Earnest Desire for Martyrdom

Zaid (ra) bin Arqam narrates Hazrat Abdullah (ra) bin Rawaha’s desire for martyrdom. He states:

“Hazrat Abdullah (ra) bin Rawaha took me with him for the battle of Mautah, riding together on his camel.” Hazrat Abdullah (ra) bin Rawaha had raised Hazrat Zaid (ra) bin Arqam as an orphan child and had trained him. He says, “One night I heard Hazrat Abdullah (ra) bin Rawaha reciting a poetic couplet in reminiscence of his family, saying that he would never return home again. He was humming this couplet joyously in which he would address his wife and say ‘Thursday night, when you packed my saddle for this journey in Jihad, you were close to me one last time, how wonderful and blessed was your state. There are no imperfections and flaws in you. However, I am here now in the battlefield and I shall never return to you.’”

This was his way of bidding farewell to his family in their absence. When the young Zaid (ra) heard this, he became sad and began weeping. Hazrat Abdullah (ra) bin Rawaha admonished him and said:

“O naïve child, what do you have to lose if Allah the exalted grants me martyrdom? If that happens, you will in fact sit on my ride comfortably, all by yourself, and return home.”

(Usdul Ghabah, Vol. 3, pp. 236-237, Bab Abdullah (ra) bin Rawaha, Darul Kutub al-‘Ilmiyah)

Hazrat Abdullah (ra) bin Rawaha demonstrated great mettle in the battlefield. Hazrat Nu‘man bin Bashir would later on narrate, “When Hazrat Ja‘far (ra) was martyred, Hazrat Abdullah (ra) bin Rawaha’s name was called, who, at the time was to the side of the army. He came forward while addressing himself in the following couplet from his war poetry” the translation of which is: “O my soul! Will you not battle in such a manner that you give up your life? You have already entered the pool of death and the time for the fulfilment of your desire to attain martyrdom is nigh. If you were to offer your life as a tribute right now, then perhaps you will obtain a good ending.”