45. Madina

Yahya ibn Yahya related to me from Ishaq ibn Abdullah ibn AbiTalha al-Ansari from Anas ibn Malik that the Messenger of Allah, mayAllah bless him and grant him peace, said, "O Allah! Bless them intheir measure, and bless them in their sa and mudd." He meant thepeople of Madina. Yahya related to me from Malik from Suhayl ibn Abi Salih from hisfather that Abu Hurayra said, "When people saw the first fruits of theseason, they brought them to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah blesshim and grant him peace. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless himand grant him peace, took them and said, 'O Allah! Bless us in ourfruits. Bless us in our city. Bless us in our sa and bless us in ourmudd. O Allah! Ibrahim is Your slave, Your Khalil and Your Prophet. Iam Your slave and Your Prophet. He prayed to You for Makka. I pray toYou for Madina for the like of what He prayed to You for Makka, andthe like of it with it.' Then he called the smallest child he saw andgave him the fruits." Yahya related to me from Malik from Qatan ibn Wahb ibn Umayr ibnal-Ajda that Yuhannas, the mawla of az-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam informedhim that he was sitting with Abdullah ibn Umar during the troubles (atthe time of al-Hajaj ibn Yusuf) . A female mawla of his came andgreeted him. She said, "I want to leave, Abu Abd ar-Rahman. The timeis harsh for us." Abdullah ibn Umar said to her, "Sit down, O you withlittle knowledge, for I have heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allahbless him and grant him peace, say, 'No one will be patient in hungerand hardship in it (Madina) except that I will be a witness orintercede for him on the Day of Rising.' " Yahya related to me from Malik from Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir fromJabir ibn Abdullah that a Bedouin took an oath of allegiance in Islamwith the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.A fever befell the Bedouin at Madina. He came to the Messenger ofAllah, and said, "Messenger of Allah, release me from my pledge." TheMessenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, refused.Then he came to him again and said, "Release me from my pledge." TheMessenger of Allah may Allah bless him and grant him peace, refused.Then he came again and said, "Release me from my pledge." He refused.Then he came again and said, "Release me from my pledge." He refused.The Bedouin left and the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him andgrant him peace, said, "Madina is like the blacksmith's furnace. Itremoves the impurities and purifies the good." Malik related to me that Yahya ibn Said said, "I heardAbu'l-Hubab Said ibn Yasar say that he heard Abu Hurayra say that heheard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace,say, 'I was ordered to a town which will eat up towns. They used tosay, 'Yathrib,' but it is Madina. It removes the bad people like theblacksmith's furnace removes impurities from the iron.' " Malik related to me from Hisham ibn Urwa from his father that theMessenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Noone leaves Madina preferring to live elsewhere, but that Allah willgive it better than him in place of him ." Malik related to me from Hisham ibn Urwa from his father fromAbdullah ibn az-Zubayr that Sufyan ibn Abi Zuhayr said, "I heard theMessenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say,'Yemen will be conquered and the people will be attracted to it,taking their families and whoever obeys them. Madina would have beenbetter for them, had they but known. Ash-Sham will be conquered andpeople will be attracted to it, taking their families and whoeverobeys them. Madina would have been better for them, had they butknown. Iraq will be conquered and people will be attracted to it,taking their families and whoever obeys them. Madina would have beenbetter for them, had they but known.' " Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Himas from his paternaluncle from Abu Hurayra that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah blesshim and grant him peace, said, "Madina will be left in the best waythat it is until a dog or wolf enters it and urinates on one of thepillars of the mosque or on the mimbar." They asked, "Messenger ofAllah! Who will have the fruit at that time?" He replied, "Animalsseeking food, birds and wild beasts." Malik related to me that he had heard that when Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz left Madina, he turned towards it and wept. Then he said, "OMuzahim! Do you fear that we might be among those that Madina castsoff?" Yahya related to me from Malik from Amr, the mawla of al-Muttalibfrom Anas ibn Malik that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless