In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
The Mawaddah Association is pleased
to present to you glimpses from the lives of the Companions,
by Abd al-Rahman Ra'fat al-Basha,
may Allah have mercy upon him.
Simak Ibn Kharasha, may Allah be pleased with him.
This is the city of the Greatest Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
surging with activity,
in preparation for meeting the enemy.
These are the Companions of the Prophet, peace be upon him,
moving to and fro in their iron armor like lions of the thicket,
glowing with a longing to attain martyrdom
and to win the pleasure of Allah.
And here is the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,
emerging to the people, clad in his armor,
ready to meet the enemy of Allah and his own enemy.
No sooner did the eyes of the Muslims fall upon him
than their chests ignited with the fires of zeal,
and their hearts were kindled with determination and valor.
And here are those young, budding youths from among the Muhajirun and the Ansar,
approaching the noble Messenger, peace be upon him,
none of whom had passed their fifteenth year.
They were bracing their small frames,
puffing out their tender chests,
to appear as men before the Messenger, peace be upon him,
hoping that he would authorize them
and grant them the opportunity to fight under his banner
and to be martyred in the cause of Allah, close to him.
Once the crowds had gathered,
the Messenger, may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him, raised his sword in his hand and said,
"Who will take this sword by its right?"
Many hands reached out toward him,
all of them wanting to win the sword of the Messenger, may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him,
and to be honored with it.
But the noble Messenger, peace be upon him, withheld it,
and said, "Who will take this sword by its right?"
Then men stood up to him, among them Umar Ibn al-Khattab,
al-Zubayr Ibn al-Awwam, and others.
He held it back,
until Simak Ibn Kharasha stood up to him,
a brother of the Banu Sa'ida,
known by the kunya Abu Dujana,
and said,
"And what is the right of your sword, O Messenger of Allah?"
He, peace be upon him, replied,
"That you fight with it in the cause of Allah
until Allah grants you victory or you are killed."
He said,
"I will take it by its right, O Messenger of Allah."
So he gave it to him.
At that, necks craned toward Abu Dujana,
to whom the Messenger, may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him, had granted his sword,
preferring him over the elders of the Muhajirun and the knights of the Ansar.
Abu Dujana was not unknown in war
among the Companions of the Messenger, peace be upon him,
nor was his status obscure;
for they all acknowledged him as a brave warrior
who did not fear death.
They all knew his red bandana,
which he would tie around his head when the battle grew fierce.
The two armies met,
and they called it the "Bandana of Death."
They all marveled at the gait with which he strutted between the ranks
to challenge his peers.
Nevertheless, some of the noble Companions envied him for this distinction
which the Greatest Messenger, may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him, had granted him.
Let us leave the narration to one of them
to tell us the story of Abu Dujana
and the impact it had on him.
Al-Zubayr Ibn al-Awwam said,
"I felt a sense of grievance
when I asked the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, to give me his sword,
and he refused me,
but gave it to Abu Dujana.
I said to myself, 'I am the son of Safiyya bint Abd al-Muttalib,
the aunt of the Messenger, peace be upon him,
and I am at the pinnacle of Quraysh in lineage and glory.
I stood before him
and asked him to give me the sword before him,
yet he turned away from me and gave it to him.'
'By Allah, I will watch what he does with it.'
Then he set off, and I followed in his footsteps.
When he stood before the ranks of the polytheists,
he took out his red bandana and tied it around his head.
When the Ansar saw him,
they turned to one another and said,
'Abu Dujana has tied the Bandana of Death around his head.'
This is what they would say to him whenever he wore it.
Then he drew the sword of the Messenger, may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him, with his right hand,
and began to walk with a strutting, proud gait between the ranks.
The Messenger, peace be upon him, looked at him and said,
'This is a gait that Allah and His Messenger detest,
except in this situation.'
Meaning the situation of meeting the enemies of Allah and His Messenger, peace be upon him.
Then Abu Dujana set off,
chanting a song that shook hearts,
and filled chests with zeal and chivalry.
Then he advanced toward the polytheists,
charging and maneuvering through their ranks,
and he would not encounter anyone but that he killed him.
There was a man in the army of the polytheists
who made it his habit to track the wounded Muslims
and finish them off one after another.
