Abu Dharr Al-Ghifari (RA)

STORIES OF THE COMPANIONS

Abu Dharr Al-Ghifari (RA)

by HOTD Staff Writer
26 November 2012

Is it not true that Allah guides whom He pleases? The Prophet SAW looked at their kind faces with eyes full of joy, tenderness, and love. He looked at Bani Ghifar and said, ‘May Allah forgive Ghifar.’ Then he turned to Bani Aslim and said, ‘May Allah make peace with Aslim.’

Abu Dharr’s reward was going to be abundant and his greeting blessed. He was going to carry on his chest- but also his history was going to carry – the highest, most honourable, and most respectable medals. Generations and centuries will pass away, but the Prophet’s opinion about Abu Dharr will always stay alive in people’s memory: ‘The earth never carried above it, nor did the sky ever shade under it a more truthful tongue than Abu Dharr’s’.

The Prophet SAW determined his Companion’s future and summed up his whole life in those simple words.

Bold and daring truthfulness was the essence of Abu Dharr’s whole life. Truthfulness of his inner soul as well as his appearance. Truthfulness of his faith as well as his tongue. All his life he was truthful. Neither deceiving himself or anyone else, nor allowing anyone to deceive him.

His truthfulness was not mute merit. According to Abu Dharr, truthfulness is never silent. Truthfulness is equivalent to openness and publicity, publicity of truth and challenge to falsehood, support of right and refutation of wrong. Truthfulness is a reasonable ally to truth and a courageous expression of it; both quicken their pace.

The Prophet SAW could see with his unmistaken insight- across remote distances and the far unknown future – all the different difficulties Abu Dharr had to face due to his truthfulness and firmness. He therefore was always ordering him to let patience and deliberateness be his manner.

The Prophet once asked him, ‘O Abu Dhar! What would you do if you witnessed a time when commanders monopolize the war booty?’ He replied, ‘I swear by Allah Who sent you with the truth, I would strike them with my sword!’ The Prophet SAW said to him, ‘Shall I guide you to what is better? Be patient till you meet me.’

Abu Dharr kept his teacher and Prophet’s instruction unforgotten. Therefore, he did not carry a sword against those commanders who enriched themselves by taking what was the public money. But also, he did not keep silent, and he did not let them rest. Indeed, although the Prophet SAW had forbidden him to carry his sword against them, he did not forbid him to carry a sharp truthful tongue. And that is what he did.

Abu Dharr lived without trouble and happily, with much inward peace, as long as Umar RA was Commander of the Faithful. Nothing ever annoyed Abu Dharr more than the abuse of power and the monopoly of wealth. Umar’s firm control over power and his fair distribution of wealth allowed him tranquillity and satisfaction.

It was because of this that he was able to devote himself to Allah’s worship and jihad in the cause of Allah, never keeping silent if any infringement was seen here or there, which rarely happened.

The Islamic campaigns continued, thus bringing under control more regions. At the same time, desires and longing for ambition to enjoy the comforts and luxury of life started to float to the surface. In these events, Abu Dharr saw the impending danger. The banners of personal glory were about to tempt those whose role in life was to lift the standard of Allah. Life with its false embellishments and its wild arrogance was about to tempt those whose role was to make out of life a plantation of good deeds.

Money – created by Allah to be obedient to His servants for the benefit of mankind – was about to turn into a tyrant master. A master of whom? The Prophet’s Companions.

The Prophet SAW died with a pawned shield, although piles of war booty were under his service. The excellence of the earth created by Allah for all human beings and with their rights upon it mutually corresponding – was about to turn into a monopoly and privilege Power – a responsibility that pious people tremble at when thinking about its horrible charge in the Hereafter – turned into a means of authority, wealth, and destructive luxury.

Abu Dharr realized all that. He did not search for his duties or responsibilities, but rather took his sword, waved it in the air and set out to face his society with his unbeatable sword. But soon the echo of the Prophet’s SAW advice struck his heart, so he returned it to its scabbard. He remembered the Prophet SAW had said he should not lift it in the face of a Muslim.

‘It is not lawful for a believer to kill another believer except by error ‘ (Qur’an 4:92).

