The Firsts (Sahaba Stories) | The Forerunners of Islam
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Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Khawla Bint Hakim & Uthman Ibn Madhun: The Righteous Couple | The Firsts
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Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Al-Shifa bint Abdullah (ra): The Healer and Scholar | The Firsts Shorts
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Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Shurahbil Ibn Hasana (ra): The Scribe and Commander | The Firsts Shorts
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Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Khalid ibn al-Walid (ra): The Legendary Military General | The Firsts
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Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Amr ibn al-As (ra): His Wicked Father and “Better” Brother | The Firsts
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Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Tulayha ibn Khuwaylid (ra): From False Prophet to Shaheed | The Firsts
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Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Zayd ibn al-Khattab (ra): The Quiet Brother of Omar (ra) | The Firsts
Abu Ubaydah Ibn Al Jarrah (ra): The Trustworthy One
Watch Dr. Omar Suleiman explore the life of Abu Ubaydah Ibn Al Jarrah (ra), the one who was always serving the Ummah’s interests, and never sought a moment of glory in this world.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Everyone and welcome back to the first Alhamdulillah wa salatu was salamu ala rasulullah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala. We are in the last two episodes prior to Ramadan and inshallah ta'ala before I start tonight inshallah ta'ala I want to invite you all to please do click on the link inshallah ta'ala and greet Ramadan with sadaqa. Alhamdulillah every year we receive a lot of support from all of you that benefit from our resources and we keep them free and accessible all the time and we hope that inshallah ta'ala we can continue to count on you to support us in Ramadan and beyond. So please inshallah ta'ala do sign up for the greet Ramadan with sadaqa campaign which basically will charge you inshallah ta'ala as soon as Ramadan starts so that you get the benefit of giving sadaqa in Ramadan. So inshallah ta'ala start now and get ahead of the game inshallah ta'ala. Secondly I know that many of you have been asking about the Ramadan series. Stay tuned inshallah ta'ala within the next few days bithnillah ta'ala for the first promo for our Ramadan series bithnillah and I'm truly looking forward to spending a lot of time with you and as I said if you have been enjoying the first then this Ramadan series in particular inshallah ta'ala will be close to your heart bithnillah ta'ala. With that we end off with two people that are both from al-ashr mubashshireen both from the ten promised paradise but could not have had different life cycles and lifestyles and that is Abu Ubaidah al-jarrah radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu and the next week we will finish off with Abdurrahman ibn Auf radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. When we talk about Abu Ubaidah al-jarrah radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu this is a man that was so elevated and so high in the eyes of the companions of the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam and the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam himself but subhanAllah we don't often talk about
him in the capacity of the rest of the ten promised paradise and I think that you know subhanAllah as people sort of go through the names of the ten promised paradise there are always a few names that are forgotten right often forgotten when people are trying to recount those ten names. Obviously you get khulafa al-washideen the four khulafa and then you have some of the more prominent names the more well-known names and then usually it's Abu Ubaidah or Sa'eed ibn Zayd that would be left out of the ten. So who is Abu Ubaidah al-jarrah radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu and what's his story? First and foremost his name is actually Amir ibn Abdillah ibn al-jarrah so his first name is Amir his father's name is Abdullah his grandfather is al-jarrah and we'll talk about why we don't refer to him as ibn Abdillah but instead as ibn al-jarrah in a minute inshAllah ta'ala. But first let's just mention that he is a Qurashi he is one of the tribes of Quraysh or his sub tribe belongs to Quraysh but it is a far out tribe he's from the tribe known as Banu al-Harith ibn Fihr and it is a distant tribe from the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa salam not a powerful tribe or an influential tribe in Meccan politics even though it is from Quraysh. So he has the benefit of being a Qurashi but at the same time his tribe is not like Banu Hashim or Bani Umayyah or some of the other very powerful tribes that we have been speaking about. So let's talk about his name for a bit inshAllah ta'ala why is he Abu Ubaidah ibn al-jarrah and not Abu Ubaidah ibn Abdillah? There are three reasons that scholars mentioned for the potential of skipping his father's name when we call him the son of al-jarrah. One of them is that it could be that his grandfather played more of a fatherly role in his life so when the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam mentions that I am the son of Abdul Muttalib
then that's one reason that they say that perhaps it is that Abdul Muttalib spent more time with the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam than his own father who passed away before he was born. So it could be that al-jarrah actually raised him as his grandfather and that's one possibility. The second one is that sometimes and it also goes back to the same narration about the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam saying I am the son of Abdul Muttalib sometimes the more well known of the two meaning if the grandfather was more well known than the father because the grandfather is technically still a father right then a person will be known by the grandfather's name rather than the father. So another reason why they say that the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam says I am the son of Abdul Muttalib in fact the more common reason that is cited that the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam was citing Abdul Muttalib. The third reason is one that will be understood in the capacity of this biography inshaAllah ta'ala is that if the father was humiliated or known for something very negative so if the grandfather was known for something exceedingly positive or the father was known for something exceedingly negative then sometimes a person would go by the name of the grandfather rather than the father in either of those two instances. So we'll talk about where that comes from inshaAllah ta'ala. So who is his mother? His mother her name was Umayma but her lineage is disputed and according to Ibn Hajar rahim Allah ta'ala though we don't have any information on her she actually is considered one who accepted Islam. So his father certainly is not amongst those that accepted Islam his mother may have accepted Islam according to some narrations. He also has a brother by the name of Yazid who did convert to Islam and is considered a sahabi may Allah be pleased with him but we don't have much information about him at all. So what is Abu Ubaidah's story?
