15.‘ABD ALLĀH BIN UBAY

While the Prophet was resting after the campaign of Banī al-Mus.t.aliq which took placed in 6/ca. 628 he heard somebody fighting. It was Jahjāh b. Sa‘īd al-Ghaffārī, a muhājir (an emigrant) fighting over water against Sinān b. Wabr al-Jahnī, of the ans.ār (“the helpers”, the native of Madinah). Sinān shouted: “O ans.ār, help me!” and Jahjāh also shouted: “O muhājirīn, help me!” The Prophet said to them: “Are you still practising the jāhiliyyah (pre-Islamic ignorance) while I am among you? Stop this jāhiliyyah practice, because it is disgusting.”
When the leader of the hypocrites, ‘Abd Allāh bin Ubay heard this, he said to his people around him:
“Now, they did it: they have created
aversion against us, they have outnumbered us
in our own country. By Allah, we are now with these
rugs of the Quraysh [meaning the ompanions of the Prophet
who protected him like a dress] who are like what the saying
said, سَمِّنْ كَلْبَكَ ِلَيْأُكَلَك (‘Fatten your dog so that it will
eat you [in the end”]). By Allah, when we return to
Madinah the honourable element [meaning his
people] will expel the meaner [meaning the
muhājirīn, the emigrants] from it.”
He blamed his people further, saying,
“This is what you have done to yourselves.You
let them come to your land and you let them share with
you your property. Had you prevented them from
all these, they would have never come here.”
A boy called Zayd b. Arqam heard these words, told his uncle who, in turn, told the Prophet who was with ‘Umar. ‘Umar said to the Prophet: “You better tell ‘Ubbad to kill him.” [In another version, ‘Umar said: “Let me kill him.”] The Prophet said: O ‘Umar, how if people say that Muhammad has killed his own companion? No, never, but tell people that we are leaving for home.” So people started moving.
When ‘Abd Allāh b. Ubay heard that the Prophet had been told what he had said, he came to him to apologize, swearing that he had never said what Zayd had told him. One of the ans.ār told the Prophet that Zayd might have not quite remembered what he had heard from ‘Abd Allāh b. Ubay. When the Prophet believed him instead of Zayd, Zayd became very sad. He had never been so sad before, and stayed at home. Then Allah revealed the beginning of the Chapter of Hypocrites (Surat al-Munafiqin) as follows:
إِذَا جَاءَكَ الْمُنَافِقُونَ قَالُوا نَشْهَدُ إِنَّكَ لَرَسُولُ اللَّهِ وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ إِنَّكَ لَرَسُولُهُ
وَاللَّهُ يَشْهَدُ إِنَّ الْمُنَافِقِينَ لَكَاذِبُونَ. اتَّخَذُوا أَيْمَانَهُمْ جُنَّةً فَصَدُّوا عَنْ سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ إِنَّهُمْ
سَاءَ مَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ. ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ آَمَنُوا ثُمَّ كَفَرُوا فَطُبِعَ عَلَى قُلُوبِهِمْ فَهُمْ لَا يَفْقَهُونَ.