His role was not to fight but to oppose. The sword was not a means of change and reformation, but the truthful, sincere, and brave word was. The fair word does not lose its path, and its consequences are not terrifying. The Prophet SAW once said, while surrounded by his Companions, that the earth never carried above it, nor did the sky ever shade a more truthful tongue than Abu Dharr’s. Why should someone who owns such a truthful tongue and truthful conviction need a sword?

A single word by him hit the target more than uncountable swords. Therefore, Abu Dharr was to encounter all the governors, the wealthy, and all those who worshipped the worldly life and relied upon it, thereby representing an even greater danger to the religion which came to be a guide, not a tax collector; prophethood, not dominion; mercy, not affliction; humbleness, not superiority; equality, not differentiation; satisfaction, not greed; sufficiency, not luxury and a life of ease full of temptation, with this life the only goal.

Abu Dharr went out to the strongholds of power and wealth, attacking them one after the other. Within a short time he became the standard around which the labourers of Islam and the masses gathered. Even in the remote districts where people had not yet met him, word about him got around and he became well known until he hardly passed through a land in which his name had not reached the ears of some the people and without crucial questions being raised which threatened the welfare and worldly interests of the powerful and wealthy.

He turned the following words into his chant and earnest appeal, repeating them every time and every place he went. People repeated them after him as if they were an anthem:

Announce to those who hoard up gold and silver, the warning of branding irons with which their foreheads and bodies will be branded in the hereafter.

He never ascended a mountain or descended a valley or entered a city or faced a ruler without repeating the same words, so much so that people would always welcome him when he approached them by repeating ‘Announce to those who hoard up gold and silver, the warning of branding irons.’

This statement turned into ‘signature time’ for his message to which he devoted his life. That was because he saw wealth being accumulated and monopolized for power and being turned into a means of supremacy and abuse. He saw an overwhelming passion for life which was about to erase all beauty, piety, devotion, and sincerity built up during the previous years of the great mission of the Messenger of Allah.

Mu’aawiyah Ibn Abi Sufyan

When he began his attack, he started with the most authoritative and horrible stronghold: there in Syria, where Mu’aawiyah Ibn Abi Sufyan was ruling one of the most fertile lands in the world of Islam, granting and distributing money carelessly, thereby bestowing undeserved privileges upon people of power and rank in order to guarantee his future, a future he aspired to promote. There in Syria, the country of overwhelming palaces, country estates and fortunes which tempted the remnants of the carriers of the Islamic message, he began his attack. Abu Dharr wanted to confront the centre of danger before it ruined and destroyed all Muslims.

The leader of the opposition to corrupt worldly power wore his humble gown and hastened as fast as lightning towards Syria. Ordinary people hardly heard about his arrival before they hurried to welcome him with great enthusiasm and longing desire, surrounding him wherever he would go or stay. ‘O Abu Dharr, please tell us… O, Companion of the Prophet SAW please tell us…’

He shouted to those around him, ‘I wonder why those who don’t find something to eat don’t go out holding their swords ready to fight?’

Then he immediately remembered the Prophet’s admonition to replace opposition and rebellion with patience, and to replace the sword with brave and daring words, abandoning the language of war and returning to logic, reason, and conviction; teaching people that they are all equal like the teeth of a comb; that they are all partners as far as the means of living are concerned; that no one is superior to another except in piety; and that their ruler should be the first to starve if the people suffer hunger and the last to satisfy his appetite if they become sated.

He decided to create by means of his words and bravery a public opinion all over the Muslim countries which would represent, through its intelligence, indomitability, and strength, a hindering force to the deviations of the rulers and the rich and wealthy, in order to hinder the appearance and spread of a power- and wealth- monopolizing class.

Within a few days, the whole of Syria turned into what resembled a bee-hive which had found its queen. If Abu Dharr would have given the slightest passing gesture of revolt, the whole of Syria would have been set on fire. But, he focused his interest on creating a respectable public opinion. His words turned into the subject of conversation everywhere, inside mosques, during meetings, and even on roads. Danger increased and reached its peak for Abu Dharr, speaking about the newly acquired privileges of the rich and powerful, on the day in which be argued with Mu’aawiyah in front of the masses. Every witness of that debate told those who missed it, so that its news spread as fast as wildfire.

