Today, we were lucky and our start time was 10am. That long sleep hit hard. 

We were ready when Abu Ahmed came, loaded into the H1 and began our drive. We passed the Syrian embassy on the way where you could see many people in line attempting to go back home. It was about a two hour drive to Mu’tah and we made one stop along the way just to stretch our legs. 

While on the way, we read through the story of the Battle of Mu’tah. Nabi ﷺ sent a letter with a sahabi inviting the Kisra of Persia and the Ceaser of Rome to Islam. The Ceaser killed the sahabi and this went against all the laws of inter-tribal morality. In response to this, Nabi ﷺ prepared an army of 3 000 men to fight them. Nabi ﷺ appointed Sayyidina Zaid bin Haarith R.A. as the leader, and if Sayyidina Zaid R.A. is martyred, Sayyidina Ja’far bin Abu Taalib R.A. should be the leader and if Sayyidina Ja’far R.A. is martyred, then Sayyidina Abdullah bin Rawaha R.A. should be the leader. The first two sahabi’s were from the muhajireen and the third sahabi was from the Ansaar. Nabi ﷺ gave Sayyidina Zaid R.A. a white flag that Nabi ﷺ made himself. Nabi ﷺ walked the army out of Madinah himself until Thaniyatul Widaa and gave the following advice. First invite him to Islam, if not, then take him to task. Fear Allah in every condition, if you make a promise, do not break it and do not kill women/children and then Nabi ﷺ prayed for them saying: “May Allah bring you back safely and triumphantly, May He guard you against all evils.”

When the Ceaser heard about the Muslim army, he prepared an army of 100 000 men and another army of 100,000 was prepared by the Qaiser (Heraclius) himself to meet the Sahabah. When the Sahabah heard the rumour of the impending army they hesitated whether they should face such heavy odds or inform Nabi ﷺ. The Sahaaba made mashwarah. While some said we should return and get re-enforcements from Madinah. Sayyidina Abdullah bin Rawahah R.A. spoke to them and “People! By Allah! You are reluctant to go towards the very thing you came out to search for martyrdom. We are not fighting the enemy on the strength of numbers nor of our power. We will fight them with the religion Allah has honoured us with. Come on ! We will win either way, be it victory or martyrdom.” They proceeded on. 

In Madinah, Nabi ﷺ, through a miracle, could see what was happening and was describing the details of what was happening on the battlefield to the sahabah in Madinah. A fierce battle raged which lasted for many days and, as prophesised, Sayyidina Zaid R.A., followed by Sayyidina Ja’far R.A. and then Sayyidina Abdullah R.A. were martyred. After the last leader had fallen, Sayyidina Thabit bin Aqram R.A. ran to receive the flag and raised it high, so that the Muslims would not disperse in chaos. Thabit R.A. then handed the flag to Sayyidina Khalid bin Walid R.A. and called the Muslims publicly to accept his leadership. They unanimously agreed and for the first time Sayyidina Khalid R.A. headed a Muslim army. Nabi ﷺ said that now such a person has taken the leadership who is a sword from the swords of Allah. Nabi ﷺ went to the house of Sayyidina Ja’far R.A. His wife was Asma binte Umair R.A. Nabi ﷺ called for the children with tears in his eyes. The wife realised that her husband was martyred, and was overcome with grief and sorrow. 

Sayyidina Khalid R.A. reported that the fighting was so intense that he used nine swords which broke in the battle. Seeing that the situation was hopeless, he prepared to withdraw the army. He continued to engage the Byzantines in skirmishes, but avoided battle during the night. But Sayyidina Khalid R.A. was a skilled warrior, one night he completely changed his troop positions and brought forth a rear-guard that he had equipped with new banners. This was intended to give the impression that reinforcements had arrived from Madinah. He also ordered his cavalry to retreat behind a hill during the night, hiding their movements, and then return during daytime when the battle resumed, raising as much dust as they could. This also was intended to create the impression that further reinforcements were arriving. The Byzantines believed in the fictitious reinforcements and withdrew, thus allowing the Muslim force to safely retreat to Madinah.

