Do Not Come With Me

And this hadith is narrated by Imam Aḥmad. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) says: ghazā nabiyyun min al-anbiyāʾ, fa-qāla li-qawmihī lā yatbaʿnī rajulun qad malaka buḍʿa imraʾatin wa huwa yurīdu an yabniya bihā wa lam yabni. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) says: one of the anbiyāʾ went to war, and he told his army: if any one of you has just got married, and you have not yet slept with your wife, and you want to, then do not come with me.

And then he said: and if anybody is building a house and has not built the roof yet, then do not come with me. What is the nabī of Allah (swt), Yūshaʿ ibn Nūn, telling his people? If you married a woman and you have not slept with her yet, do not come with me. If you are building a house and you have not built the roof yet, do not come with me. If you have bought some pregnant goats or pregnant camels, and you are waiting for them to deliver, do not come with me.

Yūshaʿ ibn Nūn does not want anybody to come with him if their hearts are attached to something else. If your heart is with your wife, do not come with me. If your heart is with your house, do not come with me. If your heart is with the camels and the goats, do not come with me. He is not looking for numbers; he could gather a crowd and take them to war. He said: no, I do not want that. This battle needs people who have ikhlāṣ, who have sincerity. If you are coming and doing this half-heartedly, stay home.

And then the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) says: fa-ghazā fa-danā min al-qaryati ḥīna ṣalāti al-ʿaṣri aw qarīban min dhālik, and he said to the sun: anti maʾmūratun wa anā maʾmūr, Allāhumma iḥbis-hā ʿalayya shayʾā, and it was held back for him until Allah gave him the victory. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) says: he fought until it was the time of ʿaṣr, and then he told the sun — you are receiving orders and I am receiving orders; O Allah, stop the sun — and Allah (swt) stopped the sun until he achieved victory and won.

This is the story of Yūshaʿ ibn Nūn. They won, and they entered Jerusalem, and they started expanding their nation under the banner of lā ilāha illā Allāh.