Abu Darda was a trader from Medina, who belonged to the al-Harith clan of the Banu Khazraj tribe. Though the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) came to Medina and established the system of Islam there, he did not revert to Islam until the end of Battle of Badr, which took place nearly two years after the Hijra. It was the transcendental phenomenon of Islam that possesses man and forces him to question his beliefs and actions on a rational basis that made Abu Darda contemplate and revert to Islam.
It was Abdullah Ibn Rawaha (may Allah be pleased with him), a close friend of Abu Darda, who became instrumental in bringing him to the fold of Islam. Darda and Rawaha were very close friends since the time of Jahiliyya however when the message of Islam reached Rawaha he accepted it whereas Darda remained stick to its old religion.
Being a Muslim, Rawaha was very much concerned about his friend and one day he went to Darda’s house when he was at his shop and smashed the idol that he used to worship besides Allah. On Darda’s return, his wife told him about the incident which made him furious; however his anger got subsided when he began to cross question his own self, his beliefs and his faith. Contemplating over the situation for a while, he said to himself, “If there was any good in this idol, he would have defended himself against any injury.” Subsequently he went straight to his friend Rawaha, who then took him to the Messenger of Allah, where he declared his faith and became a Muslim. He was among the last to enter the fold of Islam in his whole clan. The story of Darda’s conversion to Islam is self-explaining in a sense that all those who reverted to Islam, reverted at their own will choice.
Since conversion, Darda became a true and devout Muslim and adhered to the principles of Islam all through his life. He felt remorse for not accepting Islam earlier which resulted in a loss of significant time which he could have used to learn and understand Islam. Slowly he began to experience the sweetness and ineffable tranquillity in the worship of one true God that he sacrificed his trade in lieu of it. On seeing Darda distancing himself from trade, someone asked him why he was doing so, to which he replied. “I was a merchant before my pledge to the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace. When I became a Muslim, I wanted to combine trade and worship but I did not achieve what I desired. So I abandoned the trade and inclined towards worship. By Him in whose hand is the soul of Abu-d Darda, what I want to have is a shop near the door of the masjid so that I would not miss any Salat with the congregation. Then I shall sell and buy and make a modest profit every day.” He further clarified, “I am not saying that Allah Great and Majestic is He Who has prohibited trade, but I want to be among those whom neither trade nor selling distract from the remembrance of God.”
Entering Islam made him realise the reality of the world and inconsistency of life, which can be taken at any point of time. He used to advise people regarding the inconsistencies of the world and used to inculcate in them the sense of accountability and triviality of the material things. Once addressing the crowd in Damascus, he said, “Is it reasonable that I see you gathering and hoarding what you do not eat, and erecting buildings in which you do not live, and holding out hopes for things you cannot attain. People before you have amassed wealth, made great plans and had high hopes. But it was not long before what they had amassed was destroyed, their hopes dashed and their houses turned into graves. Such were the people of Aad, O people of Damascus. They filled the earth with possessions and children. “Who is there who will purchase from me today the entire legacy of Aad for two dirhams?” The reality of his words and the stark contrast he used to present between here and hereafter often made people sob.
He laid great stress on the acquisition of knowledge and its implementation in life. He said, “None of you can be pious unless he is knowledgeable, and he cannot enjoy knowledge unless he applies it practically.”
Imam Hanbal narrated a saying of Abu Darda which testifies how much Darda feared the accountability before Allah. Imam Hanbal narrates that Darda said, “If only you knew what you will certainly see upon your death, you would never again eat a single bite out of a craving appetite, and you would never again drink an extra sip of water for the pleasure of unquenchable and insatiable thirst. Hence, you will remain outdoor in perpetuity, bewildered and awaiting the unexpected and you will never again seek comfort in a shelter or seek a shade. You will wander aimlessly and climb the hilltops of every mountain, you will look up towards the heavens and beseech your Lord for mercy, and you will beat on your chest and cry endlessly, and you will wish that you were a little vegetable – a pant which is protected to grow, and then plucked to be eaten by a hungry person passing along.”
Abu Darda was held in high esteem by the righteous caliphs. All his life he barely managed the subsistence level. However even after becoming the governor, his lifestyle did not change and he lived on bare minimum. Seeing his deplorable condition, Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “May Allah protect you, Did I not give you enough scope to earn the necessary comforts for yourself? Have I not done so?” To this Darda replied, “O Umar, do you remember the hadith of what the Messenger of Allah has advised us?” Umar said, “What hadith are you referring to?” Darda said, “Each of you should possess as much belongings of this world as a riding traveller has.” Umar said, “Yes I remember very well.” At this, Abu Darda said, “O Umar! What have we done after the departure of the Holy Prophet?”
This made both of them cry until the next morning.
He died in the year 652 CE, leaving behind an excellent example of how to behave and live during this transitory life in the world.