Abu Ubaidah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu grew up in a family of archers and he was a skilled talented military general without ever having led an army. He learned all of the crafts that have to do with army and warfare even though he had never actually led one before. So he knew how to you know how to shoot at targets whether they were stationary or whether they were moving. He was such an accurate archer that he would shoot right in the middle and he would split targets in half. He knew how to ride his horse and shoot moving targets at the same time. He knew how to carry heavy objects. He knew how to ride different types of animals. He had huge arms radiAllahu ta'ala anhu to where he was capable with his sword and capable with his bow and arrow capable on a horse capable on foot. He had learned all of the skills of detecting the signs of an army. So Abu Ubaidah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu as a young man in fact they say that by the time he was six he could already handle a bow and arrow and by the time he was twelve he was already more skilled than the most skilled warrior. Abu Ubaidah could detect whether an army had been in a certain place by the footsteps. He could tell you what animals were there. He could tell you the count of how many people and animals were there. So that's the level of the skill that he had radiAllahu ta'ala anhu and so he was being prepared for something great even as a young man. Now when did he accept Islam? He was a teenager 18 or 19 years old and he's considered one of the first ten people to accept Islam. Again you're going to keep on seeing people that are within the first 10, 15 or 20. Abu Ubaidah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu is considered to be from that first group of people that accepted Islam at the hands of who? Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. So I'm going to preface this by saying that everything we talk about today and everything
we talk about next week with Abdur Rahman ibn Auf all of it is to the ajr to the credit of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala anhu because he is the one that introduced Islam to the both of them. He embraces Islam at the hands of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq amongst the first group that were given da'wah by Abu Bakr and he immediately accompanies the Prophet radiAllahu ta'ala anhu and becomes from the people of Dar al-Arqam. So he learns in the school of Dar al-Arqam amongst the early companions of the Prophet radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. Now other than that when it comes to his Meccan life there isn't much that is talked about at all in fact except that he was tortured and that he was patient. And so you'll find that some of the writers will mention that he was tortured by his father so severely that he was almost killed. Some of them said that one of the reasons why there's such silence on him in Meccan Sira which generally is not covered as much as the Sira in Medina is because he went into hiding because of the severity of the persecution. We find that there are some narrations that suggest that he played a role in assisting in the boycott but even that is somewhat ambiguous that he was helping gather the food for the tribe of the Prophet radiAllahu ta'ala anhu under the boycott. And even his hijrah to Abyssinia is there's no information except that he is amongst those that made the hijrah, the second migration to Abyssinia to Al-Habasha. And Al-Dhahabi radiAllahu ta'ala anhu says if indeed he made that migration that it wasn't for long. He went to Habasha, he gained the reward of making hijrah to Abyssinia because there's reward in hijrah and he returned back to Mecca for some time until he made hijrah to Medina as well. And his brother from the Ansar when he made hijrah was the great Mu'adh ibn Jabal radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. So he gains the distinction of being or one of the great distinctions amongst the companions
was to be from Ashab al-Hijratayn amongst those that made the two migrations. He gained that distinction, he would be amongst those that fought in every battle alongside the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasalam in some capacity as a general, right, which is something that is an added layer of uniqueness for him. So he didn't just fight alongside the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasalam in every battle. But every battle that he fought in radiAllahu ta'ala anhu he held some position as a general holding a banner leading alongside the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasalam. Even after the death of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasalam Abu Ubaidah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was always in some capacity a general in the army. And he is also one of the first Hifadh, one of the first to memorize the Quran. So he was memorizing Quran as it was being revealed in Mecca and he had a special attachment to the Quran which subhanAllah reminds us of Salim radiAllahu ta'ala anhu and the way that these people combined their love of the Quran with their love of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasalam and fighting alongside the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasalam and defending him. So he's extremely skilled in battle and the stories about him in battle are stories that display his position with the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasalam and what a hero he was considered. Of course as we said he could track armies, he had certain skill sets that others did not have. And one of the things that's mentioned about the Battle of Badr in particular is his father. You know remember that the Battle of Badr is known as the day of Al Furqan, the day that distinguished and the day that was the day of criterion. That people had to fight against their family members for the very first time. Some of the sahaba had to fight their brothers like Musab had to fight his brother Ubaidullah. Many of them had to fight their uncles and their fathers. When it came to Abu Ubaidah, one of the narrations that we find that is commonly mentioned is
