Story Of Islam Heroes: ‘Ata-Ibn-Rabah’

The Slave who became a Teacher, to King (d. 104 A. H 225)

The characteristic typical of all the Muslim heroes was their effort to direct their work for one and only one purpose; i.e. The pleasure of Allah. Whether in the Battle or in the mosque, in the royal courts or in the market-place those heroes conduct never faltered.

‘Ata-Ibn-Rabah’ was an eminent personality of the second generation of Muslims who met or attended many Companions of the Prophet (pbuh). ‘Ata-Ibn-Rabah was once at the doorsteps of the Umayyad; Caliph ‘Hisham-ibn-Abdul Malik’ in Damascus. Let us listen to what goes on between him and the Caliph.

The Caliph: ‘What can we do for you, Abu Muhammad?’

‘Ata-Ibn-Rabah’: ‘The people of the two ‘Harams’ (Mecca and Madinah), the guests of Allah (i.e. pilgrims) and the neighbors of the Messenger, give them their allotted annual gifts.’
The Caliph: ‘We will (Turning to Secretary): ‘Write a decree to that effect. What else, Abu Muhammad?’
‘Ata-Ibn-Rabah’: ‘The people of Hijaz and Najd are the heart of the Arabs and leaders of Islam, request that you return to them the surplus of their charity.’
The Caliph: ‘Yes, anything else?’

‘Ata-Ibn-Rabah’: ‘Yes. leader of the faithful, the soldiers at the frontiers of the Muslim lands. They are there in the face of your enemies, fighting whoever attempts to attack the land of Islam or hurt the Muslims. These people deserve generous salaries and supplies to be sent to them. For if they are lost our frontiers are gone.’

The Caliph: ‘Yes. (Addressing the Secretary) Write a decree to that effect. Anything else I can do for you?’

‘Ata-Ibn-Rabah’: ‘The Non-Muslim subjects living in the Muslim State who, in return for paying tax, enjoyed protection and safety) should not be asked to do things beyond their means. For whatever tax they pay you is a help against the State's enemies’.

The Secretary was ordered to write a decree to that effect.

The Caliph asks: ‘Anything else, Abu Muhammad?’

‘Ata-Ibn-Rabah’: “Yes. Fear Allah for your own sake. Remember that you were born alone; you will die alone, will be raised on the Day of Resurrection alone, and you will receive the Judgment alone. No one of your friends or relatives can be of any help at those times."

With these words ‘Ata-Ibn-Rabah’ bid farewell to the Caliph.

Before going out a man sent by the Caliph offered a pouch full of money for him.

‘Ata-Ibn-Rabah’, declined to take the money, quoting from the Qur’an: "I ask you no reward (for the advice). For my reward is with the Lord of the universe."

Now let's go back to the earlier day’s life in Mecca. ‘Ata-Ibn-Rabah’ was an Ethiopian, born a slave to a Mecca lady. Since his childhood he became interested in learning.

He divided his time into three portions:

*One third he spent in the service of his mistress carrying out his duties as a faithful servant.

*The second portion he devoted to worship and prayers, and;

*The third he devoted to learning whatever he could from the former companions of the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him).
The Mecca lady was impressed with her bondsman's devotion. So she set him free, giving him the chance to spend all his time in the Sacred Mosque of Mecca, learning first then teaching and engaged in devotions.

His knowledge and piety earned him a high place in the hearts of the rulers and the ruled alike. Of his knowledge we are told that a great man like 'Abdullah-Ibn-Umar’ was reported to have been surprised that people in Mecca needed to seek religious guidance from anyone while they had a man like ‘Ata-Ibn-Rabah’ amongst them.

In the presence of  ‘Ata-Ibn-Rabah’ even the greatest of Muslim Caliphs humbled themselves as we saw in the incident mentioned earlier (where we witnessed the encounter between ‘Hisham-Ibn-Abdul Malik’ and ‘Ata-Ibn-Rabah’).

In Mecca, another Umayyad Caliph, ‘Sulaiman-Ibn-Abdul Malik’, accompanied his two sons to sit humbly in the presence of the ex-slave to listen to his teachings in the sacred Mosque.

When he was asked about the man by his sons.

The Caliph answered, "This was '‘Ata-Ibn-Rabah."

Then he said, "My children seek knowledge. For through knowledge and learning the humble becomes great. The fool becomes wise, and slaves become superior to kings."

He lived about one hundred years and performed pilgrimage (Hajj) no less than seventy times.

What are we going to learn?

People generally tend to share their moments of happiness and sorrow. They are happy when they become wealthy. They will be joyous when promoted at work, content when they’re cover from illness, and cheerful when the world smiles at them and fulfills their dreams.

Likewise, they all grieve over illness, disgrace and loss of wealth. Knowing this to be the case, let us look for ways in which to make our joy everlasting and hence overpower our sorrows. Yes, in reality life tends to be both sweet and bitter, and on this we would not disagree, but why do we often focus on our ca­lamities and sorrows, and as a result become depressed for days on end? Where an hour is enough to grieve over something, hours on end are spent grieving.

Why?

I realise that sorrow and anguish enter our hearts without seeking permission, but for each door of sadness that opens there are a thousand means of shutting it, and these are what we will expound here.

Here we will learn how to be amazing.

Why was it that when your cousin spoke at the gathering, everyone listened to him attentively? Why were they amazed at his manners of speech? Why was it that when you spoke, they all turned away and began to talk amongst themselves? Why was that? You may be more well informed, better qualified and possess a higher status than him.  How then did he manage to get all the attention and you failed?

Why is it that one father is dearly loved by his children who love to greet him and accompany him wherever he goes, while another father begs his children to accompany him while they keep making all kinds of excuses to avoid doing so?

Are they not both fathers? Then why the difference?

Here we will learn how to enjoy life, know the various techniques to attract people, influence them, persevere with their faults, deal with people with bad manners, and much, much more. So, welcome! 

A word: Success is not to discover.  what others like, it is to acquire

and practice . the kills that help. one gain their love. 

Gentleness only beautifies

Gentleness only beautifies

We often comment in amazement at a person, "He is calm, he is un-flustered, and he is composed." When we would like to criticize a person, we would say, "He is hasty ... he is weak..."

Messenger of Allah Peace be Upon Him Said “Gentleness beautifies everything. Harshness disfigures." (Muslim)

It has come in a Hadith, "If Allah decides well for a family, he blesses them with gentleness. If Allah decides evil for a family, he deprives them of gentleness:'

Another Hadith states, "Allah is gentle and loves gentleness, and gives due to gentleness what He does not give to harshness or anything else:' (Muslim)

A gentle person who is easy-going and soft is beloved to all people. People feel comfortable with such a person and trust him, especially if gentleness is accompanied by beautiful speech and the skill of dealing with people correctly.

AI-Imam Abu Yusuf, the judge, was from the most famous Hanafi scholars. He was the most prominent student of Abu Hanifah. Abu Yusuf was very poor during his childhood and his father would forbid him from attending Abu Hanifah's lessons and instead order him to go to the marketplace to earn a living. Abu Hanifah was very keen for him and would reprimand him if he missed his lessons.

One day, Abu Yusuf complained to Abu Hanifah about his father. Abu Hanifah called his father and asked him, "How much does your son earn in one day?"

He replied, "Two dirhams:' Abu Hanifah said, "I will give you two dirhams if you allow him to study:'

Thus, Abu Yusuf studied with his teacher for years. When Abu Yusuf grew into a young man and became distinguished amongst his colleagues, he became afflicted with an illness that left him bedridden. When Abu Hanifah visited him he noticed that his illness was very severe, he became sad and feared that he may die. He left Abu Yusuf saying to himself, "Alas, Abu Yusuf! How I wished that you would serve the people after me!" Abu Hanifah went along dragging his feet to his study circle where his students were waiting. After a couple of days, Abu Yusuf recovered. He took a bath, wore his clothes and went off to attend his teacher's lessons. Those around him asked, "Where are you going?"

"To the Shaykh's lesson", he replied.

They said, "Even now you are studying? You don't need to. Haven't you heard what the Shaykh has said about you?"

"What did he say?" he enquired.

They said, "He has said: 'I wished that you would serve the people after me', meaning, you have acquired all the knowledge of Abu Hanifah, and if the teacher were to die today, you would have sat in his place."

Abu Yusuf felt amazed at him, and went to the Masjid where he saw Abu Hanifah's study circle in a corner, so he went to another corner and began to teach and pass verdicts!

Abu Hanifah noticed the new study circle and asked, "Whose study circle is this?

They said, "Abu Yusuf's."

"Has he recovered?" he asked.

"Yes", they said.

Abu Hanifah then asked, "Why didn't he come to our lessons.”

They replied, "He was informed of what you had said, so he began to teach the people since he isn't in need of you anymore."

Abu Hanifah then thought about how to deal with this case in a gentle manner and came up with an idea to teach Abu Yusuf a lesson. He turned to one of his students and said,"0 so-and-so, go to the Shaykh sitting over there  Abu Yusuf - and say to him, '0 Shaykh! I have a question.' He would be very happy with you upon you asking him questions, for he has only sat there to be asked questions!

Say to him, 'A man gives his garment to a tailor to get it shortened. When he returns to him after a few days to collect it, the tailor denies that he ever had his garment. The man goes to the police to complain, and the police enter the shop and recover his garment for him.

The question is: Does the tailor deserve the payment for shortening the garment or not?'

If he says to you, 'Yes, he deserves it', tell him he is wrong.

And if he says to you, 'No, he does not deserve if, tell him he is wrong,'

The student was pleased to learn this complex question and went off to Abu Yusuf and said,"0 Shaykh! I have a question."

