THE STORY OF MALIK BIN QAYS
After the army of Islam had marched off Malik bin Qays returned to Madina from his journey. It was very hot on that day. He found that loneliness prevailed over Madina and came to know about the departure of the soldiers of Islam. In the meantime he arrived in his garden and saw that his beautiful wife had erected a shade for him. He cast a glance at the attractive face of his wife and also stared a little at the food and water which she had prepared for him. Thereafter he thought of the painful difficulties of the Prophet and his companions who were proceeding to perform jihad in the path of Allah and to face death in such a hot weather. Then he decided not to avail of the water and food prepared by his wife or the shade erected by her but to ride his animal immediately, and join the army of Islam as early as possible. He, therefore, turned to his wife and said: "It is not at all fair that I should take rest under this shade along with my spouse and eat delicious food, and drink cold and wholesome water, whereas my master should be proceeding for jihad in such scorching heat. No. This doesn't accord with justice and the rules of friendship, and faith and sincerity don't permit me to do so". He said these words, picked up some small provisions for the journey and went his way. On the way he met 'Umar bin Wahab, who, it would appear, lagged behind the Islamic army, and both of them reached the Prophet when he was at Tabuk.[1]
This man did not acquire the blessing of accompanying the Prophet in the beginning, still he eventually offered his services in this noble cause by means of his commendable self-sacrifice. On the other hand there are some persons at whose door good luck knocks itself but they remain away from it on account of their lack of suitability and competence and consequently throw themselves into adversity and perdition. For example, Abdullah bin Ubayy, the chief of the hypocrites, had pitched a tent in the camping place of the Prophet so that he might participate in this jihad in the company of the Prophet. Since he was an ill-intentioned person and a ruthless enemy of Islam, he changed his mind when the army was about to march off and returned to Madina along with his supporters so that he might create disturbance there, in the absence of the Prophet. The Prophet did not also pay the least heed to him, because he was aware of his hypocrisy and did not consider his participation in the jihad to be of any use at all.
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1 Seerah-i Ibn Hisham, vol. II, page 520. But Waqidi has ascribed this incident with a little variation, to Abdullah bin Khaythamah
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Taken From : The Message by Ayatullah Ja'far Subhani
source : sibtayn
