Part of Pictures from the lives of the Companions (series completed)
· Lesson 85 of 93
Pictures from the lives of the Companions - Episode (100) - Al-Alaa bin Al-Hadrami, may God be pleased with him - Part Two
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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 upon him.
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Al-Ala' Ibn al-Hadrami, may Allah be pleased with you.
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The warriors, those seeking martyrdom, moved their camels forward,
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and resumed their bitter struggle against the Dahna desert in the Empty Quarter,
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until, by the permission of Allah and in His cause, they conquered its scorching sands,
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subdued its deadly wilderness,
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and terrified its ferocious beasts.
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They made the desert complain of their footsteps more than they complained of it.
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Whenever they were on the verge of exhaustion,
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their brilliant and peerless commander, Al-Ala' Ibn al-Hadrami, would appear before them,
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pouring into their hearts a spirit that filled them with resolve and determination,
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and imbuing them with a firmness and courage that ignited their zeal and boldness.
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He reminded them of Allah’s favor and mercy upon them in the Dahna desert,
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which increased them in faith upon their faith.
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The army of believers continued to press on, through the fatigue of the night and the day,
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until they reached Bahrain and encamped in its outskirts.
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The inspired commander did not waste a single moment of his time;
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he dispatched his scouts everywhere to gather intelligence for him,
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and to investigate the conditions.
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He learned that no sooner had the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
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passed to the side of his Lord, than the callers of evil arose, saying:
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"If Muhammad were a prophet, he would not have died."
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Consequently, the people of Bahrain all apostatized from their religion,
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and surrendered their leadership to al-Hutam Ibn Dubay'ah.
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Not a single person among them remained upon Islam,
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except for the people of one village: the village of Juwatha.
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As for the news of this faithful village,
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there was among them a man from the elite Companions of the Messenger, peace be upon him,
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namely al-Jarud Ibn al-Mu'alla.
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He had visited the Great Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
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and drank from his guidance as much as Allah willed for him to drink.
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Then he returned to his people,
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and remained among them, calling them to Allah the Almighty,
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and teaching them the upright religion.
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When he saw that his people were inclined to apostatize with the apostates,
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he gathered them and said:
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"O my people,
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I am going to ask you about a matter, so tell me if you know it."
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They said, "Ask."
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He said:
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"Do you know that Allah had prophets before Muhammad?"
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They said, "Yes."
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He said:
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"Then where are they?"
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They said:
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"They died."
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He said:
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"Then Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
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has died just as they died.
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And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah,
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and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah,
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and that Allah is Ever-Living and does not die."
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They said:
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"You are the best of us, the wisest of us, and our leader,
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and you have spoken nothing but the truth."
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Then they remained steadfast upon Islam,
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opposing all of their fellow tribesmen in doing so.
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At that, al-Hutam besieged them with his soldiers,
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tightened the noose around them,
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and cut off their food supplies,
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leaving them to die of hunger without war or combat.
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Yet that severe siege did not shake their faith.
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Their poet said,
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seeking help from al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, from afar:
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"Convey to Abu Bakr a complaint,
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and to the youth of Medina, all of us.
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Will you not help a noble people,
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sitting in Juwatha, besieged?
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We have placed our trust in the Most Merciful, for we
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have found patience for those who trust."
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No sooner had Al-Ala' Ibn al-Hadrami reached Bahrain
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than he sent a disguised messenger to Juwatha,
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ordering him to inform al-Jarud of the arrival of the Muslim army,
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to strengthen his resolve and the resolve of his people,
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and to ask them to prepare for the decisive moment
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when the Muslims would decide to strike at their enemy.
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Al-Ala' Ibn al-Hadrami realized that he had no power
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to fight al-Hutam and his men,
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due to their great numbers and his small army,
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their strength and his weakness,
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and their abundance of equipment and supplies versus his scarcity of resources.
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So he dug a trench for his army to take cover in,
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and al-Hutam did the same,
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because his fear of the Muslims
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was no less than the Muslims' fear of him.
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The seasoned Muslim commander armed himself with patience,
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and took every precaution and care.
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The two parties remained for a whole month, engaging in
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light skirmishes during the day,
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and returning to their trenches at night.
