In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.
Mawaddah Association
presents:
The Ten Promised Paradise —
Az-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam,
may Allah be pleased with him.
"Loving the Companions and the Prophet's kin is an established Sunnah,
with which I shall meet my Lord when He brings me to life."
Loving the Companions...
Muhammad ibn Abdillah,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
proclaimed the truth openly in Makkah.
He began conveying to his people
the message of his Lord,
calling them to the oneness of Allah
the Exalted, and to abandon
the worship of idols and false deities.
But his people opposed him
and attempted to prevent him from spreading
the message with which Allah
had entrusted him.
They plotted conspiracies against him
to silence his voice
and extinguish his call.
Yet, there was a small group among his people
whose hearts Allah opened
to Islam;
they followed him and believed in him
and in his message.
Some of them proclaimed their Islam openly,
while others concealed it.
Among those who embraced Islam in the very beginning was
Az-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam,
may Allah be pleased with him.
He accepted Islam
at the hands of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq,
may Allah be pleased with him.
One morning,
while the people were resting at midday,
a rumor spread among them
that Muhammad,
peace be upon him,
had been seized and killed
in the upper part of Makkah.
The people passed the rumor along
until it reached
the ears of the heroic Companion,
Az-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam,
may Allah be pleased with him.
He was then only a young boy,
yet he was filled with fierce zeal
for the Messenger of Allah,
peace and blessings be upon him.
He rushed to his sword,
unsheathed it,
and hurried out, marching swiftly
through the streets of Makkah
heading toward its upper part,
seeking the killer of the Prophet,
peace be upon him.
There, the Prophet met him,
peace and blessings be upon him,
and said to him:
"What is the matter, O Zubayr?"
He replied:
"I heard that you had been killed."
The Prophet, peace be upon him, asked:
"And what were you going to do?"
He replied:
"I intended to confront the people of Makkah
and strike with my sword everyone
who seized and killed you."
So the Prophet,
peace be upon him, prayed for good for him
and prayed for his sword
to be victorious.
Thus, Az-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with him)
became the very first
to draw a sword in Islam.
The hero of our episode
today
is the illustrious Companion,
Az-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam ibn Khuwaylid
al-Qurashi al-Asadi,
Abu Abdillah,
the disciple (Hawari) of the Messenger of Allah,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
and the son of his paternal aunt.
His mother was Safiyyah bint Abd al-Muttalib,
may Allah be pleased with her,
and his paternal aunt was the Mother of
the Believers, Khadijah bint
Khuwaylid, may Allah be pleased with her.
He was one of
those testified to be in Paradise,
and one of the members of the consultative council (Shura).
He embraced Islam when
he was a youth of sixteen
years.
He endured torture on account of
his Islam, for his paternal
uncle, Nawfal ibn Khuwaylid,
used to wrap him in a reed mat
and light fire underneath him
until he could barely breathe,
while saying to him:
"Return to disbelief!"
But Az-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with
him) would steadfastly reply:
"I will never disbelieve in Allah, ever!"
Az-Zubayr,
may Allah be pleased with him, grew up in Makkah
as an orphan, for his father,
Al-Awwam ibn Khuwaylid, had been killed
in the Sacrilegious War (Harb al-Fijar).
His mother took charge of his upbringing;
she used to discipline him firmly
in his childhood and treat him sternly.
Az-Zubayr's paternal uncle
reproached her, saying:
"This is not how a child should be disciplined!
You beat him
as one who hates him would,
not as a mother would."
She replied:
"Whoever says I hate him has lied!
I only beat him so that he becomes wise and resolute,
defeats an army,
brings back spoils of war,
and does not rely on
a hoarded stash,
merely eating dates and grain at home."
Once, Az-Zubayr fought
a man in Makkah
and broke his arm,
while he was still a boy.
The man was carried to Safiyyah,
so she said to him:
"How did you find Zubayr?
Like soft curd or dates,
or like a swift,
fierce falcon?"
Az-Zubayr, may Allah be pleased with him,
was a man neither tall
nor short,
lean of build with little flesh,
with a light beard
along his cheeks,
medium-brown in complexion, with thick hair
on his head, so much so that
his son would grasp his father's hair
and hang onto
his back.
When the persecution of Quraysh intensified
against the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him,
and his Companions,
he, peace and blessings be upon him, advised
his Companions to migrate
to Abyssinia
to be under the protection of the Negus,
that just ruler.
Az-Zubayr,
may Allah be pleased with him, migrated along with those who did.
Thus, the Muslims resided
with the Negus
in the best home and with the best neighbor.
They remained in that
state of safety and security
for a period of time,
until a man arose
in Abyssinia contending with the Negus
for the kingdom.
The Muslims were deeply grieved
by this,
fearing that this
man might prevail, unaware
of the rights of the pure Companions
and ignorant of their true status.
So the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, wanted
to find out
news of the ongoing conflict
between the Negus and this challenger
on the other side
of the Nile.