that his own father was after him in battle and that his own father wanted to sacrifice him. He was so angry with him becoming a Muslim that he wanted to sacrifice him to his idol and he was pursuing him over and over and over again. And this is mentioned in the later books of Sira. It is a difficult narration, a difficult story to come across. And what this suggests is that his father was after him in Badr and he was avoiding his father throughout the battle but eventually his father ambushed him. He had a singular mission in Badr which was to kill his son and Abu Ubaidah instead, defending himself had to kill his father. So that's why some of the scholars mention that he's not Abu Ubaidah Ibn Abdillah but Abu Ubaidah Ibn Al Jarrah because he was put in that difficult situation. And when he did that, he was in a state of obviously grief and did not know what would happen to him and that's where some of the commentators of the Quran mention that Surah Al Mujadidah verse 22 was revealed in response that the messenger of Allah was more beloved to these people than their own family members. And when they were put in that situation where their own family members had come out against them to kill them, that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala had removed any burden from them in that regard. So again, that entire incident between him and his father in Badr is one that is a difficult one. You don't find it in some of the earlier sources, it's more from the later commentators on the surah which cast some doubt on it. But nonetheless, we find that Abu Ubaidah radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu like the other companions of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam was put in the difficult situation in which he had to fight against his own family members. The real story SubhanAllah, you know from his stories of battling alongside the Prophet
SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam that really touches the heart is his role in Uhud. Of course, Uhud was the day of Talha radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu as we've said and a day in which a few of the companions of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam rallied around him and protected the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam even in the worst of those moments. Even when the battle seemed to be lost at that point and really they were putting their bodies on the line in front of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam as the arrows were coming towards him, as the swords were swinging at the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, as all of these difficult strikes were coming to the Messenger of Allah SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. What we find is that with Abu Ubaidah radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu, he did something very unique and that is when the helmet of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam was driven into his face. Remember the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam suffered numerous wounds on the day of Uhud and he was almost killed alayhis salatu wasalam, knocked into a ditch, teeth knocked out. His helmet was driven into his jaw SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and that was from one blow that drove it into, so you can imagine it being driven into the side of his face SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. And Abu Ubaidah radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu goes to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and he takes his own teeth and he grabs the helmet of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam with his own teeth, meaning he bites the helmet of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam with his teeth so that he could pull it out and while he pulls out successfully the chains from the cheeks of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, he loses his two teeth. So the teeth that he was using to bite so that he could pull the helmet out of the face of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam fell. And because of that he had a speech impediment and SubhanAllah I mean this is one of the miracles of that moment that they used to say about his speech impediment that his dialect
or his speech became more beautiful with the impediment than prior to the impediment. So they said ma ru'ya hatmun qat ahsanu min hatmi Abu Ubaidah that the appearance, the sound when he would speak radiAllahu ta'ala anhu though he now had a twist in his speech that it actually sounded more beautiful than before he had it. So this was one of the miracles of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala upon him and of course in response to a great action that he did in service of the Messenger SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam in those difficult moments of Uhud. And the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam used to frequently praise him. Rasulullah SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam used to say ni'mar rajul what an incredible man, what a great man Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah is. And there are a few incidents that show the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam's praise for him where most of them by the way most of the incidents of praise of Abu Ubaidah actually come in the Khilafah of Abu Bakr and the Khilafah of Umar. But you find some incidents where the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam himself praised him and that put him in a certain light with the rest of the companions of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam beyond the fact that he is one of the people of Badr, that he is one of the earliest that accepted Islam, that he is one of the people that made the first two hijras and his reputation in battle. And one of those incidents is when two Christian leaders had come from Najran to meet the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam to debate with him. And their names were Al-Aqib and Al-Syed. And as they were debating with the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam they were about to do what's known as Mubahala. So they would, after the debate, invoke the curse of God upon the one that was lying or the one that was wrong. And these two people basically at the end of the day, these two leaders backed out from this debate with the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam or particularly the Mubahala because they said if he is indeed a prophet then we're going to be cursed. So they instead wanted to learn Islam and they said send someone with us to teach us the religion and to judge between us.
