In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Mawaddah Association is pleased
to present to you snapshots from the lives of the Companions,
by 'Abd al-Rahman Ra'fat al-Basha,
may Allah have mercy on him.
Rabi'ah ibn Ka'b,
may Allah be pleased with him.
Rabi'ah ibn Ka'b said:
I was a young boy when my soul shone with the light of faith,
and my heart filled with the meanings of Islam.
When my eyes caught sight of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) for the first time,
I loved him with a love that took hold of my every limb,
and I became so infatuated with him that it turned me away from all else.
So I said to myself one day:
"Woe to you, O Rabi'ah!
Why do you not devote yourself to serving the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)?
Offer yourself to him;
if he accepts you, you will be blessed with his closeness, attain his love,
and gain the best of this world and the Hereafter."
Shortly thereafter, I offered myself in service to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him),
begging him to accept me into his service.
He did not disappoint my hope,
and he agreed for me to be his servant.
From that day on,
I clung to the Noble Prophet closer than his own shadow.
I walked with him wherever he walked,
and orbited in his sphere wherever he turned.
Whenever he cast a glance in my direction,
I stood immediately before him, attent.
And whenever he showed a need for anything,
he found me rushing to fulfill it.
I would serve him all day long,
and when the day ended,
he prayed the late night prayer ('Isha') and retired to his house.
I would prepare to depart,
but soon I would say to myself:
"Where are you going, Rabi'ah?
Perhaps the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) will have
some need during the night."
So I would sit at his door,
never leaving the threshold of his house.
The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) used to
spend his night standing in prayer.
Sometimes I would hear him reciting the Opening of the Book (al-Fatihah),
repeating it over and over for a large portion of the night,
until I grew weary and would leave him,
or my eyes would overcome me and I would sleep.
Other times I would hear him saying:
"Allah hears whoever praises Him,"
repeating it for even longer than he repeated al-Fatihah.
It was the custom of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)
that whenever anyone did him a favor,
he loved to reward them with something even greater.
He wished to reward me for my service to him,
so he approached me one day and said:
"O Rabi'ah ibn Ka'b!"
I replied, "At your service and command, O Messenger of Allah!"
He said, "Ask me for something, that I may give it to you."
I pondered for a moment, then said:
"Give me time, O Messenger of Allah, to consider what I should ask of you,
and then I will inform you."
He said, "There is no harm in that."
At that time, I was a poor young man,
having neither family, nor wealth, nor housing.
I used to take refuge in the Suffah of the Mosque,
along with others like me among the poor Muslims.
People used to call us the guests of Islam.
Whenever anyone among the Muslims brought
charity to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him),
he would send it all to us.
And if someone presented him with a gift,
he would take a little from it and give the rest to us.
So my soul prompted me to ask the Messenger of Allah
for some worldly good
by which I might free myself from poverty
and become like others, possessor of wealth, a wife, and children.
But soon I said to myself:
"Woe to you, O Rabi'ah ibn Ka'b!
This world is fleeting and vanishing,
while your provision in it has been guaranteed by Allah, Mighty and Majestic;
it will inevitably come to you.
And the Messenger (peace be upon him)
holds such a status with his Lord
that no request of his is turned down.
So ask him to pray to Allah for you out of the bounty of the Hereafter."
My soul was pleased with this idea
and found comfort in it.
Then I came to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him),
and he said, "What do you say, Rabi'ah?"
I said, "O Messenger of Allah,
I ask that you supplicate to Allah Almighty for me,
that He make me your companion in Paradise."
He said, "Who advised you to ask for that?"
I said, "No, by Allah,
no one advised me.
However, when you said to me,
'Ask me, and I shall give you,'
my soul urged me to ask you
for some worldly benefit.
But soon I was guided to
prefer the everlasting over the transient.
So I ask you to supplicate to Allah for me
that I may be your companion in Paradise."
The Messenger of Allah remained silent for a long time,
then said:
"Or anything besides that, Rabi'ah?"
I said, "No, O Messenger of Allah,
I would not equate anything with what I asked of you."
He said:
"Then help me against your own soul
by prostrating abundantly."
So I began to strive diligently in worship,
hoping to attain the companionship of the Messenger of Allah
(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)
in Paradise,
just as I was blessed with serving him
and accompanying him in this world.
Not long after that,
time passed
until the Messenger of Allah
(peace be upon him) called me
and said:
"Will you not marry, O Rabi'ah?"
I said:
"I do not wish for anything to distract me
from serving you, O Messenger of Allah.
Besides, I have nothing with which to pay a dowry to a wife,
nor that with which to maintain her life."
So he remained silent.
Then he saw me a second time
and said:
"Will you not marry, O Rabi'ah?"
