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unique type of caliphs who were at the head of the Muslim nation at that time. These caliphs were Abu
Bakr and `Umar. The mere mention of either name conjures up all the unique and great traits created in
mankind. Notwithstanding the fact that Khaalid and `Umar were not exactly best friends; `Umar's
decency, justice, and remarkable greatness were not in the least questioned by Khaalid. Hence, his
decisions and judgments were not questioned. The unbiased conscience of the man who issued these
orders reached the apex of piety, steadfastness, and veracity.
* * *
`Umar, the Commander of the Faithful, had nothing against Khaalid but his overburdening and
sharp sword. He vented these reservations when he suggested to Abu Bakr that Khaalid should be
dismissed after the death of Maalik Ibn Nuwairah. He said, "Khaalid's sword is overburdening." He
meant that it was swift, sharp, and harsh. The Caliph As-siddiiq said, "I would not sheathe what Allah
had unsheathed against the disbelievers."
Notice that `Umar did not say that Khaalid was overburdening but used "overburdening" to describe
the sword rather than the man! Not only did these words manifest the elevated politeness of the
Commander of the Faithful but also his profound appreciation of Khaalid.
Khaalid was a man of war from head to toe. He dedicated his whole life before and after his Islam to
becoming a shrewd and daring knight. Even his environment and the way he was brought up were
devoted to that ultimate goal.
Whenever he traveled back in time, he saw the wars he waged against the Prophet (PBUH) and his
Companions and the strokes of his sword that had slain believers and worshipers. Those memories
agitated him and made him conscience stricken: Therefore, his sword longed to devastate the pillars of
disbelief to compensate for his wrongdoings in the past.
I think you still remember what went on between Khaalid and the Prophet (PBUH) at the beginning
of this chapter, particularly when Khaalid asked the Prophet, "Please ask Allah's forgiveness for me for
all the wrongdoings I committed to hinder men from Allah's path." You also remember that even when
the Prophet told him that Islam erases all the wrongdoings committed before it, he pleaded with him until
he finally promised him to ask Allah's forgiveness for him for all the mischief he had committed before
he submitted himself to Islam.
Surely when the sword is carried by such an extraordinary knight as Khaalid and thrust upon the
commands of a conscience, revived by the warmth of purification, sacrifice, and absolute loyalty to a
religion that was surrounded by conspiracy and animosity, it will be impossible for this sword to throw
aside its strict principles or its spontaneous sharpness.
For instance, when the Prophet (PBUH) sent him to some Arab tribes after the conquest of Makkah,
he said to him, "I am sending you there not as a warrior, but as a Muslim who invites to the way of
Allah." Unfortunately, his sword got the better of him and forced him into the role of the warrior,
obliterating the role of the Muslim who invites to the way of Allah that the Prophet (PBUH) had ordered
him to follow. When the Prophet (PBUH) heard what khaalid had done, he was stricken with anxiety and
pain. Then he turned in the direction of the Qiblah and raised his hands in supplication and apology to
Allah and said, "O Allah, I free myself from blame for what khaalid has committed." Then he sent `Ally
to give compensatory blood-money to the family of the deceased. Narrators said that khaalid absolved
himself from blame when he said that `Abd Allah lbn Hudhaafah As-Sahmii told him, "The Prophet has
ordered you to attack them for their rejection of Islam." In spite of that, Khaalid possessed superhuman
energy. He was overtaken by an irresistible urge to devastate the idolatry of the ancient world. If we
watched him pulling down the `Uzzaa idol which the Prophet (PBUH) ordered him. to destroy, we would
see that the resentment and wrath he showed while striking were so aggressive and violent that he did not
seem to be striking at a mass of rock but at a whole army, cutting the throats of its soldiers and spreading
death everywhere. For he kept striking with his right hand, then with his left hand, then with his foot. He