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Abdullah ibn Umm Maktum
was a cousin of Khadijah bint Khuwaylid,
Mother of the Believers, may God be
pleased with her. His father was Qays
ibn Said and his mother was Aatikah bint
Abdullah. She was called Umm Maktum
(Mother of the Concealed One) because
she gave birth to a blind child.
Abdullah witnessed the
rise of Islam in Makkah. He was amongst
the first to accept Islam. He lived
through the persecution of the Muslims
and suffered what the other companions
of the Prophet experienced. His
attitude, like theirs, was one of
firmness, staunch resistance and
sacrifice. Neither his dedication nor
his faith weakened against the violence
of the Quraysh onslaught. In fact, all
this only increased his determination to
hold on to the religion of God and his
devotion to His messenger.
Abdullah was devoted
to the noble Prophet and he was so eager
to memorize the Quran that he would not
miss any opportunity to achieve his
hearts desire. Indeed, his sense of
urgency and his insistence could
sometimes have been irritating as he,
unintentionally, sought to monopolize
the attention of the Prophet.
In this period, the
Prophet, peace be upon him, was
concentrating on the Quraysh notables
and was eager that they should become
Muslims. On one particular day, he met
Utbah ibn Rabiah and his brother Shaybah,
Amr ibn Hisham better known as Abu Jahl,
Umayyah ibn Khalaf and Walid ibn
Mughirah, the father of Khalid ibn Walid
who was later to be known as Sayf Allah
or 'the sword of God'. He had begun
talking and negotiating with them and
telling them about Islam. He so much
wished that they would respond
positively to him and accept Islam or at
least call off their persecution of his
companions.
While he was thus
engaged, Abdullah ibn Umm Maktum came up
and asked him to read a verse from the
Quran. "O messenger of God,"
he said, "teach me from what God
has taught you."
The Prophet frowned
and turned away from him. He turned his
attention instead to the prestigious
group of Quraysh, hoping that they would
become Muslims and that by their
acceptance of Islam they would bring
greatness to the religion of God and
strengthen his mission. As soon as he
had finished speaking to them and had
left their company, he suddenly felt
partially blinded and his head began to
throb violently. At this point the
following revelation came to him:
"He frowned and
turned away when the blind man
approached him ! Yet for all you knew,
(O Muhammad), he might perhaps have
grown in purity or have been reminded of
the Truth, and helped by this reminder.
Now as for him who believes himself to
be self-sufficient, to him you gave your
whole attention, although you are not
accountable for his failure to attain to
purity. But as for him who came unto you
full of eagerness and in awe of God, him
did you disregard.
Nay, verily, this is
but a reminder and so, whoever is
willing may remember Him in the light of
His revelations blest with dignity,
lofty and pure, borne by the hands of
messengers, noble and most virtuous.' (Surah
Abasa 8O: 116).
These are the sixteen
verses which were revealed to the noble
Prophet about Abdullah ibn Umm Maktum,
sixteen verses that have continued to be
recited from that time till today and
shall continue to be recited.
From that day the
Prophet did not cease to be generous to
Abdullah ibn Umm Maktum, to ask him
about his affairs, to fulfill his needs
and take him into his council whenever
he approached. This is not strange. Was
he not censured by God in a most severe
manner on Abdullah's account? In fact,
in later years, he often greeted Ibn Umm
Maktum with these words of humility:
"Welcome unto him
on whose account my Sustainer has
rebuked me." When the Quraysh
intensified their persecution of the
Prophet and those who believed with him,
God gave them permission to emigrate.
Abdullahs response was prompt. He and
Musab ibn Umayr were the first of the
Companions to reach Madinah.
As soon as they
reached Yathrib, he and Musab began
discussing with the people, reading the
Quran to them and teaching them the
religion of God. When the Prophet, upon
whom be peace, arrived in Madinah, he
appointed Abdullah and Bilal ibn Rabah
to be muadh-dhins for the Muslims,
proclaiming the Oneness of God five
times a day, calling man to the best of
actions and summoning them to success .
Bilal would call the
adhan and Abdullah would pronounce the
iqamah for the Prayer. Sometimes they
would reverse the process. During
Ramadan, they adopted a special routine.
One of them would call the adhan to wake
people up to eat before the fast began.
The other would call the adhan to
announce the beginning of dawn and the
fast. It was Bilal who would awaken the
people and Abdullah ibn Umm Maktum who
would announce the beginning of dawn.
One of the
responsibilities that the Prophet placed
on Abdullah ibn Umm Maktum was to put
him in charge of Madinah in his absence.
This was done more than ten times, one
of them being when he left for the
liberation of Makkah.
Soon after the battle
of Badr, the Prophet received a
revelation from God raising the status
of the mujahideen and preferring them
over the qaideen (those who remain
inactive at home). This was in order to
encourage the mujahid even further and
to spur the qaid to give up his
inactivity. This revelation affected ibn
Umm Maktum deeply. It pained him to be
thus barred from the higher status and
he said:
O messenger of God. If
I could go on jihad, I would certainly
do." He then earnestly asked God to
send down a revelation about his
particular case and those like him who
were prevented because of their
disabilities from going on military
campaigns.
His prayer was
answered. An additional phrase was
revealed to the Prophet exempting those
with disabilities from the import of the
original verse. The full ayah became:
"Not equal are
those who remain seated among the
believers, except those who possess
disabilities, and those who strive and
fight in the way of God with their
wealth and their persons . . ." (Surah
an-Nisaa, 4: 95).
In spite of thus being
excused from jihad, the soul of Abdullah
ibn Umm Maktum refused to be content
with staying among those who remained at
home when an expedition was in progress.
Great souls are not content with
remaining detached from affairs of great
moment. He determined that no campaign
should by-pass him. He fixed a role for
himself on the battle field. He would
say: "Place me between two rows and
give me the standard. I will carry it
for you and protect it, for I am blind
and cannot run away. "
In the fourteenth year
after the hijrah, Umar resolved to mount
a major assault against the Persians to
bring down their State and open the way
for the Muslim forces. So he wrote to
his governors:
"Send anyone with
a weapon or a horse or who can offer any
form of help to me. And make
haste."
Crowds of Muslims from
every direction responded to Umar's call
and converged on Madinah. Among all
these was the blind mujahid Abdullah ibn
Umm Maktum. Umar appointed Saud ibn Abi
Waqqas commander over the army, gave him
instructions and bade him farewell. When
the army reached Qadisiyyah, Abdullah
ibn Umm Maktum was prominent, wearing a
coat of armor and fully prepared. He had
vowed to carry and protect the standard
of the Muslims or be killed in the
process.
The forces met and
engaged in battle for three days. The
fighting was among the most fierce and
bitter in the history of the Muslim
conquests. On the third day, the Muslims
achieved a mighty victory as one of the
greatest empires in the world collapsed
and one of the most secure thrones fell.
The standard of Tawhid was raised in an
idolatrous land. The price of this clear
victory was hundreds of martyrs. Among
them was Abdullah ibn Umm Maktum. He was
found dead on the battlefield clutching
the flag of the Muslims.
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