Urwa b. Mas’ud Becomes a Muslim and then he is Martyred

Urwa b. Mas’ud was one of the notables of Taif. When the Prophet besieged Taif with his army, he was in Jurash, Yemen. He was learning the art of making catapults, etc for the defense of Taif.

After the Prophet lifted the siege, he returned to Taif. After a while, God Almighty placed love of Islam in his heart and he went to Madinah. He became a Muslim in the month of Rabiul-Awwal in the 9^th year of the Migration.[1]The Prophet became very glad when he became a Muslim.

After staying in Madinah for a while, Urwa b. Mas’ud said to the Messenger of God, “O Messenger of God! Let me go and invite my tribe to Islam.”

The Messenger of God knew that the people of Taif were the captives of their conceitedness and hence avoided becoming Muslims. Therefore, he said to Urwa, “They will kill you.”

Urwa said, “O Messenger of God! They love me more than their own children.” He repeated his wish to go.

The Prophet said again, “They will kill you.”

Urwa trusted in the love and respect of the people of Taif to him.

He said, “O Messenger of God! Let alone killing me, they will not even awaken me when I am asleep.”

Then, he repeated his wish for the third time.

Thereupon, the Messenger of God said, “All right! Go if you want to go.”

Urwa set off to go to Taif at once. He invited the people of Taif to become Muslims.

The people of Taif, who were the captives of their conceitedness, threw arrows at him and martyred Urwa b. Mas’ud, whom they loved very much.[2]

When the Prophet heard that he was martyred, he said, “His situation in his tribe is like the one with the person of Yasin. The person of Yasin had invited his tribe to believe in God but his tribe killed him.” Then, he said, “Thank God; He sent a person like the person of Yasin to my ummah.”[3]

Death of Umm Ruman, the wife of Hazrat Abu Bakr

Hazrat Abu Bakr’s wife, Umm Ruman, whose real name was Zaynab, became a Muslim in Makkah in the first years of Islam and paid allegiance to the Prophet. She was the mother of Abdurrahman and Hazrat Aisha.

Umm Ruman died in the 9^th year of the Migration. The Prophet entered her grave and asked forgiveness for her from God Almighty.[4]

Mash over Khuffs(Leather Socks)

During the Expedition of Tabuk, the Prophet ordered the Muslims to wipe over their khuffs while making wudu.[5]The period for the validity of mash was three days (seventy-two hours) for travelers and one day (twenty-four hours) for non-travelers (residents).