Part of Pictures from the lives of the Companions (series completed)
· Lesson 24 of 93
Pictures from the lives of the Companions - Episode (39) - Wahshi bin Harb, 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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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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Wahshi ibn Harb, may Allah be pleased with him.
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Who was this man who broke the heart of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
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when he killed his uncle Hamzah ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib on the day of Uhud,
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and then brought solace to the hearts of the Muslims
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when he killed Musaylimah the Liar on the day of al-Yamamah?
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He was Wahshi ibn Harb the Abyssinian,
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whose agnomen was Abu Dasmah.
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He had a dramatic, tragic, and bloody story,
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so lend him your ear that he may tell you his tragedy himself.
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Wahshi said:
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I was an Abyssinian slave belonging to Jubayr ibn Mut'im,
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one of the chieftains of Quraysh.
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His uncle, Tu'aymah,
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had been killed on the day of Badr at the hands of Hamzah ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib,
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and Jubayr grieved over him with the utmost sorrow.
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He swore by Allah and al-'Uzza that he would surely avenge his uncle
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and kill his killer,
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so he began seeking an opportunity to lay in wait for Hamzah.
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Not much time had passed after that
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before Quraysh resolved to march to Uhud
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to eliminate Muhammad ibn 'Abdillah
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and avenge those slain at Badr.
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They mobilized their forces, gathered their allies, and prepared their equipment,
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then entrusted leadership to Abu Sufyan ibn Harb.
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Abu Sufyan deemed it best
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to include with the army a group of the noble women of Quraysh—
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those whose fathers, sons, brothers,
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or relatives had been killed at Badr—
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in order to incite the army to fight
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and prevent the men from fleeing.
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Among the foremost women who went out with him
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was his wife, Hind bint 'Utbah,
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whose father, uncle, and brother
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had all been killed at Badr.
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When the army was about to depart,
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Jubayr ibn Mut'im turned to me and said:
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"O Abu Dasmah, would you like to free yourself from slavery?"
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I asked, "And who could secure that for me?"
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He replied, "I guarantee it for you."
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I asked, "How?"
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He said, "If you kill Hamzah ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib,
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the uncle of Muhammad, in revenge for my uncle Tu'aymah ibn 'Adi,
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you are a free man."
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I said, "And who will guarantee to fulfill that for me?"
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He said, "Whomever you wish;
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and I shall take all the people as witnesses to that."
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I said, "I will do it, and I am equal to the task."
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Wahshi continued: I was an Abyssinian man
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who hurled the javelin in the Abyssinian manner,
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seldom missing anything I aimed at with it.
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So I took my javelin and set out with the army,
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walking near the rear
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close to the women,
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for I had no interest in the fighting itself.
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Whenever I passed by Hind,
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the wife of Abu Sufyan, or whenever she passed by me
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and saw the javelin glinting in my hand under the glare of the sun, she would say:
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"Heal our hearts, O Abu Dasmah, and heal your own!"
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When we reached Uhud and the two forces met,
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I went out searching for Hamzah ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib.
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I already knew him beforehand,
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and indeed, Hamzah was not hidden from anyone,
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for he used to place an ostrich feather on his head
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to invite champions to single combat,
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as was the custom of the valiant Arabic warriors.
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It was not long
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before I saw Hamzah roaring among the crowds like a light-gray camel,
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cleaving through men with his sword,
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such that none could stand against him
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nor withstand his strike.
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While I was preparing myself to attack him,
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taking cover from him behind a tree or a boulder,
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lying in wait for him to draw near me,
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a horseman from Quraysh named Siba' ibn 'Abd al-'Uzza stepped ahead of me toward him,
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shouting, "Duel me, O Hamzah! Duel me!"
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Hamzah stepped forward to face him, saying,
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"Come at me, son of an uncircumcised woman! Come at me!"
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Then, in the blink of an eye, Hamzah struck him
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with his sword, and Siba' fell slain,
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thrashing in his own blood before him.
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At that moment, I maneuvered into a position relative to Hamzah
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that pleased me, and I began shaking my javelin
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until I felt confident in my aim,
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then threw it, and it struck him in the lower abdomen
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and emerged from between his legs.
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He took two heavy steps toward me,
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then collapsed, with the javelin still
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embedded in his body. I left it in him
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until I was certain that he had died.
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Then I went to him, pulled the javelin out of him,
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and returned to the camp, where I sat down,
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as I had no further need for anything else.
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Then the heat of the battle intensified,
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with much charging and retreating.
