THE PRAYER THAT WAS GRANTED

He was lame in one foot and like other multi-theists, he worshipped
idols. He had also once been the custodian of one of the idol temples
ofthe city of Medina.
With the spread of Islam, people gave up idolatry and came to believe
in the Oneness of God. However, he continued to believe in idols. With
complete sincerity, he worshipped the idol he himself hadmade. He
prayed to it for his needs.
The young children of hiscity stole his idol many times and threw it
among the rubbish so that he would stop worshipping idols. However he
continued toworship the idols. He would take a great deal of trouble
finding it and then he would take it home, clean and scent it and
start worshipping the idol again.
He used to say to the idol:"If I only knew who takesyou, I would make
him pay for it. But believe me,I do not know who he is!"
He continued in this way worshipping idols until one day he was faced
with a strange scene - he saw that someone had tied his idol to the
corpseof an animal and had thrown it in the middle of a pit!
Upon seeing this, he was taken aback. In fact, he could not believe
such aninsult had been made to his idol. He decided to take the idol
to his home again and apologize when suddenly an idea occurred to him.
He asked himself, "Really, what sort of a god is this idol? Why is it
so helpless and miserable? Why is it unable to defend itself? How can
such a weak thing be my protector?"..and thus he came to realize the
truth and to hate such a weak god who was unable to do anything. He
then reproached himself for having been an idolater. It was then that
the sparkof faith lit up his heart so that while shedding tearsof
remorse, he started repenting. In this way he came to believe in the
unique God and he became one of the most devoted Muslim.
A few years later, when the multi-theists attempted to fight and
destroy Islam, he hurried to help God's religion and thereby left a
splendid reminiscence.
The city of Medina was over-excited. People were getting themselves
ready for a great war with the infidels and multi-theists of the
Quraish in order to give them the punishment they deserved and to
prevent their further oppression.
Each of the Muslim hurriedly tried to be the first to announce his
readiness to help the Holy Prophet of Islam in fighting against the
enemies of Islam.
Amr bin Jamuh, the lame man whom we have already mentioned was, like
other Muslims, desirous of defending Islam alongside the Holy Leader
of Islam. But each time he remembered thathe was lame in one leg, he
became rather annoyed and worried lest the Holy Prophet should not
allow him to go to war.
Amr had three sons who were all ready to go to the battlefield.
However, he himself was sad and said, "Today I must stay at home and
not go to the jihad (religious and spiritual struggle in the way of
God) on account of my lame leg! It will be a dishonor if I die in bed
while I know my jihad is necessary and useful for the cause of Islam.
Why should I not fight for the cause of God and achievethe sublime
honor of martyrdom?"
As Amr was thus talking to himself, a thought occurred to him, which
made his heart tremble with joy and his eyes flash with eagerness. He
seemed to have found the solution to his problem. Limping, he
rantowards his house and called his wife, Hind, in a loud voice.
Hind went to her husband rather amazed and asked, "Amr what is the matter?"
"Hurry up. Hurry up. Bring me whatever is left over from my son's war
equipment. I want to take part in this battle. Hurry up..."
"What are you saying, Amr. God has exempted people like you from fighting..."
"Stop saying that. Do you want your husband to stay at home while your
sons acquire the glorious blessing of martyrdom? I swear by God that
I, too, am longing for martyrdom and wish to defend Islam as my sons
do. Of course, I love you, but I cannot prefer my love for you to my
love for meeting my God. Moreover, though God has exempted me from
fighting, He has not prohibited me from doing so. Now please prepare
my things quickly."
Think over it that by simply granting you the privilege of praying for
His favors and mercy, He has handed over the keysof His treasures to
you. Whenever you are in need, pray, and He gives His favors and
blessings. Imam Ali [A.S.] Seeing that her husband was so determined
to take part in the battle and would by no means change his mind, Hind
did not say anything more and hurriedly got his things together.
