Fifty Nights

Fa-maḍaytu ḥīna dhakarūhumā lī, wa nahā Rasūlu Allāhi al-muslimīna ʿan kalāminā ayyuhā al-thalāthatu min bayni man takhallafa ʿanh. Out of all of the people who had stayed behind — remember that they were over eighty — the three of us: the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) gave orders that we should be boycotted in terms of speech. This was not an economic boycott against them; it was a boycott of not speaking to them, not interacting with them. So, subḥān Allāh, the ones who spoke the truth ended up being boycotted, while the ones who lied had their excuses accepted, and they were fine. But one will see that this was only a short-term thing, and short-lived; and this was a test from Allah (ʿazza wa jall). Sometimes a lie gives you instant gratification, a very short-lived solution; but after that, things begin to unravel; while the truth, in the long term, is always good.

Fa-jtanabanā al-nāsu wa taghayyarū lanā, ḥattā tanakkarat fī nafsī al-arḍu, fa-mā hiya allatī aʿrif. He said: people shunned us, stayed away from us, and their treatment of us changed. He said it was so bad — ḥattā tanakkarat fī nafsī al-arḍ — that the land became unfamiliar to me. Subḥān Allāh: he was in Madīnah; he was from Madīnah; that was his home; he had lived there all his life; that was where he was born. But because the people had changed, he even felt that the ground he was standing on was different; it was like an unknown land to him. You feel homesick in your own home; you feel like a foreigner in your own land. Kaʿb ibn Mālik is saying that even the land was different to him. Why? Because the people were boycotting them. Fa-labithnā ʿalā dhālika khamsīna laylah — that went on for fifty days.

Fa-ammā ṣāḥibāya fa-stakānā wa qaʿadā fī buyūtihimā yabkiyān — he said: as for my two companions, they just gave up and sat at home weeping. Wa ammā ana fa-kuntu ashabba al-qawmi wa ajladahum, fa-kuntu akhruju fa-ashhadu al-ṣalāta maʿa al-muslimīna wa aṭūfu fī al-aswāq, wa lā yukallimunī aḥad — he said: but I was the youngest of them and the toughest, so I would go out and pray in jamāʿah, and I would go around the markets, but nobody would speak to me. So the other two just gave up: they could not handle walking around with people ignoring them, and they just sat at home crying — devastated. But Kaʿb ibn Mālik was strong, so he would go out and pray in jamāʿah and go to the market, even though he was completely ignored.

And this also shows how strong the society, the community, was. For the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) to boycott them — that was it; it was final. Nobody would speak. You go to the marketplace: nobody is speaking. You go to the masjid: nobody is speaking. Total obedience to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). And this is why the hajr was powerful — the boycott was powerful: because the whole society took its command from the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and would do what it was told.

Wa ātī Rasūla Allāhi fa-usallimu ʿalayhi wa huwa fī majlisihi baʿda al-ṣalāh, fa-aqūlu fī nafsī: hal ḥarraka shafatayhi bi-raddi al-salāmi am lā? And I would go to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) when he was in his gathering and greet him, and I would ask myself: did he move his lips in returning my greeting, or not? So the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) would not answer him, so he would try to stare at his lips and see whether the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was doing it quietly. Thumma uṣallī qarīban minhu fa-usāriquhu al-naẓar, fa-idhā aqbaltu ʿalā ṣalātī aqbala ilayy, wa idhā iltafattu naḥwahu aʿraḍa ʿannī — and when I was in ṣalāh, I would steal a glance at him: when I was concentrating on my ṣalāh and looking down, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) would look at me; and when I then moved my eyes towards him and looked at him, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) would turn away. So the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) would only look at him when Kaʿb ibn Mālik was not looking at the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him).

Ḥattā idhā ṭāla ʿalayya dhālika min jafwati al-nās, mashaytu ḥattā tasawwartu jidāra ḥāʾiṭi Abī Qatādah, wa huwa ibnu ʿammī wa aḥabbu al-nāsi ilayy, fa-sallamtu ʿalayh, fa-wa-llāhi mā radda ʿalayya al-salām. And when this had gone on for so long, I went and climbed the wall of the garden of Abū Qatādah, who was my cousin and the most beloved person to me, and I greeted him, and by Allah he did not return my greeting. Fa-qultu: yā Abā Qatādah, anshuduka bi-llāhi hal taʿlamunī uḥibbu Allāha wa rasūlah? Fa-sakat. Fa-ʿudtu lahu fa-nashadtuh, fa-sakat. Fa-ʿudtu fa-nashadtuh, fa-qāla: Allāhu wa rasūluhu aʿlam. Fa-fāḍat ʿaynāy, wa tawallaytu ḥattā tasawwartu al-jidār. I said: O Abū Qatādah, I ask you by Allah, do you know me to be a person who loves Allah and His Messenger? He was silent. I asked him again; he was silent. I asked him again; he was silent. And then I asked him, and he said: Allah and His Messenger know best. So my eyes overflowed with tears, and I left. Even his cousin would not speak to him.