WEBVTT 00:00:01.360 --> 00:00:12.140 Pause and reflect upon the Companions, the scholars, and the eminent figures of our history. 00:00:12.140 --> 00:00:16.140 A new challenge: who am I? 00:00:16.140 --> 00:00:23.059 I am a Companion from among the youths of the Ansar. 00:00:23.059 --> 00:00:28.059 I embraced Islam before the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, arrived in Medina. 00:00:28.059 --> 00:00:32.060 Then, I pledged allegiance to him upon his arrival there. 00:00:32.060 --> 00:00:36.060 I was always in the outskirts, tending to my small flock of sheep. 00:00:36.060 --> 00:00:44.060 The Prophet, peace be upon him, gave me the choice to pledge allegiance as a Bedouin or as a Muhajir (emigrant). 00:00:44.060 --> 00:00:48.119 I replied, "Rather, the pledge of the Muhajirin." 00:00:48.119 --> 00:00:53.079 Then I went out to my sheep to tend to them. 00:00:53.079 --> 00:00:59.079 There were twelve of us who had embraced Islam, living far from Medina. 00:00:59.079 --> 00:01:03.079 We would graze our sheep in the surrounding wilderness. 00:01:03.079 --> 00:01:08.079 We agreed that one of us would go to Medina each day. 00:01:08.079 --> 00:01:12.079 He would leave his sheep with us for us to tend to them for him. 00:01:12.079 --> 00:01:16.140 When he returned, we would learn from him what he had learned. 00:01:16.140 --> 00:01:22.140 I said to them, "Go to the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him." 00:01:22.140 --> 00:01:27.140 "I will stay here and tend to your sheep along with my own." 00:01:27.140 --> 00:01:31.269 I was extremely diligent in caring for them. 00:01:31.269 --> 00:01:37.269 My companions began going back and forth to the Prophet, peace be upon him. 00:01:37.269 --> 00:01:39.269 While I remained tending the sheep. 00:01:39.269 --> 00:01:42.269 Until I took myself to task and said, 00:01:42.269 --> 00:01:47.269 "Woe to you! For the sake of a few sheep that neither fatten nor nourish," 00:01:47.269 --> 00:01:53.269 "Will you miss out on the companionship of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him?" 00:01:53.269 --> 00:01:56.299 "And taking the Qur'an directly from his lips?" 00:01:56.299 --> 00:02:00.299 Then I abandoned my sheep and set off for Medina. 00:02:00.299 --> 00:02:06.299 To reside in the mosque, adjacent to the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him. 00:02:06.299 --> 00:02:11.199 I kept close company with the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him. 00:02:11.199 --> 00:02:16.199 He would often have me ride behind him on his mount. 00:02:16.199 --> 00:02:21.330 To the point that I became known as the one who rode behind the Prophet, peace be upon him. 00:02:21.330 --> 00:02:23.330 On one occasion, 00:02:23.330 --> 00:02:28.330 I was holding the reins of the mule of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, 00:02:28.330 --> 00:02:30.330 While he was riding it. 00:02:30.330 --> 00:02:33.330 We were traveling through the outskirts of Medina. 00:02:33.330 --> 00:02:36.330 He said to me, "Will you not ride?" 00:02:36.330 --> 00:02:42.330 I felt too much reverence for the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, to ride in his place. 00:02:42.330 --> 00:02:45.419 He repeated the offer to me three times. 00:02:45.419 --> 00:02:48.419 I intended to say no, 00:02:48.419 --> 00:02:52.419 But I feared that doing so might be an act of disobedience. 00:02:52.419 --> 00:02:54.419 So I said, "Yes." 00:02:54.419 --> 00:02:58.419 He dismounted, I rode for a brief moment, and then I dismounted. 00:02:58.419 --> 00:03:02.419 Then the Prophet, peace be upon him, mounted again. 00:03:02.419 --> 00:03:04.460 Then he said to me, 00:03:04.460 --> 00:03:08.460 "Shall I not teach you two surahs the likes of which have never been seen?" 00:03:08.460 --> 00:03:11.550 I said, "Yes, O Messenger of Allah." 00:03:11.550 --> 00:03:13.550 So he recited to me, 00:03:13.550 --> 00:03:15.550 “Say: I seek refuge in the Lord of the Daybreak” (113:1) 00:03:15.550 --> 00:03:18.550 "Say, I seek refuge in the Lord of mankind." 00:03:18.550 --> 00:03:20.550 Then the prayer was called. 00:03:20.550 --> 00:03:24.550 The Prophet, peace be upon him, stepped forward, 00:03:24.550 --> 00:03:26.550 And recited them in the prayer. 00:03:26.550 --> 00:03:28.550 Then he said to me, 00:03:28.550 --> 00:03:33.259 "Recite them whenever you go to sleep and whenever you wake." 00:03:33.259 --> 00:03:38.259 Because of my constant attendance upon the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, 00:03:38.259 --> 00:03:40.259 I learned the Qur'an from him, 00:03:40.259 --> 00:03:43.259 Until I became one of the reciters. 00:03:43.259 --> 00:03:46.259 I was known for my beautiful voice in reciting it. 00:03:46.259 --> 00:03:51.259 Often, the Commander of the Faithful, 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, 00:03:51.259 --> 00:03:56.259 Would ask me to recite some of the Qur'an to him. 00:03:56.259 --> 00:04:00.449 And when I would recite, he would weep, may Allah be pleased with him. 00:04:00.449 --> 00:04:02.449 When death approached me, 00:04:02.449 --> 00:04:06.449 I gathered my sons and advised them, saying, 00:04:06.449 --> 00:04:08.449 "O my sons," 00:04:08.449 --> 00:04:10.539 "I forbid you from three things:" 00:04:10.539 --> 00:04:16.540 "Do not accept a hadith from the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, except from a trustworthy source," 00:04:16.540 --> 00:04:20.579 "Do not incur debt, even if you have to wear a patched cloak," 00:04:20.579 --> 00:04:22.579 "And do not write poetry," 00:04:22.579 --> 00:04:25.579 "Lest you become preoccupied with it and neglect the Qur'an." 00:04:25.579 --> 00:04:27.899 So, who am I?