About Saad Bin Abi Waqas

Saad bin Abi Waqas (may Allah be pleased with him) had accepted Islam as a young boy; this disturbed and saddened his mother very deeply because he had given up the faith of his father and forefathers.

She tried in many ways to bring him back into the fold of Kufr. When nothing worked she used the last resort of mothers to emotionally blackmail her obedient and loving son. This is something, which makes their determination falter and their resolutions fail. She went on a hunger strike and declared she would not eat until her son came back to the religion of his forefathers. She vowed that rather die than see her son become a Muslim.

Saad bin Abi Waqas (may Allah be pleased with him) was unnerved when he saw her stubbornness, but pure faith had taken strong roots in his heart, so his strong feet firmly planted in Islam did not totter. His mother was close to death by starvation and thirst. Displaying strong determination and courage he said to her:

”My mother, if you had a hundred lives within you body, and each one of those hundred lives were to leave your body in front of my eyes, even then I would not recant and give up my faith in Islam. It is your wish whether you want to eat or not; as to myself I will not leave my Prophet peace be upon him”

Seeing that it was of no use and her son was stubborn as a rock, she finished her hunger strike. This resolution and determination of Sa`ad bin Abi Waqas (may Allah be pleased with him) had been made immortal:


”But if they (both) strive with you to make you join in worship with Me others that of which you have no knowledge, then obey them not; but behave with them in the world kindly, and follow the path of him who turns to Me in repentance and in obedience. Then to Me will be your return, and I shall tell you what you used to do” (31:15)

In the Hadith reported by Abu Dawud, Tirmizi, Nasa’e and al-Hakim, and narrated by Said Bin Zaid directly from the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam):

“Ten people will be among the people of Paradise: Abu Bakr is in Paradise, Umar is in Paradise, Othman, Ali, Zubair, Talha, Abdurrahman, Abu Ubaida and Said Ibn Abi Waqas. He mentioned these nine names and did not mention the tenth.
So the people told him: We implore you by Allah, who is the tenth, O, Abu Al-Aawar? He replied: “You implored me by Allah, Abu Al-Aawar is in Paradise.”