Part of Treasures of the Prophetic Biography (series completed)
· Lesson 47 of 58
Treasures of biography | Sheikh Othman Al-Khamis | Episode (47) last | The story of Kaab bin Malik’s repentance, 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 Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.
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Treasures of the Prophetic Biography (Seerah).
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The repentance of Ka'b ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him).
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Al-Bukhari and Muslim related
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on the authority of Ibn Shihab that he said:
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"Then the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, set out on the expedition of Tabuk,
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intending to engage the Byzantines and the Christian Arabs of the Levant."
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Ibn Shihab said:
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"'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Ka'b ibn Malik informed me
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that 'Abd Allah ibn Ka'b—
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who was Ka'b's guide among his sons when he became blind—
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said:
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'I heard Ka'b ibn Malik recount his story
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when he stayed behind and did not accompany the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) in the Battle of Tabuk.'
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Ka'b ibn Malik said:
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'I had never stayed behind from any military expedition led by the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him),
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except for the expedition of Tabuk;
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although I had also stayed behind at the Battle of Badr,
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yet he did not reproach anyone who stayed behind from it.
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For the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) had set out
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along with the Muslims seeking only the caravan of Quraysh,
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until Allah brought them and their enemy together without any prior appointment.
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Furthermore, I had witnessed the Night of al-'Aqabah with the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)
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when we pledged our allegiance to Islam,
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and I would not trade my presence at al-'Aqabah for having fought at Badr,
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even though Badr is more widely remembered among the people than it.
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And part of my story when I stayed behind from the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)
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during the expedition of Tabuk
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was that I was never physically stronger or more prosperous
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than when I stayed behind from him during that expedition.
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By Allah, I had never before owned two riding mounts at once,
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until I gathered two for that very campaign.
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The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) embarked on it during intense heat,
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facing a long journey across barren deserts,
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and confronting a vast enemy army.
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So he made the matter clear to the Muslims
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so that they could prepare adequately for their expedition;
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thus he informed them of the destination he intended.
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The Muslims accompanying the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) were numerous,
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and no written register kept record of them all;
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everyone simply recognized his companions.'
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Ka'b said:
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'Thus, rare was the man who wished to remain behind
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except that he assumed his absence would remain unnoticed,
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unless revelation concerning him was sent down by Allah, Glorified and Exalted be He.
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The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) launched that expedition
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at a time when fruits had ripened and shade was most pleasant,
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and I was greatly inclined toward them'—
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that is, leaning toward enjoying them.
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'So the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and the Muslims with him prepared,
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and I would go out in the morning intending to prepare alongside them,
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but I would return without having accomplished anything,
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saying to myself:
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"I am capable of doing that whenever I wish."
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That state of procrastination continued to overcome me,
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while the people remained earnest in their preparations,
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until morning came and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) marched out,
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with the Muslims alongside him,
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while I had not completed any part of my preparation.
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Then I went out again in the morning to prepare,
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but I returned without having accomplished anything.
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That continued to overcome me
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until the army sped on and the campaign was well underway.'
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This demonstrates that a person must pay attention to a crucial matter,
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which is the absolute necessity of being resolute and decisive;
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for procrastination weakens resolve
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until one abandons what he had firmly intended to do.
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'If you possess sound judgment, be a person of firm resolve;
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for the ruin of sound judgment is hesitation.'
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He said:
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'So I intended to set out and catch up with them,
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and how I wish I had done so!
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But that was not decreed for me.
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Whenever I went out among the people after the departure of the Prophet (peace be upon him),
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it distressed me that I saw no one like me,
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except for a man suspected of hypocrisy
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or one of the weak whom Allah had excused.
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The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) did not mention me
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until he reached Tabuk.
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While sitting among the people in Tabuk, he asked:
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"What has Ka'b ibn Malik done?"
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A man from Banu Salimah said:
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"O Messenger of Allah,
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his two fine garments and admiring his own shoulders have detained him!"
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Thereupon, Mu'adh ibn Jabal countered him, saying:
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"What an evil thing you have said!
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By Allah, O Messenger of Allah,
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we know nothing of him but good."
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While they were discussing that,
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he saw a man clad in white emerging through the mirage'—
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that is, approaching from afar.
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'The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:
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"Be Abu Khaythamah!"
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And indeed, it was Abu Khaythamah al-Ansari,
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the one who had donated a sa' of dates
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when the hypocrites mocked him.
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Ka'b ibn Malik said:
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"When news reached me that the Messenger of Allah was returning homeward,
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deep grief overcame me,
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and I began to conjure up falsehood,
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saying:
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'How can I escape his displeasure tomorrow?'
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and I sought the counsel of every wise person in my household.
