“O my Lord! You are aware that if I knew that your happiness was in my falling down from my mount and breaking my neck; then I would do so. If I knew that your happiness was in my lighting a fire and throwing myself into it; then I would do so. If I knew that your happiness was in flinging myself into the river and perishing; then I would do so. O Lord! I am not fighting the people of Shaam but for the sake of your happiness and I hope that you will not disappoint me given that I am seeking your happiness.”
This supplication which contains profound words of inspiration and reflects immense faith in Allah Ta´aala and strength of character was uttered by Maulana Ammar bin YasirRA while riding on the shores of the river Euphrates during the Battle of Siffeen. These words encapsulate the message of his life: to live with sincerity and seek nothing but the happiness of Allah and his Wali. This purity of heart earned him a special nearness to RasulullahSA who declared that ‘Ammar is the skin between my two eyes’.
Maulana Ammar’sRA origins can be traced back to Yemen. His father Yasir migrated to Makkah and was befriended by Abu Huzaifah who got him married to his slave girl, Sumayyah. Sumayyah gave birth to Ammar whom Abu Huzaifah freed. His mother Sumayyah was the first woman to be slayed in Islam. She was killed by Abu Jehal in Makkah. Yasir and his family embraced Islam in the face of severe persecution. Maulana AmmarRA was the first to pledge the oath of allegiance to RasulullahSA on the Day of Shajarah.
When RasulullahSA undertook the task of building the masjid at Madinah, he saw that while people were carrying one brick, AmmarRA was carrying two. RasulullahSA said, “Why do you burden yourself, O Ammar?” AmmarRA replied, “I am also running a temperature, O Rasulullah.” To which, RasulullahSA said, “Allah has filled Ammar’s heart, ears and eyes with Imaan. Truth will not be presented to him but he will accept it; and falsehood will not be presented to him but he will reject it. He will be killed by the rebellious sect.” After this foreboding of RasulullahSA, Maulana Ammar’sRA life and death acquired immense significance in the history of Islam.
When the caliphate of Islam returned to Maulana AliSA, Mu´aawiyah, who was then the governor of Shaam, refused to cede and revolted. He, along with his accomplice, ´Amr bin al-´Aas lured his subjects into taking up arms against Maulana AliSA. During the war, people followed Moulana AmmarRA wherever he went, as they knew from Rasulullah’sSA words that whoever was responsible for his death was in the wrong. So, when Maulana AmmarRA was killed by the army of Mu´aawiyah, the latter’s falsehood was immediately exposed and it became evident to all that haqq was with Moulana AliSA.
Mu´aawiyah and his scheming companion ´Amr then declared that it was not they who had killed AmmarRA, but those who brought him into the battle in the first place. When Moulana AliSA learned about this absurdity, he exclaimed, “May Allah’s curse be upon ´Amr. How can these people be so naive! If we are responsible for Ammar’s death because he was with us, then it means that RasulullahSA and his companions should be held responsible for the deaths of all those Muslims killed with them in battle!”
