Abu Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah

Alhamdulillah Wa Salatu Wa Salaamu Ala Sayyidina Muhammad Wa Ala Alihi Wa Sahbihi

Wa Salim

The Prophet (saw) said in a Hadith: “The best generation is mine, then the one after and the
one after that”.

Importance of Sahaba
Meaning the Sahaba, The Tabi’een and Tabi Tabi’een. Today I want to start off with a question
whereby I will give you 2 list and you need to identify how many of you know those
characters…First list MJ, Amitab Bachan, All khan etc.We know about their personal lives in
detail. We saw at the time MJ’s death, the world coming to a standstill. The internet was
crashing. People msg their emotions as if he was living with them. People know every detail
aspects of these pop stars, cricket players etc.Lets check the Second list Abu Ubaydah bin Jarrah
,Syed bin Zayd,Talha bin Ubaidullah, Saad bin Abi Waqqas, Abur Rahman bin Auf,Abu
Hurrairah (ra on all them ).To what level of details do we have about the II list. It is so
unfortunate that we do not know about this list though these were greatest people on the earth
after the Ambiya, after the prophet. Yet we and our youngsters do not have any significant
knowledge about them Why? Then how can our mind which is befogged with the pop stars,
film stars know about these great Islamic personalities. May be even doing know their original
names..We should look upon them for motivation in our lives. So by looking at the example of
the Sahaba (ra) we can take lessons.

In Sunan al-Baghawi Abdullah Ibn Masa’ud (ra) says:

“Whoever is going to follow a path should follow the path of one who died because the living
could fail in their trial those are the companions of Muhammad (saw).”

Abdullah Ibn Masa’ud (ra) is telling the Tabee’n who is the second greatest generation, he is
telling them “don’t follow the life living among you, even though they might be Awliyah of
Allaaz Azzawajal, some of them might be virtuous among them, and some of them would be
Mujahedeen, Ulema”. Abdullah Ibn Masa’ud radhiAllahu anhu is telling them “don’t follow the
life of living among you but follow the dead, the companion of Rasoolullah Sallalahu Alaihe
Waslam why? Because there is no guarantee that this person who is living wouldn’t fail in some
of his trials. But with Sahaba radhiAllahu anhum they have been given the stamp of approval.

So Abdullah Ibn Masa’ud (ra) is saying follow the companions of Rasoolullah. He was saying
this in time of Tabee’n which was the second best generation. What should we say today? No
one has the guarantee, no one that they are going to go to Jannah.Except the ones who with
Rasoollulah sallalahu alaihe wasalam the ones who were in Ghazwa al-Badr, the ones who
gave him Baiy’ah under the [tree], ar-Ridwan, the ones who fought with him, the one who had
patience with him,Rasoolullah sallalahu alaihe wa salam was pleased with them, these are the
ones we should follow. And then he gives us some other reasons why should we follow them.

They were the best of this Ummah: Rasoolullah sallalahu alaihe wa salam says
“The best of generations is my generation” these are the best and they had the most pious
hearts”

There hearts had the most Taqwa. No one can compete with Sahaba in their Taqwa.
They have achieved the highest limits and they had the deepest knowledge.

