The Islam of Sayyiduna Khaalid bin Sa‘eed bin ‘Aas (radhiyallahu ‘anhu)

Sayyiduna Khaalid bin Sa‘eed bin ‘Aas (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) was among the first people to embrace Islam. He was either the fourth or the fifth Sahaabi to accept Islam.

Before accepting Islam, he saw a dream. Explaining what he saw in the dream, he says:

I dreamt that I was standing at the edge of a deep pit which was filled with fire. My, father, Sa‘eed, wanted to push me into the pit of fire. Suddenly, Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) appeared, held me by my waist and pulled me away from the pit, saving me from the fire.

When I woke up, I knew that the dream was a true dream, so I went to Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) and told him what I had seen in my dream. After hearing my dream, Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) said, “Allah Ta‘ala wants to bless you with goodness. This goodness is the goodness of Islam. Here is the messenger and prophet of Allah Ta‘ala who has brought Islam. Insha Allah you will follow Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) and embrace Islam, and it is your Islam that will save you from falling into the fire. However, it seems as though your father will fall into the fire.”

Sayyiduna Khaalid bin Sa‘eed (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) says:

I then went to Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) and asked him, “O Muhammed (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam)! What are you inviting us towards?” Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) replied, “I am inviting you to believe in Allah who is alone and has no partner, and to accept that Muhammed (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) is His slave and messenger. I invite you to leave out worshipping idols. The idols cannot benefit or harm anyone, and they do not even know who worships them and who does not worship them.”

On hearing these words from Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam), Sayyiduna Khaalid (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) accepted Islam. However, when his father, Sa‘eed, heard that he had become a Muslim, he became very angry with him. He began to hit him and beat him, until he even took a stick and hit him on the head so hard that the stick broke! But no matter what he did, Sayyiduna Khaalid (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) was firm and did not leave Islam.

Finally, his father told him that because he became a Muslim, he was not going to give him any food to eat or anything to drink! However, Sayyiduna Khaalid (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) was not worried and said, “If you do not give me food, then Allah Ta‘ala will look after me!” Saying this, he left his father’s house and came to the house of Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam).

Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) was the best of Allah Ta‘ala’s creation and Allah Ta‘ala loved him the most. The reason why Allah Ta‘ala loved Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) the most is because he was the most obedient of Allah Ta‘ala’s servants, and he cared the most about people – especially those who had some problem or difficulty.

When Sayyiduna Khaalid (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) came to Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam), then Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) welcomed him into his home and gave him a place to stay. Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) showed him love, helped him and took care of him.

Lessons:

1. For the Sahaabah (radhiyallahu ‘anhum), the most important thing was imaan. If they had to choose between imaan and anything else – they would always choose imaan. They knew that if a person loses imaan, then he has lost everything, because then he cannot enter Jannah.
2. We must always respect our parents, listen to them and make them happy. However, if they want us to do something that is haraam and will make Allah Ta‘ala unhappy with us, then we cannot listen to them, and must only listen to Allah Ta‘ala. We must still be kind and respectful to our parents, but we must make sure that we listen to Allah Ta‘ala and make Him happy.
3. Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) was always worried about people and always wanted to help people. This is one of the reasons why Allah Ta‘ala loved him the most. If we worry about people and help people when they have problems, then Allah Ta‘ala will also love us and be happy with us.