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KHABBAAB IBN AL-ARAT
A Master in the Art of Self-Sacrifice
A group of the Quraish hastened to Khabbaab's house to take the swords they had asked him to
make. Khabbaab was a swordmaker who sold his wares to the people of Makkah or sent them to its
market.
It was not like Khabbaab to leave his house and work; therefore, the Quraish sat there and waited
for his return. After a long time, Khabbaab arrived. His face was bright with questions, and his eyes were
filled with graceful tears. He immediately greeted his guests and sat down. They asked him in a hurry,
''Khabbaab, did you finish making our swords?! There were no more tears in his eyes. Instead, his eyes
were filled with bright delight. He spoke as if to himself, "It makes me wonder!"
His clients asked him, `What makes you wonder? We ask you about our swords. Did you finish
them?!'
Khabbaab gazed at them as if he were hypnotized. Then he asked them, "Did you see him? Did you
hear him?" They looked at one another in astonishment. Then one of them asked slyly, "Did you see him
Khabbaab?" Khabbaab asked, "Whom do you mean?" turning the tables on him. The man answered,
irritatedly, "I mean the same person that you mean!"
Khabbaab answered after he had exhibited his invulnerability to their attempts to wrest information
from him. He wanted to prove to them that if he were to confess his faith before them, he would
announce it in public and would not be duped or led on. He would announce his Islam because he saw
and embraced what was right.
He was still suspended in his ecstasy and spiritual upliftment when he answered, "Yes, I did see and
hear him. As a matter of fact, I have seen him enveloped and illuminated by truth."
Suddenly, the Quraishi clients began to realize what he meant; therefore one of them shouted, "Who
are you talking about, you slave of Umm `Ammaar?" Khabbaab answered with saintly quietude, "Who
else but the brother Arab. Who else of your people is enveloped and illuminated by truth?"
Another shouted and jumped in terror, "Do you mean Muhammad? "Khabbaab nodded in
satisfaction and said, "Yes, he is the Messenger of Allah to us, to bring us out of the darkness of disbelief
into the light of belief."
No sooner had he finished these words than he fell unconscious. The only thing he remembered was
waking up after long hours to find his clients gone and his body full of bleeding bruises and wounds!
Nevertheless, his wide eyes encompassed his surroundings as if the place was too narrow for his
penetrating stare. Despite the pain, he rose and went into the open, limping his way out of his house,
leaning on the wall.
His noble eyes embarked on a long, perpetual journey roaming about the horizon. He was not
searching for the familiar dimensions of people, but rather for the missing dimension. Indeed, his eyes
traveled in search of the missing dimension in his life, in Makkah, and in the life of people everywhere
and at all times. He wondered if what he had heard from the Prophet on that day was the light that leads
to the missing dimension in the life of all people.