Mu'adh ibn Jabal

Mu'adh ibn Jabal was from the Ansar, of the Khazraj tribe. He accepted Islam at the young age of eighteen and was among the seventy-three who took the Second Pledge of Aqabah. Despite his youth, he was already recognized for his sharp intellect and devotion to learning. He participated in Badr, Uhud, Khandaq, and all subsequent expeditions. The Prophet held Mu'adh in the highest regard as a scholar. He said: 'The most knowledgeable of my ummah regarding the lawful and the unlawful is Mu'adh ibn Jabal.' When the Prophet dispatched him to Yemen in 10 AH as a teacher, judge, and governor, he asked him the famous question: 'How will you judge?' Mu'adh replied: 'By the Book of Allah.' The Prophet asked: 'And if you do not find it there?' He said: 'By the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah.' The Prophet asked: 'And if you do not find it there?' He said: 'I will exercise my own judgement (ijtihad).' The Prophet struck his chest and said: 'Praise be to Allah who has guided the messenger of the Messenger of Allah to what pleases the Messenger of Allah.' When Mu'adh departed for Yemen, the Prophet walked beside his riding animal for some distance, bidding him farewell. He then said the poignant words: 'O Mu'adh, perhaps you will not meet me again after this year. Perhaps you will pass by this mosque and my grave.' Mu'adh wept, and the Prophet turned toward Madinah and said: 'The closest people to me are the God-fearing, whoever they are and wherever they are.' This farewell proved prophetic — the Prophet passed away before Mu'adh returned. Mu'adh died during the plague of Amwas in Syria in 18 AH, at approximately thirty-eight years of age. When the plague struck him, he said: 'Welcome, O death, welcome — a visitor who has come at a time of need.' He was among the finest scholars Islam produced in its first generation.