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May Allah(swt) help us die in the state of Taqwa.Now notice here the choice of words. Abdullah
Ibn Masa’ud (ra) didn’t say he didn’t say that they had the most knowledge; he said they had the
deepest knowledge. Because they are the people who came after the Sahaba. Who known things
which Sahaba may not have known. For example al-Bukhari, he knew more ahadiths then
many of the Sahaba. Why because he knew? Because what Umar had, he knew the ahadith of
Abu Bakr, he knew ahadith Uthman had, he was an encyclopaedia of Hadith. When it comes to
the opinion of Fiqh, some of the great imams of this ummah not only combine Fiqh of one
Sahabi but combine the Fiqh of many. So Abdullah Ibn Masa’ud (ra) did not say that they had
most of the knowledge, he said they had the deepest knowledge. So even though, some of the
scholars of Hadith scholars of Fiqh could know things that some of the Sahaba didn’t know
however, none of the people who came after Sahaba had depth of knowledge that Sahaba had.
Because even though a Sahabi may only know two hundred or three hundred ahadith but he was
there when that ahadith was spoken by Rasooullah sallalahu alaihe wasalam. Sahabi knew the
circumstances, he knew why rasoolullah sallalahu alaihe wasalam said it, he was there, he lived
that ahadith, an opportunity that none of us have. They were there ,when the ayah of Qur’an
were coming down. They lived it, they experienced it firsthand. Therefore, everybody who
comes after the Sahaba is scratching the surface of knowledge but the Sahaba had the depth of it.
There understanding was deep and when you have deep understanding, it makes throughout
your life and your actions better than somebody who might have more knowledge than you do,
and that is why we should follow the actions of the Sahaba radhiAllahu anhum because they had
the deepest knowledge.

They were the least superficial:

The Sahaba radhiAllah anhum would not act out Islam. They would not put out fake image.
They were not superficial. They did not pretend to be sophisticated. You know now you have
books that are written and the brother comes and says Masha Allah that was an excellent book
and you know I read it from the beginning till the end and I didn’t understand it. [Such a
sophisticated book!] that wasn’t the way of Sahaba radhiAllahu anhum. The way of Sahaba was
simplicity their speeches were short, their words were concise and clear. They wouldn’t
want to prove that they were knowledgeable by choosing sophisticated long words and put it in a
rhyming long speech. There words were very simple. Because Sahaba radhiAllahu anhum came
from very simple background. The Arabs of Arabia were not adulterated like the other nations
of the world. They were not affected by the luxurious life styles of Persians and Romans. They
were not affected by the philosophy of the Greek. Like how we are influenced by Media
and by the West They were not affected by the theology of the Latin the Sahaba radhiAllahu
anhum most of them were illiterate. They were very simple and straight forward, honest,
decent people. Even the poetry in time of Jahiliyah was very simple it wasn’t philosophical. It
was descriptive, they would describe nature. They were simple in their dress they were simple
in their food that they would eat and that’s why the Fitrah of the Sahaba was very clean. So
when they accepted Islam for them to practice Islam was easy because Qur’an came on an
empty plate. However, with the other nations, Qur’an had to cleanse their hearts Qur’an has to
heal the scarce that were left behind by their old life. Because the Fitrah was deformed, and
that’s why the Bid’ah [innovation] the early innovation didn’t start in Mecca and Medina they
started among the other nations. In Iraq and Al-Sham the nations that were affected by the
philosophy of the Greek, the religious teachings of the other nations, you know the Arabs in
their religion they didn’t have any mythology in their religion. For example like the Hindus or
the Greeks. They didn’t have that imagination. They just worship this idol, that stone, that
cloth ,they would hold on some virtues, truth, chivalry, loyalty being loyal to their kinship that
was their religion. So it wasn’t really religion it was more of a set of morals and it’s just bow
down to and idol and you slaughter the animal. Even their religion was simple. So when they

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became Muslim they carried forward that straight forwardness, honesty and decency. So when
they became Muslims they straight went to action

The Sahaba are like stars whichever one you follow you will be guided.

We need to study these lives for us to be guided instead of knowing the details of MJ.Since the
knowledge of our Sahaba is not in media; we need to make the efforts ourselves in order to learn
more about these notables.

