WEBVTT 00:00:01.360 --> 00:00:12.179 Pause and identify this Companion, scholar, and eminent figure. 00:00:12.179 --> 00:00:16.179 A new challenge: who am I? 00:00:16.179 --> 00:00:23.579 I am one of the senior Companions of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. 00:00:23.579 --> 00:00:27.579 I am among the foremost of the early Muslims. 00:00:27.579 --> 00:00:30.579 I am one of the ten promised Paradise. 00:00:30.579 --> 00:00:35.700 The Prophet, peace be upon him, titled me "The Trustworthy of the Ummah." 00:00:35.700 --> 00:00:43.700 Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, nominated me for the Caliphate after the passing of the Prophet, peace be upon him. 00:00:43.700 --> 00:00:47.799 I migrated to Abyssinia and then to Medina. 00:00:47.799 --> 00:00:52.799 I witnessed all the battles alongside the Prophet, peace be upon him. 00:00:52.799 --> 00:00:57.799 I stood firm with him at the Battle of Uhud and fought against the apostates. 00:00:57.799 --> 00:01:01.799 I led the armies for the conquest of the Levant (al-Sham). 00:01:03.729 --> 00:01:09.730 The Prophet, peace be upon him, would appoint me to lead certain expeditions and detachments. 00:01:09.730 --> 00:01:16.760 Once, the Prophet, peace be upon him, sent a detachment toward the coast. 00:01:16.760 --> 00:01:21.760 We were three hundred men, and he placed me in command. 00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:27.760 We set out, but while on the road, our provisions ran low. 00:01:27.760 --> 00:01:31.760 I ordered that the remaining food of the army be collected. 00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:35.760 I would give them a small amount each day. 00:01:35.760 --> 00:01:40.760 Eventually, I was giving each man only one date per day. 00:01:40.760 --> 00:01:44.760 Until the food ran out and hunger overtook us. 00:01:44.760 --> 00:01:50.859 We ate tree leaves until our lips became ulcerated. 00:01:50.859 --> 00:01:56.859 When we reached the sea, we found a massive whale, like a small mountain. 00:01:56.859 --> 00:02:00.859 It was dead on the shore, so I said to my companions: 00:02:00.859 --> 00:02:04.859 "This whale is dead, do not eat from it." 00:02:04.859 --> 00:02:11.949 Then I said to them, "No, we are the messengers of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him." 00:02:11.949 --> 00:02:16.949 "We are in the path of Allah, and you are in a state of necessity, so eat." 00:02:16.949 --> 00:02:20.949 We stayed there for a month, eating from it and using its oil. 00:02:20.949 --> 00:02:24.949 Until we grew stout and our bodies regained their health. 00:02:24.949 --> 00:02:27.979 I took thirteen men, 00:02:28.979 --> 00:02:31.979 and seated them inside the socket of the whale's eye. 00:02:31.979 --> 00:02:35.979 I took one of its ribs and stood it upright. 00:02:35.979 --> 00:02:41.210 Then I led the largest camel we had, and it passed underneath it. 00:02:41.210 --> 00:02:44.210 We took supplies of its dried meat with us. 00:02:44.210 --> 00:02:47.210 When we arrived in Medina, 00:02:47.210 --> 00:02:50.210 we came to the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, 00:02:50.210 --> 00:02:53.210 and told him about that. 00:02:53.210 --> 00:02:57.210 He said, "It is a provision that Allah brought forth for you." 00:02:57.210 --> 00:03:01.210 "Do you have any of its meat left to feed us?" 00:03:01.210 --> 00:03:07.210 So we sent some to the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, and he ate it. 00:03:07.210 --> 00:03:14.139 I was the governor of the people in the Levant during the era of Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him. 00:03:14.139 --> 00:03:19.259 The plague struck there, harvesting the people like a scythe. 00:03:19.259 --> 00:03:22.259 When the Commander of the Faithful heard of this, 00:03:22.259 --> 00:03:26.259 he feared for me, so he wrote to me saying: 00:03:26.259 --> 00:03:31.259 "A need for you has arisen in me, and I cannot do without you." 00:03:31.259 --> 00:03:34.259 "If my letter reaches you at night," 00:03:34.259 --> 00:03:39.259 "I resolve that you do not wait until morning before you ride to me." 00:03:39.259 --> 00:03:42.259 "And if my letter reaches you during the day," 00:03:42.259 --> 00:03:47.490 "I resolve that you do not wait until evening before you ride to me." 00:03:47.490 --> 00:03:49.490 I said to myself, 00:03:49.490 --> 00:03:53.490 "I know the need the Commander of the Faithful has mentioned." 