This is a story of a companion by the name of Marthad Ibn Abi Marthad Al-Ghanawi (RA) not very famous, we haven’t heard about him but let’s get to know about him, and what we can learn from him as being a true follower of the messenger صَلَّى ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ .
So my brothers and sisters, Marthad (RA) he lived in Makkah, and he had a girlfriend in Makkah. her name was Anaaq, and of course, they weren’t married. So they had a relationship that is just like any other relationship in where he would spend bites with her. he would spend time with her, he would drink with her, and so on a few years go by and Islam comes it finally arrives, and he accepts Islam, and the event of the Hijra takes place to Al Madina.
So eventually he had no other choice, but to sacrifice his relationship with this girl anaaq, he sacrificed that relationship for the sake of Allah, and he migrated with Rasulullah صَلَّى ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ from makkah, until he reached Al-Madina. and all the others Sahaba (Ra) did the migration as well.
A few months go by in Medina. it was very difficult for Marthad (RA) to give up what he gave up, I mean there was intense and strong love between them, which over in this story you’ll find out exactly what that means. So when he’s in Medina, the problem is that in Makkah there are still prisoners of the Believers, that as they were trying to escape Makkah, they were captured by quraish and they were imprisoned and they were tortured and they weren’t able to go anywhere.
So when the Prophet صَلَّى ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ arrives to Medina, the first thing he does is that he handpicks, he selects and he chooses some of the sahaba that were strong that were tough, that were full of Might and power, and he chose them so that he sends them back to Medina, so back to Makkah, so they can go into Makkah, and free the prisoners of the Believers and get them out of trouble