Abdullah Ibn Sailam_ - Biographies of the Companions (Sahabah)

Al-Husayn ibn Sailam was a Jewish rabbi in Yathrib who was widely
respected and honoured by the people of the city even by those who
were not Jewish. He was known for his piety and goodness, his upright
conduct and his truthfulness.
Al-Husayn lived a peaceful and gentle life but he was serious,
purposeful and organized in the way he spent his time. For a fixed
period each day, he would worship, teach and preach in thetemple. Then
he would spend some time in his orchard, looking after date palms,
pruning and pollinating. Thereafter, to increase his understanding and
knowledge of his religion, he would devote himself to the study of the
Torah.
In this study, it is said he was particularly struck by some verses of
the Torah which dealt with the coming of a Prophet who would complete
the message of previous Prophets. Al-Husayn therefore took an
immediate and keen interest when he heard reports of the appearance of
a Prophet in Makkah. He said:
"When I heard of the appearance of the Messenger of God, peace be on
him, I began tomake enquiries about his name, his genealogy, his
characteristics, his time and place and I began to compare this
information with what is contained m our books. From these enquiries,
I became convinced about the authenticityof his prophethood and I
affirmed the truth of his mission. However, I concealed my conclusions
from the Jews. I held my tongue...
Then came the day when the Prophet, peace be on him, left Makkah and
headed for Yathrib. When he reached Yathrib and stopped at Quba, a man
came rushing into the city, calling out to people and announcing the
arrival of the Prophet. At that moment, I was at the top of a palm
tree doing some work. My aunt, Khalidah bint al-Harith, was sitting
under the tree. On hearing the news, I shouted:
'Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! (Godis Great! God is Great!' When my aunt
heard my takbir, she remonstrated with me: 'May Godfrustrate you...By
God, if you hadheard that Moses was coming you would not have been
more enthusiastic.'
'Auntie, he is really, by God, the 'brother' of Moses and follows his
religion. He was sent with the same mission as Moses.' She was silent
for a while and then said: 'Is he the Prophet about whom you spoke to
us who would be sent to confirm the truth preached by previous
(Prophets) and complete the message of his Lord?' 'Yes,' I replied.
Without any delay or hesitation, I went out to meet the Prophet. I saw
crowds of people at his door. I moved about in the crowds until I
reached close to him. The first words I heard him say were:
'O people! Spread peace...Share food...Pray during the night while
people (normally) sleep... and you will enter Paradise in peace...'
I looked at him closely. I scrutinized him and was convinced that his
face was not that of an imposter. I went closer to him and made the
declaration of faith that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad
is the Messenger of Allah.
The Prophet turned to me and asked: 'What is your name?' 'Al-Husayn
ibn Sailam,' I replied.
'Instead, it is (now) Abdullah ibnSallam,' he said (giving me a new
name). 'Yes,' I agreed. 'Abdullah ibn Sailam (it shall be).By Him who
has sent you with the Truth, I do not wish to have another name after
this day.'
I returned home and introduced Islam to my wife, my children and the
rest of my household. They all accepted Islam includingmy aunt
KhaIidah who was thenan old lady. However, I advised them then to
conceal our acceptance of Islam from the Jews until I gave them
permission. They agreed.
Subsequently, I went back to theProphet, peace be on him, and said: 'O
Messenger of God! The Jews are a people (inclined to) slander and
falsehood. I want you to invite their most prominent men to meet you.
(During the meeting however), you should keep me concealed from them
in one of your rooms.Ask them then about my status among them before
they find out of my acceptance of Islam. Then invite them to Islam. If
they were to know that I have become a Muslim, they would denounce me
and accuse me of everything base and slander me.'
The Prophet kept me in one of his rooms and invited the prominent
Jewish personalities to visit him. He introduced Islamto them and
urged them to havefaith in God...They began to dispute and argue with
him about the Truth. When he realized that they were not inclined to
accept Islam, he put the question to them:
'What is the status of Al-Husayn ibn Sailam among you?'
'He is our sayyid (leader) and the son of our sayyid. He is our
rabbiand our alim (scholar), the son of our rabbi and alim.'
'If you come to know that he has accepted Islam, would you accept
Islam also?' asked the Prophet.
'God forbid! He would not acceptIslam. May God protect him
fromaccepting Islam,' they said (horrified).
At this point I came out in full view of them and announced: 'O
assembly of Jews! Be conscious of God and accept what Muhammad has
brought. By God, you certainly know that he is the Messenger of God
and you can find prophecies about him and mention of his name and
characteristics in your Torah. I for my part declare that he is
theMessenger of God. I have faith in him and believe that he is true.
I know him.'
'You are a liar,' they shouted. 'ByGod, you are evil and ignorant, the
son of an evil and ignorant person.' And they continued to heap every
conceivable abuse on
me..."
Abdullah ibn Sailam approached Islam with a soul thirsty for
knowledge. He was passionately devoted to the Quran and spent much
time reciting and studyingits beautiful and sublime verses. He was
deeply attached to the noble Prophet and was constantly in his
company.
Much of his time he spent in the masjid, engaged in worship, in
learning and in teaching. He wasknown for his sweet, moving and
effective way of teaching study circles of Sahabah who assembled
regularly in the Prophet's mosque.
Abdullah ibn Sallam was known among the Sahabah as a man from
ahl-al-Jannah "- the people of Paradise. This was because of his
determination on the advice of the Prophet to hold steadfastly to the
"most trustworthy handhold" that is belief in and total submission to
God.

