Abdullah bin Jubayr (r.a.)

Hz. Abdullah joined the Second Pledge of Aqabah and promised that he would protect the Messenger of Allah at the risk of his life. He did not like idols at all. He and Sahl bin Hunayf used to break the wooden idols belonging to the polytheists at night and take them to the Companions so that they would burn them.

Hz. Abdullah was a heroic mujahid of Islam. He was a good archer. He never disobeyed the Prophet. The Prophet knew this and appointed Abdullah ibn Jubayr as the commander of the fifty archers. He gave the archers the following advice:

“Protect us from behind and never leave your position. Even if you see us being killed, do not come to help us. Do not join us even if you see us collect the booty. Do not leave your position even if you see birds snatching us unless I inform you. If you do not stand there, we cannot win the battle.”

The Prophet repeated this order once more. Then he made Allah a witness that he had conveyed this order.

A little later, the war started. At the beginning, the Islamic army had a great victory. The polytheists began to escape, and some of the Muslims began to collect the booty. Some of the archers who saw this said,

“Why do you wait? Allah defeated the enemy. Your brothers are collecting the booty. Let us go and collect the booty.”

Very few of them, including their commander Abdullah bin Jubayr, reminded them the order of the Messenger of Allah, told them that it was not appropriate and that they had to obey Allah and His Messenger. The others said,

“By Allah, we will go and get our share from the booty.” They abandoned their duty and ran to get the booty. Ten people stayed there with Abdullah.

Khalid bin Walid had not become a Muslim yet at that time. He was a good commander. He was very successful in war tactics. He knew that they would not be able to succeed as long as the archers were there. He believed that the archers had to be completely silenced first. He moved to the back of the hill and started to look for a mistake of the archers. When he saw that most of them left the hill, he immediately took action.

When Abdullah bin Jubayr saw that the polytheist cavalrymen were coming toward them, he ordered the remaining ten Companions to move away from one another, spread and to encounter the enemy like that. The mujahids stood on the same line and shot arrows at the polytheists.

Hz. Abdullah shot arrows at the enemy feeling embarrassed. He felt the heavy responsibility of the archers that abandoned the hill on him. When he saw that there were no more arrows to throw at the enemy, he attacked them with his spear. He wounded a few a few of them. When his spear was broken, he took out his sword. He wanted to delay the polytheists until he shed last drop of his blood. Finally, the polytheists riddled him with holes. Thus, Abdullah bin Jubayr fulfilled the command of the Messenger of Allah at the cost of his life and attained the rank of martyrdom.

May Allah be pleased with him!