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Get to know the Companions, the scholars, and the prominent figures.
A new challenge: Who am I?
I am one of the Companions of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
I am an Ansari from the Aws tribe.
I embraced Islam before Sa'd ibn Mu'adh, may Allah be pleased with him, the leader of the Aws, did.
I was honored with the title of "Guard of the Prophet," peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
For I used to stand guard over him,
And carry out the tasks he entrusted to me.
Among these was the assassination of Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf,
The Jewish poet,
Who used to harm the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
And lampoon the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them,
And compose lewd verses about the Muslim women,
And incite the disbelievers against them.
When the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, arrived in Medina,
He drew up treaties and covenants between himself and its inhabitants, both Jews and polytheists.
Yet some of these fools
Did not respond to this noble treatment,
And instead showed hostility toward the people of faith.
Among them was Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf the Jew,
For he persisted in his transgression,
Unrestrained by any sense of morality or covenant.
That hostility increased
When he saw the polytheist captives at Badr bound in chains.
He began to openly display his enmity toward the Muslims,
And mourned the polytheist dead of Badr.
Then he went to Mecca to console the polytheists with his poetry,
And urged them to fight the Muslims.
Then he returned to Medina.
When the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, learned of his return,
He said, "Who will deal with Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf for me?
For he has harmed me."
I said, "I will, O Messenger of Allah.
I will kill him."
He said, "Then do so."
Then I was overcome with anxiety,
And I spent days without eating.
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, called for me,
And said to me,
"Why have you abandoned food and drink?"
I said, "O Messenger of Allah,
I made a promise to you,
And I do not know if I will be able to fulfill it or not."
He, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said,
"Do your best and whatever you are capable of."
He consulted Sa'd ibn Mu'adh regarding the matter,
And I consulted him as well.
Then I gathered with a group from the Aws,
Among them 'Abbad ibn Bishr
And Abu Na'ilah.
We agreed on a plan to get to the Jew, Ka'b.
Then we came to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
And said, "O Messenger of Allah,
We will kill him,
So permit us to speak ill of the Muslims and their Prophet,
For we have no other way to reach him."
He, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said,
"Say what you must, there is no blame on you."
So Abu Na'ilah went out to him.
Abu Na'ilah and I were foster brothers to Ka'b.
When Ka'b saw him, he was suspicious of his state.
Abu Na'ilah said to him,
"We have a need for you."
Ka'b asked, "And what is it?"
Abu Na'ilah said,
"The arrival of this man among us has been a calamity,
The Arabs have fought us,
They have united against us like a single bow,
And the paths have been cut off from us,
Until lives have been exhausted and our families are lost.
We have been reduced to seeking charity,
And we find nothing to eat."
Ka'b said,
"By Allah, I told you this would happen before."
Abu Na'ilah said,
"I have men with me who share my opinion,
And I wanted to bring them to you
So that we might buy food or dates from you,
And you would show us kindness in that,
And we will leave you collateral that you can trust."
Ka'b said,
"By Allah, I would not have liked, O Abu Na'ilah,
To see you in such need,
Even though you are among the dearest of people to me.
You are my brother, we shared the same breast."
Abu Na'ilah said,
"Keep what I told you about Muhammad a secret."
Ka'b said,
"I will not mention a word of it."
Then Ka'b said,
"O Abu Na'ilah,
Tell me the truth:
What is it you want regarding the affair of Muhammad?"
He said,
"To abandon him and turn away from him,
And to overcome him if we can."
He said,
"You have pleased me, O Abu Na'ilah.
So what will you give me as collateral for the food?
Your sons and your women?"
Abu Na'ilah said,
"You want to disgrace us and expose our affair?
No,
But we will leave you as collateral whatever weapons you are satisfied with."
Ka'b agreed.
We intended by the weapons collateral
That he would not suspect our intentions when we returned to him carrying weapons.
Abu Na'ilah left him,
And we had agreed to come to him all together in the evening.
We came to the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
And informed him of our plan.
He said to us,
"Proceed with the blessing of Allah."
Then we prayed the 'Isha prayer with him,
And he walked with us as far as the Baqi'.
We came to Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf as promised.
Abu Na'ilah called out to him.
Ka'b was a newlywed.
His bride said,
"Where are you going?
It is as if I hear a voice dripping with blood."
He said,
"It is only my brother, Abu Na'ilah,
And I have an appointment with him."
Then he came down and met us.
We spoke for a little while,
Then we walked along,
Until an opportunity presented itself.
We struck him with our swords.
Then I finished him off with a dagger I had with me.
I placed it in his belly,
And pressed down until it reached his flank.
The enemy of Allah fell dead.
He had let out a cry that terrified the Jews,
So they lit fires in their fortresses.
We hurried away from among them,
Until we reached the Baqi'.
We shouted "Allahu Akbar."
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, heard our takbir,
And knew that we had killed him.
When we reached him,
He said, "May these faces be successful."
We said,
"And yours, O Messenger of Allah."
So who am I?
Share your answers in the comments below the video.
We will pin the correct answer in the comments
When the next episode is released, if Allah wills.