'ABD AR-RAHMAN IBN 'AWF

IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE MOST BENEFICENT, THE MOST MERCIFUL

'ABD AR-RAHMAN IBN 'AWF

(Crawling into Paradise!)

One day while Al-Madiinah was calm, heavy dust was accumulating near it till it covered the horizon. The wind pushed these quantities of yellow dust coming from the soft sand of the desert so that they came near the gates of Al-Madiinah, blowing strongly over the streets.

People thought it was a raging storm, but soon they heard beyond the dust the noise of a great caravan. After a while, 700 heavily laden camels were crowding the streets. People were calling each other to see the festive scene and rejoicing at the provisions the caravan might be carrying.

The Mother of the Faithful 'Aa'ishah, (May Allah be pleased with her) heard about the coming caravan and asked, "What's going on in Al-Madiinah?" She was answered, "It's a caravan of "Abd Ar Rahman Ibn 'Awf corning from Syria carrying his goods."

The Mother of the Faithful said, "But can one caravan make all this tremor?" "Yes, Mother of the Faithful. There are 700 camels."

The Mother of the Faithful nodded and looked away as if searching for the memory of a scene she had witnessed or a conversation she had heard, then she said, "I heard the Messenger of ALLAH (PBUH) saying, I saw 'Abd Ar-Rahman Ibn 'Awf crawling into Paradise.

'Abd Ar-Rahman Ibn 'Awf crawling into Paradise! Why does he not jump or hurry into it with the first ones to embrace Islam among the Companions of the Messenger? When some of his friends informed him of what 'Aa'ishah said, he remembered that he heard the Prophet (PBUH) say this hadith more than once in various forms.

 to be continue....Insyallah.