Touching Stories Of The Sahaba (ra) ..

#22:;Al-BARAA IBN MALIK AL-ANSAR; (رضي الله عنه)

Allah chose for accompanying His prophet and taking knowledge from him a people who are the best of this nation, which is itself the best of all nations. He favored them in this worldly life by giving them the opportunity to see him and hear his hadith directly from his noble mouth. This is the bounty of Allah which He bestows upon whom He wills, and Allah possesses the greatest of bounties.

Indeed the Companions conveyed from Allah's Messenger that which he was sent with from guidance in the most complete and perfect form. They will have the greatest of rewards due to their companionship of Allah's Messenger, their fighting in Jihad along his side, and their noble actions in spreading Islam. They will also accumulate the rewards of those who come after them since they served as the intermediaries between them and Allâh's Messenger. This is due to his saying:

"Whoever calls towards guidance, he will have a reward equal to the reward earned by those who practice that guidance after him, and it will not reduce anything from their reward."

Our Hero today is the second of two brothers that lived for the service of the noble prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him). The brother of Bara ibn Malik was none other than the famous companion Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him), who was offered as a gift to the prophet (peace be upon him) by his mother Umm Sulaim (may Allah be pleased with her) when the prophet migrated from the holy city of Makkah to Madinah.

He had received the praise of the Messenger of Allah. He was a heroic student of the school of Suffa.The Messenger of Allah expressed his high virtue.
"There are so many people with disheveled hair, covered with dust; if they swear by Allah then He shall fulfill it. Among them is Al-Bara bin Malik."

Bara ibn Malik's (May Allah be pleased with him) only goal and aim in life was to please Allah and to gain martyrdom. Every battle that Bara fought in he done so with the aim to gain the status of a martyr. Victory in the battlefield for him was always a consolation prize.

His hair looked dishevelled and he was thin and wiry with so little flesh on his bones, yet in single handed combat he defeated and killed many opponents and in the thick of battle he was an outstanding fighter against the mushrikeen. He was so courageous and daring that Umar once wrote to his governors throughout the Islamic state that they should not appoint him to lead any army out of fear that he would have them all killed by his daring exploits.

If the tales of Baraa's heroism were to be told in detail pages and pages could be written. But let one example suffice .

This particular story begins only hours after the death of the noble Prophet when many Arabian tribes took to leaving the religion of God in large numbers, just as they had entered it in large numbers. Within a short space of time only the people of Makkah, Madinah and Taif and scattered communities here and there, whose commitment to Islam was unwavering, remained within the religion.

Abu Bakr as-Siddiq, the successor to the Prophet, stood firm against this blind and destructive movement. From the Muhajireen and Ansar, he mobilized eleven armies each under a separate commander and dispatched them to various parts of the Arabian peninsula. Their purpose was to make the apostates return to the path of guidance and truth and to confront the leaders of the rebellion.

The strongest group of apostates and the greatest in number were the Banu Hanifah among whom Musaylamah the Imposter arose, claiming that he was a prophet. Musaylamah managed to mobilize forty thousand of the best fighters among his people. Most of these however followed him for the sake of Allah or tribal loyalty and not because they believed in him. One of them in fact said, "I testify that Musaylamah is an impostor and that Muhammad is true but the impostor of Rabiah (Musaylamah) is dearer to us than the true man of Mudar (Muhammad ). "