Quran. He is wearing a cloak of poor wool,” said the Prophet (S), smiling as if he can see him. “On his left shoulder, there is a white mark the size of a dirham that is the effect of an illness. He is unknown among the people but known in the skies. His biggest sign is the mother he deeply cares for. When he makes dua, it is granted. He will come among the people on the Day of Judgment and as they are entering Paradise, he will be stopped. When he asks why, Allah(SWT) will tell him he can bring whomever he wants into Paradise with him, as much as 200,000 people (the amount of two large tribes).” “Ali and Omar, if you are ever to find this man, ask him to make dua for you and to ask Allah for your forgiveness,” said the Prophet(S). Elsewhere in Yemen, a young boy is herding his sheep, the sun beating down on his shoulders where a white mark stands alone on his dark skin. His father died when he was a young child, leaving him the man of the house. When the boy was seventeen, his mother lost her vision, and his responsibilities toward her increased as he now had to help her move around. One night, he was carrying a candle and helping his mother move around the house when the candlelight went out and they were left in darkness. He could not see a thing. Then his mother, who was used to finding her way in the darkness, started leading him. This turn of events affected him deeply and he started to ponder on the weight of light and darkness. The next day, the seventeen-year-old Owais bumped into a Muslim man who was coming to Yemen to spread Islam. He stopped the man and asked him to tell him something from the Quran that his Prophet (S) had said. So the man recited a verse from Surat Al Nur: ‘…And he for whom Allah has not appointed light, for him there is no light’ (Quran 24:40) This really hit home for Owais as he remembered what had happened the night before with his mother. “Tell me more about what your Prophet (S) says,” said Owais. The man relayed the following hadith: “What am I to this world and what is this world to me? The example of me and this world is that of a man who walks in the heat of the desert and sits under the shade of a tree for an hour, then walks away and leaves it.” Owais, upon hearing this hadith, immediately said his shahada and became a Muslim at the age of 17. Then came the question of whether he would immigrate to see the Prophet (S). As much as Owais wanted to, he couldn’t and wouldn’t leave his mother. Some people suggested that he let some neighbors take care of her while he was gone but he said that he was the one who should take care of her and turned down the opportunity to see the Prophet (S). This sacrifice for his mother and the way Owais had devoted himself to his mother his whole life was the reason that he was mentioned by the Prophet (S). Another reason was because of his deep faith and his lack of attachment to the material things in this world. So when Ali bin Abu Talib left Yemen with a group of new Muslims to go back to Madinah, it was without the boy he bumped into on his way there. He had no idea that it the Owais that the Prophet (S) had mentioned and the boy didn’t know it was Ali bin Abu Talib. Three years later, the Prophet (S) passed away and years after that Abu Bakr also passed away. When Omar ibn Al-Khattab became Khalifa, he would go around all the people during Hajj and call out, “OWAIS, OWAIS, Is there anyone here named Owais?” He would go to the group that came from Yemen and ask them if a man named Owais is among them. But no one had heard of this man. Omar realized it was just as the Prophet (S) described to him, that he was a man who was unknown among the people. Year after year, Omar would go around during Hajj time and call out and ask for Owais. One year during Hajj, he stood at Mount Arafat and asked all the people making Hajj to stand up. Then he told everyone to sit down except those from Yemen. From that group, he told them all to sit down except those from Murad and from that group, he told them all to sit down except those from Qarn. One man was left standing. “Are you a Qarni?” asked Omar ibn Al Khattab. The man replied in the affirmative. “Do you know Owais?” “Yes, he is my nephew. But what would you want with him. He is but a poor, forgotten man,” replied the Yemeni man. Omar started to weep. “This man is not just a poor, forgotten man. He is a man who will choose 200,000 people to come with him into heaven. Is he with you?” “No, he is not,” replied the man. “Is his mother living,” asked Omar. 10
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