Part of Pictures from the lives of the Companions (series completed)
· Lesson 28 of 93
Pictures from the lives of the Companions - Episode (43) - Rabia bin Kaab, 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 snapshots 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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Rabi'ah ibn Ka'b,
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may Allah be pleased with him.
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Rabi'ah ibn Ka'b said:
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I was a young boy when my soul shone with the light of faith,
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and my heart filled with the meanings of Islam.
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When my eyes caught sight of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) for the first time,
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I loved him with a love that took hold of my every limb,
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and I became so infatuated with him that it turned me away from all else.
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So I said to myself one day:
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"Woe to you, O Rabi'ah!
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Why do you not devote yourself to serving the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)?
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Offer yourself to him;
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if he accepts you, you will be blessed with his closeness, attain his love,
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and gain the best of this world and the Hereafter."
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Shortly thereafter, I offered myself in service to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him),
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begging him to accept me into his service.
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He did not disappoint my hope,
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and he agreed for me to be his servant.
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From that day on,
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I clung to the Noble Prophet closer than his own shadow.
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I walked with him wherever he walked,
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and orbited in his sphere wherever he turned.
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Whenever he cast a glance in my direction,
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I stood immediately before him, attent.
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And whenever he showed a need for anything,
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he found me rushing to fulfill it.
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I would serve him all day long,
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and when the day ended,
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he prayed the late night prayer ('Isha') and retired to his house.
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I would prepare to depart,
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but soon I would say to myself:
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"Where are you going, Rabi'ah?
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Perhaps the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) will have
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some need during the night."
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So I would sit at his door,
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never leaving the threshold of his house.
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The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) used to
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spend his night standing in prayer.
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Sometimes I would hear him reciting the Opening of the Book (al-Fatihah),
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repeating it over and over for a large portion of the night,
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until I grew weary and would leave him,
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or my eyes would overcome me and I would sleep.
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Other times I would hear him saying:
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"Allah hears whoever praises Him,"
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repeating it for even longer than he repeated al-Fatihah.
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It was the custom of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)
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that whenever anyone did him a favor,
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he loved to reward them with something even greater.
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He wished to reward me for my service to him,
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so he approached me one day and said:
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"O Rabi'ah ibn Ka'b!"
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I replied, "At your service and command, O Messenger of Allah!"
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He said, "Ask me for something, that I may give it to you."
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I pondered for a moment, then said:
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"Give me time, O Messenger of Allah, to consider what I should ask of you,
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and then I will inform you."
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He said, "There is no harm in that."
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At that time, I was a poor young man,
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having neither family, nor wealth, nor housing.
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I used to take refuge in the Suffah of the Mosque,
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along with others like me among the poor Muslims.
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People used to call us the guests of Islam.
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Whenever anyone among the Muslims brought
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charity to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him),
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he would send it all to us.
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And if someone presented him with a gift,
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he would take a little from it and give the rest to us.
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So my soul prompted me to ask the Messenger of Allah
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for some worldly good
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by which I might free myself from poverty
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and become like others, possessor of wealth, a wife, and children.
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But soon I said to myself:
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"Woe to you, O Rabi'ah ibn Ka'b!
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This world is fleeting and vanishing,
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while your provision in it has been guaranteed by Allah, Mighty and Majestic;
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it will inevitably come to you.
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And the Messenger (peace be upon him)
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holds such a status with his Lord
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that no request of his is turned down.
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So ask him to pray to Allah for you out of the bounty of the Hereafter."
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My soul was pleased with this idea
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and found comfort in it.
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Then I came to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him),
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and he said, "What do you say, Rabi'ah?"
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I said, "O Messenger of Allah,
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I ask that you supplicate to Allah Almighty for me,
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that He make me your companion in Paradise."
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He said, "Who advised you to ask for that?"
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I said, "No, by Allah,
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no one advised me.
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However, when you said to me,
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'Ask me, and I shall give you,'
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my soul urged me to ask you
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for some worldly benefit.
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But soon I was guided to
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prefer the everlasting over the transient.
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So I ask you to supplicate to Allah for me
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that I may be your companion in Paradise."
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The Messenger of Allah remained silent for a long time,
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then said:
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"Or anything besides that, Rabi'ah?"
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I said, "No, O Messenger of Allah,
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I would not equate anything with what I asked of you."
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He said:
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"Then help me against your own soul
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by prostrating abundantly."
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So I began to strive diligently in worship,
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hoping to attain the companionship of the Messenger of Allah
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(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)
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in Paradise,
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just as I was blessed with serving him
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and accompanying him in this world.
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Not long after that,
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time passed
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until the Messenger of Allah
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(peace be upon him) called me
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and said:
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"Will you not marry, O Rabi'ah?"
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I said:
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"I do not wish for anything to distract me
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from serving you, O Messenger of Allah.
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Besides, I have nothing with which to pay a dowry to a wife,
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nor that with which to maintain her life."
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So he remained silent.
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Then he saw me a second time
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and said:
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"Will you not marry, O Rabi'ah?"
