TALHA IBN UBAYDULLAH
Whenever the battle of Uhud was mentioned to
Abu Bakr [ra], he would say, 'It was a day that belonged all
to Talha'
Talhah left Makkah in one of Quraysh's trade caravans
between Makkah and ash-Sham. Although he was younger than the
other merchants and lacked their experience, his wit and
cleverness permitted him to surpass any of them and succeed in
acquiring more transactions.
When the caravan reached Busrah, a town in Syria, the
ciders among the merchants rushed towards its busy market
buying and selling. Talhah was coming and going in the
marketplace which was crowded with people coming from all
places, when he heard a man calling, "O merchants is there any
one of you coming from Makkah?" Talhah turned around and saw a
monk. Being the one closest to him he answered him. The monk
asked, "Has Ahmad appeared among you?" "Who is Ahmad?" asked
Talhah. "He is the son of Abdullah," replied the monk, "and
this is the month he is due to come forward. He is the last of
the prophets, and he will appear from your land, the land of
the sacred House. He will emigrate to a land of black rocks,
that has date palm groves, its salty soil oozes water. Do
hasten to believe in him young man." This conversation with
the monk was to change the life of Talhah.
Talhah prepared his mount, rounded up his camels, gathered
his goods, and hurried back towards Makkah, leaving the rest
of the caravan behind him. There, he asked his wife, "Anything
new had happened while I was away?" "Yes," she said, "Muhammad
ibn Abdullah has come forth, pretending he was a prophet, and
Abu Bakr has followed him." Talhah knew Abu Bakr well. Abu
Bakr was a merchant of easy going nature, much beloved by
people, and of the most praised manners. He went to him
inquiring about the matter. Not only did Abu Bakr confirm the
news but he also called Talhah to Islam and suggested that he
meets Muhammad, sallallaahu alayhe wasallam. It did not take
long for Talhah to realize that indeed Muhammad was the
foretold prophet and that his name and description matched the
one given by the monk. The Prophet, sallallaahu alayhe
wasallam, explained Islam to him and recited some of the
Qur'an to him. Talhah narrated to the Prophet, sallallaahu
alayhe wasallam, what he has heard from the monk, then he
pronounced the shahadah and joined the small group of Muslims.
He was the fourth person to accept Islam.
The news of Talhah's acceptance of Islam hit his parents
like a thunderbolt. His mother was especially afflicted for
she had hope that he would one day be a leader of his tribe,
given his fine character, and wealth. In vain did his people
try to convince him to abandon his dee'n. When they gave all
hope they resorted to harass him and torture him. One of the
Prophet's companions narrated, "I was one day walking between
as Safa and al-Marwa when I saw a large crowd following a
young man, his hands tied to his neck, pushing him in the back
and hitting him on the head. Behind him was an old woman who
was cursing him and yelling at him. I asked what the matter
with the man was and I was told that he was Talhah ibn
Ubaydillah who forsake the religion of his forefathers for a
new one. Then I asked who the old woman behind him was? I was
told that she was his mother." Things got worse for Talhah as
time went by. One day, Nawfal ibn Khuwaylid, nick named "Quraysh's
lion", took hold of him and tied him up. Then he tied Abu Bakr
up and bounded them together, and delivered them to the mob of
the tribe to be tortured without mercy. For this incident,
Talhah and Abu Bakr were nicknamed the Qareenayn (The two
linked together).
Talhah migrated to Madinah with the Prophet, sallallaahu
alayhe wasallam, when the order came to migrate having no
doubt in his heart that this was the fulfillment of what the
monk in ash-Sham informed him. He witnessed all the battles
with the Prophet and passed all the tests with success to the
point that the Prophet, sallallaahu alayhe wasallam, nick
named him Talhah the generous, the open-handed, and the living
martyr. Each of these attributes was earned by Talhah
following events where he alone stood up when others fell.
He earned the title of the living martyr on the battle of
Uhud. Many Muslims fled the battlefield that day leaving the
Prophet, sallallaahu alayhe wasallam, with only a handful of
his companions. The Prophet and the companions climbed the
mountain when a group from the pagans followed them seeking to
kill him. He asked, "Who can drive those men away and he will
be my companion in Paradise?" "I can O Messenger of Allah,"
said Talhah. "No, stay where you are," replied the Prophet.