ASHARA-EMUBASHSHARAH
He is one of the TOP ten who have been granted Jannah(ASHARA-EMUBASHSHARAH (the
ten who have been given the glad tidings of JANNAT) .Chosen one

1. Hazrat Abu Bakr (Radiallahuanh) 2. Hazrat Umar (Radiallahuanh) 3. Hazrat Usman

(Radiallahuanh) 4. Hazrat Ali (Karramallaho Wajhahu). 5. Hazrat Talha (Radiallahuanh) 6.
Hazrat Zubair (Radiallahuanh) 7. Hazrat Abdur Rahman bin Auf (Radiyallahu-anh) 8. Hazrat
Saad bin abi Waqqas (Radiyallahu-anh) 9. Hazrat Saeed bin Zaid (Radiyallahu-anh) 10. Hazrat
Abu Ubaidah bin Jarrah.(Radiyallahu-anh)

In many Isthamas and Khutaba we can hear the first 4 very often mentioned names .But not
many know the lives of others. We have already covered the first 2 in our previous lectures.
Now let’s learn one more Shaksiya Abu Ubayda .Although I would not be able to cover his
entire life in this 2 hours but just highlight the important aspects which will serve as a
Motivation.

Why learn about Sahaba vs. Prophets:

Sometimes it is useful to learn their lives instead of Ambiya (prophets) though we know Allah
has mentioned the life Stories of Prophets in the Quran and Allah also mentions that they
are the best of the stories cos’ there are lessons to be learnt from them

However many Muslims have in mind that they were Masoom, infalliable hence we cannot be
like them. Therefore they have a mental block, they were protected by Allah we cannot be. But
the Sahaba were normal men, they were not protected by Allah, they were not infallible, they
could commit sins, they were normal human beings. Prophet (pbuh) said

“This ummah will be corrected at the end as if it was at the beginning”

Yaani the people who will come in future will correct this Ummah. They will bring the Ummah
to the right track and they will have the same qualities of the companions suppose to be you and
me. Therefore these are Human examples for us to study and understand.

BIRTH: 583-638…(55 years)

NAME: His full name was Aamir ibn Abdullah ibn al-Jarrah .We know by his Kunya .In
Islam infact it is recommended to have Kunya name. Like Abu Bakr. His name was Abdullah
yet his name was Abu bakr which was commonly used. For Arabs it was common to keep their
kunya names.So Aamir was name after his son Ubaydah as Abu Ubaydah

Appearance: His appearance was striking. He was slim and tall. His face was bright and he had
a sparse beard. It was pleasing to look at him and refreshing to meet him. He was extremely
courteous and humble and quite shy. Yet in a tough situation he would become strikingly

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serious and alert, resembling the flashing blade of a sword in his severity and sharpness. He was
described as the Amin or Custodian of Muhammad's community.

His reviews from his Companions

Abdullah ibn Umar, one of the companions of the Prophet, said:
"Three persons in the tribe of Quraysh were most prominent, had the best character and were
the most modest. If they spoke to you, they would not deceive you and if you spoke to them, they
would not accuse you of Lying: Abu Bakr as-Siddiq, Uthman ibn Affan and Abu Ubaydah ibn al-
Jarrah."

He has put Abu Ubaydah in the category of the best of best Companions. That was his status

When did he accept Islam?

He was one of the first persons to accept Islam. He became a Muslim one day after Abu Bakr. In
fact, it was through Abu Bakr that he became a Muslim. He was friend of Abu Bakr. He was 27
years Old at that time .Abu bakr took him along with Abdur Rahman ibn Auf, Uthman ibn
Mazun and al-Arqam ibn Abu al Arqam to the Prophet, upon whom be peace, and together they
declared their acceptance of the Truth and became Muslims. He was one of the early believers.
They could testify the truth of prophet hood before other people, before prophet (pbuh) came
into power before prophet became prominent and had many followers .They were people who
were pure in that they were looking for truth. When they heard the truth from the words of
prophet pbuh they embraced Islam Straight away. He was the only one from his tribe to embrace
Islam.

His Migration:
Abu Ubaydah lived through the harsh experience, which the Muslims went through in Makah,
from beginning to end. With the early Muslims, he endured the insults and the violence, the pain
and the sorrow of that experience. In every trial and test he remained firm and constant in his
belief in Allah and His prophet. He was one of first few who had migrated in the first hijra along
with Uthamn bin Affan ,jaffar bin Abi talib and others from Mecca to Abyssinia because he was
persecuted. Later he migrated back to Medina when prophet(pbuh) made the migration.