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Am I jealous or is he a flirt?

I'm trying to find the answer to this question and it's really hard
for me, believe me!
I truly love my husband with whom we've been married for 8 years, the
first 3 of which we spent living separately in different countries.
Now we are already together. In the beginning everything was perfect
and I even feared sharingthis with others because people say "it's too
good to last".
So, I've noticed recently that when we are in a company with
handsomemen my husband is constantly around me and he is very kind and
affectionate to me. I find this normal and I'm quite pleased with it.
I considerthis the right attitude to a wife. I like showing my
feelings towards him in front of people and I'm very happy when they
notice it. The problem is that when we are in a company with
attractive women he changes abruptly – he stops touching me at all,
even keeps a distance, or if I show in some way or another that he is
my beloved husband he is unpleasantly surprised and stands as if
frozen, while his attitude to the other women is more than friendly.
There have been cases when he has spoken to a woman for about 10-15
minutes and haven't even looked at me meanwhile. (to say nothing of
including me in the conversation!). Sometimes I hesitated on leaving
the place in orderto see if he will notice myabsence. I think this
will probably last at least an hour or until he sees some handsome guy
around.
Whenever he meets a woman he will greet her with a hug, in which I
find nothing bad, but after that he will study her from head to toe
while talking to her. Another issue is that when a woman calls him on
the phone he becomes so enthusiastic that you may think this is the
happiest day in his life. However when I call him he gets so awfully
indifferent. And this happens when I'm tellinghim his favorite team
haswon an important game.
After this description of the situation (not mentioning many other
similar cases and the bad thing is unpleasant memories get more and
more) I'm asking you to help me see if I'm too jealous.
I will appreciate this a lotbecause right now I'm onthe verge of a divorce.

