In the days before the advent of
Islam, Arabia had become a corrupt environment, steeped in idolatry and
injustice. There were still a few solitary individuals who adhered to the true
faith established centuries ago in Arabia by Abraham and Ismail AS. These
people eschewed worshiping idols and all that idolatry involved.
One of these people was Zaid bin `Amr bin Nufail. He would
never offer sacrifices to idols or eat carrion and running blood. He used to
say:
Is
there one Lord or yet a thousand Lords
For
me to worship in my many woes?
********
I
turn away from Lât and from al-`Uzzâ
I
am one who's patient and endures.
********
I
worship not al-`Uzzâ nor her daughters,
Nor
the two idols held by Ibn `Amr,
********
Nor
Ghanam who had been for us a Lord
From
ancient times, until but recently.
********
I
worship God, the Beneficent Lord
So
He, Forgiving Lord, might waive my sins.
********
He
also said:
I
turn to Him who Abraham appealed to
For
refuge, facing the Kaabah, standing in prayer,
********
Saying:
I am humble, resolute
Whatever
must befall me I'll endure?
These verses paint the picture of
a Muslim who presses his will to the service of Allah SWT, who is pleased with
Allah’s decree, hoping for good from his Lord and turning to Him in refuge from
what he fears. People like Zaid bin Amr bin Nufail were strangers among their
people. They faced the severest form of estrangement in that time of ignorance,
when believers in the truth were few.
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Rasulullah SAW had met Zaid bin
Amr bin Nufail. This was well before Rasulullah SAW had started to receive
revelation.
Zaid bin Amr bin Nufail used to
reprove Quraish for their animal sacrifices, saying: “The sheep was created by
Allah. Allah sent down the rains for it. He brought forth for it the vegetation
from the Earth. Then you go ahead and sacrifice it invoking other than Allah’s
name.” These words of his both rebuke their actions and glorify Allah at the
same time.
It is related from Ibn `Umar that
Zaid bin Amr bin Nufail traveled to Syria in search of a religion to follow. He
met a Jewish scholar and asked him about his religion saying: “Perhaps I will
embrace your faith, so inform me of it.” He said: “You will not be on our
religion until you take your share of Allah’s wrath.”
Zaid bin Amr bin Nufail
responded: “I flee from naught save the wrath of Allah! And I will not bear
Allah’s wrath if I am able to avoid it. Can you guide me to something else?”
Then the Jewish scholar said: “I know of nothing except for
you to be a Hanîf.”
Zaid bin Amr bin Nufail asked: “What is a Hanîf?”
The scholar answered: “The religion of Abraham,. He was
neither a Jew nor a Christian and he worshipped none except Allah.”
Then Zaid bin Amr bin Nufail went forth until he came to a
Christian scholar and made the same enquiry. The scholar replied: “You will not
be on our religion until you take your share of Allah’s curse.”
Zaid bin Amr bin Nufail responded: “I flee from naught save
the curse of Allah! And I will not bear Allah’s curse nor His wrath if I am
able to avoid it. Can you guide me to something else?”
Then the Christian scholar said: “I know of nothing except
for you to be a Hanîf.”
Zaid bin Amr bin Nufail asked: “What is a Hanîf?”
The scholar answered: “The religion of Abraham. He was
neither a Jew nor a Christian and he worshipped none save Allah.”
When Zaid bin Amr bin Nufail saw
what they had to say about Abraham (peace be upon him), left. When he went out,
he raised his hands and said: “O Allah, I bear witness that I am on the
religion of Abraham.”
Asmâ’, the daughter of Abû Bakr,
said:
I saw Zaid bin Amr bin Nufail standing
with his back against the Ka`bah saying: "O assembled tribesmen of
Quraysh, no one from you is on the religion of Abraham except for me.”
Zaid bin Amr bin Nufail used to
save the lives of newborn girls destined to be buried alive. He would say to a
man who wanted to kill his daughter: "Do not kill her. I will support
her." He would then take her. After she grew up, he would say to her
father: "If you wish, I will return her to you, or if you wish I will
continue to support her on your behalf." [Sahîh al-Bukhârî (4/232-233)]
Zaid bin Amr bin Nufail was not
alone among the Arabs. There were a few others like him who worshipped Allah
alone, followed the way of the Messengers, and eschewed the ways of polytheism.
