Big city, bright lights. Cars flash in fast lanes. Young Muslims are getting ready to hit the “night scene”. Branded shoes and designer clothes in place, clutching the latest mobile gizmos and sporting the trendiest watches, their perfume smells — more than anything else – of money. You can see them “hanging out” in groups, lolling in the bright lights of a megamall, lingering aimlessly in hypershops, buying a knick knack to drive away the boredom; even if it’s just for a second. You can see them sipping cappucino at a Starbucks cafe … watching people go by, sharing a joke and laughing raucously; vacant eyes straying over to huge tv screens for the latest football score. You can see them racing cars dangerously late into the night, music blasting from the stereos, startling passersby while they laugh in their faces. A standard sight. Each time I see this all-too familiar scene, I find myself thinking of someone. Someone who lies buried in the blood-wet earth of ‘Uhud, feet covered by scented grass and his body covered only by a square woollen sheet that was not even sufficient to cover him completely. Someone who was his mother’s pampered son, he wore the best clothes his rich mother’s money could buy, his perfume scented the streets he walked through. The talk of Makkan matrons and maidens in their plush salons, the toast of his peers in the city’s clubs, the most flamboyant young man of the Quraysh, who left a life of pleasuring the Self to gain the pleasure of Allaah: Mus’ab bin ‘Umair bin Haashim bin ‘Abd Manaaf bin ‘Abd ad-Daar bin Qusayy bin Kilaab who was also known as Mus’ab al Khair. Mus’ab’s Journey to Faith Mus’ab was only a youth when he heard of the new Prophet who had arisen among the Quraysh and his Message of monotheism; Makkah talked of very little else in those days. His curiosity piqued by all the talk, Mus’ab decided to approach the Prophet (sallAllaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) on his own to determine the truth of his Message. One night, instead of joining his friends in their customary revelry, Mus’ab made his way to the house of Al-Arqaam Ibn Al-Arqaam which came to be known as Daar al Arqaam among the Muslims. It was here that the Prophet met with the growing band of Muslims, away from the eyes of the Quraysh. It was here that the Companions talked over the future of their faith, heard and recited newly revealed portions of the Qur’aan and prayed behind the Prophet (sallAllaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) to Allaah. That night, Mus’ab sat down among the gathering of the faithful and heard the Prophet (sallAllaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) recite verses of the Qur’aan. From that moment on he forgot for ever his life of luxury and indolence, in the ecstasy of discovering the key to eternal life. Mus’ab’s path to the faith was not easy – his mother, Khunnas bint Maalik, a strong willed woman infamous for her sharp temper and sharper tongue – was his chief opponent. In order to avoid an unpleasant confrontation with his mother, Mus’ab initially avoided telling her about his new faith. However, people found him frequenting Daar Al-Arqaam more than his usual haunts and saw him coming under the influence of the Prophet (sallAllaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam). It wasn’t long before news of his conversion reached his mother. Reacting with the imperiousness of her nature, her pride in her lineage and her age-old allegiance to the gods, she commanded Mus’ab to return and repent to the gods he had abandoned in his “foolishness”; and when he refused, she had him shackled and imprisoned in a corner of the house. Somehow, news of the first emigration of some Muslims to Abyssinia reached Mus’ab in his incarceration and his heart longed to join his brothers in the faith. Using his ingenuity, he managed to delude his mother and his guards and escaped to Abyssinia with other emigrants. Later, he returned to Makkah with them for a short while and emigrated a second time, this time as the Prophet (sallAllaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam)’s chosen envoy to the new centre of faith: Yathrib. When Mus’ab returned from Abyssinia, his mother sought to imprison him yet again. But this time he vowed that if she attempted that, he would kill all those who came to her aid to lock him up. She knew the intensity of his determination better than anyone else and so she bade him a final farewell, crying bitterly: Go away, I am no longer your mother. At this, Mus’ab went close to her and said: O Mother, I am advising you and my heart is with you, please bear witness that there is no God but Allaah and that Muhammad is His servant and messenger. Enraged, she swore: By the stars, I will never enter your religion, to degrade my status and weaken my senses! But Mus’ab entered Islam in the spirit of the Qur’aan when it says: udkhuloo fi silme kaafah [enter into Islam completely]. He forsook every semblance of satisfaction of the Self for the sake of Allaah – his dress was tattered, his food was simple, the bare earth was his bed. One day he went out to meet some Muslims while they were sitting around the Prophet (sallAllaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), and when they saw him they lowered their heads and shed silent tears at the sight of the pampered youth of their memory , moving about in wornout patches held together by thorns, which barely covered him. After Mus’ab moved away from the gathering, the Prophet (sallAllaahu ‘alayhi wassallam) recalled: I saw Mus’ab, and there was no youth in Makkah more petted by his parents than he. Then he abandoned all that for the love of Allaah and His Prophet. to be continued ...........