Pictures from the lives of the followers | D. Abdul Rahman Raafat Al-Basha | Episode (11) | Rabia Al-Rai, may God have mercy on him

0:00 In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

0:03 The best of generations in stances and exemplary conduct,

0:08 following the Messenger whenever he strove or journeyed afar.

0:13 Mawaddah Association

0:15 presents:

0:17 "Portraits from the Lives of the Tabi'un,"

0:21 by Dr. Abd al-Rahman Ra'fat al-Basha,

0:25 may Allah have mercy upon him.

0:27 Rabi'ah al-Ra'y,

0:33 may Allah have mercy upon him.

0:41 On a certain moonlit summer evening,

0:45 a knight in his late fifties arrived in al-Madinah al-Munawwarah.

0:51 He made his way through its alleys, riding his horse toward his home,

0:56 not knowing whether his house still stood as he had last known it,

1:02 or whether the passing of time had taken its toll upon it.

1:06 For nearly thirty years, or thereabouts, had elapsed during his absence from it.

1:12 He kept wondering about his young wife whom he had left behind in that house:

1:18 what had become of her?

1:20 And about her unborn child whom she was carrying in her womb:

1:24 had she given birth to a boy or a girl?

1:27 Was the child alive or dead?

1:29 And if alive, what had become of him?

1:33 He also wondered about that large sum of money he had gathered from the spoils of jihad,

1:38 which he had left in her trust when he set out striving in the cause of Allah

1:43 alongside the Muslim armies heading to conquer Bukhara, Samarqand, and the surrounding regions.

1:51 The alleys and streets of the city were still bustling with people coming and going,

2:00 for the people had only recently concluded the Isha prayer.

2:05 Yet none of those he passed recognized him or paid him any heed,

2:12 nor did anyone look toward his noble steed,

2:15 or to his sword slung over his shoulder.

2:19 For the residents of the Islamic cities had grown accustomed to the sight of fighters setting out for combat in the cause of Allah or returning from it.

2:29 However, that only stirred the knight's sorrow and heightened his uneasy thoughts.

2:36 While the knight was immersed in these reflections,

2:40 continuing to feel his way through those changed alleys,

2:46 he suddenly found himself before his house and saw its door ajar.

2:52 Overcome by joy, he rushed in without seeking permission from its occupants,

2:56 stepped through the door, and advanced deep into the courtyard.

3:00 The master of the house heard the creak of the door and looked out from his upper chamber,

3:06 seeing in the moonlight a man girded with his sword and bearing his spear,

3:12 breaking into his house under cover of night.

3:15 His young wife was standing not far from the stranger’s line of sight,

3:21 so he sprang up in anger, came down barefoot toward him, and said,

3:26 "Do you cloak yourself in the darkness of night, O enemy of Allah,

3:30 breaking into my home and assaulting my family?!"

3:34 He lunged at him like a ferocious lion defending its lair from harm,

3:40 giving him no chance to speak.

3:44 The two men wrestled and grappled with one another,

3:47 their shouts grew loud, and their clamor arose.

3:51 Neighbors rushed to the house from every direction,

3:55 surrounding the stranger as closely as an iron collar clings to the neck,

3:59 and aiding their neighbor against him.

4:02 The master of the house seized him,

4:04 tightened his grip upon his throat, and said,

4:08 "By Allah, I will not release you, O enemy of Allah, except before the governor!"

4:13 The man replied,

4:15 "I am no enemy of Allah, nor have I committed any sin!

4:19 Rather, this is my house and my rightful property.

4:22 I found its door open, so I entered."

4:25 Then he turned to the people and said,

4:28 "O people, listen to me!

4:31 This house is my house; I purchased it with my own wealth!

4:35 O people, I am Farrukh!

4:38 Is there no one left among the neighbors who remembers Farrukh,

4:42 who departed thirty years ago to strive in the cause of Allah?!"

4:47 The mother of the master of the house had been asleep,

4:50 but she awoke to the commotion,

4:52 looked out from the window of her upper chamber,

4:56 and saw her husband in the flesh.

4:59 Astonishment almost tied her tongue,

5:02 but she soon called out,

5:05 "Leave him! Let him go, Rabi'ah!

5:08 Let him go, my son; he is your father!

5:11 Disperse from him, O people, may Allah bless you!

5:15 Beware, O Abu Abd al-Rahman!

5:18 For the one you are confronting

5:21 is your son and the darling of your heart!"

5:24 No sooner had her words reached their ears

5:27 than Farrukh turned toward Rabi'ah,

5:30 embracing and holding him tightly.