And they said particularly, Iba'ath ma'ana rajlan ameenan, send with us a trustworthy person. And do not send with us except a trustworthy person. So the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam responded to them and he said I will send with you a man who is qawiyy ameen. Qawiyy ameenan. He is strong and he is trustworthy. And when the Sahaba heard that, the Sahaba always wanted to be amongst those who were praised by the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. So they heard the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam say that the person I'm going to send with you is ameen, is qawiyy ameen. And of course these are two characteristics that are praised in the Quran as well. So the Sahaba started to walk in front of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and make their appearances known to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam hoping it would be them. So one of them was Umar bin Khattab radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu. They were hoping Rasulullah SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam was going to say that it was him because each one wanted to be known by the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam as qawiyy ameen. So the next day as they are praying in the first line, as they are making their appearances known to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, their presence known to the Messenger Alaihi Salatu Wasallam, the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam says, Qum ya Abu Ubaidah, stand up O Abu Ubaidah. And the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said that every ummah has a ameen and the ameen of this ummah, the trustworthy one of this ummah is Abu Ubaidah. So inna li kulli ummatin ameenan wa ameenu hadhihi l-ummah Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah. Every ummah has an ameen, a trustworthy person and my ameen, the ameen of this ummah is Abu Ubaidah radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu. Now remember when we talked about Az-Zubayr radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu, the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said every prophet has a disciple and my disciple is Az-Zubayr radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu. That does not mean that the other sahaba are not like disciples to the Prophet SallAllahu
Alaihi Wasallam but what that means is that he was distinguished in his response to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. When it comes to Abu Ubaidah, the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam is saying every ummah has an ameen, every ummah has a trustworthy person, someone that looks out for the best interests of the ummah always and that is truthful to the ummah, truthful to their covenant with Allah, truthful to their covenant with the Messenger SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and truthful with their covenant to the ummah of Muhammad SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and that person for this ummah is truthful. Abu Ubaidah radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu and you'll see exactly why when we start to get to some of the incidents that took place with him after the death of the Messenger SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. Okay, why he's the ameen of this ummah. Some of the scholars mentioned that Rasulullah SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam never gave one of his own titles to someone else so he is SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam as-sadiq al-ameen. So for the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam to refer to Abu Ubaidah radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu in this way is truly a form of unique praise to him radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu. There's another narration and typically when we talk about seerah, obviously narrations in the seerah are not put to the same level of scrutiny as a hadith and things of the sunnah that are bearing in terms of jurisprudence and in terms of what is to be derived from them. So typically when we're looking through the seerah, we're a little bit more lenient in that regard. But I will mention this one is narrated, it's found in seerah alam an-nubulat by al-Dhahabi rahim Allah and some of the books of biography. It's narrated from al-Hasan al-Basri that the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said. And obviously that means that there's a missing link because al-Hasan al-Basri is not a companion, he's a tabi'i and he would not narrate directly from the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and so this narration is mursal. The Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, al-Hasan said that the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam
said, ma minkum min ahadin illa law shi'tu la akhathtu alayhi ba'da khuluqihi illa abu Ubaidah. That there is no person amongst you who I would want to take some of their qualities except for Abu Ubaidah. Meaning that there's something special about Abu Ubaidah. Again I mentioned that this is mursal, that this is a narration in which there's a missing link because of the severity of it or the gravity of it. But it's still just a form of praise for Abu Ubaidah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu and the way that his character was known to have shined amongst the companions of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. Abdullah ibn Mas'ud radiAllahu ta'ala anhu mentioned that akhil la'i, that my close friends amongst the companions of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam are three. Abu Bakr, Umar and Abu Ubaidah. So he's in that company with Abu Bakr and Umar in the narration of Ibn Mas'ud. Abdullah ibn Umar radiAllahu ta'ala anhuma he also put him in that company when he said there were three amongst Quraysh whose manners and character excelled all others and they had the gift of eloquent and gentle speech and if people were to look at them then they could not stop looking at them and if they were to speak then people would not stop listening to them. And he said that is Abu Bakr, Uthman and Abu Ubaidah. So in the narration of Ibn Mas'ud he's put in the company of Abu Bakr and Umar and the narration of Ibn Umar he's put in the company of Abu Bakr and Uthman and in a powerful narration Aisha radiAllahu ta'ala anha was asked by one of her students Abdullah ibn Shaqeq he said I asked Aisha radiAllahu ta'ala anha which of the companions of the Messenger SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam were most beloved to him. Qalat Abu Bakr she said Abu Bakr which is well known. And then I said who and then she said to me Umar so it's well known Abu Bakr and Umar.
