What Touched Khalid Ibn Waleed? Mufti Abdul Wahab Waheed

The Three Great Converts After Umratul Qadha

After Umratul Qadha, when the Prophet ﷺ was coming back from Umratul Qadha, there are three people who became Muslim whose names are very important for us, and they are very well-known and famous figures amongst the Sahabas. So as the Prophet ﷺ came for Umratul Qadha, one of the names I mentioned is Khalid ibn Walid. We know Khalid as a tactician and the man that caused havoc in Uhud, but as the Prophet ﷺ is coming to Umratul Qadha, he tells Khalid's brother.

Khalid's brother's name is Walid. He tells his brother — he actually writes a letter to his brother — and he says: "I find it strange that Khalid has yet to accept Islam. How has Khalid not accepted Islam yet? A person of his intellect, a person of his experience, it is a primary reaction for them to become Muslim. He should have been Muslim by now." And he writes this to actually encourage him to become Muslim. So when Khalid sees the letter, he is already thinking about becoming Muslim.

When he sees the letter, he says to his brother: "These are the Prophet's words — that he has called me a smart man, an intelligent person." So he is touched by the praise of his enemy. The Prophet ﷺ called him a smart person. That really shows how much weight the Prophet's words were held in high regard, even in the eyes and hearts of those that were not Muslims.

We heard about this kind of effect in the story of Umayyah ibn Khalaf, where the Prophet ﷺ said: "I will kill you with my own hands," in regards to the small wound that he had when the Prophet ﷺ threw the spear and it touched him. And he was not coming for Badr because the Prophet ﷺ had promised him that he was going to kill him. This shows you that even though they were not Muslims, they believed that whatever the Prophet ﷺ said was true. So when Khalid heard the Prophet ﷺ praising him and saying words of high praise about him, he said: "You know what, I should become Muslim."

What First Touched Khalid — The Power of Salat

He mentions that the first time he thought about becoming Muslim was a little earlier. It was when the Prophet ﷺ and the Sahabas were praying Salat al-Hudaybiyah. He saw them praying. And this is why Salat has such a powerful effect.

In Hudaybiyah, Khalid and his archers — his army, the same people that went and fought in Uhud — were trying to intercept the Prophet ﷺ when he came for Hudaybiyah. But the Prophet ﷺ took a much more difficult route. Khalid was out-tacticianed — he was outsmarted by the Prophet ﷺ. So that already caught his eye: "The Prophet ﷺ outsmarted me."

And when he reached Hudaybiyah, the Sahabas and the Prophet ﷺ were praying Dhuhr Salat. He saw them pray. And as he saw them praying, he was touched by Salat.

Has it ever happened to anyone that they were praying in a general place and someone came to them and said: "You know, what were you doing? That looked so peaceful." It happens in airports, specifically in airports when you pray. My father's sunnah was, no matter where he was, he would call the Adhan out loud. And I mentioned in my Iftaar class earlier that every time he would call the Adhan, someone would come and pray with him — there would always be a Muslim that would hear the Adhan happening and come pray with him. In airports it happens — someone will come to you and say: "Wow, whatever you were doing looked so peaceful. It looked like you were enjoying it. You were at ease."

So Khalid was first touched by that — by witnessing the Salat. And then the second thing was the Prophet's praise of him.

Khalid Decides to Accept Islam

After this, Khalid goes to some of the leaders of Mecca — like Safwan ibn Umayyah and other leaders — and he says: "Hey, what do you think about becoming Muslim now? Enough has happened. We've already gone through so much. And as you can perhaps gauge the tides, we only have so much time left before the Prophet takes over Mecca. You could feel it — it was in the air. So why don't we just become Muslim before we're forced to become Muslim?"

The people that he went to were stubborn. They were not caving. They said: "No, even if the Prophet comes here, we'll fight him. We're not becoming Muslim." Khalid ibn Walid said: "You know what, that's up to you. I'm becoming Muslim." And he heads out towards Madinatul Munawwara to become Muslim.

Uthman ibn Talha — Keeper of the Keys of the Ka'bah

As he is on this journey and leaving Mecca, a man by the name of Uthman ibn Talha — who is also a great companion — also joins him. It was in his family that the keys of the Ka'bah were kept. His forefathers, his father, were the ones responsible for opening and closing the Ka'bah. After Fath-e Makkah, the Prophet ﷺ gave the keys back to him and said: "You continue to be responsible for opening and closing the Ka'bah." And it has been said — though I am not certain of how authentic it is — that until today, the family that holds the keys of the Ka'bah is the family of Uthman ibn Talha. The same family, because the Prophet ﷺ gave it to that family, and it has remained in that family until today.

So Uthman ibn Talha also leaves with Khalid ibn Walid, and they are headed towards Madinatul Munawwara.