5:33 And Rabi'ah turned toward Farrukh,

5:36 kissing his hands, his neck, and his head.

5:39 The crowd dispersed from around them,

5:42 and the mother of Rabi'ah came down to greet her husband,

5:45 whom she had never imagined

5:48 she would ever meet again in this world,

5:51 after news of him had ceased

5:54 for nearly a third of a century.

5:58 Farrukh sat with his wife

6:03 and began telling her of his circumstances,

6:06 explaining why news of him had been cut off.

6:09 Yet she was too preoccupied

6:12 to absorb much of what he said;

6:15 for her joy at reuniting with him

6:18 and seeing him united with his son was marred

6:21 by her fear of his anger over the loss

6:24 of all the wealth he had entrusted to her care.

6:27 She kept saying to herself:

6:30 "What if he asks me now about that large sum of money

6:33 that he left in my trust,

6:36 instructing me to spend from it reasonably?

6:39 What will his reaction be

6:42 if I tell him that nothing of it remains?

6:45 Will it satisfy him if I say

6:48 that I spent what he left with me

6:51 on his son's upbringing and education?

6:55 Will he believe that his son's hand

6:58 is more generous than rain-bearing clouds,

7:01 that he keeps neither dinar nor dirham,

7:04 and that the entire city

7:07 knows he has spent upon his brethren

7:10 thousands upon thousands?"

7:13 While the mother of Rabi'ah was lost

7:16 in these anxious thoughts,

7:19 her husband turned to her and said,

7:23 "Bring out the wealth I entrusted

7:26 to you, so that we may add this to it

7:29 and purchase with all of it an orchard or real estate,

7:32 living off its yield

7:35 for as long as our lives may last."

7:38 She feigned distraction and gave him no answer,

7:41 so he repeated his request, saying,

7:44 "Come now, where is the money,

7:47 so that I may add to it what I have with me?"

7:50 "I have placed it where it ought to be placed,

7:53 and I will bring it out for you after a few

7:56 days, if Allah wills."

7:59 The voice of the muezzin interrupted their conversation,

8:02 so Farrukh hurried to his water pitcher,

8:05 then hastened toward the door,

8:08 saying, "Where is Rabi'ah?"

8:11 They told him, "He preceded you to the mosque

8:14 at the very first call,

8:17 so that you may catch the congregational prayer."

8:22 Farrukh reached the mosque

8:25 and found that the imam had just finished the prayer,

8:28 so he performed the obligatory prayer alone.

8:31 Then he proceeded toward the Noble Tomb

8:34 and conveyed greetings of peace upon the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.

8:37 Next, he turned toward the purified Rawdah,

8:40 for his heart held deep yearnings for it

8:43 and a longing to pray therein.

8:47 He chose a spot for himself within its luminous expanse,

8:50 and began offering voluntary prayers,

8:53 praying whatever Allah willed him to pray,

8:56 and then supplicating with whatever he was inspired to ask.

8:59 When he intended to leave the mosque,

9:02 he found its vast courtyard overflowing

9:05 with a gathering of sacred knowledge

9:08 the likes of which he had never witnessed before.

9:11 He saw the people encircling the scholar leading the gathering,

9:14 circle after circle,

9:17 leaving not a single foothold in the courtyard.

9:20 He scanned the crowd

9:23 and saw turbaned elders

9:26 advanced in age and dignified men,

9:29 whose bearing showed they were men of high standing,

9:32 as well as many young men

9:35 kneeling upon their knees,

9:38 pens in hand,

9:41 eagerly recording whatever the shaykh spoke

9:44 as pearls are gathered,

9:47 preserving it in their notebooks

9:50 as precious treasures are preserved.

9:53 The people were directing their gazes

9:56 toward where the shaykh sat,

9:59 listening intently to every word he uttered,

10:02 as if birds were perched upon their heads.

10:05 Transmitters relayed what the shaykh said,

10:09 so that not a single word escaped anyone,

10:12 no matter how far away they were.

10:15 Farrukh tried to make out the shaykh's features,

10:18 but could not due to his vantage point

10:21 and his distance from him.

10:24 He was awestruck by his brilliant eloquence,

10:27 his overflowing knowledge,

10:30 his remarkable memory,

10:33 and the deference of the people before him,

10:36 until the shaykh concluded his gathering and stood up.

10:39 The people rushed toward him,

10:42 crowding around and encircling him,

10:45 following him to escort him

10:48 out of the mosque.

10:51 Thereupon, Farrukh turned to a man

10:54 who was sitting beside him and said,

10:57 "Tell me, for Allah's sake, who is this shaykh?"