Qultu Thumman and then I said to her and then who so she said Abu Ubaidah Ibn Jarrah. So even in the words of Aisha radiAllahu ta'ala anha she is in the companionship of Abu Bakr and Umar may Allah be pleased with them all. Allahuma Ameen. What are some other qualities that we know about him before we get to some of these incidents with him. One of them is that he was very easygoing so he's tall muscular extremely handsome very powerful but at the same time radiAllahu ta'ala anhu he was very easygoing and easygoing with his character not one who spoke loudly not one who dominated his gatherings but one who went with the flow radiAllahu ta'ala anhu and even though he had all of these prominent characteristics he was known for his zuhd he was known for his asceticism. So he wore rough clothing radiAllahu ta'ala anhu and he never really cared much for the matters of this world. What that also looked like in terms of zuhd was that he really didn't care for leadership and he didn't care for politics at all. So you don't find that Abu Ubaidah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu is one who really cared about positioning at all. In fact Abu Ubaidah was one who had to be forced into his position constantly and put in his place constantly meaning put in his position of leadership constantly because Abu Ubaidah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu did not seek it and that's what made him so worthy. SubhanAllah you compare that to what the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam mentioned that leadership is an amanah. Leadership is a trust. Then who better for leadership than al-Ameen than the Ameen of this ummah the trustworthy one of this ummah. So he's constantly being ushered to leadership roles radiAllahu ta'ala anhu starting with the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam even though Abu Ubaidah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu clearly does not care about leadership roles. Also from his asceticism is that he didn't marry much or have many children at all. In fact any descendants that he would have had there's practically nothing about his
family life and any descendants that he had were believed to have died along with him in what we will talk about in the Awas plague. So he really did not have much of an attachment to this dunya. He was a soldier and he saw his life as being a soldier in the service of the Messenger sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam and he lives his life in mission after mission after mission being deployed by the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam and then Abu Bakr and Umar. He's not one that does much else radiAllahu ta'ala anhu in that regard and because of that just solidified his position of leadership. A dignified man who solidified his position of leadership in every single instance. And there are a few of these missions that are narrated. One of them is that when the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam sent him and Amr ibn al-As radiAllahu ta'ala anhu on a mission he said to them do not differ amongst yourselves in terms of leadership. Now Amr was a new convert to Islam. And Amr ibn al-As of course had a learning curve like many of those that had converted to Islam especially after the Fath in the last years of the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam. So it took him some time to adjust and he had a certain position before Islam when he was opposing the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam. So when the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam sends them out he says to Abu Ubaidah and Amr without assigning a clear leader amongst the two. Though it would be understood that Abu Ubaidah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu because of his seniority, his being amongst the first, his being a badri, his being a you know someone who lost his teeth in service of the Messenger sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam and Uhud, being a hafidh of Quran right that he would be amongst those or he would be considered the natural leader. But because the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam did not assign a leader between Abu Ubaidah and Amr may Allah be pleased with them. As soon as they leave when they're on the way Amr says to Abu Ubaidah that listen I'm leading this army and you're following me right.
So Amr insists upon his leadership position and Abu Ubaidah immediately gives it to him and he actually even you know puts Amr forward to lead the salah. Even though Amr was a new Muslim because he understood the command of the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam that do not differ amongst yourselves in terms of leadership so he was not going to argue about it at all and he was sahla, he was easygoing so he said you lead and I will reinforce you inshallah ta'ala I'll be your general. So he puts Amr forward, Amr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu leads this army and Abu Ubaidah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu follows and he has absolutely no complaint in that regard. The Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam deploys him in multiple missions especially in those last years where it started to move beyond just you know what was taking place in the immediate vicinity of Medina and Mecca. And there's one very beautiful narration which is known as the story of the whale. Jabir ibn Abdillah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu he says that Rasulullah sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam sent a group of us to the sea to a mission on the sea and he appointed Abu Ubaidah al-Jarrah as our leader. And we were about 300 men and along the way we kept running out of food. So Abu Ubaidah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu as the general he was apportioning the food appropriately, he was trying to do his best to make sure that everyone was eating what they needed but at the same time he was keeping in charge of it the entire time. Throughout the journey all they had was some dates and Abu Ubaidah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was giving us our daily ration of those dates little by little until it decreased to such an extent that every day we'd only have a date to eat. So imagine they're in battle, they're on a mission and they only have a tamr, they only have a date to sustain themselves on a daily basis. And the narrator says I asked Jabir radiAllahu ta'ala anhu how could you survive with one
date he said that we came to know its value when even that finished. So it came to a point where we didn't even have that one tamr that we would look forward to that one date that we would look forward to every day. So SubhanAllah Ramadan is coming up and you break your fast with that date. Think about this narration. He said then we reached the coast and when we got to the coast this whale washed up and we'd never you know these were not a people that were used to the seas at all right they were a desert people. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala caused this whale to wash up and he said that that whale was like a mountain. It was so large that we would eat from it the troops would eat from it for over two weeks for 18 days and nights we would eat whatever we wanted from that fish. Obviously they're calling it a fish you know it's a large whale. He said that it was so large that we could sit as a group in its eye sockets and Abu Ubaidah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu ordered that two of its ribs be fixed on the ground in the form of an arc and that a person could ride a camel underneath them and the person would not touch the top of that rib. So imagine subhanAllah how large this whale was that they could sit in its eye sockets in groups of 10 and they could pass under it as Abu Ubaidah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu had ordered that the ribs be fixed in the ground and they would ride their animals underneath it and it would not touch them. So this was an incident that took place with Abu Ubaidah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu a famous incident that's mentioned in Sahih al-Bukhari. One of the greatest honors that the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam could have given him and subhanAllah I just try to imagine that incident anytime you go to Mecca may Allah subhanAllah write it down for all of us. When you're there imagine the scenes of persecution and imagine the scene of victory because they're both very important when you're there.
And in Mecca at least in the seerah of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam there really wasn't much but those two things. There's long years of persecution of the Messenger SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam where as you're sitting there around the Kaaba you can look around and you can imagine some of those narrations about the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam first being persecuted around the Kaaba and all of these wonderful companions that we have covered may Allah be pleased with them all. And then you have the incident of Fath Makkah where the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam enters with such dignity and such mercy and in that such power alayhis salatu wasalam not by responding with evil but by setting a new standard SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam for Makkah as he fulfilled or as Allah subhanAllah fulfilled his promise upon our Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. Now we always talk about the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam coming into Makkah and I want you to imagine the scene that Rasulullah SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam of course split the army into three which was common. So one group enters from the left one group enters from the right and then one group enters from the center and Rasulullah SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam is in front. Every one of those groups those three groups has someone holding a banner that's leading that group. The person that was walking in front of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and in front of him throughout alayhis salatu wasalam as they were coming into Makkah was none other than Abu Ubaidah radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu. So think about the position in that glorious moment entering into Makkah and Abu Ubaidah radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu is in front of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam carrying the banner of the center of that army. And when they arrive in Makkah Abu Ubaidah radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu is the one who causes the camel of the Prophet the animal of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam to kneel and who pitches the tent for the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and tents him alayhis salatu wasalam in that moment. I mean think about the glory of that moment right and in Abu Ubaidah radiAllahu Anhu's
humility he doesn't boast about that moment he doesn't talk about it we know this through the accounts of other people about him radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu. So the ameen of this ummah leading al-sadiq al-ameen of course leading physically but Rasulullah SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam is always leading alayhis salatu wasalam standing in front of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and leading the way in that glorious moment radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu wa alayhis salatu wasalam. So that is a position that signifies truly the rank of a person amongst the sahabah of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and Abu Ubaidah was of course one of those that was persecuted and it is of course very interesting that you find that there is a trend here that starts to unfold when you look at Fath Makkah that those that were persecuted in Makkah were put to lead on that day including Abu Ubaidah and Bilal and those that were like them may Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala be pleased with them all. So that was his position with the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and when the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam passes away Abu Bakr al-sadiq radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu of course in the famous incident of going to the saqeefa he takes with him Abu Ubaidah and Umar may Allah be pleased with them. So this is where the khalifa is going to be appointed and Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu is resolving the affairs of the ummah and as he goes to the saqeefa he takes with him these two men and Abu Bakr without telling Umar and Abu Ubaidah why he brought them with him Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu he says to the ansar he says I have with me here these two I have the Farooq and I have the ameen of this ummah I have Umar and I have Abu Ubaidah and I am pleased okay I am pleased with either one of them as our leader so choose which one of them you would like to be our leader can you imagine that subhanAllah that you
know Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu is not one who would say this simply as an expression right Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu would not say that except that he has thought about it radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu and he has taken a decision a thoughtful decision radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu knowing who these people are knowing the virtue of Umar and knowing the virtue of Abu Ubaidah and he says that choose either one of them and we know of course that instead Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu was rightfully chosen as the khalifa but the fact that Abu Ubaidah was even suggested in the same sentence as Umar by Abu Bakr may Allah be pleased with them to be the khalifa of this ummah shows you his position radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu of course Abu Bakr is appointed and while Abu Bakr is appointed Abu Ubaidah radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu spends his his life under Abu Bakr doing what he does best in missions and at war in battle with the Byzantines in particular fighting alongside the borders of a sham of greater Syria and when Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu passes away Umar radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu sends a letter to Abu Ubaidah radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu appointing him as the new general to replace Khalid ibn Walid radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu and of course I've spoken about this before that Umar radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu said that I did not replace Khalid out of out of out of hatred for him or khyana or betrayal but I was afraid that the Muslims would would put their trust in him and so they would be entrusted to him. Yuftan al-muslimuna bihi fayuqiluna ilayhi they put their trust in him meaning they put more trust in the sword of Khalid than in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala so he replaced Khalid ibn Walid radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu with Abu Ubaidah al-Jarrah and Abu Ubaidah received this radiAllahu anhu in the middle of battle and he didn't tell Khalid right away because the battle was about to start and he did not want to disrupt the battle or Khalid's plan
