Abu-Thar Al-Ghaffary

His name was Jundub Ben junadah from the tribe of Ghaffar. He was a companion of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.w) who has said, “There is no man on this earth more truthful than Abu-Dhar.”Abu-Thar never worshipped idols in his life. When he heard news of the Prophet (s.a.w.w) Abu-Thar came to Makkah to meet him. He waited in the mosque the whole day until Imam Ali (a.s) passed by and seeing that he was a stranger in Makkah took him to his house. When Imam Ali (a.s) found out the purpose of Abu-Thar’s journey, he personally took him to see the Prophet (s.a.w.w.).Abu-Thar spoke with him and paid his allegiance to Islam. The first thing he did after becoming a Muslim was to go to the Holy Mosque and shout out “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is His Messenger!”When the Mushrikeen heard him, they beat him until Abbas the Prophet (s.a.w.w)’s uncle saved him. He kept coming back and did this for 3 days!The Prophet (s.a.w.w) then told him to go back home and preach Islam there. His brother and mother were the first to accept his message. Soon half the tribe followed their example and the other half accepted Islam after Hejra. He endured a lot of hardship. He was exiled by the 3rd caliph, Uthman, to Damascus. In Damascus he saw the evil of Mu’awiyyah and he spoke against him in public. Finally Mua’wiyyah got tired of him and asked Uthman to send him somewhere else.He was then exiled to a place in the desert called Rabadha and no one was allowed to even bid him farewell! The only people who met him before he left were Imams Ali, Hassan and Hussain (a.s) and Aqil.Abu-Thar was a man who spent his days fasting and worshipping Allah (S.W T). Imam Al-Sadiq (a.s) says, “Abu-Thar wept from fear of Allah until he was almost blind. The people told him to pray for his eyes to get cured but he replied, `I am busy with more important things’. When asked twhat these were, he said, `fear of Hell and joy of Heaven.”This great man died alone in exile with no one by his side as the Prophet (s.a.w.w) had predicted when he said, “O’ Abu-Thar, you shall live alone and die alone and be resurrected alone.”