وَإِذَا رَأَيْتَهُمْ تُعْجِبُكَ أَجْسَامُهُمْ وَإِنْ يَقُولُوا تَسْمَعْ لِقَوْلِهِمْ كَأَنَّهُمْ خُشُبٌ مُسَنَّدَةٌ يَحْسَبُونَ كُلَّ
صَيْحَةٍ عَلَيْهِمْ هُمُ الْعَدُوُّ فَاحْذَرْهُمْ قَاتَلَهُمُ اللَّهُ أَنَّى يُؤْفَكُونَ. وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمْ تَعَالَوْا يَسْتَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ
رَسُولُ اللَّهِ لَوَّوْا رُءُوسَهُمْ وَرَأَيْتَهُمْ يَصُدُّونَ وَهُمْ مُسْتَكْبِرُونَ. سَوَاءٌ عَلَيْهِمْ أَسْتَغْفَرْتَ لَهُمْ
أَمْ لَمْ تَسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ لَنْ يَغْفِرَ اللَّهُ لَهُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الْفَاسِقِينَ. هُمُ الَّذِينَ يَقُولُونَ
لَا تُنْفِقُوا عَلَى مَنْ عِنْدَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ حَتَّى يَنْفَضُّوا وَلِلَّهِ خَزَائِنُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ
وَلَكِنَّ الْمُنَافِقِينَ لَا يَفْقَهُونَ. يَقُولُونَ لَئِنْ رَجَعْنَا إِلَى الْمَدِينَةِ لَيُخْرِجَنَّ الْأَعَزُّ
مِنْهَا الْأَذَلَّ وَلِلَّهِ الْعِزَّةُ وَلِرَسُولِهِ وَلِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَلَكِنَّ الْمُنَافِقِينَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ
(المنافقون:‍۱-٨).
“When the hypocrites come to thee, they say,
’We bear witness that thou art indeed the Messenger of
Allah’ Yea, Allah knoweth that thou art indeed His Messenger,
and Allah beareth witness that the hypocrites are indeed liars.They
made their oaths a screen (for their misdeeds): thus they obstruct (men)
from the path of Allah; truly evil are their deeds. That is because they
believed, then they rejected faith; so a seal was set: therefore they
understand not. When thou lookest at them, their bodies please thee;
and when they speak, thou listenest to their words. They are as (worthless
as hollow) pieces of timber propped up, (unable to stand on their own).
They think that every cry is against them. They are the enemies; so
beware of them. The curse of Allah be on them! How are they deluded
(away from the truth)! And when it is said to them, ‘Come, the Messenger
of Allah will pray for your orgiveness,’ they turn aside their heads, and
thou wouldst see them turning away their faces in arrogance. It is equal
to them whether thou pray for their forgiveness or not. Allah will not
forgive them. Truly Allah guides not rebellious transgressors. They
are the ones who say, ‘Spend nothing on those who are with Allah’s
Messenger, till they disperse (and quit Madinah).’ But to Allah
belong the treasures of the heavens and the earth; but the
hypocrites understand not. They say, ‘If we return to
Madinah, surely; the more honourable (element) will
expel therefrom the meaner.’ But the honour
belongs to Allah and His Messenger, and to
the believers; but the hypocrites know not.”73
The Prophet summoned Zayd, the boy. He told him that Allah was on his side, that he had said the truth, and cited the verses to him.
On the way back to Madinah the Prophet met the leader of the Aws tribe, Usayd b. H...ud.ayr who advised him to be gentle with ‘Abd Allāh b. Ubay who felt that the Prophet had taken his power from him.
‘Abd Allāh’s son was also called ‘Abd Allāh. He was a very pious companion of the Prophet. When he heard a rumor that the Prophet wanted to kill his father, he came to him requesting him to carry out the execution. He said:
“If you really wanted to, let me do it, I’ll bring his head to you. By Allah, the Khazraj tribe knows that nobody among them who is more dutiful and obedient to his father than I am. I am afraid, if somebody else killed him I might not be able to stand seeing the killer of my father, and I might kill him, so that I would kill a believer for the sake of an unbeliever, and this act would lead me to Hell.”
“We shall treat him well as long as he remains with us,” said the Prophet.
At the gate of Madinah ‘Abd Allāh the junior stood with his sword unsheathed in his hand. He let everybody pass except his father.
“Get back,” he said.
“What is this, what is the matter with you?,” asked his father.
“I will not let you pass, unless the Messenger of Allah gives you permission, for his he the honourable and you are the meaner.” [In another version, he said: “You will never enter Madinah until you say that the Messenger of Allah is the most honourable and you are the meanest.”]. Abdullah the senior waited the Prophet and complained to him against his son. The Prophet gave him permission to enter Madinah.
