Biographies of the Companions (Sahaabah)( 3.Abdullah Ibn Hudhafah As-Sahmi)

History would have by-passed this man as it had by- passed thousands
of Arabs before him. He, like them, would have had no claim to attention
 or fame. The greatness of Islam, however, gave to Abdullah ibn Hudhafah the opportunity to meet two world potentates of his time ÑKhusraw 
Parvez the King of Persia and Heraclius, the Byzantine emperor.

The story of his encounter with Khusraw Parvez began in the sixth 
year of the hijrah when the Prophet(s..a.w) decided to send some of 
his Companions with letters to rulers outside the Arabian peninsula
 inviting them to Islam.

The Prophet(s.a.w) attached great importance to this initiative. These 
messengers were going to distant lands with whom there was no 
agreement or treaty. They did not know the languages of these lands 
nor anything about the ways and disposition of their rulers. They were
 to invite these rulers to give up their religion and forsake their power 
and  glory and enter the religion of a people who shortly before were

almost their subjects. The mission was undoubtedly hazardous .
 

To make known his plan, the Prophet called his companions together 
and addressed them. He started by praising God and thanking Him.
 He then recited the Shahadah and went on:
 "I want to send some of you to the rulers of foreign lands but 
don't dispute with me as the Israelites disputed with Jesus, 
the son of Mary.

"O Prophet of God, we shall carry out whatever you wish," they 
responded. "Send us wherever you desire."
 

The Prophet commissioned six of his Sahabah to carry his letters to 
Arab and foreign rulers. One of these was Abdullah ibn Hudhafah. 
He was chosen to take the Prophet's letter to Khusraw Parvez,
 the Persian king.

Abdullah got his camel ready and bade farewell to his wife and son. 
He set out, alone, and traversed mountains and valleys until he 
reached the land of the Persians.

He sought permission to enter into the king's presence informing
 the guards of the letter he was carrying. Khusraw Parvez thereupon 
ordered his audience chamber to be made ready and summoned his

prominent aides. When they had assembled he gave permission for
 Abdullah to enter.
 

Abdullah entered and saw the Persian potentate dressed in delicate, 
flowing robes and wearing a great, neatly arranged turban. On Abdullah
 was the plain, coarse clothes of the bedouin. His head though was

held high and his feet were firm. The honour of Islam burned fiercely
 in his breast and .he power of faith pulsated in his heart.

As soon as Khusraw Parvez saw him approaching he signalled to 
one  of  his men to take the letter from his hand.

"No," said Abdullah. "The Prophet commanded me to hand over 
this  letter to you directly and I shall not

go against a command of the Messenger of God."

"Let him come near to me," Khusraw said to his guards and Abdullah 
went forward and handed over the letter. Khusraw then called an 
Arab clerk who originally came from Hira and ordered him to 
open the letter in his presence and read its contents. He began reading:
 "In the name of Allah, the Beneficent the Merciful. From Muhammad,
 the Messenger of God, to Khusraw the ruler of Persia. Peace on
 whoever follows the guidance . . ."

Khusraw only heard this much of the letter when the fire of anger
 burst within him. His face became red and he began to perspire 
around the neck. He snatched the letter from the clerk's hand and
 began tearing it to pieces without knowing what else it contained 
and shouted, "Does he dare to write to me like this, he who is 
my slave"?  He was angry that the Prophet had not given him 
precedence in  his letter. He then commanded Abdullah to 
be expelled from his assembly.

Abdullah was taken away, not knowing what would happen to him.
 Would he be killed or would he be set free? But he did not want to wait
 to find out. He said, "By God, I don't care what happens to me after

the letter of the Prophet has been so badly treated." He managed to get
 to his camel and rode off.
 

When Khusraw's anger had subsided he commanded that Abdullah 
be brought before him. But Abdullah was nowhere to be found. They searched for him all the way to the Arabian peninsula but found that
 he had gone ahead.

Back in Madinah, Abdullah told the Prophet how Khusraw had
 torn his letter to pieces and the Prophet's only reply was, 
"May God tear up his kingdom".

Meanwhile, Khusraw wrote to Badhan, his deputy in the Yemen,
 to send two strong men to "that man who has appeared in 
the Hijaz" with orders to bring him to Persia.
 

Badhan despatched two of his strongest men to the Prophet and 
gave  them a letter to him in which he was ordered to go with the two
 men to meet Khusraw without delay. Badhan also asked the two 
men to get whatever information they could on the Prophet 
and to study his message closely.

The men set out, moving very quickly. At Ta'if they met some
 Quraysh traders and asked them about Muhammad(s.a.w). "He is in Yathrib," they said and they went on to Makkah feeling 
extremely happy. This was good news for them and they went 
around telling other Quraysh, "You will be pleased. Khusraw is

out to get Muhammad and you will be rid of his evil."