Abu Yusuf said, "What is your question?"

He said, "A man gives his garment to the tailor... ", and before he could finish, Abu Yusuf replied, "Yes, he deserves payment, as long as he has finished his work."

The questioner said, "You are wrong."

Abu Yusuf became surprised and thought about the issue deeply and said, "Actually, he does not deserve payment."

The questioner said, "You are wrong, again."

Abu Yusuf looked at him and said, "By Allah, who sent you here?"

The man pointed towards Abu Hanifah and said, "The Shaykh sent me."

Abu Yusuf stood from his gathering and went to Abu Hanifah's circle and said,"0 Shaykh! I have a question."

Abu Hanifah ignored him. Abu Yusuf then came and sat on his knees in front of the Shaykh, and said with all due respect, "0 Shaykh, I have a question."

He said, "What is your question?"

Abu Yusuf said, "You know what the question is."

"The question about the tailor and the garment?" asked Abu Hanifah.

"Yes", replied Abu Yusuf.

Abu Hanifah said, "You answer the question. Aren't you a Shaykh?"

He replied, "Rather, you are the Shaykh,"

Abu Hanifah then said in response to the question, "We check how much he shortened the garment by. If the garment was shortened to match the man's height, then it means he did the work completely. But then it occurred to him that he should deny having his garment. In this case, he shortened the garment for this man, and therefore he deserves to be paid. But if he had shortened the garment to suit his own height then that means he shortened the garment for himself and therefore does not deserve any payment."

Upon hearing that, Abu Yusuf kissed Abu Hanifah's forehead and remained his student until Abu Hanifah passed away. Only then did Abu Yusuf sit in his place to teach the people. How beautiful is gentleness and how wonderful it is to deal with such issues with tenderness!

The Prophet's anger - if he ever became angry - was always in religious matters. The Prophet Peace Be upon Him never became angry for his own sake. He would only become angry if one of Allah's sanctities was being violated.

Once 'Umar bin al-Khattab may Allah be pleased with him- met a Jewish person. The Jewish person showed him a passage from the Torah, which amazed 'Umar, so he took a copy for himself. He then came to the Messenger of Allah Peace Be upon Him with this passage from the Torah and read it out to him. The Prophet Peace Be Upon Him  realized that 'Umar was taken by the passage and that if the door  was opened up for deriving rulings from previous religions, then their books would become mixed with the Qur'an, thereby leaving the people perplexed. How could 'Umar have gone ahead and made a copy of the passage and written it with his own hands without asking the Prophet Peace Be upon Him?

The Prophet Peace Be upon Him became angry and said, "Are you confused over this, 0 Ibn al-Khattab" meaning, are you doubting my Shari'ah?

He then said, "I swear by the One who has my soul in His Hand, I have come to you with something crystal clear. Do not ask them about anything, lest they inform you of the truth and you reject it, or they inform you of falsehood and you believe in it. I swear by the One who has my soul in His hand, if Musa was alive today, he would have no choice but to follow me."

During the early stages of the Prophet's prophet hood, he used to come to the Ka'bah, whilst the Quraysh would be sitting In their gatherings. He would pray and not pay any attention to them. They would hurt him in many ways, whilst he would bear it all with patience.

One day, the noble ones from Quraysh gathered together and mentioned the Messenger of Allah Peace Be upon Him and said, "We have never come across anything more severe than what we have had to bear from this man. He has declared our views stupid. He has insulted our forefathers. He has condemned our religion. He has disunited our ranks, and insulted our gods. We are truly exasperated with him."

Whilst they were discussing amongst each other, there came the Messenger of Allah Peace Be upon Him and walked to the corner of the Ka'bah in order to touch it for the purpose of tawaf. When he began to make tawaf around the Ka'bah they started to mock him.

The Prophet's complexion changed but his attitude remained calm with them and bore it with silence and continued. When he passed by them the second time, they mocked him again. His complexion changed, but he remained silent and continued with the tawaf. When he passed by them the third time, they mocked him again. He realized that gentleness was not working with such people. He went to them and said, "Pay attention, 0 Quraysh! I swear by the One who has my soul in His hand, I have come to you with slaughter!" The brave Messenger said these words and remained standing, facing them. When the men heard the threat of being slaughtered from the 'most truthful and the most trustworthy one', they jumped up, until every single one sat upright and still, as if a bird was resting on his head, so much so that the harshest of them towards the Prophet ~ began to show him gentleness. They said, "Make your way, 0 Abul-Qasim as a noble man. You were never foolish:' thus, the Prophet Peace Be upon Him made his way. Yes, if it is said to you," be gentle ... ", then say, "gentleness has its place,": For one to be gentle at an inappropriate occasion is considered foolishness, although when one closely studies the life of the Prophet  Peace be upon Him he realizes that he was gentle on most occasions. But be careful!

 We are not calling for weakness and cowardice. We are only calling for gentleness.

Gentleness beautifies everything, harshness disfigures