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Sabith bin Qais Ansari
Companion of the Holy Prophet (Pbuh)
Sabith strangely spelt out his will after martyrdom by appearing in the dream of a soldier and it was fulfilled by the powers that be.
Sabith bin Qais Ansari was one of the leading chieftains of Yathrib, the city which assumed the named of Madinah after the migration of holy Prophet, peace be upon him. He was a wise youth gifted with an incisive brain and a capacity to articulate in choicest of expression. His speeches used to leave the audiences spellbound. He was attracted towards the Prophet’s message of Islam after listening to the message of the Quran from Masaab bin Umair who had been sent to Yathrib months ahead of the Prophet. Quranic intonation from Masaab worked magic on Sabith bin Qais who joined the growing band of followers of the holy Prophet prior to his migration.
He took out a procession of his friends, all astride horses, and welcomed the Prophet into Yathrib. They all marched out and received them outside the limits of the city. Delivering the welcome address, Sabith said: O Prophet of Allah and Abu Bakar, we are here to be with you throughout our lives. We will sacrifice whatever we have for your sake. We will protect you as we protect our lives, our women and our goods. And let us ask as to how we will be rewarded in return. The Prophet promised them heaven and honoured Sabith bin Qais with the title of ‘Khateeb’ just as he had conferred Hassan bin Sabith as ‘Poet’.
Sabith was a God-fearing person. Once the Prophet found him shivering. When the Prophet enquired about it, Sabith said he was fearful because he found in himself a fondness for praise and ego-boosting talk. The Prophet promised him a place in the heaven.
Once when the Quranic verse instructing the faithful to lower their voices before the Prophet was revealed, Sabith turned pale with fear. He began to avoid the company of the Prophet. He would stir out of the house only to pray the obligatory prayers in the mosque. On enquiry from the Prophet, somebody conveyed Sabith’s apprehensions to the Prophet. The Prophet again sent him the glad tidings of a place in the heaven.
Sabith participated in all the battles headed by the Prophet and was always driven by an intense desire for martyrdom. But it always bypassed him. He however saw an opportunity to attain martyrdom during a battle with Musilamah, the man who laid a false claim to prophethood. In several of the engagements with Musilamah, the Muslim armies had suffered reverses. In one such encounter, the Muslims were being headed by noted commander Khalid bin Waleed. Musilamah’s army had inflicted severe onslaughts on Muslims. Khalid’s tent had been uprooted and his wife was about to be killed. In this hour of crisis Sabith reorganised the forces and mounted a vigorous attack and clinched a victory for the Islamic forces. But in the process, he too attained martyrdom thereby fulfilling the Prophet’s prophecy.
But post-martyrdom, a very bizarre incident is reported with regard to him. Even while his corpse lay in the battlefield, a Muslim soldier took out the valuable iron dress on his person. Sabith bin Qais appeared in the dream of another Muslim soldier and told him about the iron dress which is kept under a cooking vessel in a particular corner of the cantonment. Sabith asked the soldier to convey this to Khalid bin Waleed with a request to reclaim it. He also requested him to tell Khalid that he owed some amount of debt with certain persons and has with him two slaves. He wanted the debt to be cleared by the Baitul Mal and slaves to be freed with the concurrence of Ameer-ul-Mumineen Abu Bakr.
When Khalid knew about the dream, he sent a person to reclaim the iron dress and conveyed the request to Abu Bakr who arranged the payment of debts and freeing of slaves. Rarely does one come across a person who presented a will (wasiyyat) in such a manner and got it fulfilled so grandly.
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