Part of Pictures from the lives of the Companions (series completed)
· Lesson 12 of 93
Pictures from the lives of the Companions - Episode (27) - Saeed bin Zaid, 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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The Mawaddah Association is pleased
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to present to you glimpses 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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Sa'id ibn Zayd, may Allah be pleased with him.
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Zayd ibn 'Amr ibn Nufayl stood far from the bustle of the people,
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watching the Quraysh as they celebrated one of their festivals.
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He saw men wearing expensive silk turbans,
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and strutting in precious Yemeni cloaks.
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He watched the women and children,
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dressed in vibrant garments and exquisite finery.
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He looked at the livestock being led by the wealthy,
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after they had adorned them with various decorations,
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to slaughter them before their idols.
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He stood, leaning his back against the wall of the Ka'bah,
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and said, "O people of Quraysh!
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The sheep was created by Allah;
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He is the One who sent down rain from the sky for it, so it drank;
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and He caused grass to grow for it from the earth, so it was satisfied.
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Yet you slaughter it in the name of other than Him?
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I see you are a people who are ignorant."
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His uncle al-Khattab rose to him—
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the father of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab—
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and slapped him, saying,
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"May you be bereaved of your mother!
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We have continued to hear this insolence from you and have endured it,
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until our patience has run out."
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Then he incited the foolish among his people against him, so they harmed him,
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and persisted in their persecution of him,
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until he was forced to leave Makkah,
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and took refuge in Mount Hira'.
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Al-Khattab then assigned a group of Quraysh youth to watch him,
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to prevent him from entering Makkah.
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Thus, he could only enter it in secret.
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Later, Zayd ibn 'Amr ibn Nufayl
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met, away from the eyes of Quraysh,
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with Waraqah ibn Nawfal,
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'Abdullah ibn Jahsh,
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'Uthman ibn al-Harith,
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and Umaymah bint 'Abd al-Muttalib,
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the paternal aunt of Muhammad ibn 'Abdullah.
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They began to discuss the depths of misguidance in which the Arabs were drowning.
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Zayd said to his companions,
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"By Allah, you know that your people are upon nothing,
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and that they have missed the religion of Ibrahim and deviated from it.
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So seek for yourselves a religion to follow,
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if you desire salvation."
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The four men set out to the scholars of the Jews, the Christians, and others among the followers of various faiths,
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seeking the Hanifiyyah, the religion of Ibrahim.
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As for Waraqah ibn Nawfal, he became a Christian.
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As for 'Abdullah ibn Jahsh,
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and 'Uthman ibn al-Harith,
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they did not arrive at anything.
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As for Zayd ibn 'Amr ibn Nufayl,
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he had a story.
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Let us leave the floor to him to narrate it to us.
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Zayd said:
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"I examined Judaism and Christianity,
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but I turned away from both,
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for I did not find in them that which would bring me peace of mind.
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I began to travel the horizons in search of the religion of Ibrahim,
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until I reached the lands of al-Sham.
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A monk who possessed knowledge of the Scripture was mentioned to me,
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so I went to him and told him my story.
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He said,
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'I see you seek the religion of Ibrahim, O brother of Makkah.'
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I said, 'Yes, that is what I desire.'
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He said,
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'You are seeking a religion that does not exist today.
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However,
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return to your land,
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for Allah will send from your people one who will revive the religion of Ibrahim.
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So when you meet him, follow him.'"
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Zayd returned to Makkah, quickening his pace,
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in search of the promised Prophet.
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While he was on his way,
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Allah sent His Prophet Muhammad with the religion of guidance and truth.
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But Zayd did not live to see him,
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for a group of Bedouins attacked him and killed him before he reached Makkah,
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and before his eyes could be cooled by the sight of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
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As Zayd was breathing his last,
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he raised his gaze to the sky and said,
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"O Allah, if You have deprived me of this goodness,
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do not deprive my son Sa'id of it."
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Allah, glory be to Him, willed to answer Zayd's prayer.
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No sooner had the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, begun calling people to Islam,
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than Sa'id ibn Zayd was among the foremost of those who believed in Allah and affirmed the message of His Prophet.
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And it is no wonder,
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for Sa'id grew up in a house that rejected the misguidance of Quraysh,
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and was raised in the lap of a father who spent his life searching for the truth,
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and died while running breathlessly in pursuit of the truth.
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Sa'id did not embrace Islam alone;
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his wife, Fatimah bint al-Khattab, the sister of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, embraced Islam with him.
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The young Qurayshi faced such persecution from his people
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as would have been enough to turn him away from his religion.
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But instead of turning him away from Islam,
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he and his wife were able to win over one of the most influential men of Quraysh,
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and one of the most significant,
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as he was the cause of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab's conversion to Islam.
