Al-Husayn ibn Salam was a Jewish rabbi in Yathrib [Medina] who was widely respected and honored by the people of the city, even by those who were not Jewish.\u00a0 \u00a0He was known for his piety and goodness, his upright conduct, and his truthfulness.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Al-Husayn lived a peaceful and gentle life but he was serious, purposeful and organized in the way he spent his time.\u00a0 For a fixed period each day, he would worship, teach and preach in the temple.<\/p>\n
Then he would spend some time in his orchard, looking after date palms, pruning and pollinating.\u00a0 Thereafter, to increase his understanding and knowledge of his religion, he would devote himself to the study of the Torah.<\/p>\n
In this study, it is said he was particularly struck by some verses of the Torah which dealt with the coming of a Prophet who would complete the message of previous Prophets.\u00a0 Al-Husayn therefore took an immediate and keen interest when he heard reports of the appearance of a Prophet in Makkah.<\/p>\n
When I heard of the appearance of the Messenger of God (peace be upon him) I began to make enquiries about his name, his genealogy, his characteristics, his time and place and I began to compare this information with what is contained in our books.<\/p>\n
From these enquiries, I became convinced about the authenticity of his prophethood and I affirmed the truth of his mission.\u00a0 However, I concealed my conclusions from the Jews.\u00a0 I held my tongue.<\/p>\n
Then came the day when the Prophet, peace be upon him, left Makkah and headed for Yathrib.\u00a0 When he reached Yathrib and stopped at Quba, a man came rushing into the city, calling out to people and announcing the arrival of the Prophet.<\/p>\n
At that moment, I was at the top of a palm tree doing some work.\u00a0 My aunt, Khalidah bint Al-Harith, was sitting under the tree.\u00a0 On hearing the news, I shouted: \u201cAllahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!\u201d (God is Great! God is Great!)<\/p>\n
When my aunt heard me, she remonstrated with me: \u201cMay God frustrate you…\u00a0 By God, if you had heard that Moses was coming you would not have been more enthusiastic.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAuntie, he is really, by God, the \u2018brother\u2019 of Moses and follows his religion.\u00a0 He was sent with the same mission as Moses.\u201d She was silent for a while and then said: \u201cIs he the Prophet about whom you spoke to us who would be sent to confirm the truth preached by previous (Prophets) and complete the message of his Lord?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes,\u201d I replied.<\/p>\n
Without any delay or hesitation, I went out to meet the Prophet.\u00a0 I saw crowds of people at his door.\u00a0 I moved about in the crowds until I reached close to him.<\/p>\n
The first words I heard him say were: \u201cO people! Spread peace…\u00a0 Share food…\u00a0 Pray during the night while people (normally) sleep…\u00a0 and you will enterParadise in peace.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at him closely.\u00a0 I scrutinized him and was convinced that his face was not that of an imposter.\u00a0 I went closer to him and made the declaration of faith that there is no god but God and that Muhammad is the Messenger of God.<\/p>\n
The Prophet turned to me and asked: \u201cWhat is your name?\u201d \u00a0\u201cAl-Husayn ibn Salam,\u201d I replied.\u00a0 \u201cInstead, it is now Abdullah ibn Sallam,\u201d he said (giving me a new name).\u00a0 \u201cYes\u201d I agreed.\u00a0 \u201cAbdullah ibn Salam it shall be.\u00a0 By Him who has sent you with the Truth, I do not wish to have another name after this day.\u201d<\/p>\n
I returned home and introduced Islam to my wife, my children and the rest of my household.\u00a0 They all accepted Islam including my aunt Khalidah who was then an old lady.\u00a0 However, I advised them then to conceal our acceptance of Islam from the Jews until I gave them permission.\u00a0 They agreed.<\/p>\n
Subsequently, I went back to the Prophet (peace be upon him), and said: \u201cO Messenger of God! The Jews are a people (inclined to) slander and falsehood.\u00a0 I want you to invite their most prominent men to meet you.\u00a0 (During the meeting however), you should keep me concealed from them in one of your rooms.\u00a0 Ask them then about my status among them before they find out of my acceptance of Islam.\u00a0 Then invite them to Islam.\u00a0 If they were to know that I have become a Muslim, they would denounce me and accuse me of everything base and slander me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Prophet kept me in one of his rooms and invited the prominent Jewish personalities to visit him.\u00a0 He introduced Islam to them and urged them to have faith in God.<\/p>\n
They began to dispute and argue with him about the Truth.\u00a0 When he realized that they were not inclined to accept Islam, he put the question to them:<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is the status of Al-Husayn ibn Salam among you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is our\u00a0sayyid<\/em> (leader) and the son of our\u00a0sayyid<\/em>.\u00a0 He is our rabbi and ouralim<\/em> (scholar), the son of our rabbi and\u00a0alim<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf you come to know that he has accepted Islam, would you accept Islam also?\u201d asked the Prophet.<\/p>\n \u201cGod forbid! He would not accept Islam.\u00a0 May God protect him from accepting Islam,\u201d they said, horrified.<\/p>\n At this point I came out in full view of them and announced: \u201cO assembly of Jews! Be conscious of God and accept what Muhammad has brought.\u00a0 By God, you certainly know that he is the Messenger of God and you can find prophecies about him and mention of his name and characteristics in your Torah.\u00a0 I for my part declare that he is the Messenger of God.\u00a0 I have faith in him and believe that he is true.\u00a0 I know him.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou are a liar,\u201d they shouted.\u00a0 \u201cBy God, you are evil and ignorant, the son of an evil and ignorant person.\u201d And they continued to heap every conceivable abuse on me.<\/p>\n Abdullah ibn Salam approached Islam with a soul thirsty for knowledge.\u00a0 He was passionately devoted to the Quran and spent much time reciting and studying its beautiful and sublime verses.\u00a0 He was deeply attached to the noble Prophet and was constantly in his company.<\/p>\n He spent much of his time in the masjid, engaged in worship, in learning and in teaching.\u00a0 He was known for his sweet, moving and effective way of teaching study circles of Sahabah who assembled regularly in the Prophet\u2019s mosque.<\/p>\n Abdullah ibn Salam was known among the Sahabah as a man from the people of Paradise.\u00a0 This was because of his determination on the advice of the Prophet to hold steadfastly to the \u2018most trustworthy handhold\u2019 that is belief in and total submission to God.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Al-Husayn ibn Salam was a Jewish rabbi in Yathrib [Medina] who was widely respected and honored by the people of the city, even by those who were not Jewish.\u00a0 \u00a0He was known for his piety and goodness, his upright conduct, … Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whoismohamed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whoismohamed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whoismohamed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whoismohamed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whoismohamed.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=252"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.whoismohamed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":253,"href":"https:\/\/www.whoismohamed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252\/revisions\/253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whoismohamed.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whoismohamed.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whoismohamed.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Here ends his own narration.<\/h3>\n