In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
The Mawaddah Association is pleased
to present to you "Portraits from the Lives of the Companions"
by 'Abd al-Rahman Ra'fat al-Basha,
may Allah have mercy on him.
Abu al-Darda', may Allah be pleased with him.
'Uwaymir ibn Malik al-Khazraji,
known by his kunya Abu al-Darda', rose early from his sleep
and went to his idol, which he had set up in the most honored place in his house.
He greeted it and anointed it with the finest perfumes stocked in his great shop,
then draped over it a new garment of luxurious silk
presented to him the day before by a merchant who had arrived from Yemen.
When the sun had risen high,
Abu al-Darda' left his house, heading toward his shop,
only to find the streets and alleys of Yathrib crowded with the followers of Muhammad,
who were returning from Badr,
driving before them herds of captives from Quraysh.
He turned away from them,
but soon approached a young man among them from the Khazraj
and asked him about 'Abdullah ibn Rawahah.
The Khazraji youth replied,
"He fought with the utmost gallantry and excellence in battle,
and has returned safe and victorious," setting his mind at ease.
The young man was not surprised by Abu al-Darda's inquiry concerning 'Abdullah ibn Rawahah,
for everyone knew the strong bonds of brotherhood that united them.
That was because Abu al-Darda' and 'Abdullah ibn Rawahah
had been sworn brothers during the pre-Islamic period of ignorance (Jahiliyyah).
When Islam came, Ibn Rawahah embraced it,
while Abu al-Darda' turned away from it.
Yet that did not sever the strong ties between the two men;
'Abdullah ibn Rawahah continued to visit Abu al-Darda' faithfully,
inviting him to Islam, stirring his longing for it,
and grieving over every day of his life that passed while he remained an idolater.
Abu al-Darda' arrived at his shop,
sat cross-legged upon his elevated seat,
and began buying and selling,
commanding and forbidding his servants,
completely unaware of what was taking place at his home.
For at that very time,
'Abdullah ibn Rawahah was making his way to the house of his companion, Abu al-Darda',
having resolved upon a matter.
When he reached the house,
he saw its door open
and spotted Umm al-Darda' in its courtyard.
He said, "Peace be upon you, O bondwoman of Allah."
She replied, "And upon you be peace, O brother of Abu al-Darda'."
He asked, "Where is Abu al-Darda'?"
She said, "He has gone to his shop,
and will return shortly."
He asked, "Do you permit me to enter?"
She replied, "You are most welcome,"
and stepped aside to clear the way for him,
then went to her room,
occupied away from him with attending to her household chores
and caring for her children.
'Abdullah ibn Rawahah entered the room where Abu al-Darda' had placed his idol,
drew out an adze he had brought with him,
bent over the idol,
and began hacking it to pieces, declaring:
"Behold! Everything invoked besides Allah is falsehood!
Behold! Everything invoked besides Allah is falsehood!"
When he finished shattering it, he left the house.
Umm al-Darda' entered the room where the idol was,
and was horrified when she saw it reduced to splinters,
finding its shattered remains scattered across the floor.
She began slapping her cheeks, crying out:
"You have ruined me, O Ibn Rawahah!
You have ruined me, O Ibn Rawahah!"
It was not long
before Abu al-Darda' returned home.
He saw his wife sitting by the door of the room containing the idol,
weeping and sobbing,
with signs of terror toward him evident on her face.
He asked, "What is the matter with you?"
She said, "Your brother 'Abdullah ibn Rawahah came to us in your absence,
and did to your idol what you see!"
He looked at the idol
and found it reduced to rubble.
He flared up with rage
and resolved to avenge it,
but soon his fury subsided,
his anger cooled,
and he reflected on what had occurred.
Then he said,
"If there were any good in this idol, it would have defended itself from harm!"
He then went straight away to 'Abdullah ibn Rawahah,
and together they proceeded to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
where he announced his entry into the religion of Allah.
He was the last person of his quarter to embrace Islam.
From that very first moment, Abu al-Darda' believed
in Allah and His Messenger
with a faith that permeated every fiber of his being.
He felt profound regret for the good he had missed,
and realized with deep awareness
how far his companions had surpassed him in the fiqh of Allah's religion,
the memorization of the Book of Allah,
and acts of worship and piety
that they had stored up for themselves with Allah.
He resolved to make up for what had passed him by through tireless exertion,
joining the toil of the night to the toil of the day,
until he might catch up with the vanguard and even advance ahead of it.
Thus he devoted himself to worship with the complete dedication of an ascetic,
turned to knowledge with the eagerness of a thirsty soul,
and applied himself diligently to the Book of Allah, memorizing its words
and deepening his understanding of its verses.
