We are talking about a great companion by the name of Abu Ubaidah Al-Jarrah radiyaAllahu ta’ala ‘anhu. Now Abu Ubaidah Al-Jarrah was one of the earliest converts of Islam and in fact he’s one of the people that accepted Islam on the hands of Abu Bakr al-Siddeeq radiyaAllahu ta’ala anhu.
Now why was I doing that? [lifting concrete brick] Because Abu Ubaidah is actually known for being one of the most skilled archers in the time of the Prophet (SAWS). Before Islam, and I just want you to get a little look at what his regimen was like. Before Islam, his father taught him before the age of 5 years old, how to take 2 heavy objects and to literally do squats. Then his father taught him how to pull heavy animals while at the same time throwing a spear. Then his father taught him by the age of 8 years old how to shoot an arrow at a stationary target. By the age of 10, Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu ta’ala ‘anhu had learned how to shoot at a target while he was riding on an animal. By the age of 12, Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu ta’ala ‘anhu had learned how to shoot at a moving target while he was on a moving animal. And he could actually shoot a target right in the middle and break it in half. So Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu ta’ala ‘anhu was extremely skilled.
When he accepted Islam, as you can imagine, his father was a tough guy, he actually wanted to kill him. Now the Prophet (SAWS) utilized the talents of Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu ta’ala ‘anhu. Abu Ubaidah had such talent and skill where he could go and he could scout an area where the enemies had been. So in the Battle of Badr for example, Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu ta’ala ‘anhu could go to a place where the enemy had set up their tents and had once set up their camels, and he could by looking at the animal dung, by analyzing the footprints, and by analyzing just what was going on in the area after they had left the area, he could come to the Prophet (SAWS) and tell him how many animals the mushrikeen had. He could count the footsteps and tell the Prophet (SAWS) how many people were there. He could tell the Prophet (SAWS) how many of the animals were used for carrying luggage by looking at the depth of their footprints and by looking at the quality of their dung he could tell how many of them were warrior animals and how many of them were used for carrying luggage or were used for carrying weapons. All of this by just looking at a place that the mushrikeen had once set up camp. So this was a skill that Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu ta’ala ‘anhu had and he served honorably with the Prophet (SAWS) throughout all of his battles from Badr onwards. And in fact, in the battle of Badr, Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu ta’ala ‘anhu actually had to fight against his own father Abdullah ibn Al-Jarrah. Abdullah tried to kill Abu Ubaidah when he accepted Islam. So Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu ta’ala ‘anhu was one of the people that made both of the hijras and migrations: the initial hijra/migration to Abyssinia and then the second migration to Al-Madinah.
Now Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu ta’ala ‘anhu in the Battle of Badr, he did not want to fight his father. But his father was chasing him all around the battlefield until his father finally ambushed him and Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu ta’ala ‘anhu had to kill his own father. The sahaba were worried. And there was a certain ayah that was revealed actually that proved the action of Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu ta’ala ‘anhu. And I’ll let you guess what that ayah is and you’ll find that ayah at the end of this video.
Anyway, continuing forward, the Prophet (SAWS) gave Abu Ubaidah a special title. Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu ta’ala ‘anhu was known as “أمين هذه الأمة” [ameen hathihi al-Ummah]- the trustworthy one of this Ummah. The Prophet (SAWS) held him in high esteem and Abu Bakr and Umar ibn Al-Khattab also. In fact, when the Prophet (SAWS) passed away, Abu Bakr took Umar ibn Al-Khattab and Abu Ubaidah with him to meet with some of the ansaar who were disputing about who the Caliph would be. Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu ‘anhu said here you have ‘Umar ibn Al-Khattab, the Farooq of this Ummah, and Abu Ubaidah Al-Jarrah, the ameen of this Ummah, the trustworthy one of this Ummah. Choose whichever one you may choose. SubhanAllah so Abu Bakr was suggesting that Abu Ubaidah was worthy of being a Caliph even in his presence. Although ofcourse we know Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu ‘anhu was the greatest. Also when ‘Umar radiyaAllahu ‘anhu passed away Abu ‘Ubaidah was already dead and ‘Umar radiyaAllahu ‘anhu said, if Abu Ubaidah was still alive I would appoint him as the Caliph. This would be an easy decision. But because he is not alive we have to form the shura. So you can see how much they praised him.
Why did they praise him so much? What was it that was so special about this person. Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu ta’ala ‘anhu was such a simple person. He was someone that put the deen before all of his needs. So we see for example, in the battle of Uhud, the trustworthy one of this Ummah, when he saw that the helmet of the Prophet (SAWS) was driven into his cheek, as we know in the Battle of Uhud rasoolAllah SAWS was injured greatly. Abu Ubaidah was one of the few people who shielded the Prophet (SAWS) and in fact he bit onto the helmet of the Prophet (SAWS) , the parts of the helmet that were in his cheeks and he bit them out so that they came out of the cheeks of the Prophet (SAWS). And because of that, Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu ta’ala ‘anhu lost both of his front teeth which caused him to have a deficiency in the way that he would speak.