Far from being a defeat, this battle was a strategic success. When the sahabah’s returned to Madinah, the other sahabah in Madinah came out and told them that they had run away from the battle, Nabi ﷺ defended them saying “They are not runaways, but come-agains. They will come again to battle if Allah wills.”

Before we knew it, we were at the masjid where the graves of Sayyidina Ja’far and Sayyidina Zaid R.A. are. We were reminded of how important these sahabah as they are the cousin and adopted son of Nabi ﷺ respectively. We prayed zohr and asr here. 

Sayyidina Zaid R.A. was the first boy to accept Islam after Sayyidina Ali R.A. Sayyidina Zaid R.A. is the only sahabi to be mentioned in the Qur’aan by name. 

Sayyidina Ja’far R.A. was ten years older than Sayyidina Ali R.A. Nabi ﷺ once told him that, “not only do you resemble me in my appearance but you also resemble my character”. After his death, Sayyidina Ja’far R.A. became known as Jafar Al-Tayyar, The One of Two Wings, in reference to the Nabi ﷺ having a vision of him in Jannah with two wings.

Sayyidina Abdullah R.A. was known for his poetry. After Sayyidina Ja’far R.A. was martyred, Sayyidina Abdullah R.A. said:  “Oh Jannah, how close you are, how sweet your fragrance is, how soothing your drinks are, how wonderful your breeze is, I can actually see you”, he then fought until he was killed. 

After visiting their graves, we stopped at the battle site of Mu’tah. Abu Ahmed mentioned that before, when there was no life in this area, people could hear the sounds of the battle during the day even. 

After that we visited the Cave of the Seven Sleepers (Ashaab-e-Kahf). Seven youth who believed in the oneness of Allah rested in a cave while fleeing from the King of the time who worshipped idols. They slept for 309 years while a dog (the dogs eyes looked open – but the dog was sleeping too) “stood watch” outside the cave. When they woke up, they had no idea they slept for centuries and thought they only slept a few hours. When they sent one of them to buy food, the shopkeeper was amazed to see such old coins and the reality of the time they had spent in the cave gradually came to light. When these young men died they were buried in the cave along with their dog. The bones of these youth and the dog are visible to see inside. 

It was absolutely mind blowing to see the cave, knowing that this story is mentioned in the Qur’aan. The cave has two entrances. The main door from which you could see the sunset and a hole in a cave from which the sunrise used to come through. 

After visiting the cave, I was super excited to finally go to a market. One thing about me is that I love shopping in markets when I’m in a new country. We walked through the streets of the market finding interesting things and interacting with different people. We prayed Maghrib in King Hussein’s mosque and bought some churros before catching a taxi to go back to the Airbnb. 

I had no idea which area we were staying in and I couldn’t explain the Google Maps directions to the driver so I called Abu Ahmed and asked him to speak to the driver. After the driver spoke to Abu Ahmed, Abu Ahmed later told us that the driver assured Abu Ahmed that he would get us to the apartment safely. He mentioned that this is Arab hospitality. 

We got to the apartment safely, had some polony and frikkadel sandwiches for dinner and then settled down to watch a movie which is when I remembered how much I love staying in Airbnb’s. 

The plan was to sleep the whole of the next day, but at 9 p.m., I remembered that we would need to check out in the morning. After making some arrangements, Zaid, the Airbnb owner gave us some grace until 11:30am, Abu Ahmed would keep our luggage and we would spend the day at a mall. 

We began the packing frenzy and once everything was sorted and another load of washing was being done, we went to sleep to recharge our batteries. 

Please note: the only graves that we are 100% sure of is the graves of Nabi ﷺ, Sayyidina Abu Bakr R.A. and Sayyidina Umar R.A., all the graves we see throughout this trip – Allahu ‘Alam – Allah knows best. Also, all the various theories that are mentioned have multiple versions and not all is fact – once again, Allahu ‘Alam – Allah knows best. 

Step count: 8 427