In the Waddan valley
which connects Makkah with the outside world, lived the tribe of Ghifar.
The Ghifar existed on
the meagre offerings of the trade caravans of the Quraysh which plied between
Syria and Makkah. It is likely that they also lived by raiding these caravans
when they were not given enough to satisfy their needs.
Jundub ibn Junadah,
nicknamed Abu Dharr, was a member of this tribe. He was known for his courage,
his calmness and his farsightedness and also for the repugnance he felt against
the idols which his people worshipped. He rejected the silly religious beliefs
and the religious corruption in which the Arabs were engaged.
While he was in the
Waddan desert, news reached Abu Dharr that a new Prophet had appeared in Makkah.
He really hoped that his appearance would help to change the hearts and minds
of people and lead them away from the darkness of superstition. Without wasting
much time, he called his brother, Anis, and said to him:
"Go to Makkah
and get whatever news you can of this man who claims that he is a Prophet and
that revelation comes to him from the heavens. Listen to some of his sayings
and come back and recite them to me."
Anis went to Makkah
and met the Prophet, peace and blessings of God be on him. He listened to what he
had to say and returned to the Waddan desert. Abu Dharr met him and anxiously
asked for news of the Prophet.
"I have seen a
man," reported Anis, "who calls people to noble qualities and there
is no mere poetry in what he says."
"What do people say
about him?" asked Abu Dharr.
"They say he is
a magician, a soothsayer and a poet."
"My curiosity is
not satisfied. I am not finished with this matter. Will you look after my
family while I go out and examine this prophet's mission myself?"
"Yes. But beware
of the Makkans."
On his arrival at
Makkah, Abu Dharr immediately felt very apprehensive and he decided to exercise
great caution. The Quraysh were noticeably angry over the denunciation of their
gods.
Abu Dharr heard of
the terrible violence they were meting out to the followers of the Prophet but
this was what he expected. He, therefore, refrained from asking anyone about
Muhammad not knowing whether that person might be a follower or an enemy.
At nightfall, he lay
down in the Sacred Mosque. Ali ibn abi Talib passed by him and, realising that
he was a stranger, asked him to come to his house. Abu Dharr spent the night
with him and in the morning took his water pouch and his bag containing
provisions and returned to the Mosque. He had asked no questions and no
questions were asked of him.
Abu Dharr spent the
following day without getting to know the Prophet. At evening he went to the Mosque
to sleep and Ali again passed by him and said:
"Isn't it time
that a man knows his house?"
Abu Dharr accompanied
him and stayed at his house a second night. Again no one asked the other about anything.
On the third night,
however, Ali asked him, "Aren't you going to tell me why you came to
Makkah?"
"Only if you
will give me an undertaking that you will guide me to what I seek."
Ali agreed and Abu
Dharr said:
"I came to
Makkah from a distant place seeking a meeting with the new Prophet and to
listen to some of what he has to say."
Ali's face lit up
with happiness as he said, "By God, he is really the Messenger of
God," and he went on telling Abu Dharr more about the Prophet and his
teaching.
Finally, he said:
"When we get up
in the morning, follow me wherever I go. If I see anything which I am afraid of
for your sake, I would stop as if to pass water. If I continue, follow me until
you enter where I enter."
Abu Dharr did not
sleep a wink the rest of that night because of his intense longing to see the
Prophet and listen to the words of revelation. In the morning, he followed
closely in Ali's footsteps until they were in the presence of the Prophet.
"As-salaamu
alayka yaa Rasulullah, (Peace be on you, O Messenger of God)," greeted Abu
Dharr. " Wa alayka salaamullahi wa rahmatuhu wa barakaatuhu (And on you be
the peace of God, His mercy and His blessings)," replied the Prophet.
Abu Dharr was thus
the f1rst person to greet the Prophet with the greeting of Islam. After that,
the greeting spread and came into general use. The Prophet, peace be on him,
welcomed Abu Dharr and invited him to Islam. He recited some of the Qur'an for
him.
Before long, Abu
Dharr pronounced the Shahadah, thus entering the new religion (without even
leaving his place). He was among the first persons to accept Islam.
