'Ammar bin Yasir was one of the most respected companions of the
Prophet . He was from those who were brutally tortured in the cause of Islam.
He did two hijrahs - to Ethiopia and Medina; he prayed
towards two qiblahs - Baytul Maqdis and Ka'bah. He
participated in all the battles of Islam right from the beginning, and was
martyred in the battle of Siffin on 9th Safar, 37 AH.
'Ammar and his parents were amongst the first converts to Islam.
His father Yasir was from the tribe of Qahtan in Yemen. He, together with his
two brothers, came to Mecca in search of a lost brother. His brothers returned
to their homeland; but Yasir stayed in Mecca where he entered into a covenant
with Abu Hudhayfah (from the tribe of Bani Makhzum), and married his
slave-girl, Sumayyah bint Khayyat. Yasir and Sumayyah begot two sons, 'Abdullah
and 'Ammar, who according to the custom of Arabia, were considered the slaves
of Abu Hudhayfah.
After their conversion to Islam, Abu Jahl, with the help of
other pagans, started torturing the whole family mercilessly. Ironnails were
put upon their naked bodies and they were made to lie down on the burning sand
of the desert. The heat of the sun and the desert sand made the iron mails hot
like fire; their skins got burned. This torture used to continue till they
became unconscious. Then the iron mails were removed and water was poured on
them. The Prophet felt very sorry for the suffering family; but was unable
to protect them. Still he used to go near them and give them courage to forbear
the tyrannies of their tormentors. He gave them good tidings of Heaven and
said, “Be patient, O family of Yasir, because your promised place
is Heaven”.
Yasir and Sumayyah were brutally murdered by the pagans of the
Quraysh, under the leadership of Abu Jahl. It is a great distinction of this
distinguished family that all of them were martyred in the cause of Islam.
Sumayyah was very pious and God-fearing lady; and she was the first woman
martyr of Islam.
When his parents were killed, 'Ammar pretended to denounce
Islam, and thus saved his life. Then he came to the Prophet bitterly weeping
that he had to utter the words of kufr so that he could slip
away from the hands of the infidels. The Prophet told him not to worry, as he
had not uttered those words with his heart. In this connection, the following
verse was revealed:-
He who disbelieves in God after his belief in Him - except he
who is compelled (to do so] while his heart remains steadfast with the faith -
and he who opened (his) heart for disbelief on them shall be the wrath of Allah
and they, shall have a grievous chastisement. (The Qur'an 16:10).
When 'Ammar described the atrocities meted out to the blessed
Sumayyah, the Prophet said,“Patience, O Abu Yaqzan; O Allah, do not
punish anyone from the family of Yasir with hell-fire.”
When the Prophet came to Medina, and the mosque of the Prophet
was being built, 'Ammar enthusiastically carried double load of the stones.
Prophet said, “'Ammar is the skin between my eyes and nose.” Then
he said, “Well, O 'Ammar, you will be killed by a rebellious group;
you will be calling them to Heaven, and they will be calling you to Hell.”
'Ammar's importance and honour can also be understood from the
following sayings of the Prophet:“Ammar is with the truth, and the truth
is with 'Ammar wherever he may be. 'Ammar is the skin between my eyes and nose;
and he will be killed by a rebellious group. The Prophet also said,“Ammar
is filled with faith (iman) from head to feet”. There are
numerous other traditions of the Prophet and the Imams concerning 'Ammar.
As mentioned above, the Prophet had said that he would be killed
by a rebellious group; and so it happened. 'Ammar was killed in the 37th year
AH by the army of Mu'awiyah bin Abi Sufyan. He was then 90 or 91 years old. On
the day when he was martyred, he was fighting valiantly against the army of Mu'awiyah,
when one Syrian, Abul Ghadiyah al-Muzani, fatally wounded him in the waist; his
companions carried him to safety. He asked for water; someone gave him a cup of
milk. He said, “True was the saying of the Prophet”. People
asked him to explain. He replied, “The Prophet had informed me that
my last sustenance from this world would be milk.” Then he drank
some milk and after that he died.
Amirul mu'minin 'Ali was informed of this tragedy. He came
immediately and put 'Ammar's head on his lap and recited the following elegy
for his faithful companion:
O death, which is to come to me anyhow, Better give me rest at
once; Because thou host finished off all my friends, I see that thou doth
recognise all my beloned ones, as though someone is guiding thee to them
specially.
Then reciting “verily we are of God and to God will
we return,” he said, “Anybody who is not
extremely grieved on the death of 'Ammar has no share in Islam. May Allah have
mercy on 'Ammar.”Amirul mu'minin himself said prayer on him, and buried
him by his own hands.
'Ammar's martyrdom created a problem for Mu'awiyah because many
people in his army did remember the aforesaid saying of the Prophet, and they
realised that 'Ammar, by his death, had shown that Mu'awiyah and his army were
rebellious and not on the right path. To pacify the army, Mu'awiyah said that
it was 'Ali who had caused the death of 'Ammar by bringing him to the
battlefield. When Amirul mu'minin 'Ali was informed of this ruse of Mu'awiyah,
he said, “Then it was the Prophet himself who killed Hamzah by
bringing him to the battlefield of Uhud!”
No comments:
Post a Comment