11:00 The man replied in astonishment,

11:04 and Farrukh said, "Yes, indeed."

11:07 The man said, "Is there in all of the city

11:10 a single person who does not know the shaykh?!"

11:13 Farrukh said, "Pardon me

11:16 if I do not know him,

11:19 for I have spent nearly thirty years

11:22 away from the city,

11:25 and returned to it only yesterday."

11:28 The man replied, "No harm then."

11:32 Then he said, "The shaykh to whom you listened

11:35 is one of the leading masters of the Tabi'un

11:38 and an eminent figure among the Muslims;

11:41 He is the hadith master of Medina, its jurist,

11:44 and its leading imam, despite his young

11:47 age." Farrukh then said—

11:50 “If only, when thou enteredst thy garden, thou hadst said: That which Allah willeth (will come to pass)! There is no strength save in Allah! Though thou seest me as less than thee in wealth and children,” (18:39)

11:53 but the man continued, saying:

11:56 "Indeed, his gathering includes, as you saw,

11:59 Malik ibn Anas,

12:02 Abu Hanifah al-Nu'man,

12:05 Yahya ibn Sa'id al-Ansari,

12:08 Sufyan al-Thawri,

12:11 'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Amr al-Awza'i,

12:14 al-Layth ibn Sa'd,

12:17 and countless others."

12:20 Farrukh said, "Yet you..."

12:23 but the man did not give him a chance to finish his sentence:

12:27 "He is gentle, approachable, and generous of hand;

12:30 the people of Medina have never known anyone

12:33 more bountiful toward friends and their children,

12:36 nor more detached from worldly pleasures,

12:39 nor more yearning for that which is with Allah."

12:42 Farrukh then asked,

12:45 "Yet you have not mentioned his name to me."

12:48 The man replied, "He is Rabi'ah al-Ra'y."

12:51 Farrukh asked, "Rabi'ah al-Ra'y?"

12:55 The man answered, "Yes, his name is Rabi'ah,

12:58 but the scholars and elders of Medina

13:01 called him 'Rabi'ah al-Ra'y'

13:04 because whenever they could not find

13:07 a direct text in the Book of Allah

13:10 or a hadith of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,

13:13 they would turn to him.

13:16 He would then exercise reasoned judgment (ijtihad) and draw an analogy

13:19 between that which lacked a text and that which had one,

13:22 resolving whatever was obscure to them

13:25 in a way that put minds at ease

13:28 and brought reassurance to hearts."

13:31 Farrukh asked eagerly,

13:34 "Yet you have not told me his lineage!"

13:37 The man replied, "He is Rabi'ah ibn Farrukh,

13:40 with the kunya Abu 'Abd al-Rahman.

13:43 He was born after his father left Medina

13:46 to strive in the cause of Allah,

13:49 so his mother undertook his upbringing and education.

13:52 And just before the prayer, I heard people

13:55 saying that his father returned last night."

13:58 At that moment,

14:01 there rolled down from Farrukh's eyes

14:04 two great tears,

14:07 for which the man could discern no reason.

14:10 Farrukh then hurried his steps toward his home,

14:13 and when Rabi'ah's mother saw him, she asked,

14:16 "What is the matter, Abu Rabi'ah?"

14:19 He said, "Nothing but good!

14:22 I have just seen our son, Rabi'ah,

14:25 in a station of knowledge, honor, and glory

14:28 the likes of which I have never seen for anyone before."

14:31 Rabi'ah's mother seized the opportunity and said,

14:34 "Which is dearer to you:

14:37 thirty thousand dinars, or this

14:40 immense knowledge and honor your son has attained?"

14:43 He said, "Nay, by Allah, this is far dearer to me

14:46 and more precious than all the wealth of this world

14:49 entirely!" She said,

14:52 "I have spent all that you left with me upon him;

14:55 are you truly pleased with what I have done?"

14:58 He said, "Yes, and may you be rewarded

15:01 on my behalf, on his behalf, and on behalf of the Muslims

15:04 with the best of rewards!"

15:20 They were once here,

15:23 showering our lives like clouds,

15:26 and ever among us,

15:29 their memory soars high.

15:32 They departed, leaving in the conscience

15:35 a profound question:

15:38 Did ever a star like them ascend and shine so brightly?

15:41 They filled this life

15:44 with proud accomplishments through their deeds,

15:47 and the world of mankind flourished through them.

Pictures from the lives of the followers | D. Abdul Rahman Raafat Al-Basha | Episode (11) | Rabia Al-Rai, may God have mercy on him | Part 2

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