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Hadhrat Abu Dharr al-Ghaffari (a)
"A
Close Companion of the Prophet (s)"
By: Amin El-Hosayn
Abu Dharr al-Ghaffari (a)'s name was
Jundab ibn Junadah. He was an inhabitant of ar-Rabadhah,
a small village on the east side of Medina.
When he heard about the proclamation of the Prophet (s),
he came to Mecca and after making enquires saw the
Prophet (s) and accepted Islam. The unbelievers of
Quraysh gave him all sorts of troubles and inflicted
pain after pain, but he remained steadfast.
He was among the first people to convert to Islam. In
fact, he was the 4th or 5th person to become Muslim and
because of this he is considered among the “most eminent
in Islam.” Along with this precedence in Islam his
renunciation and piety was so high that the Prophet (s)
said:
“Among my people Abu Dharr is the like of `Isa (Jesus)
son of Maryam (Mary) in renunciation and piety.” On
another occasion, the Prophet (s) said: "he loved Abu
Dhar and whoever displeased Abu Dhar would displease the
Prophet (s)."
The Messenger of Allah (s) praised Abu Dharr (a) and
said to him: “May Allah bless you, O Abu Dharr! Truly,
you live alone, die alone, rise alone and enter heaven
alone! Fortunate and amongst the delivered are those who
will attend the ceremonial washing of your body after
your death and your burial. The sky has cast no shadow
and the earth received not one more truthful than you.”
In the reign of Caliph `Umar, Abu Dharr left for Syria
and during caliph `Uthman's reign also remained there.
He spent his days in counseling, preaching, acquainting
people with the greatness of the members of the Prophet
(s)'s family and guiding the people to the rightful
path. The traces of Shi`ism now found in Syria and Jabal
`Amil (north of Lebanon) are the result of his preaching
and activity and the fruit of seeds sown by him.
He was first exiled to Medina on an unsaddled camel as a
punishment for his truth-speaking tongue, and at last he
was ordered to go to ar-Rabadhah. Marwan, son of the man
(al-Hakam) exiled by the Prophet (s), was deputized to
turn Abu Dharr out of Medina. At the same time the
inhuman order was issued that no one should speak to him
nor see him off. But Amir al-Mu'minin Al-Imam Ali (a),
Imam Hassan (a), Imam Husain (a), `Aqil ibn Abi Talib
(a), `Abdullah ibn Ja`far (a) and `Ammar ibn Yasir (a)
did not pay any heed to this order and accompanied him
to see him off, and Amir al-Mu'minin uttered these
sentences on that occasion:
“O' Abu Dharr! You showed anger in the name of Allah
therefore have hope in Him for whom you became angry.
The people were afraid of you in the matter of their
(pleasure of this) world while you feared them for your
faith. Then leave to them that for which they are afraid
of you and get away from them taking away what you fear
them about. How needy are they for what you dissuade
them from and how heedless are you towards what they are
denying you. You will shortly know who is the gainer
tomorrow (on the Day of Judgment) and who is more
enviable. Even if these skies and earth were closed to
some individual and he feared Allah, then Allah would
open them for him. Only rightfulness should attract you
while wrongfulness should detract you. If you had
accepted their worldly attractions they would have loved
you and if you had shared in it they would have given
you asylum.”
In ar-Rabadhah, Abu Dharr (a) had to put up with a very
hard life. It was here that his son Dharr and his wife
died and the sheep and goats that he was keeping for his
livelihood also died. Of his children only one daughter
remained, who equally shared his starvation and
troubles.
When the means of subsistence were fully exhausted and
day after day passed without food she said to Abu Dharr
(a): “Father, how long shall we go on like this. We
should go somewhere in search of livelihood.” Abu Dharr
(a) took her with him and set off for the wilderness. He
could not find even any foliage. At last he was tired
and sat down at a certain place. Then he collected some
sand and, putting his head on it, lay down. Soon he
began gasping, his eyes rolled up and pangs of death
gripped him. According to reports it was 5th of Dhul
Qa’adah when this companion of Prophet (s) left this
world. It is reported that the deceased's namaz-i jamaza
was led by Malik Ashtar who happened to pass through al-Rabadha
along with other Muslims in the caravan.
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