Abu Barza Aslami (r.a.)

In the first years of Islam, one of the rare people who accepted the sacred invitation of the Messenger of Allah, strived to spread the true religion to the world with their intelligent, power, strength and knowledge, spent their lives in this way, declared, the truth without being under any influence and loved the Messenger of Allah and his Ahl al-Bayt was Abu Barza Aslami.

Hz. Abu Barza’s real name was “Nadla bin Ubeyd”. According to the statement of some historians of the Era of Bliss, his name was “Nadla bin Niyar”. Stating that Niyar was one of the names of Satan, the Prophet changed Abu Barza to “Abdullah.” [ Isaba, 3: 556. ] Our Prophet eliminated all of the traces left from the Era of Jahiliyyah and replaced them with good ones.

Hz. Abu Barza was a hero and a mujahid of the Companions. He had the honor of being together with the Prophet as he was alive. He acted together with the Prophet in all wars, offered his life for the sake of his belief and shed his blood.

Along with his great efforts during the wars, Hz. Abu Barza was one of the distinguished hadith narrators among the Companions. He memorized many hadiths; 64 of these hadiths appeared in hadith books. In addition, he raised many students in the science of hadith.

Hz. Abu Barza loved leading a plain life. He never lived in luxury and wasted money; when he saw one of his relatives wearing a fancy dress and wandered on horseback, he would warn him and reminded him that the world was ephemeral. One of his nice habits peculiar to him was that he ate lunch and dinner with the poor and homeless people. He distributed food to the widows and orphans around his house every morning and evening.

After the death of the Prophet, Hz. Abu Barza continued to serve the Quran; he acted with Hz. Ali in the incidents of conflict. In the battle that Hz. Ali had against Kharijites in Nahrawan, Hz. Abu Barza was also present. He was also with Ali in the Battle of Siffin. [ al-Isaba, 3: 557. ]

After staying in Madinah for a while, Hz. Abu Barza went to Basra and Damascus; despite his old age, he also joined the wars in the region of Khorasan.

Hz. Abu Barza was full of the love of Ahl al-Bayt. Hz. Abu Barza became very distressed due to the incident of Karbala. When Hz. Husayn’s head was cut off and taken to the presence of the Caliph, he was there.

When Yazid touched Hz. Husayn’s lips with the staff in his hand, he shuddered due to this ugly deed and addressed Yazid harshly:

“You are hitting Hz. Husayn’s lips with a staff! Keep your staff away from his lips! I saw the Messenger of Allah kissing those lips.

O Yazid! On the Day of Resurrection, you will enter into the presence of Allah as a person whose intercessor will be Ibn Ziyad [The person who killed Hz. Husayn] and go out like that. Husayn will enter into the presence of Allah as a person whose intercessor will be Hz. Muhammad and go out like that.” After that, Abu Barza left angrily. [ Usdul-Ghaba, 5: 20. ]

Hz. Abu Barza died in in the city of Marv in Khorasan in the month of Ramadan in 65 H. He was buried there. [ Ibn Sa’d, Tabaqat, 7: 9. ]

May Allah be pleased with him!