In the sixth year after
the hijrah, the Prophet, may the
blessings of God be on him, decided to
expand the scope of his mission. He sent
eight letters to rulers in the Arabian
peninsula and surrounding areas inviting
them to Islam. One of these rulers was
Thumamah ibn Uthal.
Thumamah was one of
the most powerful Arab rulers in pre-Quranic
times. This is not surprising since he
was a chieftain of the Banu Hanifah and
one of the rulers of al-Yamamah whose
word no one dared to challenge or
disobey.
When Thumamah received
the Prophet's letter, he was consumed by
anger and rejected it. He refused to
listen to the invitation of Truth and
goodness. More than that, he felt a
strong desire to go and kill the Prophet
and bury his mission with him.
Thumamah waited and
waited for a convenient time to carry
out his design against the Prophet until
eventually forgetfulness caused him to
lose interest. One of his uncles,
however, reminded him of his plan,
praising what he intended to do.
In the pursuit of his
evil design against the Prophet,
Thumamah met and killed a group of the
Prophet's companions. The Prophet
thereupon declared him a wanted man who
could lawfully be killed on sight. Not
long afterwards, Thumamah decided to
perform umrah. He wanted to perform
tawaf around the Kabah and sacrifice to
the idols there. So he left al-Yamamah
for Makkah. As he was passing near
Madinah, an incident took place which he
had not anticipated.
Groups of Muslims were
patrolling the districts of Madinah and
outlying areas on the lookout for any
strangers or anyone intent on causing
trouble. One of these groups came upon
Thumamah and apprehended him but they
did not know who he was. They took him
to Madinah and tied him to one of the
columns in the mosque. They waited for
the Prophet himself to question the man
and decide what should be done with him.
When the Prophet was
about to enter the mosque, he saw
Thumamah and asked his companions, 'Do
you know whom you have taken?"
"No, messenger of
God," they replied.
"This is Thumamah
ibn Uthal al-Hanafi," he said.
"You have done well in capturing
him."
The Prophet then
returned home to his family and said,
"Get what food you can and send it
to Thumamah ibn Uthal." He then
ordered his camel to be milked for him.
All this was done before he met Thumamah
or had spoken to him.
The Prophet then
approached Thumamah hoping to encourage
him to become a Muslim. "What do
you have to say for yourself?" he
asked.
"If you want to
kill in reprisal," Thumamah
replied, "you can have someone of
noble blood to kill. If, out of your
bounty, you want to forgive, I shall be
grateful. If you want money in
compensation, I shall give you whatever
amount you ask."
The Prophet then left
him for two days, but still personally
sent him food and drink and milk from
his camel. The Prophet went back to him
and asked, "What do you have to say
for yourself?" Thumamah repeated
what he had said the day before. The
Prophet then left and came back to him
the following day. "What do you
have to say for yourself?" he asked
again and Thumamah repeated what he had
said once more. Then the Prophet turned
to his companions and said, "Set
him free."
Thumamah left the
mosque of the Prophet and rode until he
came to a palm grove on the outskirts of
Madinah near al-Baqi' (a place of
luxuriant vegetation which later became
a cemetery for many of the Prophet's
companions). He watered his camel and
washed himself well. Then he turned back
and made his way to the Prophet's
mosque. There, he stood before a
congregation of Muslims and said:
"I bear witness that there is no
god but Allah and I bear witness that
Muhammad is His servant and His
messenger." He then went to the
Prophet, upon whom be peace, and said:
"O Muhammad, by God, there was
never on this earth a face more
detestable than yours. Now, yours is the
dearest face of all to me." "I
have killed some of your men," he
continued, "I am at your mercy.
What will you have done to me?"
"There is now no
blame on you, Thumamah," replied
the Prophet. "Becoming a Muslim
obliterates past actions and marks a new
beginning."
Thumamah was greatly
relieved. His face showed his surprise
and joy and he vowed, "By God, I
shall place my whole self, my sword, and
whoever is with me at your service and
at the service of your religion."
"O Rasulullah,"
he went on, "when your horsemen
captured me I was on my way to perform
umrah. What do you think I should do
now?"
"Go ahead and
perform your umrah," replied the
Prophet, "but perform it according
to the laws of God and His
messenger." The Prophet then taught
him how to perform umrah according to
Islamic rules.
