In Ramadān 212 Hijrah, the Mālikī Imām, Jurist and Master of the Sciences, who was then Seventy years of Age, Asad Ibn Al-Furāt – rahimahullāh – led an army of 10,000 Muslims consisting of 1000 Cavalry toward the Island of Sicily that was then under the Byzantine Romans. His march was under the Command of the Aghlabī Muslim Ruler of Ifriqiyyah Ziyādatullāh.
The Polymath Imām stood before his armies when the two sides met face to face, encouraging them to be steadfast, to be reliant upon Allāh and not to lose heart though the Christian Army was ten times the Muslim Numbers.
One of the Muslims in the Rank said: “I indeed saw Asad holding the Banners while reciting Sūratu Yāsīn”
He raised his hands in Du’ā and asked Allāh to grant victory to his armies before signalling the attack.
Front after front, the Muslims armies pushed back the Romans until Ibn Al-Furāt led them toward surrounding the Roman fort of Syracuse (Sarqūsah), the strongest Sicilian Fortress.
During this siege, Ibn Al-Furāt got badly injured and when his armies saw him losing a lot of blood and nearing his end, they increased their determinations and stood firmer their positions. In the day’s end the Imām Ibn Al-Furāt had met his Lord as Shahīd – may Allāh accept him – and his armies had completed the liberation of Syracuse.
On the 9th Day of Ramadān, Ziyādatullāh wrote to the Khalīfah in Baghdād Ma’amūn telling him that Allāh had granted victory to the Muslim Armies in Sicily under the command of Ibn Al-Furāt – rahimahullāh.
About him, Imām Adh-Dhahabī – rahimahullāh – said in the Siyar:
_”Asad Ibn Al-Furāt, aside been an encyclopedia of Knowledge, was a brave, brilliant, Fearless, Determined and Astute Commander”_
May Allāh be merciful upon Imām Asad Ibn Al-Furāt and magnify for him his rewards, as an Imām in Ilm and in Jihād, amin.
How much the Ummah is in need of Ulamā of his like in this era of ours? Where Kufr has taken dominance of the earth?
O Allāh direct the affairs of the Ummah today toward that which is best, and of us many Ulamā the likes of Ibn Al-Furāt, āmīn
Bārakallāhu fīkum
Jazākumullāhu Khayran
