The story Abu Huraira

The story Abu Huraira: Enjoining His Mother

Enjoining His Mother

The story of Abu Huraira may Allah be pleased with him- in enjoining his mother to Islam

عَنْ أَبِى كَثِيرٍ يَزِيدَ بْنِ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ حَدَّثَنِى أَبُو هُرَيْرَةَ قَالَ كُنْتُ أَدْعُو أُمِّى إِلَى الإِسْلاَمِ وَهِىَ مُشْرِكَةٌ فَدَعَوْتُهَا يَوْمًا فَأَسْمَعَتْنِى فِى رَسُولِ اللَّهِ -صلى الله عليه وسلم- مَا أَكْرَهُ فَأَتَيْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ -صلى الله عليه وسلم- وَأَنَا أَبْكِى قُلْتُ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ إِنِّى كُنْتُ أَدْعُو أُمِّى إِلَى الإِسْلاَمِ فَتَأْبَى عَلَىَّ فَدَعَوْتُهَا الْيَوْمَ فَأَسْمَعَتْنِى فِيكَ مَا أَكْرَهُ فَادْعُ اللَّهَ أَنْ يَهْدِىَ أُمَّ أَبِى هُرَيْرَةَ فَقَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ -صلى الله عليه وسلم- « اللَّهُمَّ اهْدِ أُمَّ أَبِى هُرَيْرَةَ ».

From Abu Katsir, Yazid Ibn Abdurrahman, (he said), ‘Abu Huraira told me, “In the past, I used to enjoin my mother to embrace Islam, at the time when she was still a disbeliever. One day, I enjoined her, but instead of accepting it, she mocked the Messenger of Allah -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him- in front of me, which of course something that I hated to hear. Finally I went to see the Messenger of Allah -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him-, and I was crying. When I arrived in front of the Messenger of Allah -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him-, I said, “O Messenger of Allah, truly, I’ve been trying to enjoin my mother to embrace Islam, but she still rejected my call. Today, I tried again to enjoin her, but instead she mocked you. Therefore, please invoke Allah so that He bestow upon the mother of Abu Huraira, His guidance.” The Messenger of Allah -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him-then prayed, “O Allah, please give Your guidance to the mother of Abu Huraira.”

فَخَرَجْتُ مُسْتَبْشِرًا بِدَعْوَةِ نَبِىِّ اللَّهِ -صلى الله عليه وسلم- فَلَمَّا جِئْتُ فَصِرْتُ إِلَى الْبَابِ فَإِذَا هُوَ مُجَافٌ فَسَمِعَتْ أُمِّى خَشْفَ قَدَمَىَّ فَقَالَتْ مَكَانَكَ يَا أَبَا هُرَيْرَةَ. وَسَمِعْتُ خَضْخَضَةَ الْمَاءِ قَالَ – فَاغْتَسَلَتْ وَلَبِسَتْ دِرْعَهَا وَعَجِلَتْ عَنْ خِمَارِهَا فَفَتَحَتِ الْبَابَ ثُمَّ قَالَتْ يَا أَبَا هُرَيْرَةَ أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللَّهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ –

“Then I (Abu Huraira) left the Messenger of Allah -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him- happily, because he was willing to pray for my mother. After I arrived at the front of my door, I found that it was locked. When my mother heard my footsteps, she said, “Stay at your place, O Abu Huraira.” Then I heard the sound of water. In fact my mother was taking a bath. After she finished, she wore her robe and took her head scarf, then opened the door. After the door was opened, she said, “O Abu Huraira, I testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah, and Muhammad is His slave and His messenger.”