When he realized that trade disrupted the sweetness of worship
and caused him to miss the gatherings of knowledge,
he abandoned it without hesitation or regret.
A questioner once asked him about that,
to which he answered, "I was a merchant before my covenant
with the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him.
When I embraced Islam,
I wished to combine trade with worship,
but what I wanted would not come together for me.
So I abandoned trade and turned wholly to worship.
By the One in Whose hand is the soul of Abu al-Darda',
I would not wish today to own a shop
at the door of the mosque
such that I would never miss a prayer in congregation,
and then buy and sell,
earning three hundred dinars every single day!"
Then he looked at his questioner and said:
"I am not saying
that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has forbidden trade,
but rather I love to be among those whom neither trade nor sale distracts
“Men whom neither merchandise nor sale beguileth from remembrance of Allah and constancy in prayer and paying to the poor their due; who fear a day when hearts and eyeballs will be overturned;” (24:37)
Abu al-Darda' did not merely abandon trade;
rather, he renounced the worldly life altogether,
turning away from its adornments and superficial glamour,
contenting himself with a coarse morsel to keep his back straight
and a thick, simple garment to cover his body.
Once, a group of guests stayed with him on a severely freezing night
of biting cold.
He sent them hot food,
but did not send them any blankets.
When they prepared to sleep,
they began conferring among themselves about the blankets.
One of them said,
"I will go to him and speak to him."
Another said to him,
"Leave him be."
But he refused,
went ahead, and stood at the door of his room.
He saw that Abu al-Darda' had lain down,
with his wife sitting near him,
wearing nothing between the two of them but a flimsy garment
that protected against neither heat nor cold.
The man said to Abu al-Darda',
"I see that you are spending the night just as we are!
Where are your furnishings?"
He replied, "We have another home yonder,
to which we send on ahead every furnishing we obtain.
Had we retained anything in this temporary dwelling,
we would have sent it to you!
Moreover, on the path we must traverse to that eternal home,
there is a steep, arduous mountain pass;
the unburdened traveler fares far better on it than the heavily laden.
Therefore, we wanted to lighten our loads
so that we might safely cross it."
Then he said to the man,
"Do you understand?"
The man replied,
"Yes, I understand,
and may you be rewarded with good."
During the caliphate of al-Faruq, may Allah be pleased with him,
'Umar wanted Abu al-Darda' to assume an official post for him in the Levant (al-Sham),
but he refused.
'Umar insisted upon it,
so Abu al-Darda' said,
"If you are content that I go to them merely to teach them the Book of their Lord
and the Sunnah of their Prophet,
and lead them in prayer, then I will go."
'Umar agreed to that,
and Abu al-Darda' departed for Damascus.
When he arrived there, he found that the people had grown infatuated with luxury
and immersed in worldly pleasures.
That appalled him,
so he summoned the people to the mosque,
and they gathered around him.
He stood up among them and said:
"O people of Damascus!
You are brothers in faith,
neighbors in dwelling,
and helpers against enemies.
O people of Damascus!
What prevents you from showing me affection
and heeding my sincere counsel,
when I seek nothing from you?
My counsel is for your benefit,
while my sustenance is provided by someone other than you!
Why is it that I see your scholars passing away,
while your ignorant do not learn?
And I see you pursuing that which Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has already guaranteed you,
while neglecting that which you were commanded to do!
Why is it that I see you amassing what you do not eat,
building what you do not inhabit,
and harboring hopes you will never attain?
The generations before you also amassed wealth and indulged high hopes,
but it was not long
Until their multitude became ruined,
their hopes turned to delusion,
and their homes became graves.
This was 'Ad, O people of Damascus!
They had filled the earth with wealth and children.
Who will buy from me the legacy of 'Ad today for just two dirhams?"
The people began to weep,
until their sobbing could be heard outside the mosque.
From that day on,
Abu al-Darda' began frequenting the gatherings of the people in Damascus
and walking through their markets,
answering the questioner,
teaching the ignorant,
and alerting the heedless,
seizing every opportunity
and making use of every occasion.
Thus, he once passed by a group of people
who had crowded around a man,
beating him and insulting him.
He approached them and asked,
"What is the matter?"
They replied, "A man who fell into a grave sin."
He said, "Tell me: if he had fallen into a well,
would you not have pulled him out of it?"
They replied, "Yes, certainly."
He said, "Do not revile him and do not beat him;
rather, admonish him and help him see reason,
and praise Allah, Who has spared you from falling into his sin."
They asked, "Should we not hate him?"
