Amr ibn al-Aas: The Chief Strategist | The 100 Sahaba Series | English

[00:00:01]Alas was [music] somebody who converted to Islam later on. He actually went to Medina to convert to Islam with Malah.

[00:00:10]Before that, Amar al-A was one of the staunchest enemies of Islam.

[00:00:26][music] [bell] In this series of our beloved 100, the Sahabi and Sahabiat who we can learn so much in our life from, we're delighted to bring to you the narration of Ali.

[00:00:49]What an incredible example of strategy, of tactics, of understanding people and through an acute understanding of who those people were and what they wanted, achieving incredible feats. Amarbas was somebody who converted to Islam later on. He actually went to Medina to convert [music] to Islam with Khalibah.

[00:01:11]Before that, Amar al-A was one of the staunchest enemies of Islam. When [music] the Muslims had moved Abisinia into Ethiopia, the Quresh had sent Amar al-Ass as their chief statesmen [music] to try to lure these Muslims back. It was a small amount of Muslims led by Jaffer Abali and Ahman bin Aan that had gone to. Why were the Qur so focused on bringing these people back? because they realized that this had opened a whole area for Muslims to go into and because they were threatened by the very existence of Muslims, they wanted to do everything that they could to get the king Nashi to send them back. So they [music] sent their best statesman, Allah binas. Allah binas sent many gifts to Nashi before he arrived. And then when he arrived into the court of Nashi, he built upon the wonderful relationship that he had with them over many years.

[00:02:03]He was a trusted statesman for Nashi. Of course, we know that Amarinas was no match for the beautiful presentation [music] that Jaffer Abdial makes to Nashi that wins over his heart. So much so that Nashi said that if anybody harms these Muslims, he will have to deal with me.

[00:02:21]This was one of the first failures [music] and the last in life of Amaras.

[00:02:26]When he goes back to Yat Medina, he actually spends a lot of time reflecting on what had happened [snorts] and how for someone who was such an a distinguished and a successful states person, why this particular expedition did not work. And of course, he comes to the realization that it's because Muslims are driven by something bigger than immediate life gains. They are driven by a bigger purpose, a bigger vision that he understood this and reverted to Islam in the expedition of Dat Al Salasam, a very important expedition for Muslims. It was the choice of the prophet over many other senior Sahabi that Amadinas would lead this expedition. It was at a very cold time and when the armies of the Muslims were camped, he would not let them light fires at night. At that time many of the the companions and many of the people in the military did not understand why this was happening and they complained viferously saying why is this happening to us. Only later on did they realize [music] that the shudness that the wisdom of Amabinas allowed him to think through this and think that if the [snorts] Muslims had lit fires the enemy would have had a better understanding of how much their numbers were. And by the time the Muslims attacked their enemy they had no idea how many were coming.

[00:03:40]And of course we win that expedition. We win that battle. The greatest legacy of Amarbinas of course is the opening of Egypt. Today when you go to Umuda or Cairo or Egypt you will find many many roads, streets, individuals whose name is named after the wonderful companion of our beloved prophet Muhammad.

[00:04:03]When he opens up Mis or Egypt for Muslims, he doesn't just collect taxes or take away the wealth of that very rich area. He adds to that wealth. He builds canals. He improves agriculture.

[00:04:18]He creates great policies and guidelines with which tradesmen and business people were protected. In fact, he set such a great example that many of the provinces of Muslims to come later on learned from those examples [music] and created a very identical structure of governance in their areas. Ahmedas was not just a great visionary, a great strategist.

[00:04:43][music] He also was a great example of theocratic focus as well. that while you succeed um in your business as a military strategist and so on, it's [music] always incumbent upon Muslims to keep their faith at the very forefront of how they [music] work, how they lead and how they do business. Truly in the legacy and narrations of we [music] have a chief strategist, a master tactician, somebody who understood not only winning the battle but also winning hearts. And that's why when Muslims [music] open up Egypt Msur, then for hundreds of years after that, Muslims not only just survive in [music] Msur, but then thrive. So much of the richness of our tradition and our culture today comes from the legacy of this beloved sahhabi, Amaras.