Likewise, there were still some Jews and Christians who remained steadfast on
their religion.
All of those people were
strangers in their times, living in a world of confusion, contradiction, and
division. Indeed, Zaid bin Amr bin Nufail own uncle, Khattab ibn Nufail, was
one of his main tormentors, despising him for not worshipping his tribes’ idols
or eating the meat that they slaughtered.
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When Allah sent Rasulullah SAW as
a Messenger to the world, Rasulullah SAW message came to aid the truth that
those people adhered to, just as it came to the aid of the persecuted believers
– those who followed the previous scriptures as well as others. It also came in
support of all the previous Messengers of Allah (peace be upon them).
This is part of the meaning of
Allah’s statement: “We will without doubt help our messengers and those who
believe both in the life of this world and on the Day when the witnesses will
stand forth.” [Sûrah Ghâfir: 51]
Zaid bin Amr bin Nufail lived
during the time before Islam, so he is not numbered in the history books among Rasulullah
SAW Companions. However, his son, Sa'îd b. Zaid, would become one of the most
illustrious of Rasulullah SAW Companions. He was one of the ten Companions who
were given the glad tidings of Paradise while they were still alive.
Zaid the son of Amr stood away
from the Quraish crowd as they celebrated one of their festivals. Men were
dressed in rich turbans of brocade and expensive Yemeni burdahs. Women and
children were also exquisitely turned out in their fine clothes and glittering
jewelry. Zaid watched as sacrificial animals, gaily caparisoned were led out to
slaughter before the Quraish idols. It was difficult for him to remain silent.
Leaning against a wall of the Kabah, he shouted: "O people of Quraish! It
is Allah Who has created the sheep. He it is Who has sent down rain from the
skies of which they drink and He has caused fodder to grow from the earth with
which they are fed. Then even so you slaughter them in names other than His.
Indeed, I see that you are an ignorant folk."
Zaid's uncle al-Khattab, the
father of Umar ibn al-Khattab, seethed with anger. He strode up to Zaid bin Amr
bin Nufail, slapped him on the face and shouted: "Damn you! We still hear
from you such stupidity. We have borne it until our patience is
exhausted." Al-Khattab then incited a number of violent people to harass
and persecute Zaid bin Amr bin Nufail and make life extremely uncomfortable for
him. These incidents which took place before Muhammad's call to Prophethood
gave a foretaste of the bitter conflict that was to take place between the
upholders of truth and the stubborn adherents of idolatrous practices. Zaid bin
Amr bin Nufail was one of the few men, known as hanifs, who saw these
idolatrous practices for what they were. Not only did he refuse to take part in
them himself, but he refuses d to eat anything that was sacrificed to idols. Zaid
bin Amr bin Nufail proclaimed that he worshipped Allah of Ibrahim and, as the
above incident showed, was not afraid to challenge his people in public.
On the other hand, his uncle Al-Khattab
was a staunch follower of the old pagan ways of the Quraish and he was shocked
by Zaid bin Amr bin Nufail public
disregard for the gods and goddesses they worshipped. So he had him hounded and
persecuted to the point where he was forced to leave the valley of Makkah and
seek refuge in the surrounding mountains. He even appointed a band of young men
whom he instructed not to allow Zaid bin Amr bin Nufail to approach Makkah and
enter the Sanctuary.
Zaid bin Amr bin Nufail only
managed to enter Makkah in secret. There unknown to the Quraish he met with
people like Waraqah ibn Nawfal, Abdullah ibn Jahsh, Uthman ibn al-Harith and
Umaimah bint Abdul Muttalib, the paternal aunt of Muhammad ibn Abdullah SAW.
They discussed how deeply immersed the Arabs were in their misguided ways. To
his friends, Zaid bin Amr bin Nufail spoke thus: "Certainly, by Allah, you
know that your people have no valid grounds for their beliefs and that they
have distorted and transgressed from the religion of Ibrahim. Adopt a religion
which you can follow and which can bring you salvation."
