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Khabbab ibn al-Aratt (r.a.) and the Torments He Endured
In the first ranks of Islamic history, there walked a blessed soul who fearlessly threw himself into the arena of trial and endured the most horrific tortures for the sake of Allah: Khabbab ibn al-Aratt (r.a.). He was one of the first five or six people to be honored with Islam. Solely because of this choice, he was left in the gears of a cruelty machine that would last for years and push the boundaries of human intellect.
The polytheists would force him into iron armor and cast him beneath the scorching sun of Mecca, which resembled hell. While the iron armor turned into glowing embers from the heat and seared his flesh, he would be drenched in sweat and blood, yet he never made a single concession regarding his cause. This brutality was not enough; they would lay him on his back upon red-hot sands that resembled a burning flame and step on his chest with their feet so he could not rise. Because of these tortures, inflicted without mercy, the flesh on his back melted, rotted, and fell off in pieces!
Khabbab was the slave of a cruel woman named Umm Anmar. Whenever this woman heard that he had met with the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.), she would heat an iron over the fire until it turned glowing red and brand Khabbab’s head as a punishment. It was a hellish life that words fail to describe...
Years later, during his own caliphate, Umar (r.a.) asked Khabbab to describe the tortures inflicted upon him in detail. Instead of speaking, Khabbab did only one thing: "Look at my back," he said. When Umar saw those horrific, charred craters and branding scars on his back, he was struck with horror and confessed, "I have never seen anything like this to this day!" Khabbab, on the other hand, whispered that shocking reality that would be etched into history:
"They used to drag me over burning embers. The fire would only be extinguished by the fat and blood melting from my back."
A Companion Weeping Within Comfort
Do you know what is truly jarring? Despite enduring so much torment, when the gates of conquest opened with the rise of Islam and wealth began to pour into Medina, Khabbab did not retreat to a corner to enjoy his comfort. On the contrary, he would constantly weep out of fear, saying, "May Allah forbid! Are we being given the rewards of the torments we suffered while we are still in this world, instead of them being kept for the afterlife?" Today, those who twist and bend their faith for the slightest worldly gain, and those who forget to be grateful while swimming in wealth, should feel ashamed before the afterlife anxiety of this man whose flesh melted for Islam!
The Unending Trial of the Ummah
Another crucial truth passed down by Khabbab sheds light on the internal division of the ummah today: One day, contrary to his usual custom, the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.) performed an exceptionally long prayer. When the companions asked the reason in astonishment, the Prophet (s.a.w.) replied:
"This was a prayer of hope and fear. In it, I made three supplications to Allah; two were accepted, and one was denied. I asked my Lord not to destroy my entire ummah with famine, and it was accepted. I asked Him not to impose an external enemy upon them to wipe them out, and this too was accepted. Thirdly, I asked Him that there be no fighting and discord among themselves (that they do not fall into internal conflict); but this supplication of mine was not accepted."
The End of an Unbending Life
Khabbab passed away in the 37th year of the Hijra and became the first companion to be buried in Kufa. As Ali (k.v.) passed by his grave, he uttered these magnificent words that should strike every single one of us like a slap on the forehead today:
"May Allah have mercy on Khabbab. He accepted Islam by his own choice, migrated willingly, spent his life in jihad, and persevered through afflictions. Glad tidings to the one who remembers the Resurrection, prepares for the Day of Reckoning, is content with just enough livelihood, and pleases his own Master!"
Now is the time to turn around and ask ourselves: Whose ummah are we? The ummah of those who shouted their faith inside armor turning into glowing embers, or those who play the game of "serving the cause" inside their air-conditioned rooms?
