Five Lessons From the Story of Abū Dharr

What can be learned from the story of Abū Dharr? Number one — again, the same point recurs — those who search for guidance, Allah will give it to them. Abū Dharr investigated the matter, and Allah showed him the light, showed him the truth.

Number two, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) says, balligh ʿannī wa law āyah — convey even one verse from me. Whatever one has should be conveyed, shared, taught — not kept to oneself.

Number three, courage. Abū Dharr is an example of a person who has courage. He wasn't intimidated by the fact that he's a foreigner in Makkah. He stood and he said, "I'm a Muslim," and he was proud. And he paid for it dearly, and then he went to his people, and he preached the message to them. So this shows the courage of the personality of Abū Dharr, which is shown again and again and again by the Ṣaḥābah of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), and this reveals to us the inherent qualities that they had. And this is also one of the reasons why Allah (swt) chose them to be the bearers of the message — because they had simplicity, and they had courage, and they had honesty, and they had commitment to a cause. When they believe in something, they commit their lives to it.

Number four, verifying the truth. Just because the people say that he's a sorcerer, a liar, a magician, doesn't mean anything. The truth has to be sought at the source and verified, not taken on hearsay. Allah has given every person a mind, Allah has given every person intelligence — these are meant to be used. Following what people say, without more, is not enough. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) says that one should not be an ʾimmaʿah. And when he was asked what is the meaning of ʾimmaʿah, he said, "Whenever the people say yes, you say yes, and whenever they say no, you say no." The point is not simply to follow along.

Number five: lā taḥqiranna min al-maʿrūfi shayʾan, wa law an talqā akhāka bi-wajhin ḥasanin aw ṭalq — the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) says in this hadith: do not belittle any good deed, even if it is as small as smiling in the face of your brother. No good should be belittled. Whatever good there is should not be considered insignificant, because everything good is significant, and that small thing may make a difference on the Day of Judgment: it will be the criterion between Hellfire and Paradise. One small deed, done without much thought, might tilt the scale in someone's favour.

How is this point drawn from the story of Abū Dharr? Abū Dharr, may Allah be pleased with him, learned very little, and all he wanted to do was propagate the message, and maybe he never expected that this small effort of his would end up causing the whole tribe of Ghifār and the whole tribe of Aslam to become Muslim. Maybe he only thought that he could convince a few people, maybe a few of his relatives, but for this work to end up bearing the fruits of two major tribes becoming Muslim — many of our brothers never thought about that. One only has to throw the seed, and Allah (swt) will make it grow.