However, as she was worried about her husband, she quickly went to the
chief of the tribe and her family to see if they might be able to
convince him from going to the battlefront. She then returned to her
home with them.
Amr was quite ready. He had put on his chain, put his helmet on his
head, drawn his sword out of its sheath and was looking at them.
When Amr observed that his wife had gathered the chief of the tribe to
prevent his going to war,he turned to him with a determined face and
said, "Do not insist. It is useless. I will not change my decision!"
But the chief of the tribe went on insisting that he should not go to
the battlefront. Their reasoning was that it wasimpossible for a lame
man to fight.
The old man was not ableto make them understand that his love for God
and for martyrdom could not easily be driven out of the heart of a
Muslim. Finally, he had no choice but to go to the Holy Prophet with
his family and with the chief of the tribe and to obey whatever
command he would give him.
When they were in the presence of the Prophet, Amr said, "Oh Prophet
of God, my relatives want toprevent me from going to the jihad. They
want to imprison me at home while I am so eagerly desirous of jihad
and fighting for God's sake with this very lame leg."
The Holy Prophet answered, "Oh Amr! God has exempted you from jihad.
Fighting is not a duty of yours."
"I know oh Messenger of God, but I ask that you allow me to fight
against the enemies of Islam alongside you. I beg of you not to
disappoint me..."
When the great Prophet saw that the fire of faith was so enflaming in
Amr's pure heart, he gavehim an affectionate look and then addressing
his relatives and the chief of his tribe, said, "Do not disturb him.
Let him go to the battlefield. Martyrdom is his heart's desire.
Perhaps God will grant him this blessing." And thus Amr went to
thewarfront.
As the battle broke out, all saw Amr attacking the core of the enemy's
army like a powerful, angry lion and shouting,"Where are you, enemies
of God? I challenge you all because I desire to meet my God."
His sons, too, were busy fighting and creating memorable legends on
the battlefield. God witnessed the combat of the brave fighters who
were defending their divine faith. Amr and oneof his sons fought and
fought and were so severely wounded that they finally fell to the
ground while their bodies were covered with blood. Thus they
sacrificed their lives for their truthful faith. Like afaded tulip,
Amr was resting in the middle of the battlefield.
And after a while, the battle ended. The womenof Medina hurried to the
battlefield to see what had happened to their combatant men.
Some had spread the rumor that the Prophet had been martyred. They
were all anxious to knowwhether that heart-rending news was true.
Ayesha, the Holy Prophet's wife, was among these women. As she, was
going towards the battlefield, she saw that Hind, Amr's wife, hadput
the corpses of her martyred husband and son on a camel and was holding
its halter in her hands, but the camel refused to move on!
Ayesha asked her, "What news can you give me?"
Hind answered, "Many thanks to the Gracious God for the Holy Prophet
is safe and sound. I feel no sorrow as long as God's Prophet is
healthy and safe."
Ayesha asked her,"Whose corpses are these?"
"These are the corpses of my husband, my son and my brother and I want
to bury them in Medina. ButI wonder why the camel does not go ahead
and seems to be inclined to return to the battlefield."
No matter how hard Hindtried to make the camel go to Medina, she
failed and instead she observedthat the camel started going towards
Uhud in which place the battle had taken place.
Hind had no choice but to follow the camel and when she reached Uhud
she went straight to the Holy Prophet and told him the whole matter.
The Holy Prophet of Islamasked, "Did Amr not say anything when he was
leaving Medina for the battlefield?"
"Yes, he did, oh Prophet of God. He begged God not to return him to Medina."
"Then his prayers have been heard by Almighty God. Now we will bury
the three of them in Uhud."
After the three bloody bodies had been buried, the Holy Prophet said
to Hind, "In the next world, too, they will be together. How blessed
they are!"
While shedding tears of love for God and for the believers, Hind asked
the Holy Prophet, "Oh Prophet of God, please pray for me so I too
might join them and share in their blessings." And the Holy Prophet
prayed for all of them.

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