I saw Abu Dujana heading toward him,
and I saw the man drawing near to Abu Dujana,
so I prayed to Allah to bring them together,
and to make the death of this disbeliever at the hands of Abu Dujana.
It was not long before they met,
and they exchanged two blows with their swords in less than the blink of an eye.
Abu Dujana caught his opponent's blow with his shield,
which split the shield in two.
As for the blow of Abu Dujana,
it struck the polytheist in a fatal spot,
and he left him behind, swimming in his own blood.
He continued to charge through the ranks,
defending the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, with his sword,
confronting his enemies.
I would see him at times to his right,
and at times to his left,
and at times in front of him or behind him.
Then Abu Dujana saw a person maneuvering among the ranks of the polytheists,
inciting their enthusiasm
and urging them to kill the Messenger, may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him.
He approached him and swung his sword at his head,
but he soon turned the sword away from him.
I approached him and asked him about that,
and he said,
'I realized that it was one of the women
whom Abu Sufyan Ibn Harb had brought with him to the battle,
so I honored the sword of the Greatest Messenger, peace be upon him,
too much to kill a woman with it.'
At that moment, I knew that the Messenger, peace be upon him,
had placed his sword in its rightful place,
and I said, 'Allah and His Messenger know best.'"
Abu Dujana continued to defend Islam and the Muslims
with the sword of the Prophet, peace be upon him,
as long as the noble Messenger, peace be upon him,
was alive.
When the Greatest Messenger, peace be upon him,
joined the Highest Companion,
Abu Dujana placed himself and his sword
in obedience to Abu Bakr al-Siddiq,
the Caliph of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him.
When the Banu Hanifa apostatized with the apostates,
and they began to leave the religion of Allah in droves,
and followed the false prophet Musaylima the Liar,
al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, prepared a large army for them,
in which he gathered the prominent Companions from the Muhajirun and the Ansar.
At their forefront was Abu Dujana,
the bearer of the sword of the Messenger of Allah, may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him.
Then he entrusted the banner of the army to the Sword of Allah, Khalid Ibn al-Walid.
The soldiers of the Muslims poured upon the enemies of Allah with the force of a calamity,
and Musaylima and those with him stood against them like mountains.
Battles raged between the two parties that would turn the hair of children gray from their horror,
and the killing increased between the two sides.
Yet the high number of casualties only increased them
in zeal, unity, and ferocity.
Then it was not long before the tide turned in favor of the Muslims against their enemy,
after a long trial and intense hardship.
Musaylima the Liar and thousands upon thousands of his soldiers retreated
to the garden that became known thereafter as the Garden of Death.
They fortified themselves behind its impregnable walls,
and took cover behind its locked doors.
When the Muslims were exhausted by strategies,
al-Bara' Ibn Malik al-Ansari performed
the most daring heroic act known to the history of sacrifice on the face of the earth,
as he managed to open the gates of the garden to the Muslim soldiers.
The Companions of the Messenger, may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him, surged
into the Garden of Death like a flood,
and descended upon those within it like the hand of fate.
Some of them entered the garden through its gates,
while others threw themselves over its walls.
Abu Dujana was one of them.
Abu Dujana threw himself into the garden from over one of its high walls,
and when he fell to the ground, his leg was broken.
He did not care about it, nor did he pay it any mind,
but rather he drew the sword of the Messenger of Allah, may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him,
and began to cut through the ranks,
relying on his sound leg,
until he reached Musaylima the Liar.
He swung at him with a blow of his sword,
at the very moment that Wahshi Ibn Harb aimed
a strike at him with his spear.
The false prophet fell between them, slain and wallowing in his blood.
At that point,
the companions of Musaylima turned upon the knight who was fighting with one leg,
wanting to finish him off.
He continued to fight them, and they fought him,
until his strength failed,
and the sword blows and spear thrusts multiplied upon him,
and he fell as a martyr.
But Abu Dujana
did not close his eyes for the final time
until he saw the soldiers of the Muslims
raising the banners of Islam on the land of Yamama.
The Messenger, peace be upon him, gave him his sword,
and preferred him over the elders of the Muhajirun and the knights of the Ansar.