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Throughout this, Al-Ala' was sharp of hearing,
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keen of sight,
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and intensely attentive to everything happening behind the enemy's trenches,
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waiting for the opportunity that would allow him
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to pounce on his enemy during one of their moments of negligence.
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One night,
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the Muslim scouts and spies
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heard a commotion in the enemy camp,
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and saw unusual movement from afar.
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Al-Ala' said to his men:
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"Who will bring us news of the people?"
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A man named Abdullah Ibn Hadhf stood up to him
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and said:
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"I will bring you their news, O Commander."
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He commissioned him for that task,
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warned him, advised him,
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and entrusted him to Allah.
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Abdullah Ibn Hadhf went toward the enemy trenches,
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hidden by the cover of darkness,
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and crossed the trenches with agility and caution.
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When he was inside their camp,
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they noticed him and captured him.
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At that moment,
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he began to cry out for help, calling:
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"O Abjar! O Abjar!"
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The Abjar he called upon
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was a man from the Banu 'Ijl,
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of high standing in al-Hutam's army.
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Abdullah's mother was from the 'Ijl tribe.
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Abjar came to him and asked about his lineage,
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so he identified himself and said to him:
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"You are my maternal uncles."
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He recognized him and granted him protection,
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and inquired about his situation.
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He said:
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"I lost my way,
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and landed among your soldiers,
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so they took me prisoner."
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Abjar said to him:
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"By Allah, I think you
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have come to your maternal uncles."
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Abdullah said to him:
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"Leave that aside,
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and feed me, for hunger has killed me."
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He offered him food,
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and he began to eat it slowly and deliberately,
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to learn about the state of the people,
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and to uncover the secrets of their news.
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When he had achieved what he wanted, he said:
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"Provide for me, give me a mount,
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and grant me passage until I reach my people's camp."
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So he provided for him, gave him a mount,
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and sent someone with him to escort him until he reached safety.
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When he arrived at the Muslim camp,
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he informed Al-Ala' that the people were celebrating
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one of their occasions,
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that they had scattered jars of wine everywhere,
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and were drinking from them greedily,
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until drunkenness overcame them,
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leaving them between sleeping, stuporous,
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and rowdy, not knowing what they were doing,
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and that his 'Ijli relative was among the latter group.
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Al-Ala' did not waste a single minute of time,
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so he sent word to al-Jarud ordering him to attack
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the enemies from the rear,
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while he himself launched his army toward them from the front,
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moving like arrows in the dimness of the darkness.
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He stormed the drunken army's
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fortified trenches from every side,
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and set his swords upon the necks of the enemy soldiers without mercy.
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The battle ended in a dire catastrophe for the apostate army
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and its leader, al-Hutam.
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As for the army's commander,
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he was asleep when the Muslims descended upon his camp like a thunderbolt,
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and nothing awakened him from his stupor
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but the clashing of swords and the thrusting of spears,
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and the sounds of *tahlil* and *takbir*.
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He jumped up in panic and mounted his horse,
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but the stirrup of his saddle snapped,
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so he began to call out:
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"I am al-Hutam! Who will fix my stirrup for me?"
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One of the Muslim soldiers approached him and said:
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"Raise your leg, O Commander, so I may fix it for you."
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When he raised his leg,
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he struck him with his sword and severed it from his body completely.
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He fell to the ground, blood gushing from him,
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and the pain searing his liver.
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At that, he began to ask everyone who passed by to finish him off,
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to be rid of his pain,
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and to escape the trampling of the feet of the defeated who were passing over him.
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He remained in this state
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until one of the Muslim soldiers killed him,
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without knowing who he really was.
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As for the army,
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it suffered a crushing and terrible defeat.
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One group fell dead in the trenches they had dug with their own hands,
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which became their graves,
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and another group was taken prisoner by the Muslims.
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However, the bulk of the army
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fled to the ships anchored on the shores,
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and turned their backs, escaping to the island of Darin.
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Al-Ala' Ibn al-Hadrami had liberated Bahrain,
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and restored it to the fold of Islam.
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But do you think that a hero and mujahid like him could ever rest,
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Nor can he close his eyes in sleep,
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as long as the apostates roam freely and securely in his vicinity,
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entrenched on the island of Darin.