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`ABD ALLAH IBN `AMR IBN AL-'Aas
The Submissive Returner to Allah!
The submissive, repentant, ever returning worshiper whom we are going to talk about is `Abd Allah
Ibn Amr Ibn Al-'Aas
Just as his father was famous for his rationality and cunning tricks, so was he famous for his highly
elevated position among worshipers and hermits. His whole life was devoted to worship. Days and nights
were not enough for his acts of worship.
He embraced Islam before his father. Since the day he swore the oath of allegiance, his heart shone
like sunlight by means of Allah's light and the light of obedience.
He devoted himself to reciting and understanding the Glorious Qur'aan, so that when it was
completely revealed he would have learned it all by heart. He did not recite it merely by power of a
retentive memory, reproducing a book learned by heart, but rather he lived according to its laws, filled
his heart with its magnificence, was its obedient servant and responded to its appeals. He then dedicated
himself to its reading and recitation as well as understanding it, walking most delightfully in its mellow
orchards, pleased with a joyful soul, happy with its holy verses, with eyes crying in anxiety and fear due
to the effect of its verses.
`Abd Allah was created to be a worshiping saint. Nothing whatsoever could distract him from what
he was created for and guided to. If the army of Islam waged jihaad against the polytheists who had been
attacking Islam, he could always be found insistent in the front rows, aspiring to die as a martyr. It was
the aspiration of a loving soul and the insistence of a lover. When the war was over, where was he to be
found?
There in the great mosque or the small mosque beside his house, fasting in the daytime, praying at
night. His tongue did not know any worldly talk no matter how legitimate it was. His tongue did not
know anything but invoking of Allah, the reciting the Qur'aan, praising Allah, and asking Him His
forgiveness and remission of sins. It is worthwhile to know how deep his worship and asceticism was.
The Prophet (PBUH) found himself once forced to interfere in order to limit `Abd Allah's extremism in
worship.
Therefore, the moral which can be abstracted from `Abd Allah's life is twofold. It demonstrates how
excessively the human soul can be filled with an extraordinary ability to reach utmost degrees of
devotion, worship, and virtue. On the other hand, it demonstrates Islam's concern to maintain a middle
course and moderation, even when perfection is aspired to, lest the human soul should lose its zeal and
aspiration and in order to maintain a healthy and safe body.
It reached the Prophet that `Abd Allah spent his life in a uniform manner. If there was no battle to
join, then it was non-stop worshiping, fasting, praying, and reciting the Qur'aan.
The Prophet (PBUH) sent for him, appealing to him to be moderate. The Prophet (PBUH) said, "Is
it true what I heard, that you fast every day without eating (without breaking your fasting by one or two
days) and that you pray all night without sleeping? It's enough to fast just three days every month." `Abd
Allah said, "I can bear more than that!" The Prophet (PBUH) said, "It's enough to fast two days each
week." `Abd Allah said, "I can bear more than that." The Prophet (PBUH) said, "Then, why don't you
fast the best fasting of all, Daawud's (David's) fast; he fasted one day and ate on the other."
The Prophet (PBUH) continued asking him, "I've been informed that you recite the whole Qur'aan
in one night. I'm afraid when you get older you will feel bored reciting it. Recite it once each month.
Recite it once every ten days. Recite it once every three days." Then he said, "I fast and eat. I pray and
sleep. I marry women. Whoever abstains from following my path, indeed, is not of me."