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But when it was said to me
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that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
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was already approaching,
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all false thoughts vanished from me,
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and I realized that I would never be saved by lying.
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So I firmly resolved to speak the absolute truth to him.
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The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) arrived in the morning,
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and it was his custom whenever he returned from a journey
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to begin by entering the mosque and praying two rak'ahs there,
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then he would sit with the people.
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When he had done that and sat down,
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those who had stayed behind—the hypocrites—came to him,
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presenting their excuses and swearing oaths to him;
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they were some eighty-odd men.
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The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) accepted their outward professions,
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took their allegiance,
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and asked forgiveness for them,
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entrusting their inner secrets to Allah.
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Then I came forward;
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and when I greeted him, he smiled the smile of one who is angry.
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Then he said: 'Come forward.'
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So I approached, walking until I sat down before him.
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He asked me: 'What held you back?
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Had you not already purchased your mount?'
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I said: 'O Messenger of Allah!
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By Allah, if I were sitting before anyone else among the people of this world,
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I would know how to escape his anger with an excuse,
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for I have been gifted with skill in argument.
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But, by Allah,
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I know that if I tell you a falsehood today
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to win your pleasure with me, just as you were pleased with them,
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Allah will soon cause you to be angry with me.
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And if I speak to you the truth, though you will be displeased with me for it,
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I truly hope for Allah's pardon and a favorable outcome from Him.
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By Allah, I had no excuse;
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by Allah, I was never stronger
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nor more prosperous than when I stayed behind from you.'
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Thereupon, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said:
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'As for this man, he has spoken the truth.
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Stand up until Allah decides your case.'
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So I stood up,
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and men from Banu Salimah hastened after me,
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pursuing me
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and saying to me:
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'By Allah, we never knew you to have committed a sin before this!
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Were you truly unable
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to present an excuse to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)
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similar to the excuses presented by those who stayed behind?
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For it would have been sufficient expiation for your sin
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that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) seek forgiveness for you.'
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Ka'b said:
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'By Allah, they continued to reprimand me
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until I was on the verge of returning to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)
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to declare myself a liar.
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Then I asked them:
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"Has anyone else met with the same outcome as I have?"
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They said: "Yes,
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two men are in your situation; they said the same as you did,
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and the same was said to them as was said to you."
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I asked: "Who are they?"
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They said:
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"Murarah ibn al-Rabi'
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and Hilal ibn Umayyah."
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Thus they mentioned to me two righteous men
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in whom there was an exemplary model for me;
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so I held firm when they mentioned them to me.
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Then the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) forbade
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the Muslims from speaking to us,
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so the people avoided us.
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And here lay the true trial,
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knowing that he did not forbid speaking to the hypocrites,
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even though the hypocrites had combined evil in three ways:
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first,
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like these men,
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they had stayed behind without an excuse;
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second,
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they were hypocrites;
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and third,
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they lied to the Prophet (peace be upon him).
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The scholars explained:
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social boycotting is a remedy,
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and a remedy benefits a believer,
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whereas it does not benefit a hypocrite;
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indeed, the sin of the hypocrite is too grave for boycotting to be of any avail.
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Ka'b said:
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"And the people's attitude toward us changed,
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to the point that the very earth seemed alien to me;
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it was no longer the land I used to know.
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We remained in that condition for fifty nights.
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As for my two companions,
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they resigned themselves, staying inside their homes and weeping over what had occurred.
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But as for me,
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I was the youngest and most resilient of the group;
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so I would go out, attend the congregational prayer,
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and walk through the marketplaces,
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and no one would speak to me.
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I would come to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him),
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and greet him while he sat in his gathering after the prayer,
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and I would say to myself:
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"Did he move his lips to return the greeting or not?"
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Then I would pray close to him,
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and steal glances at him;
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whenever I turned to my prayer,
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he would look at me,
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but whenever I turned toward him, he would look away from me.
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When this prolonged estrangement became unbearable for me,
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I walked until I climbed over the wall of the orchard of Abu Qatadah,
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who was my cousin and the dearest of all people to me.
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I greeted him with peace,
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but by Allah, he did not return my greeting.
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So I said to him:
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"O Abu Qatadah,
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I implore you by Allah,
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do you know that I love Allah and His Messenger?"
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He said:
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But he remained silent.
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I repeated my plea to him, and he still remained silent.
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I pleaded with him once more, and he replied:
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"Allah and His Messenger know best."
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Thereupon my eyes overflowed with tears,
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and I turned back and climbed over the wall.
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He said:
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While I was walking through the market of Madinah,
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suddenly a Nabataean Christian from the people of the Levant,
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among those who had brought food grains to sell in Madinah,
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was saying:
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"Who will direct me to Ka'b ibn Malik?"
