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A
Recognized Companion
History would have
by-passed this man as it had bypassed
thousands of Arabs before him. He, like
them, would have had no claim to
attention or fame. The greatness of
Islam, however, gave to Abdullah ibn
Hudhafah the opportunity to meet two
world potentates of his time--Khusraw
Parvez the King of Persia and Heraclius,
the Byzantine emperor.
The story of his
encounter with Khusraw Parvez began in
the sixth year of the hijrah when the
Prophet decided to send some of his
Companions with letters to rulers
outside the Arabian peninsula inviting
them to Islam.
The Prophet attached
great importance to this initiative.
These messengers were going to distant
lands with whom there was no agreement
or treaty. They did not know the
languages of these lands nor anything
about the ways and disposition of their
rulers. They were to invite these rulers
to give up their religion and forsake
their power and glory and enter the
religion of a people who shortly before
were almost their subjects. The mission
was undoubtedly hazardous.
To make known his
plan, the Prophet called his companions
together and addressed them. He started
by praising God and thanking Him. He
then recited the Shahadah and went on:
"I want to send
some of you to the rulers of foreign
lands but don't dispute with me as the
Israelites disputed with Jesus, the son
of Mary. "O Prophet of God, we
shall carry out whatever you wish,"
they responded. "Send us wherever
you desire."
The Prophet
commissioned six of his Sahabah to carry
his letters to Arab and foreign rulers.
One of these was Abdullah ibn Hudhafah.
He was chosen to take the Prophet's
letter to Khusraw Parvez, the Persian
king.
Abdullah got his camel
ready and bade farewell to his wife and
son. He set out, alone, and traversed
mountains and valleys until he reached
the land of the Persian.
He sought permission
to enter into the king's presence
informing the guards of the letter he
was carrying. Khusraw Parvez thereupon
ordered his audience chamber to be made
ready and summoned his prominent aides.
When they had assembled he gave
permission for Abdullah to enter.
Abdullah entered and
saw the Persian potentate dressed in
delicate, flowing robes and wearing a
great, neatly arranged turban. On
Abdullah was the plain, coarse clothes
of the bedouin. His head though was held
high and his feet were firm. The honor
of Islam burned fiercely in his breast
and the power of faith pulsated in his
heart.
As soon as Khusraw
Parvez saw him approaching he signal led
to one of his men to take the letter
from his hand.
"No," said
Abdullah. 'The Prophet commanded me to
hand over this letter to you directly
and I shall not go against a command of
the Messenger of God."
"Let him come
near to me," Khusraw said to his
guards and Abdullah went forward and
handed over the letter. Khusraw then
called an Arab clerk who originally came
from Hira and ordered him to open the
letter in his presence and read its
contents. He began reading:
"In the name of
Allah, the Beneficent the Merciful. From
Muhammad, the Messenger of God, to
Khusraw the ruler of Persia. Peace on
whoever follows the guidance . . ."
Khusraw only heard
this much of the letter when the fire of
anger burst within him. His face became
red and he began to perspire around the
neck. He snatched the letter from the
clerk's hand and began tearing it to
pieces without knowing what else it
contained and shouted, "Does he
dare to write to me like this, he who is
my slave". He was angry that the
Prophet had not given him precedence in
his letter. He then commanded Abdullah
to be expelled from his assembly.
Abdullah was taken
away, not knowing what would happen to
him. Would he be killed or would he be
set free? But he did not want to wait to
find out. He said, "By God, I don't
care what happens to me after the letter
of the Prophet has been so badly
treated." He managed to get to his
camel and rode off.
When Khusraw's anger
had subsided he commanded that Abdullah
be brought before him. But Abdullah was
nowhere to be found. They searched for
him all the way to the Arabian peninsula
but found that he had gone ahead.
Back in Madinah,
Abdullah told the Prophet how Khusraw
had torn his letter to pieces and the
Prophet's only reply was, "May God
tear up his kingdom".
Meanwhile, Khusraw
wrote to Badhan, his deputy in the
Yemen, to send two strong men to
"that man who has appeared in the
Hijaz" with orders to bring him to
Persia.
Badhan dispatched two
of his strongest men to the Prophet and
gave them a letter to him in which he
was ordered to go with the two men to
meet Khusraw without delay. Badhan also
asked the two men to get whatever
information they could on the Prophet
and to study his message closely.
The men set out,
moving very quickly. At Taif they met
some Quraysh traders and asked them
about Muhammad. "He is in Yathrib,"
they said and they went on to Makkah
feeling extremely happy. This was good
news for them and they went around
telling other Quraysh, "You will be
pleased. Khusraw is out to get Muhammad
and you will be rid of his evil."
The two men meanwhile
made straight for Madinah where they met
the Prophet, handed him the letter of
Badhan and said to him, "The king
of kings, Khusraw, has written to our
ruler Badhan to send his men to get you.