Thumamah left to
fulfill his intention. When he reached
the valley of Makkah, he began shouting
in a loud, resonant voice:
"Labbayk
Allahumma labbayk. Labbayka Laa shareeka
Laka labbayk. Innal hamda wan ni'mata
Laka wall mulk. Laa shareeka Lak. (Here
I am at Your command O Lord, Here I am.
Here I am. No partner have You. Here I
am. Praise, bounty and Dominion belong
to You. No partner have You.")
He was thus the first
Muslim on the face of the earth to enter
Makkah reciting the talbiyah.
The Quraysh heard the
sound of the talbiyah and felt both
anger and alarm. With drawn swords, they
set out towards the voice to punish the
one who had thus assaulted their
preserve. As they came closer to him,
Thumamah raised his voice even higher
while reciting the talbiyah and looked
upon them with pride and defiance. One
of the Quraysh young men was
particularly incensed and was about to
shoot Thumamah with an arrow when the
others grabbed his hand and shouted:
"Woe to you! Do
you know who this is? He is Thumamah ibn
Uthal, ruler of al-Yamamah. By God, if
you should harm him, his people would
cut our supplies, with dire consequences
for us."
Swords were replaced
in their scabbards as the Quraysh went
up to Thumamah and said:
"What's wrong
with you, Thumamah? Have you given in
and abandoned your religion and the
religion of your forefathers?"
"I have not given
in," he replied, "but I have
decided to follow the best religion. I
follow the religion of Muhammad. "
He then went on:
"I swear to you by the Lord of this
House that after my return to al-Yamamah,
no grain of wheat or any of its produce
shall reach you until you follow
Muhammad."
Under the watchful
eyes of the Quraysh, Thumamah performed
umrah as the Prophet, peace be upon him,
had instructed him. He dedicated his
sacrifice to God alone.
Thumamah returned to
his land and ordered his people to
withhold supplies from the Quraysh. The
boycott gradually began to have effect
and became more and more stringent.
Prices began to rise. Hunger began to
bite and there was even fear of death
among the Quraysh. Thereupon, they wrote
to the Prophet, saying:
"Our agreement
with you (the treaty of Hudaybiyyah) is
that you should maintain the bonds of
kinship but you have gone against that.
You have cut the bonds of kinship. You
have killed and caused death through
hunger. Thumamah ibn Uthal has cut our
supplies and inflicted harm on us.
Perhaps you would see fit to instruct
him to resume sending us what we
need."
The Prophet
immediately sent a messenger instructing
Thumamah to lift the boycott and resume
supplies to the Quraysh. This Thumamah
did.
Thumamah spent the
rest of his life in the service of his
religion, abiding by the undertaking he
had given to the Prophet. When the
Prophet died, many Arabs began leaving
the religion of God in great numbers.
Musaylamah, the impostor, began calling
the Banu Hanifah to believe in him as a
Prophet. Thumamah confronted him and
said to his people:
"O Banu Hanifah,
beware of this grievous matter. There is
no light or guidance in it. By God, it
will only bring distress and suffering
to whoever joins this movement and
misfortune even to those who do not
join.
"O Banu Hanifah,
two prophets do not come at the same
time and there shall be no Prophet after
Muhammad and no Prophet to share in his
mission."
He then read out to
them the following verses of the Quran:
"Ha Mim. The revelation of this
Book is from God the Almighty, the
Knowing. He forgives sins and accepts
repentance. He is severe in punishment
and has a long reach. There is no god
except Him. To Him is the journey's
end." (Surah Ghafir; verses 1-3).
"Can you compare
these words of God with the uttering of
Musaylamah?" he asked.
He then gathered
together all those who had remained in
Islam and began to wage a jihad against
the apostates and to make the words of
God supreme. The loyal Muslims of Banu
Hanifah needed additional help to stand
against the armies of Musaylamah. Their
arduous task was completed by the forces
dispatched by Abu Bakr but at the cost
of many a Muslim life.
Sheikh Abdulfattah Abu-Abdullah Adelabu (Ph. D. Damas),
a West African Islamic Academic founded AWQAF Africa, of
which he's the first al Amir (i.e. President).
Sheikh Dr. Adelabu was studying Postgraduate Degrees in
Damascus early 1990's during when Syria reviewed its
national security after an ‘Oslo Accord'...
Syria like many other countries around the world
witnessed, during this period, the flood of refugees
from war troubled nations like Somalia, arrival of
people from Algeria during the brutal struggling between
the Mujahidun and the government, resettlement of the
Palestinians fleeing from sophisticated guns of the
Israelis as well as adventure of African migrants for
reasons uncountable…