Part of Pictures from the lives of the Companions (series completed)
· Lesson 20 of 93
Pictures from the lives of the Companions - Episode (35) - Uqba bin Amer Al-Juhani, may God be pleased with him
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Transcript
Machine translation — may contain errors
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In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
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The Mawaddah Association is pleased
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to present to you *Portraits from the Lives of the Companions*
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by 'Abd al-Rahman Ra'fat al-Basha,
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may Allah have mercy on him.
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'Uqbah ibn 'Amir al-Juhani, may Allah be pleased with him.
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Here is the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, reaching the outskirts of Yathrib
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after prolonged longing and eager anticipation.
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And here are the people of the fragrant city of Medina,
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crowding into the alleyways and atop the rooftops,
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chanting *tahlil* and *takbir* in sheer joy at meeting the Prophet of Mercy
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and his companion, al-Siddiq.
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And here are the young maidens of Medina,
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coming out with tambourines in hand and longing in their eyes,
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ululating and singing:
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"The full moon has risen over us,
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from the valley of Thaniyyat al-Wada'.
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Gratitude is incumbent upon us,
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so long as a supplicant calls unto Allah."
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And here is the procession of the noble Messenger moving gracefully through the ranks,
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enveloped by yearning souls,
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surrounded by eager hearts,
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as tears of joy and radiant smiles are showered all around him.
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But 'Uqbah ibn 'Amir al-Juhani
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did not witness the procession of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him,
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nor was he blessed to welcome him alongside those who welcomed him.
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That was because he had gone out into the desert with a small flock of sheep
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to graze them there,
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after extreme hunger had beset them and he feared their perish,
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and they were all he possessed of worldly belongings.
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Yet the joy that overwhelmed the Radiant Medina
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soon swept through its near and distant deserts,
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shining brightly in every corner of its blessed terrain,
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and its glad tidings reached 'Uqbah ibn 'Amir al-Juhani
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while he was with his sheep far off in the wilderness.
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So let us leave the narrative to 'Uqbah ibn 'Amir
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to recount to us the story of his meeting with the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him.
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'Uqbah said:
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"The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, arrived in Medina
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while I was tending a small flock of sheep of mine.
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No sooner had the news of his arrival reached me
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than I left them and rushed to him, paying heed to nothing else.
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When I met him, I said:
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'Will you accept my pledge of allegiance, O Messenger of Allah?'
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He asked: 'Who are you?'
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I replied: ''Uqbah ibn 'Amir al-Juhani.'
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He said: 'Which is dearer to you:
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that you pledge allegiance as a Bedouin,
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or the pledge of emigration (Hijrah)?'
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I said: 'Rather, the pledge of emigration!'
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So the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, accepted my pledge
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upon that which he took the pledge of the Emigrants (Muhajirun).
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I stayed with him for a night,
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and then I returned to my sheep.
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We were twelve men who had embraced Islam,
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residing far from Medina
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to graze our sheep in its pastures.
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So we said to one another:
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'There is no good in us if we do not go
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to the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,
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day after day,
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so that he may instruct us in our religion
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and let us hear the heavenly revelation descending upon him.
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So let one of us go each day to Yathrib,
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and leave his sheep with us
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so that we may graze them for him.'
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I said:
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'Go to the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,
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one after another,
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and whoever goes may leave his sheep with me.'
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For I was deeply protective of my little flock
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to ever leave them in the care of anyone else.
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Then my companions began going, one
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after another, to the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,
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leaving his sheep for me to tend for him.
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Whenever one returned,
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I would take from him what he had heard
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and learn from him what he had understood of fiqh.
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But soon, I came to my senses and said to myself:
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'Woe to you!
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Is it for the sake of a few sheep that neither fatten nor satisfy hunger
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that you deprive yourself of the companionship of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,
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and of taking knowledge directly from him without an intermediary?'
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So I gave up my little flock of sheep,
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and set out for Medina to reside in the Mosque
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in the close company of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him."
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It never crossed the mind of 'Uqbah ibn 'Amir al-Juhani,
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when he made this decisive, resolute choice,
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that a decade later he would become one of the greatest scholars among the Companions,
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a master Qur'an reciter among the foremost reciters,
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an eminent commander among the leaders of the conquests,
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and a distinguished governor among the rulers of Islam.
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Nor could he ever have imagined,
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as he abandoned his little flock of sheep
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and turned wholly to Allah and His Messenger,
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that he would be at the vanguard of the army that conquered the jewel of the world, Damascus,
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and would build a home for himself amidst its lush gardens near Bab Touma.
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Nor could he ever have conceived
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that he would be one of the commanders who would conquer the green emerald of the world:
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Egypt;
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and that he would become its governor,
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laying out a home for himself at the foot of its Mount Mokattam.
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For all these were matters hidden within the unseen,
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known to none but Allah.
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'Uqbah ibn 'Amir al-Juhani stayed attached to the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,
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just as a shadow accompanies its master.
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He would hold the reins of his mule wherever he rode,
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and walk before him wherever he turned.