Then a man from the Ansar offered to be the one, and the
Prophet, sallallaahu alayhe wasallam, said yes. The man fought
until he was killed. The Prophet asked, "Who can drive those
men away and he will be my companion in Paradise?" Again
Talhah said, "I can O Messenger of Allah." The Prophet,
sallallaahu alayhe wa sallam, said, "No stay in your place,"
And another man from the Ansar offered to fight. He fought
until he was killed. The Prophet, sallallaahu alayhe wasallam
climbed the mountain with those with him, and the pagans were
still following them. He continued asking his companions to
drive them away and each time Talhah offered to help, but the
Prophet, sallallaahu alayhe wasallam, would allow another
Ansari to fight instead until all the Ansar around him were
killed, and only Talhah was left with him. The Prophet,
sallallaahu alayhe wa sallam, then said, "Now you can." Talhah
sprang like a lion chasing away the enemy, and protecting the
Prophet who was by then exhausted from fighting, his front
tooth was broken, his forehead was gashed, blood was running
all over his blessed face. Talhah would charge at the enemies
keeping them away and then he would go back to the Prophet
helping him climb higher. He would do this again and again
until he drove away all of them and got the Prophet to a safer
place. By that time Abu Bakr and Abu Ubaydah who were fighting
the pagans in an area far from the Prophet, sallallaahu alayhe
wa sallam, came up to him to help him, but he said, "Leave me
and go help your friend," meaning Talhah. When they got to
Talhah, they found him bleeding profusely; his body pierced in
more then seventy places by the swords and the spears of the
pagans, his hand was severed and he was laying unconscious in
a ditch. Later the Prophet sallallahu alayhe wa sallam said,
"Whoever would like to see a man who is still walking on earth
after he has met his death, he should see Talhah ibn
Ubaydillah." And that is how he earned the title of the
'living martyr'. Whenever the battle of Uhud was mentioned to
Abu Bakr, he would say, "That was a day that belonged all to
Talhah (meaning that he had saved the day)."
Talhah was no less known for his generosity, spending his
wealth in the sake of Allah. He was a wealthy and successful
trader, his caravans traveled north to ash-Sham and south to
Yemen. One day he had received the revenue of his trade from
Yemen, which totaled seven hundred thousand Dirham. He spent
the night worrying, looking at the large sum of money sitting
in his house. His wife Um Kulthoom the daughter of Abu Bakr
came to him asking, "What is the matter, Abu Muhammad? Is
there anything I have done that displeased you?" "O no," he
replied, "But I was wondering about this money and said to
myself, a man who can sleep with all this money in his house,
while he does not know if he will be alive the next day, is
really arrogant towards his Lord!" "Do not worry," she said,
"Tomorrow, look for the needy among your people and friends,
and divide it among them." "May Allah have mercy on you," he
said, "you are a wise woman, daughter of a wise man." The next
day, he divided the money into bundles and distributed it to
the poor until not a Dirham was left.
This was not the only time when Talhah gave all his money
for the sake of Allah. It was said that he did not leave a
single poor person from among his tribe but he provided for
him. Jabir ibn Abdullah said, "I never saw a man who gave more
abundantly without being asked than Talhah ibn Ubaydillah".
Another said, "I have accompanied Talhah in his travels and I
was with him in town, and I have never seen a man more
generous in giving money, food and clothing than Talhah."
Talhah lived a long life until he witnessed the great
trials of the Muslim Ummah when the Khalifah Uthman was slain,
and he was among those who asked for his killers to be
executed. Talhah was about to participate in the battle of
al-Jamal against the Khalifah Ali, but he turned away after he
realized that it was a fitnah (trial), and that Muslims should
not fight against each other. This did not deter one of the
opposing parties to hit him with an arrow that left him dead.
When Ali heard of his death, he cried and said, "I heard with
my own ears the Messenger of Allah say, 'Talhah and az-Zubair
are my neighbors in Paradise."
Alia Amer
Last modified:
July 19, 2007
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