After returning from his farewell pilgrimage, the Prophet, sallallahu alayhe wa sallam, fell gravely ill. News about his illness reached the corners of the Arabian Peninsula. It was a propitious moment for the false prophets to spread their falsehood, and it was indeed a great trial for the newly reverted Muslims. Many of them followed their regional leaders who claimed to be prophets. The most famous were the three liars: Musaylimah in Yamamah, Tulayhah al-Usdee in Bani Asad, and al-Aswad al-Ansee in Yemen.
Al-Aswad was an evil man, of huge stature. He possessed a great eloquence and a convincing speech. Those he could not win through trickery, he would try to buy with money. He always appeared to people wearing a mask, surrounding himself with mystery and enigma.
At that time the "Sons", a group of men whose fathers were Persians, and whose mothers were Arabs, were the ruling families of Yemen. Their elder, Baathan, was the appointed king by the Persian Emperor. Bathan embraced Islam, after an event that showed to him the clear proofs of Muhammad's Message. He disavowed his allegiance to the Persian emperor, and the Prophet sallallahu alayhe wa sallam proclaimed him ruler over his people.
The first people to believe al-Aswad were his tribe Banu Math-hij. He led them in the raid of Sanaa, killed its governor Shahr, son of Bathan, and married his widow Athad. His army raided the regions around San'aa, and his reign spread over all Yemen up to Taif and down to Hadramut.
No sooner had the Prophet, sallallahu alayhe wa sallam, heard of al-Awsad's apostasy than he sent ten of the companions to a few trusted Muslims in Yemen, whom he head great hope they would not renegade. They encouraged them to oppose the liar al-Aswad, and rally all the truthful Muslims to fight him. The first to answer the Prophet's call was Fayrooz ad-Daylamee, along with the "Sons". Fayrooz related the story of the struggle against al-Aswad himself:
"The "Sons" and I have never doubted a moment in the True Message, al-Aswad's words and trickeries did not find a way to our hearts. We were waiting the opportunity to strike him, and get rid of him. The Prophet's message encouraged us and we started in earnest to plot for the demise of al-Aswad. Success went to al-Aswad's head; he became so arrogant toward his army leader Qays and tyrannized him to the point that Qays feared for his life. So my cousin and I went to Qays; we called him to Islam and encouraged him to join us. Qays confided to us his worries and felt as if we were sent down from heaven. We agreed to seek the help of Athaad, my cousin whom al-Aswad married after killing her husband. I met her in the palace and said to her: "You know the evil this man has caused to you and to all of us. He killed the men and assaulted the women. Would you help us against him?" "Help you in what way?" she asked. "Help us drive him out," we replied. She said: "But rather I will help you kill him." "By Allah," I said, "We meant nothing but that, but I avoided to say it in your face." "By the One Who has sent Muhammad with the Truth, I have never doubted in my deen not even for a blink of the eye. No one on earth is more abominable to me than this devil. He never respected a right or refrained from evil deeds." "But how can we kill him?" I asked. "He is well guarded," she said," there is no room in the palace but filled with guards except one far flung room next to the desert land. When night comes, dig a whole into it and there you will find me waiting with arms and lanterns." I intercepted her saying: "But the guards will hear us and will overcome us in no time!" "That is right, but I have a plan; you send tomorrow a man you trust, which you would have fitted as a worker, and I will order him to pierce the wall from inside until only a little bit is left, then you will easily finish up the job in the darkness of the night ."When night came, I left with two of my friends. We found the weak area in the wall and pierced the wall. We got hold of the arms and the lanterns and continued further towards the sleeping compartment of al-Aswad. We found my cousin waiting for us at the door. She signaled to me to enter the room, and there I found the enemy of Allah snoring in his sleep. I fell upon him and cut his throat with the blade of my knife. He bellowed and quivered like a slaughtered cow. His guards heard him and came hurriedly to his room, but my cousin did not allow them to enter, saying: "Leave in peace, the prophet is receiving revelation. "They left, and we stayed until Fajr. We climbed the palace's wall and shouted "Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar! I bear witness that there no god but Allah, Muhammad is His Messenger, and that al-Aswad al-Ansee is a liar!" At this signal, the rest of the Muslims attacked the palace from outside, but they were met by a large number of guards from the inside. At that time I took al-Aswad's head and let it fall on the guards. When they saw the head of their "prophet" rolling down and falling at their feet, they disbanded and fled. It was over before the sunrise.
We sent a message to the Prophet sallallahu alayhe wa sallam, bringing him the good news of the liar's death, but when the messengers reached Madinah, they found the Prophet sallallahu alayhe wa sallam had passed away that night.'
What brought solace to their grief was that people informed them that the Prophet sallallahu alayhe wa sallam had received revelation about al-Aswad's death. He told his companions on the day after al-Aswad was slain: "Al-Aswad al-Ansee was killed last night. A blessed man from a blessed family has killed him!" He was askedi "Who is he O Messenger of Allah?" He replied: "Fayrooz...Faaza Fayrooz! (Fayrooz has won!)"
Source: http://www.islamicawakening.com/viewarticle.php?articleID=757&
No comments:
Post a Comment