SubhanAllah. We see that this was a person that always put the deen first. But in particular if there is one thing that I could point at or one quality that I could identify that astonished me from this sahabi, was that he was so concerned with the progression of this deen while at the same time not very concerned with his own dunya. So for example, we see that Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu ta’ala ‘anhu was appointed as the army general when ‘Umar radiyaAllahu ‘anhu became the Caliph. And the one before him was Khalid ibn Al-Waleed radiyaAllahu ‘anhu. And unfortunately people try to say that there was a problem between ‘Umar and Khalid and that’s why he replaced him. But actually that’s not the case. There was much benefit to having Abu Ubaidah as the new general. In particular, Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu ta’ala ‘anhu was a negotiator. He was soft, he could meet with the leaders, he could assure the church leaders and the leaders of different parts of the Shaam (present day Syria) that the Muslims were not going to harm their churches. He converted many people without there even being a necessity for a battle. Khalid radiyaAllahu ‘anhu was not so diplomatic. Khalid radiyaAllahu ‘anhu got sent a special pillow by the Christians and he tore it in half. So Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu ta’ala ‘anhu because of his negotiating skills actually did much good for the Ummah at the same time he was a fighter, at the same time he was one who gained the respect of not just his Muslim peers but of his non-Muslim peers also.
So when you see, for example, the hadith, rather not the hadith, but the incident where ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab entered into Jerusalem and he was in the situation that he was. You know clothes that were stitched up, patched up and he had the slave on the camel. Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu ta’ala ‘anhu was the one who came to ‘Umar ibn Al-Khattab and was upset with ‘Umar for the way that he was dressed. It’s not because Abu Ubaidah himself preferred the dunya. It’s because he was concerned with the progression of Islam. Maybe he was wrong in that incident but it was not this personal pompous attitude that he had. He was concerned for the progression of the deen. This was his lifestyle.
So Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu ta’ala ‘anhu he spread the deen to different part of Al-Shaam. He negotiated with Christian leaders around the world. At the same time he is credited by some historians as founding the first hospitals in the Middle East. Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu ta’ala ‘anhu built many hospitals. Al-Shaam used to flood many times so he actually built a dam that prohibited Al-Shaam and stopped it from flooding so much. So all this he put the deen ahead. He was all about the progression of the deen. But at the same time what was his lifestyle like?
Now we know ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab radiyaAllah ta’ala anhu used to go and check up on all his governors around the world. He would make surprise visits to check up on his ministers. So one day ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab came to Abu Ubaidah in al-Shaam and he said let’s go to your house and have something to eat. Abu Ubaidah said to ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab “you’re going to hurt your eyes for me oh Commander of the Believers. Why don’t we just eat somewhere? Why do we have to go to my house?” But ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab said, “let’s go to your house.” When ‘Umar radiyaAllahu ‘anhu entered into the house of Abu Ubaidah al-Jarrah, all he saw was that Abu Ubaidah had a jug and a small rug where he could sleep on. And he was shocked. And ‘Umar radiyaAllahu ‘anhu said, “where is your furniture? where are your things? You are an Amir. You shouldn’t be living like this.” And Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu ta’ala ‘anhu said, “I have no need for this. I told you oh Commander of the Believers, you’re just going to hurt your eyes over me.” And ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab started to cry. He said you’re an Amir. You shouldn’t live like this. And subhanAllah Abu Ubaidah said I don’t know why you did this to yourself, I told you you’re just going to hurt your eyes looking at my situation. But Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu ta’ala ‘anhu, this man who is credited with all the progression of the Ummah, this man who is concerned with the appearance of the Ummah, this man who spread the deen everywhere, he maintained simplicity in his life and he never let that enter into his own heart. And so ‘Uman ibn al-Khattab said very powerful words to him
“غيرتنا الدنيا كلنا” [ghayyartna al dunya kulluna] – that the dunya has changed all of us
“غيرك يا أبو عبيدة” [ghayroka yaa Abu Ubaidah] – except you oh Abu Ubaidah.
The dunya has changed all of us. When you get involved in the work of Islam and when you’re concerned with the spread of deen, don’t allow that to manifest itself in you yourself being so concerned with your own progression, with your own lifestyle being lifted or being elevated that you forget your mission and you forget your purpose. Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu ta’ala ‘anhu never forgot his purpose and that’s why he was the Ameen of this Ummah.
So I hope that inshaAllah ta’ala that we take from this that when we’re concerned with the spread of the deen and at the same time we maintain a dignified lifestyle but we do not feel like we should be entitled to the goods of this world because we are involved in the work of deen. Remain as much as you can simplistic.
We ask Allah (SWT) to grant us that special quality and we ask Allah (SWT) to join us with the Superstars of this Ummah, the 10 promised paradise and the great companions of the Prophet (SAWS) in the highest of jannah, jannat-ul-firdaous.
LIFE 