Part of Who am I?
· Lesson 11 of 296
Learn about the companions, scholars, and notables | Who am I? | H (11) | Abu Rafi, the servant of the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace
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Transcript
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Pause.
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Get to know the Companions, the scholars, and the most exalted.
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A serious challenge: who am I?
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I am a Coptic Companion from Egypt.
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I was a servant to al-'Abbas ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib, may Allah be pleased with him.
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He gifted me to the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
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The Prophet freed me when I brought him the glad tidings of the conversion of al-'Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him.
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Thus, I became a freedman of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him.
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I embraced Islam before the Battle of Badr.
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Islam had already entered our household.
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Al-'Abbas embraced Islam, his wife Umm al-Fadl embraced Islam, and I embraced Islam.
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Al-'Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him,
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used to fear his people and disliked opposing them.
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He kept his Islam hidden.
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He possessed great wealth distributed among his people.
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Abu Lahab, the enemy of Allah,
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had stayed behind from the Battle of Badr.
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When news arrived of the defeat of the Quraysh at Badr,
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Allah humiliated and disgraced him.
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I was working, carving arrow shafts in the chamber of Zamzam.
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By Allah, I was sitting there carving my shafts,
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with Umm al-Fadl sitting beside me,
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and we were pleased with the news that had come.
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Suddenly, Abu Lahab approached, dragging his feet in misery,
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until he sat against the wall of the chamber.
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His back was toward my back.
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While he was sitting there,
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Abu Sufyan ibn al-Harith arrived.
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Abu Lahab said,
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"Come here," and he sat beside him.
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He asked,
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"O nephew, tell me, how did the people fare?"
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He replied, "There is nothing to say.
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By Allah, we simply encountered the people,
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and we turned our backs to them; they killed us however they wished,
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and they took us captive however they wished.
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Yet, by Allah, I do not blame the people.
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We encountered white men on piebald horses,
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between the heaven and the earth.
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By Allah, nothing could stand against them."
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I lifted the curtain of the chamber with my hand,
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and said, "By Allah, those were the angels."
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Abu Lahab raised his hand,
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and struck my face a severe blow.
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I grappled with him,
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and he picked me up and threw me to the ground.
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Then he knelt upon me, beating me.
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I was a weak man.
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Umm al-Fadl stood up, took a tent pole from the chamber,
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and struck him with it,
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inflicting a terrible wound on his head.
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She said, "You take advantage of him because his master is away?"
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He stood up, turning away in humiliation.
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By Allah, he only lived for seven nights,
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until Allah afflicted him with the ulcer that killed him.
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His sons left him for two or three days without burying him,
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until he began to rot in his house.
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The Quraysh feared the ulcer and its contagion,
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just as people fear the plague.
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Finally, a man from Quraysh said to them,
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"Woe to you! Are you not ashamed?
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Your father is rotting in his house, and you will not bury him?"
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They said, "We fear this ulcer."
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He said, "Come, I will help you."
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They did not wash him, but rather threw water on him from a distance.
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They would not touch him.
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Then they carried him on his bed,
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and buried him at the high part of Makkah against a wall.
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They threw stones upon him until they covered him.
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Then I migrated to Madinah,
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and I witnessed the battles with the Prophet, peace be upon him.
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I asked his permission to take from the charity (zakat).
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He said, "The freedman of a people is one of them,
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and charity is not permissible for us."
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So, who am I?
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We will confirm the correct answer in the comments
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when the next episode is released,
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if Allah wills.
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The best of generations in stance and example,
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following the Messenger whether he strove or spoke.
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They were here, watering our lives like rain,
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and their memory lives on within us, exalted.
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They departed, leaving a question in the conscience:
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Is there any star like them that has risen and shone?
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They filled life with pride through their deeds,
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and the world of the Ummah flourished because of them.