Abu Ayyub al-Ansari

Biography

Abu Ayyub was born in Medina, Hejaz as Khalid bin Zayd to the Najjar family of the Banu Khazraj. As Abu Ayyub was the head of his family, he was one of the chosen elders in Medina who went to the valley of Aqaba and pledged allegiance to Islam at the hands of Muhammad, who named him Abu Ayyub al-Ansari. After the migration, Muhammad united the Muhajiruns and Ansars into a single allegiance.

Waqif in Al-Masjid an-Nabawi

Waqif of Al-Masjid an-Nabawi: The land of Al-Masjid an-Nabawi belonged to two young orphans, Sahal and Suhayl, and when they learned that Prophet Muhammad wished to acquire their land for a mosque, they went to Prophet Muhammad and offered the land to him as a gift. Prophet Muhammad insisted on paying for the land because they were orphaned children. The ultimately agreed purchase price was paid by Abu Ayyub al-Ansari who thus became the waqif (or creator of a charitable endowment) of Al-Masjid an-Nabawi on behalf of Prophet Muhammad.

He was chosen as the Rashidun governor of Medina during the caliphate of Ali ibn Abi Talib.

Life in Egypt

Following the Muslim conquest of Egypt, Abu Ayyub moved to Fustat, where he lived in a house adjacent to the mosque of Amr bin Al'aas that had been completed in 642. Several other companions were his neighbours, including Zubayr ibn al-Awwam, Ubaida, Abu Dhar, Abdullah ibn Umar and Abdullah ibn Amr bin Al'aas.

During his military career, "he did not stay away from any battle in which the Muslims engaged from the time of Muhammad to the time of Muawiyah I, unless he was at the same time, engaged in another battle being fought elsewhere."

Last military campaign

In a hadith in Qital al-Rome, a chapter of Sahih Muslim, Muhammad prophesied that the first army to charge Constantinople will enter Paradise.

Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari records a number of raids against the Byzantine Empire under the period A.H. 49 (9/2/669 - 28/1/670). Though Abu Ayyub was by then an old man, that did not deter him from enlisting. Shortly after engaging in battle, it is recorded that he fell ill and had to withdraw. The chief of army staff Yazid ibn Muawiya asked, "Do you need anything, Abu Ayyub?" to which Abu Ayyub replied, "Convey my salaams (Islamic greeting and farewell) to the Muslim armies and tell them, 'Abu Ayyub urges you to penetrate deep into enemy territory, as far as you can go; and that you should carry him with you, and that you should bury me under your feet at the walls of Constantinople.'" At this, he died. Yazid ordered the Muslim army to fulfil his request, and they pushed back the enemy's forces until they reached the walls of Constantinople where Abu Ayyub was finally interred.

About this battle, Aslam ibn 'Imran narrates that when they were fighting the Byzantines, a Muslim soldier penetrated deep into enemy ranks. The people exclaimed, "Subhan Allah! He has contributed to his own destruction." Abu Ayyub al-Ansari stood up and answered, "O people! You give this interpretation to this verse, whereas it was revealed concerning us the Ansar. When Allah had actually given honour to Islam and its supporters had become many, some of us secretly said to one another, 'Our wealth has been depleted, and Allah has given honour to Islam and its supporters have become many, let us stay amidst our wealth and make up what has been depleted of it.' Thereupon, Allah revealed to Muhammad, 'And spend in the Path of God (فِي سَبِيلِ اللّهِ), and do not contribute to your own destruction / And spend in the way of Allah and do not throw [yourselves] with your [own] hands into destruction [by refraining].'," refuting what we had said.