Ihyaaud Deen An Effort to Revive Deen in Totality
The Incident of the Al-Ambar Fish
In the month of Rajab of the year 8 AH, Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) sent an army of three hundred Sahaabah (radhiyallahu ‘anhum) towards the coast under the leadership of Hazrat Abu Ubaidah (radhiyallahu ‘anhu). When dispatching the army, Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) had given them a bag full of dates as their food. They had been out for fifteen days when their provisions were finished.
Hazrat Qays (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) was part of this expedition. He began purchasing three camels daily from the men who were part of the expedition, promising to pay them after returning to Madinah Munawwarah. After purchasing the animals, he would slaughter them and feed the people. However, after doing this for three days, the Ameer (leader of the army) stopped him from doing this as they needed the camels for riding on their return journey to Madinah Munawwarah.
The Ameer then collected the dates that had been left with each person and stored them in a bag, giving only one date to each person as his daily ration. They would suck on this date and sip water, and this was the only food that they had to take them through the entire day. While speaking about this may be easy, one can well imagine the difficulty undergone by these Sahaabah (radhiyallahu ‘anhum) who had to survive on just a single date for the entire day – especially during the time where they were expecting to fight in a battle for which one is in need of great strength and energy.
Thus, when Hazrat Jaabir (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) later on mentioned this incident to the people, after the lifetime of Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam), then one of his students asked him, “What benefit can one get through just a single date? (i.e How did you manage to live on just a single date for the whole day?)” Hazrat Jaabir (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) replied, “When all the dates were finished, and we faced starvation, then we understood the value of that one date (and we longed even for that one date). At that time, we shook the leaves off the trees, soaked them in water and ate them.”
In desperate circumstances, a person will do anything to survive, but after every difficulty, Allah Ta‘ala grants ease. After they had endured these difficulties and hardships, Allah Ta‘ala sent a big fish to them known as ‘Ambar’. The fish was so large that they continued to eat from it for eighteen days. They also filled their bags with the leftover which lasted them right up to Madinah Munawwarah.
When this incident was mentioned to Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam), he said, “The fish was sent to you by Allah Ta‘ala as a means of sustenance for you.”
Note:
Difficulties and hardships will come to all people in this world, especially those who are the special servants of Allah Ta‘ala.
The reason for this is that Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) said, “The people who are tested the most are the Ambiyaa (‘alaihimus salaam), and thereafter those who are the most virtuous of the people after them, and then those who follow in rank and virtue after them.”
The trials a person experiences are proportionate to his position and his closeness to Allah Ta‘ala. However, through His kindness, Allah Ta‘ala always makes things easy for His servants after each test. We should also ponder over the great tests which the Sahaabah (radhiyallahu ‘anhum) and our pious predecessors had faced. Everything was patiently endured for the sake of deen. In order to propagate deen, they suffered starvation, ate the leaves of trees and shed their blood, whereas we are today failing to preserve this deen.
(Fazaa’il-e-A’maal [Urdu] pg. 55-56)