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He said:
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The people began pointing toward me,
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until he came up to me
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and handed me a letter from the King of Ghassan.
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I was a literate man,
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so I read it, and it said:
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"To proceed:
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It has reached us that your companion has shunned you,
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yet Allah has not placed you in a home of humiliation or neglect,
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so join us, and we will console and honor you."
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He said:
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When I read it, I said:
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"This too is part of the trial!"
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So I went with it straight to the oven
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and burned it to ashes.
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This demonstrates the virtue of hastening to destroy anything that is feared to cause
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corruption and harm to one’s religious commitment.
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Thus, whoever possesses indecent videos,
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pictures, illicit websites on the internet,
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or anything of the sort,
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must get rid of them once they repent,
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so that they do not return to them
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whenever their soul and Satan tempt them.
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Ka'b said:
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When forty out of the fifty nights had passed,
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and the revelation was delayed,
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suddenly the messenger of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)
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came to me and said:
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"The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)
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orders you to separate from your wife."
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He said:
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I asked:
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"Should I divorce her, or what should I do?"
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He said: "No,
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rather stay away from her
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and do not approach her."
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He said:
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And he sent the same instruction to my two companions.
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So I said to my wife:
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"Go to your family
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and stay with them until Allah decrees a judgment in this matter."
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Then the wife of Hilal ibn Umayyah came to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)
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and said to him: "O Messenger of Allah,
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Hilal ibn Umayyah is an old, helpless man
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who has no servant;
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do you dislike that I should serve him?"
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He replied: "No,
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but let him not approach you."
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She said:
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"By Allah, he has no inclination toward anything,
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and by Allah, he has not ceased weeping ever since this ordeal began."
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Ka'b said:
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Some of my family members said to me:
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"Why do you not ask permission from the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) regarding your wife,
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as he has permitted the wife of Hilal ibn Umayyah to serve him?"
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He said:
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I replied:
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"I will not ask permission from the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) regarding her,
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for what would I know of what the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) might say
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if I were to ask his permission concerning her,
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seeing that I am a young man?"
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So I remained in that state for ten more nights,
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thus completing the fifty nights.
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Fifty full nights had passed for us since people were forbidden from speaking to us.
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He said:
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Then, on the morning of the fiftieth night, I prayed the Fajr prayer
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on the roof of one of our houses.
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While I was sitting in that condition which Allah, the Exalted and Majestic, mentioned of us,
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where my own soul felt constricted to me,
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and the earth, vast as it is, seemed constrained upon me,
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I heard the voice of a herald who had climbed atop Mount Sal'
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shouting at the top of his voice:
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"O Ka'b ibn Malik,
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rejoice with glad tidings!"
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I immediately fell down in prostration,
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realizing that relief had finally come.
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This indicates that when a person receives joyful news,
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they should prostrate to Allah in gratitude.
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He said:
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The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) had announced Allah's acceptance of our repentance to the people
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when he performed the Fajr prayer,
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so the people set out to give us the glad tidings.
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Bearers of glad tidings went toward my two companions,
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while a horseman galloped toward me,
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and an envoy from the tribe of Aslam ran toward me and climbed the mountain;
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his voice proved faster than the horse.
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When the one whose voice I had heard giving me the glad tidings came to me,
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I took off my two garments
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and clothed him with them as a reward for his good news.
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By Allah, I possessed no other clothes than them on that day.
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So I borrowed two garments, put them on,
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and set out heading toward the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him).
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This demonstrates to us the extent of their love for the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him);
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for although he was the one who commanded the boycott,
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he was the very first person Ka'b went to.
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He said:
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The people were meeting me group after group,
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congratulating me on the acceptance of my repentance, saying:
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"May Allah’s acceptance of your repentance bring you joy!"
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until I entered the mosque.
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There I found the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)
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sitting in the mosque surrounded by the people.
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Then Talhah ibn 'Ubaydullah stood up and hastened toward me
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until he shook my hand and congratulated me.
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By Allah, no other man from the Muhajirun stood up for me besides him,
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and Ka'b never forgot that gesture of Talhah.
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When I greeted the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him),
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he said, his face beaming with joy:
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"Rejoice in the best day that has passed over you since your mother gave birth to you!"
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I asked: "Is it from you, O Messenger of Allah,
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or is it from Allah?"
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He replied: "No,
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rather it is from Allah."
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Whenever the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)
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was pleased, his face would become luminous,
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as if it were a piece of the moon,
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and we used to recognize that in him.
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When I sat before him,
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I said: "O Messenger of Allah,
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as part of my repentance,
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I divest myself of all my wealth as charity for the sake of Allah and His Messenger."
