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.
'Amr ibn al-'As, may Allah be pleased with him.
"O Allah, You commanded us, but we disobeyed;
You forbade us, but we did not desist;
and nothing can encompass us but Your forgiveness, O Most Merciful of the merciful."
With this humble and hopeful supplication,
'Amr ibn al-'As bade farewell to life
and welcomed death.
The life story of 'Amr ibn al-'As is rich and eventful;
through it, he gained for Islam two great regions of the inhabited world:
namely, Palestine and Egypt.
He left behind for the Muslims a monumental legacy that filled the world
and occupied people for a long time.
This story begins before the Hijrah
by about half a century,
when 'Amr was born,
and it ends in the year 43 after the Hijrah,
when certainty (death) came to him.
As for his father, he was al-'As ibn Wa'il,
one of the leaders of the Arabs during the Jahiliyyah (pre-Islamic era),
and a prominent noble among their nobles,
one whose lineage traced back to the elite of Quraysh.
As for his mother, she was not of such status;
rather, she was a captive slave woman.
Therefore, his envious rivals would pursue him by mentioning her
while he sat on the throne of leadership
or ascended the pulpits of oratory.
So much so that one of them incited a man to approach him
while he was ascending the pulpit
and ask him about his mother,
in exchange for a generous sum of money he lavished upon him.
The man stood up and said,
"Who is the mother of the Amir?"
'Amr restrained himself,
exercised his forbearance, and then said,
"She is al-Nabighah bint 'Abd Allah;
she was struck by the spears of the Arabs during the Jahiliyyah,
so she was sold in the market of 'Ukaz.
'Abd Allah ibn Jud'an bought her,
then gifted her to al-'As ibn Wa'il,"
meaning his father,
"so she bore him and gave birth to me.
If some of those whose hearts are torn by envy
have given you some money,
then take it."
When the persecuted Muslims began
to migrate to Abyssinia
to escape the oppression and torment of Quraysh,
and settled in its lands,
fleeing from their own kin,
Quraysh resolved to bring them back to Makkah
and subject them to various forms of torture.
They chose 'Amr ibn al-'As
to carry out this mission,
because of the bonds of old friendship
that existed between him and the Negus.
They provided him with what the Negus
and his patriarchs favored in terms of gifts.
When he arrived before the Negus,
he greeted and honored him,
and said to him,
"A group of our people
have disbelieved in the religion of their fathers and grandfathers
and have invented a new religion for themselves.
Quraysh has sent me
to seek your permission to return them to their people,
so they may restore them to their religion
and bring them back to their creed."
The Negus summoned a group of the Companions,
asked them about the religion they followed,
the God in whom they believed,
and the Prophet who brought them this religion.
He heard from their speech what filled his heart
with certainty and tranquility,
and he grasped from their creed what filled his soul
with attachment to them and belief in their religion.
So he refused to hand them over to 'Amr ibn al-'As
with the firmest refusal,
the firmest refusal,
and returned to him the gifts he had presented.
When 'Amr ibn al-'As resolved to depart for Makkah,
the Negus said to him,
"How can the matter of Muhammad escape you, O 'Amr,
given the soundness of your mind and your far-sightedness that I know of?
By Allah, he is indeed the Messenger of Allah to you in particular,
and to all people."
'Amr said to him,
"Do you say that, O King?"
The Negus replied,
"Yes, by Allah.
So obey me, O 'Amr,
and believe in Muhammad and the truth he has brought you."
'Amr ibn al-'As left Abyssinia
and went on his way, not knowing what to do,
for the words of the Negus had begun to shake his heart deeply.
The talk about Muhammad and the truth he brought
kept pushing him toward meeting him.
However, that was not destined for him
until the eighth year of the Hijrah,
when Allah opened his heart to the new religion.
He set out, quickening his pace toward Medina
to meet the noble Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
and declare his Islam before him.
While he was on his way,
he met Khalid ibn al-Walid
and 'Uthman ibn Talhah,
and they were heading where he was heading,
and intending what he was intending.
So he joined them and they went together.
When they came to the Prophet, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
Khalid ibn al-Walid pledged allegiance,
as did 'Uthman ibn Talhah.
Then the noble Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, extended his hand to 'Amr,
but 'Amr withdrew his hand from the Prophet.
The Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said to him,
"What is the matter with you, O 'Amr?"
He said, "I pledge allegiance to you on the condition that my past sins be forgiven."
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said,
"Indeed, Islam and Hijrah wipe away what came before them."
So he pledged allegiance to him at that moment.
But this incident left its mark on the soul of 'Amr ibn al-'As,
for he used to say, "By Allah, I could not fill my eyes with the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
nor could I satisfy myself with looking at his face,
until he joined his Lord."
The Messenger had looked at 'Amr ibn al-'As with the light of Prophethood
and recognized the unique capabilities he possessed,
so he appointed him commander over the Muslim army in the Battle of Dhat al-Salasil,
despite the presence in the army of the Muhajirun and the Ansar,
and those who were foremost in Islam.
When Allah took His Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, to Himself,
and the mantle of the Caliphate passed to al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him,
'Amr ibn al-'As performed the greatest service in the Wars of Apostasy,
and confronted the sedition with a firmness reminiscent of the firmness of al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with them both.
'Amr ibn al-'As arrived among the Banu 'Amir,
and their leader, Qurrah ibn Hubayrah,
was contemplating apostasy and said to him,
"O 'Amr, the Arabs are not pleased with this tribute you have imposed upon the people,"
meaning the zakat.
"If you exempt them from it, they will listen to you and obey."
"And if you refuse, they will not gather under you after today."
'Amr shouted at the leader of Banu 'Amir and said,
"Woe to you! Have you apostatized, O Qurrah?
Are you threatening us with the apostasy of the Arabs?
By Allah, I will trample you with horses inside your mother's tent!"
When al-Siddiq answered the call of his Lord,
and handed over the reins to al-Faruq (Umar),
the best hand to which reins could be handed,
al-Faruq sought the help of 'Amr ibn al-'As's capabilities and expertise,
and placed them in the service of Islam and the Muslims.
Allah granted victory at his hands in the coasts of Palestine,
land after land,
and he defeated the Roman armies, army after army.
Then he turned to besiege Jerusalem,
and 'Amr tightened the siege on the first of the two Qiblahs
and the third of the Sacred Mosques,
until he planted despair in the soul of Artabun,
the commander of the Roman army,
and compelled him to abandon the Holy City
and flee for his life.
So Jerusalem surrendered to the Muslims.
At that point, its Patriarch desired
that the surrender take place in the presence of the Caliph himself.
So 'Amr ibn al-'As wrote to al-Faruq, may Allah be pleased with him,
summoning him to receive Jerusalem.
He came and signed the surrender document,
and Jerusalem passed to the Muslims in the fifteenth year of the Hijrah
at the hands of 'Amr ibn al-'As, may Allah be pleased with him.
Whenever the siege of Jerusalem was mentioned before al-Faruq,
and the brilliance 'Amr ibn al-'As displayed therein, he would say,
"We have countered the Artabun of the Romans with the Artabun of the Arabs."
Then 'Amr ibn al-'As crowned his great victories with the conquest of Egypt,
and added this precious pearl to the necklace of Islam.
Thereby, he opened the doors of Africa to the Muslim armies,
and the lands of the Maghreb,
and then Spain after that.
They achieved all of this in about half a century.
These are not all the merits of 'Amr ibn al-'As, may Allah be pleased with him,
for 'Amr was one of the renowned geniuses of the Arabs,
and one of their rare, exceptional talents.
Perhaps one of the most intriguing examples of his genius and intelligence
is the approach he took in the conquest of Egypt.
He kept encouraging al-Faruq, may Allah be pleased with him, to conquer it until he gave him permission,
and commissioned him with four thousand of the Muslim soldiers.
'Amr set out with his soldiers, not turning back for anything.
But not long after his departure,
'Uthman ibn 'Affan entered upon 'Umar and said to him,
"O Commander of the Faithful,
'Amr is indeed a bold and daring man,
and he has a love for leadership.
I fear that he has set out for Egypt without sufficient equipment or numbers,
thus exposing the Muslims to destruction."
Al-Faruq regretted his permission to 'Amr to conquer Egypt,
and sent a messenger after him carrying a letter from him regarding this matter.
The messenger caught up with the Muslim army in Rafah in the land of Palestine.
When 'Amr learned of the messenger's arrival from the Commander of the Faithful,
and that he was carrying a letter for him,
he felt a sense of apprehension regarding the letter he carried.