So I answered him with the same response I gave
the previous time.
But no sooner was I alone with myself
than I regretted what I had done,
and I said:
"Woe to you, O Rabi'ah!
By Allah, the Prophet
knows better than you what is good for you
in your religion and your worldly life,
and he knows better than you what you possess.
By Allah, if the Messenger of Allah
(peace be upon him) calls me
after this time
to marry,
I will surely accept his advice."
Not long after that,
time passed until he said to me—
the Messenger:
"Will you not marry, O Rabi'ah?"
I said, "Yes, O Messenger of Allah,
but who would marry me when I am as you know?"
He said:
"Go to the family of so-and-so,
and say to them:
'The Messenger of Allah commands you
to marry your daughter, so-and-so, to me.'"
So I went to them bashfully
and said to them:
"The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)
has sent me to you
so that you may marry your daughter, so-and-so, to me."
They said, "So-and-so?"
I said, "Yes."
They said, "Welcome to the Messenger of Allah,
and welcome to the envoy of the Messenger of Allah!
By Allah, the envoy of the Messenger of Allah shall not return
except with his need fulfilled."
So they concluded the marriage contract for me with her.
Then I came to the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)
and said, "O Messenger of Allah,
I have just come from the best of households;
they believed me, welcomed me,
and concluded the marriage contract for their daughter with me.
So from where shall I bring them the dowry?"
Thereupon, the Messenger summoned Buraydah ibn al-Husayb,
who was a chieftain of my tribe, Banu Aslam,
and said to him:
"O Buraydah,
collect for Rabi'ah the weight of a date stone in gold."
So they collected it for me.
Then the Messenger (peace be upon him) said to me:
"Take this to them
and tell them, 'This is the dowry of your daughter.'"
So I went to them and handed it over to them,
and they accepted it, were pleased with it,
and said, "This is abundant and good."
Then I came to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)
and said:
"I have never seen a people more noble than them;
they were pleased with what I gave them despite its small amount,
and said, 'It is abundant and good.'
So from where shall I get that with which to host a wedding feast, O Messenger of Allah?"
So the Messenger said to Buraydah:
"Collect for Rabi'ah the price of a ram."
So they bought for me a large, fat ram.
Then the Messenger (peace be upon him) said to me:
"Go to 'A'ishah,
and tell her to give you whatever barley she has."
So I went to her, and she said, "Take this large basket;
in it are seven sa's of barley.
By Allah, we have no other food besides it."
So I took the ram and the barley to my wife's family.
They said, "As for the barley, we will prepare it,
but as for the ram, tell your companions to prepare it for you."
So I took the ram—
I and some people from the tribe of Aslam took it—
and we slaughtered it, skinned it, and cooked it.
So we had bread and meat.
I hosted the wedding feast and invited the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
and he accepted my invitation.
Later on, the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
granted me a piece of land adjacent to a piece of land belonging to Abu Bakr.
Then worldly gain came upon me,
to the point that I disputed with Abu Bakr over a date palm.
I said, "It is on my land,"
and he said, "No, it is on my land."
So I argued with him, and he uttered a word to me that I disliked.
As soon as the word slipped out, he regretted it and said,
"O Rabi'ah, say the same word back to me
so that it may be equal retribution."
I replied, "No, by Allah, I will not do so!"
He said, "In that case, I will go to the Messenger of Allah
and complain to him about your refusal to take retribution from me."
So he set off to the Prophet,
and I followed behind him.
My people from the tribe of Aslam followed me
and said, "He was the one who started it with you and insulted you,
yet he precedes you to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
to complain about you?!"
I turned to them and said, "Woe to you!
Do you know who this is? This is al-Siddiq,
the revered elder of the Muslims!
Go back before he turns around and sees you,
lest he think you only came to assist me against him,
causing him to become angry, and then he goes to the Messenger of Allah,
and the Prophet becomes angry on account of his anger,
and Allah becomes angry on account of their anger, thus destroying Rabi'ah!"
So they went back.
Then Abu Bakr came to the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
and related the story to him exactly as it had happened.
The Messenger raised his head toward me and said,
"O Rabi'ah, what happened between you and al-Siddiq?"
I said, "O Messenger of Allah,
he wanted me to say to him what he had said to me,
but I refused." He said, "Indeed,
do not say to him what he said to you,
but rather say: May Allah forgive Abu Bakr."
So I said to him, "May Allah forgive you,
O Abu Bakr."
Whereupon he turned and walked away, his eyes overflowing with tears,
saying, "May Allah reward you with good on my behalf, O Rabi'ah Ibn Ka'b.
May Allah reward you with good on my behalf, O Rabi'ah Ibn Ka'b."