Abu Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah - Biographies of the Companions (Sahabah)

His appearance was striking. He was slim andtall. His face was bright
and he had a sparse beard. It was pleasing tolook at him and
refreshing to meet him. He was extremely courteous and humble and
quite shy. Yet in a tough situation he would become strikinglyserious
and alert, resembling the flashing blade of a sword in his severity
and sharpness.
He was described as the Amin or Custodian of Muhammad's community. His
full namewas Aamir ibn Abdullah ibn al-Jarrah. He was known as Abu
Ubaydah. Of him Abdullah ibn Umar, one of the companions of the
Prophet, said:
"Three persons in the tribe of Quraysh were most prominent, had
thebest character and were the most modest. If they spoke to you, they
would not deceive you and if you spoke to them, they would not accuse
you of Lying: Abu Bakr as-Siddiq, Uthman ibn Affan and Abu Ubaydah ibn
al-Jarrah."
Abu Ubaydah was one ofthe first persons to accept Islam. He became a
Muslim one day after Abu Bakr. In fact, it was through Abu Bakr that
he became a Muslim. AbuBakr took him, Abdur Rahman ibn Aut, Uthmanibn
Mazun and al-Arqam ibn Abu al Arqam to the Prophet, upon whom be
peace, and together they declared their acceptance of the Truth. They
were thus the first pillars on which the great edifice of Islam was
built.
Abu Ubaydah lived through the harsh experience, which the Muslims went
through inMakkah, from beginningto end. With the early Muslims, he
endured the insults and the violence, the pain and the sorrow of that
experience. In every trial and test he remained firm and constant in
his belief in God and His prophet. One of the most harrowing
experiences he had to go through however, was at the battle of Badr.
Abu Ubaydah was in the vanguard of the Muslim forces, fighting with
might and main and as someone who was not at all afraid of death. The
Quraysh cavalry were extremely wary of him and avoided comingface to
face with him. One man in particular, however, kept on pursuing Abu
Ubaydah wherever he turned and Abu Ubaydah tried his best to keep out
of his way and avoid an encounter with him.
The man plunged into the attack. Abu Ubaydah tried desperately to
avoid him. Eventually theman succeeded in blocking Abu Ubaydah's path
and stood as a barrier between him and the Quraysh. I hey were now
face to face with each other. Abu Ubaydah could not contain himself
any longer. He struck one blow to the man's head. The man fell to the
ground and died instantly.
Do not try to guess who this man was It was, as stated earlier, one of
themost harrowing experiences that Abu Ubaydah had to go through, how
harrowing, it is almost impossible to imagine. The man in Fact was
Abdullah ibn al-Jarrah, the father of Abu Ubaydah!
Abu Ubaydah obviously did not want to kill his father but in the
actual battle between faith in God and polytheism, the choice open to
him was profoundly disturbing but clear. In a way it could be said
that he didnot kill his father--he only killed the polytheism in the
personof his father.
It is concerning this event that God revealed the following verses of the Quran:
"You will not find a people believing in God and the Last Day making
friends with those who oppose God and His messenger even if these were
their fathers, their sons, their brothers or their clan. God has
placed faith in their hearts and strengthenedthem with a spirit from
Him. He will cause them to enter gardens beneath which streams flow
that they may dwelltherein. God is well pleased with them and they
well pleased with Him. They are the party of God. Is not the party of
God the successful ones?" (Surah al-Mujactilah 58:22)
The response of Abu Ubaydah at Badr when confronted by his father was
not unexpected. He had attained a strength of faith in God, devotion
to His religion and a level of concern for the ummah of Muhammad to
which many aspired.
It is related by Muhammad ibn Jafar, a Companion of the Prophet, that
a Christian delegation came to the Prophet and said, 'O Abu-l Qasim,
send one of your companions with us, one in whom you arewell pleased,
to judge between us on some questions of property about which we
disagree among ourselves. We have a high regard for you Muslim
people."
"Come back to me this evening," replied the Prophet, "and I will
sendwith you one who is strong and trustworthy."
Umar ibn al-Khattab heard the Prophet saying this and later said: "I
went to the Zuhr (midday) Prayer early hoping to be the one who would
fit the description of the Prophet. When the Prophet had finished
thePrayer, he began looking to his right and his left and I raised
myself so that he could see me. But he continued looking among us
until he spotted Abu Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah. He called him and said,
'Go with them and judge among them with truth about that which they
are in disagreement." And so Abu Ubaydah got the appointment."