His Strength His fortitude(Strength of mind that enables one to endure adversity with
courage):
One of the most harrowing (Extremely painful) experiences he had to go through however, was at the
battle of Badr. Abu Ubaydah was in the vanguard (he leading units moving at the head of an army ) of the
Muslim forces, fighting with might and main and as someone who was not at all afraid of death.
The Quraysh cavalry were extremely wary of him and avoided coming face to face with him. He
was a man known for his courage. One man in particular, however, kept on pursuing Abu
Ubaydah wherever he turned and Abu Ubaydah tried his best to keep out of his way and avoid
an encounter with him. The man plunged into the attack. Abu Ubaydah tried desperately to
avoid him. Eventually the man succeeded in blocking Abu Ubaydah's path and stood as a barrier
between him and the Quraysh. They were now face to face with each other. Abu Ubaydah could
not contain himself any longer. He struck one blow to the man's head. The man fell to the
ground and died instantly. Do not try to guess who this man was It was, as stated earlier, one of
the most harrowing experiences that Abu Ubaydah had to go through, how harrowing, it is
almost impossible to imagine. The man in Fact was Abdullah ibn al-Jarrah, the father of Abu
Ubaydah!

Abu Ubaydah obviously did not want to kill his father but in the actual battle between Islam and
Kufr, the choice open to him was profoundly disturbing but clear. In a way it could be said that

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he did not kill his father--he only killed the kufr in the person of his father. It is concerning this
event that God revealed the following verses of the Quran the concept of loyalty is explained(Al
ala wal baraah).Is it for Insaan ? (for your family,your tribe,for your wife, children No ..it is for
Allah and His messenger(pbuh)

"You will not find a people believing in Allah and the Last Day making friends with those who
oppose God and His messenger even if these were their fathers, their sons, their brothers or
their clan. Allah has placed faith in their hearts and strengthened them with a spirit from
Him.He will cause them to enter gardens beneath which streams flow that they may dwell
therein.(means they will be the one who will enter Paradise) Allah is well pleased with them and
they well pleased with Him. They are the Hizbullah party of Allah. Is not the Hizbullah party of
Allah the successful ones?" (Surah al-Mujadilah 58:22)

We know after this incident the verse was revealed and we know it is a greater honour in Islam.
Even among companions if a verse was revealed after something which they have performed,it
was honour and status unique to them .Very few of the companions the versus of the Quran were
revealed for. Here Allah is saying he is pleased and praises the Sahaba not one but raddiallaho
anhum which is in plural form. No one can gain this staus.No one knows where we are
heading ?Even the great Scholars As-Shafi on his death bed

“I do not know where I am heading”

whether it is this side or that side. They do not know where they are heading if it is Jannah or
Jahannum.Even the great Ulema do not know. But the companion of the messenger, they were
told within their lives that they will be ones who will enter paradise. Yet they persevered and
struggled to stick to the truth and spread that.

The response of Abu Ubaydah at Badr when confronted by his father was not unexpected. This
shows the qualities he had attained a strength of Imaan in Allah,devotion to His Deen and a
level of concern for the Ummah of Muhammad to which many aspired. Hence we love for
sake of Allah and hate for the sake of Allah which is very important for a believer. This also
shows the concept of brotherhood of Imaan between Muslims and excluding the disbelievers.
His brotherhood bond is stronger than the bond of blood .
Allah swt said “Verily the believers are brothers”.

Even if your own family members if they are on the path of Imaan ,your relationship with them
is different. Yes be good to them, be cordial to them as one of the Islamic etiquette but if they
are enemies of Allah and they fight his messenger(pbuh) then be firm to the deen of Allah.

