Abu Huraira enjoyed a great
talent, he was gifted with an extraordinary long term memory to the extent
that he would hear a discussion or a speech and be able to reproduce the
identical discussion or speech years later without changing or deleting
one single word from it.
This great gift that Abu Huraira
enjoyed could have been the worst thing that could have happened to him
as some people used his well known and authentic name to make up false
Hadeeth about our beloved Prophet
,
and link these false Hadeeth to Abu Huraira
.
However, through hard and sincere efforts put in by some of the pious scholars
who sacrificed their lives to preserve and save our beloved Prophet's
Hadeeth (sayings) and save them from any harm by the enemies of Islaam
who tried to mislead Muslims by adding to them thing that were never said
by the Prophet of Allah
, Abu
Huraira's
reputation was saved
from their wrong doing until our present day.
Abu Huraira became a Muslim
at the hands of At-Tufayl Ibn Amr who was the chief of the tribe to which
he belonged. When he submitted to the truthfulness of this religion, he
accompanied At-Tufayl to Makkah and had the privilege of meeting the noble
Prophet
. The Prophet
asked Abu Huraira
what his name
was, "Abdu-Shams" (the servant of the sun), Abu Huraira
replied. So he was introduced by the holy Prophet
to change his name to "Abdur-Rahmaan" (the servant of the Beneficent).
However, he continued to be known among people as "Abu Hurrah" (the kitten's
father) because of his love for a cat he looked after and fed, and which
used to stick to him wherever he went.
Abu Huraira lived with his mother
who was still a Mushrik. He prayed for her and tried hard to convince her
to join Islam, but she adamantly refused. One day when he was telling her
about Islaam she uttered some words about the Prophet
which saddened Abu Huraira
greatly.
He went to the Prophet
, his eyes
full of tears and told him about what had happened between him and his
mother. He also asked the Prophet
to make supplication to Allaah
for
her to make her heart respond to Islaam. The Prophet
responded to Abu Huraira's
request
and prayed for his mother. When Abu Huraira
returned home he was delighted to hear his mother, who had just taken a
shower, testifying that there is no god but Allaah and that Muhammad is
His Servant and His Messenger. So he rushed back to the Prophet
with his eyes glowing with joy, and informed him that Allaah had answered
his prayers, and guided his mother to Islaam. He then said: "O Allaah's
Messenger, Ask Allaah to make me and my mother lovable to the believing
men and women". So he
said:
"O Allaah, make this servant of yours and his mother lovable to every
believing man and woman".
With his great gift and talent, Abu Huraira
realized that he was able to serve this religion a great deal. He realized
that, because many of the early companions who had the most knowledge died
in the battles in Allaah's cause, this religion needed people to preserve
it, as in these days the companions used to write only the Qur'aan fearing
it might get mixed with the Hadeeth of the Messenger
,
if the latter was to be documented too. Even among those who had a great
deal of knowledge, many of them were occupied by their trades and didn't
have as much free time as Abu Huraira
to spend with the Prophet
. Also
the fact that he had an extraordinary long term memory meant that he could
hear the Prophet's
teachings and
be able to ask a writer to write them later knowing that he will not forget
any of them. Therefore, during the four years Abu Huraira
stayed with the Prophet
in Madinah,
he set himself to accompany the holy Prophet
to gain knowledge and memorize his sayings and teachings in order to preserve
the word of Allaah
and the teachings
of his beloved Prophet
. The Prophet
himself directed Abu Huraira
to
an effective way to memorize his Hadeeths, Abu Huraira
said: Allaah's Prophet
one day said
to us: "whoever spreads his dress until I finish my talk, and then takes
hold of it, will not forget anything from what he heard from me".
The fact that Abu Huraira set
himself to preserve the teachings of the noble Prophet
,
meant that he was always close to the Prophet
in his stay in Madinah, as he had free time at his disposal, unlike the
Muhajirin he did not work in trade and unlike the Ansar he did not have
a land to look after. This enabled Abu Huraira
to stay with the noble Prophet
at
Madinah and to go with him on journeys and expeditions.
