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.
Al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam,
may Allah be pleased with him.
Leaders of the world—who led, and who did not transgress?
The harshness of man in the eras and the trials.
No, that is not what we seek.
Who is this knight who cleaved through the ranks of men in Makkah with his sword,
out of protective zeal for the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him?
He was the first to unsheathe a blade in Islam.
Who is this champion whom the Faruq (Umar ibn al-Khattab) sent as reinforcements to the Muslims in Egypt,
and counted him as equivalent to a thousand men?
He was indeed better for them than thousands.
Who is this fedayeen (heroic fighter) whose history has never known
anyone braver than him,
nor more magnificent in sacrifice,
nor nobler in purpose,
nor more blessed for Islam?
He is al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam,
the disciple (hawari) of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
Al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam was among the elite of the Quraysh,
for his lineage meets with the lineage of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
at Qusayy ibn Kilab.
His mother was Safiyyah bint Abd al-Muttalib,
the paternal aunt of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
His maternal aunt was Khadijah bint Khuwaylid,
the most righteous and noble of the wives of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
Al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam was born
about fifteen years before the Prophetic mission.
Yet, he had barely opened his eyes to the world
when he found himself an orphan,
for his father had been killed on the fields of battle,
just as his grandfather had been killed before him.
His mother, Safiyyah bint Abd al-Muttalib, took charge of his upbringing,
raising him in toughness and fortitude.
She was a firm and strict woman,
who would cast him into every fearful situation
and thrust him into every danger.
If he ever held back, hesitated, or fell short,
she would beat him severely.
So much so that his uncle, Nawfal ibn Khuwaylid,
used to reproach her for her harshness toward him, saying,
"This is not how a child is beaten."
"You are beating him with the beating of one who hates him."
She would then recite verses, saying:
"Whoever says I hate him has lied;
I only beat him so that he may become intelligent,
defeat armies, and bring back spoils."
When the Arabian Peninsula was illuminated by the light of Islam,
al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam was
among the first to embrace it.
He accepted Islam on the second day
after the conversion of al-Siddiq (Abu Bakr), may Allah be pleased with him,
and he was fifteen years old at the time.
He was the brave one who gave the Quraysh a taste
of what the strongest men’s resolve could inflict.
He did not falter, nor did he weaken.
His uncle, Nawfal ibn Khuwaylid,
would devise ways to torture him,
even wrapping him in a mat
and lighting a fire around its edges,
so that the smoke would rise into his face
and the heat would permeate his body,
until he was on the verge of suffocating to death.
His uncle would watch him calmly,
and when the distress became too great for him,
he would say, "Return to your religion."
And he would reply, "I will never disbelieve."
When the first Muslims migrated
to Abyssinia, al-Zubayr was at the forefront
of the emigrants. He and his brothers found
refuge under the protection of its righteous king,
and they began to worship Allah, fearing no one.
While they were in that state,
a man from the king's own people rose up against the Negus,
disputing his rule.
The Negus went out to meet him,
crossing the Nile to encounter him and his forces.
The Muslims were filled with extreme anxiety.
Umm Salamah, who was with them, said:
"By Allah, I do not know that we
ever felt a sadness
greater than what afflicted us that day,
fearing that the man would prevail
over the Negus and hand us over to
our people who were searching for us."
The Companions of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, asked,
"Who is a man who will cross the Nile
and bring us news of the people?"
Al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam said, "I will."
He was the youngest of the group.
Umm Salamah said: "They inflated a waterskin for him,
which he placed against his chest,
and he set off swimming among the waves and the sea creatures,
until he crossed the Nile from one bank to
the other and reached the battlefield."
While we were gathered and waiting,
praying to Allah for the Negus to prevail over
his enemy, al-Zubayr appeared to us,
waving his garment from afar and saying,
"Rejoice, for the Negus has triumphed
and Allah has destroyed his enemy."
Umm Salamah said: "By Allah, I have never known us
to feel a joy like that ever before."
When al-Zubayr returned to Makkah
from Abyssinia, he dedicated his youth,
his strength, and his boldness to the cause of Allah
and His Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
The polytheists spread rumors about the Messenger of Allah,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, saying
that he had been captured to be killed.
The brave youth unsheathed his sword
and began to cleave through the ranks of the people,
until he reached the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
in the upper part of Makkah.
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, asked him,
"What is the matter, O Zubayr?"
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, then prayed for him
and for his sword.
Thus, his sword was the first sword
ever unsheathed in Islam.
When Allah gave permission to His Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
to migrate to Madinah,
the Muslims began to leave in groups,
so that they might support one another.
They were careful to leave in secret, except
for three of the stalwarts of the Muslims,
who left individually
and in the open view of the Quraysh.
Each one of them would circumambulate the Ka'bah,
announce his departure to the Quraysh,
and challenge them to stop him or follow him.
These three were:
Umar ibn al-Khattab,
the Caliph of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
(and) the uncle of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
and al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam,
the disciple of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
On the day of Badr,
the Muslims had only two horses.
One of them belonged to al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam.