He replied, "I only hate his deed;
if he abandons it, he is my brother."
The man then began to weep bitterly and proclaimed his repentance.
And here was a young man approaching Abu al-Darda',
saying,
"Advise me, O Companion of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him."
So he said to him,
"O my son!
Remember Allah in times of ease,
and He will remember you in times of adversity.
O my son!
Be a scholar, or a student of knowledge,
or an attentive listener,
and do not be the fourth, lest you perish—
that is, the ignorant one.
O my son!
Let the mosque be your home,
for I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, say,
'The mosques are the home of every pious person.'
And Allah, Almighty and Majestic, has guaranteed
for those whose homes are the mosques
comfort, mercy,
and safe passage over the Sirat to the good pleasure of Allah, Almighty and Majestic."
And there was a group of young men
sitting on the roadside, chatting and watching the passersby.
He approached them and said,
"O my sons!
The sanctuary of a Muslim man is his home,
wherein he restrains himself and his gaze.
Beware of sitting in the markets,
for it distracts and invites vain talk."
During Abu al-Darda's stay in Damascus,
its governor, Mu'awiyah Ibn Abi Sufyan, sent to him,
seeking the hand of his daughter, al-Darda', for his son Yazid.
But he refused to marry her to him,
and instead gave her in marriage to an ordinary young Muslim
whose religious commitment and character he approved of.
Word of this spread among the people,
and they began saying,
"Yazid Ibn Mu'awiyah proposed to
the daughter of Abu al-Darda',
yet her father turned him down
and married her to an ordinary Muslim man!"
An inquirer asked him about the reason for that,
so he said, "I only sought, through what I did,
the well-being of al-Darda'."
The man asked, "And how so?"
He said, "What do you think will become of al-Darda'
when servants stand before her serving her,
and she finds herself in palaces
whose splendor dazzles the eye?
Where will her religion be on that day?"
During Abu al-Darda's time in the Levant,
the Commander of the Believers, 'Umar Ibn al-Khattab, arrived among them,
inspecting its conditions.
One night, he visited his companion Abu al-Darda' at his home.
He pushed the door open and found it without a latch,
so he entered a dark house with no light in it.
When Abu al-Darda' heard his movement,
he stood up, welcomed him, and seated him.
The two men began conversing,
with the darkness veiling each of them from the eyes of his companion.
'Umar felt Abu al-Darda's pillow,
only to find it was a pack-saddle—
that is, a cloth placed on the back of a beast of burden.
He felt his mattress and found it was pebbles,
and he felt his blanket and found it was a thin garment
that offered no protection against the cold of Damascus.
So he said to him, "May Allah have mercy on you!
Did I not grant you ample provision? Did I not send you support?"
Abu al-Darda' said to him,
"Do you remember, O 'Umar, a hadith narrated to us
by the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him?"
He asked, "And what is it?"
He said, "Did he not say, 'Let the worldly provisions of any of you
be like the provision of a traveler'?"
He said, "Yes." Abu al-Darda' said,
"Then what have we done after him, O 'Umar?"
'Umar wept, and Abu al-Darda' wept,
and they continued weeping together
until morning dawned upon them.
Abu al-Darda' remained in Damascus,
admonishing its people and reminding them,
and teaching them the Book and the Wisdom,
until certainty (death) came to him.
When he fell into his terminal illness, his companions entered upon him
and asked, "What do you complain of?"
He said, "My sins."
They asked, "And what do you desire?"
He said, "The pardon of my Lord."
Then he said to those around him,
"Prompt me to say: 'There is no god but Allah,
Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.'"
He kept repeating it until he departed this life.
When Abu al-Darda' passed on to the presence of his Lord,
'Awf Ibn Malik al-Ashja'i saw in a dream a vast meadow,
expansive in its bounds and offering lush shade,
in which stood a magnificent dome of leather,
surrounded by resting sheep
the likes of which no eye had ever seen.
He asked, "For whom is this?"
He was told, "For 'Abd al-Rahman Ibn 'Awf."
Then 'Abd al-Rahman emerged from the dome
and said to him, "O Ibn Malik!
This is what Allah, Almighty and Majestic, has granted me.
And had you looked over this mountain pass,
you would have seen what your eye has never seen,
heard what your ear has never heard,
and found what has never crossed your heart."
Ibn Malik asked,
"And for whom is all of that, O Abu Muhammad?"
He replied, "Allah, Almighty and Majestic, has prepared it for Abu al-Darda',
because he used to repel the world from himself
with both his hands and his chest."
Thus said 'Abd al-Rahman Ibn 'Awf.