By Shaykh Aḥmad Mūsā Jibrīl حفظه الله
The Ultimate Victory
Excerpt 4 [Many Days against us, but The End is for Us]
Abū Sufyān رضي الله عنه said 'الحرب بيننا وبينه سجال'
Ibn Barri, in Lisān al-'Arab said, سجال is a term from when the Arabs would go to the wells to compete with eachother. Each individual would draw water from the well with a rope and a bucket. Whoever gets more water in his bucket, is the winner. It's not really something you control. You do not control how much water fills your bucket. So they took turns in winning. No ultimate winner. So the term سجال was then used as a metaphor or a term to describe the outcome of wars.
Abū Sufyān رضي الله عنه mentioned the exact wording a second time. When he was summoned by Hirāql. The first time he mentioned it was after he was boasting after the battle of Uḥd. Hirāql summoned him. The Ḥadīth, that's in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim. He summoned him to question him, and asked him some questions.
Hirāql said:
فَهَلْ قَاتَلْتُمُوهُ
Abū Sufyān said:
قُلْتُ نَعَمْ
قَالَ فَكَيْفَ كَانَ قِتَالُكُمْ إِيَّاهُ
He said, 'how was the war?'. Hirāql wants to know how the war was.
Abū Sufyān said:
الْحَرْبُ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَهُ سِجَالاً ينال مِنَّا ونال مِنْهُ
Hirāql said, 'are you at war with him—The Messenger ﷺ?'
Abū Sufyān رضي الله عنه said, 'yes'.
Hirāql said, 'well, what's the outcome of that war?'.
He said, 'الْحَرْبُ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَهُ سِجَالاً ينال مِنَّا ونال مِنْهُ'. It's shared in turns. سجال. Abū Sufyān رضي الله عنه said—of course he wasn't a believer at that time, Abū Sufyān رضي الله عنه said, 'sometimes he suffers a loss at our hands, sometimes we suffer a loss at his hands'.
And after all the questions that he asked Abū Sufyān, Hirāql came up with his conclusion. He said:
وَسَأَلْتُكَ هَلْ قَاتَلْتُمُوهُ فَزَعَمْتَ أَنَّكُمْ قَدْ قَاتَلْتُمُوهُ فَتَكُونُ الْحَرْبُ بَيْنَكُمْ وَبَيْنَهُ سِجَالاً يَنَالُ مِنْكُمْ وَتَنَالُونَ مِنْهُ. وَكَذَلِكَ الرُّسُلُ تُبْتَلَى ثُمَّ تَكُونُ لَهُمُ الْعَاقِبَةُ
وَلَيَبْلُغَنَّ مُلْكُهُ مَا تَحْتَ قَدَمَىَّ
وَلَيَبْلُغَنَّ مُلْكُهُ مَا تَحْتَ قَدَمَىَّ
In another narration, he said:
فَزَعَمْتَ أَنَّ الْحَرْبَ سِجَالٌ وَدُوَلٌ، فَكَذَلِكَ الرُّسُلُ تُبْتَلَى ثُمَّ تَكُونُ لَهُمُ الْعَاقِبَةُ
That's how Prophets are. They're tried before the final victory is theirs.
'I asked you', Hirāql said, 'whether you've been at war with him and you said you have been at war with him, and that victory between you and him is shared by turns. Sometimes they suffer losses at your hand and sometimes you suffer losses at their hands'. And he said, 'وَكَذَلِكَ الرُّسُلُ تُبْتَلَى ثُمَّ تَكُونُ لَهُمُ الْعَاقِبَةُ' —that's how the Prophets are. They're tried before the final victory is theirs.
Messengers and Muwaḥḥidīn, who follow in their path, are tried, but the Ultimate Victory is always theirs. Keep in mind, at this point, like I said, it was two non-Muslims talking to eachother. Hirāql wasn't a believer, and at that point, Abū Sufyān had still not embraced Islām. But they were giving facts.
Hirāql said, 'وَلَيَبْلُغَنَّ مُلْكُهُ مَا تَحْتَ قَدَمَىَّ'—his rule will extend, without a doubt, to this place which is under my feet, where I'm standing, right here today. And it was as he predicted.
Just a few years after that. And as Allāh سبحانه و تعالى promised. A small number of outnumbered Muwaḥḥidīn, in the battle of Yarmūk, took down the mightiest empire with the strongest army at their time. And that's exactly what will happen time and time again.
And the statement of Hirāql, while he was on a ship fleeing Bilād as-Shām, will be echoed by the Tawāghīt, again and again, when he said, 'farewell, and long farewell to Syria. We'll never meet again.' And he never met Syria again.