he didn't want to mess things up so he waited until after the battle and then he conveyed what was conveyed to him through that letter to Khalid and Khalid radiAllahu anhu says may Allah have mercy on you O Abu Ubaidah why didn't you tell me as soon as the letter came to you and he said to him that I didn't want to ruin the plan or take away from you and he said wa maa sultan al dunya nurid we don't seek the leadership of this world and we don't work for this world but instead we are all brothers for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala so Abu Ubaidah radiAllahu anhu waited until after the battle and then it was known that Abu Ubaidah was the commander the general but at times Khalid radiAllahu anhu still is appointed to lead specific missions and armies the famous battle of Yarmouk being the most famous battle of Khalid radiAllahu ta'ala anhu and they really became a great complement to each other why because Abu Ubaidah as some of the scholars mentioned he was a negotiator Khalid radiAllahu anhu was not a negotiator right Khalid when he met with the leaders of others other armies and other groups he immediately escalated and it went straight to battle Abu Ubaidah was the opposite of that and that he would he would negotiate he had more diplomacy than Khalid radiAllahu ta'ala anhu so especially when it came to a sham because there is a lot of complexity in dealing with the Byzantine Empire with its different wings Abu Ubaidah was able to assure some of the leaders and the elders from them to you know to avert some of the conflict that would take place and to assure them we see also that because they were both brilliant in battle that Damascus Damascus was conquered at the same time by Abu Ubaidah and Khalid they approached it from different directions they were able to conquer Damascus together may Allah be pleased with them and
Abu Ubaidah was the amir of a sham he was the leader of a sham he built masajid in a sham in greater Syria he built hospitals there he built a famous a famous dam to stop some of the flooding that used to come to a sham and Abu Ubaidah plays a role in the entire history there that early history of a sham including in Jerusalem including in Palestine where there's a famous story that takes place there so Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu used to love him and used to honor him he used to kiss his hand even as he was the khalifa when he would see him and there are a few incidents narrated between Umar and Abu Ubaidah and then we'll go to his death may Allah be pleased with him one of them is that Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu he told Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu anhu take me to your home and this was common for Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu to check up on his generals as he'd go and check up on his ummah he'd also check up on his generals he'd check up on his governors and he would you know go to their homes and obviously with Abu Ubaidah he's the one who is the ameen of this ummah right he's not going to be hiding anything so Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu anhu says ma tasna aindi what are you going to do at my place except that your eyes are going to shed tears why because you're going to see the difficulty that I'm living in and I know you're going to cry as much as Umar radiyaAllahu anhu was a zahid himself and a sadiq himself Umar radiyaAllahu anhu hated to see other people suffer the way that he suffered radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu and that started with the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam when he saw the difficulty that the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam lived with so what then when he sees his companions and when he sees people that he knows their fadl he knows their virtue Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu would always shed tears so when he goes to the house of Abu Ubaidah he walks in and he sees no furniture no possessions
except for one pot that he would cook with one pillow and he had a few broken you know pieces of food that he would sustain himself with a little bit of bread and some you know some nuts and that was it so as soon as Umar radiyaAllahu anhu walked in and he saw the house of Abu Ubaidah the amir of ash-sham the leader of greater Syria he started to cry and Abu Ubaidah says to him qad qultu laka I told you that your eyes are going to shed tears of me ya amir al mu'minin yakfika ma yuballighuka anni al maqeel he said it's enough for you to just know what comes to you from me meaning about me you don't need to worry about me and at the same time you know don't hurt yourself by coming and seeing the difficulty with which I live and Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu said ghayaratna al dunya kullana that the dunya changed all of us ghayrak ya Abu Ubaidah except for you Abu Ubaidah subhanAllah what a powerful statement to come from Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu that the dunya changed us all except for you you remained intact from everything that came to you of this world remained focused and upon the mission of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam when Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu was in Medina and Medina suffered under what's known as a amir ramada the year of the ashes Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu also played a serious role in alleviating some of the suffering of this ummah under the famine that struck Medina and he sent from ash-sham to the Muslims in Medina about 4,000 camel loads of food to try to avert the harm that had taken place with them so then what happens to Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu the plague breaks out and subhanAllah before covid started we didn't know the severity of covid I gave a lecture a break from the first about the plague of ahmads Abu Ubaidah had come to meet Umar outside of ash-sham
of greater Syria and as they were meeting outside of ash-sham on the border of ash-sham the news came to them that the plague had struck and that people were dying right and left and so the discussion then becomes should Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu proceed to ash-sham or should he turn back so Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu he asks for shura from the people and then Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu basically dismisses everyone except for the people of Badr the veterans of Badr I want to take the shura of the earliest Muslims and the scholars amongst them the sahaba to know what I should do so Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu is deliberating whether or not he should enter into ash-sham during that plague most of them said to Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu that he should return to Medina some of them said go ahead so eventually Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu he comes out and he decides that he's going to return to Medina Abu Ubaidah when he hears that radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu he says to Umar the famous words atafirru min qadarillah are you fleeing from the decree of Allah oh Umar and Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu says law qalaha ghayruka Abu Ubaidah I wish someone other than you Abu Ubaidah said that because I love him so much and I don't want to disagree with him and I wish it would have come from someone other than him so he said to Abu Ubaidah nafirru min qadarillah ila qadarillah we're fleeing from the decree of Allah to the decree of Allah and Abdurrahman ibn Auf radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu who we'll talk about next week inshaAllah ta'ala he intervenes and he said I have heard from the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam directly that the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam said that if you hear of a plague that breaks out in the land do not enter it but if the plague breaks out while you are in that land then do not leave it so the famous hadith that has been cited so much over the past year about quarantining and things of that sort subhanAllah so this is the context
