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THE MIRACLE OF FRESH FRUIT AND THE PROTECTION OF THE BEES

1547

“The Messenger of Allah, praise and peace be upon him, sent out a reconnaissance party of twelve men under the command of 'Asim the son of Thabit Ansari. When they arrived at Hudat, which is between Usfan and Mecca, a branch of the tribe of Huzail, called Banu Lehyan, received news of them, and set out in pursuit following their tracks with approximately a hundred archers.

When 'Asim and his Companions became aware of them they sought refuge on a piece of high ground. Soon they were surrounded by the unbelievers who promised them that if they came down and surrendered they would not be killed. Asim refused the terms of surrender telling them that they would not leave their position to accept the promise of an unbeliever. Then he supplicated saying, ‘O Allah, convey our situation to Your Messenger, praise and peace be upon him.’

Shortly after the fighting broke out; the unbelievers shot their arrows and 'Asim together with most of the believers was martyred. Only three Muslims survived, Khubaib, Zaid son of Dathanah and another, so they accepted the promise of the unbelievers and went down.

As soon as reached the bottom, the unbelievers overpowered them, took the strings from their bows and tied them up securely. The third Companion spoke saying, ‘This is the first violation of your promise. By Allah, I will not accompany you and shall follow the example of my other Companions.’ The unbelievers pulled him and tried to drag him along with them but he resisted. So they martyred him and took Khubaib and Zaid son of Dathanah with them to be sold in Mecca.

Khubaib had slain Harith, the son of 'Amir, son of Naufal, son of Abd Manaf during the Battle of Badr and was subsequently sold to his heirs. Khubaib remained their prisoner until the unbelievers reached an agreement to kill him.

One day during his captivity, Khubaib borrowed a knife from one of the daughters of Harith. Later on, unnoticed by her, her child wandered up to Khubaib who had the knife in his hand and sat himself down upon his lap. When she saw what had happened she was terrified. Khubaib, realizing her terror, asked her, ‘Are you afraid I would kill him? I am not capable of doing such a thing.’ Thereafter she would say about him: ‘I have never seen a prisoner better then Khubaib. His hands were bound in chains yet one day I found him eating fresh grapes from a vine, and at that time no fruit was available in Mecca.’ She would also say, ‘I am sure it was food provided by Allah for Khubaib.’

When the time came for them to take him from the Sanctuary to his martyrdom, Khubaib said to them, ‘Let me offer two units of prayer.’ So they released him and he offered two units of prayer. After he finished he said, ‘I would have made my prayer longer if I had not thought that you may think I was afraid of death.’ Then he supplicated, ‘O Allah count their number, slay them one by one and do not spare any of them.’ He then said, ‘If I am slain as a Muslim, I do not care on which side I fall dead. My death is in the Way of Allah and if He wills, He will bless the severed portions of my limbs.’

It was Khubaib who established the example for every Muslim about to be martyred in the Way of Allah to be patient and offer a prayer before martyrdom.

The Messenger of Allah, praise and peace be upon him, informed his Companions of the event on the day when Khubaib and his Companion were martyred.

As for Asim the son of Thabit, he had killed one of the chieftains of the Koraysh tribe during the Battle of Badr. When the unbelievers were told that he had been among those killed they sent some of their tribesmen to bring a part of him that could be identified, but Allah sent a swarm of bees or wasps to surround his corpse so that the Korayshi tribesmen were unable to cut off any limb of his body.”

Bukhari with a chain up to Abu Hurairah who related this.

“I (ibn Omar) never heard Omar say about anything, ‘I think it is this and that’ unless it came into being as he had thought.”

Bukhari with a chain up to ibn Omar who related this.