Part of Pictures from the lives of the Companions (series completed)
· Lesson 17 of 93
Pictures from the lives of the Companions - Episode (32) - Abu Sufyan bin Al-Harith, 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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Abu Sufyan ibn al-Harith, may Allah be pleased with him.
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Seldom have ties connected two individuals
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or bonds united two people
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as closely and firmly as they did between Muhammad ibn 'Abdillah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
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and Abu Sufyan ibn al-Harith.
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For Abu Sufyan was a peer of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
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and an equal in age;
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they were born at nearly the same time,
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raised within the same family,
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and he was a close first cousin of the Prophet.
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His father, al-Harith, and 'Abdullah, the father of the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
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were brothers who both sprang from the loins of 'Abd al-Muttalib.
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Moreover, he was a foster brother to the Prophet through nursing,
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for Lady Halimah al-Sa'diyyah nursed them both together at her breast.
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Furthermore, above all this,
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he was an intimate friend of the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, before prophethood,
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and one of the people who resembled him most closely.
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Have you ever seen or heard of a closer kinship,
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or firmer ties than those that existed between Muhammad ibn 'Abdillah and Abu Sufyan ibn al-Harith?
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Thus, it was naturally expected of Abu Sufyan
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that he would be the foremost of people to answer the call of the Messenger, peace be upon him,
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and the swiftest to step forward and follow him.
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But the matter turned out entirely contrary to all expectations.
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For scarcely had the Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, openly proclaimed his call
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and warned his kinsfolk,
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than the fire of hatred flared up within Abu Sufyan against the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
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Friendship turned into enmity,
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ties of kinship into estrangement,
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and brotherhood into rejection and aversion.
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On the day the Messenger openly proclaimed his Lord's command, Abu Sufyan ibn al-Harith was
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one of the most prominent, renowned horsemen of Quraysh,
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and one of their foremost, towering poets.
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So he devoted his spear and his tongue to fighting the Messenger and opposing his call,
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mobilizing all his energies to inflict harm upon Islam and the Muslims.
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Quraysh never waged a war against the Prophet
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without him being the one to kindle its flames,
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nor did they inflict any harm upon the Muslims
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without him having a major hand in it.
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Abu Sufyan awakened the muse of his satirical poetry,
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giving free rein to his tongue in lampooning the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
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composing scurrilous, obscene, and deeply hurtful verses against him.
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Abu Sufyan's hostility toward the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, dragged on
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for nearly twenty years,
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during which he left no scheme against the Messenger unexecuted,
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and spared no variety of affliction upon the Muslims
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without committing it and shouldering its sin.
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Then, shortly before the conquest of Mecca,
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it was decreed that Abu Sufyan would embrace Islam.
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The story of his acceptance of Islam is an extraordinary one,
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recorded in the books of Seerah and chronicled in historical texts.
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Let us leave the man himself to recount the tale of his conversion,
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for his personal feeling of it is deeper,
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and his description of it is more accurate and truthful.
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He said: "When the cause of Islam triumphed and became firmly established,
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and news spread that the Messenger was marching toward Mecca to conquer it,
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the vast earth seemed narrow to me.
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I wondered, 'Where shall I go?
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Whom shall I accompany, and with whom shall I cast my lot?'
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Then I went to my wife and children and said,
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'Prepare to leave Mecca,
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for the arrival of Muhammad is imminent,
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and I will inevitably be killed if the Muslims overtake me.'
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They replied to me:
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'Is it not time for you to see that the Arabs and non-Arabs alike
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have submitted in obedience to Muhammad
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and embraced his religion,
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while you still persist in your enmity toward him,
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though you were the most duty-bound of all people to support and aid him?'
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They kept softening my heart toward the religion of Muhammad
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and making it desirable to me,
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until Allah expanded my breast to Islam.
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I stood up immediately
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and said to my servant, Madhkur:
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'Prepare a she-camel and a horse for us.'
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I took along my son Ja'far,
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and we rode swiftly toward al-Abwa',
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situated between Mecca and Medina,
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for word had reached me that Muhammad had camped there.
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When I drew near to it,
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I disguised myself so that no one would recognize me
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and kill me before I could reach the Prophet
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and declare my Islam in his presence.