He loved the Prophet a great
deal, he was never tired of looking at the Prophet
nor was he tired of listening to him. Often he would praise Allaah
for his good fortune and say "Praise be to Allaah who has guided Abu
Huraira to Islaam, Praise be to Allaah who taught Abu Huraira the Qur'aan,
Praise be to Allaah who has bestowed on Abu Huraira the companionship of
Muhammad
".
Abu Huraira underwent much hardship
and difficulties as a result of devoting his life to knowledge and companionship
of the holy Prophet
:
"One day,
my hunger became so severe that I placed a stone on my stomach. I then
sat down in the path of the companions. Abu Bakr passed by and I asked
him about an Ayah of the book of God. I only asked him so that he would
invite me but he didn't".
Despite the fact that Abu Huraira
set himself to preserving the word of Allaah and the teachings of his Prophet
,
he by no means neglected his other duties as much of his time was spend
in prayers and devotion to God. He often rotated staying up at night with
his wife and his daughter, as he would stay up for a third of the night,
his wife for another third and his daughter for a third, this way in the
house of Abu Huraira
no hour of
the night would pass without Ibadah and Salaah. Abu Huraira's
presence was also felt in the battlefield when needed to protect and establish
the religion of Islaam by the sword, as he lived all his life, since becoming
a Muslim, as a soldier of Islaam not missing a single battle with the holy
Prophet
.
After the death of the holy Prophet,
Abu Huraira
continued his duties
in conveying the teachings of the Prophet
. He went on preaching a great number of Ahadeeth, which made some of his
friends curious of the large amount of Ahadith that he memorized in such
a short time. Although the fact that he was able to memorize so many Ahadeeth
was justified by the fact that he was dedicated to staying with the Prophet
and due to the extraordinary ability to memorize speeches from the first
time.
During the caliphate of Umar,
Umar
appointed him as a governor
of Bahrain where he became quiet rich. Umar
,
being very scrupulous about the type of persons he appointed as governors,
he was concerned that his governors should live simply and frugally and
not acquire much wealth even through lawful means. When Umar
heard about Abu Huraira's
wealth
he recalled him to Madinah, thinking that Abu Huraira
had acquired his wealth through unlawful means.
When Abu Huraira arrived in
Madinah, Umar
questioned him about
the way he acquired such a fortune. Abu Huraira
replied "from breeding horses and gifts that I received". Umar
then ordered him to hand his fortune over to the treasury of the Muslims.
Abu Huraira
did as he was ordered
and raised his hands to the heavens and prayed "O Lord, forgive Amir
ul-Muminin". After a while Umar
called upon Abu Huraira
and offered
him to regain his position as the governor of Bahrain but Abu Huraira
refused the offer. When he was asked by Umar
why he refused his offer he replied "So that my honor would not be besmirched,
and my wealth would not be taken and my back would not be beaten".
He then added "I also fear to judge without knowledge and speak without
wisdom".
Abu Huraira continued to live
a righteous life, devoting himself to serve the religion of Islam and being
kind to his mother as well as encouraging others to be kind to their parents.
One day when Abu Huraira's
health
was deteriorating quickly and his friends were praying for him to recover,
he looked to the heavens and said "O Allaah I love meeting you and ask
you to love meeting me". He then died in the year 59 after Hijra when
he was seventy eight years old.
He died after having accomplished his duty and his desire to preserve
and transmit the teachings of the Holy Prophet,
leaving Muslims a great debt of gratitude for helping to preserve the teachings
of the noble Prophet
and setting
them a perfect example and platform to follow in preaching and conveying
to the humanity what he and others had worked relentlessly, facing all
sorts of hardships, in order to preserve. We ask Allaah
to reward Abu Huraira
and grant
him the companionship of the holy Prophet
in the hereafter just as he was granted his companionship in this world.
By Br. Hamzah Qassem