Abu Dharr, who possessed the most truthful tongue on earth, as the Prophet SAW described him, stood up. He asked Mu’aawiyah about his wealth before and after being in power, about the house in which he was living in Makkah, and the castles he owned in Syria. Then he raised the question to the Companions who had accompanied Mu’aawiyah to Syria and were now owners of estates and castles.

After that he cried to them ‘is it you among whom the Prophet lived when the Qur’an was being revealed? Then he answered himself, ‘Yes, it is you! The Qur’an was revealed among you. It is you who experienced with the Prophet SAW all the different scenes.

Then he asked them again, ‘Can’t you find this verse in the Book of Allah? …. and those who hoard up gold and silver, and do not expend it in the cause of GOD, announce to them a painful chastisement – On the Day when it shall be heated in the Fire of Hell, and with it their foreheads, and their bodies, and their backs shall be branded, ‘This is what you treasured for yourselves, so taste the evil of what you were treasuring ‘ (Qur’an 9:34-35).

However, Mu’aawiyah wanted to end the whole dispute by arguing that this verse was mentioned regarding the People of the Book (i.e. the Jews and Christians). Hereupon cried Abu Dharr, ‘No, it has been revealed for us all.’

Abu Dharr then continued his talk, advising Mu’aawiyah and his followers to give up their landed estates, castles, money, and all their possessions, and to abstain from saving for themselves more than their daily need.

Through the people’s assemblies, congregations, and meetings, the news of the debate spread and reached everyone’s ears.

Louder and louder was Abu Dharr’s anthem to be heard everywhere: ‘Announce to those who hoard up gold and silver the warning of branding irons.’ Mu’aawiyah felt the danger of the words of the great, honourable, and rebellious Companion who terrified him. Yet Mu’aawiyah appreciated his value and did not harm him, but he immediately wrote to the Caliph Uthman ‘Abu Dharr spoils the people in Syria.’

Uthman sent for Abu Dharr, asking him to come to Al-Medina. Abu Dharr set off from Syria with kindness, affection, and honour. His farewell day was celebrated in Syria in a manner Damascus had never witnessed the like of.

News from all different regions of the Muslim world, confirmed that Abu Dharr’s opinions had actually agitated the multitudes, who began to crystallize around them. It was at that time that Uthman began to truly realize the actual danger of Abu Dharr’s opinion and its strength. He therefore decided to keep him beside him at Al- Medina.

Uthman presented to him his decision in a very kind and friendly way. He said to him, ‘Stay here beside me. You will be endowed with blessings day and night.’ Abu Dharr then answered, ‘I don’t need your world.’

Indeed, he did not need people’s world. He was one of those saints who searched for the enrichment of their soul, dedicating his life to giving, not to receiving!

He asked the Caliph Uthman to allow him to go out to Ar-Rabadhah, and he allowed him. Despite his fierce opposition, he stayed dose to Allah and His Prophet SAW in a very honest way, always keeping within his soul the Prophet’s advice never to carry a sword. It was as if the Prophet had seen the whole of Abu Dharr’s destiny and future, so he bestowed upon him this precious advice.

Abu Dharr never hid his annoyance when seeing those who liked to ignite the flames of civil strife by using his words and opinions as a mean to satisfy their passionate desire and cunning deceits.

One day, while in Ar-Rabadhah, a delegation from Kufa came to ask him to raise the flag of revolution against the caliph. He drove them back with decisive words: ‘By Allah, if Uthman was to crucify me on the longest board or on a mountain, I would patiently obey, for Allah’s reward would be waiting for me, and I see it to be the best for me. And if he was to force me to walk from one end of the horizon to the other, I would patiently obey, for Allah’s reward would be waiting for me, and I see it to be the best for me. And if he was to force me back to my home I would patiently obey, for Allah’s reward would be waiting for me, and I see it to be the best for me.’

He was a man who was not interested in any worldly gain; thus he was blessed with insight by Allah. He realized again the tremendous danger involved in armed civil strife; therefore, he abstained from it. But he also realized the tremendous danger involved in silence; therefore, he abstained from it. That is why he raised his voice, not his sword, and raised the word of truth and sincerity.

He was not tempted by greedy desires nor hindered by worldly obstacles.

