In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
The Mawaddah Association is pleased
to present to you *Portraits from the Lives of the Companions*,
by 'Abd al-Rahman Ra'fat al-Basha,
may Allah have mercy on him.
'Amr ibn al-Jamuh,
may Allah be pleased with him.
'Amr ibn al-Jamuh
was one of the pre-eminent chieftains of Yathrib during the Jahiliyyah,
the undisputed leader of Banu Salimah,
and one of the most generous men of the city,
renowned for his chivalry and nobility.
It was customary for the nobles during the Jahiliyyah
to keep an idol in their private homes,
seeking its blessing day and night,
offering sacrifices to it on festive occasions,
and turning to it for help in times of adversity.
The idol of 'Amr ibn al-Jamuh was named Manat.
He had fashioned it from the finest and most precious wood,
and went to great lengths in tending to it,
caring for it, and perfuming it with the most exquisite scents.
'Amr ibn al-Jamuh had already passed sixty years of age
when the rays of faith began illuminating the homes of Yathrib, house by house,
through the efforts of the first emissary of Islam, Mus'ab ibn 'Umayr.
At his hands, 'Amr's three sons embraced the faith:
Mu'awwadh, Mu'adh, and Khallad,
along with a companion of theirs of the same age, Mu'adh ibn Jabal.
And alongside his three sons, their mother, Hind, also embraced Islam,
while 'Amr remained completely unaware of their faith.
Hind, the wife of 'Amr ibn al-Jamuh, saw
that Islam had gained sway over most of the people of Yathrib,
and that none of its prominent nobles remained in idolatry
except her husband and a small band alongside him.
She truly loved and respected him,
and feared that he might die in disbelief,
thus ending up in the Fire.
At the same time,
he himself feared that his sons might abandon the religion of their forefathers
to follow this missionary, Mus'ab ibn 'Umayr,
who had managed in a very short time
to turn many people away from their ancestral religion
and bring them into the religion of Muhammad.
So he said to his wife, "O Hind,
beware lest your sons meet with this man,"
meaning Mus'ab ibn 'Umayr,
"until we can form our own judgment about him."
She replied, "I hear and obey.
But would you be willing to listen to your son Mu'adh
recount what he has heard from this man?"
He said, "Woe to you! Has Mu'adh turned away from his religion
without my knowledge?"
The righteous woman felt pity for the old man,
and said, "No, not at all;
but he has merely memorized some of the words he says."
He said, "Call him to me."
When the boy came before him, he said,
"Let me hear something of what this man says."
So he recited,
and 'Amr remarked, "How excellent this
speech is, and how beautiful!
Is all of his speech like this?"
Mu'adh replied, "Even better than this, father!
Will you not pledge allegiance to him,
for your people have all pledged allegiance to him?"
The old man was silent for a moment, then said,
"I shall not do so until I consult Manat
and see what he has to say."
The youth said to him,
"And what could Manat possibly say, father?
It is merely mute wood that can neither comprehend nor speak!"
The old man retorted sharply,
then 'Amr ibn al-Jamuh stood up and went to Manat.
Whenever they wished to speak to the idol,
they would place an old woman behind it,
who would answer on its behalf based on what it allegedly inspired her to say,
or so they claimed. He stood before it,
tall in stature, leaning upon
his sound leg, for his other leg
was severely lame,
and praised it with the highest praise, then said:
"O Manat, you no doubt
know that this preacher who has
arrived among us from Mecca intends
no harm to anyone other than you, and that
he has only come to forbid us from worshipping you.
I was reluctant to pledge allegiance to him—despite
the beauty of the words I heard—until
I had consulted you, so advise me."
But Manat did not give him any answer.
He said, "Perhaps you are angry, though I have not done
anything to displease you yet. But
no matter; I will leave you for a few days
until your anger subsides."
The sons of 'Amr ibn al-Jamuh knew
the depth of their father's devotion to his idol, Manat,
and how, with time, it had become almost an inseparable part
of him. Yet they realized that
its standing had begun to waver in his heart,
and that they had to uproot it completely from his soul,
as that was his only path to
faith. Under the cover of night, the sons of 'Amr ibn al-Jamuh set out
with their friend Mu'adh ibn Jabal to where
Manat stood. They carried it away
and took it to a pit belonging to Banu Salimah
where they used to dump their filth.
They threw it in and returned to
their homes without anyone noticing them.
When morning came, 'Amr went to his idol
to greet it, but could not find it.