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Soon, however, the tide turned
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against the companions of Muhammad, and slaughter increased among them.
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At that point, Hind bint 'Utbah rushed
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toward the slain Muslims,
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with a group of women behind her,
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and began mutilating them,
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ripping open their bellies, gouging out their eyes,
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and cutting off their ears.
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She then made a necklace and earrings from their noses and ears,
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adorned herself with them, and handed her original golden necklace
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and earrings to me,
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saying, "They are yours, O Abu Dasmah!
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Keep them, for they are precious."
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When the war laid down its burdens,
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I returned with the army to Makkah.
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Jubayr ibn Mut'im fulfilled his promise to me
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and emancipated me,
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so I became a free man.
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But the cause of Muhammad continued to grow day after day,
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and the Muslims increased in strength hour by hour.
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Thus, whenever Muhammad's cause grew greater,
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my distress deepened,
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and panic and fear took hold of my soul.
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I remained in this state
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until Muhammad entered Makkah with his massive army as a conqueror.
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At that moment,
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I fled frantically to al-Ta'if,
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seeking safety there.
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But the people of al-Ta'if were not long
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in inclining toward Islam,
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and they prepared a delegation to meet Muhammad
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and declare their entry into his religion.
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At that, despair overwhelmed me;
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the vast earth felt narrow around me, and I was at a loss as to where to go.
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I said, "I shall flee to al-Sham, or Yemen,
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or to some other land."
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By Allah, while I was immersed in this grief of mine,
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a well-wishing man felt pity for me and said:
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"Woe to you, O Wahshi!
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By Allah, Muhammad does not kill anyone
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who enters his religion and bears the testimony of truth."
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No sooner had I heard his words
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than I headed straight toward Yathrib
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seeking Muhammad.
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When I reached it, I inquired about his whereabouts
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and learned that he was in the mosque.
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I entered upon him stealthily and cautiously,
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advancing toward him until I was standing
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directly over his head, and I said:
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"I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah,
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and that Muhammad is His servant and His Messenger."
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When he heard the two testimonies of faith, he raised his eyes to me,
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and upon recognizing me, he turned his gaze away from me and said:
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"Are you Wahshi?"
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I replied, "Yes, O Messenger of Allah."
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He said, "Sit down and tell me how you killed Hamzah."
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So I sat down and told him the story.
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When I finished my account,
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he turned his face away from me and said:
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"Woe to you, O Wahshi!
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Conceal your face from me, and do not let me see you after today."
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From that day onward,
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I avoided letting the noble Prophet's gaze fall upon me.
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Whenever the Companions sat in front of him,
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I would take my place behind him.
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I remained in that state until the Messenger of Allah,
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peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, passed away to be near his Lord.
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Wahshi then added, saying:
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Despite my knowing that
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Islam wipes away whatever came before it,
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I continued to feel the gravity of the deed
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and the enormity of the calamity
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with which I had afflicted Islam and the Muslims.
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I began looking for an opportunity to expiate
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for what I had done in the past.
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So when the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, joined the Highest Companion, and the Caliphate
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over the Muslims passed to his companion Abu Bakr,
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Banu Hanifah—the followers of
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Musaylimah the Liar—apostatized along with the other apostates.
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Thereupon, Abu Bakr dispatched an army
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to fight Musaylimah and bring his people,
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Banu Hanifah, back to the religion of Allah.
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I said to myself, "By Allah, this is
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your opportunity, O Wahshi, so seize it
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and do not let it slip from your hands!"
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Then I set out with the Muslim armies,
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taking with me the very javelin with which I had killed
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the Master of Martyrs, Hamzah ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib,
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hoping to kill Musaylimah with it or attain
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martyrdom. When the Muslims stormed
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the Garden of Death against Musaylimah and his army
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and engaged the enemies of Allah in close combat,
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I began stalking Musaylimah. I saw him
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standing with a sword in his hand, and I also saw
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a man from the Ansar lying in wait for him just as
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I was lying in wait for him, both of us seeking
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to kill him. When I positioned myself relative to him,
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I shook my javelin until, once it was steady
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in my hand, I hurled it at him,
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"was in my hand, I hurled it toward him,
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and it struck him. At the very same moment
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that I released my javelin at Musaylimah,
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one of the Ansar lunged at him, dealing him
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a blow with his sword. Thus, your Lord
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knows which of us truly killed him. If it was
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I who killed him, then I have killed
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the best of people after Muhammad, and I have also killed
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the worst of people."
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He killed the best of people after Muhammad,
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and he also killed the worst of people.
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Historians