Imam Abu Hurairah

[Abu Tariq Hijazi]

IMAM ABU HURAIRAH
BY ABU TARIQ HIJAZI
Tufail bin Amr Ad-Dawsi came to the Prophet (peace be upon him), embraced Islam and returned to his tribe, Daws, to preach Islam among his people. None of them embraced Islam. He came back to Madinah and asked the Prophet to curse them. On the contrary, the Prophet said: "O Allah! Give guidance to the people of Daws and let them embrace Islam”. When he returned to his tribe many people embraced Islam. Abu Tufail came back to Holy Prophet with one man named Abd Shams who proved to be the Jem of Daws tribe. Holy Prophet changed his name to Abdur Rahman and later he stood in history as Imam Abu Hurairah.

He was born at Jabour village in Baha. His father's name was Sakhr, who died leaving him as child. As an orphan he served Ghazwan’s daughter Busra. He came to Madina when 26 in 7AH when the Prophet had gone on Khyber campaign. He felt that he was very late in joining the Prophet's company so he stayed through in his service for four years. He was young and unmarried. But instead of indulging in worldly gains he devoted himself solely to the treasure of the Hereafter. He joined As-haab Suffah and reserved himself exclusively to the service of Holy Prophet (s.a.w.).
He collected great amount of Ahadiths. Once he said, My Muhajir brothers were busy in the market, while the Ansar were busy in the fields. But I stuck to the Prophet, satisfied with what little food would fill my stomach. Consequently he narrated 5374 Ahadith standing on the top of narrators who collected over 1000 Ahadith. He was followed in numbers by `Abdullah ibn `Umar (2630 Hadith), Anas ibn Malik (2286 Hadith), Sayyeda Ayesha (2210 Hadith), Abdullah bin Abbas (1660) Jabir ibn Abdullah (1540) and Abu Saeed al-Khudri (1170). Imam Bukhari recorded 1034, Imam Muslim 391 and the Sahihayn have altogether 326 ahadith from his collection.

Abu Hurairah was not a literate person. All his knowledge depended on memorization. Once he complained to Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) "I hear many Hadiths from you but I forget them." The Prophet said, "Spread your covering sheet." Abu Hurairah spread the sheet and the Prophet moved both his hands (as if scooping something) and emptied them in the sheet and said, "Wrap it." Abu Hurairah wrapped it around his body, and since then he never forgot a single Hadith." This was a miracle. Later to test his memory, Marwan bin Hakam, once invited him to sit with him and asked him to narrate Hadiths while a scribe sat behind a screen and was instructed to write whatever Abu Hurairah said. After a year, Marwaan invited Abu Hurairah again and asked him to narrate the same (about one hundred) Hadiths the scribe had written. To great astonishment of Marwan, he repeated them verbatim, without adding or dropping a single word.

Abu Hurairah brought his mother Maimuna with him to Madina. She was a staunch non-believer. When one day Abu Hurairah invited her to embrace Islam, she spoke bad words which hurt him. He went to Holy Prophet with tears in his eyes and asked him to pray for her. The Prophet (s.a.w.) prayed for her and when Abu Hurairah returned home, suddenly she declared her Islam. He rushed back to Holy Prophet again with tears of joy in eyes to tell the good news. He also said, Ya Rasulullah pray that all Muslims, men & women, may love me and my mother. Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) said, O my Lord make your Abd and his mother loved ones to every Muslim, men and women.(so we say “O, our Lord Allah, we love Abu Hurairah and his mother Maimuna”).

Abu Hurairah was very kind to animals. He used to feet cats with the leftover food. One pretty kitten (Hirra) was always with him. Once when Holy Prophet saw him with his kitten, he addressed him as ‘Ya Abu Hurairah’, (O, the caretaker of the kitten). This lovely title looked so beautiful to him that he adopted it for his whole life. Now the name of Abu Hurairah resounds thousand times in the Friday Sermons around the globe.
Abu Hurairah lived life of a hard working pious man. He spent his days in fasting and nights in prayers. Uthman al Nahdi said, Once I was a guest to Abu Hurairah. At night I found him praying. He would stay up for a third of the night, his wife for another third and his servant for another third. Thus his house was like a mosque. No hour of the night was spent without prayers.

Caliph Umer ibn al Khattab appointed him governor of Bahrain ( Eastern region of Saudi Arabia) where he served for two years. It was then that he was married to Busra, sister of Utbah bin Ghazwan, governor of Basra. It was the same lady to whom he was a servant in early days. Later during the reign of Mu'awiyah ibn Abu Sufyan he served as the governor of Madinah. Once he said: "I grew up an orphan. I emigrated as a poor person. I used to serve Ghazwan's daughter, Busra. I used to serve others when they stopped on the road and I drove camels. Then Allah made it possible for me to marry (the same) Busra. All praise be to Allah who has strengthened His religion and made me an Imam."

He was well-known leading person in Madina. He led in the funeral Prayer of Sayyeda Aisha bint Abu Bakr, Sayyeda Hafsa bint Omer and the funeral Prayer of Umm Salamah ((the Prophet's wives) when she died in 59AH.

Imam Abu Hurairah after passing an eventful life of 78 years passed away in 59 AH. He was 30 years of age when Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) departed the world. His last prayer was “Allahumma ahabb leqayeka,fa ahab leqaee” (O, Allah I love to meet Thee so you may love meeting me). He attended Battles of Raddah during the Caliphate of Abu Bakr and famous Battle of Yarmuk during Caliph Omer’s reign. His funeral prayer was led by Caliph Walid bin Abdul Malik and he was buried in Baqui. He left a son named Moharrir and a daughter Um Habib.

Abu Hurairah is a role model for young generations. "He was a young well-built man, writes Asmaa Alkabti, and could earn and live in comfort but he saw the unique opportunity available to him to learn from the Prophet of Allah - an opportunity of a lifetime." So he availed of that opportunity, sacrificing everything to attain it. He knew the value of his limited time with the Holy Prophet for he would be able to learn that which would benefit the rest of the Ummah for generations to come."May our Lord Allah give him best reward from the Ummah and raise his ranks in Paradise. Ameen.