Abu Ubaydah was not only trustworthy. He displayed a great deal
ofstrength in the discharge of his trust. This strength was shownon
several occasions.
One day the Prophet dispatched a group of his Sahabah to meet a
Quraysh caravan. He appointed Abu Ubaydah as amir (leader) of the
group and gave them a bag of dates and nothing else as provisions. Abu
Ubaydahgave to each man under his command only one date every day. He
would suck this date justas a child would suck at the breast of its
mother. He would then drink some water and this would suffice him for
the whole day.
On the day of Uhud when the Muslims were being routed, one of
themushrikeen started to shout, "Show me Muhammad, show me Muhammad."
Abu Ubaydah was one of a group of ten Muslims who had encircled the
Prophet to protect him against the spears of theMushrikeen.
When the battle was over, it was found that one of the Prophet's molar
teeth was broken, his forehead was bashedin and two discs from
hisshield had penetrated into his cheeks. Abu Bakrwent forward with
the intention of extracting these discs but Abu Ubaydah said, "Please
leave that to me."
Abu Ubaydah was afraid that he would cause the Prophet pain if he took
out the discs with his hand. He bit hard into one of the discs. It was
extracted but one of his incisor teeth fell to the ground in the
process. With his other incisor, heextracted the other disc but lost
that tooth also. Abu Bakr remarked,"Abu Ubaydah is the bestof men at
breaking incisor teeth!"
Abu Ubaydah continued to be fully involved in all the momentous events
during the Prophet's lifetime. After the beloved Prophet had passed
away, the companions gathered tochoose a successor at theSaqifah or
meeting placeof Banu Saaadah. The day is known in history as the Day
of Saqifah. Onthis day, Umar ibn al-Khattab said to Abu Ubaydah,
"Stretch forth your hand and I will swear allegiance to you for I
heard the Prophet, peace be upon him say, 'Every ummah has an amin
(custodian) and you are the amin of this ummah.' "
"I would not," declared Abu Ubaydah, "put myself forward in the
presence of a man whom the Prophet, upon whom be peace, commanded to
lead us in Prayer and who led usright until the Prophet's death." He
then gave bayah (the oath of allegiance) to Abu Bakr as-Siddiq. He
continued to be a close adviser to Abu Bakr and his strong supporter
in the cause oftruth and goodness. Then came the caliphate of Umar and
Abu Ubaydah also gave him his support and obedience. He did not
disobey him in any matter, except one.
The incident happened when Abu Ubaydah was in Syria leading the Muslim
forces from one victory to another until the whole of Syria was under
Muslim control. The River Euphrates lay to his right and Asia Minor to
his left.
It was then that a plaguehit the land of Syria, the like of which
people hadnever experienced before. It devastated thepopulation. Umar
dispatched a messenger to Abu Ubaydah with a letter saying:
"I am in urgent need of you. If my letter reaches you at night I
strongly urge you to leave beforedawn. If this letter reaches you
during the day, I strongly urge you to leave before evening and hasten
to me.
When Abu Ubaydah received Umar's letter, he said, "I know why theAmir
al-Mumineen needsme. He wants to secure the survival of someone who,
however, is not eternal." So he wrote to Umar:
"I know that you need me. But I am in an army of Muslims and I have
nodesire to save myself from what is afflicting them. I do not want to
separate from them untilGod wills. So, when this letter reaches you,
release me from your command and permit me to stay on.''
When Umar read this letter tears filled his eyesand those who were
with him asked, "Has Abu Ubaydah died, O Amir al-Mumineen?"
"No," said he, "But deathis near to him."
Umar's intuition was not wrong. Before long, Abu Ubaydah became
afflicted with the plague. As death hung over him, he spoke to
hisarmy:
"Let me give you some advice which will cause you to be on the path of
goodness always."Establish Prayer. Fast the month of Ramadan. Give
Sadaqah. Perform the Hajj and Umrah. Remain united and support one
another. Be sincere to your commanders and do not conceal anything
from them. Don't let the worlddestroy you for even if man were to live
a thousand years he would still end up with this state that you see me
in.
Peace be upon you and the mercy of God."
Abu Ubaydah then turned to Muadh ibn Jabal and said, "O Muadh, perform
the prayer with the people (be their leader)." At this, his pure soul
departed. Muadh got up and said:
"O people, you are stricken by the death of a man. By God, I don't
know whether I have seen a man who had a more righteous heart, who was
further from allevil and who was more sincere to people than he. Ask
God to shower His mercy on him and God will be merciful to you. "