ONE HADITH A DAY
Narrated by Bukhari & Muslim · Authentic hadith
عن أبي سفيان صخر بن حرب رضي الله عنه قال: قال هِرَقل: فماذا يَأمُرُكُم -يعني: النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم- قال أبو سفيان: قلت: يقول: «اعبدُوا الله وَحدَه لاَ تُشرِكُوا بِهِ شَيئًا، وَاترُكُوا ما يَقُول آبَاؤُكُم، ويَأمُرُنَا بِالصَّلاَة، والصِّدق، والعَفَاف، والصِّلَة».
“Abu Sufyān Sakhr ibn Harb (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: Heraclius said: "What does the Prophet enjoin you to do?" I said: "He tells us to worship Allah alone, not to associate anything with Him and to give up all that our ancestors said. He also commands us to perform prayers, adhere to truthfulness, be chaste, and maintain ties of kinship."”
This is the famous Hadīth of Abu Sufyān Sakhr ibn Harb (may Allah be pleased with him) about the story of Heraclius. At that time, Abu Sufyān was a polytheist, as he entered Islam later during the period between the Hudaybiyah Peace Treaty and the Conquest of Makkah. Abu Sufyān and a group of people from the Quraysh went to the Levant to meet Heraclius, who was the king of the Christians at that time. He had read the Torah and the Gospel, and knew about the previous holy scriptures. He was an intelligent ruler. When he heard that Abu Sufyān and his companions came to visit him from Hijāz, he summoned them. He started to ask them about the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) and about his lineage, his Companions, their veneration of him, and his faithfulness. Every time Heraclius asked about something, they told him about it. So he came to know that he was the Prophet which the previous books had mentioned, but as he was keen to retain his kingdom, he did not enter Islam for some reason that Allah, the Almighty, willed. Heraclius asked Abu Sufyān about what the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) enjoined them to do. Abu Sufyān told him that he ordered them to worship Allah alone and not to associate partners with him. That is, they should worship none but Allah, neither an angel, nor a messenger, or a tree, or a rock, or a sun, or a moon, or any other thing. Worshiping Allah alone is the call of all the messengers. So what the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) came with was the same call that all other prophets before…