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So I answered him with the same response I gave
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the previous time.
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But no sooner was I alone with myself
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than I regretted what I had done,
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and I said:
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"Woe to you, O Rabi'ah!
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By Allah, the Prophet
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knows better than you what is good for you
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in your religion and your worldly life,
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and he knows better than you what you possess.
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By Allah, if the Messenger of Allah
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(peace be upon him) calls me
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after this time
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to marry,
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I will surely accept his advice."
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Not long after that,
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time passed until he said to me—
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the Messenger:
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"Will you not marry, O Rabi'ah?"
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I said, "Yes, O Messenger of Allah,
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but who would marry me when I am as you know?"
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He said:
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"Go to the family of so-and-so,
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and say to them:
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'The Messenger of Allah commands you
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to marry your daughter, so-and-so, to me.'"
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So I went to them bashfully
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and said to them:
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"The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)
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has sent me to you
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so that you may marry your daughter, so-and-so, to me."
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They said, "So-and-so?"
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I said, "Yes."
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They said, "Welcome to the Messenger of Allah,
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and welcome to the envoy of the Messenger of Allah!
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By Allah, the envoy of the Messenger of Allah shall not return
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except with his need fulfilled."
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So they concluded the marriage contract for me with her.
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Then I came to the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)
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and said, "O Messenger of Allah,
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I have just come from the best of households;
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they believed me, welcomed me,
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and concluded the marriage contract for their daughter with me.
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So from where shall I bring them the dowry?"
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Thereupon, the Messenger summoned Buraydah ibn al-Husayb,
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who was a chieftain of my tribe, Banu Aslam,
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and said to him:
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"O Buraydah,
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collect for Rabi'ah the weight of a date stone in gold."
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So they collected it for me.
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Then the Messenger (peace be upon him) said to me:
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"Take this to them
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and tell them, 'This is the dowry of your daughter.'"
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So I went to them and handed it over to them,
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and they accepted it, were pleased with it,
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and said, "This is abundant and good."
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Then I came to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)
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and said:
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"I have never seen a people more noble than them;
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they were pleased with what I gave them despite its small amount,
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and said, 'It is abundant and good.'
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So from where shall I get that with which to host a wedding feast, O Messenger of Allah?"
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So the Messenger said to Buraydah:
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"Collect for Rabi'ah the price of a ram."
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So they bought for me a large, fat ram.
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Then the Messenger (peace be upon him) said to me:
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"Go to 'A'ishah,
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and tell her to give you whatever barley she has."
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So I went to her, and she said, "Take this large basket;
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in it are seven sa's of barley.
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By Allah, we have no other food besides it."
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So I took the ram and the barley to my wife's family.
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They said, "As for the barley, we will prepare it,
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but as for the ram, tell your companions to prepare it for you."
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So I took the ram—
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I and some people from the tribe of Aslam took it—
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and we slaughtered it, skinned it, and cooked it.
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So we had bread and meat.
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I hosted the wedding feast and invited the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
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and he accepted my invitation.
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Later on, the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
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granted me a piece of land adjacent to a piece of land belonging to Abu Bakr.
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Then worldly gain came upon me,
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to the point that I disputed with Abu Bakr over a date palm.
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I said, "It is on my land,"
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and he said, "No, it is on my land."
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So I argued with him, and he uttered a word to me that I disliked.
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As soon as the word slipped out, he regretted it and said,
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"O Rabi'ah, say the same word back to me
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so that it may be equal retribution."
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I replied, "No, by Allah, I will not do so!"
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He said, "In that case, I will go to the Messenger of Allah
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and complain to him about your refusal to take retribution from me."
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So he set off to the Prophet,
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and I followed behind him.
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My people from the tribe of Aslam followed me
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and said, "He was the one who started it with you and insulted you,
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yet he precedes you to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
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to complain about you?!"
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I turned to them and said, "Woe to you!
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Do you know who this is? This is al-Siddiq,
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the revered elder of the Muslims!
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Go back before he turns around and sees you,
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lest he think you only came to assist me against him,
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causing him to become angry, and then he goes to the Messenger of Allah,
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and the Prophet becomes angry on account of his anger,
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and Allah becomes angry on account of their anger, thus destroying Rabi'ah!"
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So they went back.
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Then Abu Bakr came to the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
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and related the story to him exactly as it had happened.
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The Messenger raised his head toward me and said,
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"O Rabi'ah, what happened between you and al-Siddiq?"
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I said, "O Messenger of Allah,
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he wanted me to say to him what he had said to me,
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but I refused." He said, "Indeed,
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do not say to him what he said to you,
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but rather say: May Allah forgive Abu Bakr."
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So I said to him, "May Allah forgive you,
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O Abu Bakr."
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Whereupon he turned and walked away, his eyes overflowing with tears,
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saying, "May Allah reward you with good on my behalf, O Rabi'ah Ibn Ka'b.
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May Allah reward you with good on my behalf, O Rabi'ah Ibn Ka'b."