—set him up and throw ourselves into battles for his sake, nor to settle some ancient vendetta that had been exacted from us. Rather, when we saw the lamps of guidance put out (1), the speaker of truth reduced to weakness, and the upholder of justice slain, the earth, vast as it is, felt tight around us. Then we heard a herald calling to obedience to the All-Merciful and to the judgment of the Qur’an, so we answered the call of Allah: “Whoever does not respond to the caller of Allah shall never escape Him on earth” (46:32).
We came from many scattered tribes: a handful of us riding one camel, carrying on it their provisions and their very selves, sharing a single blanket among them. We were few, downtrodden in the land, yet Allah sheltered us and supported us with His victory; by Allah’s grace we awoke as brothers.
Your men then met us at Qudaid. We summoned them to obedience to the All-Merciful and to the judgment of the Qur’an, while they summoned us to obedience to Satan and to the rule of the sons of Marwan. By Allah, how wide the gulf between error and right guidance! They came rushing toward us, Satan having driven his breastbone among them, his cauldrons boiling with their blood. His conjecture about them proved true, and they followed him. Meanwhile the helpers of Allah advanced in companies and battalions, each man bearing a gleaming sword. Our millstone began to grind, and theirs to turn beneath blows that made the champions of falsehood waver.
O people of Medina! If you aid Marwan, Allah will consume you with a punishment from Himself or at our hands, and will thereby soothe the hearts of a believing folk. O people of Medina! Your first generation was the best of any first; your last will be the worst of any last. O people of Medina! The people are of us and we are of them—except a polytheist who worships an idol, a disbeliever from the People of the Book, or an unjust ruler. O people of Medina! Whoever claims that Allah burdens a soul beyond its capacity, or asks it about what He has not granted it, is an enemy of Allah, and I am at war with him.
O people of Medina! Tell me about the eight shares that Allah has prescribed in His Book for both the strong and the weak. Then a ninth man appeared—he had not a single share among them, yet he seized them all for himself, defiantly waging war against his Lord.
O people of Medina! Word has reached me that you belittle my companions. You say, “They are mere youths, rough and uncouth Bedouins.” Woe to you! Were not the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ themselves youths? By Allah, they were young men in the very prime of youth: their eyes averted from evil, their feet reluctant to pursue falsehood. They sold to Allah their mortal souls for souls that will never die. They blended their weariness with weariness, their standing by night with fasting by day. Their backs were bent over the portions of the Qur’an; whenever they passed a verse of fear they gasped, dreading the Fire; whenever they passed a verse of longing they gasped, yearning for Paradise. Then, when they saw swords drawn, spears leveled, arrows notched, and the battalion rumbling with the thunder of death, by Allah, they dismissed the menace of the battalion in light of Allah’s threat in the Qur’an, and they never belittled Allah’s threat because of the battalion’s menace. So glad tidings to them, and an excellent final abode!
How many an eye, now lodged in the beak of a bird, had once overflowed in the depths of night from fear of Allah—had once wept in secret out of dread of Him! How many a hand, now severed from its joint, had long struck in the path of Allah, striving against the enemies of Allah, and had long been relied upon by its owner in obedience to Allah!
I say these words of mine and seek Allah’s forgiveness for my shortcomings. My success is only through Allah; upon Him I rely, and to Him I turn in repentance (2).