The Abstinence of S’ad (may Allah be pleased with him)

The Abstinence of S’ad

S’ad ibn Abi Waqqas (may Allah be pleased with him) along with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had to endure torrid times during their stay in Makkah. The conditions that they were living in were extremely severe but they accepted it. Today we find ourselves in many predicaments and we begin to doubt our Creator and forget the verse of the Qur’an in which Allah says,

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ ٱسۡتَعِينُواْ بِٱلصَّبۡرِ وَٱلصَّلَوٰةِ‌ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ مَعَ ٱلصَّـٰبِرِينَ

“O you who believe, seek help through patience and prayer. Surely, Allah is with those who are patient.”

The Sahaabah were an embodiment of this verse, S’ad (may Allah be pleased with him) relates,

“Whenever difficulties came, we accepted it, prepared for it and exercised patience.”

The truth is that the likes of S’ad (may Allah be pleased with him) understood this verse very well as one night he left the company of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to pass urine. As he began to pass urine, he heard something make a noise as his urine fell upon it. It came to the knowledge of S’ad (may Allah be pleased with him) that it was a piece of camel leather. He instantly picked it up, cleansed it and then toasted it. He then grinded it till it was powder and then swallowed the substance. S’ad (may Allah be pleased with him) himself relates,

“This gave me strength for three days.”

Such was the direness in the situation at times that S’ad ibn Abi Waqqas (may Allah be pleased with him) says,

“I was the first Arab to fire an arrow in the path of Allah. When we used to fight battles with the Messenger of Allah , the only food we had were the leaves of the acacia (right) and lotus (top left) trees. In fact, whenever any of us relieved himself, his droppings resembled those of a goat because it was at all sticky"