The theme for this Ramadhan 1443/2022 is Family.

Under this theme, our focus on the Iftaar program during weekdays, will be to take a look at incidents from the lives of the illustrious Sahabah رضي الله عنهم and see how they overcame the trials they faced whether it was because of family or the absence of it.

Today we take a look at this great Sahabi:

At-Tufayl ibn Amr ad-Dawsi

Tufayl ibn Amr was the chief of the Daws tribe and a distinguished Arab notable known for his many virtues and good works. He fed the hungry, comforted those in distress and granted asylum to refugees. He was also keenly interested in literature and was himself a sharp and sensitive poet capable of expressing the most delicate emotions.

Tufayl left the hearths of his village in Tihama in the south of the Arabian Peninsula, and set out for Makkah. The struggle between the noble Prophet ﷺ and the disbelieving Quraysh was already at its height. Each wanted to gain support for his cause and recruit helpers. The Prophet ﷺ sought help from his Lord. His weapons were faith and truth. The disbelieving Quraysh resisted his message with every weapon, and attempted to keep people away from him, by all the means at their disposal.

Tufayl found himself entering this battle without any preparation or warning. He did not come to Makkah to get involved in it. Indeed he was not aware of the struggle that was taking place.

Tufayl himself takes up the story from this point:

I approached Makkah. As soon as the Quraysh leaders saw me, they came up to me and gave me a most hearty welcome and accommodated me in a grand house. Their leaders and notables then gathered and said:

“O Tufayl, you have come to our town. This man who claims that he is a Prophet has ruined our authority and shattered our community. We are afraid that he would succeed in undermining you and your authority among your people just as he has done with us. Don’t speak to the man. On no account listen to anything he has to say. He has the speech of a wizard, causing division between father and son, between brother and brother and between husband and wife.”

They went on telling me the most fantastic stories and scared me by recounting tales of his incredible deeds. I made up my mind then not to approach this man, or speak to him or listen to anything he had to say.

The following morning I went to the Sacred Mosque to make tawaf around the Kabah as an act of worship to the idols that we made pilgrimage to and glorified. I inserted a piece of cotton in my ears out of fear that something of the speech of Muhammad would reach my hearing. As soon as I entered the Mosque, I saw him standing near the Kabah. He was praying in a fashion which was different from our prayer. His whole manner of worship was different. The scene captivated me. His worship made me tremble and I felt drawn to him, despite myself, until I was quite close to him.

Notwithstanding the precaution I had taken, Allah willed that some of what he was saying should reach my hearing and I heard a speech that was so beautiful that I said to myself, “What are you doing, Tufayl? You are a perceptive poet. You can distinguish between the good and the bad in poetry. What prevents you from listening to what this man is saying? If what comes from him is good, accept it, and if it is bad, reject it.”

I remained there until the Prophet ﷺ left for his home. I followed him as he entered his house, and I entered also and said, “O Muhammad, your people have said certain things to me about you. By God, they kept on frightening me away from your message so that I even blocked my ears to keep out your words. Despite this, Allah caused me to hear something of it and I found it good. So tell me more about your mission.”

The Prophet ﷺ did and recited to me Surah Iklaas and Falaq. I swear by Allah, I had never heard such beautiful words before. Neither was a more noble or just mission ever described to me. Thereupon, I stretched out my hand to him in allegiance and testified that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. This is how I entered Islam.

I stayed on for some time in Makkah learning the teachings of Islam memorizing parts of the Quran. When I decided to return to my people, I said, “O Rasulullah ﷺ I am a man who is obeyed in his tribe. I am going back to them and I shall invite them to Islam . . .”

When I returned to my people, my father, who was quite old then, came up to me and I said, ‘O Father, let me relate my news to you. I am no longer from you and you are not of me.”

“Why so, my son?” he asked.

“I have accepted Islam and now follow the religion of Muhammad ﷺ,” I replied.

“My son,” he said, “your religion is my religion.”

”Go and wash your self and cleanse your clothes,” I said. “Then come that I may teach you what I have learnt.”

This the old man did and I explained Islam to him and he became a Muslim.

“Then came my wife and I said, “Let me relate my news to you. I am no longer of you and you are not of me.”

“Good heavens! Why so?” she exclaimed.

“Islam has separated us,” I explained. “I have become a Muslim and follow the religion of Muhammad.”

“Your religion is my religion,” she replied.

‘Then go and purify yourself, not with the water of Dhu Shara, the idol of the Daws, but with pure water from the mountain.”

She went and washed and I explained Islam to her and she became a Muslim. I then invited the Daws as a whole to become Muslims. They were all slow in responding, except Abu Hurayrah. He was the quickest to respond to the invitation of Islam.

The next time I went to Makkah, Abu Hurayrah RA was with me.

“What have you left behind?’ the Prophet ﷺ asked me.

“Hearts with veils over them obscuring the Truth, and firm disbelief. Sin and disobedience have won over the Daws.”

The Prophet ﷺ thereupon stood up, made wudu and prayed with his hands raised to the heavens. Abu Hurayrah RA remarked, “When I saw the Prophet like this, I was afraid that he was praying against my people and that they would be destroyed.”

But the Prophet ﷺ prayed, “O Lord, guide the Daws, guide the Daws, guide the Daws.” Then he turned to me and said:

“Go back to your people, befriend them, treat them gently and invite them to Islam.”

Lesson to Learn:

We all want the best for our family, but the best thing we can give them is to guide them towards righteousness and instil within ourselves and them the true love of Allah. Hadhrat Tufayl RA upon his acceptance of Islam his first worry was to convey the message to his Family and thus he invited his father and his wife to Islam.