The Sahaba's Devotion | Mufti Abdul Rahman Waheed

The Sahaba's Devotion

You're talking about Sahaba. I mean, it's going to be difficult to speak about individually every single one of them — their involvement and their participation — but I think collectively, if you look at it, I remember I was traveling with Sheikh Maqsood and I came across a poem in Ramadan, and I think it summarizes how they achieved what they achieved in a beautiful manner.

The Poem: When the Night Spoke

So the poet, he says: "In the silence of the night, I heard the night speak to me." As the night — the silence of the night — was speaking to me, my plans for the next few days, my ashwaq, my desires, my ambitions went out the window.

And what's interesting about that is — you know, our brother passed away on a Monday. I mean, you have plans for the next few days. We're going to go jet-skiing next week, and we're going to do this. The moment you have a tragedy, your plans are gone. Everything is out the window now.

Their Nights Were Alone with Allah

So he's saying it just made me think about who these great people were and how they became so great. He said: "Weren't we people that in the silence of the night..." — these people that you're speaking about, Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah, Umar ibn al-Khattab — the historians speak about their days, because their nights were alone with Allah. And whenever someone could catch a glimpse of it, they would talk about it.

Like people would spend time with Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak and not know why this man was so great, because he did everything like everybody else. But a few times his students were with him at night and the lantern went off, and then they turned the lantern back on. In those few moments, he found privacy with Allah and he would just cry. And when the light would turn back on, they would just see his beard full of tears.

And so this is why these people are different.

Giving Their Lives for Allah

"Weren't we people that — forget sacrificing desires — when Allah asked us to give our lives for Him, it was very easy for us to do that?" That was the greatest objective of their lives: to give their life for Him. Their life only meant anything when given for Allah.

Imagine — Dr. Haifa just came from Gaza — imagine someone from Gaza entered the room and some limb of their body had been wounded in Gaza. Wouldn't it be an honorable thing to be sitting next to them? That was a badge of honor. And Rabi'ah ibn Ka'b — he says that my father Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas had three scars on his body. The scars on his back were so deep that he said, "I would put my hand in one of them." Because these people — these are people who are shaheed walking on the face of the earth.

Who Will Help the Drowning Ummah?

And then he concludes by saying: "Then who is going to help the drowning ummah when we are drowning ourselves?" Who is going to help? We were supposed to be standing at the shore helping people. These people were not drowning — they were standing, waiting to help. They were always in the assistance of others. So Allah supported them.

This is a cycle of Allah: Allah helps — look at how much you help others. The more you help others, Allah helps you.

"And Allah is in the aid of the servant as long as the servant is in the aid of his brother." (Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2699)

Allah forgives — to see how much you forgive others. Based on how much you forgive others, Allah forgives you. Allah hides your sins — to see how much you hide the sins of others. The more you hide the sins of others, Allah hides yours.

Change Your Ambitions

And he says: "Who will move away from these small ambitions and these petty goals — 'I've got to buy this house, I've got to get this car, I've got to do this' — and have in their minds, at least, a greater purpose?"

Change your ambitions, because a person who changes their ambitions — there is hope that their actions will also change. Ambitions change before actions. So he says: change your ambitions and have a greater ambition.

And I believe the Sahaba, sitting in poverty, their ambitions were straight. They knew one day they would walk into Masjid al-Aqsa. They knew it, because the Prophet had already promised them that. So that was their objective. So Allah made it come true.

May Allah make it happen in our lifetimes — because one hundred percent it will happen. The only du'a we should be making is: "O Allah, make it happen in our lifetime so we can see it as well."