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,
written by 'Abd al-Rahman Ra'fat al-Basha,
may Allah have mercy on him.
Mu'adh ibn Jabal,
may Allah be pleased with him.
When the Arabian Peninsula shone with the light of guidance and truth,
the Yathribite youth Mu'adh ibn Jabal was a young man approaching maturity.
He distinguished himself among his peers by his sharp intelligence, persuasive eloquence,
magnificent expression, and lofty ambition.
In addition, he was handsome and good-looking,
with dark kohl-like eyes, wavy hair, and gleaming white front teeth.
He captivated the eye of anyone who looked at him and won over their heart.
The youth Mu'adh ibn Jabal embraced Islam at the hands of the Meccan caller to Islam, Mus'ab ibn 'Umayr.
On the Night of 'Aqabah,
his youthful hand reached out, shook the hand of the noble Prophet, and pledged allegiance.
For Mu'adh was among the group of seventy-two who set out for Mecca
to enjoy the bliss of meeting the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
to have the honor of giving him their pledge,
and to write the most glorious and radiant page in the annals of history.
No sooner had the young man returned from Mecca to Medina
than he and a small group of his peers formed a band to smash idols
and remove them from the houses of the polytheists in Yathrib, both secretly and openly.
As a result of the efforts of these young men,
a prominent elder among the notables of Yathrib embraced Islam,
namely 'Amr ibn al-Jamuh.
'Amr ibn al-Jamuh was a chieftain among the chieftains of Banu Salimah
and one of their most noble figures.
He had acquired a personal idol carved from precious wood,
as nobles were accustomed to do.
The elder of Banu Salimah took utmost care of his idol;
he would drape it in fine silk
and perfume it every morning with fragrant oils.
Under the cover of darkness, the young men crept up to his idol,
carried it away from its place,
took it behind the houses of Banu Salimah,
and threw it into a pit where trash and refuse collected.
When morning came, the old chief missed his idol and could not find it.
He searched for it everywhere
until he found it thrown face down in the pit,
submerged in refuse.
He exclaimed:
"Woe to you! Who dared attack our god this night?"
He then pulled it out, washed it,
cleansed it, perfumed it,
returned it to its place, and said to it:
"By Manah,
by Allah, if I knew who did this to you, I would surely humiliate them!"
When evening fell and the old man went to sleep,
the young men slipped back to his idol
and did to it what they had done the previous night.
He kept searching for it until he found it in another one of those pits.
So he pulled it out, washed it,
cleansed it, and perfumed it,
uttering the sternest threats against whoever had attacked it.
When they repeated this several times,
he retrieved it from the town dump,
washed it,
and then brought his sword and hung it around its neck,
saying as he addressed it:
"By Allah, I do not know who is doing this to you that you see.
If there is any good in you, O Manah,
then defend yourself—
here is the sword with you."
When evening came and the old man fell asleep,
the youths targeted the idol once more.
They took the sword hanging from its neck,
tied the idol to the neck of a dead dog,
and threw them both into one of those pits.
When morning broke, the old chief
earnestly sought his idol,
until he found it cast among the refuse,
bound to a dead dog,
thrown face down.
At that moment, he looked at it and declared:
"By Allah, were you a god, you would not have ended up
joined with a dog in a pit, tied in a rope!"
Thereupon, the chief of Banu Salimah embraced Islam, and his Islam proved sincere.
When the noble Messenger migrated to Medina,
the young man Mu'adh ibn Jabal attached himself to him
like a shadow following its master.
He learned the Qur'an directly from him
and received the rulings of Islam at his hands,
until he became one of the most proficient Companions in the Book of Allah
and the most knowledgeable among them regarding His law.
Yazid ibn Qutayb narrated:
"I entered the mosque of Homs,
and there I saw a youth with wavy hair,
around whom people had gathered.
Whenever he spoke,
it was as if light and pearls were flowing from his mouth.
I asked, 'Who is this?'
They replied, 'Mu'adh ibn Jabal.'"
Abu Muslim al-Khawlani narrated:
"I came to the mosque of Damascus,
and there was a circle containing mature men from the Companions of Muhammad,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
Among them was a young man with dark kohl-like eyes and gleaming white teeth.
Whenever they disagreed on anything, they referred it to that youth.
I asked a companion sitting next to me, 'Who is this?'
He said, 'Mu'adh ibn Jabal.'"
This is hardly surprising,
for Mu'adh was raised in the school of the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, from early childhood
and graduated at his hands.
He drank knowledge from its abundant springs
and acquired wisdom from its purest source;
thus he was the finest student to the finest teacher.
It suffices as a testimony for Mu'adh that the Messenger, peace be upon him, said of him:
"The most knowledgeable of my Ummah regarding the lawful and the prohibited is Mu'adh ibn Jabal."
It is merit enough for him over the Ummah of Muhammad
that he was one of the six individuals
who collected the Qur'an during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
For this reason, whenever the Companions of the Messenger conversed while Mu'adh ibn Jabal was among them,
they would look to him out of awe for him and veneration for his knowledge.
