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He
is `Amir ibn Abdullah ibn al-Jarrah. He was known as Abu Ubaydah.
Abu `Ubaydah was one of the first people to accept Islam. He became
a Muslim one day after Abu Bakr As-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with
him). In fact, it was through Abu Bakr that he became a Muslim. Abu
Bakr took him, `Abdur Rahman ibn `Auf, `Uthman ibn Maz'un and al-Arqam
ibn abi al-Arqam to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him),
and together they declared their acceptance of Islam. They were thus
the first pillars on which the great edifice of Islam was built.
Abu
`Ubaydah lived through the harsh experience which the early Muslims
underwent in Makkah, from the beginning to the end. With the early
Muslims, he endured the insults and violence, and the pain and
sorrow of that experience. In every trial and test, he remained firm
and constant in his belief in Allah and the Prophet (peace and
blessings be upon him). Abu `Ubaydah migrated to Abyssinia, and from
there he traveled to Madinah.
Abu
`Ubaydah is one of the ten Companions who were given the glad
tidings of entering Paradise. He was a very influential member of
his community. It is said that three people in the tribe of Quraysh
were most prominent, had the best character and were the most
modest. They were Abu Bakr As-Siddiq, `Uthman Ibn `Affan and Abu `Ubaydah
Ibn Al-Jarrah.
Abu
`Ubaydah contributed a great deal in defending Islam. He
participated in the Prophet’s battles. For example, on the day of
Uhud when the Muslims were surrounded, one of the idolaters started
to shout, "Show me Muhammad! Show me Muhammad!" Abu `Ubaydah
was one of a group of ten Muslims who had encircled the Prophet to
protect him against the spears of the idolaters.
When
the battle was over, it was found that one of the Prophet's molar
teeth was broken, his forehead was injured and two discs from his
shield had penetrated his cheeks. Abu Bakr went forward with the
intention of extracting these discs but Abu `Ubaydah said,
"Please leave that to me."
Abu
`Ubaydah was afraid that he would cause the Prophet pain if he took
the discs out with his hand, so he bit hard into one of the discs.
It was extracted but one of his incisor teeth fell to the ground in
the process. With his other incisor, he extracted the other disc but
lost that tooth also. Abu Bakr remarked, "Abu `Ubaydah is the
best of men at breaking incisor teeth!"
From
his sayings we quote the following:
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"There maybe someone who takes great care of his outward
appearance, whereas his religion takes less priority."
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"Try your best to replace evil deeds with good ones. One may
commit many sins, but whenever he does a good deed sincerely for
Allah’s Sake, the sins committed are readily forgiven by
Allah."
Abu
`Ubaydah died at the age of 58 in the 18th year of Hijrah. During
that year, a plague had spread rapidly, but Abu `Ubaydah refused to
leave and died as a result.
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