THE INSPIRING LIFE OF ABU HURAIRAH

The most famous of the Sahaba who has cited an approximate of 5300 traditions from Prophet Muhammad is Abu Hurairah. He was named Abdul Rehman by the Prophet Muhammad. His complete name is Abdul Rehman Bin Sakhar ad Doosi. He came to be known as Abu Hurairah out of his love for kittens and had a pet cat who he used to feed and clean. It followed him everywhere he went as if it were his shadow. Thus he was called “Father of the kitten”. He was very sympathetic towards animals. [Sear A’laam An Nubala’]

He accepted Islam at the hands of Tufayl ibn Amr, the chief of Daws tribe. Later he had the privilege of meeting Prophet Muhammad in Makkah.

In the beginning of the 7th year of Hijrah, he came to Madinah and took refuge in Masjid AnNabawi with Ahl Assuffah. Abu Hurairah spent all his time accompanying Prophet Muhammad. He even joined him on his journeys and expeditions. Though he only accompanied the Prophet Muhammad during the last four years of his life, he had the honour of performing the most prominent task of preserving the religion by his formidable memory in the form of ahadith.

Zayd ibn Thabit the notable Sahaba of the Prophet Mouhammad reported: “While Abu Hurairah and I and another friend of mine were in the Masjid praying to God Almighty and performing dhikr to Him, the Messenger of God appeared. He came towards us and sat among us. We became silent and he said: “Carry on with what you were doing.”

“So, my friend and I made a supplication to God before Abu Hurairah did and the Prophet began to say Ameen to our dua. Then Abu Hurairah made a supplication saying: “O Lord, I ask You for what my two companions have asked and I ask You for knowledge which will not be forgotten.” “The Prophet said: ‘Ameen.’ “We then said: ‘And we ask Allah for knowledge which will not be forgotten, and the Prophet replied: ‘The Dawsi youth has asked for this before you.”

Another incident which justifies his excellent memory is once when Marwaan bin al Hakim wanted to test his ability to memorize and invited him over. He asked Abu Hurairah for some narration and secretly had a scribe write down whatever was being said. One year later Marwaan made Abu Hurairah reiterate the traditions and to his surprise not a single word was wrong!

Imam Ash Shafi’i (May Allah be pleased with him) said about him “No one in his period was more capable of narrating traditions with such a memory than Abu Hurairah”. [Sear A’lam An Nubala’]

Abu Hurairah pressed heavily on adhering to the rights of parents. After becoming a Muslim his main concern was to convince his mother to become a Muslim. He kept persuading her for a long time until he finally asked Prophet Muhammad to pray for her. Afterwards she reverted back to Islam.

According to another narration, Abu Hurairah – used to say, “By Allah! Whenever any male or female Muslim hears my name, they take a liking to me.” “How do you know this?” the narrator asked. He then mentioned that after his mother embraced Islam he went on to deliver the news to Prophet Muhammad when he asked the Messenger of Allah to pray to make his mother and himself beloved to every Mu’min male or female. ‘Therefore, whenever any male or female Muslim hears my name, they take a liking to me.’

However, life was not that easy for Ahl Assuffah. The companions of Prophet Muhammad  endured extreme hunger, cold and heat. Abu Hurairah May Allah be pleased with him often had stones tied to his stomach to lessen the hunger. Such was the character and patience of the Sahabas and the sacrifices they made to preserve this religion.

Abu Hurairah May Allah be pleased with him later on became the governor of Bahrain during Umar’s caliphate and owned a halal source of income which made him wealthy, but he constantly reminisced about times when he had nothing.

Ibn Sirin narrates that they were with Abu Hurairah who was wearing two reddish coloured cloths made in Kattaan. Wiping his nose with one of them, he said, “Wow! Abu Hurayra is wiping his nose with a cloth from Kattaan whereas there was a time when I seen myself fall down unconscious in front of Prophet Muhammad’s pulpit and the room of Aa’isha. Someone would then come and place his foot on my neck thinking that I was insane whereas I was suffering extreme hunger. [Bukhari and Tirmidhi]

Moreover, Abu Hurairah was a frequent worshipper; he used to take turns praying at nights. One third of the night was prayed by him, second third by his wife and last third by his daughter. Hence, all night long his house was busy in remembrance of Allah.

He died at the age of 78 and was buried amongst the inhabitants of Al-Baqii. After attending his funeral, many of his students kept narrating the countless traditions of Prophet Muhammad that they learnt from him.