Ep. 02: Urwah b. Zubayr | Our Models – The Heroes We Want to Be

Four youngsters were sitting around the Ka’bah around Asr time. As friends, they told each other, “Perhaps now is a time to make a wish for acceptance.” One of them, Abdullah ibn Zubair, a young sahabi, said, “I wish that one day, Allah (SWT) would give me the khilafa and give me rulership over the area of Hijaz.” His brother, Mus’ab, said, “I wish Allah (SWT) would one day give me rulership over the two Iraqs (Iraq and Persia).” The third youngster, whose name was Abdul Malik bin Marwan, said, “One day, I wish to be the king of the whole world.” They turned to the fourth boy, the youngest, and said, “Wish for something.” He said, “I wish Allah (SWT) would give me the knowledge and deen and the ability to practice on it, and I wish that Allah (SWT) would use me to spread this knowledge throughout the whole world.”

Time passed, and whatever those boys wished for came true. Abdullah ibn Zubair ended up becoming the khalifa of Hijaz and other areas. He was killed not too far from where he made that wish, maybe a few feet. Mus’ab, his brother, was appointed as the governor of Iraq and Persia and died defending his rulership. Abdul Malik bin Marwan became the khalifa of the Muslims and the king of the world; he had one of the vastest empires in the whole world. Zubair ibn Awwam (RA) was the husband of Asma’ (RA), who was the daughter of Abu Bakr (RA). These were all the grandsons of Abu Bakr (RA). Urwah ibn Zubar, the fourth son of Zubair, was not a sahabi. He never got to meet the prophet (SAW), but his wish was fulfilled, and one time, when he was asked by the ruler of that time, Waleed, to come to visit him in Damascus, he went and took one of his children on his trip. He was the royal guest, and during that trip, he was looking at the king’s stables. During the trip to the stables, one of the horses panicked and kicked out. It struck his son in the head with his hoof and killed him on the spot. This was a terrible disaster for the king who brought Urwah and treated him with respect and his own horses had killed Urwah’s son. It was a very terrible time. Urwah had to bury his son there, and soon after this, another problem arose. Urwah developed a pain in his foot, and it became swollen and changed colors. The king, who was already guilty about what had happened to Urwah, called all the doctors from around the world to come, tend to him and look after his foot. In the end, they all agreed that he had contracted gangrene and it was spreading throughout the foot. The only solution for this was amputation or it would spread through his whole body. All the surgeons agreed to do this, and when the time of surgery came, they approached with their tools of cutting and whatever surgical tools they had at that time. They also had a bowl of liquid that they wanted him to drink. He said, “What is this?” They said, “This will dull the pain and knock you out for some time.” Urwah said, “What? You want me to take an intoxicant? I have never taken one of these in my life and I will not take one now. Do what you have to do, and I will do what I have to do.” They brought a group of men who surrounded him to hold him down, as the doctors thought that the pain from the surgery would make Urwah struggle. Urwah turned them away and told them to start the surgery. They said, “This is not possible.” He replied, “Watch and see what happens.”

He started doing zikr of Allah (SWT) – SubhanAllah, Alhamdullillah, La ilaha Illallah, and so on. He did it with such attention and intensity that they started the surgery, severed the foot and he stayed there focused on his zikr. Imagine how much nearness and awareness of Allah (SWT) Urwah had. When they finished severing the foot, at that time, to seal the wound, they would take the limb that was cut and put it into burning hot oil. This is how they would stop the blood – they would burn the skin, otherwise there was no way of stopping the blood. When they took the stump off his leg and put it into the oil, the intensity of that knocked him out and he fainted. He remained unconscious for the whole day. When he woke up after a day, he knew what had happened and asked to see the foot that they had cut off. This was the first day since he had gained maturity that he had missed his tilawat of the Qur’an. He used to finish the Qur’an every four days. Every day, he would read one quarter of the Qur’an, or seven and a half juz. This was the first day from as far back as he could remember that he had missed the tilawat of the Qur’an. When the foot was brought to him, he looked at it and addressed it, saying, “I swear by the one who took me on you on the darkness of the night, I have never taken one step with you towards anything haram.” He uttered these couplets: “I have never raised my hand towards haram or walked towards haram. I have never looked at haram or listened to haram. I have never thought of it, and this problem of my foot has happened many other times in history.”

Since he was a great scholar many people went to see him once he returned to Makkah. They found that his son was not with him and that he had no foot. They asked, “What happened?” He said, “Allah (SWT) gave me four children. He took one back and left three for me. Like this, he gave me four limbs and took one back, but he has left three for me. What he has left for me is much greater than what he has taken from me.” These were some glimpses from the life of one of the great personalities and someone who grew up with the sahaba and stayed with them and benefitted from them and became a living embodiment of what piety and worship looks like. May Allah (SWT) enable us to walk in their footsteps.