"Life Is With You and Death Is With You"

There is a hadith of Abū Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) (Muslim 1780). Abū Hurayrah says that delegations went to meet Muʿāwiyah — so this was a long time after the Fatḥ of Makkah, at the time when Muʿāwiyah was caliph — wa dhālika fī Ramaḍān, and that was during Ramaḍān. Fa-kāna yaṣnaʿu baʿḍunā li-baʿḍin al-ṭaʿām: so we would prepare food for each other. And this shows the social side of the life of the Companions and the Tābiʿūn: these were delegations that were there, and rather than everybody having his meal alone, they would invite each other. So Abū Hurayrah would say: I invite you to my place. Now Abū Hurayrah, it says in this narration, mimmā yukthiru an yadʿūnā ilā raḥlih — he was the one who invited us most; he would invite us the most.

So one of the Tābiʿūn wanted to invite Abū Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him). He said: fa-qultu a-lā aṣnaʿu ṭaʿāman fa-adʿūhum ilā raḥlī — so I decided that I was going to invite them to my place this time. Obviously these were not permanent dwellings; they were all visitors. Fa-amartu bi-ṭaʿāmin yuṣnaʿ, thumma laqītu Abā Hurayrah — I had the food prepared, and then I met Abū Hurayrah and told him: al-daʿwatu ʿindī al-laylah — the invitation is at my place tonight. He said: sabaqtanī — you have beaten me to it. I said: yes. So when Abū Hurayrah arrived at the gathering, he wanted to make it a beneficial gathering. So he said: a-lā uʿlimukum bi-ḥadīthin min ḥadīthikum yā maʿshar al-Anṣār? — shall I not tell you a hadith that belongs to you, O people of the Anṣār? Apparently most of the people who were there were from the Anṣār. Thumma dhakara fatḥa Makkah — so he spoke about the conquest of Makkah.

He said: when the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) came to Makkah, he sent al-Zubayr over one of the two wings of the army, and he sent Khālid ibn al-Walīd commanding the other wing, and Abū ʿUbaydah was commanding the foot soldiers. So they entered Makkah, and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was in his battalion. So he saw me, and — he said — I answered him, and he said: no one but the Anṣār should come to me. So this was a private gathering the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) wanted to have with the Anṣār. So Abū Hurayrah went and called the Anṣār, and they came and surrounded the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) on every side.

Quraysh had mobilised a force of some men — these were people from the outskirts of Makkah — to fight; but they did not risk themselves in the fight. Quraysh mobilised this force, but they themselves did not join, and they said: if they win, then we will join; if they lose, then we are safe. And one cannot win in this way. If you do not want to take part yourself — if you do not want to be in the front line, as the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was, as the Companions were — there is no hope of winning. So those who are hiding and sending their armies or their foot soldiers to do all the work, while they themselves cower behind and hide, will not win. So these awbāsh, these people who were supposed to fight for Quraysh, were defeated. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: tarawna ilā awbāshi Quraysh wa atbāʿihim? — do you see the rabble of Quraysh and their followers? Then he gestured with his hands, one over the other, and then he said: until you meet me at al-Ṣafā. So the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) gave his orders to fight these awbāsh, and many of them were killed, and then the fighting stopped.

Anyway, they ended up meeting at al-Ṣafā. And when they met the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), he said: man dakhala dāra Abī Sufyāna fa-huwa āmin — whoever enters the house of Abū Sufyān is safe. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) announced that whoever entered the house of Abū Sufyān was safe. Now, the house of Abū Sufyān was not going to be enough for all of the people of Quraysh, obviously; but the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) wanted to give Abū Sufyān this honour, to draw him closer to Islam. But he also said: wa man dakhala manzilahu fa-huwa āmin — whoever enters his own house will be safe. So no one would attack you in your house; but if we saw you on the streets, you would be killed. So it was like a curfew: nobody was allowed to leave their homes.

And after this conflict happened, the Anṣār (may Allah be pleased with them) felt that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), now that he was back in his home town, might leave them and stay behind: now he is with his clan, he is with his relatives, he is in Makkah, so he is going to leave us; that is the end. So the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) called them and said: qultum: ammā al-rajulu fa-adrakathu raghbatun fī qaryatih? — you said: as for the man, he has been overcome by longing for his town? They said: qad kāna dhālik — the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) asked them, did you say so? They said yes. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) told them: innī ʿabdu Allāhi wa rasūluh — I am the servant of Allah and His Messenger; hājartu ilā Allāhi wa ilaykum — I made hijrah to Allah and to you; al-maḥyā maḥyākum wa al-mamātu mamātukum — life is with you, and death is with you.

Fa-aqbalū ilayhi yabkūn — so they came to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) weeping, and they said: wa-llāhi mā qulnā alladhī qulnā illā al-ḍanna bi-llāhi wa bi-rasūlih — by Allah, we only said what we said because of our eagerness and desire to have you with us, and our love of Allah and His Messenger. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: inna Allāha wa rasūlahu yuṣaddiqānikum — Allah and His Messenger believe you.