Uqbah takes Prophet's mount
Friday, June 22, 2007
IT WAS such a long and exhausting trip, but Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) finally completed his travel from Mekah and reached Yathrib, which was later renamed Madinah. The good people of the city went out to meet him, crowding the narrow streets and chanting their welcome in sheer joy at meeting the Prophet and his loyal companion, Abu Bakr as-Siddiq.
Uqbah ibn Aamir missed the jubilation as he was tending to his flocks of sheep and goats out in the desert. The good news, however, finally reached him. The young man set out to enter the city to meet the blessed Prophet without delay.
"When I met him I asked: 'Will you accept my pledge of allegiance, O Messenger of God?' 'And who are you?' asked the Prophet. 'Uqbah ibn Aamir al-Juhani,' I replied. 'Which do you prefer,' he asked, 'the pledge of a nomad or the pledge of someone who has migrated?'
'The pledge of someone who has migrated,' I said. So the Prophet took the same pledge from me as he did from the Muhajirin. I spent the night with him and then went back to my flock."
There were 12 shepherds who embraced Islam then but all lived far from the city. They then decided to take turns to go to the Prophet daily to listen to his instructions and the revelation, but before long, Uqbah realised that he had been wasting his time.
He chided himself. "Is it because of a flock of sheep that you remain thin and wretched and lose the opportunity to be in the company of the Prophet and to speak directly to him without an intermediary?"
"I left my flock, went to Madinah and stayed in the masjid close to the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace."
Alone, without possessions, or relatives, Uqbah came to Madinah and stayed with others like him on the Suffah or elevated part of the Prophet's mosque, near his house.
They were known as the "Ashab as-Suffah" and the Prophet once described them as the "guests of Islam".
The Prophet had a special love and concern for them and took care to educate them and look after them in all respects.
Uqbah then recounted an incident when the Prophet came out of his house to meet the guests.
He said, "Which of you would like to go out to the open country or a valley every day and fetch for himself two beautiful, black camels?" Uqbah and the others all declared they would like to do that.
The Prophet said, "then, each one of you should go to the mosque and learn two ayat (verses) of the Book of God. This is better for him than two camels; three verses are better than three camels; four verses are better than four camels..."
Such camels were then prized possessions.
The result of such exhortations was a change of attitude amongst the early Muslims from obsessing about obtaining worldly possessions to a devotion in the quest for knowledge.
Even outside the mosque, Uqbah tried to stay close to the Prophet.
On journeys, he often took the reins of the Prophet's mule and went wherever the Prophet desired. Sometimes he followed directly behind the Prophet. On some occasions, the Prophet would descend from his mount and allow Uqbah to ride while he walked.
Uqbah described one such occasion: "I took hold of the reins of the Prophet's mule while passing through some palm groves of Madinah. 'Uqbah', the Prophet said to me, 'don't you want to ride?'
"I thought of saying 'no' but I felt there might be an element of disobedience to the Prophet in such a reply so I said: 'Yes, O Prophet of God.' The Prophet then got down from his mule and I mounted in obedience to his command. He began to walk. Shortly afterwards I dismounted. The Prophet mounted again and said to me: 'Uqbah, shall I not teach you two surah the like of which has not been heard before?' And so he recited to me the last two surah of the Quran."
The Prophet told Uqbah to recite the surah the first thing in the morning and before going to bed.
Uqbah became amongst the most avid students and, within a decade, he had become one of the outstanding scholars among the companions of the Prophet, a competent and beautiful reciter of the Quran, a military commander and later as one of the governors.
The Brunei Times
Uqbah ibn Aamir missed the jubilation as he was tending to his flocks of sheep and goats out in the desert. The good news, however, finally reached him. The young man set out to enter the city to meet the blessed Prophet without delay.
"When I met him I asked: 'Will you accept my pledge of allegiance, O Messenger of God?' 'And who are you?' asked the Prophet. 'Uqbah ibn Aamir al-Juhani,' I replied. 'Which do you prefer,' he asked, 'the pledge of a nomad or the pledge of someone who has migrated?'
'The pledge of someone who has migrated,' I said. So the Prophet took the same pledge from me as he did from the Muhajirin. I spent the night with him and then went back to my flock."
There were 12 shepherds who embraced Islam then but all lived far from the city. They then decided to take turns to go to the Prophet daily to listen to his instructions and the revelation, but before long, Uqbah realised that he had been wasting his time.
He chided himself. "Is it because of a flock of sheep that you remain thin and wretched and lose the opportunity to be in the company of the Prophet and to speak directly to him without an intermediary?"
"I left my flock, went to Madinah and stayed in the masjid close to the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace."
Alone, without possessions, or relatives, Uqbah came to Madinah and stayed with others like him on the Suffah or elevated part of the Prophet's mosque, near his house.
They were known as the "Ashab as-Suffah" and the Prophet once described them as the "guests of Islam".
The Prophet had a special love and concern for them and took care to educate them and look after them in all respects.
Uqbah then recounted an incident when the Prophet came out of his house to meet the guests.
He said, "Which of you would like to go out to the open country or a valley every day and fetch for himself two beautiful, black camels?" Uqbah and the others all declared they would like to do that.
The Prophet said, "then, each one of you should go to the mosque and learn two ayat (verses) of the Book of God. This is better for him than two camels; three verses are better than three camels; four verses are better than four camels..."
Such camels were then prized possessions.
The result of such exhortations was a change of attitude amongst the early Muslims from obsessing about obtaining worldly possessions to a devotion in the quest for knowledge.
Even outside the mosque, Uqbah tried to stay close to the Prophet.
On journeys, he often took the reins of the Prophet's mule and went wherever the Prophet desired. Sometimes he followed directly behind the Prophet. On some occasions, the Prophet would descend from his mount and allow Uqbah to ride while he walked.
Uqbah described one such occasion: "I took hold of the reins of the Prophet's mule while passing through some palm groves of Madinah. 'Uqbah', the Prophet said to me, 'don't you want to ride?'
"I thought of saying 'no' but I felt there might be an element of disobedience to the Prophet in such a reply so I said: 'Yes, O Prophet of God.' The Prophet then got down from his mule and I mounted in obedience to his command. He began to walk. Shortly afterwards I dismounted. The Prophet mounted again and said to me: 'Uqbah, shall I not teach you two surah the like of which has not been heard before?' And so he recited to me the last two surah of the Quran."
The Prophet told Uqbah to recite the surah the first thing in the morning and before going to bed.
Uqbah became amongst the most avid students and, within a decade, he had become one of the outstanding scholars among the companions of the Prophet, a competent and beautiful reciter of the Quran, a military commander and later as one of the governors.
The Brunei Times
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