Zaid bin Amr bin Nufail and his
companions then went to Jewish rabbis and Christian scholars and people of
other communities in an attempt to learn more and go back to the pure religion
of Ibrahim. Of the four persons mentioned, Waraqah ibn Nawfal became a
Christian. Abdullah ibn Jahsh and Uthman ibn al-Harith did not arrive at any
definite conclusion. Zaid bin Amr bin Nufail however had quite a different
story. Finding it impossible to stay in Makkah, he left the Hijaz and went as
far as Mosul in the north of Iraq and from there southwest into Syria.
Throughout his journeys, he always questioned monks and rabbis about the
religion of Ibrahim. He found no satisfaction until he came upon a monk in
Syria who told him that the religion he was seeking did not exist any longer but
the time was now near when Allah would send forth, from his own people whom he
had left, a Rasul who would revive the religion of Ibrahim. The monk advised him
that should he see this Prophet he should have no hesitation in recognizing and
following him.
Zaid bin Amr bin Nufail retraced
his steps and headed for Makkah intending to meet the expected Prophet. As he
was passing through the territory of Lakhm on the southern border of Syria he
was attacked by a group of nomad Arabs and killed before he could set eyes on
the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace. However, before he
breathed his last, he raised his eyes to the heavens and said: "O Lord, if
You have prevented me from attaining this good, do not prevent my son from doing
so." When Waraqah heard of Zaid's death, he is said to have written an
elegy in praise of him. Rasulullah SAW also commended him and said that on the
day of Resurrection "he will be raised as having, in himself alone, the
worth of a whole people".
Allah, may He be glorified, heard
the prayer of Zaid bin Amr bin Nufail. When Rasulullah SAW rose up inviting
people to Islam, his son Said was in the forefront of those who believed in the
oneness of Allah and who affirmed their faith in the Prophethood of Muhammad.
This is not strange for Said grew up in a household which repudiated the
idolatrous ways of the Quraish and he was instructed by a father who spent his
life searching for Truth and who died in its pursuit. Said was not yet twenty
when he embraced Islam. His young and steadfast wife Fatimah, daughter of
al-Khattab and sister of Umar, also accepted Islam early. Evidently both Said
and Fatimah managed to conceal their acceptance of Islam from the Quraish and especially
from Fatimah's family for some time. She had cause to fear not only her father
but her brother Umar Al Khattab who was brought up to venerate the Kabah and to
cherish the unity of the Quraish and their religion.
Umar was a headstrong young man
of great determination. He saw Islam as a threat to the Quraish and became most
violent and unrestrained in his attacks on Muslims. He finally decided that the
only way to put an end to the trouble was to eliminate the man who was its
cause. Goaded on by blind fury he took up his sword and headed for Rasulullah's
house. On his way he came face to face with a secret believer in Rasulullah who seeing Umar's grim expression asked him
where he was going. "I am going to kill Muhammad..." There was no
mistaking his bitterness and murderous resolve. The believer sought to dissuade
him from his intent but Umar was deaf to any arguments. He then thought of
diverting Umar in order to at least warn Rasulullah SAW of his intentions.
"O Umar," he said,
"Why not first go back to the people of your own house and set them to
rights?" "What people of my house?" asked Umar. "Your
sister Fatimah and your brother-in-law Said. They have both forsaken your
religion and are followers of Muhammad in his religion..." Umar turned and
made straight for his sister's house. There he called out to her angrily as he
approached. Khabbab ibn al-Aratt who often came to recite the Quran to Said and
Fatimah was with them then. When they heard Umar's voice, Khabbab hid in a
corner of the house and Fatimah concealed the manuscript. But 'Umar had heard
the sound of their reading and when he came in, he said to them: "What is
this hainamah (gibbering) I heard?"
They tried to assure him that it
was only normal conversation that he had heard but he insisted: "Hear it I
did," he said, "and it is possible that you have both become
renegades." "Have you not considered whether the Truth is not to be
found in your religion?" said Said to Umar trying to reason with him.
Instead, Umar set upon his brother-in-law hitting and kicking him as hard as he
could and when Fatimah went to the defense of her husband, Umar struck her a
blow on her face which drew blood. "O Umar," said Fatimah, and she
was angry. "What if the Truth is not in your religion? I bear witness that
there is no god but Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of
God."
