Mus'ab ibn Umair (RA): The First Ambassador of Islam حضرت مصعب بن عمیر رضی اللہ عنہ: اسلام کے پہلے سفیر

Mus'ab ibn Umair (RA) was the darling of Makkah. Born to a wealthy family of the clan of Abd ad-Dar, he was handsome, wore the finest clothes and perfumes, and was admired by the young people of Quraysh. The seerah books describe how his mother surrounded him with every luxury.

He heard about the message of Islam and went secretly to the house of al-Arqam, where the Prophet ﷺ taught the believers. He accepted Islam and kept it hidden for a time, but he was seen praying and his family found out. The seerah books report that they confined him, and when he was able to escape he emigrated to Abyssinia with other persecuted Muslims. His comfortable life was gone; he now wore rough, patched clothing, and it is reported that the Prophet ﷺ was moved to tears when he saw him in that state, remembering how he used to live.

After the First Pledge of Aqabah, in which twelve men from Yathrib (Madinah) pledged allegiance to the Prophet ﷺ, Mus'ab was sent with them as the first teacher of Islam in that city. He lived among the Ansar, teaching the Quran and leading prayers. Al-Bara ibn Azib (RA) said: "The first of the emigrants to come to us were Mus'ab ibn Umair and Ibn Umm Maktum, and they began teaching the people the Quran."

The seerah narrates that two leaders of the Aws, Usayd ibn Hudayr and Sa'd ibn Mu'adh, came to him in anger. He calmly asked each of them to sit and listen; if they disliked what they heard, he would stop. He explained Islam and recited the Quran, and both accepted Islam. Through Sa'd's influence his whole clan embraced the faith. By the next pilgrimage season, more than seventy believers came from Madinah to pledge their support at the Second Aqabah, opening the way for the Hijrah.

At the Battle of Uhud in 3 AH, Mus'ab carried the banner of the Muslims, and he was martyred while defending it. Khabbab ibn al-Aratt (RA) described his burial: "Mus'ab ibn Umair was killed at Uhud and left nothing but a woollen cloak. When we covered his head with it, his feet were exposed, and when we covered his feet, his head was exposed. So the Prophet ﷺ told us to cover his head and to put some idhkhir grass over his feet."

Years later, when food was placed before Abd ar-Rahman ibn Awf (RA) at the end of a fast, he wept, remembering that Mus'ab, who was better than him, had been shrouded in a single cloth too short for him, while they themselves had been given so much of this world. Mus'ab gave up a life of comfort for the sake of Allah, and became the man through whom Madinah opened its heart to Islam. The Quran describes such believers: "Among the believers are men true to what they promised Allah" (33:23).