The Prophet lived among the hypocrites in Madinah for almost ten years without knowing them one by one except through their acts and behaviour. He knew them all only through revelation shortly before his death. When he knew them he did not kick them out of the Muslim community since they, like the Muslims, did their religious duties. The only person whom the Prophet told the identity of the hypocrites was H...udhayfah al-Yamānī.
‘Umar worried about himself. He came to H...udhayfah who told him: “You are not one of them, ‘Umar,” and no further explanation. Who are we, then, to point our index finger to somebody and say that he is infidel or hypocrite through guessing and gesture, when the Prophet himself and H...udhayfah who knew the identity of the hypocrites but kept them secret and did not expel them from the Muslim community?
When Abdullah b. Ubay passed away, his son Abdullah came to the Prophet and asked him to give him his shirt to make a shroud for his father. When the Prophet gave him his shirt, he asked the Prophet to perform the funeral prayer(صَلَاةُ الْجَنَازَة) for his father. When the Prophet stood to perform the prayer, ‘Umar held his dress, saying: “O Messenger of Allah, are you going to pray for him when your Lord forbids you to?” (In another version ‘Umar said: “O Messenger of Allah, are you going to pray for the enemy of Allah who said such-and-such thing on such-and-such day?” and ‘Umar kept counting the days, and the Prophet smiled and said: “Even if you say more against him. O ‘Umar, stay back!”). Then the Prophet said: “Allah has given me a choice only when He said,
اسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ أَوْ لَا تَسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ إِنْ تَسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ سَبْعِينَ مَرَّةً فَلَنْ يَغْفِرَ اللَّهُ لَهُمْ
(التوبة :٨٠)
“Whether thou ask for their forgiveness
or not (their sin is unforgivable): if thou ask
seventy times for their forgiveness,
Allah will not forgive them…”74
I have made my choice. I shall ask for his forgiveness more than seventy times.” [In another version the Prophet said: “If I knew that he would be forgiven if I prayed for his forgiveness more than seventy times, I would do.”]. So the Prophet prayed for Abdullah b. Ubay, went to and stood at his grave. It is said that later ‘Umar wondered how dare he try to prevent the Prophet from doing something he knew better than ‘Umar.
Then Allah revealed the following verse:
وَلَا تُصَلِّ عَلَى أَحَدٍ مِنْهُمْ مَاتَ أَبَدًا وَلَا تَقُمْ عَلَى قَبْرِهِ
إِنَّهُمْ كَفَرُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ وَمَاتُوا وَهُمْ فَاسِقُونَ
(التوبة : ٨٤).
“Nor do thou ever pray for any of them [i.e., the hypocrites]
that dies, not stand at his grave; for they rejected Allah and His
Messenger, and died in a state of perverse rebellion.” 75
Since then the Prophet never prayed for any hypocrite or stood at his grave. (The story is from a tradition reported by al-Bukhārī and Muslim; the other version is by Ah.mad and al-Tirmidhī). If somebody asked him to pray for a hypocrite he just said, هَذَا شَأْنُكَ “This is your business”.
This showed how the Prophet treated his archenemy in disguise. He prayed for him and asked Allah’s forgiveness for him at his death. He showed his mercy to him, despite what he had done in his lifetime. It should not be misinterpreted that the Prophet had acted against the will of Allah. Prohibition from praying funeral prayer for non-believers was revealed later, allowing him to do so for the leader of the hypocrites of Madinah, but not to the rest of them.
After the death of the Prophet, H...udhayfah also refrained from praying for the dead body of a person that he knew to be a hypocrite. ‘Umar also would not stand up to pray for a dead person unless he saw H...udhayfah standing there. Otherwise, if H...udhayfah was not there, ‘Umar would not pray for the dead person without giving any reason or comment. This is one of many examples of Islamic behaviour how to treat the hypocrites, the enemy in disguise.

Footnotes:
73. Qur’ān, al-Munafiqūn [63]:1-8
74. Qur’ān, al-Tawbah [9]:80
75. Qur’ān, al-Tawbah [9]:84