Al-Amin of this Ummah: It is related by Muhammad ibn Jafar, a Companion of the Prophet,
that a Christian delegation came to the Prophet and said:

'O Abu-l Qasim (kunya of prophet(pbuh) specifically only for him), send one of your
companions with us, one in whom you are well pleased, to judge between us on some questions
of property about which we disagree among ourselves. We have a high regard for you Muslim
people."

Subhanallah this is a very interesting incident we need to realize the system we are living in
today and think of the world where prophet (pbuh) established Systems of Islam to spread
justice and harmony. Even though the prophet was not ruling over them during the particular
period .The Kuffar –the Christians would come to him to ask someone from the companions to

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judge in their own disputes. They had confidence and trust on Muslims over their own
systems/laws/people because they did not trust them in a matter.prophet (pbuh) replied

"Come back to me this evening,and I will send with you one who are strong and trustworthy."

Umar ibn al-Khattab(ra) heard the Prophet saying this and later said:

"I went to the Zuhr Prayer early hoping to be the one who would fit and be selected by the
Prophet.”

(The companions used to compete with each other in doing good deeds or they wanted to be ones whom
prophet(pbuh) would speak about) When the Prophet had finished the Prayer, he began looking to
his right and his left and I raised myself so that he could see me. (So that prophet(pbuh) could
pick him as he always used to do) But he continued looking among us until he spotted Abu
Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah. He called him and said

'Go with them and judge among them with truth about that which they are in disagreement."

So Abu Ubaydah got the appointment.".This shows his quality. Abu Ubaydah was not only
trustworthy. He displayed a great deal of strength in the discharge of his trust. To carry the
obligation of Islam and the responsibilities.

He was appointed as Amir (leader) of the Jihad:This strength was shown on several
occasions. One day the Prophet dispatched a group of his Sahaba to meet a Quraysh caravan. He
appointed Abu Ubaydah as Amir (leader) of the group and gave them a bag of dates and
nothing else as provisions. They were boycotted (refuse to do business with).It was not a easy
condition .They did not have enough food to eat. Abu Ubaydah gave to each man under his
command only one date every day. He would suck this date. He would then drink some water
and this would suffice him for the whole day. These were the situation of the companions. These
were the real Heroes not these fake personalities portrayed for us. They are the ones that should
inspire us, motivate us.

On the day of Uhud when the Muslims were being routed, one of the mushrikeen started to
rally(shout) when they got motivated after the archers of Muslims left their positions.Kuffar got
excited and wanted to finish off Prophet(pbuh) and said "Show me Muhammad, show me
Muhammad." Abu Ubaydah was one of a group of ten Muslims who had encircled the Prophet
to protect him against the spears of the Mushrikeen. This is related to Imaan of the believers
.Prophet pbuh said
“No one is a believer until you love me more than you love your wealth, more than you love
your family, evenmore than yourself.”

That is the issue of Imaan for the Muslims that they should love prophet (pbuh).What does
love mean? According to Ulema love mean obedience. Love does not mean emotion that on the
birthday of prophet we cry and we do this and that .That is not the love which is intended.
According to Az-Zuhari and many other Ulema in Islamic History said “Love mean obedience
to the commands of the messenger”.
Love is manifested in the action and not just in the hearts. It is manifested in the behaviour. If
our actions are different then we do not love him (pbuh) by definition. It is not emotional “So we
see that the love of Sahaba were seen in their behaviour. They could all that Messenger (pbuh)
wanted. They did not ask him any more question or reasons behind the rule. It is a command
then used to follow if it is Halal or Haram.They used to say “we hear and we obey”.

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We see Abu Ubyadah went an extra mile to protect prophet(pbuh).When the battle was over, it
was found that one of the beloved Prophet's molar teeth was broken, his forehead was bashed
in and two discs from his shield had penetrated into his cheeks. Abu Bakr went forward with
the intention of extracting these discs but Abu Ubaydah said, "Please leave that to me."