The noble Messenger and his two successors after him placed this unique intellectual caliber
in the service of Islam and the Muslims.
Here was the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
seeing the crowds of Quraysh entering the religion of Allah in throngs
after the Conquest of Mecca,
and sensing the need of the new Muslims for a great teacher to instruct them in Islam
and give them deep understanding of its laws.
So he appointed 'Attab ibn Asid as his deputy over Mecca
and retained Mu'adh ibn Jabal with him to teach the people the Qur'an
and give them deep understanding of the religion of Allah.
When the envoys of the kings of Yemen came to the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,
announcing their acceptance of Islam and that of their people,
and asking him to send someone to teach the people their religion,
he assigned a group of callers to guidance from among his Companions for this mission,
appointing Mu'adh ibn Jabal, may Allah be pleased with him, as their leader.
The noble Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, went out
to bid farewell to this delegation of guidance and light.
He began walking beside the mount of Mu'adh
while Mu'adh was riding.
The noble Messenger walked with him for a long time,
as if he wished to take his fill of looking at Mu'adh.
Then he advised him, saying:
"O Mu'adh, you may not meet me again after this year of mine,
and perhaps you will pass by my mosque and my grave."
Thereupon, Mu'adh wept bitterly out of grief over parting from his Prophet and beloved, Muhammad, peace be upon him,
and the Muslims wept along with him.
The prophecy of the noble Messenger came true,
for the eyes of Mu'adh, may Allah be pleased with him, never again delighted in seeing the Prophet, peace be upon him,
after that hour.
The noble Messenger passed away before Mu'adh returned from Yemen.
No doubt Mu'adh wept when he returned to Yathrib,
finding it desolate without the comforting presence of his beloved, the Messenger of Allah.
When 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, assumed the Caliphate,
he sent Mu'adh to Banu Kilab to divide their stipends among them
and distribute the zakat collected from their wealthy to their poor.
He carried out the task entrusted to him,
and returned to his wife carrying only the coarse saddle-cloth he had left with, wrapped around his neck.
His wife said to him:
"Where is what you brought back, such as other governors bring home as gifts for their families?"
He replied: "I had a vigilant inspector with me, keeping strict account of me."
She said: "You were trustworthy in the eyes of the Messenger of Allah and Abu Bakr,
and then 'Umar comes along and sends an inspector with you to keep strict account of you?!"
She spread this rumor among the wives of 'Umar
and complained to them about him.
When word of this reached 'Umar,
he summoned Mu'adh and said:
"Did I send an inspector with you to keep account of you?"
He replied: "No, O Commander of the Faithful,
but I could find no excuse to offer her other than that."
'Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, laughed,
gave him something, and said to him: "Satisfy her with this."
During the reign of al-Faruq,
his governor over the Levant, Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan, wrote to him saying:
"O Commander of the Faithful,
the people of the Levant have grown numerous and filled the cities,
and they are in need of scholars to teach them the Qur'an
and give them deep understanding of the religion.
So assist me, O Commander of the Faithful, with men who can instruct them."
Thereupon, 'Umar summoned the five individuals who had collected the Qur'an during the lifetime of the Prophet, peace be upon him:
Mu'adh ibn Jabal,
'Ubadah ibn al-Samit,
Abu Ayyub al-Ansari,
Ubayy ibn Ka'b,
and Abu al-Darda'.
He said to them:
"Your brothers among the people of the Levant have asked me for help through scholars to teach them the Qur'an
and give them deep understanding of the religion.
So assist me, may Allah have mercy on you, with three of you.
If you wish, draw lots among yourselves,
or else three of you may volunteer."
They said:
"Why should we draw lots?
Abu Ayyub is an old man,
Ubayy is a sick man,
and so the three of us remain."
'Umar said:
"Start in Homs;
if you are satisfied with the condition of its people,
leave one of you behind there,
while one of you goes to Damascus
and the other goes to Palestine."
So the three Companions of the Messenger of Allah carried out
what al-Faruq had commanded them in Homs.
They then left 'Ubadah ibn al-Samit there,
while Abu al-Darda' went to Damascus,
and Mu'adh ibn Jabal proceeded to Palestine.
And there,
Mu'adh was stricken with the plague.
When death approached him,
he faced the Qiblah and began to repeat this chant:
"Welcome, death, welcome!
A visitor arriving after a long absence,
a beloved returning to one who yearned for him."
Then he began gazing toward the sky, saying:
"O Allah, You surely knew
that I did not love this world
or a long life in it
for planting trees or digging flowing rivers,
but rather for enduring the thirst of scorching middays,
struggling through the long hours of night worship,
and pressing knee-to-knee alongside the scholars
in the circles of remembrance.
O Allah, accept my soul
with the best acceptance You grant a believing soul."
Then his pure soul departed,
far away from his family and kin,
calling people to Allah and emigrating in His cause.
"The most knowledgeable of my Ummah regarding the lawful and the prohibited
is Mu'adh ibn Jabal."
— Muhammad,
the Messenger of Allah.