Rabia Ibn-i Kab
Rabia was a young Muslim man. He loved the Prophet very much. One day he said to himself, “Shame on you,
Rabia. Why don’t you give all your time
to serving Muhammad (pbuh)? Go and
suggest this to him. He is enough for you
in both worlds.”
Rabia went to the Prophet and told him
about his idea. Muhammad (pbuh)
accepted it. From then on Rabia was
closer to the Prophet than his shadow.
He went wherever the Prophet went.
Rabia was always at Muhammad’s (pbuh) side.
After the Prophet had prayed the night prayer, Rabia would
leave. But one night he thought, “Maybe
the Messenger of God might need something during the night.” After that Rabia waited at the door of the
Prophet’s house all night long.
Muhammad (pbuh) spent much of the
night in prayer. Rabia heard him recite
the Fatiha sura
many
times. When it became very late, Rabia
fell asleep.
Whenever someone did something for the
Prophet, he would repay them with something even better. Because Rabia served him well, Muhammad
(pbuh) wanted to help him in return.
One day the Prophet said, “Rabia,
ask me for something, and I will give it to you.” Rabia asked for a little time to think about what he wanted. The Prophet agreed.
At that time Rabia was a poor, young
man. He did not have a home, a family
or wealth. At night he stayed at the
masjid. Other homeless people stayed
there as well. They were called the
‘guests of Islam’. When other Muslims
gave charity to the Prophet, he sent it all to them. When the Prophet received a gift, he accepted part of it. Then he gave the rest to those in the
masjid.
At first Rabia thought to ask the
Prophet for worldly goods, some money, a wife and children. But he changed his mind quickly. He thought, “Shame on you, Rabia. This world is only passing. God sends you your daily food. Why don’t you ask for something in the next
world?”
When he thought this way, Rabia felt
at peace with himself. He went to the
Prophet and said, “Rasulullah, will you pray to God to make me your companion
in Paradise?”
“Who advised you to say that?”
asked the Prophet.
“No one,” said Rabia. “At
first I was going to ask you for something from this world. But this world won’t last. So I want to be with you in Paradise which
will last forever.”
The Prophet remained silent for a long
time. Then he asked,
“Do you want
anything else from me?”
“No,” replied Rabia.
“That’s enough for me.”
“Then, in that case, spend a lot of time in worship,” said the Prophet.
Rabia did as Muhammad (pbuh)
said. Shortly afterwards the Prophet
called Rabia. He asked,
“Rabia,
don’t you want to get married?”
“I only want to serve you,” said Rabia. “Besides that I don’t have anything to give as mahr to a
wife. I don’t have a house either.”
The Prophet kept quiet. But another time he asked Rabia again, “Don’t
you want to get married?” This time
Rabia gave the same answer as before.
But later he thought to himself,
Rabia, the Prophet knows what is best for you in this life and the next. If he asks again, you should accept.
Some time later the Prophet again asked Rabia if he wanted to get
married. This time Rabia said, “Yes,
Rasulullah, I want to get married. But
I am poor and I don’t have a house. Who
will marry me?”
The Prophet gave Rabia the name of a
family and said, “Go to this family.
Tell them I want them to give their daughter to you in marriage.”
Rabia went to the family, but he was
shy. He told them the Prophet had sent
him to ask for their daughter’s hand in marriage.
“Our daughter?” they asked.
“Yes,” replied Rabia.
They said they were pleased to do what
the Prophet asked. Then they married
Rabia to their daughter. Rabia went
back to Muhammad (pbuh) and said, “Rasulullah, I’m coming from the best of
homes. They treated me very well. They married me to their daughter. But where can I get her mahr?”
The Prophet called Bureyde and told
him to gather some gold for the mahr.
After he had done so, Rabia took the gold to his in-laws. They were very pleased with the mahr.
Then Rabia asked the Prophet about the
wedding feast. Muhammad (pbuh) again
called Bureyde. “Gather enough money for a ram,” he said. When the money had been collected, they
bought a ram. Then the Prophet told
Rabia to ask for some barley from his wife, Aisha. She gave Rabia her last bag of barley for the wedding feast.
The wedding dinner was prepared in a
short time. Rabia invited the Prophet,
and he attended. After the feast, the
Prophet gave Rabia some land near Abu Bekir’s land. So Rabia now had both a wife and property.
One day Rabia and Abu Bekir had a
misunderstanding over a palm tree.
Rabia said the tree was on his land.
But Abu Bekir said it was on his land.
At the end of the argument Abu Bekir said a bad word to Rabia. But as soon as he said it, he was sorry. He asked Rabia to say the same thing to him
so they would be even. But Rabia
refused to say the bad word.
“If you don’t say it, I’ll complain to the Prophet,” said Abu
Bekir.And he went to see Muhammad (pbuh). Rabia followed him.
The Prophet asked, “What’s the
problem between you two, Rabia?”
Rabia
replied, “Rasulullah, he wants me to say the same bad word he said to me. But I don’t want to.”
“You’re right, Rabia,”
said the
Prophet. “Don’t say it. Say, ‘May God forgive you, Abu Bekir.’”
Rabia looked at Abu Bekir and said,
“May God forgive you.”
Abu Bekir looked at Rabia with tears
in his eyes. He said, “For my sake, may God reward you with goodness, Rabia
Ibn-i Kab.”