No One Stood Up

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

Sometimes it comes to our mind that "I wish I live in the time of the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace." And it would be easy to follow the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace. Would it really be easy for you?

The problem with many of us, we like to live in the past or the future and we forget to live in the present. It is this present moment that you are being taken to task.

One day a group of people were sitting with Hudhaifa ibn Al-Yamman, Allah be pleased with him, when someone said to him, "Had I met the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and grant him peace, I would have fought fiercely and sacrificed my life."

Hudhaifa said, "Would you really have? I have seen the time one night during the battle of Ahzab when we were sitting in rows with the army of Abu Sufyan outside Madina and the Jews of the Banu Qurayzah inside Madina. We feared that they would attack our families. We had never before experienced a night that was darker than that night nor a night in which the wind blew more firecely. The wind made sounds resembling thunder and the darkness was so intense that we could not even see our fingers.

The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and grant him peace said, "Who will go and see what the enemy is doing!" No one stood up because of the intense fear, hunger and cold that everyone was suffering.

The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and grant him peace said the second time, "Who will go and see what the enemy is doing and return with the news!" No one stood up.

The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and grant him peace said the third time, "Who will go and see what the enemy is doing and return with the news!" and added, "I shall make du'a to Allah that he should be my companion in Jannah." No one stood up.

There were 3000 sahabah, including Abu Bakr, Omar, Othman, Ali, the righteous Caliphs and among the 10 promised jannah but no one stood up. They were paralyzed by the fear, hunger and cold.

The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said the same thing to us. We can be his companions in Jannah if we follow his sunnah, take care of the orphans, give people their due rights, obey your parents, take care of your womenfolk, be good to your neighbor, etc. But no one stood up. At least the companions had a reasonable excuse--they couldn't even see their fingers. What is our excuse? We are not standing up and follow the command of Allah and the sunnah of the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, out of our laziness or fear of embarrassment. You don't put hijab because you are afraid you will lose your friends. You don't pray because you are afraid people will look at you funny. You don't pay attention to what you eat--you eat at McDonalds and buy meat at Safeway--because your friends are doing the same. And when problems come, some couldn't understand why and some blame God.

"Hudhaifa! I want you to bring me some information from them," said the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace.

Hudhaifa continued his story, "Although I was the most frightened at the time and feeling the coldest, I left. The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "O Allah, protect him from the front, from the back, from the right, from the left, from above and from beneath." I swear by Allah, that (after this du'a) every bit of fear and cold in me then left and I experience none of it.

Hudhaifa had no choice but to follow the command of the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, when he was called. We too have the commands of the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace. We have no choice but to follow them.

Abu Sufyan, Allah be pleased with him, the leader of the kuffar, decided to leave the battlefield and he was going to give the command but before that he said to his people, "Everyone should check who is next to him." This was make sure there was no one spying.

Hudhaifa who was now among them, began to feel the fear but remember the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, made a strong du'a for Allah to protect him. Hudhaifa instantly asked the one to his right, "Who are you?" He said, "Mu'awiyah ibn Abu Sufyan." He asked the one to his left, "Who are you?" He said, "Amr ibn Al-'As." He pretended as if he was one of them to the point the 2 forgot to ask him who he was.

The smartest 3 people in the Arab history were Mu'awiyah ibn Abu Sufyan, Amr ibn Al 'As and Mughirah ibn Sho'ba. But Hudhaifa, the most frightened one, was able to fool the smartest people in the Arab history. This is because he came with the light of Allah, followed the command of Allah and put himself under the du'a of the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace. Amr ibn Al 'As, Allah be pleased with him, in later years said that, "Every time I saw Hudhaifa and remembered what he did to me (during the battle of Ahzab), I laughed."

May Allah shower us with His Light and protect us from the front, from the back, from the right, from the left, from above and from beneath. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam