A Glimpse in to the life, merits and qualities of a great companion of our beloved Nabi ﷺ, Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه
Listen to “Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه” by Mawlana Junayd Makda Sahib
Who is Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه ?
- Name: Abdulrahman bin Sakhr رضي الله عنه
- Title: Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه
- Born: 32 years after our beloved Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam (19 BH)
- Demise: 48 years after our beloved Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam (59 AH)
●Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه the son of Sakhr, was a dedicated student and very close companion of our beloved Nabi ﷺ.
●He is best known as Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه which means: father of a kitten, because of his fondness for kittens.
●He accepted Islam 7 years after Hijrah and 4 years before the demise of our beloved Nabi ﷺ . He was 26 years old at the time and he accepted Islam at the hands of Tufayl ibn ‘Amr Al-Dawsi. After accepting Islam he remained in the company of our beloved Nabi ﷺ to learn deen.
● Having accepted Islam at such a late stage in the lifetime of our beloved Nabi ﷺ he sought to make up for lost time. He gave up the option of earning and living in comfort and chose poverty in order to remain with our beloved Nabi s to acquire knowledge.
●This sacrifice along with his exceptional memory resulted in him narrating the most hadeeth from our beloved Nabi ﷺ. What makes this most remarkable is that he only acquired 4 years with our beloved Nabi ﷺ. He narrated a total of 5,374 Ahadeeth many of which can be found in the most authentic book of hadeeth Saheeh Al Bukhari.
●Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه divided his nights into three portions – one for studying, one for worship and one for sleeping.
●After our beloved Nabi ﷺ passed away he continued with his acquiring knowledge from fellow companions of our beloved Nabi ﷺ
● Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه passed away in Medina at the age of 78 and is buried in Jannatul baqi
May Allah grant Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه a great amount of reward for all of his services to our beloved Nabi ﷺ and to deen and give us the ability to emulate these great companions
Facts:
Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه narrated more than 5374 ahadeeth which he memorised during a short period of 4 years. What was the secret to his remarkable accomplishment?
1) He dedicated his entire time to our beloved Nabi ﷺ, and valued every second of the 4 years he had. This meant choosing a life of poverty, hunger and difficulty.
2) He complained to our beloved Nabi ﷺ of weak memory. Our amazing Nabi ﷺ said,
“Spread your covering sheet.” Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه spread the sheet and our beloved Nabi ﷺ moved both his hands (as if scooping something) and emptied them in the sheet and said, “Wrap it.” Abu Hurairah رضي الله عنه wrapped it around his body, and since then he never forgot a single Hadith.” This was a miracle. And he retained more than 5,000 Hadiths word for word, throughout his life.
Did you know? Ahadeeth is the Plural of Hadeeth – so Ahadeeth means more than one hadeeth
Qualities :
1) He was a student in its true sense. He freed his time and gave up comfort to be with our beloved Nabi ﷺ. While others would be busy buying and selling, or cultivating their lands, Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه would be with our beloved Nabi ﷺ learning from him.
2) He was very pious and he, his wife and servant would one after another each worship 1/3 of the night. This way someone was awake worshiping throughout the night.
3) He was illiterate and could not read or write but was still very eager to learn from Nabi ﷺ.
4) He was very patient and would bare all difficulties and discomfort. Many days would pass by without food.
5) He had an amazing memory. Once Marwaan Ibn Al-Hakam put his memory to the test by inviting him and asking him to narrate Hadith. A scribe sat secretly and wrote whatever Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه said. After a year, Marwaan invited Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه again and asked him to narrate the same Hadiths. It was confirmed that Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه had not forgotten a single word!
An Incident of two prayers being accepted for Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه :
Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه was eager for his mother to accept Islam. So, one day he invited her and explained the message of Islam to her. In reply she said some words of insult about our beloved Nabi ﷺ which upset Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه. He came crying in to the company of our beloved Nabi ﷺ asking him to make du’a for her. Our beloved Nabi ﷺ made dua:
O Allah, set the mother of Abu Hurayrah on the right path.
Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه came out very happy and returned home. When he came near the door of his house he found the door was closed from within. When his mother heard his footsteps, she said: Abu Hurayrah, just wait. Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه says he heard the noise of water as she took a bath and got dressed very quickly and covered her head. When she opened the door, she said:
“Abu Hurayrah, I bear witness to the fact that there is no god but Allah and Muhammad ﷺ is His bondsman and His Messenger.”
Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه returned to Nabi ﷺ with tears of joy expressing his happiness with the words:
“Allah’s Messenger , be happy, for Allah has responded to your supplication and He has set the mother of Abu Hurayrah on the right path.
Nabi ﷺ praised Allah and uttered good words.
After this Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه requested our beloved Nabi ﷺ to make dua that people would love him and his mother. Upon this request our beloved Nabi ﷺ made dua:
“O Allah, let there be love of these servants of yours, (Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه and his mother), in the hearts of the believing servants and let their hearts be filled with the love of the believing servants.”
Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه says: This dua was so well accepted that every believer who heard of him and who saw loved him.
(Saheeh Muslim)
Advices given to Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه by our beloved Nabi ﷺ :
Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه has reported that Nabi ﷺ said: “Who will take these statements from me, so that he may act upon them, or teach one who will act upon them?” So, Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه said: “I said: ‘I shall O Messenger of Allah!’ So, Nabi ﷺ took my hand and enumerated five (things), he said:
- Be on guard against the unlawful and you shall be the most worshiping among the people
- Be satisfied with what Allah has allotted for you and you shall be the richest of the people
- Be kind to your neighbour and you shall be a believer
- Love for the people what you love for yourself and you shall be a Muslim.
- Do not laugh too much, for indeed increased laughter kills the heart.
(Tirmidhi)
Famous Words of Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه :
Due to Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه Narrating so many ahadeeth, people began to question why they had not heard these hadeeth from Nabi ﷺ. In reply to this he would say,
“Indeed you say that Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه narrates so many hadeeth from Rasoolullah ﷺ and you also ask why the Muhajireen and Ansar do not narrate from Rasoolullah ﷺ in the same way as Abu Huraira does .
(Answering this question Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه says:)
“My Muhajir brothers were busy in the markets while I used to remain with Nabi ﷺ happy with whatever would fill my stomach; I would therefore be present while they were absent and I would remember while they would forget”
“And my Ansari brothers were busy with business and I was one of the poor men of Suffa. I used to remember the narrations when they used to forget”
(Sahih al-Bukhari 263)
Did you know? Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه used to recite 12000 Istighfar daily and 1000 times Subhanallah daily
He had a piece of string with one thousand knots (like a tasbeeh). He would not go to sleep until he had said Subhanallah on all of these knots!