Following in the Footsteps of Husayn (peace be upon him) by Dr. Ahmad Rassem Al-Nafis
\nVirtue is among us, and the seal of the prophets is with us, and among us are the leaders of Islam, and among us are the bearers of the Book. Indeed, we call you to Allah and His Messenger, to struggle against His enemy, and to be steadfast in His cause, seeking His pleasure, establishing prayer, giving zakat, performing Hajj, fasting Ramadan, and distributing spoils to the people. Truly, one of the greatest wonders is that Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan, the Umayyad, and Amr ibn al-As, the Sahmi, incite people under the pretense of seeking religion. And you know that I never opposed the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), nor disobeyed him in any matter. I protected him with my own life in moments when heroes faltered, and obligations trembled, with the support Allah honored me with. Praise be to Him. When the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) passed away, his head was on my lap. I washed him with my own hands alone, while the angels near me attended. By Allah, no nation ever differed after their prophet except that the people of falsehood appeared over the people of truth, except as Allah willed. (1)
\nIt is also worth turning to the camp of slander and falsehood to hear the remarkable dialogue narrated by Nasr ibn Muzahim, transmitted by Ibn Abi al-Hadid:
\n“Muawiya asked Amr ibn al-As to arrange the ranks of the people of Syria. Amr replied: \u2018On the condition that I have authority if Allah kills the son of Abi Talib and I secure the land for you.\u2019 Muawiya asked: \u2018Isn\u2019t your rule in Egypt?\u2019 Amr replied: \u2018Is Egypt a substitute for Paradise, and the killing of the son of Abi Talib a price for the punishment of the Fire which they [the wrongdoers] will not escape from?\u2019\u201d
\nMuawiya said: \u201cYou will have your rule, Abu Abdullah. If the son of Abi Talib is killed, the people of Syria will hardly listen to you.\u201d Then Amr stood and said: \u201cPeople of Syria, arrange your ranks, trim your mustaches, and expose your skulls for an hour. The truth has reached its destination; now only oppressor and oppressed remain.\u201d (1)
\nReturning to the camp of truth, we hear the illuminating words of Abu al-Haytham ibn al-Tihani, one of the companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), organizing the ranks of the people of Iraq:
\n“O people of Iraq, there is but an hour of daylight between you and victory in this world, and Paradise in the Hereafter. So plant your feet, arrange your ranks, offer your skulls for your Lord, seek help from Allah, struggle against the enemy of Allah and your enemy, kill them as Allah has decreed, and be patient, for the earth belongs to Allah and He grants it to whomever He wills among His servants, and the end is for the righteous.” (2)
\nRegarding the position of Ammar ibn Yasir (may Allah be pleased with him) in the ranks of the Imam, his status is supreme. We can see this through the narration:
\n“Asma\u2019 ibn Hakim al-Fazari said: I was with two rows alongside Ali, under the banner of Ammar ibn Yasir, at sunrise, shaded by a red cloak, when a man approached to stabilize the ranks until he reached us. He asked: \u2018Which of you is Ammar ibn Yasir?\u2019 Ammar replied: \u2018I am Ammar.\u2019 The man asked: \u2018Abu al-Yaqzan?\u2019 Ammar replied: \u2018Yes.\u2019 The man said: \u2018I have a need with you; should I speak it secretly or openly?\u2019 Ammar said: \u2018Choose whichever you wish.\u2019 The man said: \u2018Openly.\u2019 Ammar said: Speak. The man said: \u2018I left my family seeking the truth that we are upon. I do not doubt the misguidance of these people, and they are upon falsehood, yet I remained aware of this until last night. In my dream, a caller came forth, proclaimed that there is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is His Messenger (peace be upon him and his family). He called to prayer, and their caller did likewise, then we prayed a single prayer and recited a single book, and invoked a single supplication. Doubt reached me that night, a night known only to Allah, until morning. I came to the Commander of the Faithful and related it to him. He asked: \u2018Have you met Ammar ibn Yasir?\u2019 I said: \u2018No.\u2019 He said: \u2018Then meet him and see what he tells you and follow it; I sent you for that.\u2019”
\nAmmar replied: \u201cDo you see the black banner opposite me? It is the banner of Amr ibn al-As. I fought him with the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) three times; this is the fourth. It is neither better nor purer than before; it is worse and more corrupt. Its positions today correspond to the positions of the Messenger of Allah\u2019s banners on the days of Badr, Uhud, and Hunayn, while theirs correspond to the positions of the polytheists of the confederates. Do you see this army and those within it? By Allah, I wish all those who came with Muawiya intending to fight us were distinct from what we are upon\u2014they are all one in nature, cut off and slaughtered. By Allah, their blood is more permissible than the blood of a sparrow. Do you think the blood of a sparrow is forbidden? He said: \u2018No, it is permissible.\u2019 I said: \u2018So they are permissible as well. Do you understand?\u2019 He said: \u2018Yes, I understand.\u2019 Then the man departed. Ammar called him and said: \u2018They will strike you with their swords.\u2019\u201d
\nReferences:
\nSharh Nahj al-Balagha by Ibn Abi al-Hadid, ed. Muhammad Abu al-Fadl Ibrahim, Vol. 5, pp. 181, First Edition, Dar al-Jeel \u2013 Beirut, 1987.
\nIbid., Vol. 5, pp. 190.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Following in the Footsteps of Husayn (peace be upon him) by Dr. Ahmad Rassem Al-Nafis Virtue is among us, and the seal of the prophets is with us, and among us are the leaders of Islam, and among us are the bearers of the Book. Indeed, we call you to Allah and His Messenger, to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":29078,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":2,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1486],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-islam-and-life--"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29094"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29094\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29095,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29094\/revisions\/29095"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}