Panegyrics Of The Companions
by Sh. G. F. Haddad
No one knew the Messenger of Allah, upon him blessings and peace, better than his own family and companions. On the occasion of the month of his noble birth, I have selected and translated some of their poetry in praise of him, bearing in mind that both the small number and the English rendition are just the proverbial drop in the ocean.
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The Prophet's uncle, al-ʿAbbas ibn ʿAbd al-Muttalib, Allah be well- pleased with him:
When you were born, a light rose over the earth until it illuminated the horizon with its radiance. We are in that illumination, that original light, those paths of guidance. – and thanks to them we pierce through.
Narrated by al-Tabarani, al-Bazzar, Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr in al-Istiʿab and Ibn al-Qayyim in Zad al-Maʿad.
The Prophet's cousin, ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbbas, Allah be well-pleased with them:
Whenever he spoke, something like light would be seen issuing from between his two front teeth.
Narrated from Ibn ʿAbbas by al-Darimi in his Sunan, al-Tirmidhi in the Shama'il, and al-Tabarani.
The Prophet's wife, ʿA'isha bint Abi Bakr al-Siddiq, Allah be well- pleased with her:
Born of hale nurse unsoiled,
Were you to look at his facial traits
– they beam like a white lightning-cloud!
Narrated by Abu Nuʿaym in Hilyat al-Awliya', al-Khatib in Tarikh Baghdad, Ibn ʿAsakir in Tarikh Dimashq, and al-Bayhaqi in al-Sunan al-Kubra and Dala'il al-Nubuwwa.
The Prophet's aunt, ʿAtika bint ʿAbd al-Muttalib, Allah be well- pleased with her:
When he left Makka for Madina, she recited:
My eyes have overflown with streaming tears
shed for the Uniquely Chosen One,
the Full Moon of the House of Hashim.
Narrated by al-Bayhaqi in Dala'il al-Nubuwwa and Ibn ʿAsakir in Tarikh Dimashq.
The Prophet's uncle Abu Talib:
Allah derived for him a name from His own Name so as to dignify him greatly:
The Owner of the Throne is the Most Glorious [Ahmadu],
and here is the Praiseworthy One [Mu?hammadu].
Narrated by al-Bukhari in al-Tarikh al-Saghir and Ibn Hajar in al- Isaba and Fath al-Bari.
Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal said: Sufyan ibn ʿUyayna said: ʿAli ibn Zayd ibn Judʿan said the scholars settled on the preceding verse as the best poetic verse ever declaimed.
The Prophet's closest friend Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, Allah be well- pleased with him:
A trustworthy one, chosen, calling to goodness,
resembling the light of the full moon set off from darkness.
Narrated by al-Bayhaqi in Dala'il al-Nubuwwa.
ʿUmar ibn al-Khattab, Allah be well-pleased with him:
If you were anything other than a human being
You would be the light in the night of a full moon.
Narrated by al-Bayhaqi in Dala'il al-Nubuwwa.
ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn ʿAwf, Allah be well-pleased with him:
A Prophet came while people were wrapped in pride
and in the pitch-black darkness of the night of unbelief,
Whereupon he dispelled this darkness with abundant light, and in this matter he was helped by each of those who submitted.
Ibn Sayyid al-Nas narrated it in Minah al-Madh.
The Prophet's poet, Hassan ibn Thabit al-Ansari, Allah be well- pleased with him:
He left a people [the pagan Meccans] who preferred their minds over him and he dawned on a people [the Madinans] with a light made new. Whenever his forehead emerged in pitch-black darkness, it would shine like the blazing luminary of dark night.
Narrated by al-Bayhaqi in Dala'il al-Nubuwwa and Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr in al-Istiʿab.
He also said, as quoted by Ibn Hisham on the last page of his Sirat Rasulillah ("Life of the Messenger of Allah"):
He is the light and the brilliance we follow.
He is our sight and hearing second only to Allah....
By Allah, no woman has conceived and given birth
To one like the Messenger,
the Prophet and guide of his people.
Nor has Allah created among His creatures
One more faithful to his sojourner or his promise
Than he [Muhammad] who was the source of our light.
Al-Rubayyiʿ bint Muʿawwadh, Allah be well-pleased with her:
If you saw him you would say: The sun is rising.
Narrated by al-Tabarani in al-Muʿjam al-Kabir and al-Awsat and al- Bayhaqi in Dala'il al-Nubuwwa.
Kaʿb ibn Malik, Allah be well-pleased with him:
I greeted the Prophet and there was lightning in his face.xxBR Whenever the Prophet was happy, his face would be
illuminated as if it were a piece of the moon.
Narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim as well as Ahmad.
Aswad ibn Masʿud al-Thaqafi, Allah be well-pleased with him:
Truly, the Prophet is he from whom all gifts are expected When there is drought and when all rain dries up.
Narrated by Ibn Sayyid al-Nas in Minah al-Madh.
Anas ibn Zunaym, Allah be well-pleased with him:
No camel ever carried on its saddle More righteous and more truthful than Muhammad.
Narrated by Ibn Sayyid al-Nas in Minah al-Madh and Ibn Hajar in al- Isaba.
Daʿbal said of the above verse in Tabaqat al-Shuʿara' ("Biographies of the Poets"): "This is the most truthful verse of poetry the Arabs ever declaimed."
Al-ʿAbbas ibn Mirdas, Allah be well-pleased with him:
O Seal of all Prophets, truly you have been sent
with truth, and your guidance is Guidance itself.
Truly, the One God has ordained for you to be loved
by His creation, and has named you MUHAMMAD [most praised]!
Narrated by Ibn Ishaq in his Sira and Ibn Sayyid al-Nas in Minah al- Madh.
The young girls of the Ansar, Allah be well-pleased with them:
When the Prophet appeared from the hills overlooking Madina they sang:
The full moon has risen over us
from the moun?tains of al-Wadaʿ!
We must give thanks
as long as there remains one who calls unto Allah!
Narrated by Abu al-Hasan al-Khalʿi in his Fawa'id and al-Bayhaqi in Dala'il al-Nubuwwa.
Invoke blessings on him…………
Was-Salam GF Haddad
