Pause,
and learn about the Companions, scholars, and prominent figures.
A new challenge: Who am I?
I am one of the Companions of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
from the people of Medina,
and one of the valiant heroes of the Arabs,
among the most renowned of its men in chivalry, daring,
courage, and boldness,
and one of the most lethal of them during the pre-Islamic era (Jahiliyyah).
I fought alongside the army of the polytheists at the Battle of Uhud,
and then I embraced Islam after they departed from the battlefield.
The first expedition I took part in as a Muslim
was the Expedition of Bi'r Ma'unah,
where Hawazin betrayed the Muslims
and killed them all.
Coinciding with this incident,
I happened to pass by the place
along with al-Mundhir ibn 'Uqbah, may Allah be pleased with him.
We saw birds hovering in the sky,
and we said,
"The birds must be circling over something."
So we hurried to see what the matter was,
and we found our companions lying slain in their resting places,
with the treacherous polytheists surrounding them.
We dismounted and fought the people;
as for my companion al-Mundhir,
he was killed,
while as for me,
'Amir ibn al-Tufayl took me captive.
He then freed me to fulfill a slave's emancipation
that was incumbent upon his mother.
I returned to Medina,
and the sight of my companions slain
in treachery never left my mind.
When I drew near to Medina,
I met two men from Hawazin,
and I wanted to avenge the Muslims
who had been treacherously murdered.
We stopped together in the shade of a tree,
and when they fell asleep, I killed them.
But they held a treaty of protection from the Prophet,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
which I did not know about.
When I came before the Prophet, peace be upon him,
and informed him of that,
he reproached me severely for killing them,
but then excused me [due to my ignorance of the covenant]
and ordered the payment of the blood money for the two slain men.
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, also sent me
as an envoy to the Negus (al-Najashi) in Abyssinia
with two letters he had written to him:
in one of them,
that he marry Umm Habibah, may Allah be pleased with her, to him,
and in the other,
he asked him to send back to him whichever Muslims remained with him.
So I traveled to him
and delivered the two letters to him.
He read them,
conveyed the greeting of peace back to him,
married Umm Habibah to him,
and dispatched his Companions to him in two ships.
So, who am I?
The answer:
'Amr ibn Umayyah al-Damri, may Allah be pleased with him.
Pause,
and learn about the Companions, scholars, and prominent figures.
A new challenge: Who am I?
I am the freedman of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
and the son of his freedman,
the beloved of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
and the son of his beloved.
I was born before the Hijrah,
lived in the embrace of Islam,
and was raised in the household of Prophethood.
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, loved me dearly;
he used to take me along with al-Hasan, may Allah be pleased with him,
and say:
"O Allah, love them,
for indeed, I love them."
He, peace be upon him, would seat me on his thigh and supplicate for me,
would often carry me in front of him on his riding mount,
and cared for me with immense tenderness.
One day my nose was running,
so the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, wanted
to wipe the mucus from me with his noble hand.
'A'ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, said:
"Let me wipe the mucus from him, O Messenger of Allah."
Thereupon, peace be upon him, he said:
"O 'A'ishah, love him, for indeed I love him."
I was dark-skinned,
while my father was fair-skinned,
which caused some people to cast doubt upon my lineage to my father, may Allah be pleased with him,
because of the difference in our skin colors.
One day, I slept with my father and we covered our heads with a cloak,
leaving our feet uncovered.
Mujazziz al-Mudliji, the physiognomist (tracker of lineages), passed by us
and said, "Indeed, some of these feet are from the others,"
due to the resemblance he observed between them.
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, was overjoyed by that,
to the extent that he entered upon 'A'ishah, may Allah be pleased with her,
with his radiant facial features beaming with joy and gladness at what the physiognomist had said,
and to refute the claims of those who had spoken ill of us without knowledge.
One day, the Commander of the Faithful, 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, sat
distributing the funds of the public treasury (Bayt al-Mal) among the Muslims.
He gave his son 'Abdullah his share,
and when my turn came,
'Umar gave me double what he had given his son 'Abdullah.
So 'Abdullah asked his father, saying:
"Why did you favor him over me,
when I participated alongside the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
in battles that he did not witness?"