The two men meanwhile made straight for Madinah where they 
met the Prophet, handed him the letter of Badhan and said to him, 
"The king of kings, Khusraw, has written to our ruler Badhan to send his

men to get you. We have come to take you with us. If you come willingly, Khusraw has said that it will be good for you and he will spare you any punishment. If you refuse, you will know the power of his punishment.
 He has power to destroy you and your people."
 

The Prophet smiled and said to them, "Go back to your mounts 
today  and return tomorrow."

On the following day, they came to the Prophet and said to him,
 "Are you prepared to go with us to meet Khusraw?"

"You shall not meet Khusraw after today," replied the Prophet(s.a.w). 
"God  has killed him and his son Shirwaih has taken his place on 
such a night and on such a month."
 

The two men stared in the face of the Prophet(s.a.w). They
 were  completely dumbfounded.

"Do you know what you are saying?" they asked. "Shall we write
about this  to Badhan?"

"Yes," replied the Prophet, "and say to him that my religion has
 informed me about what has happened to the kingdom of Khusraw
 and that if he should become Muslim, I would appoint him ruler
 over what he now controls".
 

The two men returned to the Yemen and told Badhan what had 
happened. Badhan said, "If what Muhammad(s.a.w) has said is true,
 then he is a Prophet. If not then we shall see what happens to him."

Not long afterwards, a letter from Shirwaih came to Badhan in 
which he said, "I killed Khusraw because of his tyranny against 
our people. He regarded as lawful the killing of leaders, the capturing
 of their women and the expropriating of their wealth. When this 
my letter reaches you, take the allegiance of whoever is with
 you on my behalf."

As soon as Badhan had read Shirwaih's letter, he threw it aside 
and announced his entry into Islam. The

Persians with him in the Yemen also became Muslim.

That's the story of Abdullah ibn Hudhafah's meeting with the 
Persian king. His meeting with the

Byzantine emperior took place during the caliphate of 
Umar ibn alKhattab. It too is an astonishing story.

In the nineteenth year after the Hijrah, Umar despatched an army
 to fight against the Byzantines. In it was Abdullah ibn Hudhafah. 
News of the Muslim force reached the Byzantine emperior. He had
 heard of their sincerity of faith, and their willingness to sacrifice 
their lives in the way of God and His Prophet. He gave orders to
 his men to bring to him any Muslim captive they might take alive.

God willed that Abdullah ibn Hudhafah should fall captive to the 
Byzantines and he was brought before the Emperor. The Emperor 
looked at Abdullah for a long time. Suddenly he said, "I shall make a

proposal to you." "What is it?" asked Abdullah.
 
 "I suggest that you  become a Christian. If you do this, you will
 be set free and I shall grant you a safe refuge."

The prisoner's reaction was furious: "Death is preferable to me
 a thousand times to what you ask me to do."

"I see that you are a bold man. However, if you respond positively 
to what I propose to you, I will give you a share in my authority 
and swear you in as my aide."
 

The prisoner, shackled in his chains, smiled and said, "By God,
 if you give me all that you possess and all that the Arabs have in 
exchange for giving up the religion of Muhammad, I shall not do so."

"Then I shall kill you."

"Do what you want," answered Abdullah.
 

The emperor then had him put on a cross and ordered his soldiers
 to throw spears at him, first near his hands and then near his feet, 
all the while telling him to accept Christianity or at least give up his

religion. This he refused over and over again to do.

The emperor then had him taken down from the wooden cross. 
He called for a great pot to be brought. This was filled with oil which 
was then heated under a fierce fire. He then had two other Muslim

prisoners brought and had one of them thrown into the boiling oil.
 The prisoner's flesh sizzled and soon his bones could be seen. The 
emperor turned to Abdullah and invited him to Christianity.

This was the most terrible test that Abdullah had had to face up till 
now.  But he remained firm and the emperor gave up trying. He then 
ordered that Abdullah too be thrown into the pot. As he was being

taken away he began to shed tears. The emperor thought that he had
 at last been broken and had him brought back to him. He once more suggested that Abdullah become a Christian but to his 
astonishment, Abdullah refused.
 

"Damn you! Why did you weep then?" shouted the emperor.

"I cried," said Abdullah, "because I said to myselfÑ 'You will now 
be  thrown into this pot and your soul will depart'. What I really desired 
then was to have as many souls as the number of hairs on my body

and to have all of them thrown into this pot for the sake of God."

The tyrant then said, "Will you kiss my head? I will then set you free?"
 "And all the Muslim prisoners also?" asked Abdullah.
 

This the emperor agreed to do and Abdullah said to himself, "One 
of the enemies of God! I shall kiss his head and he shall set me and all 
other Muslim prisoners free. There can be no blame on me for doing

this." He then went up to the emperor and kissed his forehead. All the Muslim prisoners were released and handed over to Abdullah.

Abdullah ibn Hudhafah eventually came to Umar ibn alKhattab and
 told  him what had happened. Umar was greatly pleased and when he 
looked at the prisoners he said, "Every Muslim has a duty to kiss the

head of Abdullah ibn Khudhafah and I shall start."

Umar then got up and kissed the head of Abdullah ibn Hudhafah.