Ihyaaud Deen An Effort to Revive Deen in Totality
Hazrat Imraan bin Husain (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) reports:
On one occasion, we were on a journey with Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam). We travelled through the night, until when it was the end of the night, (we stopped at a certain place and) we slept, and there is no sleep which is sweeter for the traveller than this sleep.
Thereafter, nothing awoke us but the heat of the sun. The first person to wake up was so-and-so, then so-and-so, then so-and-so, and then Umar bin Khattaab who was the fourth.
When Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) would sleep, we would not wake him up until he would wake up himself, as we would not know what may be transpiring with him in his sleep (i.e. perhaps he might be receiving wahi from Allah Ta’ala, and thus we did not wish to disturb him).
When Umar awoke and saw what had happened to the people – and he was a powerful man – he called out the takbeer and raised his voice when calling it out. He continued to call out the takbeer, and raise his voice with the takbeer, until Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) woke up due to his voice.
When Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) awoke, the Sahaabah (radhiyallahu ‘anhum) complained to him of what had happened to them. Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) said to them, “There is no problem (as you missing your fajr salaah due to sleep was not intentional). Depart (from this place).” So Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) then set out and travelled a short distance, after which he dismounted, called for water and made wudhu. Thereafter, the azaan was given and Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) performed salaah with the Sahaabah (radhiyallahu ‘anhum).
After completing the salaah, Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) saw a man who was standing on one side, separate from everyone else, and he had not performed salaah with the Sahaabah (radhiyallahu ‘anhum). Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) asked him, “What prevented you, O so-and-so, from performing salaah with the people?” The man replied, “I am in the state of janaabah, and there is no water.” Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) said to him, “Use sand (to make tayammum), as it will suffice you (in gaining purity).”
Thereafter, Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) set out again, and continued to travel until the Sahaabah (radhiyallahu ‘anhum) complained to him that they were experiencing great thirst (and there was no water present). Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) then dismounted and called a person – whose name the narrator Abu Rajaa mentioned, but Auf, his student, could not remember – and he also called Hazrat Ali (radhiyallahu ‘anhu). Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) addressed the two of them and said, “Go and search for water.”
The two of them thus went out until they found a woman who was seated on her camel between two large water bags. They asked her, “Where is the water (i.e. where did you get the water from)?” The woman replied, “I was at the water yesterday at this time, and our menfolk are out of our town (perhaps she said this to explain why she was traveling alone in search of water, as the menfolk were not present in the town when she left).”
The two of them said to her, “Then come with us.” The woman asked, “Where to?” They replied, “To the Rasul of Allah.” Hearing this, she further asked, “Is he the one who is referred to as the Saabi (one who left the religion of his people and embraced a new religion)?” They replied, “He is the same person you are referring to.”
They then brought her to Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) and related to him their meeting with her and what she said to them. Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) said to the Sahaabah (radhiyallahu ‘anhum), “Ask her to come down from her camel.”
Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) then called for a utensil and poured some water into it from the mouths of the two waterskins. He then tied the mouths of the waterskins and closed them, and then he opened the bottom openings of the waterskins. He then addressed the Sahaabah (radhiyallahu ‘anhum) saying, “Give water to your animals and you yourselves drink.”
Accordingly, those who wished, took water for their animals, and those who wished to drink did so. At the end, Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) gave a utensil of water to the man who was previously in janaabah saying to him, “Go and pour this on yourself (i.e. use it to make ghusl).”
All this while, the woman was standing and watching what was being done with her water. By the oath of Allah – water was taken out from the waterskins, yet it seemed to us as though the waterskins were now fuller than they were initially.
Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) then said to the Sahaabah (radhiyallahu ‘anhum), “Collect goods to give her.” The Sahaabah (radhiyallahu ‘anhum) thus commenced collecting food for her, consisting of ajwah dates, flour and saweeq (roasted wheat), until they had collected a good amount. They then placed the goods into a cloth and assisted her to mount her camel. Thereafter, they placed the cloth bundle of goods in front her on the camel.
Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) said to her, “You know that we did not decrease your water in the least, rather Allah Ta’ala is the one who gave us water.”
The woman then came to her people, and she had been delayed from returning to them. On seeing her, they asked, “What held you back?” She replied, “The strangest thing happened! Two men met me, and took me to the one who is called the Saabi (one who left the religion of his people and embraced a new religion). He then did such-and-such actions (saying this, the woman recounted the entire incident). By Allah – either he is the greatest magician between here and here,” and saying this, the woman raised her middle finger and index finger towards the sky, indicating towards the sky and the earth, “or he really is the true Rasul of Allah.”
Thereafter, when the Muslims would launch attacks and make jihaad against the disbelievers in the area where this woman and her people lived, then they would not attack the settlement which she was from.
One day, the woman said to her people, “I feel that these people are leaving you and are waging war on the areas around you deliberately. Why do you not embrace Islam?” Her people obeyed her and they all embraced Islam. (In this way, this woman became the means of her entire tribe embracing Islam) (Saheeh Bukhaari #344)
