In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
The Mawaddah Association is pleased
to present to you glimpses from the lives of the Companions,
by Abd al-Rahman Ra'fat al-Basha,
may Allah have mercy upon him.
Sa'id ibn Zayd, may Allah be pleased with him.
Zayd ibn 'Amr ibn Nufayl stood far from the bustle of the people,
watching the Quraysh as they celebrated one of their festivals.
He saw men wearing expensive silk turbans,
and strutting in precious Yemeni cloaks.
He watched the women and children,
dressed in vibrant garments and exquisite finery.
He looked at the livestock being led by the wealthy,
after they had adorned them with various decorations,
to slaughter them before their idols.
He stood, leaning his back against the wall of the Ka'bah,
and said, "O people of Quraysh!
The sheep was created by Allah;
He is the One who sent down rain from the sky for it, so it drank;
and He caused grass to grow for it from the earth, so it was satisfied.
Yet you slaughter it in the name of other than Him?
I see you are a people who are ignorant."
His uncle al-Khattab rose to him—
the father of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab—
and slapped him, saying,
"May you be bereaved of your mother!
We have continued to hear this insolence from you and have endured it,
until our patience has run out."
Then he incited the foolish among his people against him, so they harmed him,
and persisted in their persecution of him,
until he was forced to leave Makkah,
and took refuge in Mount Hira'.
Al-Khattab then assigned a group of Quraysh youth to watch him,
to prevent him from entering Makkah.
Thus, he could only enter it in secret.
Later, Zayd ibn 'Amr ibn Nufayl
met, away from the eyes of Quraysh,
with Waraqah ibn Nawfal,
'Abdullah ibn Jahsh,
'Uthman ibn al-Harith,
and Umaymah bint 'Abd al-Muttalib,
the paternal aunt of Muhammad ibn 'Abdullah.
They began to discuss the depths of misguidance in which the Arabs were drowning.
Zayd said to his companions,
"By Allah, you know that your people are upon nothing,
and that they have missed the religion of Ibrahim and deviated from it.
So seek for yourselves a religion to follow,
if you desire salvation."
The four men set out to the scholars of the Jews, the Christians, and others among the followers of various faiths,
seeking the Hanifiyyah, the religion of Ibrahim.
As for Waraqah ibn Nawfal, he became a Christian.
As for 'Abdullah ibn Jahsh,
and 'Uthman ibn al-Harith,
they did not arrive at anything.
As for Zayd ibn 'Amr ibn Nufayl,
he had a story.
Let us leave the floor to him to narrate it to us.
Zayd said:
"I examined Judaism and Christianity,
but I turned away from both,
for I did not find in them that which would bring me peace of mind.
I began to travel the horizons in search of the religion of Ibrahim,
until I reached the lands of al-Sham.
A monk who possessed knowledge of the Scripture was mentioned to me,
so I went to him and told him my story.
He said,
'I see you seek the religion of Ibrahim, O brother of Makkah.'
I said, 'Yes, that is what I desire.'
He said,
'You are seeking a religion that does not exist today.
However,
return to your land,
for Allah will send from your people one who will revive the religion of Ibrahim.
So when you meet him, follow him.'"
Zayd returned to Makkah, quickening his pace,
in search of the promised Prophet.
While he was on his way,
Allah sent His Prophet Muhammad with the religion of guidance and truth.
But Zayd did not live to see him,
for a group of Bedouins attacked him and killed him before he reached Makkah,
and before his eyes could be cooled by the sight of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
As Zayd was breathing his last,
he raised his gaze to the sky and said,
"O Allah, if You have deprived me of this goodness,
do not deprive my son Sa'id of it."
Allah, glory be to Him, willed to answer Zayd's prayer.
No sooner had the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, begun calling people to Islam,
than Sa'id ibn Zayd was among the foremost of those who believed in Allah and affirmed the message of His Prophet.
And it is no wonder,
for Sa'id grew up in a house that rejected the misguidance of Quraysh,
and was raised in the lap of a father who spent his life searching for the truth,
and died while running breathlessly in pursuit of the truth.
Sa'id did not embrace Islam alone;
his wife, Fatimah bint al-Khattab, the sister of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, embraced Islam with him.
The young Qurayshi faced such persecution from his people
as would have been enough to turn him away from his religion.
But instead of turning him away from Islam,
he and his wife were able to win over one of the most influential men of Quraysh,
and one of the most significant,
as he was the cause of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab's conversion to Islam.
