Did you know? (Inspirational Islamic Stories)

His daring act of remaining steadfast

Today is a long story. I want to share with you a beautiful story about a great Sahabi who illustrated such a beautiful strength of tawheed in face of such prosecution and torture.

Indeed, there are well-known sahabah who went through such like Bilal Ibn Rabah Radiyallahu Anhu but also there was one like him who was amongst the weak Muslims - and when we say weak it doesn’t mean through their faith but their status in the society - they were amongst the poor or the slaves.

But unlike Bilal, Khabbab Ibn Al Aratt Radiyallahu Anhu came from a Banu Tamim from Najd which means he was an Arab and was from a good tribe but due to a raid that struck him and his family - he was captured from a young age and was sold as a slave from one person to another until he reached Makkah.

In Makkah, there was a lady named Umm Anmar who comes from Banu Khuza’i. One day, this lady came to the market to find herself a youth to be her slave and do her domestic chores for her - and that is where she found Khabbab.

From there, Khabbab worked under Umm Anmar. She placed him as an apprentice to one of the blacksmiths in Makkah. It was not long enough until Khabbab became known for his skills in making swords as well as his honesty and integrity. With this, Umm Anmar gained so much wealth from the profits he made. Yet, despite this Khabbab would usually find emptiness in his heart.

During the emergence of the early days of Islam, Khabbab was privileged to be in Makkah that time. As soon as he heard of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu Alaihi Wassalaam) he straight away accepted Islam and became one of the first ten companions to accept Islam.

When Umm Anmar heard about Khabbab accepting Islam, as he announced his acceptance loud and clear, she became very angry and vicious. So she gathered some men from her tribe (Khuza’i) and told them to bring Khabbab to her.

When these men captured Khabbab they asked him about his acceptance of Islam and Khabbab nodded in agreement so they tried to threaten him so that he would renounce his faith but instead of doing so, he uttered the words: “I only believe in One God Who has no partner. I reject your idols and I believe that Muhammad is the servant of God and His messenger.“

With this, the youth started to beat him with their fists along with their iron bars and they didn’t stop until he lost consciousness. After this, they took him, chained him and brought him to Umm Anmar.

As soon as they reached Umm Anmar, they threw Khabbab down to Umm Anmar’s feet, even after seeing the condition of Khabbab this didn’t stop Umm Anmar in stripping Khabbab’s shirt off him to place a piercing hot iron on his back - it was so painful that Khabbab again lost his consciousness.

Umm Anmar did not take her eyes off Khabbab from there on, every day she would go to the workplace of Khabbab and place a hot iron on his head so that he would renounce his faith. This way of treatment went on for months yet Umm Anmar was never able to make Khabbab abandon Islam nor make him say anything against Islam. As some narrators would describe

- His belief in Allah was so strong as the high mountains that surrounded Makkah. It was unshakable nor was it unbreakable.

His belief in the Oneness of Allah made him go through all these tortures and persecution from this evil woman. After every torture, he would resort into prayer and seeking help from Allah.

His daring act of steadfastness had inspired many of his friends and caused them to announce their faith - this has both alarmed and amazed the people of the Quraish and so their persecution towards the weak Muslims intensified but to no avail.

It was said that Umm Anmar died with an illness that no one heard before and she suffered from severe and nerve-racking headaches. It was said that only a certain treatment can help her but this kind of treatment was more painful than that of putting a hot iron on her head.

Indeed, Allah is just to His Believers and he did raise the status of Khabbab through his life. He gained wealth and lived accordingly to Islam until the time of Ali Ibn Abi Talib’s Radiyallahu Anhu reign as a caliph.

Often times, he was compared to Bilal Ibn Rabah RA due to the torture they have gone through the early days of Islam but Khabbab was too humble to say that he suffered more than Bilal. It was said that on one occasion, ‘Umar RA and other companions were gathered and asked Khabbab to tell them about his story. With his humbleness, he said a little of his experience but when he showed them his back everyone in that gathering had tears falling from their eyes with the scene of seeing Khabbab’s back.

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Subhan’Allah, I wanted to share this story today because nowadays we have Muslims who mix cultural superstitions or beliefs in their Islam. I hope and pray that hearing or reading this great sahabi’s story would make us think again of our belief in the Oneness of Allah.

We have to realize that during the early days of Islam - tawheed was the only thing they held on - the companions were so firm with this that even such trials and tortures wouldn’t make them renounce their belief that there is only one God and that is Allah.

This was the foundation of their faith. Hence, they had a very high quality of faith. Unshakable and Unbreakable. So let us look at our tawheed from time to time. We ask Allah alone, we depend on Allah alone not on other people nor on a game of chances.

Today, we are very weak when it comes to tawheed - that when a calamity strikes us we turn away to other resources and make Allah the last resort. We have to be careful with this. Only when you have a firm belief in Him will your faith become as firm as the mountains.

Take heed, O my brothers and sisters in Islam.

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May Allah make us steadfast in our deen and strengthen our tawheed every single day.

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Story was taken from:

[1] Companions of the Prophet, Volume One
[2] Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir – Ibn Sa’d
Zohayma