Sahl b. Sa'd reported God’s Messenger as saying, “The lord of the people on a journey is their servant,* and he who precedes them in service will not be preceded by them on account of any deed but martyrdom.”
* This is said to mean either that the leader must look after the interests of his followers, or that even the humblest member who serves the others is rewarded by God as if he were the dealer.
Narrated Ibn ‘Abbas told that the Prophet wrote to Qaisar summoning him to Islam. He sent Dihya al-Kalbi with his letter to him and ordered him to hand it to the governor of Busra for him to convey to Qaisar. Its contents were:
In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. From Muhammad, God’s servant and Messenger, to Hiraql1 chief of the Byzantines. Peace be to those who follow the guidance. To proceed: I send you the summons to accept Islam (bi da'iyat al-islam). If you accept Islam you will be safe, and if you accept Islam God will bring you your reward twofold; but if you turn away you will be guilty of the sin of your followers (al-arisiyin).2 “0 people of the Book, come to a word which is common between us and you, that we should worship only God, not attribute any partner to Him, or take one another as lords apart from God. But if they turn away say, Testify that we are Muslims."3
1. Heraclius.
2. Arisi means a tiller of the soil, but is here used as a general reference to the common people who will follow his example.
3. Al-Qur’an; 3:64.
(Bukhari and Muslim.) A version by Muslim has “From Muhammad God’s Messenger," “the sin of al-yarisiyin” and bi-di'ayat al-islam.
Ibn ‘Abbas told that the Prophet sent ‘Abdallah b. Rawaha with a detachment and that happened to be on a Friday. His companions set off in the morning, but he decided to stay behind and catch up on them after saying the prayer along with God’s Messenger. When he did so he saw him and asked him what had prevented him from going out in the morning with his companions. He replied, “I wanted to pray along with you and then catch up with them,” whereupon he said, “If you were to contribute all the earth contains you would not attain to the excellence of their going out in the morning.”