We have come to take you with us. If you
come willingly, Khusraw has said that it
will be good for you and he will spare
you any punishment. If you refuse, you
will know the power of his punishment.
He has power to destroy you and your
people."
The Prophet smiled and
said to them, "Go back to your
mounts today and return tomorrow."
On the following day,
they came to the Prophet and said to
him, "Are you prepared to go with
us to meet Khusraw?"
"You shall not
meet Khusraw after today," replied
the Prophet. "God has killed him
and his son Shirwaih has taken his place
on such a night and on such a
month."
The two men stared in
the face of the Prophet. They were
completely dumbfounded.
"Do you know what
you are saying?" they asked.
"Shall we write about this to
Badhan?"
"Yes,"
replied the Prophet, "and say to
him that my religion has informed me
about what has happened to the Kingdom
of Khusraw and that if he should become
Muslim, I would appoint him ruler over
what he now controls".
The two men returned
to the Yemen and told Badhan what had
happened. Badhan said, "If what
Muhammad has said is true, then he is a
Prophet. If not then we shall see what
happens to him."
Not long afterwards a
letter from Shirwaih came to Badhan in
which he said, "I killed Khusraw
because of his tyranny against our
people. He regarded as lawful the
killing of leaders, the capturing of
their women and the expropriating of
their wealth. When this my letter
reaches you, take the allegiance of
whoever is with you on my behalf."
As soon as Badhan had
read Shirwaih's letter, he threw it
aside and announced his entry into
Islam. The Persians with him in the
Yemen also became Muslim.
That's the story of
Abdullah ibn Hudhafah's meeting with the
Persian king. His meeting with the
Byzantine emperor took place during the
caliphate of Umar ibn al-Khattab. It too
is an astonishing story.
In the nineteenth year
after the Hijrah, Umar dispatched an
army to fight against the Byzantine. In
it was Abdullah ibn Hudhafah. News of
the Muslim force reached the Byzantine
emperor. He had heard of their sincerity
of faith, and their willingness to
sacrifice their lives in the way of God
and His Prophet. He gave orders to his
men to bring to him any Muslim captive
they might take alive.
God willed that
Abdullah ibn Hudhafah should fall
captive to the Byzantines and he was
brought before the Emperor. The Emperor
looked at Abdullah for a long time.
Suddenly he said, "I shall make a
proposal to you."
"What is
it?" asked Abdullah. "I
suggest that you become a Christian. If
you do this, you will be set free and I
shall grant you a safe refuge." The
prisoner's reaction was furious:
"Death is preferable to me a
thousand times to what you ask me to
do."
"I see that you
are a bold man. However, if you respond
positively to what I propose to you, I
will give you a share in my authority
and swear you in as my aide."
The prisoner, shackled
in his chains, smiled and said, "By
God, if you give me all that you possess
and all that the Arabs have in exchange
for giving up the religion of Muhammad,
I shall not do so."
"Then I shall
kill you."
"Do what you
want," answered Abdullah.
The emperor then had
him put on a cross and ordered his
soldiers to throw spears at him, first
near his hands and then near his feet,
all the while telling him to accept
Christianity or at least give up his
religion. This he refused over and over
again to do.
The emperor then had
him taken down from the wooden cross. He
called for a great pot to be brought.
This was filled with oil which was then
heated under a fierce fire. He then had
two other Muslim prisoners brought and
had one of them thrown into the boiling
oil. The prisoner's flesh sizzled and
soon his bones could be seen. The
emperor turned to Abdullah and invited
him to Christianity.
This was the most
terrible test that Abdullah had to face
up till now. But he remained firm and
the emperor gave up trying. He then
ordered that Abdullah too be thrown into
the pot. As he was being taken away he
began to shed tears. The emperor thought
that he had at last been broken and had
him brought back to him. He once more
suggested that Abdullah become a
Christian but to his astonishment,
Abdullah refused.
"Damn you! Why
did you weep then?" shouted the
emperor.
"I cried,"
said Abdullah, "because I said to
myself 'You will now be thrown into this
pot and your soul will depart'. What I
really desired then was to have as many
souls as the number of hairs on my body
and to have all of them thrown into this
pot for the sake of God."
The tyrant then said,
"Will you kiss my head? I will then
set you free?"
"And all the
Muslim prisoners also?" asked
Abdullah.
This the emperor
agreed to do and Abdullah said to
himself, "One of the enemies of
God! I shall kiss his head and he shall
set me and all other Muslim prisoners
free. There can be no blame on me for
doing this." He then went up to the
emperor and kissed his forehead. All the
Muslim prisoners were released and
handed over to Abdullah.
Abdullah ibn Hudhafah
eventually came to Umar ibn al-Khattab
and told him what had happened. Umar was
greatly pleased and when he looked at
the prisoners he said, "Every
Muslim has a duty to kiss the head of
Abdullah ibn Khudhafah and I shall
start." Umar then got up and kissed
the head of Abdullah ibn Hudhafah .
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