At-Tufayl ibn AMR ad-DAUSEE [radhiallaahu
anhu]
Son of a noble family, at-Tufayl,
radhiallahu anhu, grew up to be one of the chiefs of the Dauss
tribe. He was known for his chivalry and his generosity. His door
was always open for the travellers, he fed the poor, comforted the
fearful, and gave protection to the defenseless. In addition to
that, he was a learned, intelligent man, a poet of standing, well
appreciated and listened to by his fellow poets at the famous
gatherings during the markets of Ukadh in Makkah.
At-Tufayl left his dwellings in the
plains of Tihamah, near the Red Sea, and set forth toward Makkah. At
that time, the struggle between the Prophet, sallallaahu alayhe
wasallam, and the Quraysh pagans was going strong; the Prophet,
sallallaahu alayhe wasallam, inviting them to save their soul while
they were sparing no chance to harm him. When Allah protected him
from them, they began to warn all new-comers against him. They were
afraid that his religion would spread in the Arabian Peninsula. Now,
when they heard of at-Tufayl, they rushed toward him greeting him in
the best manner. Their elders came to him warning him against
Muhammad. "This man has divided our community and broken up its
unity," they said, "and we fear that he will do the same to your
people. So do not talk to him, and do not listen to any of his
words, for his speech is like sorcery, which divides between
brothers, son and father, and husband and wife." They were so
insistent that he swore he would not get near him, nor listen to
him, and went so far as to stuff cotton into his ears for fear that
he would inadvertently hear some of his speech.
The next day, he went early in the
morning to the masjid to walk around the Ka'bah, and there he found
the Prophet, sallallaahu alayhe wasallam, standing in prayer. His
reverence and total submission in his prayer moved him, and soon he
found himself standing near him. Allah had decreed that at-Tufayl
should hear some of what Muhammad was reciting. The beauty and
eloquence of the words touched him so deeply that he said, "Allah
bless my soul! Here I am, an intelligent man, a fine poet, knowing
perfectly well the difference between good and evil, so what is
preventing me from listening to what this man is saying? If what he
says is good, then I will accept it, and if it is evil then I will
reject it." So he stayed until the Prophet, sallallaahu alayhe
wasallam, went to his house and he followed him. When he entered his
house, he called on him, then said, "O Muhammad, your people have
said all kinds of evil things about you, and by Allah they have
warned me and frightened me so much that I stuffed my ears with
cotton lest I hear some of your speech, but Allah willed that I
should listen to it, and I heard a beautiful saying. So explain the
matter to me." The Prophet, sallallaahu alayhe wasallam, explained
Islam to him and recited to him some of the Qur'an. At-Tufayl never
heard a speech as beautiful or as just as what he heard. He extended
his hand to the Prophet and pronounced the shahadah, thus becoming a
Muslim.
At-Tufayl stayed for a while in Makkah
until he learned the matters of the deen and memorized some of the
Qur'an. When time came for him to leave, he said to the Prophet,
sallallaahu alayhe wasallam, "O Messenger of Allah, I am a man
respected and obeyed among my people, and I am going back to them to
call them to Islam, so pray to Allah to give me a sign which will
help me in my mission." "O Allah give him a sign," invoked the
Prophet sallallaahu alayhe wasallam.
So he went back to his people, and when
he arrived at the pass that would lead him down to the dwellings, a
light like a lamp appeared between his eyes. He said, "O Allah, let
this light be in a place other than my face. I fear my people might
think a punishment has befallen my face because I abandoned their
religion." The light moved to the tip of his whip. People began to
look at the light shining brightly in the darkness of the night, as
he was coming down from the pass to them. When he got down, his
father who was an old man came to meet him. "Stay away from me,
father, for I have nothing to do with you or you with me," said at-Tufayl.
"But why, my son?" asked the father. "I have become a Muslim and
follow the religion of Muhammad." replied at-Tufayl. "All right my
son, my religion is your religion," said his father. "Then go wash
your body and clean your clothes, and come back to me so that I
teach you what I have been taught." His father did so, and at-Tufayl
explained Islam to him, and he accepted it. Then his wife came to
him, but he said to her, "Stay away from me, I have nothing to do
with you or you with me." "Why?" she asked. "Islam has separated us,
for I have become Muslim and follow the deen of Muhammad," he
explained. "My religion is your religion," she said.
