Standing Guard for the Holy Prophet (sa)
There is an incident from the Battle of Zat-ur-Riqa that the Holy Prophet (sa) had decided to reside at a location for the night. The Holy Prophet (sa) was staying at a narrow valley and the winds were strong. He asked the Companions, “Who will stand guard for us tonight?” Upon hearing this, Hazrat Abbad bin Bishr and Hazrat Ammar bin Yassir stood up and stated, “We shall stand in guard for you tonight.” Both of them sat at the top-most part of the narrow valley and Hazrat Abbad bin Bishr said to Hazrat Ammar bin Yassir, “I can stand at guard for the first half of the night so you get some rest and sleep. You can take over for the second half of the night and I will then go to sleep.” Therefore, Hazrat Ammar bin Yassir went to sleep and Hazrat Abbad bin Bishr got up and began to pray.
The Holy Prophet (sa) had captured some women from the town called Najd, because of their injustice. A husband of one of these women was not present when they were taken. Had he been present there at the time, she would have been with him. When he returned to Najd and found out that his wife had been taken as a prisoner by Muslims, he took an oath to not rest until he harmed the Holy Prophet (sa) in any way possible or till he spilled the blood of his Companions. So he followed the Muslims and arrived at a location near the same valley where the Holy Prophet (sa) was staying. When he saw the shadow of Hazrat Abbad bin Bishr, he stated, “This man is the enemy’s guard.” He then placed an arrow in his bow and fired it which pierced into the body of Hazrat Abbad bin Bishr. Hazrat Abbad bin Bishr was engaged in prayer at the time. He took out the arrow and threw it away and continued praying. He struck Abaad with another arrow but Abbad again took it out and continued to pray. However, when he struck Abaad with an arrow for the third time, Abbad lost a lot of blood. Hazrat Abbad completed his prayers and woke up Hazrat Ammar bin Yassir. When Hazrat Ammar bin Yassir saw Hazrat Abbad’s condition, he enquired, “Why did you not wake me up before?” Hazrat Abbad responded by saying, “I was reciting Surah Al-Kahf during the prayer and I did not feel like cutting it short.”
(Al-Sirat Al-Halbiya, Vol. 2, pp. 368-369, Ghazwa Zaat-e-Riqaa, Dar-ul-Kutub Al-Ilmiyyah, Beirut, 2002)
Such were the standards of worship of these people.