J for Jannah

I'm sure we all know what jannah is. Paradise, obviously. Our sole goal in this life.

So in this post, I've decided to tell you guys a story about a certain Jewish rabbi in the city of Madinah: Abdullah ibn Salaam.

He once told the Prophet صلى الله عليه و سلم, 'Listen, I am the most famous scholar (rabbi) among my people.' 'Bring them (the Jewish people) in, let me hide behind the curtain, and ask them about me.' So the Prophet صلى الله عليه و سلم did what he said; Abdullah hid behind the curtain, and the Prophet brought some of the people from Banu Qaynuqa', and he asked them, 'What do you say about Husayn ibn Salaam (his name before he accepted Islam)?'

They said, 'عالمنا ووابن عالمنا، خيرنا وابن خيرنا، حبرنا وابن حبرنا' 'He is our scholar and the son of our scholar, he is the best of us and the son of the best of us, he is our rabbi and the son of our rabbi.' And the Prophet صلى الله عليه و سلم said, 'What would you say if I told you he became Muslim?' They said, 'That's not going to happen. There's no way that Husayn ibn Salaam, the Rabbi, would become Muslim.' At that point, Abdullah ibn Salaam came out and said, 'أشهد أن لا إله إلا الله و أشهد أنك رسول الله' 'I bear witness that there no God except Allah, and that you are the Messenger of Allah'.

When he said that, the same group of people said, 'شرنا وابن شرنا، جاهلنا وابن جاهلنا' 'He is the worst of us, and the son of the worst of us, he is the most ignorant of us and the son of the most ignorant of us'. So it shows that the people of Madinah were shocked at the Rabbi accepting Islam.

And the Prophet صلى الله عليه و سلم said, 'The best of you in the days of ignorance are the best of you in Islam.' So he had these good characteristics and qualities. He was a sincere Rabbi, a sincere monotheist, and so it was easy for him to recognise the truth. And he brought these same qualities that made him a great scholar in Judaism into Islam, and hence he became one of the Muftis of the Sahabas, scholars of the Sahabas. And even in times of hardship in the Ummah, he was one who stood, and tried to remind the people of Allah and His Messenger صلى الله عليه و سلم.

When Uthman رضي الله عنه was being assasinated, he stood up. For the cause of Uthman, tried to educate the people, bring them back to moderation, back to Islam. And there is no greater testimony perhaps in the testimony of the Prophet صلى الله عليه و سلم. The Prophet صلى الله عليه و سلم  once said to his companions, 'That man is a man of Jannah! He is a man of the people in Jannah.'

Source: Sheikh Omar Suleiman

May Allah make us all among the people of Jannah! Ameen.