He cried, "Woe to you! Who has violated
our god this night?"
But no one answered him.
So he began searching for it inside the house and outside,
fuming, raging, and issuing threats
and warnings, until he found it
lying head down in the cesspit.
He washed it, perfumed it,
and restored it to its place,
saying to it, "By Allah, if I only knew
who did this to you, I would surely disgrace him!"
When the second night came,
the youths crept up on Manat again and did to it
just as they had done the day before.
When morning came, the old man looked for it
and found it in the pit, soiled with filth.
The youths continued to do the same
to the idol night after night.
When he finally ran out of patience,
he went to it before going to sleep, took his sword,
hung it around its neck, and said to it,
"O Manat, by Allah, I do not know
who is doing this to you, as you can see.
If there is any good in you, then defend yourself;
here is the sword with you!"
As soon as the youths were certain that the old man
had fallen into a deep slumber, they sprang
upon the idol, took the sword from its neck,
carried it outside the house,
tied it to a dead dog with a rope,
and threw both into an abandoned well belonging to Banu Salimah,
into which impurities drained and collected.
When the old man awoke and did not find
the idol, he went out searching for it,
only to find it cast face down in the well,
tied to a dead dog,
with its sword stripped away. He did not pull it out
this time from the pit; rather, he left it
right where they had cast it, and began reciting:
"By Allah, had you truly been a god,
you and a dog would not be bound together in a pit!"
Soon after, he embraced the religion of Allah.
'Amr ibn al-Jamuh tasted the sweetness of faith,
which filled him with profound remorse
for every moment he had spent in polytheism.
He devoted himself to the new religion with body and soul,
placing himself, his wealth, and his children
in obedience to Allah and His Messenger.
Before long, the Battle of Uhud arrived.
'Amr ibn al-Jamuh saw
his three sons preparing
to meet the enemies of Allah,
pacing back and forth like ferocious lions,
glowing with a fervent yearning to attain martyrdom
and achieve the good pleasure of Allah.
This scene stirred his own zeal,
and he resolved to march with them to jihad
under the banner of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
But the young men were united
in preventing their father from carrying out his resolve,
for he was an elderly, advanced in years,
and was, moreover, severely lame,
and Allah, Exalted and Glorious, had excused him
among those whom He excused.
So they said to him, "O our father,
Allah has excused you,
so why burden yourself with that from which Allah has exempted you?"
The old man became exceedingly furious at their words
and went straight to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
to complain about them, saying:
"O Prophet of Allah,
these sons of mine want
to hold me back from this great good,
using the pretext that I am lame!
Yet, by Allah, I truly hope to step
into Paradise with this very limp of mine!"
The Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, said
to his sons, "Let him go; perhaps
Allah, Exalted and Glorious, will grant him martyrdom."
So they yielded, submitting to the command of the Messenger of Allah.
When the time to march drew near,
'Amr ibn al-Jamuh bid farewell to his wife,
the farewell of one who would never return.
He then turned toward the Qiblah,
raised his hands to the heavens, and prayed:
"O Allah, grant me martyrdom,
and do not send me back to my family disappointed!"
He then set out, surrounded by his three sons
and a large contingent of his people, Banu Salimah.
And when the heat of battle intensified
and people scattered away from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
'Amr Ibn al-Jamuh was seen
charging forward in the vanguard,
leaping vigorously upon his sound leg,
crying out, "Indeed, I yearn for Paradise!
Indeed, I yearn for Paradise!"
Behind him was his son Khallad,
and the elder and his young son continued to fight fiercely
until both fell dead as martyrs
upon the battlefield,
separated in death by only a few moments.
No sooner had the war laid down its burdens
than the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) went
to the martyrs of Uhud
to lay them to rest in their graves.
He said to his Companions,
"Leave them shrouded in their blood and wounds,
for I am a witness over them."
Then he said, "No Muslim is wounded in the cause of Allah
but that he will come on the Day of Resurrection bleeding,
its color the color of saffron,
and its scent the scent of musk."
Then he said, "Bury 'Amr Ibn al-Jamuh
alongside 'Abdullah Ibn 'Amr,
for they loved one another
with pure devotion in this world."
May Allah be pleased with 'Amr Ibn al-Jamuh
and his companions among the martyrs of Uhud,
and may He illuminate their graves for them.
'Amr Ibn al-Jamuh was
an elderly man who was determined to tread
with his limp in Paradise.