The Devotion of Life — Page 87
87 There were such obedient people that once, when the Holy Prophet (Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) saw people standing outside the Mosque, he asked them to sit down. One of the Companions was coming to the Mosque and he sat down immediately on the road and started crawling towards the mosque. There were the Companions like ‘Ashaab-e-Suffa’ who devoted their days and nights for Islam. They stayed at the door of the Prophet (Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) so that they could acquire maximum knowledge. They learned all the teachings well and later passed on the benefit to the world. There were devotees like Hadrat Zainab ra who would wake up at night and continue to pray for so long that when she was about to fall down she would support herself by the help of a rope. Hadrat Anas bin Malik ra narrates that when the Prophet (Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) came to his house, he saw a rope that was tied between two pillars. He asked what that rope was for. When told that the rope belonged to Hadrat Zainab ra for support for when she felt tired in her prayer, the Holy Prophet (Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, ‘This is not right. Remove the rope; Every one should pray in a state of pleasure and delight and when he feels tired, he should sit down. ’ (Bukhari, Kitabul Jumma, 1150) There were also female Companions, like Umme Saleem ra , who were always ready to serve the faith and prepared their children to be servants of Islam as well.