Amr ibn al-As — The Politician and Tactician

As they are headed to Medina, in the middle of their journey, they meet Amr ibn al-As. His name came up earlier — in Abyssinia. Him and Abu Sufyan went to Abyssinia to convince Najashi to send the Muslims back. He is a tactician, a politician, a very smart person. So he is also found going to Medina, and he is also becoming Muslim.

His story was a little different. He had gone to Habesha to Najashi for one of two reasons. One, to gauge him and see if he could help the people of Mecca fight the Prophet ﷺ. The second was, there was an ambassador of the Prophet ﷺ in Habesha, and he wanted to take that ambassador as a means of political gain — as a hostage that they could use as a chip in political discussions if the Prophet ﷺ came to Mecca.

But when he came to Najashi and gauged him, he said: "O King, you are extremely gracious and generous, and I have brought all these gifts for you, and I want one thing from you." Najashi said: "What do you want from me?" He said: "That ambassador that has come to you — I want him to come back with us to Mecca. Please allow us to take him."

Najashi became extremely angry and furious. The narration mentions that he actually started hitting himself in the face, he was so angry. So Amr ibn al-As said: "O King, please forgive me. If I had known this was going to be the reaction, I would never have asked for this. Please forgive me." He sought forgiveness, and he realized at that point that Najashi had become Muslim. And he left saying: "Even Najashi has become Muslim — this is a sign that I should also become Muslim."

They took da'wah from different places. It was not as if the Prophet ﷺ directly led every single person to become Muslim. Every single person that became a Muslim became an ambassador of this beautiful religion, and they brought more people.

The Three Arrive in Madinatul Munawwara

So they met on their way to Medina — Khalid ibn Walid, Uthman ibn Talha, and Amr ibn al-As. Imagine the Prophet ﷺ welcoming these three leaders of Quraysh to Madinatul Munawwara and welcoming them to become Muslim. It was also a beautiful moment for the Prophet ﷺ. He spoke highly of Khalid and praised Amr ibn al-As.

They came and said: "Ya Rasulullah, we will become Muslim under one condition." Specifically, Amr ibn al-As said this. The condition was: "That everything that we have done before Islam is forgiven — because we have done a lot of bad things. The only thing that is holding us back is that all those things will haunt us."

The Prophet ﷺ said:

"Al-Islamu yahdimu ma qabalahu" — Islam forgives all of that which took place before it. When you become Muslim, it is as if you have been born again from your mother. You are a new person, and all of your sins have been forgiven.

And this was the Islam of Khalid ibn Walid, Amr ibn al-As, and Uthman ibn Talha. All three of them became Muslim, and all three then went to live in Madinatul Munawwara. They did not go back to Mecca. They chose to live with the Prophet ﷺ.

People Are Like Mines — A Hadith of the Prophet ﷺ

Khalid ibn Walid said to the Prophet ﷺ: "Ya Rasulullah, I used my talents and my skills for so many years to fight against Islam. I wish that now I could one day use these skills to protect Islam and to be a warrior for the Muslims."

The Prophet ﷺ said in a beautiful hadith:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 45, Hadith 2638; also Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3493)

"An-nasu ma'adin, an-nasu ma'adin, kama'adin al-dhahabi wal-fidda." He says: "People are mines — mines of gold and silver." There is a lot of goodness in every single person. There is so much to offer from every person. Everyone has something good inside of themselves that they can give people, that they can benefit people through.

The Prophet ﷺ then says: "Khiyaruhum fil-jahiliyya khiyaruhum fil-islami idha faquhu" — the best of them in jahiliyya, meaning the ones that were known in jahiliyya, will also be the best in Islam if they are given the ability to understand it. If Allah gives them hidayah, Allah will use them for the sake of deen.

It is not that when you become Muslim, you lose your prestige. You do not lose your lineage. Islam did not remove the lineage of a person. Islam did not remove someone's honor and dignity that they had in their own communities — rather, it kept it. For example, Tufayl ibn Amr al-Dawsi was a leader. Islam kept that leadership, and the Prophet ﷺ encouraged him to remain the leader of his tribe, but also encouraged his people to become Muslim. It did not remove anything from them — it only added to them.

Extracting the Wealth Within

The hadith mentions that people are mines — in which way? First, everyone has goodness to offer, but that goodness can only be extracted if one knows that it is there. If you do not know there is a mine here, you can never extract the wealth that is within it. In order to extract it, you have to identify that there is something here to offer. And second, there is a difficult process of refining, extracting, and presenting that wealth that is in that mine.

Similarly for all of us — whatever we have internally to offer, we have to go through a process by which we are purified and refined. Our Salat, our Ramadan, our Siyam, our coming to the Sirah — all of these are means through which we are purifying and cultivating that which we have, so we can give it to people.

So Khalid ibn Walid, Amr ibn al-As, and Uthman ibn Talha — all three became Muslim, and all three went on to become among the greatest servants of this deen.