Abu Ubaydah was afraid that he would cause the Prophet discomfort/pain if he took out the
discs with his hand. He bit hard into one of the discs. It was extracted but one of his incisor teeth
fell to the ground in the process. With his other incisor, he extracted the other disc but lost that
tooth also. Abu Bakr remarked, "Abu Ubaydah is the best of men at breaking his incisor teeth!"

That was his dedication. He did not care about himself. He did not think I will have pain etc that
was his dedication to help and protect Messenger of Allah. Yet when our beloved prophet’s
cartoon are drawn (caricatures) what do our leaders do? What do our people do? Meaning
they do not work to protect the honour of prophet(pbuh).We need to strife for and being
back that leadership.

Abu Ubaydah continued to be fully involved in all the momentous events during the Prophet's
lifetime. After the beloved Prophet had passed away, the companions gathered to choose a
successor at the Saqifah or meeting place of Banu Sai’dah. The day is known in history as the
Day of Saqifah. They did not worry about the burial about prophet (pbuh) but appointing a
leader over them Although in Islam we are obliged to bury the dead quickly. But Sahaba
delayed it because there was something more wajib; more important which is the leadership
of Muslim community. Who will be leader, the inheritor of prophet (pbuh) in ruling. Ofcourse
we know no one can be inheritor in nabuwa.But who will be the Khalifah.In Arabic language
Khalifah means “the successor, the inheritor”..Prophetpbuh said

“‘The prophets ruled over the children of Israel, whenever a prophet died another prophet
succeeded him, but there will be no prophet after me. There will soon be Khulafah’ and they will
number many.”The Khulafah will lead the Muslim communit.They will be the Imaan or the
leader of the believers. They asked; “what then do you order us?” He said: “Fulfill the Ba’yah
to them, one after the other and give them their dues for Allah will verily account them about
what he entrusted them with.”

It is the wisdom of the messenger and Allah that prophet(pbuh) did not appoint a leader before
he died because he gave us a guidance it is for the Muslims to appoint for themselves. The
Muslims should appoint their own Ameer.Like prophet(pbuh) said
“If three people went out on a journey, let them appoint one of them as an Ameer.”

The Muslims should themselves select the one, who is best of them. In the debate that took place
within the companions among the leaders of Ansar and Muharjiroon we see who were the
prominent people within that debate, we would understand in such an important matter which is
worth delaying the burial of prophet.Of course the people who debated were the foremost of the
companion, would be top of top and from side of Muharjiroon the top list were Abu
bakr(ra),Umar(ra) and Abu Ubaydah bin jarrah.They were the ones who went to the courtyard of
Banu Sayida to discuss seriously who will be the leaders of the Muslims. This discussion was
very interesting, some said Sad bin Ubadha, the leader of Ansaar-the people of Medina, the
leader of army for the Muslims. Then Umar ibn al-Khattab said to Abu Ubaydah,

"Stretch forth your hand and I will swear allegiance to you, for I heard the Prophet, peace be
upon him say, 'Every ummah has an amin (custodian) and you are the amin of this ummah.'

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Umar felt Abu Ubaydah was deserving the title too be the Khalifah after prophet (pbuh).He was
in this position yet our children do not know his name"I would not," declared Abu Ubaydah,
"Put myself forward in the presence of a man whom the Prophet, upon whom be peace,
commanded to lead us in Prayer and who led us right until the Prophet's death."

When prophet (pbuh) was ill, it is a well know fact that prophet (pbuh) asked Abu bakr (ra) to
lead the Salah. And it is known among the Fuqaha, the person who should lead the Salah
should be the best of them in knowledge. That is the best in terms of recommendation. So
the best of them in knowledge should lead the Salah. So when he(pbuh) asked Abu bakr(ra) was
an indication ,although it was not direct, although Muslims did have a choice yet Abu Ubayda is
using it as a reason and says how can I take this position when Abu bakr (ra) is alive, he is the
one where prophet(pbuh) chose to lead the Salah .Then Abu Ubaydah and Umar gave speeches
to the Ansar to select Abu bakr(ra) and finally the Muslims were Unified and gave bayah (the
oath of allegiance) to Abu Bakr as-Siddiq to be Khalifah of the messenger.He continued to be a
close adviser to Abu Bakr and his strong supporter in the cause of truth and goodness.

