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Saidina ‘Amr bin Jamooh was lame. He
had four sons, who often remained in the company of Nabi SAW and took
part in many battles. In Uhud, Amr desired to join the battle. People
said to him:”You are excused, as you are lame. You need not go to
the battle.” He replied: “How sad that my sons go to Jannat and I
stay behind.”
His wife also wanted him to fight and
get martyred, so that she might have the honour of being the widow of
a martyr. To encourage him, she said to him: “I do not believe
that people have stopped you from going. It seems that you are
yourself afraid to go to the battlefield.”
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Hearing this, Hadhrat ‘Amr
equipped himself with weapons and, facing Qiblah, prayed to Allah :
“O, Allah! Let me not come back to my family again.” He then went
to Nabi SAW and said: “I had always wished for martyrdom, but my
people have always been stopping me from going to the battlefield. O,
Nabi of Allah! I cannot hold back my desire any more. Do permit me to
join the battle. I hope to walk in Jannat with my lame foot.” Nabi
SAW said to him: “You have an excuse.There is no harm if you stay
behind.”
However he still insisted, and at last
Nabi SAW allowed him to fight. Hadhrat Abu Talha says: “I saw ‘Amr
fighting. He walked proudly and said, ‘By Allah! I am fond of
Jannat’. One of his sons was following him at his heels. The father
and the son fought till both of them were killed. His wife, on
hearing of the death of her husband and son, came with a camel to
fetch their bodies. It is said that when the bodies were loaded on
the camel, it refused to stand up. When it was made to stand up after
great beating, it would not go to Madinah and would turn towards
Uhud, again and again.
When Nabi SAW was informed of this, he
said: “The camel is commanded to do that. Did ‘Amrsay anything at
the time of leaving his home?” His wife informed Nabi SAW that he
had prayed to Allah,
facing Qiblah:
“O Allah! Do not return me to my
family” Nabi SAW said: “This is why the camel is refusing to go
towards his home.”
Look at Hadhrat ‘Amr’s desire to
die in the path of Allah . It was their love and devotion for Allah
and his Nabi SAW that led the Sahaabah to the height of success. Even
after his death, ‘Amr wanted to remain in the battle-field and
therefore the camel refused to take his body back to Madinah.
