Part of Pictures from the lives of the Companions (series completed)
· Lesson 6 of 15
Pictures from the lives of the Companions - Episode (6) - Al-Baraa bin Malik Al-Ansari, 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 glimpses 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 upon him.
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Al-Bara' ibn Malik al-Ansari, may Allah be pleased with him.
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He was disheveled, dusty, slight of frame, and lean of bone;
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one might overlook him at first glance,
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and turn away from him in disdain.
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Yet, despite this,
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he killed one hundred of the polytheists
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in single combat,
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not counting those he slew in the heat of battle alongside the warriors.
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He was a brave, daring, and intrepid knight,
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concerning whom the Faruq (Umar ibn al-Khattab) wrote to his governors in the provinces,
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instructing them never to appoint him as a commander over any Muslim army,
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for fear that his reckless bravery might lead them to destruction.
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He is al-Bara' ibn Malik al-Ansari,
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the brother of Anas ibn Malik,
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the servant of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
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If I were to set out to recount for you the tales of al-Bara' ibn Malik’s heroism,
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the discourse would be long and the time insufficient.
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Therefore, I have chosen to present to you one story from his heroic exploits,
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which will inform you of the rest.
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This story begins in the early hours
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following the death of the noble Prophet and his joining the Highest Companion.
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At that time, the Arab tribes began to leave the religion of Allah in droves,
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just as they had entered it in droves,
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until none remained upon Islam except the people of Makkah, Madinah, and Ta'if,
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and scattered groups here and there
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whose hearts Allah had made firm in faith.
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The Siddiq (Abu Bakr), may Allah be pleased with him, stood firm
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against this destructive, blind tribulation,
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with the steadfastness of immovable mountains.
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He prepared eleven armies from the Muhajirun and the Ansar,
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bestowed eleven banners upon their commanders,
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and dispatched them across the Arabian Peninsula
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to return the apostates to the path of guidance and truth,
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and to bring the wayward back to the straight path by the edge of the sword.
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The most formidable and numerous of the apostates
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were the Banu Hanifah, the followers of Musaylimah the Liar.
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For Musaylimah had gathered from his people and their allies forty thousand
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fierce warriors.
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Most of them followed him out of tribal partisanship,
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not out of belief in him.
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Indeed, some of them would say,
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"I bear witness that Musaylimah is a liar and Muhammad is truthful,
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but the liar of Rabi'ah is dearer to us than the truthful one of Mudar."
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Musaylimah defeated the first army sent against him from the Muslim forces,
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led by 'Ikrimah ibn Abi Jahl,
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and drove them back.
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So the Siddiq sent him a second army,
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led by Khalid ibn al-Walid,
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in which he gathered the elite of the Companions from the Ansar and the Muhajirun.
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And in the vanguard of them all
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was al-Bara' ibn Malik al-Ansari,
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along with a group of the bravest Muslim warriors.
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The two armies met on the land of al-Yamamah in Najd.
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It was but a short time
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before the tide turned in favor of Musaylimah and his companions,
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and the earth shook beneath the feet of the Muslim soldiers.
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They began to retreat from their positions,
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until Musaylimah’s men stormed the tent of Khalid ibn al-Walid,
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uprooted it from its foundations,
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and nearly killed his wife,
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had one of them not granted her protection.
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At that moment, the Muslims felt the imminent danger,
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and realized that if they were defeated by Musaylimah,
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Islam would never rise again after this day.
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Khalid rushed to his army,
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reorganized it,
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distinguished the Muhajirun from the Ansar,
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and distinguished the Bedouins from both groups.
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He gathered the men of each lineage under the banner of one of their own,
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to see the performance of each group in battle,
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and to know from where the Muslims were being attacked.
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A fierce battle raged between the two sides,
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the likes of which the Muslim wars had never seen before.
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Musaylimah’s people stood firm on the battlefield
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with the steadfastness of immovable mountains,
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unconcerned by the heavy casualties they sustained.
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The Muslims displayed such extraordinary heroism
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that, if gathered, it would form an epic among the greatest epics.
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There was Thabit ibn Qays,
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the standard-bearer of the Ansar,
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who perfumed and shrouded himself,
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dug a pit in the ground for himself,
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stood in it up to his shins,
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and remained firm in his position,
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defending his people’s banner until he fell as a martyr.
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And there was Zayd ibn al-Khattab,
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the brother of Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with them both,
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calling out to the Muslims,
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"O people, bite down on your molars,
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strike at your enemy, and press forward!
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O people, by Allah, I shall never speak again after these words
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until Musaylimah is defeated,
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or I meet Allah and present my plea to Him."
