When he went to Basrah as governor of the city, he called
theinhabitants to a meeting and addressed them: "The Amir al-Muminin,
Umar, has sent me toyou to teach you the Book of your Lord and the
Sunnah of His Prophet and to clean your streetsfor you."
People were taken aback when they heard these words. They could easily
understand that one of the responsibilities of a Muslimruler was to
instruct people in their religion. However, that one of his duties
should be to clean streets was something new and surprising to them.
Who was this governor of whomthe Prophet's grandson, al-Hasan,may God
be pleased with him said: "There was no rider who came to Basrah who
was better for its people than he."
His real name was Abdullah ibn Qays but he was and continues to be
known as Abu Musa al-Ashari. He left his native land, the Yemen, for
Makkah immediately after hearing that a Prophet had appeared there
whowas a man of rare insight, who called people to the worship of One
God and who insisted on thehighest standards of morality.
At Makkah, he stayed in the company of the Prophet and gained
knowledge and guidance.He returned to his country to propagate the
word of God and spread the mission of the noble Prophet, peace be on
him. We have no further news of him for more than a decade. Then just
after the end of the Khaybar expedition he came to the Prophet in
Madinah. His arrival there coincided with that of Jaffar ibn Abi Talib
and other Muslims from Abyssinia and the Prophet welcomed them all
with joy and happiness.
This time Abu Musa did not comealone. He came with more than fifty
persons from the Yemen all of whom had accepted Islam. Among them were
his two brothers, Abu Ruhm and Abu Burdah. The Prophet referred to the
whole group as the "Asharis".In fact he sometimes referred to all
Yemenis as Asharis after Abu Musa al-Ashari. He often praised the
group for their soft and tender-hearted nature and held them up to the
rest of his companions as a high example of good behavior. He once
said of them:
"If the Asharis go on an expedition or if they only have a little food
among them, they would gather all they have on one cloth and divide it
equally among themselves. They are thusfrom me and I am from them."
Abu Musa soon became highly esteemed in the Muslim community. He had
many great qualities. He was a faqih endowed with intelligence and
sound judgement and was ranked as one of the leading judges in the
early Muslim community. People used to say:"The judges in this ummah
are four: Umar, Ali, Abu Musa and Zayd ibn Thabit."
Abu Musa had a natural, uncomplicated disposition. He was by nature a
trusting person and expected people to deal withhim on the basis of
trust and sincerity.
In the field of jihad, he was a warrior of great courage
and endurance and skill. The Prophet said of him: "The master of
horsemen is Abu Musa."
"Abu Musa's insight and the soundness of his judgment did not allow
him to be deceived by an enemy in battle. In battle conditions he saw
situations with complete clarity and executed his actions with a firm
resolve.
Abu Musa was in command of the Muslim army traversing the lands of the
Sasanian Empire. At Isfahan, the people came to him and offered to pay
the jizyah (in return for military protection) to make peace and avoid
fighting. However, they were not sincere in their offer and merely
wanted an opportunity to mount a treacherous attack on the Muslims.
Abu Musa however saw through their real intentions and he remained on
the alert. Thus when the Isfahanis launched their attack, the Muslim
leader was not caught off-guard, He engaged them in battle and before
midday of the following day, he had won a decisive victory.
In the major campaigns against the powerful Sasanian Empire Abu Musa's
role was outstanding. In the great Battle of Tustar itself, he
distinguished himself as a military commander.
--
:-> :->
No comments:
Post a Comment