قَالَ – فَرَجَعْتُ إِلَى رَسُولِ اللَّهِ -صلى الله عليه وسلم- فَأَتَيْتُهُ وَأَنَا أَبْكِى مِنَ الْفَرَحِ – قَالَ – قُلْتُ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ أَبْشِرْ قَدِ اسْتَجَابَ اللَّهُ دَعْوَتَكَ وَهَدَى أُمَّ أَبِى هُرَيْرَةَ. فَحَمِدَ اللَّهَ وَأَثْنَى عَلَيْهِ وَقَالَ خَيْرًا – قَالَ – قُلْتُ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ادْعُ اللَّهَ أَنْ يُحَبِّبَنِى أَنَا وَأُمِّى إِلَى عِبَادِهِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَيُحَبِّبَهُمْ إِلَيْنَا – قَالَ – فَقَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ -صلى الله عليه وسلم- « اللَّهُمَّ حَبِّبْ عُبَيْدَكَ هَذَا – يَعْنِى أَبَا هُرَيْرَةَ وَأُمَّهُ – إِلَى عِبَادِكَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَحَبِّبْ إِلَيْهِمُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ ». فَمَا خُلِقَ مُؤْمِنٌ يَسْمَعُ بِى وَلاَ يَرَانِى إِلاَّ أَحَبَّنِى.

“Upon hearing her testimony, I rushed to see the Messenger of Allah -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him-. I met him while I was crying the happy tears because I was overwhelmingly happy. I told him, “O Messenger of Allah, be happy! Verily, Allah has granted your prayer and has given His guidance to the mother of Abu Huraira.” Hearing that, he praised Allah and exalted Him, then said, “Great.” Then I said to him, “O Messenger of Allah, please pray for me and my mother so that we’ll be the ones that are loved by all faithful believers.” He granted my wish, and prayed,” O Allah, make this slave of Yours, Abu Huraira and his mother as the ones that are loved by all your faithful believers and make them as the ones who love all the believers.” Therefore, there is no believer who heard about me or saw me, but he would love me.” (Narrated by Muslim, hadith no. 6551).

Morals of the story;

A believer is allowed to live in the same house with his disbeliever or polytheists parents.

A child who devoted to his parents would surely attempt seriously to enjoin his parents to be better; to change from a disbeliever into a believer, from polytheist to monotheist, from indulging in innovations to be firm on holding onto the sunnah, and from committing the evil doings to be a pious and obedient man. This is an example given by Abu Huraira as mentioned in the hadith.

Calling other people to do good must be done intensely, and not just one-time hit and then left. Therefore, Abu Huraira enjoined his mother repeatedly through various ways and approaches, until his mother were upset by him. This was the reason behind her mocking of the person her son respect the most, the Messenger of Allah -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him.

Among the points that should not be neglected in enjoining other people in general, and parents in particular, is through praying for them so that Allah will open their hearts to accept His guidance. Many of the preachers rely too much on the outer attempts, that they forget that human’s hearts are in the hand of Allah. Whereas maybe, through a prayer, the result that they have hardly achieved through various outer attempts will be realized.

The hadith above showed to us that it is allowed to ask for a prayer from a pious, living man, with a request which benefits are limited only to one who ask for that prayer, as Abu Huraira asked the Prophet to pray so that Allah would give His guidance to his mother.

A person who admitted that he was faithful but he grew hatred to Abu Huraira due to the doctrine of the orientalist, his faith is in danger because the characteristic of a faithful believer is that he’d love Abu Huraira, as in the prayer of the Prophet -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him-.

Having a bath for those who just embraced Islam is done before reciting the testimony.

The reason of crying is not all because of sadness, but it maybe due to joy and happiness.

About the hadith above, an Nawawi wrote in “Sharh Muslim”:

وَفِيهِ اِسْتِجَابَة دُعَاء رَسُول اللَّه صَلَّى اللَّه عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ عَلَى الْفَوْر بِعَيْنِ الْمَسْئُول ، وَهُوَ مِنْ أَعْلَام نُبُوَّته صَلَّى اللَّه عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ ، وَاسْتِحْبَاب حَمْد اللَّه عِنْد حُصُول النِّعَم .

“This hadith showed that the prayer of the Prophet might be granted at once, precisely as what he prayed, and this is a proof that he was indeed the prophet that Allah sent. The above hadith also showed that there is a suggestion to praise Allah when someone got a pleasurable thing.”

Author: Ustadz Aris Munandar

Article of www.whatisQuran.com

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.