Fatimah's wound was bleeding, and
when Umar saw the blood he was sorry for what he had done. A change came over
him and he said to his sister: "Give me that script which you have that I
may read it." Like them Umar could read, but when he asked for the script,
Fatimah said to him: "You are impure and only the pure may touch it. Go and
wash yourself or make ablutions." Thereupon Umar went and washed himself,
and she gave him the page on which was written the opening verses of Surah
Ta-Ha. He began to read it and when he reached the verse, 'Verily, I alone am
God, there no deity but me. So, worship Me alone, and be constant in Prayer so
as to remember Me, 'he said: "Show me where Muhammad is."
Umar then made his way to the
house of Al-Arqam and declared his acceptance of Islam and Rasulullah and all
his companions rejoiced. Said and his wife Fatimah were thus the immediate
cause which led to the conversion of the strong and determined Umar and this
added substantially to the power and prestige of the emerging faith. Said ibn
Zaid RA was totally devoted to Rasulullah SAW and the service of Islam. He
witnessed all the major campaigns and encounters in which Rasulullah SAW
engaged with the exception of Badr. Before Badr, he and Talhah were sent by the
Prophet as scouts to Hawra on the Red Sea coast due west of Madinah to bring
him news of a Quraish caravan returning from Syria. When Talhah and Said
returned to Madinah Rasulullah SAW had already set out for Badr with the first
Muslim army of just over three hundred men.
After the passing away of Rasulullah
SAW, Said bin Zaid RA continued to play a major role in the Muslim community.
He was one of those whom Saidina Abu Bakr Siddiq RA consulted on his succession
and his name is often linked with such companions as Uthman, Abu Ubaidah and Saad
ibn Abi Waqqas in the campaigns that were waged. He was known for his courage
and heroism, a glimpse of which we can get from his account of the Battle of
Yarmuk. Said bin Zaid RA said: "For the Battle of Yarmuk, we were twenty
four thousand or thereabout. Against us, the Byzantines mobilized one hundred
and twenty thousand men. They advanced towards us with a heavy and thunderous
movement as if mountains were being moved. Bishops and priests strode before
them bearing crosses and chanting litanies which were repeated by the soldiers
behind them.
When the Muslims saw them mobilized
thus, they became worried by their vast numbers and something of anxiety and
fear entered theft hearts. Thereupon, Abu Ubaidah stood before the Muslims and
urged them to fight. "Worshippers of Allah" he said, "help Allah
and Allah will help you and make your feet firm." "Worshippers of Allah
be patience and steadfast for indeed patience and steadfastness (sabr) is a
salvation from unbelief, a means of attaining the pleasure of Allah and a defense
against ignominy and disgrace."
"Draw out your spears and
protect yourselves with your shields. Don't utter anything among yourselves but
the remembrance of Allah Almighty until I give you the command, if Allah
wills." "Thereupon a man emerged from the ranks of the Muslims and
said: "I have resolved to die this very hour. Have you a message to send
to Rasulullah SAW, may Allah bless him and grant him peace?"
"Yes" replied Abu
Ubaidah, "convey salam to him from me and from the Muslims and say to him:
O Rasulullah, we have found true what our Lord has promised us." "As
soon as I heard the man speak and saw him unsheathe his sword and go out to
meet the enemy, I threw myself on the ground and crept on all fours and with my
spear I felled the first enemy horseman racing towards us. Then I fell upon the
enemy and Allah removed from my heart all traces of fear. The Muslims engaged
the advancing Byzantines and continued fighting until they were blessed with
victory."
Said bin Zaid RA was ranked by Rasulullah
SAW as one of the outstanding members of his generation. He was among ten of
the companions whom Rasulullah SAW visited one day and promised Paradise. These
were Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali, Abdul Rahman ibn Awf, Abu Ubaidah , Talhah,
Az-Zubair, Sad of Zuhrah, and Said the son of Zaid the Hanîf. The books of Rasulullah’s
sayings have recorded his great praises of the Promised Ten (Al-'asharatu-l
mubashshirun) and indeed of others whom on other occasions he also gave good
tidings of Paradise.