Abu Dharr kept himself busy with and devoted himself to sincere, honest opposition.

He spent his whole life focusing on the faults of power and the faults of money. Thus power and money possessed the temptation. Abu Dharr was afraid his brethren would fall into their traps – his same brethren who had carried the standard of Islam with the Prophet SAW and whom he wanted to remain the carriers of his message.

Power and money were, furthermore, the backbone of societies and communities. If misused, the destiny of people would encounter serious and imminent danger.

Abu Dharr wished so much that the Prophet’s companions would not be appointed as governors and would not collect fortunes, but would rather stay as they always had been: as spiritual guides to the right path for Allah’s worshipers.

He knew well the voracity of life and the voracity of money, and he knew that the example of Abu Dharr and Umar was never going to be repeated! Prophet SAW always said to his Companions to be aware of the temptation of authority saying, ‘It’s a deposition in trust, and on the Day of Resurrection it will be a shame and regret except to the one who was endowed with it justly and accomplished his duty.’

Abu Dharr went so far that he avoided his brethren if he did not boycott them, for no other reason than that they had become rules and, of course, had become wealthier.

It may seem that Abu Dharr had an exaggerated position towards power and wealth, but he had a logic which was shaped by his sincerity to himself and his faith. Thus, Abu Dharr stood with his dreams, deeds, behaviour, and viewpoints according to the same standard the Prophet SAW and his two Companions Abu Bakr and ‘Umar had left behind.

If some people saw that standard to be an out-of-reach ideal, Abu Dharr saw it to be an example charting the path of life and toil especially for those who had actually experienced the Prophet SAW, prayed behind him, taken part in jihad with him, and sworn the oath of allegiance to him.

In addition to that his inspired intellect knew the decisive influence of power and property in determining people’s destiny. Therefore, any disturbance which might afflict the trustworthiness of power or the fairness of wealth represents an imminent danger which must be resisted and opposed.

As long as he lived, Abu Dharr upheld the standard of the Prophet SAW and his two Companions’ good example. He was a great figure in the art of predominance over the temptation of power and wealth. The governorship of Iraq was once offered to him, but he said, ‘By Allah, you will never tempt me with your world.’

Once, one of his companions saw him wearing an old gown and asked him, ‘Don’t you have another one? I saw you a couple of days ago with two other gowns in your hands.’ Abu Dharr replied, ‘O cousin! I gave them to someone who needed them more than I do.’ He said to him, ‘ By Allah, you need them!’ Abu Dharr then answered, ‘May Allah forgive us. You glorify this life! Can’t you see that I am wearing a gown? And I own another one for the congregational Friday prayer. Moreover, I own a goat which I milk and a donkey which I ride. Is there a better blessing?’

He once sat down talking to people and said, ‘My friend advised me to do seven things:

He asked me to love the poor and to get closer to them. He asked me to look to those who are inferior and not to those who are superior. He asked me never to ask anyone for anything (i.e. to abstain from begging). He asked me to be kind to my relatives. He asked me to say the truth, no matter how sour it may be. He asked me never to be afraid of a critic’s censure. *And he asked me to frequently say, ‘There is no power nor might except Allah’s.’

He lived according to this advice until he became a living conscience moving among his people.

Imam Ali RA once said, ‘There is no one nowadays who is nonchalant about people’s criticism – as far as Allah and His rules are concerned – except Abu Dharr.’

He lived opposing the abuse of power and the monopoly of property. He lived resisting all that was wrong and building all that was right. He lived devoted to the responsibility of good advice and warning.

When he was hindered from spelling out his fatwa (formal legal opinion in Islamic law), he raised his voice and said to those hindering him, ‘By the name of the One in Whose hands my soul is, if you put the sword to my neck and I still thought that I could carry out a word I’ve heard from the Prophet SAW before you cut, I would carry it out.’

Had the Muslims listened on that day to his advice, a lot of civil strife and turmoil would have been prevented – turmoil that reached its peak and dangers that became grave, serious, and imminent. The state, society and Muslim nation had to face all that rebellion and aggravated, alarming danger.

But then Abu Dharr was suffering the agony of death in Ar Rabadhah, the place he chose to stay in after his disagreement with Uthman.