himand grant him peace, saw Uhud and said, "This is a mountain whichloves us and we love it. O Allah! Ibrahim made Makka Haram, and I willmake what is between the two tracts of black stones (in Madina) aHaram." Malik related to me from Ibn Shihab from Said ibn al-Musayyabthat Abu Hurayra said, "Had I seen a gazelle at Madina, I would haveleft it to graze and would not have frightened it. The Messenger ofAllah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, 'What is betweenthe two tracts of black stones is a Haram.' " Malik related to me from Yunus ibn Yusuf from Ata ibn Yasar thatAbu Ayyub al-Ansari found some boys who had driven a fox into acorner, and he chased them away from it. Malik said, "I onlyknow that he said, 'Is this done in the Haram of the Messenger ofAllah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace?' " Yahya related to me from Malik from a man who said, "Zayd ibnThabit came across me while I was at al-Aswaf (on the outskirts ofMadina). I had captured a hawk. He took it from my hands and set itfree." Yahya related to me from Malik from Hisham ibn Urwa from hisfather that A'isha, umm al-muminin said, "When the Messenger of Allah,may Allah bless him and grant him peace, came to Madina, Abu Bakr andBilal came down with a fever. I visited them and said, 'Father, howare you? Bilal, how are you?'" She continued, "When Abu Bakr's feverworsened he would say, 'Every man is struck down among his people inthe morning - death is nearer than the strap of his sandal.'" When it left Bilal, he raised his voice and said, 'Would that I knewwhether I will spend a night at the valley of Makka with the idhkhirherb and jalil herb around me. Will I go one day to the waters ofMajinna? Will the mountains of Shama and Tafil appear to me?' " ' A'isha continued, "I went to the Messenger of Allah, may Allahbless him and grant him peace, and informed him. He said, 'O Allah!Make us love Madina as much as we love Makka or even more. Make itsound and bless us in our sa and mudd. Remove its fever and put it inal-Juhfa.' " Malik said that Yahya ibn Said had related to him that A'ishasaid that Amir ibn Fuhayra had said at the time of the epidemic, "Ihave seen death before tasting it, the coward's destination is fromabove him." Yahya related to me from Malik from Nuaym ibn Abdullah al-Mujmirthat Abu Hurayra said, "The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless himand grant him peace, said, 'There are angels at the entries of Madina,and neither plague nor the Dajjal will enter it.' " Yahya related to me from Malik from Ismail ibn Abi Hakim that heheard Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz say, "One of the last things that theMessenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said was,'May Allah fight the jews and the christians. They took the graves oftheir Prophets as places of prostration . Two deens shall not co-existin the land of the Arabs.' " Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab that the Messengerof Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Two deensshall not co-exist in the Arabian Peninsula." Malik said thatIbn Shihab said, ''Umar ibn al-Khattab searched for information aboutthat until he was absolutely convinced that the Messenger of Allah,may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had said, 'Two deens shallnot co-exist in the Arabian Peninsula,' and he therefore expelled thejews from Khaybar." Malik said, ''Umar ibn al-Khattab expelled the jews from Najran(a jewish settlement in the Yemen) and Fadak (a jewish settlementthirty miles from Madina). When the jews of Khaybar left, they did nottake any fruit or land. The jews of Fadak took half the fruit and halfthe land, because the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him andgrant him peace, had made a settlement with them for that. So Umarentrusted to them the value in gold, silver, camels, ropes and saddlebags of half the fruit and half the land, and handed the value over tothem and expelled them." Yahya related to me from Malik from Hisham ibn Urwa from hisfather that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant himpeace, came in view of Uhud and said, "This is a mountain which lovesus and we love it." Yahya related to me from Malik from Yahya ibn Said from Abd ar-Rahman ibn al-Qasim that Aslam, the mawla of Umar ibn al-Khattabinformed him that he had visited Abdullah ibn Ayyash al-Makhzumi. Hesaw that he had some nabidh with him and he was at that moment on theway to Makka. Aslam said to him, ''Umar ibn al-Khattab loves thisdrink." Abdullah ibn Ayyash therefore carried a great drinking bowland brought it to Umar ibn al-Khattab and placed it before him. Umarbrought it near to him and then raised his head. Umar said, "Thisdrink is good," so he drank some of it and then passed it to a man onhis right. When Abdullah turned to go, Umar ibn al-Khattab called himand asked, "Are you the person who says that Makka is better thanMadina?" Abdullah said, "I said that it was the Haram of Allah, andHis place of security, and His House was in it." Umar said, "I am notsaying anything about the House of Allah or His Haram." Then Umarrepeated "Are you the person who says that Makka is better thanMadina?" He replied, "I said that it was the Haram of Allah and Hisplace of security, and His House was in it." Umar said, "I am notsaying anything about the House of Allah and His Haram." Then Abdullahleft. Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab from Abd al-Hamidibn Abd ar-Rahman ibn Zayd ibn al-Khattab from Abdullah ibn Abdullahibn al-Harith ibn Nawfal from Abdullah ibn Abbas that Umar ibn al-Khattab set out for ash Sham and when he was at Sargh, near Tabuk, thecommanders of the army, Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah and his companions,met him and told him that the plague had broken out in ash-Sham. IbnAbbas said, "Umar ibn al-Khattab said, 'all the first Muhajir untome.' He assembled them and asked them for advice, informing them thatthe plague had broken out in ash Sham. They disagreed. Some said, 'Youhave set out for something, and we do not think that you should leaveit.' Others said, 'You have the companions of the Prophet, may Allahbless him and grant him peace, and the rest of the people with you,and we do not think that you should send them towards this plague.'Umar said, 'Leave me.' Then he said, 'Summon the Ansar tome.' They were summoned and he asked them for advice. They acted asthe Muhajirun had and disagreed as they had disagreed. He said, 'Leaveme.' "Then he said, 'Summon to me whoever is here of the aged men ofQuraysh from the Muhajirun of the conquest.' He summoned them and notone of them differed. They said, 'We think that you should withdrawthe people and not send them towards the plague.' Umar called out tothe people, 'I am leaving by camel in the morning,' so they set out.Abu Ubayda said, 'Is it flight from the decree of Allah?' Umar said,'Better that someone other than you had said it, Abu Ubayda. Yes. Weflee from the decree of Allah to the decree of Allah. What would youthink if these camels had gone down into a valley which had twoslopes, one of them fertile, and the other barren. If you pastured inthe fertile part, wouldn't you pasture them by the decree of Allah? Ifyou pastured them in the barren part, wouldn't you pasture them by thedecree of Allah?' ''Abd ar-Rahman ibn Awf arrived and he hadbeen off doing something and he said, 'I have some knowledge of this.I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant himpeace, say, "If you hear about it in a land, do not go forward to it.If it comes upon a land and you are in it, then do not depart inflight from it." ' Umar praised Allah and then set off." Yahya related to me from Malik from Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir andfrom Salim ibn Abi'n-Nadr, the mawla of Umar ibn Ubaydullah that Amiribn Sad ibn Abi Waqqas heard his father ask Usama ibn Zayd, "Have youheard anything from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him andgrant him peace, about the plague?" Usama said, "The Messenger ofAllah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, 'The plague is apunishment that was sent down on a party of the Banu Israil or whoeverwas before them. When you hear of it in a land, do not enter it. If itcomes upon a land and you are in it, do not depart in flight from it.'" Malik said that Abu'n-Nadr said, "That is, do not departwith no other intention but flight." Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab from Abdullah ibnAmir ibn Rabia that Umar ibn al-Khattab went out to ash-Sham. When hecame to Sargh, near Tabuk, he heard that the plague had broken out inash-Sham. Abd ar-Rahman ibn Awf told him that the Messenger of Allah,may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "If you hear that aland has a plague in it, do not go forward to it. If it comes upon aland which you are in, do not depart in flight from it." Umar ibn al-Khattab came back from Sargh. Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab from Salim ibnAbdullah that Umar ibn al-Khattab turned people back at Sarghaccording to the hadith of Abd ar-Rahman ibn Awf. Yahya related to me that Malik said, "I heard that Umar ibn al-Khattab said, 'A night in Rukba (a valley near Taif,) is morepreferable to me than ten nights in ash-Sham.' " Malik said,"He meant to lengthen and preserve their lives because of the severityof the plague in ash-Sham ."