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I proceeded on foot for about a mile,
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while the vanguards of the Muslims were marching forward,
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heading toward Mecca group after group.
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I would step aside from their path out of fear of them,
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dreading that someone might recognize me
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from among the companions of Muhammad.
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While I was in that state,
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the Messenger suddenly appeared in his procession.
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I stepped forward into his path and stood directly before him,
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and I uncovered my face.
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No sooner had he caught sight of me and recognized me
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than he turned his face away to the other side.
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I moved around to face him again,
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but he turned his face away from me once more.
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So I shifted again to face him,
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and he repeated this several times.
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As I had set out to meet the Prophet, I had had no doubt
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that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
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would rejoice at my embracing Islam,
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and that his companions would rejoice at his joy.
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But when the Muslims saw
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the aversion of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
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toward me, their faces hardened against me,
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and they all turned away from me.
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Abu Bakr met me
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and turned away from me most sternly.
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I looked at 'Umar ibn al-Khattab
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with a look by which I sought to soften his heart,
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but I found him even more averse than his companion;
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in fact, he incited one of the Ansar against me.
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The Ansari said to me:
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'O enemy of Allah!
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Are you the one who used to torment the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
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and torment his companions,
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and whose hostility toward the Prophet reached
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the east and the west of the earth?'
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The Ansari kept berating me harshly and raising his voice,
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while the Muslims glared at me with piercing eyes,
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pleased with the ordeal I was facing.
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At that point,
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I caught sight of my uncle al-'Abbas,
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so I sought refuge with him
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and said: 'O uncle!
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I had hoped that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, would rejoice
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at my embracing Islam due to my kinship with him
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and my standing among my people,
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but you have seen how he treated me.
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Speak to him on my behalf so that he may be pleased with me.'
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He replied: 'No, by Allah!
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I will never utter a single word to him
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after seeing how he turned away from you,
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unless a fitting opportunity presents itself;
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for I hold the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, in the utmost awe and reverence.'
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I said: 'O uncle!
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To whom, then, do you leave me?'
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He replied:
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'I have nothing more for you than what you have heard.'
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Then distress overtook me and grief overwhelmed me.
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Soon after, I saw my cousin
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'Ali ibn Abi Talib,
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so I spoke to him about my situation,
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but he replied with the same words our uncle al-'Abbas had spoken.
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At that point,
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I returned to my uncle al-'Abbas and said: 'O uncle!
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If you cannot soften the heart of the Messenger toward me,
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then at least restrain that man who insults me and incites others to insult me.'
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He said:
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'Describe him to me.'
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So I described him to him,
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and he said:
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'That is Nu'ayman ibn al-Harith al-Najjari.'
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He went to him and said:
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'O Nu'ayman!
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Abu Sufyan
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is the cousin of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him;
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and even if the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
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is displeased with him today,
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he will surely be pleased with him one day,
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so desist from him.'
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Al-'Abbas persisted with him until he agreed to leave me alone,
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saying:
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'I shall not confront him after this hour.'
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When the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, halted at al-Juhfah,
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I sat at the door of his tent,
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with my son Ja'far standing beside me.
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When he saw me as he emerged from his lodging,
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he averted his face from me.
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Yet I did not despair of gaining his favor;
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whenever he halted at a campsite, I would sit at his door,
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keeping my son Ja'far standing beside me.
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Whenever he saw me, he would turn away from me,
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and I remained in that state for some time.
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When the matter became unbearable and the distress deepened,
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I said to my wife:
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'By Allah, either the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, shall be pleased with me,
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or I will take this son of mine by the hand
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and we shall wander aimlessly across the land
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until we perish of hunger and thirst.'
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When word of that reached the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
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his heart softened toward me.
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When he came out of his tent,
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he looked at me with a gentler gaze than before,
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and I hoped he would smile.
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Then the Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, entered Mecca,
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and I entered alongside his retinue.
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He proceeded out to the Mosque,
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and I went out hastening in front of him, never parting from him under any circumstance.
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When the Day of Hunayn arrived,
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the Arabs assembled to fight the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him,
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in numbers they had never assembled before,
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preparing for the encounter as they had never prepared previously,
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and resolved to deal a fatal, decisive blow to Islam and the Muslims.