Sa'id ibn Zayd ibn 'Amr ibn Nufayl dedicated all his youthful, vibrant energy to the service of Islam,
for he embraced Islam when he had not yet reached the age of twenty.
He witnessed all the battles with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, except for Badr,
for he was absent on that day
because he was on a mission assigned to him by the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
He contributed with the Muslims to the toppling of the throne of Chosroes and the dismantling of the kingdom of Caesar.
In every battle he fought, the Muslims witnessed
his famous, glorious stances,
and his praiseworthy, noble deeds.
Perhaps the most magnificent of his heroics were those he recorded on the day of Yarmouk.
So let us leave the floor to him to tell us a part of the story of that day.
Sa'id ibn Zayd ibn 'Amr ibn Nufayl said:
"On the day of Yarmouk, we were twenty-four thousand or thereabouts.
The Romans came out against us with one hundred and twenty thousand.
They advanced toward us with heavy steps, as if they were mountains moved by invisible hands.
Before them marched the bishops, patriarchs, and priests,
carrying crosses and chanting prayers aloud.
The army behind them repeated the chants, and they had a roar like the roar of thunder.
When the Muslims saw them in this state,
a measure of fear entered their hearts.
At that moment, Abu 'Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah stood up to urge the Muslims to fight.
He said, 'Servants of Allah!
Help Allah, and He will help you and make your feet firm.
Servants of Allah, be patient, for patience is a salvation from disbelief,
a means of pleasing the Lord, and a way to repel shame.
Level your spears, shield yourselves with your shields,
and remain silent, except for the remembrance of Allah, the Almighty, in your hearts,
until I give you the command, if Allah wills.'"
Sa'id said, at that moment,
a man from the ranks of the Muslims stepped forward
and said to Abu 'Ubaydah,
"I have resolved to meet my fate this hour.
Do you have a message you wish to send to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him?"
Abu 'Ubaydah said, "Yes.
Convey my greetings and the greetings of the Muslims to him,
and say to him, 'O Messenger of Allah,
we have found what our Lord promised us to be true.'"
Sa'id said, "No sooner had I heard his words,
and seen him draw his sword,
and set out to meet the enemies of Allah,
than I threw myself to the ground,
knelt on my knees,
leveled my spear,
and struck the first horseman who approached us.
Then I leaped toward the enemy,
and Allah had removed all the fear from my heart.
The people surged against the Romans,
and they continued to fight them
until Allah decreed victory for the believers."
Sa'id ibn Zayd witnessed the conquest of Damascus after that.
When it submitted to the Muslims in obedience,
Abu 'Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah appointed him as its governor.
Thus, he was the first Muslim to govern Damascus.
During the time of the Umayyads,
an incident occurred to Sa'id ibn Zayd
that the people of Yathrib spoke of for a long time.
It was that Arwa bint Uways
claimed that Sa'id ibn Zayd
had usurped a portion of her land
and added it to his own.
She began to spread this among the Muslims
and talk about it.
Then she took her case to Marwan ibn al-Hakam,
the governor of Madinah.
Marwan sent people to him to speak with him about it.
The matter was difficult for the Companion of the Messenger of Allah,
and he said, "They claim I oppressed her?
How could I oppress her,
when I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, say:
'Whoever usurps a span of land,
it will be hung around his neck on the Day of Resurrection from seven earths.'
O Allah, she has claimed that I oppressed her.
If she is a liar,
then take away her sight,
and cast her into the well over which she disputes with me,
and reveal a sign of the truth that makes it clear to the Muslims that I did not oppress her."
Not long after that,
the 'Aqiq valley flooded with a flow such as had never been seen before,
which uncovered the boundary over which they had been disputing.
It became clear to the Muslims that Sa'id was truthful.
The woman did not live more than a month after that before she went blind.
And while she was walking on that land of hers,
she fell into her well.
'Abdullah ibn 'Umar said,
"We used to hear people, when we were boys, say to one another,
'May Allah make you blind, just as He made Arwa blind.'"
There is no wonder in that,
for the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, says:
"Beware of the supplication of the oppressed,
for there is no veil between it and Allah."
So how much more so when the oppressed is Sa'id ibn Zayd,
one of the ten promised Paradise?
"O Allah, if You have deprived me of this goodness,
do not deprive my son Sa'id of it."
Zayd, the father of Sa'id,
the oppressed.