The Boy Imām

The final hadith in this section: Ibn Kathīr mentions this hadith as the close of the chapter on Fatḥ Makkah. This hadith is about ʿAmr ibn Salamah. ʿAmr ibn Salamah was not from Makkah; he belonged to another tribe, and he describes the situation back then. He says: whenever travellers passed by, we would ask them about this man — referring to Muḥammad (peace be upon him). Wa kāna yamurru binā al-rukbān fa-nasʾaluhum: mā li-al-nās, mā hādhā al-rajul? We would ask them about this man. So the news about Muḥammad (peace be upon him) was all over Arabia; it was the news of the day. So people would ask the travellers for any new news about Muḥammad (peace be upon him); that was the major event — the daʿwah of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). So it was not an obscure daʿwah; it was the breaking news for people everywhere.

So ʿAmr ibn Salamah said: we would ask the travellers about this man, and they would say: yazʿumu anna Allāha arsalahu, awḥā ilayh, awḥā Allāhu bi-kadhā — he claims that Allah has sent him, and that he is receiving revelation, and he has just received the revelation of this and that. So these travellers would mention some of the āyāt of the Qur'an; they were up to date, and they would mention these āyāt. ʿAmr ibn Salamah was a child at that time, and he would hear this — he would hear this dialogue, this conversation — and he would remember those āyāt. He would memorise the āyāt of the Qur'an, even though his people were kuffār at the time. The people were carrying the āyāt of the Qur'an around, even though they were kuffār, because it was the news for them: the Messenger of Allah received this; the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) received that. Fa-kuntu aḥfaẓu dhālika al-kalām — I used to memorise those words — wa kaʾannamā yuqarru fī ṣadrī — as if they settled inside my breast. These words, the words of the Qur'an, would just enter his breast and stay there.

Wa kānat al-ʿArabu talawwamu bi-islāmihim al-fatḥ: the Arabs were waiting for the conquest before becoming Muslim. The Arabs were watching; they saw two parties in this conflict, Quraysh on one side and Muḥammad (peace be upon him) on the other, and they were waiting to see the result. That is the situation with many people: they do not search for the truth; they look at who is more victorious, and they follow the victorious party. Wa kānat al-ʿArabu talawwamu bi-islāmihim: they were waiting to see who would win. So they would say: utrukūhu wa qawmah, fa-innahu in ẓahara ʿalayhim fa-huwa nabiyyun ṣādiq — leave him and his people alone; if he defeats his people, then he is a nabī and he is truthful.

And by the way, this is not a correct attitude towards the daʿwah of the prophets; but that is what the people used to say. It is known from the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) that there were some prophets who had no followers. Does that make them wrong? No. The hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) says that on the Day of Judgement there will be a nabī with ten, a nabī with five, a nabī with three, a nabī with two, a nabī with one follower, and a nabī with no followers at all (al-Bukhārī 5705). That does not make their daʿwah a failure; it does not mean that they did not know how to do daʿwah. No — because Allah (ʿazza wa jall) says: innaka lā tahdī man aḥbabta wa lākinna Allāha yahdī man yashāʾ — you do not guide whomever you like; it is Allah who guides (28:56). So the fact that a nabī had no followers was the qadar of Allah; but he did his job — he did his job fully in conveying the message.

Anyway, so they waited until the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) defeated his people, Quraysh. Now obviously the ones who became Muslim earlier — the ones who accepted Islam earlier — searched for the truth, found it and accepted Islam; their reward and their rank in the eyes of Allah is much higher than that of the ones who became Muslim after the victories of Islam had become very clear. And that is why it says in the Qur'an that those who fought jihād fī sabīl Allāh and spent before the conquest are better and higher in rank than those who became Muslim after that, and spent, and fought fī sabīl Allāh (57:10). So there is a difference between those who became Muslim before the conquest and those who became Muslim after.

Anyway, ʿAmr ibn Salamah said that when the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) opened Makkah, bādara kullu qawmin bi-islāmihim — every tribe rushed to become Muslim — wa badara abī qawmī — and my father became Muslim before my people. Fa-lammā qadim — when he came back, he said: jiʾtukum wa-llāhi min ʿindi al-nabiyyi ḥaqqan — by Allah, I have come to you from the Prophet (peace be upon him); he is truly a Prophet of Allah. Fa-qāl — he told us to pray: ṣallū ṣalāta kadhā fī ḥīni kadhā, wa ṣallū ṣalāta kadhā fī ḥīni kadhā — pray this ṣalāh at that time, and this ṣalāh at that time. So the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) gave the father of ʿAmr ibn Salamah instructions on how to pray. Fa-idhā ḥaḍarat al-ṣalātu fa-l-yuʾadhdhin aḥadukum, wa l-yaʾummakum aktharukum qurʾānā — so when the time of the ṣalāh comes, one of you should make the adhān, and the one who should be your imām is the one of you who knows the most Qur'an.

Fa-naẓarū fa-lam yakun aḥadun aktharu qurʾānan minnī — so they looked, and they found that no one knew more Qur'an than me, li-mā kuntu atalaqqā min al-rukbān — because of what I had learned from the travellers. Fa-qaddamūnī bayna aydīhim — they made me their imām — wa ana ibnu sittin aw sabʿi sinīn — and I was six or seven years old at the time. And he became the imām: he knew the most Qur'an among them. ʿAmr ibn Salamah: wa kānat ʿalayya burdatun, kuntu idhā sajadtu taqallaṣat ʿannī. He said: I would lead them in ṣalāh, and I was wearing a burdah — a burdah is like a square garment — wa kuntu idhā sajadtu taqallaṣat ʿannī: when I made sujūd, it was too short. This garment that ʿAmr ibn Salamah was wearing was too short, so when he went into sujūd, this garment would ride up and his behind would show.

Fa-qālat imraʾatun min al-ḥayy: a-lā tughaṭṭūna ʿannā ista qāriʾikum? So a woman stood up and said: will you not cover up from us the butt of your reciter? That embarrassing statement about ʿAmr ibn Salamah — in fact, in another narration it says: fa-kuntu aʾummuhum fī burdatin mawṣūlatin fīhā fatq, fa-kuntu idhā sajadtu kharajat istī. He said: I used to lead them in ṣalāh in a burdah, a thawb, that had a tear — a big tear at the back — so when I made sujūd, my butt would stick out of that tear. And that is why this woman made that statement about him, and said in front of everyone: cover up from us the butt of your reciter. So ʿAmr ibn Salamah said: fa-qaṭaʿū lī qamīṣan, fa-mā fariḥtu bi-shayʾin faraḥī bi-dhālika al-qamīṣ. Now the imām — they bought him a thawb. Subḥān Allāh, the imām has a new thawb, and he is very happy with it, and this is what he said: nothing had ever made me as happy as that shirt did. He was so happy with the new thawb they bought for him as an imām, to cover him in the ṣalāh, to cover his ʿawrah. By the way, this hadith is in al-Bukhārī (4302). This is the end of the ghazwah of Fatḥ Makkah.