- Muadh ibn Jabal
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Muadh ibn Jabal is considered in Islam a sahaba (a person who knew the Prophet Muhammad during his lifetime, believed in him and died upon the believe in the Prophet).
Contents
Early life
Muadh was a young boy when Muhammad started preaching the message of Islam. He was a native of Medina and was there during most of Muhammad's lifetime. He was noted for his intelligence, quick wit, potency in speech, and for his prominent standing between people.[clarification needed] He was also described as a very attractive looking individual with dark eyes and eyelashes. His teeth were extremely white and his hair was African in its curliness. Books referring to his physical appearance say that the onlooker would be stunned by his good looks.
Conversion of Amr ibn al-Jamuh
He became a Muslim at the hands of Musab bin Umair, who was sent to Medina as a missionary before the Hijra. He traveled to Mecca to participate in Bayatul Aqabah with 71 other people. In the Bayaa, he embraced Muhammad and pledged to uphold the religion of Islam. When he came back from Mecca, he formed a small posse of youth from his community and they vowed to destroy the idols that were kept in Medina. It was because of him and his posse that one of the most respectable people of Medina converted to Islam. That person was Amr ibn al-Jamuh, and he was one of the leaders of the tribe of Banu Salamah.
Amr had a magnificent idol carved of wood which was similar to the one of all the other noblemen, except for the fact that he took explicit care of it in every way. He clothed it with silk and painted it with the sweetest smelling extracts. The name of his idol was Manah, and he honored it more than anything in the world.
Muadh spotted the idol and under the cover of darkness he and companions took the idol from its place. On awakening, Amr prepared to paint the idol with aromatic essences. Shocked to see that it was missing, he spent most of the day looking for his idol until he found it behind the houses of Banu Salamah. It was planted face first in the middle of the hole into which the tribe stuffed refuse and human waste. He was deeply offended by this and said "Woe to you he who dare attack our lord in the middle of the night!" and after taking it out, cleaning it, purifying it, dressing it, and painting it with perfumes he said to it "Oh Manah, if I only knew who did this to you, I would humiliate him everywhere."
The next night the boys did the same thing but this time planting it firmly in another family's septic hole. Amr woke up and to his shock the idol was missing again. He searched everywhere until he found it in the septic hole and then he took it out repeated the process of purifying and then warned the idol to watch for people that would do this to it again. When the process recurred the next night, he cleaned the idol and told it "Oh Manah, I have nothing in my power to protect you with so take this sword and if you are of any worth you will protect your self." While saying that he hung a sword by a rope around the neck of the idol and left. That night the posse came and took the sword, tied it to the neck of a dead dog, tied the dog to the idol, and dumped the idol head first into a septic hole. When Amr woke up, he searched for his idol and found it tied to the dog, headfirst in a waste hole. He said "Obviously, you are worth nothing and not a god because if you were you would not be tied up to a dead dog and put headfirst into a septic hole." After this he went and declared his Islam and became a very prominent Muslim.
Accomplishments
When Muhammad arrived in Medina, Muadh was always around him until he became one of the top readers of Qur'an and master at Islamic knowledge. This was supported by Yazeed ibn Qutayb when he said: "I entered a mosque in Homs and saw a young man with afro like hair and the people gathering around him. I asked who is this young man and they said to me he is Muadh bin Jabal. Abu Muslim al-Khawlani also said: I came to a mosque in Damascus and saw older men conversing in religion and every time they had an argument they reported to Muadh to see the answer to their debate. I asked who is that young man and I was told that it was Muadh ibn Jabal.
Muhammad said that this man is the most knowledgeable of his nation in the matters of Halal and Haraam. He was also one of the six called Kutab al-Wahi who compiled the Qur'an under the authority of Muhammad.
The six were
- Ali Ibn Abi Talib
- Abu Ad Darda
- Ubadah Ibn al-Samit
- Abu Ayub al-Ansari
- Ubay ibn Kaab
- Muadh ibn Jabal
Muhammad is quoted by Sunnis as saying "Learn the Qur'an from four persons: Abd-Allah ibn Mas'ud, Salim Mawla Abu-Hudhayfah, Ubayy ibn Kab and Muadh ibn Jabal."[citation needed]
Sahih al-Bukhari says (Sahih al-Bukhari, 6:61:525):
Narrated Qatada: I asked Anas bin Malik: "Who collected the Qur'an at the time of the Prophet?" He replied, "Four, all of whom were from the Ansar: Ubai bin Ka'b, Mu'adh bin Jabal, Zaid bin Thabit and Abu Zaid."Last meeting with Muhammad
When Muhammad was sending Muadh to Yemen to teach the people about Islam, he personally bade farewell to him and walked for some distance alongside Muadh as he set out to leave the city. It is said Muhammad informed Muadh that on his return to Medina, he will perhaps see only his Masjid and grave. Upon hearing this, Muadh began to cry.
When Muadh returned to Medina, the Khalifa was Abu Bakr.
Muadh during the Caliphate of Abu Bakr and Umar
Muadh lived through the Caliphate of Abu Bakr and was a very respected figure during Umar's Caliphate. The governor of Syria, Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan sent a message informing Umar that the people of Syria were many and they needed someone to teach them the Quran and instruct them in religion. Umar thereupon summoned five persons who had collected the Quran in the lifetime of Muhammad. They were Muadh ibn Jabal, Ubadah ibn asSamit, Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, Ubayy ibn Kab and Abu adDardaa. He said to them:
"Your brothers in Syria have asked me to help them by sending those who can teach them the Quran and instruct them in the religion. Please appoint three among you for this task and may God bless you. I can select three of you myself if you do not want to put the matter to the vote."
"Why should we vote?" they asked. "Abu Ayyub is quite old and Ubayy is a sick man. That leaves three of us." "All three of you go to Homs first of all. If you are satisfied with the condition of the people there, one of you should stay there, another should go to Damascus and the other to Palestine."
So it was that Ubadah ibn as-Samit was left at Homs, Abu ad-Dardaa went to Damascus and Muadh went to Palestine.
Final Days of Muadh
It is reported that in 630 A.D., the town of Amwaas in Palestine was hit with a severe plague. The plague caused the death of many prominent sahaba of Muhammad. Historical accounts estimated that about 25,000 people died in this outbreak. Muadh had two wives and a son named Abdur Rahman, all of which caught the plague and died. It was with his name that Muadh received the title "Abu Abdur Rahman". Thereafter, Muadh fell ill with the plague that had affected the whole area. It is reported that he died 18 years after the Hijra at the age of 38. People claim that his tomb is at Ghor in the Jordan Valley.
Ahadith transmitted by Muadh bin Jabal
Mu`adh ibn Jabal said that Muhammad said: "The People of Paradise will not regret except one thing alone: the hour that passed them by and in which they made no remembrance of Allah." Narrated by Bayhaqi in Shu`ab al-iman (1:392 #512-513) and by Tabarani. Haythami in Majma al-Zawa'id (10:74) said that its narrators are all trustworthy (thiqat), while Suyuti declared it hasan in his Jami` al-saghir (#7701).
Quotes by Muadh ibn Jabal
It is said that Muadh bin Jabal advised his son, "My son! Pray the prayer of he who is just about to leave and imagine that you might not be able to pray ever again. Know that the believer dies between two good deeds; one that he performed and one that he intended to perform later on." quote taken from Siffat as Safwah
See also
- Jabal (name)
- Mua'dh (name)
- List of Muslims
- Salaf
- Sahaba
- Sunni view of the Sahaba
References
External links
Categories:- Male Sahaba
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