Abdullah ibn Hudhafah as-Sahmi

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Abdullah ibn Hudhafah as-Sahmi was a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He is best known in Islamic tradition for his role as the courier of a letter from Muhammad to Khusraw Parvez, the King of Persia, and for his imprisonment and torture by Heraclius, the Byzantine Emperor.

Letter to Chosroes (Kisra), Emperor of Persia (Faris)

Abdullah bin Hudhafa As Sahmi carried the letter of Muhammad to Kisra, Emperor of Persia. When Abdullah entered the kingdom, Kisra sent his messenger to get the letter off him but Abdullah refused, saying Muhammad had ordered him to present the letter to the King only and he was not going to break the instructions of the Muhammad. Kisra was enraged by the letter, tearing it into shreds. When Muhammad heard Kisra had torn his letter, he made a prayer that Allah tears his kingdom. Kisra sent a couple of troopers to arrest Muhammad and bring him to his presence. As soon as the men reached Madina, Muhammad was informed by Divine Revelation that Perves, the emperor of Persia, had been murdered by his own son, which Muhammad disclosed to the troopers.^[1]

In 19AH, during the Caliphate of Umar, Umar sent an army to Rome. There, Heraclius attempted to convert Abdullah to Christianity with bribery and torture, but Abdullah refused to recant. Heraclius attempted all sorts of torture, such as boiling other sahaba in front of him. He attempted to send a prostitute to Abdullah's cell, but his firm belief in Islam led him to run around in his cell to get away from the woman. She eventually grew bored and gave up. Heraclius then attempted to scare him, by ordering his soldiers to shoot arrows at him, but not hit him. Again, this didn't faze Abdullah ibn Hudhafah. When Heraclius boiled the other sahaba in front of Abdullah, Abdullah began to cry. Heraclius thought he had finally broken him and mocked him. Abdullah, then declared that he wasn't crying out of fear, rather he was crying that he knew he could only die once, and proclaimed that he wishes he was blessed with 1000 lives in order to die in the same way, due to the strength of his faith in Islam. After all this, Heraclius tried on the last attempt. He told Abdullah, "If you kiss my head, I will let you go." Abdullah refused and said, "I wouldn't let you kiss my head". Heraclius then said, "Kiss my forehead and I will let go of 60 sahaba and you." Abdullah refused. This kept on going until Heraclius said: " Kiss my forehead and I will let go of 300 sahaba." Abdullah agreed. .^[2]

Abdullah and the Sahabha were freed and made their way back to the Muslim lands. When talk of Abdullah's bravery spread throughout the land, the Islamic Caliph Umar ibn Al-Khattab, order all the Muslims to kiss the forehead of Abdullah ibn Hudhafah as-Sahmi, and kissed him on his forehead first.

He died in Egypt in 33H/653AD during the caliphate of Uthman.

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