Standing Guard for the Holy Prophet (sa)

Then, there is a narration in regards to the night following the marriage of the Holy Prophet (sa) with Hazrat Safia (ra). Although I have briefly mentioned this before in relation to another account, however I shall mention it again. At night, after the Holy Prophet’s (sa) marriage with Hazrat Safia (ra), Hazrat Abu Ayub Ansari (ra) stood guard outside the tent with his sword unsheathed and remained on guard for the entire night, circling all four sides of the tent. In the morning, when the Holy Prophet (sa) saw Hazrat Abu Ayub (ra) outside the tent, he asked him, “O Abu Ayub, what is the matter?” He replied saying, “O Messenger (sa) of Allah, I feared for your wellbeing since her father, husband and the people of her nation have been killed and she has only recently become a believer. Thus I stood guard the entire night for the sake of your security.” Upon this, the Holy Prophet (sa) prayed for Hazrat Abu Ayub Ansari (ra):

اَللّٰہُمَّ احْفَظْ اَبَا اَیُّوْبَ کَمَا بَاتَ یَحْفَظُنِیْ

“O Allah! Protect Abu Ayub just as he spent the entire night for the sake of my protection.”

Imam Suhaili states that as a result of this prayer offered by the Holy Prophet (sa), Allah the Almighty protected Hazrat Abu Ayub (ra), to the extent that the Romans used to safeguard his grave and would pray by his graveside for water, as a result of which it would rain upon them.

(Ali bin Burhan al-Din al-Halabi, Al-Sirah al-Halabiyyah, Vol. 3, Ghazwat Khaibar [Beirut, Lebanon: Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyyah, 2002], 65)