I was eating rice for my early breakfast today and I remembered this story about the Sahabah Radiyallahu Anhum on their first ever encounter with rice, so here let me narrate the story. _____ During the Caliphate of 'Umar Ibn Al Khattab Radiyallahu Anhu, there was an uprising coming from the Iranian forces that troubled the Muslim Ummah, so He sent 319 Muhajideen under the command of 'Utbah Ibn Ghazwan Radiyallahu Anhu to Ablah. On their journey, after passing over difficult terrain, they stumbled upon a very green and fertile spot near Ablah and encamped there. They didn't have anything and when their hunger became unbearable, 'Ibn Ghazwan sent some of his companions to look for something to eat. [1] One of them narrated: "As we were walking along searching for something eatable, we entered a small grove. There we saw two earthen pots. One was filled with dates and the other one had small yellow grains in it. We picked up both of the pots and carried them to our Commander. One of our companions glanced at it and said they should be very careful, for it might be poisoned. We all turned towards the dates and started eating them, one of the horses, meanwhile, broke his tether and went straight to the pot with grains, put his mouth in and started to eat them, and we waited if there would be any effect on the house and if it is poisoned we shall kill the horse as it might go on suffering. So we kept watch at night and when the morning came we saw that nothing had happened to the horse and it was fine!" So, one of the wives of the Mujahideen said: "I have heard my father saying that if poison is cooked, then the effect of the poison is neutralized." She then picked some grains and started to cook it, then she pointed out that the husk was coming off from the grains, and white grains were appearing. To be able to check out the taste, it was placed on a bowl and was given to the general, he then said to try them, taking the name of Allah (Bismillah), and when he had tasted them, he found them to be delicious. Later, we learnt that these grains were called rice and was the favorite food of the Iranians." _____ Ma sha Allah, a lesson to be taken from here is that whenever we are given food, or we are about to take food we should never forget to start by saying the name of Allah, Bismillah, so that if there is anything bad or anything that may cause us harm then we will be protected. in sha Allah. Note: This was the first ever encounter of these people with rice, like anyone of us, when it will be our first time to encounter something we would always be skeptical about it, but the thing to consider here is that the Sahabah Radiyallahu Anhum were always careful before indulging into something, unlike most of us now, when it's new, we always want to try it not minding what it can cause us. Also, a point raised was that it's clear how the leader, the amir was the one who tasted and tried the food rather than making his people taste it, unlike how we do these days, we ask others to taste it for us, but during the Sahabah Radiyallahu Anhum, their leaders were more concerned on how their people would be rather than for themselves. And we pray that we may learn from the actions of these great people and in return we may think before we do our actions. Amin. Zohayma _____ F.N. [1] Commanders of the Muslim Army, Ghadanfar, p. 253 P.S. This was shared on the Stories of the Sahabah Facebook Page but some have requested that it be shared also on this blog.
