Post by Islamic Revival on Oct 14, 2004 2:17:58 GMT -5
Abu Ubaydah was one of the first to embrace Islam, becoming Muslim merely a day after Abu Bakr who helped guide him to Islam. As one of the first Muslims he endured some of the harshest of trials, in Mecca during the struggle to establish Islam, nevertheless he led a full life and in time became one of the most trusted and experienced of military commanders for the burgeoning state. Many commentators refer to the time during the Khilafah of Omar in which the army Abu Ubaydah was leading, faced a plague, Abu Ubaydah famously refused the order of Omar to return to Medina stating in his response to the Amir al-mu’mineen: “I know that you need me. But I am in an army of Muslims and I have no desire to save myself from what is afflicting them. I do not want to separate from them until Allah wills. So when this letter reaches you, release me from your command and permit me to stay on”.
The incident from Abu Ubaydah’s life we would like to highlight came earlier in the same campaign.
At the time of the battle of Yarmuk, (AH 15) Abu Ubaydah was leading the Muslim army which had driven far into the heartlands of Caesar including the key centres of what is now known as Syria (Damascus, Ardan and Hims). Caesar responded with the gathering of a huge army. When news of this army reached the Muslims Abu Ubaydah held council with his leaders and it was decided that with only a small holding army and no immediate prospects of reinforcements from Medina they would have to undertake a tactical withdrawal to Damascus. Abu Ubaydah gave up his position at Hims, but before departing he ordered that the full amount of Jizya (head tax) that had been raised from the people of Hims would be returned to them, in so doing observing that the collection of Jizyah included the obligation of providing protection. The local people were all either Jews or Christians. The British historian Muir in reference to this incident admired the leniency, justice and integrity of the Muslims and quoted from a Nestorian Bishop that remarked: “These Arabs to whom God has accorded in our days the dominion, are becoming our masters: but they do not combat the Christian religion: much rather they protect our faith; they respect our Priests and holy men, and make gifts to our churches and our convents”. The same historian wrote “In vain will the critic ransack the dusty pages of history for another such brilliant spot, such scrupulous regard for the rights of citizenship in time of war. The treatment by Muslims of the inhabitants was such, that at their departure, Christians as well as Jews actually shed tears and prayed to God to bring them back.” These Western writers were in fact merely eloquently setting out some of the rules and restrictions of the Islamic foreign policy.
Contrast this situation with the violent, and ruthless, land grabs that characterise the modern day Crusaders that have wreaked such havoc throughout the Islamic lands. Could anyone imagine the ugly Americans being praised by any other than their disgusting media offices and spin doctors?
From www.ramadhan.org