'Umar answered him, saying:
"O my son, he was more beloved to the Messenger of Allah than you were,
and his father was more beloved to the Messenger of Allah than your father was;
thus I preferred the beloved of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, over my own beloved."
The Companions knew my high standing with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him;
therefore, when they wished to intercede with the Messenger of Allah on behalf of the woman who had stolen,
they came to me so that I might intercede for her,
hoping that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, would accept it from me.
But when I spoke to him regarding her,
the color of the face of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, changed,
and he said:
"Do you intercede concerning one of the prescribed legal punishments (hudud) of Allah?"
I grew fearful and said:
"Ask forgiveness for me, O Messenger of Allah."
When evening came,
the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, stood to deliver a sermon;
he praised Allah as He deserves to be praised,
and then said:
"To proceed:
Those before you were only ruined
because whenever a noble person among them stole, they left him unpunished,
but whenever a weak person among them stole,
they executed the prescribed punishment upon him.
By the One in Whose Hand is the soul of Muhammad,
even if Fatimah, the daughter of Muhammad, were to steal,
I would cut off her hand."
Then the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, ordered
regarding that woman,
and her hand was amputated.
The inscription on my ring was:
"The beloved of the Messenger of Allah."
So, who am I?
The answer:
Usamah ibn Zayd ibn Harithah,
may Allah be pleased with them both.
Pause,
and learn about the Companions, scholars, and prominent figures.
A new challenge:
Who am I?
I am one of the scholarly Companions,
from the tribe of Daws.
I grew up an orphan,
migrated as a poor, destitute man,
and used to work as a hired shepherd
in exchange for my daily food.
I became known for a kitten (hirrah)
that I used to carry,
care for, and play with,
so people began to call me by it,
and my agnomen (kunyah) prevailed
over my actual name.
I embraced Islam at the hands of the noble Companion
al-Tufayl ibn 'Amr,
may Allah be pleased with him,
during the period between
the Treaty of al-Hudaybiyyah and the Conquest of Khaybar.
I arrived in Medina as an emigrant
while the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
was at Khaybar.
I used to invite my mother
to Islam,
but she would refuse.
One day, I invited her,
and she became angry with me
and said words about the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
that I detested hearing.
So I went to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
weeping,
and I said:
"O Messenger of Allah,
I used to invite my mother
to Islam,
but she continuously refused me.
I invited her today,
and she grew angry with me
and spoke ill of you
in a manner I detest.
So supplicate Allah to guide her
to Islam."
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, smiled
and supplicated for her.
So I went out,
rejoicing at the glad tidings from him.
When I reached the house,
I found the door locked,
and my mother heard the sound of my footsteps.
She said:
"Stay where you are, my son."
Then I heard the splashing of water;
my mother had performed ghusl,
put on her garment,
and opened the door,
saying:
"I bear witness that there is no god
but Allah,
and I bear witness that Muhammad
is His servant and His Messenger."
Overjoyed beyond measure,
I rushed back to the Messenger of Allah,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
weeping with joy,
just as I had come to him shortly
before, weeping
with grief.
I said, "O Messenger of Allah,
rejoice! For Allah has answered
your supplication
and guided my mother to Islam."
So he praised Allah,
extolled Him,
and spoke good words.
Then I said, "O Messenger of Allah,
supplicate Allah
to make me and my mother beloved
to His believing servants,
and to make them
beloved to us."
The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:
"O Allah, make
this little servant of Yours
and his mother beloved to Your believing
servants,
and make the believers beloved to them."
Consequently, no believer
has ever heard of me or seen me
without loving me.
So, who am I?
The answer:
Abu Hurairah,
'Abd al-Rahman Ibn Sakhr al-Dawsi,
may Allah be pleased with him.
Pause
and get to know
the Companions, the scholars,
and the notable figures.
A new challenge:
Who am I?
I am an Abyssinian woman,
the freed slave and caretaker of the Prophet,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
He inherited me from his father,
and when his mother passed away,
I took upon myself
raising him and caring for him,
to the point that he would address me saying,
"O mother!"