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The Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, marched out
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to meet them amidst a multitude of his Companions,
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and I marched out with him.
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When I saw the massive hordes of the polytheists,
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I said, "By Allah, today I shall surely expiate
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all my past enmity toward the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,
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and the Prophet shall witness from my deeds that which pleases Allah and pleases him."
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When the two armies clashed,
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the onslaught of the polytheists pressed fiercely upon the Muslims,
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so weakness and disarray crept into their ranks,
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and the men began to scatter away from the Prophet,
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until an ignominious defeat was about to befall us.
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Yet suddenly, there was the Messenger—may my father and mother be ransomed for him—
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standing firm in the heart of the battlefield upon his gray mule,
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like an immovable mountain,
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drawing his sword,
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defending himself and those around him like a charging lion.
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At that moment,
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I leaped down from my horse
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and shattered the scabbard of my sword,
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while Allah knows that my sole desire was to die defending the Messenger of Allah.
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My uncle Al-Abbas seized the bridle of the Prophet's mule
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and stood at his side,
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while I took up my position on the other side,
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with my sword in my right hand, defending the Messenger of Allah,
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while my left hand held firmly to his stirrup.
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When the Prophet observed my valorous fighting,
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he said to my uncle Al-Abbas, "Who is this?"
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He replied, "This is your brother and cousin,
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Abu Sufyan Ibn al-Harith;
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so be pleased with him, O Messenger of Allah!"
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He said, "I am indeed pleased with him,
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and may Allah forgive him every enmity he ever bore against me."
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My heart soared with joy at the pleasure of the Messenger of Allah with me,
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and I kissed his foot in the stirrup.
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Then he turned to me and said,
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"My brother, by my life, advance and strike!"
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The words of the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, inflamed my fervor,
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and I launched an assault upon the polytheists that dislodged them from their positions;
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the Muslims charged alongside me until we drove them back a league,
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scattering them in every direction.
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From the day of Hunayn onward, Abu Sufyan Ibn al-Harith
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basked in the Prophet's gracious pleasure,
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rejoicing in the honor of his companionship.
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Yet he never raised his eyes to look at him,
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nor did he ever fix his gaze upon his face, out of deference to him
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and shame over his past conduct toward him.
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Abu Sufyan would bite his fingers in deep remorse
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over the dark days he had spent in the pre-Islamic Jahiliyyah, veiled from the light of Allah,
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and deprived of His Book.
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He devoted himself entirely to the Qur'an night and day, reciting its verses,
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acquiring deep understanding of its rulings, and absorbing its admonitions.
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He turned away from the worldly life and its fleeting splendor,
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and turned toward Allah with every fiber of his being.
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The Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, even saw him once entering the mosque,
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and said to 'A'ishah, may Allah be pleased with her:
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"Do you know who this is, O 'A'ishah?"
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She replied, "No, O Messenger of Allah."
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He said, "He is my cousin, Abu Sufyan Ibn al-Harith.
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Look at him: he is the first to enter the mosque
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and the last to leave it,
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and his gaze never leaves the strap of his sandal."
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When the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, passed away to the Highest Companion,
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Abu Sufyan Ibn al-Harith grieved for him as a mother grieves for her only child,
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weeping over him as a beloved weeps over his beloved.
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He eulogized him in one of the most exquisite elegies,
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overflowing with anguish and sorrow,
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dissolving into profound heartbreak and lamentation.
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During the caliphate of Al-Faruq, may Allah be pleased with him,
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Abu Sufyan sensed that his own death was drawing near,
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so he dug his grave with his own hands.
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No more than three days had passed thereafter
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before death came upon him,
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as though he had an appointed meeting with death.
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He turned to his wife, his children, and his family,
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and said, "Do not weep over me,
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for by Allah, I have not been tainted by a single sin since I embraced Islam."
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Then his pure soul departed,
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and Al-Faruq, may Allah be pleased with him, led the funeral prayer over him.
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He and the noble Companions mourned his passing deeply,
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counting his death as a grave calamity that had struck Islam and its people.
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Abu Sufyan Ibn al-Harith, a master among the noble youth of Paradise.
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Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.