Abu Ayyub al- Ansari: ''To you, I Have come O Prophet Muhammad, not to this Tombstone!''

A.Ali Ural

Medina has never awaited anyone like this before. Not only the eyes of humans, but the eyes of clouds, hills and gardens are fixed on the road. For days the city has talked of nothing but him. When his name is whispered, the trees rustle, the well-water rises, and children hold hands and to run. Spirits who sense that history will with his entrance to the city hold their breath on the edge of time and wait for the moon to appear. However, there is one resident in this city who walks three or four miles every morning to meet him.  Abu Ayyub al- Ansari is climbing hills in pursuit of a new day that will shine with the illuminated hands he had embraced at the Aqaba Agreement. Even if he does not see him first, he will give the glad tidings before anyone else: "Muhammad's convoy is coming!" He runs immediately to his tribe. He arouses the whole city, particularly the Banu an-Najjar whose chief he is. Women, men, children, trees, the wind, and clouds - everyone and everything go to meet him. Tambourines are beaten excitedly. The awaited moon appears on the farewell hills. Children make their best screams at that moment. Women cry their most innocent tears at that moment. Najjar males are vying with one another to invite him to their houses. They surround his camel and extend their hands at that moment. The Prophet turns towards the children singing the hymn, "How wonderful to be a neighbor of Muhammad," and asks, "Do you love me?" In unison the children shout, "We love you, O Prophet!" Then the Prophet tells them, "Allah knows my heart and that I love you, too!" There is such a circle of love that the Prophet does not want to break this siege. Just as he divided among the tribes the honor of carrying the Black Stone before he became an apostle, he would now divide the sun to all the windows if he could. So that his choice will not cast any shadow of sadness, he leaves the choice to his camel Kuswa. Wherever it kneels, he will get down there. Kuswa walks and everyone is in suspense. Kuswa approaches the city slowly. A cry of lament rises whichever house the camel passes, a sacred joy whichever street it enters. Kuswa kneels, making hearts pound. Suddenly it stops and gets back up where it had knelt. As if it had heard a voice the unknown, the camel takes a few more steps. Choosing the house of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, Kuswa kneels again.

What a blessed guest! What an unforgettable visit! Abu Ayyub's voice is trembling joy: "O Prophet! You are welcome. This is my house. And this is my door!" Together with Zayd ibn Harith, he carries the Prophet's baggage. A journey of love s that will last seven months. The blessed guest prefers the lower floor so that his visitors will not bother his host. However, the Host of the Apostle is uneasy with this. How can those on the upper floor be comfortable when the Prophet is living in the lower floor? The water jug can be bumped over and water can spill out. What if it seeps through to the lower floor and drips on the Prophet? This won't work. The Prophet should live on the upper floor. Sahih-i Muslim notes that at this moment in history: "The Prophet immediately orders that his baggage be taken upstairs. It was immediately carried up; there was not much anyway." The goods were few, but the love was increasing at every meal. The greatest pleasure of Abu Ayyub and his wife was to eat the Last Prophet's dish. One day when Abu Ayyub saw that his blessed guest had not touched his food, he said sadly, "O Prophet, our biggest honor is to eat the same plate after you have eaten. But I noticed that you did not eat the food today." The Prophet replied, "I didn't eat it because I saw onion in the food. But even if I do not like it, there is no harm in your eating it." Sahih- Muslim again records a  history, so that Abu Ayyub's reply will never be forgotten: "O Prophet! We do not like what you do not like!"

The thing that Abu Ayyub likes most is fighting on the path of Allah. Badr, Uhud, Hendek, Hayber, the Conquest of Mecca, Hunayn, Tabuk... Wherever the flag is raised, he is there. The Prophet said, "If someone who knows the virtue, benefits and rewards for jihad dies before he tries hard to fight, undoubtedly he has died with a share of hypocrisy. There is a station of 100 degrees in Allah's presence; it was prepared only for those believers who fight in Allah's way." The verse, "Don't throw yourself into danger with your own hands," (Quran Surah Baqara, ayah 195) points to jihad. Those who see Abu Ayyub in the front row in every battle ask, "Why have you dedicated yourself to holy war?" He whispers in their ears, "After I read in the Holy Quran the divine edict, ‘Do not refrain holy war and battle in any situation,' it was not possible for me to abandon holy war." When a campaign is to at dawn, his eyes open first. If it is necessary to wait on guard in front of the Prophet's tent, then Abu Ayyub al-Ansari is there. Forget about the shadow of a sword falling on the Prophet; he can not even endure a bird feather in the Prophet's beard. With his own hands, he removes a bird feather the Prophet's face between Safa and Marwa. He receives the prayer, "O Abu Ayyub, now on no evil will touch you." And this prayer girds Abu Ayyub in such a coat of armor that he comes out alive every battle every time. He does not hang his sword on the wall after the Prophet's death. The Host of the Prophet points out new battlefields in Syria, Palestine, Egypt and Cyprus during the time of Abu Bakr and Omar.

He is not just an imposing warrior. He is a scribe of revelation, one who brings verses together. He is a memorizer of the entire Quran. He is a vice-gerent who takes Ali's place when he goes to Iraq. He is a reporter who journeys Medina to Egypt just for one narration. He is a jurisprudent whose rulings are trusted by the people. He is an imam who leads the prayers in the Masjid Nabi when Othman is confined. He is a guardian overseeing the spirit of Medina along with Musab ibn Umayr. He is a father who becomes angry at his son and his enemy because he is tortured and killed in war. He is a warner to those who do not make the evening prayer at the favored time.

And he is a sage crying with his head on the Prophet's grave during the time of the Omayyads. Marwan ibn Hakem was the governor of Medina. Abu Ayyub heard a voice behind: "Do you know what you're doing?" Abu Ayyub recognizes the cold voice; it belongs to the incompetent Marwan. He implies that he is doing something contrary to the sunnah. The time has come. The Host of the Prophet answers emphatically making his point: "I have come to the Prophet, not this tombstone! I heard him say, ‘Do not worry when qualified people take up religious matters; however, when unqualified people take the helm, you cannot cry enough.'"

If he heard it the Prophet, then that was the end of it. Whatever exists found its true place at his signal. If the Prophet said, "Constantinople will definitely be conquered. What a wonderful commander its conqueror is and what a wonderful army that conquers it," then it absolutely would be conquered. Even if he was past the age of eighty, Abu Ayyub al-Ansari would never grow old. He would put on his sword and mount his horse, pray at the Prophet's grave and catch his breath at the walls of Istanbul. Istanbul is Allah's most beautiful city. Istanbul has smiled at Medina for centuries. Istanbul becomes Muslim in his dreams. Unfortunately Muslims were unable to conquer Istanbul in their first siege. The door of conquest was nonetheless knocked on, by the standard-bearer of the Prophet.

While the life of this great warrior, who has always claimed that not fighting is dangerous rather than fighting, is saved a thousand swords, he falls ill and dies during the campaign. He passes from the realm of the standard-bearer to the realm of the afterlife. And he leaves such a last request that it is as if it were not enough to frighten the enemy in life, but in death as well. The sentence, "After I die, bury me near the walls!" and falls like a nightmare into the dreams of the Byzantine Empire. After a unit of soldiers buries the Sultan, the Emperor's sleep is disturbed. However, that was a dream, not a nightmare and it would be interpreted 784 years later by Mehmed the Conqueror. His grave is a frontier fortress and a sign for Aksamseddin.