In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.
Mawaddah Association
presents:
The Ten Promised Paradise:
Talhah Ibn 'Ubaydillah,
may Allah be pleased with him.
"Love for the Companions and the Prophet's kin is an established Sunnah,
with which I hope to meet my Lord when I am resurrected;
love for the Companions and the Prophet's kin..."
The polytheists set out from Makkah,
seeking revenge for their losses at Badr.
They marched forth with hearts bursting with fury and malice against the Muslims,
their souls torn with grief over their slain warriors.
Thus, they met the Muslims at Uhud—
Uhud,
that battle immortalized by history
to serve as a lesson for all generations,
and that profound lesson inscribed by the Qur'an
so that it might never be forgotten through the passage of time.
“There was a token for you in two hosts which met: one army fighting in the way of Allah, and another disbelieving, whom they saw as twice their number, clearly, with their very eyes. Thus Allah strengtheneth with His succour whom He will. Lo! herein verily is a lesson for those who have eyes.” (3:13)
"...and another that was disbelieving."
One group raised its voice shouting, "Exalted be Hubal!"
while the other group proclaimed,
"Allah is Most High and Most Majestic!"
The two battle lines met,
the two forces clashed,
and Allah made the Muslims' feet firm,
while shaking the ground beneath the polytheists.
The tide of battle turned in favor of the people of truth and faith,
and the legions of disbelief and tyranny were routed,
until the sincere believers fell into the forbidden error:
they abandoned their assigned positions,
allowing the lurking enemy to seize them
and strike them with a fatal blow.
The scales tipped across the battlefield,
disarray struck the ranks of the Muhammadan army,
and the Muslims were scattered in confusion
after the rumor spread that the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
had been killed.
They became like bewildered orphans:
some cast down their weapons, not knowing what to do,
others retreated toward Madinah with tearful eyes,
while others threw themselves into the jaws of death
to meet the same fate as their beloved Chosen Prophet, peace be upon him.
However, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him,
had withdrawn to a mountain pass of Uhud,
accompanied by a small band of champions fighting alongside him
and shielding him with their lives.
When Talhah Ibn 'Ubaydillah (may Allah be pleased with him) learned of their location,
he darted toward them like an arrow, chanting in martial verse:
"We are the defenders of Ghalib and Malik,
we fiercely defend our blessed Messenger,
striking the enemy away from him in fierce combat,
like the clash of broad swords in the battlefield!"
Talhah rushed toward the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him,
heedless of the scores of swords and spears lining his path,
until he reached the Messenger, peace be upon him.
He found around him eleven lions from the youth of the Ansar protecting him,
while the polytheists encircled them from every direction,
their prime objective being to strike down the Chosen Messenger, peace be upon him.
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said:
"Who will take on the enemy?"
Talhah said:
"I will, O Messenger of Allah!"
But the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said to him:
"Stay where you are."
Then a man from the Ansar said:
"I will, O Messenger of Allah!"
He replied:
"Yes, you."
So the Ansari fought until he was martyred.
Then the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, looked around,
and found the polytheists surrounding him once again,
so he asked:
"Who will take on the enemy?"
Talhah said:
"I will, O Messenger of Allah!"
He replied: "Stay where you are."
Then another man from the Ansar said:
"I will, O Messenger of Allah!"
He replied:
"Yes, you."
So he fought until he was martyred.
The Prophet, peace be upon him, continued to ask, "Who will face them? Who will face them?"
and the heroes of the Ansar stepped forward, champion after champion,
each one fighting valiantly until he was killed,
until none remained with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, except Talhah Ibn 'Ubaydillah.
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, then asked:
"Who will take on the enemy?"
Talhah said:
"I will, O Messenger of Allah!"
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said to him:
"Yes, you."
So Talhah fought with the valor of all eleven warriors combined,
defending the Prophet, peace be upon him, like an entire army on his own,
until his hand was struck and his fingers were severed,
causing him to cry out in pain, "Hass!"
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said:
"Had you said, 'In the name of Allah,'
the angels would have raised you up while the people looked on."
Meanwhile,
Malik ibn Zuhayr caught sight of the Prophet, peace be upon him,
with no one standing between them.
He drew an arrow
and swiftly shot it straight toward the face of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him.
Talhah shielded him by catching the arrow with his bare hand,
which caused his hand to be crippled.
He (may Allah be pleased with him) was also wounded in the head;
a man from Quraysh struck him twice:
one blow as he advanced toward him,
and another as he turned away,
causing him to bleed profusely.
Yet despite the relentless succession of blows and wounds inflicted upon Talhah,
he remained steadfast in the face of the enemy,
his first and foremost concern being
the safety of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him.
Talhah noticed
that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him,
was not safe in his current position,
so he helped the Prophet, peace be upon him, retreat toward the mountain pass
to seek shelter there.
Whenever the polytheists drew near,
Talhah fought them off until he repelled them,
intercepting arrows aimed at the Prophet with his own body
until his back bristled like a hedgehog.