He used to say about me:
"This is the remnant of my household,
and she is
my mother after my own mother."
Then he manumitted me when
he married Khadijah, may Allah be pleased
with her,
yet I remained with him, serving him throughout
his life, peace be upon him.
Thus, I was the only
woman who
accompanied the Prophet (peace be upon him)
from the day
of his birth until the day
of his passing.
I embraced Islam among the very first people,
and later migrated alone
to Medina.
When I was near al-Rawha',
I became intensely thirsty while fasting,
and I had no water with me.
The thirst exhausted me severely,
and I was on the verge of death.
So I lay down on the ground,
and when I opened my eyes,
there was a bucket of water
descending to me from the sky!
I took it
and drank from it until
my thirst was fully quenched.
Never again did I suffer from
thirst for the rest of my life;
I would fast
on the hottest days,
yet I would never feel thirsty.
The Prophet (peace be upon him)
gave me the glad tidings
of Paradise,
saying, "Whoever is pleased
to marry a woman
from the people of Paradise,
let him marry this one,"
pointing to me.
So Zayd Ibn Harithah married me,
may Allah be pleased with him,
and I bore him Usamah,
the beloved of the Messenger of Allah
and the son of his beloved.
I went out with twenty women
to the Battle of Uhud
to nurse the wounded.
But when I saw
men fleeing from the battlefield,
I began throwing dust
into the faces of the deserters,
rebuking some of them
and saying to a man:
"Take the spindle and give me your sword!"
I even defended the Prophet,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
with a sword on that day.
Ibn al-'Ariqah shot an arrow at me,
striking me.
Then the Prophet took
an arrow,
handed it to Sa'd Ibn Abi
Waqqas (may Allah be pleased with him),
and said to him, "Shoot him!"
So Sa'd shot him,
hitting him,
and the disbeliever tumbled head over heels.
The Prophet (peace be upon him)
laughed
and said, "Sa'd has exacted
retribution for her!"
I also defended the honor of the Messenger
of Allah (peace be upon him)
during the Incident of the Slander (al-Ifk).
When the Prophet (peace be upon him)
asked me
about 'A'ishah, may Allah be pleased with her,
I said to him,
"Far be it from my hearing and my sight
that I should know
or suspect anything of her
but good!"
Because I was an Abyssinian woman,
I could not pronounce
certain Arabic letters correctly,
and found it difficult to say:
"Al-salamu 'alaykum wa-rahmatullahi
wa-barakatuh,"
accidentally saying "La salam"
or "Salamun la 'alaykum."
So the Prophet (peace be upon him)
granted me permission
to simply say,
"Al-salam."
The Prophet (peace be upon him) used to
laugh with me and joke with me.
Among such instances,
I once said to him,
"Provide me with a mount!"
He replied,
"I shall mount you upon the offspring of a she-camel."
I said to him,
"O Messenger of Allah,
it will not be able to carry me, and I do not want it!"
He smiled and said,
"I will not mount you
except upon the offspring of a she-camel."
As I walked away from him,
he called out to me and said,
"Do she-camels give birth
to anything other than camels?"
I used to treat the Prophet,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
just as a mother treats her child:
sometimes I would insist that he
eat from my food,
and very often
I would weep whenever he wept,
peace and blessings be upon him.
After the passing
of the Messenger (peace be upon him),
Abu Bakr
and 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with them both,
came to visit me.
When I saw them,
I wept. They said
to me, "What makes you weep?
Do you not know
that what is with Allah is far better
for His Messenger?" I replied,
"I know that the Messenger of Allah
(peace be upon him)
has gone to what is far better
than this worldly life;
rather, I weep
"because revelation has
ceased from heaven."
Thus, she moved them both to tears,
and they began
weeping along with me.
So, who am I?
The answer:
Umm Ayman,
Barakah the Abyssinian,
may Allah be pleased with her.
Pause
and learn about
the Companions, scholars,
and luminaries.
A new challenge:
Who am I?
I am from the tribe of 'Abd al-Qays,
from the people of Bahrain.
I arrived with my delegation
in the eighth year after the Hijrah.