"Then go and
wash yourself from the spring ofThush-Sharaa," he ordered. Thush-Sharaa was an idol which belonged to Dauss and around it was a
trickle of water that came from a spring at the foot of the
mountain. She asked him hurriedly: "Have you any fear that the idol
would take revenge and harm your children?" "Woe to you and to Thush-Sharaa! I told you to go there so that you would not be seen
while bathing. That idol is but a stone; it can not bring harm nor
benefit." She went and bathed and when she came back he explained
Islam to her and she became a Muslim.
Now that all the members of his family
became Muslims, at-Tufayl started calling his tribe to Islam, but
they all refused and held to their disbelief, except one man who was
very quick to enter Islam. That man was Abu Hurairah, radhiallahu
anhu.
At-Tufayl went to Makkah with Abu
Hurairah, to visit the Prophet, sallallaahu alayhe wasallam. The
Prophet, sallallaahu alayhe wasallam, asked, "What about those you
left behind O Tufayl?" "I left hearts that are screened from the
Truth, and drenched in disbelief. The people of Dauss are too
immersed in sins and debauchery," he answered. The Prophet, sallallaahu alayhe wasallam, got up and performed wudhu (ablution),
then he raised his hands up to the sky and invoked Allah, "O Allah
guide Dauss. O Allah guide Dauss and bring them back to Islam." Then
he turned to at-Tufayl and said, "Go back to your people and call
them to Islam and be gentle with them."
At-Tufayl stayed in the homeland of
Dauss calling them to Islam until the Prophet, sallallaahu alayhe wa
sallam, migrated to Madinah and the battles of Badr, Uhud, and the
Trench had occurred. Then he went back to the Prophet, at the time
when the battle of Khaybar was taking place. He was at the lead of
eighty families from among the tribe of Dauss who accepted Islam and
became good Muslims. The Prophet, sallallaahu alayhe wasallam, was
very pleased with them and gave them an equal share of the booty
with the Muslims.
At-Tufayl remained with the Prophet,
sallallaahu alayhe wasallam, until the conquest of Makkah, and then
he asked him to send him to burn Thul-Kaffayn, an idol that belonged
to a clan from the Dauss tribe. People who worshiped the idol
gathered as he got near it, waiting for a lightening to strike him
or a dire punishment to befall him. They saw him as he lit the fire
to it while he chanted:
From your worship, Thul-Kaffayn, I
depart
My birth is more ancient than your birth,
Today I will stuff fire inside your heart.
The idol went up in smoke, and so did
the disbelief of the Dauss tribe, who entered Islam at once.
At-Tufayl returned to Madinah and
remained with the Prophet, sallallaahu alayhe wasallam, until Allah
took him to be with Him in Heaven. When the Khilafah was passed on
to Abu Bakr, some tribes from among the Arabs of Najd reneged, and
refused to pay the zakah. Abu Bakr waged a war against these
renegades, the wars of Riddah, and at-Tufayl and his son were among
those who sided with him. On their way to al-Yamamah, at-Tufayl had
a vision. He saw that his head had been shaved, and a bird was
coming out of his mouth, and that a woman met him and took him into
her womb, and he saw his son seeking him anxiously, but he was held
from him. He asked his companions to interpret the vision for him.
They said they hoped it would bode a good omen. He replied, "By
Allah I will interpret it myself. As for the shaving of my head it
means that it will be severed, and the bird coming out of my mouth
is my soul leaving my body, and the woman taking me into her womb is
the earth that will be open for me and I will be hidden therein. And
I hope I will die as a Shaheed. My son's anxious search for me means
that he would try what I had attained, but he will be prevented for
some time until he reaches his desires."
At the battle of al-Yamamah, at-Tufayl
fought valiantly, until he fell fatally wounded in the battlefield.
His son continued fighting, and returned from the battle, weakened
from the many wounds, leaving in the battlefield his father and his
hand which was severed. He later participated in the battle of
Yarmouk during the Khilafah of Umar and was slain, dying as a
martyr. May Allah be pleased with at-Tufayl the martyr, father of
the martyr.
Alia Amer
Last modified:
July 19, 2007
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