over a group of the believers.
The noble Messenger specified to Abdullah ibn Jahsh
his destination and gave him a letter,
instructing him not to read it until after
traveling for two days. When he had traveled
for two days with the detachment,
Abdullah looked at the letter, and found in it:
"When you read this letter of mine,
proceed until you encamp at Nakhlah between Al-Ta'if and Mecca.
There, lie in wait for Quraysh
and gather news about them for us."
As soon as Abdullah finished reading the letter, he said:
"We hear and obey the Prophet of Allah."
He then said to his companions, "The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
has commanded me to proceed to Nakhlah
to lie in wait for Quraysh so that I may bring him
their news. And he has forbidden me
from compelling any of you to proceed with me.
So whoever among you seeks martyrdom and desires it,
let him accompany me; and whoever dislikes that,
let him return blamelessly."
The men said, "We hear and obey
the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
We will proceed with you wherever the Prophet of Allah has commanded you."
Then the group marched until they reached Nakhlah,
and they began scouting through the mountain passes
to gather intelligence on Quraysh.
While they were doing so, they spotted from afar
a caravan of Quraysh carrying four men:
Amr ibn al-Hadrami, Al-Hakam ibn Kaysan,
Uthman ibn Abdillah,
and his brother Al-Mughirah.
The caravan carried leather, raisins, and similar goods
that Quraysh used to trade.
At that point, the Companions began deliberating
among themselves, as that day was the last
day of the sacred months.
They said, "If we fight them, we will be fighting them
during a sacred month, and in that lies
the violation of the sanctity of this month
and exposure to the wrath of all the Arabs.
But if we wait until this day passes, they will enter the sacred territory of Mecca
and become safe from us."
They kept consulting until their opinion settled
on attacking them, killing them,
and taking what was in their hands as booty.
Within moments, they killed one of them,
took two captive, and the fourth escaped from their hands.
Abdullah ibn Jahsh
and his companions led the two captives and the caravan back.
When they came to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
and he learned of what they had done,
he denounced it in the strongest terms,
saying to them: "By Allah, I did not command you
to fight! I only commanded you to gather
news of Quraysh and to monitor
their movements." He detained the two captives until
their matter could be determined, and he turned away from the caravan,
taking nothing from it. At that,
distress fell upon Abdullah ibn Jahsh
and his companions, and they were certain they were ruined
for disobeying the command of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
Their distress was made even more
severe because their Muslim brothers
began to blame them heavily
and turn away from them whenever they passed by them,
saying, "They disobeyed the command of the Messenger of Allah,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him."
Meanwhile, Quraysh
took this incident
as a pretext to slander the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
and defame him among the tribes,
saying, "Muhammad
has violated the sacred month;
he shed blood in it, seized wealth,
and took men captive."
Do not ask about the extent of Abdullah ibn Jahsh's grief,
nor about their shame before the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
for the embarrassment they had caused him.
When their distress intensified
and the trial weighed heavily upon them,
glad tidings came to them announcing
that Allah Almighty was pleased with their action
and that He had revealed Qur'an to His Prophet regarding it.
Do not ask about the extent of their joy!
People began approaching them,
embracing them, bringing good news, and congratulating them,
while reciting what had been revealed regarding their deed
from the glorious Qur'an.
For the word of Allah had been revealed to the Prophet detailing His divine honors.
The heart of the noble Messenger,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, was eased;
he accepted the caravan, accepted ransom for the two captives,
and was pleased with the deed of Abdullah ibn Jahsh and his companions.
For that expedition of theirs was a momentous event:
its booty was the first booty taken in Islam,
its slain was the first polytheist whose blood was shed by the Muslims,
its captives were the first two captives
to fall into the hands of the Muslims,
its banner was the first banner tied by
the hand of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
and its leader, Abdullah ibn Jahsh,
was the first to be called Commander of the Faithful.
Then came the Battle of Badr,
in which Abdullah ibn Jahsh displayed such noble valor
as befitted his faith.
Then came the Battle of Uhud,
with which Abdullah ibn Jahsh and his companion Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas
had an unforgettable story.
So let us leave the floor to Sa'd
to recount to us his story and the story of his companion.
Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas said:
"On the day of Uhud, Abdullah ibn Jahsh met me
He said, "Will you not pray to Allah?"
I replied, "Of course."
So we stepped aside into a corner, and I prayed, saying:
"O Lord, when I encounter the enemy,
pits me against a man of formidable strength
and fierce courage, that I may fight him and he may fight me,
then grant me victory over him so that I may kill him
and take his spoils."
And 'Abdullah Ibn Jahsh said 'Ameen' to my supplication.
Then he said, "O Allah, grant me a man
of fierce courage and formidable strength,
that I may fight him for Your sake and he may fight me,
and then he may take me and mutilate my nose and my ear.
So when I meet You tomorrow, You will ask,
'For whose sake were your nose and ear mutilated?'
And I will say, 'For Your sake and the sake of Your Messenger.'
And You will say, 'You have spoken the truth.'"
Sa'd Ibn Abi Waqqas said:
"The prayer of Ibn Jahsh was better than mine.
For I saw him at the end of the day,
slain and mutilated,
with his nose and ear hanging from a tree by a string."
Allah answered the supplication of 'Abdullah Ibn Jahsh,
honoring him with martyrdom,
just as He had honored his maternal uncle, the Master of Martyrs,
Hamzah Ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib.
And the noble Messenger buried them together,
as his pure tears
soaked their soil, fragrant with the scents of martyrdom.
'Abdullah Ibn Jahsh
was the very first person to be called Commander of the Faithful.