On my head, there was
a scar by which I was recognized.
The Prophet,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, praised me
for certain traits that Allah had naturally
instilled within me.
The Messenger of Allah,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, wrote
to us, the people of Bahrain,
asking that twenty
men from among us come to him.
So we came to him in the year of the Conquest,
and the Messenger of Allah,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
looked toward the horizon
on the morning after the night of our arrival,
and said:
"They were not forced into Islam;
they have exhausted
their mounts and finished their provisions.
Their leader bears
a distinctive mark.
O Allah, forgive 'Abd al-Qays!
They have come to me not
asking for wealth;
they are the best of the people of the East."
When we reached
Medina,
my companions hastened to dismount from their riding beasts,
camels and otherwise,
and began racing
to meet the Prophet, peace be upon him,
kiss his hand,
and pledge allegiance to him.
He,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said:
"Welcome!
What an excellent people 'Abd al-Qays are!"
As for me,
I did not rush;
instead, I waited until I had hobbled
my mount,
then put on my finest garments,
prepared myself,
and approached the Prophet, peace be upon him.
He said to me:
"Indeed, you possess
two qualities that Allah loves,
as does His Messenger:
forbearance and deliberate composure."
I asked: "O Messenger of Allah,
did I cultivate them
myself, or did Allah
naturally endow me with them?"
He replied: "Rather, Allah
naturally endowed you with them."
I said: "Praise be
to Allah Who naturally endowed me
with two qualities that
Allah and His Messenger love."
We remained guests of
the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
for ten days,
during which I would ask
the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
about fiqh and the Qur'an.
I would also visit
Ubayy Ibn Ka'b, may Allah be pleased with him,
and he would teach me the Qur'an.
And when
we intended to depart,
the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, ordered
gifts for our delegation
and favored me above them, giving me twelve ounces of silver—which was the most the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, ever bestowed upon anyone from the delegations. Who am I?
The answer: Al-Mundhir, Al-Ashajj of 'Abd al-Qays, may Allah be pleased with him.
Pause and learn about the Companions, scholars, and luminaries. A new challenge: Who am I?
I am one of the younger Companions of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
My kunya is Abu Hafs, and I was born in Abyssinia two years before the Hijrah.
I was the stepson of the Prophet, peace be upon him, raised in his lap after my mother married him following the death of my father, may Allah be pleased with him.
The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, was also my uncle, as he and my father were foster brothers through wet-nursing.
The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, came to us on the day that was allotted to my mother.
When the food was served, I sat down to eat with him, and due to my young age, I was not well-versed in table manners.
My hand used to wander all over the dish, so the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said to me,
teaching and nurturing: "O boy, mention the name of Allah Almighty, eat with your right hand, and eat from what is nearest to you." That remained my manner of eating ever since.
On the Day of the Trench, the Prophet, peace be upon him, placed me and 'Abdullah Ibn al-Zubayr
with the women and children in the fortress of Hassan Ibn Thabit, may Allah be pleased with him.
Ibn al-Zubayr and I would come to the wall of the fortress to watch the Muslims and their heroic deeds on the battlefield,
so Ibn al-Zubayr would lift me up at times, and I would lift him up at other times.
The Commander of the Faithful, 'Umar Ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, granted his son 'Abdullah three thousand dinars from the public treasury,
while he granted me four thousand; when his son 'Abdullah questioned him about that, 'Umar said to him: "Bring me a mother like his mother!"
'Ali Ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, appointed me as governor over Bahrain for a period of time.
Then he relieved me of my post and summoned me to accompany him to Iraq thereafter, and in my letter of dismissal it stated:
"To proceed: I have appointed Al-Nu'man Ibn 'Ajlan Al-Zuraqi over Bahrain,
and I have relieved you without any blame upon you or reproach against you; indeed, you governed well and fulfilled the trust.
So come forward, neither suspected, nor blamed, nor accused, nor sinful." Who am I?
The answer: 'Umar Ibn Abi Salamah, may Allah be pleased with them both.
Pause and learn about the Companions, scholars, and luminaries. A new challenge: Who am I?
