Musab ibn Umayr

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Musab ibn Umayr (d.625) was a well known companion (sahaba) of the Prophet Muhammad. He came from a noble Meccan family and was among the more than seventy Muslims killed during the battle of Uhud.

1 Life
2 Notes

[edit] Life

Musab was born to wealthy Meccan parents who provided him with a lavish lifestyle. As a youth he was admired by the Quraysh for his good looks and intelligence, and was afforded the privilege of attending Quraysh meetings and gatherings.

[edit] Conversion and Imprisonment

Musab learnt that Muhammad and those who believed in his message were gathering in a house near the hill of as-Safa to avoid Quraysh harassment. Musab proceeded to the house where he met Muhammad teaching his small group of companions. In this first meeting Musab declared his acceptance of Islam. On accepting Islam Musab had one major concern his mother, Khunnas bint Malik.

Musab decided that he should conceal his conversion until a solution should come from God. He continued to frequent the home of al-Arqam in the company of the Prophet. Before long, Musab was seen entering the house of al-Arqam, by Uthman ibn Talhah. At another time, Uthman saw Musab praying in the same manner as Muhammad prayed and the news of Musab's acceptance of Islam spread among the Quraysh and eventually reached his mother.

Musab stood before his mother, his clan and the Quraysh nobility and acknowledged that he had become a Muslim and explained his reasons for so doing. As Musab's mother listened to her son she became increasingly incensed, and she eventually decided to have Musab taken to a far corner of the house where he was bound and tethered. For a long time, Musab remained tied and confined under guards to prevent him from any further contact with Muhammad. Eventually he heard that a group of Muslims were preparing to secretly migrate to Abyssinia. When his warders were off-guard, he slip away and joined the other refugees.^[1]

[edit] Immigration to Abyssinia

Although the Muslims enjoyed peace in Abyssinia, they longed to be in Mecca in the company of Muhammad. So when a report reached Abyssinia that the conditions of the Muslims in Mecca had improved, Musab was among the first to return. The report was in fact false and Musab once again left for Abyssinia. When Musab returned to Mecca again, his mother made a last attempt to gain control of him and threatened to have him tied up again and confined. Musab swore that if she were to do that, he would kill everyone who helped her. Musab thus left her home and the luxury and comforts he used to enjoy. The elegant, well-dressed youth would henceforth be seen only in the coursest of attire.

One day, several years later, Musab came upon a gathering of Muslims sitting around Muhammad. They bowed their heads when they saw Musab, and some were moved to tears. This was because his jalbab was old and in tatters and they were immediately taken back to the days before his acceptance of Islam when he was a model of elegance. The Prophet looked at Musab and said:

"I have seen this Musab with his parents in Makkah. They lavished care and attention on him and gave him all comforts. There was no Quraysh youth like him. Then he left all that seeking the pleasure of God and devoting himself to the service of His Prophet."

After about ten years of inviting people to Islam, most of Mecca still remained hostile. The Prophet then went to Taif seeking new adherents to the faith. He was repulsed and chased out of the city. It was just after this that the Prophet chose Musab to be his ambassador to Yathrib to teach a small group of Muslims who had come to pledge allegiance to Islam before the hijrah in 622. He entered Madinah as a guest of Sad ibn Zurarah of the Khazraj tribe. Together they went to people, to their homes and their gatherings, telling them about the Prophet, explaining Islam to them and reciting the Quran.

Less than a year after his arrival in Yathrib, Musab returned to Makkah. It was again in the season of pilgrimage (Hajj). With him was a group of seventy-five Muslims from Madinah. Again at Aqabah, near Mina, they met the Prophet. There they solemnly undertook to defend the Prophet at all cost. Should they remain firm in their faith, their reward, said the Prophet, would be nothing less than Paradise. This second bayah or pledge which the Muslims of Yathrib made came to be called the Second Pledge of Aqabah.

[edit] Following the Pledge of Aqabah & The Battle of Badr

Shortly after the Pledge, the Prophet directed his persecuted followers to migrate to Yathrib where the new Muslims or Ansar (Helpers) had shown their willingness to give asylum and extend their protection to the afflicted Muslims. The first of the Prophet's companions to arrive in Madinah were Musab ibn Umayr and the blind Abdullah ibn Umm Maktum. Abdullah also recited the Quran beautifully and according to one of the Ansar, both Musab and Abdullah recited the Quran for the people of Yathrib.

Musab continued to play a major role in the building of the new community. The next momentous situation in which we meet him was during the Battle of Badr in 624. After the battle was over, the Quraysh prisoners of war were brought to the Prophet who assigned them to the custody of individual Muslims. "Treat them well," he instructed.

Among the prisoners was Abu Aziz ibn Umayr, the brother of Musab. Abu Aziz related what happened: "I was among a group of Ansar...Whenever they had lunch or dinner they would give me bread and dates to eat in obedience to the Prophet's instructions to them to treat us well.

"My brother, Musab ibn Umayr, passed by me and said to the man from the Ansar who was holding me prisoner:

'Tie him firmly... His mother is a woman of great wealth and maybe she would ransom him for you.'" Abu Aziz could not believe his ears. Astonished, he turned to Musab and asked: "My brother, is this your instruction concerning me?" "He is my brother, not you," replied Musab thus affirming that in the battle between faith and disbelief, the bonds of faith were stronger than the ties of kinship.

[edit] Martyrdom at Uhud

At the Battle of Uhud, the Prophet called upon Musab, now known as Musab al-Khayr (the Good), to carry the Muslim standard. At the beginning of the battle, the Muslims seemed to have the upper hand. A group of Muslims then went against the orders of the Prophet and deserted their positions. The Quraysh forces rallied and launched a counterattack. Their main objective, as they cut through the Muslim forces, was to get to the noble Prophet.

Musab realized the great danger facing the Prophet. He raised the standard high and shouted the takbir. With the standard in one hand and his sword in the other, he plunged into the Quraysh forces. The odds were against him. A Quraysh horseman moved in close and severed his right hand. Musab was heard to repeat the words:

"Muhammad is only a Messenger. Messengers have passed away before him," showing that however great his attachment was to the Prophet himself, his struggle above all was for the sake of God and for making His word supreme. His left hand was then severed also and as he held the standard between the stumps of his arms, to console himself he repeated: "Muhammad is only a Messenger of God. Messengers have passed away before him." Musab was then hit by a spear. He fell and the standard fell. The words he repeated, every time he was struck were later revealed to the Prophet and completed, and became part of the Quran.

After the battle, the Prophet and his companions went through the battlefield, bidding farewell to the martyrs. When they came to Musab's body, tears flowed. Khabbah related that they could not find any cloth with which to shroud Musab's body, except his own garment. When they covered his head with it, his legs showed and when his legs were covered, his head was exposed and the Prophet instructed:

"Place the garment over his head and cover his feet and legs with the leaves of the idhkhir (rue) plant."

The Prophet felt deep pain at the number of his companions who were killed at the Battle of Uhud. These included his uncle Hamzah whose body was horribly mutilated. But it was over the body of Musab that the Prophet stood, with great emotion. He remembered Musab as he first saw him in Makkah, and then looked at the short burdah which was now the only garment he possessed and he recited the verse of the Quran:

Among the believers are men who have been true to what they have pledged to God.^[2]