He mounted his horse
and wrapped a yellow turban around his head.
When Allah aided His Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
with the angels,
they were wearing yellow turbans.
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said,
"The angels have descended in the likeness of al-Zubayr,"
meaning in his form and appearance.
Al-Zubayr performed valiantly at Badr, a performance
befitting a champion knight like him.
He encountered a group of the leaders of the polytheists,
and they met their end at his hands.
You will be astonished to know that one of those he slew
was his own uncle, Nawfal ibn Khuwaylid,
the owner of the mat.
On the day of Uhud,
al-Zubayr pledged allegiance to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
to fight to the death in that battle.
When the distress intensified for the Muslims
and they began to retreat in every direction,
he saw the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
being attacked severely by the polytheists,
who were killing their men in the most violent manner.
He turned to al-Zubayr and said,
"To him, O Zubayr!" The words of the
Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, had barely touched
his ears when he sprang like a lion, charging,
ascended to a place above the people,
leaped upon him while he was on his mount,
embraced him, and brought him down to the ground,
until he was on top of his chest,
and killed him.
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, then
sacrificed his own father and mother for him.
On the day of Hunayn, the polytheists were about
to surround the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
He continued to fight them
until he drove them from their positions.
The polytheists complained to one of their leaders about a knight
who carried his spear on his shoulder
and wrapped his head with a yellow cloth.
They sought his help against him
and asked him about him, and he said,
"This is al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam."
"I swear by Allah and al-Uzza,
he will break through your ranks,
and he will mix with your lines, so stand firm against him."
Al-Zubayr did not prove his assumption wrong;
he began to fight them until he entered their ranks
and drove them away.
The sword of al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam remained
unsheathed throughout the life of the Messenger of Allah, may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him.
He never missed
a single battle that the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, fought,
He endured for the sake of that
whatever Allah willed for him to endure,
to the point that there was not a single limb of his body
that had not been wounded alongside the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him.
If we were to set out to examine
the heroic exploits of al-Zubayr ibn al-'Awwam
after the passing of the Prophet, peace be upon him,
we would find them no less brilliant or extraordinary
than they were during the era
of the noble Messenger, peace be upon him.
It suffices us, among these bright and
luminous accounts, to recall what he did on the day of
the conquest of Egypt.
'Amr ibn al-'As set out for Egypt to conquer it
with three thousand five hundred men
from the Muslim army.
No sooner had he penetrated deep into the land of Egypt
than he felt the need for reinforcements.
He wrote to al-Faruq [Umar ibn al-Khattab] requesting
whatever surplus troops he could spare.
Al-Faruq looked around him,
and al-Zubayr was at that time
determined to invade Antioch.
So 'Umar said to him,
"O Abu 'Abd Allah, would you like the governorship of Egypt?"
He replied, "I have no need for that,
but I will go out as a mujahid for the sake of Allah,
assisting the Muslims.
If I find that 'Amr has already conquered it,
I will not interfere with his work and will head elsewhere,
and if I find him still in battle, I will be with him."
So al-Faruq prepared four thousand
of the Muslim soldiers
and placed them under the command of al-Zubayr ibn al-'Awwam,
al-Miqdad ibn al-Aswad, 'Ubadah ibn al-Samit,
and Maslamah ibn Mukhallad.
He wrote to 'Amr ibn al-'As saying,
"I have reinforced you with four thousand men,
each thousand of whom is worth a thousand men."
When al-Zubayr arrived to join 'Amr,
he found him besieging the fortress of Babylon
in Fustat, so he mounted his horse
and circled the walls of the fortress.
Then he designated the positions for his men.
The siege of the Babylon fortress dragged on,
and people began to say that there was
a plague inside the fortress. Al-Zubayr replied,
"We have come for the thrust of the spear and the plague."
When the conquest was delayed,
and boredom and weariness began to affect the Muslims,
al-Zubayr said, "I offer my soul to Allah,
and I hope that Allah will grant victory
to the Muslims through it."
Al-Zubayr prepared a sturdy, strong ladder
and leaned it against one of the fortress walls.
He commanded his men that when they heard his takbir,
they should all respond with one voice.
It was only a short while
before al-Zubayr ibn al-'Awwam drew his sword,
climbed the rungs of the ladder in the blink of an eye,
scaled the fortress wall, and shouted,
"Allah is the Greatest! Allah is the Greatest!"
Thousands of throats erupted behind him
to echo, "Allah is the Greatest!"
"Allah is the Greatest!"
The sound shook the hearts of the polytheists.
Al-Zubayr threw himself
inside the fortress, and the Muslim soldiers followed
by throwing themselves in after him.
They set their swords upon the necks of the Romans,
who were stunned by the surprise.
Al-Zubayr and his companions made for the fortress gate,
opened it, and the masses of the
Muslims stormed in and descended upon their enemy
like a thunderbolt.
Allah decreed victory for His soldiers,
and it was said, "Destruction to the wrongdoers."
"The angels descended in the likeness of al-Zubayr."
The Messenger, peace be upon him, said this
on the day of Badr.