AtTufayl Ibn Amr AdDawsi [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Scanned from "Companions of The Prophet", Vol. 1, By: Abdul Wahid
Hamid.

At-Tufayl ibn Amr was the chief of the Daws tribe in preQur'anic times
and a distinguished Arab notable known for his manly virtues and
good works.

He fed the hungry, comforted those in distress and granted asylum to
refugees. He was also keenly interested in literature and was
himself a sharp and sensitive poet capable of expressing the most
delicate emotions.

Tufayl left the hearths of his village in Tihama in the south of the
Arabian peninsula and set out for Makkah. The struggle between the noble
Prophet and the disbelieving Quraysh was already at its height. Each
wanted to gain support for his cause and recruit helpers. The Prophet,
peace and blessings of God be on him, sought help from his Lord. His
weapons were faith and truth. The disbelieving Quraysh resisted his
message with every weapon, and attempted to keep people away from
it by all the means at their disposal.

Tufayl found himself entering this battle without any preparation or
warning. He did not come to Makkah to get involved in it. Indeed he was
not aware of the struggle that was taking place.

Let Tufayl himself take up the story from this point:

I approached Makkah. As soon as the Quraysh leaders saw me, they
came up to me and gave me a most hearty welcome and accommodated
me in a grand house. Their leaders and notables then gathered and said:

"O Tufayl, you have come to our town. This man who claims that he is
a Prophet has ruined our authority and
shattered our community. We are afraid that he would succeed in
undermining you and your authority among your people just as he has done
with us. Don't speak to the man. On no account listen to anything he has
to say. He has the speech of a wizard, causing division between father
and son, between brother and brother and between husband and wife."

They went on telling me the most fantastic stories and scared me by
recounting tales of his incredible deeds. I made up my mind then not to
approach this man, or speak to him or listen to anything he had to say.

The following morning I went to the Sacred Mosque to make tawaf around
the Ka'bah as an act of worship to the idols that we made pilgrimage to
and glorified. I inserted a piece of cotton in my ears out of fear that
something of the speech of Muhammad would reach my hearing. As soon as I
entered the Mosque, I saw him standing near the Ka'bah. He was praying
in a fashion which was different from our prayer. His whole manner of
worship was different. The scene captivated me. His worship made me
tremble and I felt drawn to him, despite myself, until I was quite close
to him.

Notwithstanding the precaution I had taken, God willed that some of
what he was saying should reach my hearing and I heard a speech that was
so beautiful that I said to myself, "What are you doing, Tufayl? You are
a perceptive poet. You can distinguish between the good and the bad in
poetry. What prevents you from listening to what this man is saying? If
what comes from him is good, accept it, and if it is bad, reject it."

I remained there until the Prophet left for his home. I followed him
as he entered his house, and I entered also and said, "O Muhammad, your
people have said certain things to me about you. By God, they kept on
frightening me away from your message so that I even blocked my ears to
keep out your words. Despite this, God caused me to hear something of it
and I found it good. So tell me more about your mission."

The Prophet, peace be upon him, did and recited to me Sarah al-Ikhlaas
and Sarah al-Falaq. I swear by God, I had never heard such beautiful
words before. Neither was a more noble or just mission ever described to me.
Thereupon, I stretched out my hand to him in allegiance and testified
that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the messenger of
Allah. This is how I entered Islam.

I stayed on for some time in Makkah learning the teachings of Islam
and memorizing parts of the Qur'an. When I decided to return to my
people, I said, "O Rasulullah, I am a man who is obeyed in his tribe. I am
going back to them and I shall invite them to Islam . . ."

When I returned to my people, my fatherرwho was quite old thenرcame up
to me and I said, 'O Father, let me relate my news to you. I am no longer
from you and you are not of me."

"Why so, my son?" he asked.

"I have accepted Islam and now follow the religion of Muhammad, peace
and blessings of God be upon him," I replied.

"My son," he said, "your religion is my religion."

"Go and wash yourself and cleanse your clothes," I said. "Then come
that I may teach you what I have learnt."

This the old man did and I explained Islam to him and he became a Muslim.

"Then came my wife and I said, "Let me relate my news to you. I am no
longer of you and you are not of me."

"Good heavens! Why so?" she exclaimed.

"Islam has separated us," I explained. "I have become a Muslim and
follow the religion of Muhammad."

"Your religion is my religion," she replied.

"Then go and purify yourself, not with the water of Dhu Shara, the
idol of the Daws, but with pure water from the mountain . "

"Good gracious! Do you fear anything from Dhu Shara?"

"Damn Dhu Shara. I told youرgo and wash there, far away from people. I
guarantee you that this dumb stone won't do a thing to you."

She went and washed and I explained Islam to her and she
became a Muslim. I then invited the Daws as a whole to become Muslims.
They were all slow in responding, except Abu Hurayrah. He was the
quickest to respond to the invitation of Islam.

The next time I went to Makkah, Abu Hurayrah was with me.

"What have you left behind?" the Prophet asked me.

"Hearts with veils over them obscuring the Truth, and firm disbelief.
Sin and disobedience have won over the Daws."

The Prophet thereupon stood up, made wudu and prayed with his hands
raised to the heavens. Abu Hurayrah remarked, "When I saw the Prophet
like this, I was afraid that he was praying against my people and that
they would be destroyed."

But the Prophet, upon whom be peace, prayed, "O Lord, guide the
Daws, guide the Daws, guide the Daws." Then he turned to me and said:

"Go back to your people, befriend them, treat them gently and invite
them to Islam."

I stayed in the land of the Daws inviting them to Islam until after the
hijrah of the Prophet to Madinah and after the battle of Badr, Uhud and
Khandaq had taken place. Then I went to the Prophet. With me were eighty
families who had become Muslims and who were strong in their faith. The
Prophet was pleased with us and he gave us a portion of the booty after
the battle of Khaybar. We said to him, "O Rasulullah, make us the right
wing of your army in every battle and make our efforts acceptable."

Tufayl stayed with the Prophet until the liberation of Makkah. After the
destruction of the idols there, Tufayl asked the Prophet to send him to put
an end to the worship of Dhu-l Kafayn, the chief idol of his people. The
Prophet gave him permission.

Back in Tihama among the Daws, men, women and children of the tribe
had gathered and were agitated that the idol was going to be burnt. They
were waiting to see if any evil would befall Tufayl should he harm Dhu-l
Kafayn. Tufayl approached the idols with the worshippers around it. As
he set fire to it, he proclaimed:

"O Dhu-l Kafayn, of your worshippers I certainly am not.

Fire have I inserted into your heart."

Whatever shirk remained in the Daws tribe went up in the flames
that burnt the idol. The whole tribe became Muslims.

Tufayl remained a lieutenant of the Prophet until the noble messenger
passed away. Tufayl then placed himself in the service of the Khalifah
Abu Bakr, the successor of the Prophet. During the Riddah wars, he led a
contingent of his people against the imposter Musaylamah.

In the battle of al-Yamamah that followed, the dear companion of the
Prophet, Tufayl ibn Amr fought hard but eventually fell as a martyr on
the battlefield.

Scanned from "Companions of The Prophet", Vol. 1, By:
Abdul Wahid Hamid.