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.
Al-'Ala' Ibn al-Hadrami, may Allah be pleased with him.
The grieving, bereaved city of Medina lay resting its wounds that night,
for it had lost the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
It was in a state of the deepest attachment to him and the most desperate need for him.
Yet, the Caliph of the Muslims, Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, could not find a taste of sleep;
it was as if his bed had been stuffed with thorns or his eyes smeared with embers.
How could the heart of al-Siddiq find peace
when most of the Arabs had exited the religion of Allah in droves and apostatized from Islam?
And how could he close his eyes
when the great state of the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
which had been built over twenty-three years of effort and struggle,
and constructed through sorrows and heartaches,
until it encompassed the Arabian Peninsula from end to end, had shrunk today?
It had become confined to a small triangle,
its apex in Medina, the capital of the Islamic state,
and its base extending between Mecca and Ta'if.
From this small remnant that remained with him in faith, al-Siddiq mobilized ten armies,
and chose for them ten exceptional commanders
with whom the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, was well-pleased when he passed away.
He dispatched them in every direction to fight the apostates.
What troubled him most that night
was choosing the eleventh commander for the army he would send to fight the apostates in Bahrain
and the surrounding lands in the south of the Arabian Peninsula.
The mission of this army was fraught with dangers,
and its path was paved with thorns and hardship.
Al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, continued to toss and turn on his bed,
until Bilal Ibn Rabah pierced the silence of the night with his melodious, tender voice.
The eyes of al-Siddiq welled with tears upon hearing the voice of the muezzin of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him.
At the same time, an idea flashed into his mind
that illuminated the path for him to choose the desired commander.
His gentle features relaxed,
and across his refined, sorrow-stricken face appeared
a transparent veil of contentment and tranquility.
When the obligatory prayer was finished, he called for parchment and an inkwell and wrote:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
This is a covenant from Abu Bakr, the Caliph of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,
to al-'Ala' Ibn al-Hadrami,
when he sent him to fight the apostates in Bahrain and its vicinity.
He charged him to fear Allah as much as he could, in private and in public,
and commanded him to be diligent in the cause of Allah,
and to struggle against those who turned away from their religion
and retreated from Islam to the delusions of Satan.
The selection of al-'Ala' Ibn al-Hadrami
as commander of the army heading to fight the apostates in Bahrain
met with great satisfaction among the leaders of the Muslims.
For al-'Ala' was a Companion of long standing,
with a close bond to the Messenger, peace be upon him,
and one of the scribes of the Revelation and those entrusted with it.
Furthermore, he was the one who had brought Islam to Bahrain
without shedding a drop of blood or harming anyone with a wound.
This was when the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, sent him
to al-Mundhir Ibn Sawa
with a letter inviting him to Islam.
He continued to treat him with gentleness
and exercised wisdom in presenting Islam to him,
until he and his people announced their Islam.
The Prophet, peace be upon him, confirmed him in his rule,
and appointed al-'Ala' Ibn al-Hadrami over the collection of alms (zakat).
He commanded him to take the zakat from the wealthy
and distribute it among the poor.
Al-'Ala' remained in this work
until the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, passed away.
The king, al-Mundhir Ibn Sawa, followed him in the same month,
may the mercy of Allah be upon him.
There was no path before al-'Ala' Ibn al-Hadrami
and his army, fighting in the way of Allah,
to reach Bahrain
except for the Dahna' desert,
that desert which was fearsome at that time,
and remains fearsome to this day,
and which is known now as the Empty Quarter (al-Rub' al-Khali).
The blessed, faithful army set out, crossing the vast wilderness,
engaged in a fierce war with the sweeping winds,
a bitter struggle with the raging sands,
and a terrifying conflict with the harsh nature,
where there was no water, no trees, and no life.
While the people were in this state,
they were struck by what no one could have anticipated,
nor could the imagination of any dreamer have conceived.
On the evening of a night with no stars,
shrouded in darkness,
the army dismounted from their camels in search of rest
and in anticipation of the breaking of the dawn.
For they were unable to travel at night
for fear of getting lost in these deserts,
where no foot had ever traced a path,
and even if it had, the sweeping sands
would have obliterated it in a few moments.
No sooner had they settled on the ground
than one of their camels rose up in a panic,
for a reason they did not know,
and began to run like a madman
into those dark, vast plains.
Its panic stirred all the other camels,
and they rushed after it
as if a thousand demons were riding them,
or as if each one had been stung by a thousand snakes.
The hardy men,
the veterans of the desert,
tried to stop these agitated,
stampeding animals,
or to catch up with them,
but they soon lost them, and were themselves lost,
and the desert swallowed them up.
In a few moments,
the army found itself in those deadly wastes,
without water, without provisions,
without a mount, and without hope.
You may imagine, noble listener,
the anguish that overwhelmed their souls,
and you may conceive of the agony that shattered their hearts.
You may give free rein to your soaring imagination
to see what was surging in the depths of those chests.
They became certain that they were inevitably doomed,
and that this desert
would fold them into its vast interior,
just as the ocean folds a handful of sand into its depths,
and that they would remain a secret of these terrifying wastes,
which would never be revealed to anyone.
Some began to leave their final testaments to others,
certain that no one would emerge alive from the jaws of this death trap.
But such is the way of life.
At that moment, the inspired commander,
the student of the unique and peerless Prophetic school, approached his soldiers
and said to them in a tone of reassurance and confidence:
"What is this panic, terror, and distress that has overcome you?"
They replied, "How can you blame us?
If we remain until tomorrow and the night gives way to the day,
the sun will soon destroy us with thirst
before its disc even rises to the zenith of the sky."
He said to them, "I am confident that you will never be harmed,
for you are those who have submitted to Allah and believe in Him.
You set out in His cause,
and you rose up to support His religion.
So rejoice in a relief from Him,
and by Allah, you will not be forsaken,
nor will you be afflicted by anything that harms you.
The relief of Allah is closer to you than you think."
The words of the faithful commander descended into the hearts of his men
like cool, sweet water to a thirsty soul.
Their spirits calmed and their hearts found peace,
and they surrendered their eyes to sleep.
When the dawn broke, they performed dry ablution (tayammum) with clean earth,
and stood before their Lord, humble and submissive.
When the prayer ended, 'Ala' turned his face toward them,
raised his palms toward the sky,
and began to call upon Allah, the Almighty, with a pleading heart,
tearful eyes, and a hopeful, expectant soul.
They joined in his supplication, saying "Amen" to his hopes.
He had not finished his private prayer to his Lord before water appeared to them from afar,
its silver surface shimmering under the first light of morning.
At first, the soldiers thought it was a mirage,
like that which a person sees in the desert.
But when they approached it, they found it was water.
They began to praise and glorify Allah,
and started to drink and wash themselves.
They stayed there, waiting for the rest of Allah's relief.
No sooner had the day reached its midpoint
than they saw shadows in the distance heading toward them.
They focused their gaze upon them,
and they drew closer to them little by little.
It was only a short while
before they were certain that it was their camels coming toward them,
as if a driver were herding them toward them.
Through tears of joy at the relief of Allah, the Almighty,
and hope in His victory,
they saw their camels all arriving at the water,
just as they had all departed,
with their saddles and blankets still on them,
and the provisions and supplies intact.