May Allah have Mercy on Abdullah ibn Rawaha
How did the Holy Prophet (sa) certify such gatherings and their discussions? Hazrat Anas (ra) narrates:
“It was Hazrat Abdullah (ra) bin Rawaha’s practice that when he would meet his fellow companions, he would urge them:
تَعَالَ نُؤْمِنْ بِرَبِّنَا سَاعَةً
‘Come, let’s believe in our Lord for a while.’
One day, he said the same thing to a man but the man got angry at this. He went to the Holy Prophet (sa) and complained: ‘O Messenger (sa) of Allah! Look at Abdullah bin Rawaha. He is turning people away from believing in you and is inviting them to believe for a short while.’ the Holy Prophet (sa) said:
يَرْحَمُ اللّٰهُ ابْنَ رَوَاحَة
‘May Allah have mercy on Abdullah bin Rawaha. He is fond of such gatherings which the angels also take pride in.’”
(Musnad Ahmad bin Hanbal, vol. 4, p. 676, hadith 13832, Musnad Anas bin Malik (ra), Alam al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyah, Beirut 1998)