From his Wife’s Lap to Sword-fights and Sorrows

one of the brave adventurers of that day was hanzala al-ghaseel — he was hanzala bin abu ‘amir. abu ‘amir was the very monk that was nicknamed ‘al-fâsiq’ (i.e. the dissolute, evildoer). he is the very one that we have recently mentioned. hanzala, who was newly married, left his wife’s bed for al-jihâd (fight in the cause of allâh). he set out the moment he heard of the call to al-jihâd. when he faced the idolaters on the battlefield, he made his way through their ranks till he reached their leader abu sufyan sakhr bin harb and had almost killed him, if he had not been ordained to be a martyr. for at that moment he was seen by shaddad bin al-aswad who struck him to death.