I am one of the younger Companions of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
I was a young servant to Nafi' Ibn 'Abd al-Harith, may Allah be pleased with him, who then freed me, so I became one of his freedmen.
I loved the Qur'an and knowledge, and became renowned for both.
When 'Umar Ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, assumed the caliphate, he appointed Nafi' Ibn 'Abd al-Harith over Mecca.
Nafi' went out to 'Usfan and appointed me as his deputy over Mecca.
The Commander of the Faithful, 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, met him in 'Usfan and asked him:
"Whom have you appointed over the people of the Valley (meaning Mecca)?"
He replied: "I have appointed over them a man from our freedmen."
'Umar said: "You appointed a freedman over them?!"
He answered: "He is a reciter of the Book of Allah Almighty and knowledgeable in the laws of inheritance."
Thereupon 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "Indeed, your Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said:
'Verily, Allah elevates some peoples by this Book and degrades others by it.'"
And 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, said of me: "This freedman is among those whom Allah has elevated by the Qur'an."
Later, I moved to Kufa, where I used to teach the people the Qur'an and knowledge.
I would advise the youth to marry and hasten to do so, saying to them:
"The parable of a righteous woman to a man is like that of a crown studded with gold upon the head of a king."
Later, 'Ali Ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, appointed me governor over Khorasan,
so I moved there and remained there until my death. Who am I?
The answer: 'Abd al-Rahman Ibn Abza, may Allah be pleased with him.
Pause and learn about the Companions, scholars, and luminaries.
A new challenge: Who am I?
I am one of the Ansar, one of the prominent chieftains of Medina, and a leader among the chieftains of Banu Salimah.
I was the last of the Ansar to embrace Islam.
When Mus'ab Ibn 'Umayr, may Allah be pleased with him, arrived as an emissary to Medina
to teach its people Islam, most of the people of Medina embraced Islam.
The youths of Banu Salimah, including Mu'adh Ibn Jabal and my sons Mu'adh, Mu'awwadh, and Khallad, had all embraced Islam.
As for me, I had not yet accepted Islam.
Following the custom of the pre-Islamic era of ignorance, the chieftains and nobles would keep a personal idol to worship in their homes,
so I kept an idol for myself in my home and named it Manaf.
These youths, along with their mother Hind,
feared that I might die upon disbelief while I was unaware of their Islam,
while I feared that they might abandon the worship of the gods and enter into Islam.
These youths devised a plan to show me the foolishness of my attachment to these idols that neither benefit nor harm.
When night fell, they would enter the room of the idol,
take it, and throw it headfirst into the foulest cesspit.
In the morning, when I could not find my idol, I would search for it everywhere and ask my household: "Have you seen my god?"
When I found it in that pit and saw it in that state, it grieved me deeply.
So I would take it, wash it, perfume it, and return it to its place.
Then they would repeat the same act every night.
One day, I entered upon my idol Manaf and said: "O Manaf, you know that the people seek only you;
do you have any power to defend yourself?" Then I hung a sword on it and said: "Defend yourself if there is any good in you!"
After I left, the youths went in, took the sword, broke the idol, tied it to a dead dog,
and cast it into a dry well filled with filth.
When morning came, I could not find my god, so I searched for it and found it in that well.
I said: "By Allah, if you were a god, you and a dog would not be tied together in the middle of a well!"
I embraced Islam at that moment, and my Islam became excellent.
Prior to entering Islam, I was generous and noble,
and Islam only increased me in generosity, nobility, and honor.
Whenever people came to me asking for money,
I would say to them: "Take all this wealth, for it will return tomorrow."
The Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, asked a group from my tribe,
saying to them: "Who is your leader, O Banu Salimah?"
They replied: "Al-Jadd Ibn Qays, though he has some stinginess."
He, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said: "And what disease is worse than stinginess?
Rather, your leader is the fair-skinned man with curly hair," pointing to me.
So, who am I?
The answer: 'Amr Ibn al-Jamuh, may Allah be pleased with him.
Pause and learn about the Companions, scholars, and luminaries.
A new challenge: Who am I?
I am one of the Mothers of the Believers and a wife of the noble Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
I am the daughter of the chieftain of Banu al-Mustaliq, renowned for generosity and devotion.
