Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume II — Page 85
85 Ha z rat Bilal ’s ra hands and announced, “ O C hiefs of M ecca ! If you w ish to save your lives , then gather under Bilal’s flag. ” In other words, Bilal ra , up on whose chest their greatest chiefs dance d ; the Holy Prophet sa told the people of M ecca regarding him , that if there was any way to save their lives that day, then the only route possible was for them to come under the servitude of Bilal r a. E ven though Ha z rat Bilal ra [had lived as] a slave and they were chief tain s! A Strange I ncident from the T ime of Ha z rat ‘ Umar ra A fter the demise of the Holy Prophet sa , Ha z rat ‘ Umar ra , who se rule ha d extended over half the world, went to M ecca for Hajj. After Sal ā t , the great chiefs who used to rule over M ecca at one time, and before whom even Ha z rat ‘ Umar ’s ra father would sit humbly and with great respect, came over to congratulate him. When they came , Ha z rat ‘ Umar ra very respectfully seated them and began conversing with them with love and affection. They were seven or eight men. They had just been seated when a slave arrived, who had been a c ompanion ra of the Holy Prophet sa and who had accepted Islam in the early days. Ha z rat ‘ Umar ra asked those chiefs to move back a little to make room for him. They moved back and this slave was given room in the front. He h ad just sat down when another slave arrived. It appears that God Almighty wished to test these young men. Again, Ha z rat ‘ Umar ra asked them , “Move back a little and make room. ” The second slave sat down, and a third slave came and Ha z rat ‘ Umar ra again asked them to move back to make room for [this third slave]. In a similar fashion, slaves continued to arrive one after another and every time H az rat ‘ Umar ra would say, “M ove back a little and make room for them. ” This continued until th ose very chiefs had move d to the back where the shoes were placed, while all the slaves sat in the place of honor. When those [wealthy] young men saw this, they left the gathering. They went outside and said to each other, “ Did you see what happened to us today? Today we were so humiliated, that it was be yond our wildest imagination. The slaves we bought with our own money, whose job it was to clean our shoes and fill water in our homes, were seated in the front rows while we sat among the shoes !” Among those young men , one was wiser than the others. He said, “ Do you know why you were treated this way? This is the result of our actions. When the Prophet sa of God made his claim in M ecca , it was these slaves who said :