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The Prophet (peace be upon him) said:
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"Keep some of your wealth,
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for that is better for you."
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He said:
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"Then I will retain only my share in Khaybar."
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He said:
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I said: "O Messenger of Allah,
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Allah has saved me only because of truthfulness,
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and part of my repentance is
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that I shall speak nothing but the truth for as long as I live."
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He said:
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By Allah, I do not know of any Muslim whom Allah tested in truthfulness of speech,
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since the day I mentioned that to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)
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until this day of mine,
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in a manner better than what Allah tested me with.
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By Allah, I have never intentionally uttered a lie
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since I said that to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)
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until this day of mine,
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and I truly hope that Allah will preserve me in what remains of my life.
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He said:
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Then Allah, Blessed and Exalted, revealed:
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“Allah hath turned in mercy to the Prophet, and to the Muhajirin and the Ansar who followed him in the hour of hardship. After the hearts of a party of them had almost swerved aside, then turned He unto them in mercy. Lo! He is Full of Pity, Merciful for them.” (9:117)
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“Allah hath turned in mercy to the Prophet, and to the Muhajirin and the Ansar who followed him in the hour of hardship. After the hearts of a party of them had almost swerved aside, then turned He unto them in mercy. Lo! He is Full of Pity, Merciful for them.” (9:117)
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"Then He turned to them in forgiveness; indeed, He is to them Kind and Merciful,"
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"and to the three who were left behind..."
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“And to the three also (did He turn in mercy) who were left behind, when the earth, vast as it is, was straitened for them, and their own souls were straitened for them till they bethought them that there is no refuge from Allah save toward Him. Then turned He unto them in mercy that they (too) might turn (repentant unto Him). Lo! Allah! He is the Relenting, the Merciful.” (9:118)
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"...and they realized that there is no refuge from Allah except in Him..."
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“And to the three also (did He turn in mercy) who were left behind, when the earth, vast as it is, was straitened for them, and their own souls were straitened for them till they bethought them that there is no refuge from Allah save toward Him. Then turned He unto them in mercy that they (too) might turn (repentant unto Him). Lo! Allah! He is the Relenting, the Merciful.” (9:118)
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"...Indeed, Allah is the Accepter of Repentance, the Merciful."
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By Allah, Allah has never bestowed upon me any blessing,
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after guiding me to Islam,
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greater in my estimation than my truthfulness with the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him),
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that I did not lie to him and thus perish as those who lied perished.
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For Allah, the Exalted, said concerning those who lied when the revelation descended:
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“They will swear by Allah unto you, when ye return unto them, that ye may let them be. Let them be, for lo! they are unclean, and their abode is hell as the reward for what they used to earn.” (9:95)
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“They will swear by Allah unto you, when ye return unto them, that ye may let them be. Let them be, for lo! they are unclean, and their abode is hell as the reward for what they used to earn.” (9:95)
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“They will swear by Allah unto you, when ye return unto them, that ye may let them be. Let them be, for lo! they are unclean, and their abode is hell as the reward for what they used to earn.” (9:95)
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“They swear unto you, that ye may accept them. Though ye accept them. Allah verily accepteth not wrongdoing folk.” (9:96)
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“They swear unto you, that ye may accept them. Though ye accept them. Allah verily accepteth not wrongdoing folk.” (9:96)
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Imagine Ka'b reciting these verses now in his prayer,
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knowing that Allah is speaking about him and his companions,
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and reciting as well what Allah revealed about the hypocrites who lied,
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and how Allah protected him from lying.
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By Allah, how profound must his feelings have been!
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It was undeniably an indescribable happiness,
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indeed just as the Prophet (peace be upon him) said:
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"Rejoice in the best day that has passed over you since your mother gave birth to you!"
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Ka'b said:
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"The matter of us three was deferred
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from the affair of those whose excuses the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) accepted when they swore to him,
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pledged allegiance to them, and sought forgiveness for them;
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whereas the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) postponed our matter
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until Allah decreed His judgment concerning it.
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It is in reference to this that Allah, the Exalted and Majestic, said:
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“And to the three also (did He turn in mercy) who were left behind, when the earth, vast as it is, was straitened for them, and their own souls were straitened for them till they bethought them that there is no refuge from Allah save toward Him. Then turned He unto them in mercy that they (too) might turn (repentant unto Him). Lo! Allah! He is the Relenting, the Merciful.” (9:118)
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And what Allah mentioned regarding our having been left behind does not refer to our lagging behind from the battle;
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rather, it refers to His postponing the decision regarding our case.
20:35
Treasures of the Prophetic biography (Seerah).