the prophetic methodology reached its goals and achieved its objectives in educating the young companions who, by such education, reached unprecedented achievements in various aspects, like learning, belief, propagation, jihad, and all good deeds. i will demonstrate in brief some of their achievements in the following:

 

mu'ath bin jabal, though he is a young man, will be the leader of scholars at the day of judgment as the prophet – peace be upon him – said: ((mu'ath bin jabal will be the leader of scholars at the day of judgment)).

 

they were the most knowing between people of the holy quran, its meanings and provisions. abdullah bin mas'oud, may allah be pleased with him, said: i know every sura of the quran and the reason behind its being revealed … the prophet, peace be upon him, recommended to learn quran from the youth: ((learn the recitation of the qur'an from (any of these) four persons: 'abdullah bin masud, salem the freed slave of abu hudhaifa, ubai bin ka'b, and mu'ath bin jabal)) narrated by al-bukhari.

 

abu bakr al-siddique, may allah be pleased with him, ordered zaid bin thabet to compile the quran. this indicates the important role of the youth.

 

the prophetic directions yielded a faithful generation loving allah the almighty and his prophet, peace be upon him. on khaibar conquest, the prophet, peace be upon him, said: ((i will give the flag tomorrow  to a man who loves allah and his prophet and loved by allah and his prophet. allah will bestow victory upon him)). narrated by al-bukhari.

 

the strong solid belief of the young companions was clear in confronting the torture of quraish. the disbelievers forced khabab bin al art, may allah be pleased with him, to lay on hot soil until his flesh melt. mos'ab bin omair used to wear best clothes and eat the most delicious foods, but when he embraced islam, they deprived him of all of that until he wore old patched clothes. he opted the hardships of life out of his love to allah the almighty and his prophet, peace be upon him.

 

the young companions have sacrificed all precious things of life in the cause of allah. when quraish conspired against the prophet, peace be upon him, ali bin abi taleb sacrificed his life to protect the prophet, peace be upon him, by sleeping in place of the prophet, peace be upon him, and was twenty three years old. in the battle of uhud, talha bin obaidullah stood in front of the prophet, peace be upon him, to protect him and prevent arrows from reaching the prophet, peace be upon him, until his hand was paralyzed.  

 

the prophetic directions and education enhanced the strength of youth in confronting life and its desires. omar bin al khattab, may allah be pleased with him, wanted to test mu'ath bin jabal and obaida bin al jarah by money. he prepared two bags of money; each bag contains four hundred dinars, and then told his servant: “take this money to mu'ath and to abi obaida and wait little in their houses to see what they will do”. when mu'ath, may allah be pleased with him, received the money, he distributed all of it and left nothing to his family except two dinars, and so did abu obaida. the servant returned back to omar and told him about the issue. hearing that, omar was happy and said: “they are brothers, one from another”.

 

the young companions have applied their belief into good actions. for example, ibn omar, may allah be pleased with him, was having a vessel of water from which he made ablution (wudhoo') and prays as much as he could. then he sleeps little and wake up again to make ablution and pray again, and he repeats this action four for five times at night.

 

abu talha had the greatest wealth of date-palms amongst the ansar in medina, and he prized above all his wealth his garden; “bairuha'”, which was situated opposite the masjed (of the prophet). the prophet, peace be upon him used to enter it and drink from its fresh water. when the following verse was revealed: {never will you attain the good [reward] until you spend [in the way of allah] from that which you love} (ali-imran: 92). hearing this verse, abu talha said: o prophet of allah, the most favorite thing in my properties is “bairuha’” farm and i hereby give it as alms in the cause of allah and i wish the reward of allah, you can dispose of it as allah directs you. the prophet, peace be upon him, said: ((well done! this is (real) profitable property, this is (real) profitable property ….)). narrated by al bukhari.

 

such generation was brought up by the prophet, peace be upon him; therefore, they were known of their good morals, noble manners and politeness, like the following:

 

a) filial piety and good manners toward parents:

osama bin zaid, may allah be pleased with him, has bored a palm tree and extracted its pith and feed his mother. they told him: why did you do that and you know that the palm tree is worth of one thousand dirhams? he said: my mother requested it and i used to fulfill anything she requests as long as i can.  

 

abu huraira, may allah be pleased with him, did not perform hajj (pilgrimage) until his mother died, out of his care to keep her company.

 

mu'ath bin amr bin al-jamouh was trying all efforts to make his father stop worshipping idols before death.

 

the prophet, peace be upon him, witnessed that jafar bin abi taleb has great morals and manners by telling him: ((your shape and morals are similar to mine)).

 

the prophetic directions established a brave generation sacrificing soul, money and all precious things of life for the sake of supporting monotheism and the religion of islam. these youth companions achieved great championships and memorable stances. here are brief examples in fighting for the cause of allah and defending the prophet peace be upon him:

 

1- omair bin abi waqqas, sixteen years old, went with the companions and the prophet, peace be upon him, to badr battle and was trying to hide himself so that no one could see him and return him back (because he is young and not yet qualified), but the prophet, peace be upon him, saw him and wanted to return him back home because he is not qualified to be in a battle. omair started crying (out of sadness to return back). seeing that, the prophet, peace be upon him, sympathized with him and allowed him to fight. at the battle, omair fought courageously and was killed becoming a martyr in this battle.