Then came the caliphate of Umar and Abu Ubaydah also gave him his support and obedience
.When Abu Ubaydah (Amr bin Al-Aas) (ra) arrived to open the land of Al-Quds(Baitul
Maqdis),the land of III haram,the III sacred mosque for the believers which is in Palestine(Al-
Aqsa),he requested that its people sign a treaty agreeing that their leader would be the Amir of
the believers, Khalifah Umar bin Al-Khattab (ra).Khalid bin Walid was a leader present in the
army during reign of Umar(ra) yet he was replaced. Khalid was undefeated in all battles. He did
not lose any battle. Muslims were emotional and they said if Khalid is with us, we are winning.
It is true that Prophet (pbuh) name Khalid as sword of Allah. It is true that he was a genius in
battle. Even the Kuffar have written about him that he is military genius in warfare. Yet
Umar(ra) in his wisdom felt that we should not have this concept in the mind of Muslims that we
win the war because of an individual but we win the battle because we prepare and our loyalty
is to Allah and his messenger(pbuh).We are not lead by personality and that is dangerous so he
replaced Khalid bin Walid with Abu Ubayda(ra).Hence he was the leader of Al-Sham .So
many parts of Al-Sham like Syrai,Jordon ,Palestine came under Islam and he was seen even by
the Christians as a JUST ruler, as a just man.He did not disobey him in any matter, except
one.Because prophet (pbuh) –

“Whoever obeys the AMir has obeyed me and whoever disobeyed the Amir as though he has
disobeyed me.”

Meaning you cannot disobey an Amir on which he has right over .The incident happened when
Abu Ubaydah was in Syria leading the Muslim forces from one victory to another until the
whole of Syria was under Muslim control. The River Euphrates lay to his right and Asia Minor
to his left. It was then that a plague hit the land of Syria, the like of which people had never
experienced before. It devastated the population. This plague lead to lot of death in the army.
Umar dispatched a messenger to Abu Ubaydah with a letter saying:

"I am in urgent need of you. If my letter reaches you at night I strongly urge you to leave before
dawn. If this letter reaches you during the day, I strongly urge you to leave before evening and
hasten to me. (Umar was worried that Au Ubaydah will be inflicted with the disease of plague and will die. he
wanted Abu Ubaydah to be him because of his knowledge, wisdom and leadership.) When Abu Ubaydah
received Umar's letter, he said, "I know why the Amir al-Mumineen needs me. He wants to
secure the survival of someone who, however, is not eternal."

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So he wrote to Umar:
"I know that you need me. But I am in an army of Muslims and I have no desire to save myself
from what is afflicting them. I do not want to separate from them until Allah wills. So, when this
letter reaches you, release me from your command and permit me to stay on.''

When Umar read this letter tears filled his eyes and those who were with him asked, "Has Abu
Ubaydah died, O Amir al-Mumineen?"

"No," said he, "But death is near to him."

Umar knew that he is in last Stage. Umar's intuition was not wrong. Before long, Abu Ubaydah
became afflicted with the plague. As death hung over him, he spoke to his army:

"Let me give you some advice (naseeha) –this naseeha hold true whether it was during that period or now
which will cause you to be on the path of goodness always. "Establish Prayer. Fast the
month of Ramadan. Give Sadaqah. Perform the Hajj and Umrah. Remain united and
support one another. Be sincere to your commanders and do not conceal anything from
them. (first part of statement many of u will find it normal ,they are part of Ibadah which is lost today, they are
hidden pillars prophet(pbuh) said important part of Islam is Salah and top most is the Jihad Fisabiillah .There are
more ayah in Quran about Jihad than about Salah .there are 119 versus about Jihad .Yet it is obligation which is
lost. yet our leaders, our rulers, our army lay back in their barrack fighting among each other and killing each other
like we see in Afghanistan and other Muslim countries that army are fighting against each other and remain divided
rather united among each other. So this statement be sincere to your commanders and do not conceal anything from
them cos’ this is the issue Tea’ and obedience in the Islamic army is the part of Ibadah ) Don't let the world
destroy you for even if man were to live a thousand years he would still end up with this
state that you see me in. Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah."

We understand from his advice of greatest man who walked on this earth that don’t think u will
live forever, don’t let the world destroy you ,even if u live for 1000 years you will face death.-
Every Soul will face death. We should take his advice. Abu Ubaydah then turned to Muadh ibn
Jabal and said, "O Muadh, perform the prayer with the people (be their leader)." At this,
his pure soul departed. Muadh got up and said: words which pay as a tribute (Something given or done
as an expression of esteem) to Abu Ubaydah.

"O people, you are stricken by the death of a man. By Allah, I don't know whether I have seen a
man who had a more righteous heart, who was further from all evil and who was more sincere
to people than he. Ask Allah to shower His mercy on him and Allah will be merciful to you. "

We must realize that the stature/status of Abu Ubyadah in the minds of Khulafah was so high .
At the time Umar’s death, when he was stabbed by a fire worshipper. It took him some time to
die. When Umar’s companion asked him to select a Khalifah, he said “if Abu Ubaydah was
alive, I would select him”. Meaning he felt him to be in that status. Hence he said I leave this
matter to Ali, Uthman, Talha, Zubair, Abdur Rahman bin Auf, Saad bin abi Waqqas. They were
the rest of the companions who were promised Jannah. Umar said select a Khalifah within 3
days and 2nights and he put one of them as an Amir.

If we have to revive Islam again, we can again achieve those heights. It is not beyond us. It is
not beyond the capability of Muslim men and women because we have the same Quran and
same Sunnah and we have glad tidings to messenger of Allah and he has given us those
narrations. This narration should serve as a motivation for us to be at least counted as from the
ranks of companion, atleast in reward.

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We should work to be like the Sahaba

Sahl b. Sa’d as-Saa’idi (ra) who said that the Messenger of Allah (saw) said: “Islam began as
something strange, and it shall return to being something strange, so give glad tidings to the
strangers.” It was asked, "Who are those strangers, O Messenger of Allah?" He replied, “Those
that correct the Sunnah when the people become corrupt.” This is the narration of at-Tabaraani
in his al-Kabeer.

Ahmad and at-Tabaraani reported on the authority of Abdullah b.Amr who said: I was with the
Messenger of Allah (saw) one day at sunrise when he (saw) said:

“A people will come on the Day of Judgment whose light will be like that of the sun. Abu Bakr
said: will that be we O Messenger of Allah? He said: No, You have a great reward but they will
be the poor immigrants who will be raised from all regions of the earth. Then prophet (pbuh)
said: blessed are the strangers, blessed are the strangers, and blessed are the strangers. He was
asked: who are the strangers? He said: The righteous people who will be few good people
amongst many bad people; those who disobey them are more than those who obey them”.

Meaning the people will be brought from all the corners the worlds. Like today daawa carrier of
Uzbekistan, Palestine who is like immigrants like the prophet (pbuh) said there are people like
refugees, they will be gathered and they will work for Islam. In so many other Hadith it has been
said that they will revive the Ummah when they have been corrupt. They will be the Ghurabaa
(the strangers) Islam began as something strange that is the quality of the companion it was
strange during Jahaliyaah and Kufr, and it shall return to being something strange. So today we
need to be of those who will pray and work hard to be among those Strangers and May
Allah (Swt) grant us his blessing and let us work towards the return of the Islam, establish it as
the Sahaba did.

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