00:03:53.490 --> 00:03:58.550 "He wishes to keep someone who is not destined to remain." 00:03:58.550 --> 00:04:00.620 So I wrote back to him: 00:04:00.620 --> 00:04:02.620 "O Commander of the Faithful," 00:04:02.620 --> 00:04:05.620 "I have understood your need for me." 00:04:05.620 --> 00:04:08.620 "I am among the soldiers of the Muslims," 00:04:08.620 --> 00:04:11.620 "and I find in myself no desire to be apart from them." 00:04:11.620 --> 00:04:18.620 "I do not wish to leave them until Allah executes His command and decree regarding me and them." 00:04:18.620 --> 00:04:22.709 "So release me from your resolve, O Commander of the Faithful." 00:04:22.709 --> 00:04:24.709 "And leave me with my soldiers." 00:04:24.709 --> 00:04:28.000 When the Caliph read my letter, 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:31.000 his eyes overflowed and he wept. 00:04:31.000 --> 00:04:33.000 Those with him asked, 00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:35.000 "O Commander of the Faithful," 00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:37.000 "Has the governor of the Levant died?" 00:04:37.000 --> 00:04:41.000 He said, "No, but it is as if he has." 00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:44.189 Meaning, he is on the verge of death. 00:04:44.189 --> 00:04:46.189 Then, not long after, 00:04:46.189 --> 00:04:49.189 the plague struck me, 00:04:49.189 --> 00:04:52.089 and my soul departed. 00:04:52.089 --> 00:04:54.089 When I passed away, 00:04:54.089 --> 00:04:57.089 Mu'adh ibn Jabal, may Allah be pleased with him, stood up, 00:04:57.089 --> 00:04:59.089 led the people in prayer, 00:04:59.089 --> 00:05:01.089 and then addressed them, saying: 00:05:01.089 --> 00:05:03.089 "O people," 00:05:03.089 --> 00:05:05.089 "you have been afflicted by the loss of a man," 00:05:05.089 --> 00:05:09.089 "by Allah, you have never seen among the servants of Allah," 00:05:09.089 --> 00:05:12.089 "anyone less resentful, or with a purer heart," 00:05:12.089 --> 00:05:14.089 "or more free from malice," 00:05:14.089 --> 00:05:17.089 "or more concerned for the Hereafter," 00:05:17.089 --> 00:05:20.089 "or more sincere to the common people than him." 00:05:20.089 --> 00:05:22.089 "So pray for mercy upon him." 00:05:22.089 --> 00:05:25.089 "Then come out to pray over him." 00:05:25.089 --> 00:05:29.089 "For by Allah, you will never have anyone like him to lead you again." 00:05:29.089 --> 00:05:32.120 Then he stepped forward and led the funeral prayer for me. 00:05:32.120 --> 00:05:35.180 When they placed me in my grave, 00:05:35.180 --> 00:05:37.180 and cast the earth over me, 00:05:37.180 --> 00:05:40.180 Mu'adh, may Allah be pleased with him, said: 00:05:40.180 --> 00:05:42.180 "I will praise you," 00:05:42.180 --> 00:05:44.180 "and I will not speak falsehood," 00:05:44.180 --> 00:05:47.180 "for I fear that if I did, the wrath of Allah would befall me." 00:05:48.730 --> 00:05:50.730 "You were, by Allah, as far as I knew," 00:05:50.730 --> 00:05:53.730 "among those who remember Allah frequently," 00:05:53.730 --> 00:05:56.730 "and among those who walk upon the earth humbly," 00:05:56.730 --> 00:05:59.730 "and when the ignorant address them," 00:05:59.730 --> 00:06:01.730 "they say words of peace." 00:06:01.730 --> 00:06:03.730 "And among those who, when they spend," 00:06:03.730 --> 00:06:06.730 “And those who, when they spend, are neither prodigal nor grudging; and there is ever a firm station between the two;” (25:67) 00:06:06.730 --> 00:06:09.730 “And those who, when they spend, are neither prodigal nor grudging; and there is ever a firm station between the two;” (25:67) 00:06:09.730 --> 00:06:12.790 "And you were, by Allah, among the humble," 00:06:12.790 --> 00:06:14.790 "the modest," 00:06:14.790 --> 00:06:17.790 "and among those who show mercy to the orphan and the needy," 00:06:17.790 --> 00:06:21.790 "and who despise the treacherous and the arrogant." 00:06:21.790 --> 00:06:23.790 "May Allah have mercy upon you." 00:06:23.790 --> 00:06:26.180 So, who am I?