 

2- al-bukhari & muslim narrated that abdul rahman bin auf said: while i was fighting in the front line on the day (of the battle) of badr, suddenly i looked behind and saw on my right and left two young boys. then one of them asked me secretly so that his companion may not hear, "o uncle! show me abu jahl." i said, "o nephew! what will you do to him?" he said, "i have promised allah that if i see him (i.e. abu jahl), i will either kill him or be killed before i kill him." then the other said the same to me secretly so that his companion should not hear. i would not have been pleased to be in between two other men instead of them. then i pointed at him (i.e. abu jahl). both of them attacked him like two hawks till they knocked him down. those two boys were the sons of 'afra' (i.e. an ansari woman).

 

3- in uhud battle, the prophet, peace be upon him, returned back a group of youth who did not attain fifteen. the companions said that rafe' (one of the youth) is a good bowman; so, the prophet, peace be upon him, allowed him to fight. hearing that, samra bin jundob, a young man eager to attain martyrdom, said to the prophet, peace be upon him: you have allowed him (i.e. rafe') to fight and returned me although i can throw him down. the prophet, peace be upon him, said: (here he is) (i.e. wrestle with him). then both wrestled and samra defeated rafe' and the prophet, peace be upon him, allowed samra to fight.

 

4- handhala bin amer was a bridegroom at the night of uhud battle. when he heard the call for jihad, he went out quickly without making major ablution (ablution after making love) and fought until he fell as a martyr. when the prophet, peace be upon him, saw him he said to the companions: ((the angles are washing your friend)); therefore, he was called then ((ghessil al-mala'ekah i.e. the person washed by the angles).

 

5- the prophetic directions enhanced the ambitions and hopes of youth who were trying all efforts to reach the pleasure of allah the almighty. auf bin al-hareth asked the prophet, peace be upon him, in badr battle: o prophet of allah, what is the thing which makes allah be pleased from his slave? he said: ((facing enemy with a bare chest)). hearing that, he took off his armor, threw it, took his sword and fought until death.

 

it is the prophetic education which makes this young man asks this strange question out of his care and keenness to achieve the pleasure of allah in the battlefield.

 

this is the young generation educated and brought up by the prophet, peace be upon him. they have followed the prophetic manners, realized the truth of this religion, believed in allah as the one lord, believed in islam as a religion and believed in muhammad, peace be upon him, as the prophet of allah. their belief was strong and solid, and they have put it into practical manners in their private & general life, worship and transactions. they were keen to spread charity and good deeds worldwide.

 

nowadays, we are in bad need for a generation believing in allah the almighty and following the manners of the prophet, peace be upon him, to recover the sovereignty of this nation and this cannot be attained unless we take care of the generations and educate them according to the teachings of the holy quran and the prophetic sunna.

 

allah’s messenger (pbuh), the first teacher, used to frequently give examples amidst his speeches and sayings because he knew of the capability of such examples in delivering and elucidating the intended meaning. some example of this:

 

a)     jabir bin abdullah reported that allah's messenger (pbuh) happened to walk through the bazar coming from the side of 'aliya and the people were on both his sides. there he found a dead lamb with very short ears. he took hold of his ear and said:” who amongst you would like to have this for a dirham? they said: we do not like to have it even for less than that as it is of no use to us. he said: do you wish to have it (free of any cost)? they said: by allah, even if it were alive (we would not have liked to possess that), for there is a defect in it as its ear is very short; now it is dead also. thereupon allah's messenger (pbuh) said: by allah, this world is more insignificant in the eye of allah as this dead lamb is in your eye”. in this hadith allah’s messenger (pbuh) had illustrated to his companions the insignificance and disgrace of this world by representing it as a dead lamb.

 

b)     ibn omar (may allah be pleased with them) reported that allah’s messenger (pbuh) said: “one who holds (memorizes) quran is like one who owns camels with tying ropes. if he holds the ropes fast he keeps his camels and if not, the camels will go.” agreed upon. (in this hadith allah’s messenger (pbuh) had represented the person who memorizes quran as one who owns camels if he tied them with ropes he can get hold on them and if he let them loose it will be hard for him to catch them again).

 

c)      abi mousa al ashari narrated that allah’s messenger (pbuh) said: “"the example of a believer who recites the qur'an and acts on it, like a citron which tastes nice and smells nice. and the example of a believer who does not recite the qur'an but acts on it, is like a date which tastes good but has no smell. and the example of a hypocrite who recites the qur'an is like a raihana (sweet basil) which smells good but tastes bitter and the example of a hypocrite who does not recite the quran is like a colocynth which tastes bitter and has a bad smell."

 

d)     omar ibn al-khattab narrated that allah’s messenger (pbuh) said: “the example of one who gets back the charity he made is like a dog that swallows his own vomit.”  (muslim) (this hadith makes one repel getting back his charity or donation.).

 

e)     nu'man bin bashir reported that allah's messenger said: “the similitude of believers in regard to mutual love, affection, and fellow-feeling is like the human body: when one limb is ailing, the whole body feels it, one part calling out the other with sleeplessness and fever."

 

this hadith incites muslims to have mercy and support amongst each other and to act like one entity.

 

all the before mentioned hadiths show the importance of using examples and that it is one of the most effective and successful methods of education and up-bringing of the young.