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The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, would often seat him behind him on his mount,
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until he came to be known as "the Prophet's co-rider."
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At times, the noble Prophet would dismount from his mule for him,
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so that 'Uqbah would ride
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while the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, would walk.
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'Uqbah narrated, saying:
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"I was leading the mule of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, through one of the woods of Medina,
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when he said to me:
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'O 'Uqbah, will you not ride?'
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I thought of saying no,
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but I feared that doing so might be an act of disobedience to the Messenger of Allah.
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So I said: 'Yes, O Prophet of Allah.'
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The Messenger dismounted from his mule and I rode it,
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in compliance with his command,
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while he walked.
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Soon thereafter, I dismounted from it,
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and the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, rode.
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Then he said to me:
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'O 'Uqbah,
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shall I not teach you two Surahs the like of which have never been seen?'
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I said: 'Certainly, O Messenger of Allah!'
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So he recited to me: 'Say: I seek refuge with the Lord of daybreak,'
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“Say: I seek refuge in the Lord of the Daybreak” (113:1)
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and 'Say: I seek refuge with the Lord of mankind.'
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Then the prayer was established,
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and he stepped forward and led the prayer reciting both of them.
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Then he said:
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'Recite them whenever you go to sleep and whenever you wake up.'
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'Uqbah said:
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'And I never ceased reciting them throughout the span of my life.'"
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'Uqbah ibn 'Amir al-Juhani directed
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his entire concern toward two pursuits:
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knowledge and jihad.
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He devoted himself to them body and soul,
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dedicating his utmost effort
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in the most generous and noble manner.
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As for the realm of knowledge,
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he drank deeply from the abundant,
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sweet springs of the Messenger of Allah,
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until he became a master reciter, a scholar of hadith,
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a jurist, an expert in the laws of inheritance,
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a man of letters, an eloquent orator, and a poet.
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He possessed one of the most beautiful voices in reciting the Qur'an.
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Whenever the night fell dark
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and the universe grew still,
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he would turn to the Book of Allah,
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reciting from its lucid verses,
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so that the hearts of the noble Companions would listen intently to his chanting,
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their hearts humbling in reverence,
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and their eyes overflowing with tears out of fear of Allah.
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One day, 'Umar ibn al-Khattab called for him
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and said:
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"Recite some of the Book of Allah for me, O 'Uqbah."
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He replied:
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"I hear and obey, O Commander of the Believers."
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Then he began to recite what was easy of the verses of the Wise Reminder,
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while 'Umar wept
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until his tears moistened his beard.
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'Uqbah left behind a copy of the Qur'an written in his own hand,
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and this copy remained until recent times,
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preserved in Egypt
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in the mosque known as the Mosque of 'Uqbah ibn 'Amir.
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At the end of it, it was inscribed:
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"Written by 'Uqbah ibn 'Amir al-Juhani."
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This copy of 'Uqbah's was among the oldest manuscripts of the Qur'an found on the face of the earth,
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but it was lost along with what has been lost of our precious heritage
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while we remained oblivious of it.
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As for the realm of jihad,
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it suffices us to know that 'Uqbah ibn 'Amir al-Juhani
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witnessed the Battle of Uhud and the subsequent military expeditions with the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,
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and that he was one of the valiant, heroic warriors
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who fought with the utmost gallantry on the day Damascus was conquered.
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Abu 'Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah rewarded him for his remarkable valor
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by sending him as a bearer of glad tidings to 'Umar ibn al-Khattab in Medina to inform him of the victory.
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So he rode for eight continuous days and nights,
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from Friday to Friday,
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hastening his pace without interruption,
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until he gave al-Faruq the glad tidings of the great victory.
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Furthermore, he was one of the commanders of the Muslim armies that conquered Egypt,
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so the Commander of the Believers, Mu'awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan, rewarded him
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by appointing him as its governor for three years.
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Then he dispatched him to lead the expedition against the island of Rhodes
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in the Mediterranean Sea.
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Such was 'Uqbah ibn 'Amir al-Juhani's passion for jihad
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that he committed the hadiths of jihad to memory
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and specialized in narrating them to the Muslims;
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he was also dedicated to mastering archery,
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to the extent that whenever he sought recreation, he spent it in archery.
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When 'Uqbah ibn 'Amir al-Juhani fell terminally ill
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while in Egypt,
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he gathered his sons, gave them his counsel, and said:
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"O my sons, I forbid you from three things, so guard them well:
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Do not accept a hadith from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)
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except from a trustworthy narrator;
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do not take on debt, even if you must wear rough cloaks;
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and do not write poetry,
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lest it distract your hearts from the Qur'an."
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And when death approached him,
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they buried him at the foot of Mount al-Muqattam.
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Then they turned to examine his estate,
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and found that he had left behind seventy-odd bows,
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each bow accompanied by a quiver and arrows,
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and he had bequeathed them all to be used in the cause of Allah.
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May Allah brighten the face of the Qur'an reciter, the scholar, the warrior, 'Uqbah Ibn 'Amir al-Juhani,
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and reward him on behalf of Islam and the Muslims with the best of rewards.