I became a laughing stock because I love him

God, I don't even know how to start this story.
I met a man a year and a half ago, at the beginning I wasn't very much
impressed, but with time I started to have feelings for him andhe did
for me. We were living in the same neighbourhood and met very often,
so he started hitting on me, inviting me on dates. At first I refused,
but one day I decided to go out with him and our relationship
continued. I fell in love with him and gradually found out that he is
the man, the one of my dreams. He was very good to me, we went
outevery day, it was amazing. He even introduced me to his parents,
but they didn't like me, we could only say "Hi" and "Bye" with them.
And only after 5 months things turned upside down.
He started being jealous of me; he didn't allow meto meet my friends,
nor his. He kept me away from everything and everyone. But I love him;
God knows how much I love him, so I didn't dare to oppose him. I
agreed with everything, sat quiet and kept silent. Andhe did whatever
he wanted.
One day an acquaintance of mine met me and told me everything about
him. She told me he had a serious girlfriend for 6 years now and that
for the last two years she had studied abroad, that's why they were
not together. She also said his girlfriend comes back to Bulgaria
three times a year and they love each other very much. Everyone
respected her and he was only having fun with me, until they get
together again.
I didn't believe her, but with time, I found out that it was true. It
was very difficult, but I couldn't make myself ask him about her. I
was afraid of losing him, if I start asking too many questions about
her. So I kept seeing him, hoping he would leave her because they see
each other rarely and time separates couples. We went out a lot,
please don't misunderstand me, he means everything to me and I love
him. Even ifI had to keep silent aboutthem talking on the phone every
day, texting each other, I couldn't stand it but I kept silent while
he thought I didn't suspect she existed and treated me as if nothing
had changed. One whole year he kept repeating he loves me and that I
mean everything to him. I secretly hoped that he will forget her,
after all I am here, and she is away.
Our relationship became deeper and I thought he feels stronger about
me and he will gradually forget her. Until one day he simply told me
we can't be together anymore, because he hada girlfriend he loved a
lotand he is leaving and going to live with her.
I thought he's kidding, but no, in a week he left and was nowhere to
be found. Can you imagine how I felt; I loved him so much, I simply
don't know how I am going to live without him. He means everything to
me. But he made fun of me, and not only he, his parents and friends,
too. Now I got it all, he didn't love me, he just used me for fun, he
was never jealous of me, he only pretended to be in order to keep
everyone away, because they all liked herand no one could stand me.
Now I understand all his lies, he would tell me he has some work to do
in another town and would be gone for two-three weeks. No, he simply
waswith her, not for work, they went on holiday, thetwo of them while
she was in Bulgaria. So he kept lying to me, the whole time. How could
I have been so blind? Now they are together, they live together and
even consider getting married.
I went crying to his parents to ask about him but they throw me away
and told me to forget him. They told me she is the woman for their
son. His friends also rejected me. I was alone, I even lost all my
friends because of him. I lost everything.
I know he is not with her for her money, he's got enough, even too
much, you could say. He used to pamper himself and spend on useless
things. She was simply his big love, the girl of his life. They love
each other a lot. Ok, but then what was I, we were together for a year
and a half, for Christ's sake, I gave him everything. When peopletried
to talk to me I wouldn't believe them. My friends told me to leave
him, told me he is lying to me and he is not right for me, but I love
him and couldn't imaginelosing him. I kept dating him with the secret
hope that one day he will be mine.
I am all alone now; I became a laughing stock for everyone. I love him
and I can't forget him buthe doesn't care, as if I never existed. Dear
all, I love him, I can't forget him, my heart will burst of pain.
I hope you understand my story, maybe it sounds a bit confusing. I can
only share it with you, because there is no one else for me to share
with.

True Love truned into nightmare

Hi, my name is James and my wife name is Angel. We have been together
now for 5 years. Let me start with my background before I met my wife.
Like all men, I too was enjoying my life to the fullest. I had lot of
friends; went on a weekend outing, drinks, party and so on. I am a
Christian and she is a Hindu and I had a lot of opposition from my
parents and families. Even my friends advised me to stop seeing her
and start new considering the consequences. But I was so much in love
with her that I thought it is worth to live with her for 2 minutes and
die rather than living without her for rest of the life. I somehow
convinced my parents and families risking my father's life. Due to all
this chaos he had a major cardiac arrest and underwent bypass surgery.
My mom'sblood pressure shoot to 190 and she bled from nose. Doctor
said that shewas lucky to live because with such high BP she could
have had a cardiac arrest and would have never recovered. Well, I
faced all these problems but still was firm to my parents that she is
the one. I started losing interest in everything; started coming home
drinking a lot, met with an accident and was just seconds away from
death. My parents looking at my ordeal approved our wedding and we got
married.
I could have married Angel without my parent's consent, but my parents
have done so much for me that I want their blessing in my wedding. We
got married and everything was going fine for 5 to 6 months and then
problems started. Considering that I am now a married person and have
a lot of responsibilities I started concentrating in my work. I
distanced myself with all of my friends, started working for 16hrsa
day (so that I can have overtime), and even started working on
weekends. All my hard work paid off, I was promoted as an Asst.
Manager and had a salaryhike of 75%.
The problem is my wife issuspicious on me for everything; she checks
my mobile call log, messages and even my purse. She does not let me go
out even for a minute, she keeps on calling me all day checking where
I am, what I am doing, with who I am. She checks my mobile for unknown
numbers and calls them back from her mobile to see if that is a male
or a female. If it is a female, she creates such a ruckus that I feel
like I am becoming a murderer with all the negative thoughts (can't
explain it here). Well, being a manager I have a lot of
responsibilities and get calls all day long. I really don't know what
to do; I love her more than anything but her behaviour has made to
think again. I have sacrificed my life so muchfor her and still
sacrifice a lot but she pushes me to the limit.
It is no use talking to her,I have tried so many times to try to talk
it to her and have her understand that her behaviour is not right.
ByGod's grace I have everything now and financially well settled. I am
just thinking if she is really worth all my sacrifices or if I should
move on without her.

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