The Most Famous Munafiq

The Munafiq
I could never imagine any Muslim whose eyes would not be in tears (or heart wont be in fear) if they read the famous story of this biggest and most famous munafiq - Ka'ab bin Malik. Among the faithful sahabah, there are 3 men who failed to comply to Prophet's call to Tabuk. He was one of them, a devout and practising Muslim and one of the sahabah but he's being munafiq was all due to his being tarry to leave his wealth behind, being confided with his own thought that since he had participated in all the other campaigns, missing this one 'activity' would be tolerated.

The Prophet's return
He ignored the Tabuk mission, the call from our beloved prophet SAW. But upon hearing the prophet's return, he was struck with both grief and fear. And that was when he realized that he did such a huge mistake by being occupied with his worldly tasks , that he fell into being one of the munafiqin himself. He went to the mosque toconfess about his failure to accompany the prophet's campaign to Tabuk and to ask for his forgiveness, only to find out that many other munafiqin have already presented themselves to the beloved prophet with their own excuses. He trembled with fear at his own stupidity that surely has caused the Prophet's wrath. Even the prophet SAW (pbuh) returned his salaam with sardonic smile and turned his face away from Kaab bin Malik.

 The Boycott
When he realized it, he found out the whole town was turning against him. His own birthplace seemed to be a total strange, foreign town. As he put it, 'under the instruction of Rasulullah SAW, all the sahabah completely boycotted us (the munafiqin)'. The social boycott became harder and harder for him to bear. Even the prophet would avert his face from him after his salah.

The Temptation
Kaab bin Malik was walking down the street of Madinah when approached by a messenger of the Christian King of Ghassan who had come all the way from Syria. He passed him a letter of sympathize on how he was being ill-treated by his master, but Allah would have never abandoned him, thus offering him all the help they could, and invited him to join them. He was so shocked , and uttered "Innalillahi wa inna Ilaihi Rajiun"... He was perturbed by this and was so in grief that even the Kafir was building up their hopes over him.

The Instruction
40 days has passed since the social boycott had started. Rasulullah SAW later instructed all the munafiqin to be separated from their wives (not to divorce them). Ka'ab bin Malik was so scared that if he died during that time, nobody would perform janazah on him, that he would die in the wrath of the prophet and the displeasure of Allah, or if Rasulullah SAW died before he was forgiven, he would be doomed forever until the hereafter.

The End
Another 10 days passed by. On that 50th day of boycotting, he sat on the roof after Fajr prayer, stricken by the endless grief. And then, he heard somebody cried from the Mount of Sula,

"Happy tidings to you, O Ka'ab"

The moment he heard that, he fell to the ground and tears of joy rolled down his cheeks. The Prophet has announced the Divine forgiveness to all the three of them.


Sources:
Fazail -E- Amal - Stories of the Sahabah (RA) 
If you havent read this story, I would suggest you read Kaab bin Malik's journal in any book of hadith or this Fazail - E- Amal, since he had written his journey, experience and feeling in the most honest and beautiful way one could imagined.
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The Lesson

1. Speak the truth
Kaab bin Malik wrote that,
"It is the truth that has brought me salvation, and as such, I determined to speak nothing but the truth in the future."

Kadang-kadang bila berbohong, kita fikir kita selamat di dunia, tidak ada sesiapa pun yang akan tahu tentang pembohongan tersebut. Tapi kita terlupa bahawa tidak ada sebutir zarah pun pembohongan yang tidak dapat disingkap di akhirat. Dan kebiasaan berbohong jika tidak dihapuskan, boleh menjatuhkan kita ke lembah munafiq. Malang, jika pembohongan itu disingkap di dunia. Maka nantikanlah pembalasan yang setimpalnya.. Nauzubillah.

2. Tetap dengan Kebenaran
Kadang-kadang kita goyah jika diberi ujian. Apatah lagi dalam menghadapi kesusahan itu, ditawarkan pelbagai godaan yang sangat menarik. Tetapkan pendirian. Yang benar akan mengatasi kebatilan.

3. Berusaha menjadi Baik
Selalu benar frasa "macam bagus" disalahgunakan oleh orang Islam Melayu. Bila seseorang berusaha menjadi baik, berusaha melakukan kebaikan, berusaha menghindarkan diri dari perkara-perkara melalaikan, maka kita ucapkan, "Ala, macam bagus!" Tapi sepertimana Kaab bin Malik, kita juga jangan putus asa melakukan kebaikan, walaupun dihina dan dipandang sinis orang sekeliling. Yang mana lebih baik, orang yang 'macam bagus' atau kita yang 'memang tak bagus' ?

Ada sebabnya saya tulis tentang Kaab bin Malik ini, sebab saya rasa kadang-kadang kita nih berfikir dan bertindak macam Munafiq. The degeneration of Muslims. Nauzubillah.

Sila betulkan jika salah fakta.