He asks his wife, ‘Why do you cry and death is true?’ She answers crying, ‘You are dying and I don’t have a gown which suffices to be a winding sheet!!’ He smiles like a passing evening glow and says to her ‘Calm down. Don’t cry. I heard the Prophet SAW once saying while I was sitting among a number of Companions, ‘One of you will die in a desert land, and a group of the faithful will witness him.’ All those who were sitting with me at that assembly have died, whether in a village or among a congregation. No one is left except me, and now I am dying in a desert land. Watch out, a group of the faithful will soon show up. By Allah, I didn’t lie in my life.’ He passed away. Blessed was he.

There is a caravan which sets off on a journey across the desert.

It consists of a group of the faithful with Abd Allah Ibn Masud RA, the Prophet’s Companion, at their head. lbn Masud visualized the scene before he reached it: a scene of an out-stretched body like that of a dead person and beside him a crying woman and boy.

He redirects his camel’s bridle and the whole caravan follows him towards the scene. He has hardly taken a look at the dead body, when he realizes that it is his companion brother in Islam, Abu Dharr.

His tears roll down abundantly while he stands in front of this virtuous body saying, ‘The Messenger of Allah was truthful You will walk alone, die alone, and resurrect alone.’

lbn Masud narrated the interpretation of the statement ‘You will walk alone, die alone, and resurrect alone,’ to his companions:

That was in the ninth year after Hijrah, during the Battle of Tabuk, when the Prophet, SAW had ordered full preparation to meet the Romans, who had begun to carry out their conspiracies and cunning tricks against Islam.

The days in which people were asked to go out for jihad were very hot, distressful, and hard. The destination was far away and the enemy terrifying.

A group of Muslims refrained from going forth, justifying their position with different apologies. The Prophet SAW and his Companions went forth. The farther they went, the more exhausted and tired they became. Whenever a man stayed behind people said, ‘O Prophet! So-and-so stayed behind.’ He then said, ‘Let him! If he’s any good, he will reach you. If he’s something else, then Allah will save you his trouble.’

One day the people turned around. They could not find Abu Dharr. They told the Prophet SAW that Abu Dharr had stayed behind and his camel had slowed down. It is here that the Prophet SAW repeated his first statement. Abu Dharr’s camel became weaker under the severe pressure of hunger, thirst, and hot weather. It stumbled due to weakness and fatigue. Abu Dharr tried by all means to force it to move forward, but the burden of the camel’s exhaustion was too heavy.

Finally, Abu Dharr felt that he would be left behind, losing the caravan’s traces. Therefore, he dismounted from his camel, took his belongings, carried them on his back, and continued his route on foot over the burning desert sand, hurrying in order to rejoin the Prophet SAW and his Companions.

In the early morning, while the Muslims were stopped for a while to rest, one of them saw a cloud of dust and sand behind which the shadow of a man could be seen. The one who saw that said to the Prophet SAW, ‘O Messenger of Allah, there is someone walking alone.’ The Prophet SAW said, ‘It is Abu Dharr.’

The Muslims continued their talk until the man crossed the remaining distance between them. Only then were they able to know who he was.

The respectful traveller approached little by little. Although he could only with great effort pull his feet out of the burning sand and with a lot of pain carry the heavy burden on his back, he was very delighted to have finally reached the blessed caravan without staying behind and abandoning the Prophet SAW and his Companions.

When he at last reached the caravan, someone shouted, ‘O Prophet, it’s Abu Dharr.’ Abu Dharr beaded towards the Prophet SAW. The Prophet SAW had hardly seen him, when he tenderly, kindly, and sadly smiled and said, ‘Allah will have mercy upon Abu Dharr. He walks alone, dies alone, and resurrects alone.’

Twenty years or more had passed since then. Abu Dharr died alone in the desert of Ar-Rabadhah, having walked on a path no one else had passed over so gloriously .

He is also remembered alone in history for his brave resistance and his great asceticism. Allah will also resurrect him alone, because the multitude of his various merits will not enable anyone else to find a place near him.

The former allies of the devil, the notorious highwaymen, had become the allies of truth and great men of good deeds.

Source: Khalid, Khalid Muhammad, Men Around the Messenger, Islamic Book Service, 2004