Let us leave Abu
Dharr to continue his own story . . .
After that I stayed
with the Prophet in Makkah and he taught me Islam and taught me to read the
Qur'an. Then he said to me, "Don't tell anyone in Makkah about your
acceptance of Islam. I fear that they will kill you."
"By Him in whose
hands is my soul, I shall not leave Makkah until I go to the Sacred Mosque and proclaim
the call of Truth in the midst of the Quraysh," vowed Abu Dharr.
The Prophet remained
silent. I went to the Mosque. The Quraysh were sitting and talking. I went in
their midst and called out at the top of my voice, "O people of Quraysh, I
testify that there is no God but Allah and that Muhammad is the messenger of
Allah."
My words had an
immediate effect on them. They jumped up and said, "Get this one who has
left his religion." They pounced on me and began to beat me mercilessly.
They clearly meant to kill me. But Abbas ibn Abdulmuttalib, the uncle of the
Prophet, recognised me. He bent over and protected me from them. He told them:
"Woe to you!
Would you kill a man from the Ghifar tribe and your caravans must pass through
their territory?"
They then released
me. I went back to the Prophet, upon whom be peace, and when he saw my condition,
he said, "Didn't I tell you not to announce your acceptance of
Islam?"
"O Messenger of
God," I said, "It was a need I felt in my soul and I fulfilled
it." "Go to your people," he commanded, "and tell them what
you have seen and heard. Invite them to God. Maybe God will bring them good
through you and reward you through them. And when you hear that I have come out in the open, then come to
me."
I left and went back
to my people. My brother came up to me and asked, "What have you
done?" I told him that I had become a Muslim and that I believed in the
truth of Muhammad's teachings.
"I am not averse
to your religion. In fact, I am also now a Muslim and a believer," he
said. We both went to our mother then and invited her to Islam.
"I do not have
any dislike for your religion. I accept Islam also," she said. From that
day this family of believers went out tirelessly inviting the Ghifar to God and
did not flinch from their purpose. Eventually a large number became Muslims and
the congregational Prayer was instituted among them.
Abu Dharr remained in
his desert abode until after the Prophet had gone to Madinah and the battles of
Badr, Uhud and Khandaq had been fought. At Madinah at last, he asked the
Prophet to be in his personal service.
The Prophet agreed
and was pleased with his companionship and service. He sometimes showed preference
to Abu Dharr above others and whenever he met him he would pat him and smile
and show his happiness.
After the death of
the Prophet, Abu Dharr could not bear to stay in Madinah because of grief and
the knowledge that there was to be no more of his guiding company. So he left
for the Syrian desert and stayed there during the caliphate of Abu Bakr and
Umar.
During the caliphate
of Uthman, he stayed in Damascus and saw the Muslims' concern for the world and
their consuming desire for luxury. He was saddened and repelled by this.
So Uthman asked him
to come to Madinah. At Madinah he was also critical of the people's pursuit of
worldly goods and pleasures and they were critical in turn of his reviling
them. Uthman therefore ordered that he should go to Rubdhah, a small village
near Madinah.
There he stayed far
away from people, renouncing their preoccupation with worldly goods and holding
on to the legacy of the Prophet and his companions in seeking the everlasting abode
of the Hereafter in preference to this transitory world.
Once a man visited
him and began looking at the contents of his house but found it quite bare. He
asked Abu Dharr:
"Where are your
possessions?"
"We have a house
yonder (meaning the Hereafter)," said Abu Dharr, "to which we send
the best of our possessions."
The man understood
what he meant and said:
"But you must
have some possessions so long as you are in this abode." "The owner
of this abode will not leave us in it," replied Abu Dharr.
Abu Dharr persisted
in his simple and frugal life to the end. Once the amir of Syria sent three
hundred dinars to Abu Dharr to meet his needs. He returned the money saying,
"Does not the amir of Syria find a servant more deserving of it than
I?"
In the year 32 AH,
the self-denying Abu Dharr passed away. The Prophet, peace be upon him, had
said of him:
"The earth does
not carry nor the heavens cover a man more true and faithful than Abu
Dharr."
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