On their way, a large rock blocked their path,
and the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, was unable to climb it
due to his severe wounds
and the weight of the two coats of mail he was wearing—
may my father and mother be sacrificed for him!
So Talhah bent down beneath his feet,
and the Prophet, peace be upon him, stepped upon him until he stood atop the rock.
Thereupon, the Prophet, peace be upon him, said:
"Talhah has made it obligatory,"
meaning Paradise was guaranteed for him
because of his monumental deed on that day.
The noble Companions then reached the location of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him,
and the first to arrive were
Abu Bakr al-Siddiq
and Abu 'Ubaydah Ibn al-Jarrah, may Allah be pleased with them both.
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said to them:
"Attend to your companion,"
referring to Talhah.
They first tended to the Prophet, peace be upon him,
and then went over to Talhah,
finding over seventy wounds upon his body,
between spear thrusts, arrow hits, and sword slashes,
so they tended to his injuries.
Whenever Abu Bakr recalled the Day of Uhud, he would say:
"That entire day belonged to Talhah."
And he would recite:
"He shielded the Prophet of Guidance as the cavalry pursued him,
and when they clashed, he fought fiercely in defense of the faith;
enduring spear thrusts when others turned their backs,
while men were divided between those guided and those led astray.
O Talhah Ibn 'Ubaydillah, Paradise has surely
become your rightful due, and you have been wedded to the fair maidens of heaven."
Hassan Ibn Thabit (may Allah be pleased with him) also said:
"Talhah on the day of the mountain pass supported Muhammad,
in an hour of dire distress and hardship;
shielding him from spears with his bare hands, while his fingers
yielded beneath the swords and were paralyzed;
he was the foremost of men after Muhammad,
steadying the saddle of Islam until it stood firmly upright."
Such was Talhah Ibn 'Ubaydillah:
a daring hero in every battle he fought.
He never stayed behind from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him,
in any military expedition he undertook,
except for the Battle of Badr;
for on that occasion, the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him,
had dispatched him and Sa'id Ibn Zayd, may Allah be pleased with them,
to scout for intelligence regarding the Quraysh caravan.
By the time they returned, the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, had already finished
fighting the polytheists,
yet the Messenger of Allah counted them among those who fought in it
and allotted them a share of the spoils of war.
Talhah (may Allah be pleased with him)
was also a staunch defender of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah.
A man once came to him attempting to cast doubt on Abu Hurayrah,
saying: "What do you think of this Yemeni man—
meaning Abu Hurayrah—
is he more knowledgeable in the hadith of the Messenger of Allah than all of you?
We hear things from him that we never hear from you."
Talhah replied to him:
"As for whether he heard from the Messenger of Allah what we did not hear,
I have no doubt about that.
Let me explain to you:
we were men with families and households,
and we would only visit the Messenger of Allah in the morning and evening,
whereas he was a poor man with no wealth,
so he remained constantly in the company of the Messenger of Allah.
Thus, I have no doubt that he heard what we did not hear;
and would you ever find anyone with any goodness in him
attributing to the Messenger of Allah that which he never said?"
Talhah Ibn 'Ubaydillah lived
faithful to the Prophet, peace be upon him, and to his caliphs after him,
until the turmoil broke out following the assassination of 'Uthman Ibn 'Affan.
He deemed it an obligation to demand retribution for 'Uthman's blood,
and he actively pursued that cause
until he was martyred at the Battle of the Camel, as we mentioned earlier.
That took place in the thirty-sixth year of the Hijrah,
when he was sixty-two years old.
More than thirty years after his death, may Allah be pleased with him,
a man came to his daughter 'A'ishah and said to her,
"I saw Talhah in a dream, and he said,
'Tell my daughter 'A'ishah to move me from this place,
for the seeping ground water is troubling me.'"
So 'A'ishah rode out with her retinue and freedmen
until they reached the grave of Talhah, may Allah be pleased with him.
They set up a tent over it and exhumed him.
'A'ishah said,
"I saw my father, and not a thing about him had changed,
except for a few hairs on one side of his beard."
Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas (may Allah be pleased with him) once heard
a man slandering 'Uthman, 'Ali,
Talhah, and al-Zubayr, may Allah be pleased with them all.
Sa'd began to forbid him, saying,
"Do not revile my brothers!"
But the man refused to stop.
So Sa'd stood up,
prayed two rak'ahs, and then supplicated:
"O Allah, if what he is saying incurs Your wrath,
then show me a sign in him this very day,
and make him an admonition."
The man then walked out,
when suddenly a camel came barging through the crowds of people
until it reached the man,
seized him, pinned him between its chest and the paved ground,
and crushed him to death.
Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib said:
"I saw the people following Sa'd, saying to him,
'Congratulations to you, Abu Ishaq!
Your supplication has been answered!'
Abu 'Ubaydah, the two Sa'ds, and the two successors..."