Hayatus Sahabah - The Lives of the Sahabah - Part 1 of 3

THE LIVES OF THE SAHABAH (Vol-1) 353
also became the enemies of the true Nabi SF. They cafled him a liar and also
wanted to kill him. They wanted us to worship idols and we therefore fled from
them and came to you with our Deen and lives still intact."
Najaashi exclaimed, "By Allaah! This is the same light that has come from Moosa
@@." Hadhrat Ja'far %Gwj then said, "Regarding the greeting, Rasulullaah @$@
has informed us that the greeting of the people of Jannah is the Salaam and he
has commanded us to greet in this manner. It is therefore with the same greeting
we use between ourselves that we have greeted you. Regarding Hadhrat Isa @&
the son of Hadhrat Maryam E8Gw, he was'the servant of Allaah, His Nabi, His
word that he cast on Hadhrat Maryam E8Gw and the spirit that Allaah created.
He was the son of a chaste virgin."
Najaashi picked up a stick and said, "I swear by Allaah that the son of Maryam
a!% would not add even the weight of this stick to what you have mentioned."
The Abyssinian leaders exclaimed, "By Allaah! If the people of Abyssinia hear what
you have said, they will certainly overthrow you." Najaashi replied, "By Allaah! I
shall never say anything more about Isa @!%. When Allaah returned my
kingdom to me, He did not bother about what the people had to say, so why
should I bother about what they say about the Deen of Allaah? Allaah forbid that
I should do such a thing!"
A lengthy narration also from Hadhrat Ummu Salama @lG= the wife of
Rasulullaah @%% states that Najaashi sent a message to the Sahabah i@Gw to
come to him. When the message reached them, they convened a gathering. They
consulted with each other saying, "what will we say about him (Hadhrat Isa
@&) when we go to Najaashi?" the response was, "By Allaah! We will say what
we know and what Rasulullaah @@ has instructed us regardless of what the
consequences may be." Najaashi had also called his priests, who were sitting
around him with the pages of their scriptures opened when the Muslims arrived.
Najaashi asked, "What is this religion with which have separated from your
people and for which you will neither embrace my religion nor the religion of any
other nation?" The spokesperson for the Muslims was Hadhrat Ja'far bin Abi
Taalib W3iG. He responded by saying, "0 King! We were a nation steeped in
ignorance. we worshipped idols, ate carrion, perpetrated acts of immorality,
severed family ties, behaved badly towards our neighbours and the strong
amongst us lived off the weak. We were in this pathetic condition when Allaah
sent a Rasul to us who was from among us. We were well aware of his lineage,
his truthfulness, his honesty and his chaste behaviour. He called us to believe in
the oneness of Allaah, to worship Allaah and to forsake the stones and idols that
we and our forefathers worshipped other than Allaah. He enjoined us to always
speak the truth, to return trusts, to maintain family ties, to behave well with our
neighbours and to abstain from unlawful things and from spilling people's blood.
He had forbidden us from immoral behaviour, from giving false evidence, from
usurping the wealth of orphans and from slandering chaste women. He has also
(1) Ibn Is'haaq, as quoted in AlBidaaya wan Nihaaya(Vo1.3 Pg.72).