They said: "Who will go out
to witness the battle of the two armies
and then bring us the news?"
Az-Zubayr
ibn al-Awwam, may Allah be pleased with him, said:
"I will bring you the news."
They said: "Yes, you!"
And he was among the youngest
of them in age.
They inflated a waterskin for him,
which he placed across his chest,
and then swam upon it until
he reached the bank of the Nile
where the two armies met.
Then he set off until
he reached them.
Meanwhile, the Companions were on the other bank,
praying to Allah to grant victory to
the Negus. While
they were thus watching expectantly,
Al-Zubayr
(may Allah be pleased with him) suddenly appeared to them,
running hastily.
He signaled to them with his garment, saying:
"Glad tidings!
The Negus has triumphed,
Allah has destroyed his enemy,
and established his authority in his land."
It was not long before
Al-Zubayr's stay (may Allah be pleased with him)
in Abyssinia came to an end,
as he returned to Mecca.
There, he married Asma',
daughter of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq
(may Allah be pleased with him).
He married others later on,
yet Asma'
(may Allah be pleased with her)
was his first wife
and the most beloved of them to him,
as he married her before
the Migration to Medina.
When he arrived in Medina
migrating with his wife,
she gave birth to 'Abdullah for him,
who was the first newborn
for the Emigrants in Medina.
The Muslims rejoiced
exceedingly at his birth,
because the Jews
had spread a rumor that they had bewitched
the Muslims,
so that no child would be born to them in Medina.
But Allah invalidated
their claim through the birth of 'Abdullah
Ibn al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with them both),
after
a period had passed during which no children were born to them.
In his early time in Medina, Al-Zubayr
initially
had no servant
to assist him,
so his wife Asma' (may Allah be pleased
with her) used to water Al-Zubayr's horse,
feed it, and groom it.
She would also bring date stones
from Al-Zubayr's distant land,
carrying them upon
her head, then crush them
to feed the water-carrying camel,
until this took a physical toll
on her. She also
used to knead dough,
though she was not adept at baking bread,
so women of the Ansar used to help her
and bake bread for her.
This state of affairs continued
until her father,
Abu Bakr, sent
her a servant, who spared her the hardship
and assisted her with much
of her work.
Asma' used to say: "It was
as though my father had set me free."
Out of Al-Zubayr's deep love
(may Allah be pleased with him)
for martyrdom, he used to name
his sons after
martyred Companions, hoping
that they too might attain martyrdom.
Thus, he named his son 'Abdullah
after 'Abdullah Ibn Jahsh,
Al-Mundhir after Al-Mundhir
Ibn 'Amr,
'Urwah after 'Urwah Ibn Mas'ud,
Hamzah after Hamzah Ibn 'Abd
al-Muttalib,
Ja'far after Ja'far Ibn Abi Talib,
Mus'ab after Mus'ab
Ibn 'Umayr,
'Ubaydah after 'Ubaydah Ibn al-Harith,
Khalid after Khalid
Ibn Sa'id,
and 'Amr after 'Amr Ibn Sa'id
Ibn al-'As (may Allah be pleased
with them all).
Al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with him) was
among the Companions renowned for wealth
and abundant possessions.
Yet despite that,
he was noble, generous,
and spent extensively in
the cause of Allah.
Vast amounts of money would come to him,
and he would spend it all
in the cause of Allah,
without keeping any of it
in his house. Some
Companions used to entrust Al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased
with him) with guardianship over their children
before their death.
Al-Zubayr would spend on the heirs
from his own wealth
while preserving their inheritance intact for them.
People used to bring
their money to Al-Zubayr Ibn al-'Awwam
(may Allah be pleased with him)
and leave it with him as a trust,
but he would say to them:
"No, rather let it be a loan,
for I fear
it might be lost."
So they would leave it with him as a debt on his liability,
and he would spend it when needed
on his own affairs
and the interests of the Muslims.
When he felt his appointed time
approaching on the Day of the Camel,
his greatest concern
was the debt he owed.
He said to his son 'Abdullah:
"O my son,
I see that I shall be killed today.
I charge you
with settling my debt.
If you are unable to settle any of it,
seek help against it from my Master."
'Abdullah asked:
"And who is your Master?"
He replied: "Allah."
Thereafter, whenever 'Abdullah
Ibn al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with him)
was approached by a man
demanding his money,
or felt overwhelmed by the burden of his father's debt,
he would say:
"O Master of Al-Zubayr,
settle his debt for him,"
and Allah Almighty would settle it.
Al-Zubayr
(may Allah be pleased with him) used to say:
"Whosoever among you is able
to have a hidden stash of good
deeds,
let him do so."
To the Chosen Prophet,
they were the best companions.
Explicitly named are they,
in the Gardens of
Eternity, explicitly named.
Increased in honor were they:
they are Talhah,
Ibn 'Awf,
Al-Zubayr,
Allah,
Abu 'Ubaydah,
the two Sa'ds,
and the two Caliphs.