of that this discussion between Umar and Abu Ubaidah so Umar and his group went back to Medina Abu Ubaidah and his group went back to Al-Sham and the plague then started to ravage more people and Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu was worried about some of his sahaba that were still there and at the top of that list was Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu so he sends a letter to Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu and he says to Abu Ubaidah in that letter he says look inna li bikha haja I need something from you fa idha jaaka kitabi hadha so when my letter comes to you then approach me in Medina I need you to come to Medina Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu anhu he immediately said he said Umar radiyaAllahu anhu does not need me this is what's implied here is that he just wants me to get away from the plague Umar wants to rescue Abu Ubaidah because he knows how important he is to the ummah and Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu responds back to Umar radiyaAllahu anhu with a beautiful letter and in it he says look I'm not going to leave my army behind I will stay with them wa arda bi qadai rabbi and I'm pleased with the decree of my lord if I die in this plague it's shahada and I will be okay so ya ameer al mu'mineen excuse me and allow me he didn't want to disobey the orders of Umar radiyaAllahu anhu but he knew what Umar was doing he said excuse me and let me stay with my army and I'm pleased with the decree of Allah and if I die in this plague then it is shahada he actually narrates Abu Ubaidah is the one who narrates the famous hadith that if a person dies from a plague that they are a shaheed that they're a martyr subhanAllah it's his riwayah from the prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam so when Umar radiyaAllahu anhu is waiting for the response of Abu Ubaidah when he gets that letter he immediately starts to cry and as he's weeping the people thought that it might be that Abu Ubaidah actually died so they say to Umar radiyaAllahu anhu
did Abu Ubaidah die and Umar radiyaAllahu anhu he responded he said not yet but not much longer you know it's only a matter of time that he'll pass away then Umar radiyaAllahu anhu responds to the letter and he tells Abu Ubaidah to at least find a place that is secure and that's elevated so that the worst of the plague will not strike him and so Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu anhu calls for Abu Musa al-Ashari they try to find a place Abu Musa radiyaAllahu anhu gets home finds that his wife is struck with the plague Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu anhu takes his camel starts to look for a place and then he also struck by the plague and the people rushed to their leader to Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu anhu who is the head of them all right he's the leader of a shan and as they surround him and he's dying he says to them innaAllaha kattaba ala bani adam almout that indeed Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has written upon the child of Adam death fa kullukum mayyitoon and so all of you will die all of us will die and so the smartest of us man can atwaAAa bi rabbihi wa a'mar bimiAAadihi the smartest amongst us is the one who is most humble to their Lord or who obeys their Lord most and who works towards the hereafter or to the inevitable most and there is a long beautiful wasi of Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu anhu reminding the people to remember Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to hold on to their their deeds and then Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu anhu appoints Mu'adh ibn Jabal radiyaAllahu anhu his brother in the hijrah and he dies and when he dies the people weep over the death of their leader of Abu Ubaidah al-Jarrah radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu and Mu'adh radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu he cries and he says imra'an lillahi ameenan wakanAllahu fee nafsihi AAadheema he says a man who was truthful to his Lord
trustworthy truthful to his Lord and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala was great in his heart radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu and when Umar radiyaAllahu anhu found out he wept out of his love for him and he said subhanAllah if Abu Ubaidah was alive this is as high of a praise that you'll get from Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu he said if Abu Ubaidah would have lived I would have appointed him to this affair meaning I would have appointed him to the khilafah and I would have met my Lord in peace like I would not every khalifa is carrying the hem carrying the stress of who they're going to appoint after them he said if he would have made it if he wouldn't have died before me he said I would have appointed him and I would have met Allah in peace knowing that I made the right decision for the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam said every ummah has an ameen and the ameen of this ummah is Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu and I want to end actually with one narration about our beloved companion that we've spoken about tonight Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu and that is once again an incident with Umar radiyaAllahu anhu Umar radiyaAllahu anhu was sitting with a group of companions and he said to them make a wish make a wish and the companions started to respond one of them said I wish to have as much gold to fill this entire place so that I could spend it all in the path of Allah subhana wa ta'ala Umar radiyaAllahu anhu says again make a wish and another man says I wish that this place was full of jewels and gems and pearls so that I could spend it all for the sake of Allah subhana wa ta'ala and Umar radiyaAllahu anhu said make a wish and the companions respond and they say at that point we don't know what to say oh ameerul mu'mineen oh commander of the believers meaning we you know we don't want anything of this dunya if we took anything from this world we would wish for it just to spend it and use it for the sake of Allah subhana wa ta'ala and then Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu says as for me I wish that this
place I had a room full of men like Abu Ubaidah Al-Jarrah subhanAllah if I could have a room full of this man then that's better than all the gold of this world and everything that this world possesses meaning the quality of people the quality of men in one narration he also said Mu'adh and Salim Mawla Abi Hudhaifa if I could have a room of Abu Ubaidah's I would be good then this ummah would be in khair which shows you the value of these people that what these people brought to us particularly people like Abu Ubaidah Al-Jarrah what they did for us could not be quantified in any way not in the way that it was gained nor in the way that it was spent and that is Abu Ubaidah Al-Jarrah in the eyes of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and Abu Bakr and Umar may Allah be pleased with them all and so what should he be in our eyes radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu a man that was promised paradise by the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam amongst the ten radiyaAllahu anhu may Allah be pleased with him JazakumAllahu Khayran for tuning in tonight inshAllah ta'ala I remind you again about the great Ramadan with Sadaqah option JazakumAllahu Khayran for your support for Yaqeen throughout all of these years so that we can continue to publish free resources and I pray that inshAllah ta'ala you benefit and that we are together in Ramadan inshAllah and this next week we will continue with another companion Abdur Rahman Ibn Auf radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu JazakumAllahu Khayran Wasalamualikoum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh
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