When You ignore Good Advice……The Decisive Night Before the Badr
When your doom is destined you loose the company of your intelligence, patience and you rush to destruction. That is what happened to Pharoah and this is what happened to those 70 leaders of Quraish who were intoxicated with their quanitity of number and quality of weaponary.
There was a man in the court of Pharoah who had believed in Moses (pbuh) but hid his faith. In the court when Phaorah was consulting his courtmen and ministers how to deal with Moses peace be upon him, this man advised Pharoah earnestly not to kill Moses. Do You kill a man just because he says that My Lord is Allah, while he has brought clear proofs from your Lord and if he is lying then upon him is the consequence of his lies but if he is truthful? There will strike you some of what he promises you… the verse from Surah Ghafir continues with the advice of this man stretching upto a whole ruku… Phaorah did not heed to his advice but he choose to listen to Hamam and Qaroon and other pyshcopants in his court.
In the camp of Quraish the scene was a little similar to the court of Pharoah. They appointed Umair bin Wahab to take a stock of the Muslim army. He went around the valley on his horse and found that the Muslims numbered only around 300. So he went back and said: I saw only three hudred but I fear if there are others who are following them or hidden. Allow me to go farther and check it. He was allowed to ahead. He went and searched but could not find any thing. Some Muslims spotted him and he was identified by his horse. Rasullullah peace be upon him looked at him and said : If only the Quraish heed to the advice of this man, when he gives them, they will be saved from destruction.
Note the words of caution that Umair gave to his tribe when he returned and went to Hakim bin Hijam : You are a strong man of Quraish. I took a complete stock of the Muslim army and I did not fnd anything special but I see a calamity befaling upon the Quraish. I see camels sitting on the back of their masters (The Musims have come along with death.. Either they die or they will kill )….The Ansar are such, they dont have any refuge except their swords. There is not a single among them who will die without killing atleast one of us. And if this happens then what is the purpose of remaining alive for the rest of the life. Hakim heard this and went to Utbah. Utbah agreed and so did some young men of Quraish pagan. Hakim took ‘Utba’s mesage to Abu Jahl, who was laying out arrows from out of the quiver. “I see,” said he, as the message was delivered to him, “Utba’s courage has failed him.”
Utba was furious at the taunt of Abu Jahl, and retorted “The battle would tell which of them would come off with the blot of cowardice”. Saying this he asked for a helmet. But his skull was so big for any helmet that could be found. As a last resort he wound a piece of cloth rung his head and got himself armed. In the battle ‘Utba, the chief in command, had been stung to the quick by the taunt of Abu Jahl. He came out of the line with his brother and son ; and called for an adversary.
It was customary with men of repute among the Arabs to go out to the battlefield with a special mark of distinction. ‘Utba had a feather of an ostrich stuck on his chest. ‘Auf, Mu’adh and ‘Abdullah Ibn Rawaha came out to meet the Quraish notables. ‘Utba asked them their names; and on learning that they were all Ansaris, he said he had nothing to do with them. Then he called to the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) saying they (Mu’adh and others) were not his equals. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) asked Ansaris to retire. Hamza, ‘Ali and ‘Ubaida (Allah be pleased with them ) took up the challenge. They had helmets over their faces and could not be recognized. ‘Utba asked who they were ? They told him their names and parentage. “Yes”, said ‘Utba, “You are a match for us.” ‘Utba engaged Hamza, Walid came upon ‘Ali and both the infidels were slain. But ‘Utba’s brother, Shaiba, wounded ‘Ubaida. ‘Ali (Allah be pleased with him) came up and did him to death. Quriahs lost 70 of their cheftians and got a deadly blow. The reason was simple. They did not heed to the good advice but followed their ego and jealosy.
There are many such moments in life when we are heading towards a destruction, we will be confronted by some good advisors around us. They will caution you to be away from having an affair with a Disbeliever or caution you from taking an interest based loan for buying a house or a car. Good advisors will be there but if you are not heeding them ? Then note the words of Allah.. walantajida sunnatillahi tabdila..You will not find a change in the tradition of Allah……If it can be with Phaorah, if it can be the Quraish of Makkah it can be us too.. I hope you get my advice !
Author Nisaar Nadiadwala speaks and writes on Islam and Muslims. He can be reached at nisaar_yusuf@yahoo.com