“If Muhammad is really a Prophet,” the Jewish leader said to Zaid ibn Haritsah, “You would never return!” Those words were swiftly directed to Zaid on the day approaching his departure, leading his forces to Mu’tah. At that time, Rasulullah SAW told the Commander and his forces, “If Zaid becomes Shaheed, then Ja’far ibn Abi Thalib will lead his forces. If Ja’far falls, then ‘Abdullah ibn Rawahah will carry the flag.”

“Verily, in the past,” those Jews said, “When the Prophets of the Bani Israel mentioned the name of a hundred people as the commanders, it was ensured that they would all fall and never come back. Therefore, if Muhammad is truly a Prophet, you O Zaid would surely die in this battle!” What did Zaid answer? Ibnu Katsir in his Al Bidayah wan Nihayah recorded it, “Not even a drop of doubt in me that he is a Prophet. And his words are the truth and nothing but the truth endorsed from Heaven up high!”

Then, the 3000 forces departed, accompanied by zealous poetic verses from the third commander, ‘Abdullah ibn Rawahah. As for him, he cried in the beginning. Was it because of his fear of death as was hinted by the Jews? “No!”, he asserted. He then read verse 71 from the Surah Maryam.

“Not one of you but will pass over it (hell): this is, with thy Lord, a Decree which must be accomplished.” [Qur’an 19:71]

“I don’t know how to get out from that hell after coming to it,” ‘Abdullah said. His companions then responded, “May Allah always accompanies you and return you to us in health and peace!” Reacting to that do’a, he then hummed..

But for me, I begged for forgiveness from Ar Rahman
And the violent blow beat the ocean’s foam
Or a deadly strike from the thirsty hand
Thrusting the spear, piercing the skin into the chest
Till the people said when passing by my grave
This is the warrior who obeyed the Lord

‘Abdullah ibn Rawahah declared the high ambition in his poem. And when the expedition reached Ma’an, they heard that Heraclius, the Roman Emperor himself led 100,000 forces which later was combined with the forces of Lakham, Judzam, Qain, Bahra’ and Baliy which were led by Malik ibn Zafilah until they overall numbered to 200,000 fully armed combatants. How would it be, when the strength of the forces from Madinah only equaled to 3000 personnels? A ratio of one to seventy?!

“Let’s write a letter to Rasulullah SAW ,” someone suggested. “We’ll inform him about the total number of our enemies. It might be that he would send additional forces. Or he would give us an order. Then we would obey that order.”

There were people who nodded their heads. But a majority of them turned their heads towards the commanders. Zaid ibn Haritsah and Ja’far ibn Abi Thalib were silenced. Zaid, as usual, was naturally a man without much word. While Ja’far, who had just arrived in Madinah from his hijrah in Habshah felt that it was not his right to talk yet. They then looked at ‘Abdullah ibn Rawahah, the poet of the Ansar. In the minds of Zaid and Ja’far, ‘Abdullah might think of some ideas because a majority of the forces was made up of the people of Ansar, so let ‘Abdullah be the one to talk. His spoken words were eloquent, his speech was clear and the tone of his voice was reverberating.

“My brothers,” ‘Abdullah said later, “Verily, whatever this is that you don’t like is precisely the goal and ambition of our departure. Don’t you all yearn for becoming Shaheed? When we are fighting the enemies, we are not depending on our weapons, strength or how big our number is. When we fight them, we only depend on this religion, by which Allah honor us with. Therefore, let’s advance with the blessings of Allah! We will certainly attain either one of the two goodness; victory or shaheed!!”

Then, everyone shouted the takbeer..

Take This O Abu Sulaiman!

This first clash of civilizations between Madinah and Rome was coloured by the great stories of the passing away of the commanders. Zaid ibn Haritsah charged into the midst of the enemy forces carrying the flag of Rasulullah until dozens of spears intercepted his body, asking him to stop. And his soul was instantly greeted by the divan of paradise. Ja’far reached to grab the flag, holding it with the right hand until his hand was cut off, preceding him to leave for paradise and become a wing in green colour which he soon used to fly wherever he likes. He then held the flag with his left hand, and that hand was also cut off. Then, he caught and embraced the flag with what remained of his arms and held it close to his breast, until a Roman soldier cut apart his body into halves. Thus, Ja’far's soul straight away flew off to heaven. The poetic verse that resonated from his lips approaching his shaheed could still be heard to these days.

Oo how beautiful Paradise is, and how much closer it is getting

Fragrant scent, cool and fresh is its drinks

Abdullah bin Umar RA said that after Ja’far dead body was lifted to be carried, they found ninety wounds on his face. After Ja'far bin Abi Thalib became shaheed, the people started to call for Abdullah ibn Rawahah who at that moment was located in some corner with a number of Muslim fighters. They were in the midst of sharing and eating a slice of meat as it had already been three days since they hadn’t eaten anything. Hearing his name being called, he then threw away the remaining meat and said, rebuking himself:

"Hey look, Ja'far has become shaheed, while you are still busy with the world."

Then he immediately charged forward and took the flag of the Muslims. But his finger was severely cut and smeared with blood, dangling on his hand almost cut off. He then stepped on it with his own foot and pulled his hand hardly until it was finally separated. He then threw away that finger and charged back into the midst of the battle. In a difficult and arduous situation like this, bursts of doubt still reigned in his heart due to the lacking of spirit and strength to continue the fight.

“If you follow both of the commanders,” ‘Abdullah mumbled, “You would receive guidance.” Should this battle be sustained while the victims who had fallen on the Muslim side kept on mounting? Only in a few seconds, two of his commanders had fulfilled their vow to Allah to defend His religion. Oh, he was so unsure. Wouldn’t this be wasted? But no. He was already close to his ambition. These forces belonged to Allah, only to Him he would leave it if it was really his time to follow the fate of his companions. Therefore, he reminded himself about his ambition. His poetic verses were shouted out loud. Let the soul inside him reflect on it. Let every creature become the witness.

Why do I see you disliking the paradise..

Have you not been waiting for it in your ambition?

Are you no more than just a ‘nuthfah’ that dropped?

He then attained his highest ambition. ‘Abdullah ibn Rawahah the poet, beloved by Allah and His Rasul became shaheed. Tsabit ibn Aqram Al Ajlani grabbed the flag from the embrace of ‘Abdullah, and he ran towards someone who was busy beating the enemies from the back of his horse. “Take this Abu Sulaiman!!!”, he screamed.

“No!”, the called one replied. “Not me. You participated in the battle of Badr, you are more qualified!”

“By Allah, take this Abu Sulaiman!! I did not take it except to be given to you!!”

And the one called Abu Sulaiman took the flag without further ado. It was at that same time that from the mimbar of Masjid Nabawi in Madinah, the Prophet with tears flowing from his eyes, narrated about the gallantry of the three commanders that he had dispatched. After his tears were a bit eased, he SAW said, “Then, the flag was taken by one of the swords amongst the swords of Allah. And Allah gave victory through him.”

That sword of Allah was intimately called Abu Sulaiman. His original name: Khalid ibn Al Walid.