He did not delay in setting out to meet him, traveling with great haste,
until he reached a village near 'Arish in Egypt.
There, he met him, took the letter he had brought, and broke its seal.
It read:
"If this letter reaches you before you enter the land of Egypt,
then return to your position.
But if you have already entered its land, then proceed with your mission."
He then called the Muslims together and read the letter of the Commander of the Faithful to them.
He asked, "Do you not know that we are in the land of Egypt?"
They replied, "Yes."
He said, "Then let us proceed with the blessing and success of Allah."
And so, Allah granted the conquest of Egypt at his hands.
Among the examples of his intelligence and shrewdness as well
is that when he was besieging one of the fortified citadels of Egypt,
the Roman patrician sent a request to the commander of the Muslim army
asking him to send a man from his side
to debate and negotiate with him.
Some of the Muslims volunteered for this,
but 'Amr said,
"I shall be the messenger of my people to him."
He then went to the patrician,
and entered the citadel as an envoy sent by the Muslim commander.
The Roman patrician met with 'Amr, not recognizing him,
and a conversation took place between them that revealed the genius of 'Amr,
his sagacity, and his intelligence.
The Roman patrician resolved to betray him,
and provided him with a generous gift,
ordering the guards of the citadel to kill him before he left the trench.
However, 'Amr saw something in the eyes of the guards that aroused his suspicion,
so he turned back and said to the patrician,
"The gift you have bestowed upon me, O master,
is not enough for all my cousins.
Would you permit me to bring ten of them to you,
so that they may receive from your generous bounty what I have received?"
The patrician was pleased by this,
and imagined he would kill ten of them instead of one.
He signaled to the guards of the citadel to let him pass.
Thus, 'Amr ibn al-'As was saved.
When Egypt was conquered and surrendered to the Muslims,
the Roman patrician met with 'Amr ibn al-'As,
and asked him in astonishment,
"Is it you?"
He replied, "Yes, despite your treachery."
'Amr ibn al-'As was, in addition to that,
one of the most eloquent of people,
and the most articulate in speech,
to the point that the Commander of the Faithful, may Allah be pleased with him,
saw in his eloquence a sign of the power of Allah, the Exalted.
Whenever he saw a man who stammered,
he would say, "I believe in Allah;
the Creator of this man and the Creator of 'Amr ibn al-'As is One."
Among the eloquent sayings of 'Amr ibn al-'As is his statement:
"Men are of three types:
a complete man, half a man, and one who is nothing.
As for the complete man,
he is the one whose religion and intellect are perfect;
when he intends to decide on a matter,
he consults those of sound judgment,
and he remains successful.
As for half a man,
he is the one whom Allah has perfected in religion and intellect,
but when he intends to decide on a matter,
he consults no one,
saying, 'Which person should I follow, abandoning my own opinion for theirs?'
So he is sometimes right and sometimes wrong.
As for the one who is nothing,
he is the one who has neither religion nor intellect,
so he remains mistaken and failing.
By Allah, I even consult my servants regarding my affairs."
When 'Amr ibn al-'As fell ill with his final illness,
and felt the approach of death,
he was overcome with emotion,
and said to his son,
"I have been in three states in which I have known myself:
First, I was a disbeliever,
and had I died then,
the Fire would have been my certain fate.
Then, when I pledged allegiance to the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
I was the shyest of people before him,
to the point that I never once filled my eyes with his sight.
Had I died then,
people would have said,
'Congratulations to 'Amr,
he embraced Islam in goodness and died in goodness.'
Then I became involved in matters thereafter,
and I do not know if they are for me or against me."
Then he turned his face toward the wall, saying,
"O Allah, You commanded us, but we disobeyed;
You forbade us, but we did not refrain.
Nothing can save us but Your pardon, O Most Merciful of the merciful."
Then he placed his hand on his neck,
raised his gaze to the sky, and said,
"O Allah, I am not powerful, so I cannot seek victory;
I am not innocent, so I cannot offer an excuse;
and I am not arrogant,
but I am a seeker of forgiveness.
So forgive me, O Oft-Forgiving."
He continued to repeat this until his soul departed.
The greatest Messenger,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, had said of him:
"The people have embraced Islam,
and 'Amr ibn al-'As has believed."