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

456 THE WVES OF THE SRHABAH (voI-1)
As I stood up, some men from the Banu Salma tribe (to which I belonged) also
stood up and followed me. They said to me, 'By Allaah! We have never known you
to commit a sin before this! Could you not make an excuse like the others who
stayed behind had made excuses? The forgiveness that ~asulullaah@% would
have sought on your behalf should have then sufficed for our sin.' They kept
scolding me in this manner so much that I actually made up my mind to return to
~asulullaah~ and deny whatever 1 had told him. I then asked them, 'Has
anyone else experienced the same treatment as I have?' They replied, Yes. TWO
others said what you did and received the same reply you received.' 'Who are
they?' I asked. 'Muraarah bin Rabee Amri and Hilaal bin Umayyah Waaqifl,'
came the reply. The two men they named were two righteous men who had
participated in the Battle of Badr and who made excellent examples to follow. I
therefore went on my way when they mentioned these two names to me.
~asulullaah@$% subsequently prevented people from speaking only to the three
of us as opposed to the others who had missed the expedition. People avoided us
and ignored us so much so that even the earth seemed like a different place to
me. It was not the same place I had been used to. We remained in this condition
for fifty days. MY two companions became helpless and confined themselves to
their homes, weeping excessively. Since I was the youngest and most daring of
us, I used to go out and join the Muslims for salaah. I even walked about in the
marketplace but no one spoke to me. When ~asulullaah&& sat in gatherings
after salaah, I would approach him and greet hh with Salaam. I would then ask
myself whether his lips moved in reply to my Salaam or not. I also performed
salaah close to Rasulullaah- and steal a glance at him. I noticed that
whenever I was engaged in salaah, he looked at me and would avert his glance
as soon as 1 turned towards him.
The time eventually arrived when the attitude of the people became to much to
bear, I walked t he orchard of Abu Qataadah and scaled the wall. He was my
cousin and m $*
best friend. I swear by Allaah that he did not even reply to my
Salaam when 1 greeted him. I protested by saying, '0 Abu Qataadah! I ask you in
the name of Allaah to tell me whether I have love for Allaah and His ~asoolm?'
When he gave no reply, I repeated the question and again asked in the name of
Allaah. He remained silent. Yet again, I repeated myself and took the name of
Allaah. All he said was, 'Allaah and ~asulullaah&& know best.' My eyes welled
with tears and I turned around to again scale the wall."
Continuing with the story, Hadhrat Ka'b ?&WW says, "As I was walking in the
marketplace one day, I heard the voice of a farmer from the farmers of Shaam
who had come to Madinah to sell his grains. He was announcing, 'Who will show
me where is Ka'b bin Maalik?' As the people pointed him in my direction, he
handed over to me a letter from the king of Ghassaan (wrapped in a silken cloth).
The letter read:
The news has readed me fhatpur masfer L king harsh towards pu Allaah
has not made you a lowly md mined won.
join forces with us and we shall