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Sa'id ibn Zayd ibn 'Amr ibn Nufayl dedicated all his youthful, vibrant energy to the service of Islam,
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for he embraced Islam when he had not yet reached the age of twenty.
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He witnessed all the battles with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, except for Badr,
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for he was absent on that day
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because he was on a mission assigned to him by the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
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He contributed with the Muslims to the toppling of the throne of Chosroes and the dismantling of the kingdom of Caesar.
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In every battle he fought, the Muslims witnessed
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his famous, glorious stances,
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and his praiseworthy, noble deeds.
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Perhaps the most magnificent of his heroics were those he recorded on the day of Yarmouk.
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So let us leave the floor to him to tell us a part of the story of that day.
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Sa'id ibn Zayd ibn 'Amr ibn Nufayl said:
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"On the day of Yarmouk, we were twenty-four thousand or thereabouts.
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The Romans came out against us with one hundred and twenty thousand.
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They advanced toward us with heavy steps, as if they were mountains moved by invisible hands.
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Before them marched the bishops, patriarchs, and priests,
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carrying crosses and chanting prayers aloud.
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The army behind them repeated the chants, and they had a roar like the roar of thunder.
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When the Muslims saw them in this state,
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a measure of fear entered their hearts.
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At that moment, Abu 'Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah stood up to urge the Muslims to fight.
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He said, 'Servants of Allah!
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Help Allah, and He will help you and make your feet firm.
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Servants of Allah, be patient, for patience is a salvation from disbelief,
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a means of pleasing the Lord, and a way to repel shame.
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Level your spears, shield yourselves with your shields,
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and remain silent, except for the remembrance of Allah, the Almighty, in your hearts,
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until I give you the command, if Allah wills.'"
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Sa'id said, at that moment,
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a man from the ranks of the Muslims stepped forward
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and said to Abu 'Ubaydah,
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"I have resolved to meet my fate this hour.
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Do you have a message you wish to send to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him?"
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Abu 'Ubaydah said, "Yes.
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Convey my greetings and the greetings of the Muslims to him,
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and say to him, 'O Messenger of Allah,
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we have found what our Lord promised us to be true.'"
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Sa'id said, "No sooner had I heard his words,
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and seen him draw his sword,
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and set out to meet the enemies of Allah,
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than I threw myself to the ground,
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knelt on my knees,
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leveled my spear,
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and struck the first horseman who approached us.
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Then I leaped toward the enemy,
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and Allah had removed all the fear from my heart.
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The people surged against the Romans,
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and they continued to fight them
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until Allah decreed victory for the believers."
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Sa'id ibn Zayd witnessed the conquest of Damascus after that.
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When it submitted to the Muslims in obedience,
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Abu 'Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah appointed him as its governor.
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Thus, he was the first Muslim to govern Damascus.
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During the time of the Umayyads,
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an incident occurred to Sa'id ibn Zayd
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that the people of Yathrib spoke of for a long time.
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It was that Arwa bint Uways
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claimed that Sa'id ibn Zayd
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had usurped a portion of her land
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and added it to his own.
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She began to spread this among the Muslims
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and talk about it.
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Then she took her case to Marwan ibn al-Hakam,
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the governor of Madinah.
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Marwan sent people to him to speak with him about it.
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The matter was difficult for the Companion of the Messenger of Allah,
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and he said, "They claim I oppressed her?
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How could I oppress her,
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when I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, say:
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'Whoever usurps a span of land,
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it will be hung around his neck on the Day of Resurrection from seven earths.'
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O Allah, she has claimed that I oppressed her.
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If she is a liar,
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then take away her sight,
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and cast her into the well over which she disputes with me,
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and reveal a sign of the truth that makes it clear to the Muslims that I did not oppress her."
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Not long after that,
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the 'Aqiq valley flooded with a flow such as had never been seen before,
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which uncovered the boundary over which they had been disputing.
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It became clear to the Muslims that Sa'id was truthful.
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The woman did not live more than a month after that before she went blind.
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And while she was walking on that land of hers,
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she fell into her well.
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'Abdullah ibn 'Umar said,
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"We used to hear people, when we were boys, say to one another,
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'May Allah make you blind, just as He made Arwa blind.'"
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There is no wonder in that,
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for the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, says:
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"Beware of the supplication of the oppressed,
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for there is no veil between it and Allah."
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So how much more so when the oppressed is Sa'id ibn Zayd,
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one of the ten promised Paradise?
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"O Allah, if You have deprived me of this goodness,
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do not deprive my son Sa'id of it."
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Zayd, the father of Sa'id,
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the oppressed.