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Then he charged the enemy and continued fighting until he was killed.
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And there was Salim, the freed slave of Abu Hudhayfah,
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carrying the banner of the Muhajirun.
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His people feared he might weaken or falter,
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so they said to him, "We fear that we might be attacked from your side."
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He replied, "If you are attacked from my side,
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then I would be a wretched bearer of the Qur'an."
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Then he charged the enemies of Allah with heroic intensity until he was struck down.
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Yet the heroism of all these men
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pales in comparison to the heroism of al-Bara' ibn Malik,
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may Allah be pleased with him and with them all.
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For when Khalid saw the heat of battle intensifying,
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he turned to al-Bara' ibn Malik and said,
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"Charge them, O youth of the Ansar!"
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Al-Bara' turned to his people and said,
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"O company of the Ansar,
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let none of you think of returning to Madinah;
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there is no Madinah for you after today,
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there is only Allah alone, then Paradise!"
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Then he charged the polytheists, and they charged with him,
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and he began to cleave through the ranks,
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wielding his sword against the necks of the enemies of Allah,
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until the feet of Musaylimah and his companions faltered.
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They retreated into the garden,
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which became known in history thereafter as the Garden of Death,
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due to the number of those killed there that day.
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This Garden of Death was vast in its expanse,
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with towering walls.
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Musaylimah and thousands of his soldiers locked themselves inside,
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fortified by its high walls,
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and began raining arrows down upon the Muslims from within,
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falling upon them like rain.
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At that point, the brave Muslim warrior stepped forward,
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al-Bara' ibn Malik, and said,
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"O people,
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place me on a shield,
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raise the shield on your spears,
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and toss me into the garden near its gate.
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Either I shall be martyred,
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or I shall open the gate for you."
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In the blink of an eye,
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al-Bara' ibn Malik sat on a shield—
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for he was slight and lean of body—
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and dozens of spears lifted him up,
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and cast him into the Garden of Death,
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among the thousands of Musaylimah’s soldiers.
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He descended upon them like a thunderbolt,
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and continued to fight them before the garden gate,
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wielding his sword against their necks,
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until he killed ten of them and opened the gate.
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He bore over eighty wounds,
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from arrow shots
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or sword strikes.
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The Muslims then flooded into the Garden of Death
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over its walls and through its gates,
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and set their swords upon the necks of the apostates,
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leaving none within its walls,
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until they had killed nearly twenty thousand of them,
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and reached Musaylimah,
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and struck him down.
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Al-Bara' ibn Malik was carried
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to his tent to be treated,
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and Khalid ibn al-Walid stayed by him
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for a month, tending to his wounds,
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until Allah granted him recovery.
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And it was by his hands
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that victory was written for the Muslim army.
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Al-Bara' ibn Malik al-Ansari remained
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yearning for the martyrdom that had eluded him
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on the day of the Garden of Death.
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He continued to engage in battles,
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one after another,
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longing to achieve his greatest wish,
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and yearning to join his noble Prophet.
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Until the day of the conquest of Tustar
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in the lands of Persia.
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The Persians had fortified themselves in one of the impregnable fortresses,
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so the Muslims besieged them,
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surrounding them like a bracelet around a wrist.
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When the siege dragged on,
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and the hardship intensified for the Persians,
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they began to lower from the fortress walls
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iron chains,
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to which were attached steel hooks
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heated in the fire,
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until they glowed brighter than embers.
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They would snag the bodies of the Muslims,
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and hook onto them,
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and they would hoist them up, either dead
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or on the verge of death.
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One of these hooks caught Anas ibn Malik,
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the brother of al-Bara' ibn Malik.
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As soon as al-Bara' saw him,
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he leaped onto the fortress wall,
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grabbed the chain holding his brother,
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and began to work the hook
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to extract it from his body.
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His hand began to burn and smoke,
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yet he paid it no mind,
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until he saved his brother,
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He descended to the earth
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after his hand had been reduced to bone, stripped of all flesh.
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During this battle,
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Al-Bara' Ibn Malik
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al-Ansari prayed to Allah to grant him martyrdom,
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and Allah answered his prayer,
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for he fell as a martyr,
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rejoicing in his meeting with Allah.
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May Allah brighten the face of Al-Bara' Ibn Malik
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in Paradise,
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and gladden his eyes with the companionship of His Prophet,
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Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
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and may He be pleased with him and grant him contentment.
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Do not appoint Al-Bara'
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to lead any of the Muslim armies,
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for fear that his boldness might lead his soldiers to their destruction,
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said 'Umar Ibn al-Khattab.