I was graceful and beautiful; no one saw me without being charmed by me.
When the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, raided my tribe, Banu al-Mustaliq, and took captives,
I was among those captured.
When the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, distributed the captives,
I fell to the share of Thabit Ibn Qays, may Allah be pleased with him.
So I entered into a contract of manumission with him for my freedom.
Then I came to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
seeking his assistance in fulfilling my manumission contract.
When I stood at the door of 'A'ishah's chamber, may Allah be pleased with her,
she saw me and noticed that I was charming and beautiful,
so jealousy overtook her regarding me, and she felt averse to me,
knowing that if I entered upon the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
he would see in me the same beauty she had seen.
Permission was granted for me to enter,
so I entered upon him
and said: "O Messenger of Allah,
I am so-and-so,
daughter of the chieftain of his people,
and there has befallen me of affliction that which is not hidden from you.
I fell to the share of Thabit Ibn Qays,
"So I entered into a contract of manumission for my freedom,
and I came to you seeking your help to pay my ransom."
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:
"Would you like something better than that?"
I asked, "What is that, O Messenger of Allah?"
He said, "I will pay your ransom on your behalf and marry you."
I replied, "Yes, O Messenger of Allah."
He said, "Then it is done."
My name was Barrah,
but the Prophet (peace be upon him) changed my name.
Word reached the people
that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)
had married me,
so the people said:
"They are the in-laws of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)!"
and they released all the captives in their hands.
Because of me, one hundred households of Banu al-Mustaliq were set free.
The people knew of no woman
who brought greater blessing to her people than I did.
I was renowned for my devotion to worship and remembrance of Allah.
One day,
the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) left my room early in the morning
when he prayed the dawn prayer,
while I remained in my place of prayer remembering Allah.
He returned in the forenoon while I was still sitting in my place,
so he asked:
"Are you still in the same state in which I left you?"
I replied, "Yes."
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said:
"After leaving you, I recited four phrases three times;
if they were weighed against all that you have said today,
they would outweigh them:
'Glory be to Allah and praise be to Him,
by the number of His creation,
by His own pleasure,
by the weight of His Throne,
and by the ink of His words.'"
The Prophet (peace be upon him) also visited me on a Friday
while I was fasting,
so he asked:
"Did you fast yesterday?"
I said, "No."
He said:
"Do you intend to fast tomorrow?"
I said, "No."
He said:
"Then break your fast."
Who am I?
The answer:
The Mother of the Believers,
Juwayriyah bint al-Harith (may Allah be pleased with her).
Pause
and get to know the Companions, scholars, and prominent figures.
A new challenge: Who am I?
I was one of the noble leaders of the Ansar.
I embraced Islam early on
and took part in Badr, Uhud,
and all the other military campaigns with the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).
I excelled in reading, writing,
swimming, and archery,
and was thus counted among the consummate men of the community.
I participated in the expedition sent by the Prophet (peace be upon him) to eliminate Ibn Abi al-Huqayq,
who was inciting the disbelievers against the Muslims.
That expedition was led by 'Abdullah Ibn 'Atiq (may Allah be pleased with him).
When the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) passed away
and his household prepared to wash his noble body,
we, the Ansar, gathered at the door of the Prophet's chamber
and said:
"We beseech you by Allah!
We are his maternal kin,
so let one of us be present,"
meaning to witness his ritual washing (peace be upon him).
'Ali Ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) came out to us
and said:
"Choose a man from among you, O gathering of the Ansar,
to attend with us the ritual washing of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)."
We gathered and consulted among ourselves,
and they chose me to represent them.
They permitted me to enter with the Prophet's family
and take part in washing him.
Thus, I attained that tremendous honor.
I was strong, capable of carrying two large jars of water in my hands;
so I carried the water for them
and poured it over him (peace be upon him),
while 'Ali and al-'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them) washed him.
And during his burial (peace and blessings be upon him),
I was among those who descended with him into his grave
and laid his noble head upon the ground.
Who am I?
The answer:
Aws Ibn Khawli (may Allah be pleased with him).