Episode 35: Abdullah ibn Salam Accepts Islam
Abdullah ibn Salam Accepts Islam:
Abdullah ibn Salam was the greatest Jewish scholar in Madinah and he knew that the time had come for a Prophet to arrive.
He knew that what he had heard about the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ matched what was stated in the Tawrah.
When Abdullah ibn Salam heard that the Prophet arrived in Madinah, he shouted: Allahu Akbar!
His aunt said to Abdullah ibn Salam: Wallahi, if you heard the news that Musa had come, you wouldn’t even be this excited, why are you so excited about this man?
Abdullah ibn Salam replied: Wallahi, Musa and Muhammad are brothers, they call to the same religion.
First Encounter with the Prophet:
Abdullah ibn Salam then went to see the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and said the first words that he heard from the Prophet were: O people, spread Salaam and feed the poor people food, and pray in the night while the people are sleeping. If you do these things, you will enter Jannah in peace.
Abdullah ibn Salam looked at the Prophet and said to himself: Wallahi, this is not the face of a liar.
Abdullah asked the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ questions to see if it matched what was revealed in the Tawrah and the answers were aligned to it.
Because of this, Abdullah ibn Salam took the Shahadah and accepted Islam.
After doing this, the Prophet asked him what his name was. Abdullah replied: Husain ibn Salam.
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ then said: From now on, your name is now Abdullah ibn Salam.
The Test with the Jews:
Abdullah ibn Salam told the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ: My people (the Jews) are treacherous people. They are known for betrayal and even if the truth comes, they are not willing to accept it.
Abdullah ibn Salam instructed the Prophet to organise a meeting with the Jews and requested him to ask them what they thought about Abdullah ibn Salam.
Abdullah ibn Salam told the Prophet that he would be hiding in the same room so none of the Jews could see him.
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ gathered the Jews and tried to give them dawah but they rejected what he preached.
The Prophet asked them: what do you think about Abdullah ibn Salam? The Jews replied: He is the best of us and the most knowledgeable.
The Prophet ﷺ asked: what if he was to accept Islam, would you accept it to? The Jews replied: Allah will protect him from ever accepting Islam, he will never accept Islam.
Abdullah ibn Salam then came out of his hiding place and said: Accept what Muhammad is saying, for verily I bear witness that he is the Messenger of Allah.
The Jews were shocked and now they changed their stance and said regarding Abdullah ibn Salam: He is the most evil amongst us.
The Jews had knowledge of the truth but still they rejected it out of their ignorance.
The System of Brotherhood (Mu’akha)
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ would take one person from the Muhajirin and one person from the Ansar. This was called the Mu’akha, a system of making people brothers.
The Prophet would get one person from Makkah and one from Madinah and would say: you two are brothers.
The people of the Muhajirin came to Madinah with nothing as they lost everything to please Allah SWT and the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.
The people of the Ansar were generous and were willing to give whatever they could to help their brothers that migrated from Makkah.
Allah SWT mentions in the Quran that the Ansar were willing to favour them (the Muhajirin) over themselves. (Quran, 59:9)
Example of Brotherhood:
One example of the Mu’akha was the bond between Abdur-Rahman ibn Awf and Sa’d ibn al-Rabi.
Abdur-Rahman was from Makkah (Muhajir) and Sa’d was one of the Ansar.
Sa’d ibn al-Rabi was one of the wealthiest men in Madinah and he said to Abdur-Rahman ibn Awf: I am the richest man in Madinah and I am dividing my wealth into half today and half is for you. And I have two wives, see which one you like the most, and I will divorce her and you can marry her.
Abdur-Rahman ibn Awf replied: May Allah bless you but I do not need any of this, just show me where the market is.
Within a short period of time, Abdur-Rahman ibn Awf was able to generate a lot of money from doing business at the market.
There were a few examples where the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ joined two people of Makkah with each other.
For example, Hamza ibn Abdul Muttalib would be brothers with Zayd ibn Al-Haritha, and the Prophet himself was brothers with Ali ibn Abi Talib.